🎵Music🎵
Good singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful morning.
Thank you for the local New Testament church and for the word of God, for all the blessings you've
given us. I just pray that we would worship you in spirit and in truth this morning. We love you.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Alright, for our second song, let's go to 245. The old account was settled.
245, the old account was settled.
Song 245.
🎵Music🎵
Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you did not already get a
bullet in, please lift your hand up nice and high real quick. On the front we have our Bible
memory passage Proverbs 31 verse 25 and then on the inside service and soul winning times church
stats. We have a list of several ladies who are expecting so please be in prayer for all of them.
And then as well on the events section we have the upcoming baby shower for Mariah Jackson.
And then we have a soul winning marathon that's the day before Easter, March 30th. It's going to
be here meeting at the building at 9 a.m. and on our Easter services we're actually going to do
communion Sunday night. And so if you would like to participate in that, that's when we're going
to be having services immediately following the evening service on that March 31st. April 9th
through 10th is a one of our friends is having a youth conference for teenagers and there's a sign
up sheet as well as a poster with all the details about that. And so if you'd like to go that
information should be out there. We have a Shreveport Louisiana soul winning marathon
April 13th. This is something that everybody's always asking about and really excited about and
so I think it's our third or fourth year. I can't remember exactly but we've been going there very
consistently and it's really it's just a great place to go considering how receptive it is for
soul winning. And so you know if you feel like man I feel like I haven't been able to give the gospel
in a while or I'd like to you know get some more opportunities to preach. This is a great
opportunity to go and it's very likely that you'll be able to present the gospel and even get a lot
of people saved because in times past it's been very receptive and so I highly encourage you to
participate if you can. I'm sure we'll have a small group carpooling also using the church van
that meets here at the building first and then goes or you can just pretty much just drive
yourself. It's about three hours kind of depends on what side of the DFW you live in but it's
around three hour drive so just FYI. Down below is the note about the baby shower that's going to be
on the 16th from 12 30 to 2 30. If you would like to get them a gift they're registered on baby
lists it's for their baby boy. You can RSVP to Mrs. Milstead and we also ask that you'd please
do nursings only and if you'd like to bring a dessert or dish you can. On the back we have a
note of several people you can be in prayer for. I did want to have brother Oz actually come up here
for just a moment and I know that we've had a lot of people visit the Philippines. I highly encourage
you to talk to all of them and ask them about soul winning because it was really receptive
but brother Oz recently about a week ago went to Germany and was there kind of encouraging
church plant of faithful word Baptist church and so he went out there they went soul winning.
He preached a couple times for them as well and I just wanted him to just share just a few minutes
just on his experience over there so we're going to just have him come up here and just give us a
few minutes of his testimony from there. Yeah so last week I had the opportunity to preach at
faithful word Baptist church Germany and first of all thank you pastor Anderson and pastor Shelley
for allowing me to go to that. You know I work for pastor Shelley it's kind of cool when you
have a boss that lets you go preach in Germany for work so that's pretty awesome but I had a great
time. I left last Wednesday evening and then from the time change I arrived Thursday evening in
Germany and I get off the plane and right away the church there was just super hospitable to me. I get
off the plane and this German brother there he hands me some pretzels some German pretzels and
some German water from the black forest and they just they were very hospitable and nice people
and the city that we went to it it's a very historical city it has kind of a dark history
believe it or not it's called fortsheim and in February of 1945 it was bombed by the British
with phosphorus bombs and 17,500 civilians died in that bombing there very just kind of a dark
history of a place because of the phosphorus bombs it actually caught the river on fire
so like people were trying to escape the fire and went into the river and like drowned and died just
terrible history so it's kind of amazing that this place even exists to this day
but all over the city you just see kind of like the scars of World War II there so it's very
interesting but we went soul winning and the soul winning kind of surprised me that it was a lot
more receptive than I anticipated it to be we had I think about 13 talkers and maybe over the course
of you know four to six hours of soul winning throughout the week those 13 to 14 talkers had
about 14 salvations so it's more than I expected it was good and it's pretty hilarious because
here in the United States the most receptive demographics are black people and Hispanic people
and that's kind of the neighborhoods that we like to go to because they're the most receptive to
the gospel well in Germany it's just overrun with Muslims just Muslims have just gone all throughout
Europe and so it was kind of funny that we had the reverse strategy in Germany we're like looking for
the white people like we don't do that in the United States we're like finding the young white
Germans and they just were the most receptive in that area which is kind of funny it's not
like how it is here but that church honestly is a huge inspiration to me and the Christians there
are a huge inspiration they are going through serious persecution a lot more than we have
ever been through so you know for example I believe that four of their church members now
are under criminal investigation for preaching the word of God for basically just believing the
doctrines of the bible many of them have lost their jobs you know for example they went out
soul winning and they got a young lady saved and she came to church for the first time and when she
went home the police were waiting for her at her home and interrogated her for going to church
the police have gone into their homes and stole their electronics their phones their USB drives
just random church members not even people that have preached so honestly I think that Europe
right now is like on the brink of doing a great work for the Lord you have a church in England
you have a church in Germany you have a church in Poland and it seems like right now the devil's
really trying to stop the gospel from going out in Germany so you know definitely be praying for
these people I think that's the biggest thing we could do for them pray for them if you have
the means of visiting them they said that they really want people to visit them they want more
people to preach for them so just please be praying for them their church is really great
it's a beautiful area really nice people and you know when you visit people from all the way across
the world and you just immediately feel like family with them it's because we all have the
spirit of Christ right those are our brothers and sisters and just because you've never met them
just because they live on the other side of the world doesn't mean we shouldn't think about them
or pray for them so just please be praying for that church Faith Word Baptist Church in Germany
thanks
yeah brother Oz is telling me some of these people actually travel like eight hours and they're
they're excited to have a church it's like people won't drive five minutes here and we take for
granted a lot of times the freedoms that we have to believe the bible and to preach it and so we
need to be very thankful for what the Lord has given us and take advantage of what the Lord has
given us also we have Evangelist Urbanic with us here this morning and his family and they're
heading out to Manila very soon and so this might be the last time to see them in the flesh for a
while and so I highly recommend all of you you know say hi and shake their hand and bless them
before they head out we have a couple baptisms this morning and Evangelist Urbanic is going to
help me with one of those today as well so definitely a lot of exciting things I do also
though want to make one more private in-house
you
it's a psalm of the week psalm 150 it's in our special handouts psalm 150
all right psalm 150
let's sing it out psalm 150
praise
him
praise
god
good singing as the offering plates being passed
around please turn to first corinthians chapter five first corinthians chapter number five
so
first corinthians chapter five we'll be reading the entire chapter prior to the sermon
as is our custom beginning at verse one the bible reads it is reported commonly
that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among
the gentiles that one should have his father's wife and he are puffed up and have not rather
mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you for I verily as
absent in body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him
that hath so done this deed in the name of our lord jesus christ when ye are gathered together
in my spirit with the power of our lord jesus christ to deliver such and one unto satan for
the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the lord jesus
your glorying is not good no ye not that a little leaven leaven at the whole lump purge out therefore
the old leaven that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened for even christ our passover is
sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of
malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth I wrote unto you
in an epistle not to company with fornicators yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world
or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters for then must ye needs go out of the
world but now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a
fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one
know not to eat for what have I to do to judge them also that are without do not ye judge them
that are within but them that are without god judgeth therefore put away from among yourselves
that wicked person let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father in heaven I pray that you
bless pastor Shelley with the fullness and power of the holy spirit as he preaches to us and I pray
also lord that this message would sink down into the hearts and minds of all of us in this room and
that we identify areas in our life that can be improved that can change we love you and in
Jesus name I pray amen amen so we're here in verse Corinthians chapter number five I want to
look back at verse number 11 the bible says but now I've written unto you not to keep company
if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a
railer or a drunkard or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat for what have I
to do to judge them that are without do not ye judge them that are within but them that are
without god judgeth therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person now in first
Corinthians chapter number five it's dealing with a very specific church discipline issue where an
individual is with his father's wife and they're committing a certain type of fornication according
to the bible it's even a weirder type of fornication than the world was engaging in and
the apostle Paul's saying this is an shame and embarrassment to the cause of Christ and to the
church and you need to tell this person that they're no longer welcome at this church while
they're engaging in such conduct and I think unfortunately because so many churches today
don't care what the bible says that people are confused and think that church is for anybody for
any reason no one should ever be turned away there's no reason someone's not welcome at church
you know that's just not biblical also church is not geared towards the unsaved church is geared
towards the saved what's geared towards the unsaved is us going out and preaching the gospel
and reaching the loss and evangelizing but church is for us to be discipled to learn the bible to
be encouraged and also sometimes to be reproved and also sometimes even to be rebuked and so we
don't come to church expecting to always get a pat on the back in fact the apostle Paul is saying
in this passage in verse number two and you're puffed up and if not rather mourned he's saying
the attitude of your church should actually be a negative attitude it should be one of sorrow and
of grief and sadness because of the fact that this person's engaging in such conduct because
it's a reproach unto Christ and so we want to make sure that when we you know are here for church
that we don't just take the good passages of the bible and apply them but we also apply the
negative or difficult passages of the bible and i think that that's one of the reasons why people
do like our church is because we want to do everything that the bible says whether it's good
bad fun comfortable uncomfortable and the reality is church discipline while in the moment
is grievous it's actually a positive thing in the long run it's a positive thing for that person
it's a positive thing for our church just as the bible is describing us being similar to a type of
bread and how when you have a little leaven it can cause the whole lump to be leavened and so
it's telling you get the leaven out so that you can be an unleavened loaf and that's to represent
sin and i believe that the reason why these sins are being brought up in first corinthians
chapter 5 is because they have a high likelihood of infecting another person you know obviously
the bible's not saying we can't have sinners in church because then it would be empty okay
no one's perfect no one does right all the time we all sin we all make mistakes but there's some
sins that are very grievous and specifically can cause others to get involved in their sin
when you look at this list in verse number 11 it's saying fornication is one of the first ones
well if someone's committing fornication and there's no discipline there's no reprimand against
such behavior it could really encourage other people in the church to think well i want to
commit fornication or i guess fornication is not a big deal and then pretty soon what you'll notice
is a lot of people are engaging in fornication in the church and if you go to a non-denom church
today one of these big mega center churches today i guarantee there are dozens and dozens of people
in open fornication in that church and they're not being dealt with because it's not looked down upon
it's not preached against and it's not being enforced that those type of people need to
get married or stop committing fornication and so it's important to preach against these things and
even enforce that behavior you know idolatry that can encourage other people to use idols
being a drunkard obviously this is a very infectious sin if people are getting drunk
and drinking a lot it really encourages a lot of other people to drink and become drunkards
people that are covetous and always focused on just getting rich and making a lot of money
that could really infect the church and sometimes what will happen is individuals get into a church
not to come to worship not to read the bible not to get better simply to make money through
their mlm scheme or something or they're just trying to get clients or they're just trying
to take advantage of certain church members or they're just trying to get rich literally
and they're infecting other people with their mindset and with their attitude and they don't
approach church as a place to worship god but rather a means by which they can make more money
or enrich themselves and you know that kind of attitude could be very infectious it could cause
a lot of problems in the church so you have to get it out extortioners this is just you know where
people are constantly taking advantage of each other because they have a lot of private or
intimate knowledge i mean you know i look at our church as a family and in many ways and we share
a lot of details with each other we know where each other live we know sometimes people you know
they they share information about their family or their situation and what would be bad is if we all
have this attitude of trying to use private information or details or whatever against
people and extort them you know that's a very dangerous attitude and a behavior and it could
cause other people to start applying the same measures the same tactics and we're all very
cutthroat we don't want that and then you know another one that's mentioned here kind of last
one in this list is being a railer a railer is someone who is spreading false information
or making false accusations against individuals and the reality is we don't want to live in an
environment where everybody's just saying stuff about us that's not true or they're just
exaggerating or making claims about us and just kind of poisoning people against us and this is
very easy to infect the church because naturally especially in a church when it has hundreds of
people in it you can't be friends with everyone like it's literally impossible and what happens is
small groups form and a lot of times you can notice this in school like clicks or you know
groups or whatever and that's just natural you can't really avoid it some people are going to
gel with other people more and other but what can happen is one click kind of doesn't like another
click and so everybody in this one click is just making all these random false accusations against
the other side and then in retaliation they're all saying a bunch of stuff about the other side
and then pretty soon you just have a church filled where everybody's confused about everyone
everybody believes a lot of weird rumors and heresy and just kind of crazy things about other
individuals and it just it doesn't unify the church you know to have a unified church we have
to be very careful and very diligent to not spread false information not poison the minds of other
individuals against one another we want to rather hold our tongue and this is something that's very
difficult because naturally the human condition our flesh wants to just run its mouth about people
we don't like and we need to avoid this because this sin is a very dangerous sin so I really want
to focus in on that sin this morning and the title of my sermon is this railers gossips and
jerks okay railers gossips and jerks all three of these people are different and and I want people
to really understand the differences this morning but there's really only one application that you
need to walk away with this morning here's your one application and you just just get this locked
into your heart don't talk bad about other people you say I don't want to be a railer I don't want
to be a gossip and I don't want to be a jerk here's how you accomplish that don't talk bad about
other people it's that simple but it's not simple it's simple and in theory it's very difficult in
practice why because you get emotional you get mad and and this is what happens in the sermon
you're like you hear the sermon you're thinking all right I'm not going to talk bad about people
all right and then as soon as the service is over someone comes up to you like man your kid's a
little jerk and then you're just like you're a jerk you know he's just like all of a sudden now
it just comes out right someone does something mad as rude to you or as a jerk to you or like hey you
know that sermon that pastor preached about jerks he was talking about you literally
and then now all of a sudden you're being tested on how you're going to handle that
you're like this person's a reprobate obviously you know it's like that's that's how people are
okay but you know what you just have to really really work on getting it settled in your heart
I'm not going to talk bad about other people when they're bad when I don't like them when I'm
frustrated you know it's easy to not talk bad about people that you like and have no problem
with it's like checkmark yeah it's it's not talking bad about people when you're mad at them
frustrated don't like them they did something maybe they hurt you or harmed you I mean think
about what Jesus Christ literally said if someone slaps you on the side of the face if they hit you
on the cheek what are you supposed to do turn to them the other cheek it didn't say then mouth off
about them it didn't say then do evil into them it said literally to turn the other cheek and you know
what if we're going to be Christians what's a Christian someone that's like Christ then we
have to learn how to turn the other cheek and not blow off our mouths and run our mouths about
other people now go to mark chapter 15 go to mark chapter 15 a lot of people railed on the Lord
Jesus Christ specifically now the word rail or some variation of that is found 10 times in the
bible in nine different verses I'm not going to cover all the verses it's but this is what I
want to say if God expects me as the pastor and us as a church to enforce church discipline on
certain sin issues then they have to be clear otherwise there would be no way to actually do
such a thing unfortunately many people have a bad idea of what the word rail means and they'll
simply say railing is just saying anything negative that's not what the word rail means
railing is making false accusation okay and that's where the clear boundary is for our church
no one's going to be thrown out of church for saying something negative or bad they're going
to be thrown out of church for making false statements and false accusations things that
are not true okay because everybody's entitled to an opinion if you just say I don't like Joe Biden
you're not going to be thrown out of this church okay that's your opinion right but but if you say
like I think Joe Biden's a 10-foot tall green reptilian you know alien you know obviously we're
going to think you're weird but it's kind of crossing into a boundary of like now you're
railing because that's not that's not a true statement okay and so we want to make sure even
against people who don't like you know Michael Dark Angel's not bringing a railing accusation
against the devil that means we shouldn't even say things that aren't true about Hillary Clinton
or Biden or Xi Jinping or any of these individuals there's plenty of facts about them that we can
bring up we don't need to invent things that aren't even true about them you know stick to
the facts about these individuals because there's plenty there to talk about there's plenty on the
devil we don't need to accuse him of every negative thing that happened as being his fault
sometimes if people are bad it's not even the devil's fault in fact sometimes I'm wondering
if the devil's embarrassed about the democrats actions lately he's just thinking like man you
guys are making me look bad you know everybody tries to think that I keep doing all this stuff
I don't even know you guys you know I'm joking of course all right there obviously is minions
but here's here's one proof text about kind of what railing means in context and it's about the
lord Jesus Christ look at verse 29 and this is when Jesus being crucified it says and they passed
by and they that passed by railed on him wagging their heads and saying ah thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days save thyself and come down from the cross likewise
also the chief priest mocking said among themselves with the scribes he saved others himself he cannot
save now the bible kind of couples these two things because they are mocking for sure but
they're not just mocking they're mocking with railing statements because they're mocking the
idea that he said destroy this temple in three days I'll raise it up well let's look at that
quote because I want to see what Jesus really said about this go to John 2 for a second go to John 2
but why is this railing because they're trying to accuse Jesus of being a liar that's what they're
trying to do they're trying to accuse Jesus of being like because Jesus did say that he was going
to destroy the temple and raise it up in three days again but you know here's the thing they
didn't quite even quote him exactly right because when they're saying destroys the temple it's like
they're kind of alluding to him like he's the one destroying the temple okay but if you actually
pay attention to what Jesus really said you can tell he wasn't talking about him destroying
himself look what it says in John chapter 2 verse 18 then answered the Jews and said in them what
sign show us thou unto us seeing that thou doest these things Jesus answered and said unto them
destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up so Jesus wasn't saying that he was
going to destroy the temple he was saying to them hey destroy this temple and in three days I'll
rise it up again what is he saying well if we keep reading we would know verse 20 then said the Jews
40 and six years was this temple and building and wilt thou rear it up in three days notice they
didn't even misunderstand they didn't say how are you going to destroy this how are you going to
knock this down they're only responding to the thing that he said he would do what is the one
thing that he said he would do he would say that he would raise it up he's saying it took us 46
years to build this thing how are you going to build it in that short amount of time and it says
in verse 21 but he spake of the temple of his body so they didn't know they didn't understand
and I think this is important a reason why I think a lot of people make a railing accusation
or a false accusation is because they don't know what they're talking about because they're
confused about something or they miss interpret something or they they heard something and they
didn't quite get it and then they run with it and then when they run with it it's actually completely
false it's not even what the person really said it's not even what the really person meant and
because you didn't take the time to actually understand what was really happening you didn't
have all the information you end up making a false accusation this is almost always exactly
how it happens someone runs with something they misinterpret something they go with some kind of
a gossip and or they just have malicious intent and they just start making a false accusation
because they are trying to use Jesus's words and and use them against him the problem is they
didn't understand his words and so when they apply it they end up making a false accusation
saying that Jesus isn't going to be capable of what raising up the building but here's the thing
the building was his body and yes he did raise it up and you know what they are liars because
they're making a false accusation saying you're not capable of destroying the building and raising
up but again they misunderstood they made this false accusation and the bible says that they
railed on him that's what railing is making false accusations about someone lying about someone
misrepresenting them and so you know that cannot be tolerated now i want you to go in your bible to
proverbs chapter 11 here's something the bible says in proverbs as well lying lips are abomination
to the lord hey children lying lips are abomination to the lord lying lips do not lie children do not
lie to your parents children do not lie to your brother and sister children do not lie to anybody
the bible says that god hates lying and we need to make sure that we are not lying to anybody
the bible says this but they that deal truly are his delight god loves honest people god loves
people that deal with the truth and want to be a truthful and honest person and you know what if
you want god to be pleased with you children don't lie always tell the truth you know there's no
there's no reward to lying lying will cause you to want to lie even more you tell one lie and it
almost always turns into another lie and then another lie and then you've webbed this weave
or you've weaved this web sorry that you basically now can't even get out of and it's so complicated
and you need you need to literally own every media station radio station and the internet to try and
cover up your lie now okay and so you know you just just don't lie just don't go down that road
just try to be honest take ownership for what you said and in fact let me tell you this children
often you would get punished less from your parents if you just told the truth than when
you lie about it many times we ask our kids if they did something wrong they're not even getting
to get in trouble we might tell them not to do that but then because they lie about it now they're
going to get disciplined now they're going to get in much worse trouble than if they'd just been
honest you know hey kids if your mom asks you something just tell her the truth okay don't go
around lying and and trying to say things that aren't true because you know we don't want our
kids practicing lying and getting better at it because you know here's the reality when people
lie for the first time or or as a young child they often are not very good at it okay and you
know why people are very good at lying because they've lied a lot in their lives and they've
gotten very practiced in it and so you know it's really good it's a really good habit to just not
lie so that you don't become deadened and you just feel like lying is just easy and just you're ready
to do it at the drop of a hat in fact some people are so good at lying they could pass uh you know
a lie detector test they can pass all kinds of psychological evaluations from police officers
they don't even necessarily exhibit signs of lying from their their physical behavior because
they're just so good at lying and you know we don't want to be those kind of people there's
even games like this i would just say this be careful playing games like this on a regular basis
you know i played games like that and i'm just thinking like i don't i don't like this game you
know it's this kind of a weird game to practice lying and just being really good at being deceptive
so you know i would just encourage you you know to to avoid those type of behaviors but what is
the second group i wanted to talk about it was gossips okay first is railers it's very clear the
clear line false statements okay gossip is essentially a broader category gossip is where someone
is making a statement that's unconfirmed they're spreading rumors or information that's
unconfirmed it could be true it could be false but it's for sure gossip okay if you look it up
in a dictionary gossip is this rumor or talk of a personal sensational or intimate nature
here's another definition of a gossip spreads private rumors or facts so here's the thing
just because it's a fact doesn't mean it's not even gossip now the word gossip is not found in
your bible but there is a word that means the exact same thing it's called a tail bearer
okay if you look up a tail bearer in the dictionary this is what it says about a tailbearer
one who spreads gossip okay so you want to know what a gossip is it's a tail bearer what's a tail
bearer it's a gossip okay and this is what some people think like oh what i said was true okay
that's still gossip well what i said it happened okay that's still tail bearing it's this it
doesn't mean just because it's true that you should say it why is it saying you shouldn't
say it why would be the thought process well because it's personal it's sensational it's
intimate it's private what would cause someone to not share something like that it's called
discretion people who are constantly gossiping lack discretion discretion is the ability of a
person to recognize hey this is information i should not be sharing so i'm not going to share
it if you share every fact you know about people all the time you're probably a gossip like there
should be lots of things that you're just not sharing not bringing up letting go for you to
recognize the fact that hey i'm not a gossip because there's all this information i know i'm
not saying i'm not telling people you know by constantly telling everybody everything you know
about everyone you're basically a gossip i mean that's just what it really is okay and you also
destroy friendships because if i'm telling you something if i tell you something personal if i
tell you something intimate if i tell you something that's you know important to me or private to me
and then you just tell a bunch of other people you're going to betray my trust you're going to
make me feel differently about you you know we don't we don't want to have that kind of a
relationship with everyone where we have no confidence and having any kind of private
relationship that's that's what causes people to actually draw close is by being able to share
private personal information i mean that should be you know why you feel close to your spouse
is because between husband and wife there should be just an incredible amount of private
information like there should just be so much stuff that you know about your spouse that no
one on the planet knows and that's what makes your relationship special you know unfortunately
the internet is ruining this so many people are literally putting all of their private information
on the internet all the time in blogs and video you know reality tv which is not real but again
they're trying to bring people into their home and talk about all the things they're doing and
showing everything people are showing off their bodies and showing off everything they could think
of and it's like they just want their whole life to be on display you know that's someone that
lacks discretion and the person that has discretion is going to have a lot of privacy between husband
and wife you're going to have privacy in your own family you're going to have privacy in your close
friends you're going to privacy as a church you know think about us as a church we also are going
to have some things that are a little bit private and intimate you know we don't necessarily need
to go out into the world and tell them every single thing we believe on day one right let's
focus on the gospel right it's using discretion to not necessarily have to explain every doctrine of
the bible day one or right off the bat you know let people get saved learn the bible and of course
we have nothing to hide we literally put every sermon online anybody could access everything
we believe right away but i'm saying when you're approaching new people sometimes it's better to
not tell them literally everything i mean think about think about this just on a personal level
you know what if you walk up and you shake someone's hand and be like yeah i literally
just use the bathroom with that hand bro it's like it was true but it's like that's not going
to be a cool thing to share like that's that's a private thing between you and you okay you don't
need to share like when you go into the bathroom no one needs to know what happened in there
you know you came out all right we got it okay like we don't need to know that's why the bible
uses euphemisms even in certain areas of life because it's trying to say like here's a hint hint
a place where we don't talk about it hint hint here's something that we don't bring up you don't
like the bedroom things in marriage things in the bathroom you know there's lots of things that
we're just not bringing up and you know if the bible seems pretty silent in an area of life
it's probably because you're supposed to be exercising discretion in that area of life
okay it's not that the bible doesn't know about that area it's not like god is ignorant of that
thing he's saying like why would we talk about that that's not something we should be bringing
up okay and so gossips they lack discretion and they literally blurt out and bring up anything
and everything and we need to be careful and and controlling our tongues and i'll say this
everyone in this room has a tendency to gossip it's not you know like i don't want people to
think like only women struggle in this area no no everyone struggles in this area so if you think
that you don't struggle with gossip you're lying to yourself every person struggles with the
temptation to share things that they shouldn't and even more so hear things that they shouldn't
many many people don't really necessarily want to tell you a lot of private stuff
but they would love to hear it they would love to be like hey what's going on with this thing or
what's you know what you know what's happened here or what did they say or how do you feel
like everybody would love to hear but very few people are sharers okay and then the people that
love to hear think that they're somehow not guilty of gossip look if you want to not be
guilty of gossip when someone starts gossiping to them to you you have to shut it off
you have to you have to just say like hey i don't want to i don't think we should be talking about
that or you know i don't want to bring i don't really want to discuss that or i'm not really
interested in that or just changing the subject you don't even have to necessarily even directly
address it sometimes you have to but you have to be careful because someone that's going to gossip
is going to use a lot of manipulation tactics to gain your trust and trick you into thinking that
you're not gossiping somehow like they'll be like hey i'm you know i'm a doctor so you know you
should tell me about this it's like that doesn't just because someone is in the medical profession
doesn't mean like oh i can just trust this person with any information or you know i'm a police
officer or i'm a lawyer or you know but you don't understand i deal with these kind of matters or
you know i'm their friend or they just they just appeal to some level authority or they'll say hey
i'm the sole winning captain you know the sole winning captain gets reported sole winning numbers
they don't need gossip the ushers are ushering the staff is doing staff things you know some people
it's like oh well you know someone's on staff i might as well just tell them every dirty secret
i know it's like no you know even me i don't want to know necessarily okay now again i have
to deal with church matters so obviously there's going to be some certain amount of information
that's that's brought to my attention but i don't want a lot of the details either i don't want to
know a lot of private things and if it's not dealing with something that you are an eyewitness
of i really don't want to hear it you know it just doesn't really matter at all it's literally
if you want to tell me something that you did not see or hear i could i could not care less and i
will treat it like literally that you didn't say anything that's how i will always treat it so you
know the bible makes it clear that we should be only hearing information from eyewitnesses or
people that really experience things but here's the most common one i think this is the most
common way people gossip i'm really concerned about brother dylan i'm i'm just really worried
about him have you noticed anything off about him i mean this is how everybody works and operates
and almost everybody will fall victim to that i mean i guarantee if i tried this on you after
the service you might literally fall victim of this hey i've been kind of feeling off about
dylan what do you what do you think and they're just like yeah you know he did this this one time
and it's like everybody has a story about brother dylan it's just like oh man
you know this is you know just be like hey i don't know
no i like dylan
you know you don't have you don't have to necessarily go down the road people are gonna
be like oh i'm just really worried about this i'm praying for this person i feel like you've
had problems with them will you tell me about your problems with them no because they're between
you and that person no one else gets to be involved in that situation they shouldn't be
like it doesn't matter what dylan did to me i shouldn't be telling you about it i'm not
going to tell you every single negative thing that dylan and i have between each other like
that doesn't make sense just like i wouldn't want to do that to you or me or anything like
we're just not going to go around and just tail bear and just tell everybody everything
also here's another tactic that people use with gossip and it leads to railing is what i call
vague booking and they'll say i have this problem with someone in church and i think they're kind
of a bad person and they're on staff and they're not the pastor and um i don't want to say their
name because i don't want to be guilty of gossiping but you know their their name rhymes with rylan
and uh you know it's like it's like they basically want to tell you all this gossip and they know you
know who they're talking about but they're just not going to say the name because they don't want
to be guilty of gossiping look it's still gossip don't let people vague book you on these kind of
issues or or pretend like they're they're being so godly i need counsel about this specific person
they're giving all these details you're like i know exactly what you're talking about you know
as soon as you know who they're talking about just be like hey i don't want to talk about dylan
right i don't want to you know i don't know i'm not i'm not involved in that right if someone's
going to be like hey i had this person it's like you know even as the pastor to me it's like
someone comes to me and they have a problem with someone it's like okay well did they rail no are
they a drunkard no okay did you witness it no it's like okay bye i mean i this is how i want
to treat church and this is how i want you have the mentality like the police okay if i call the
police and i say i don't like dylan like we agree no i'm just kidding
it's like i think dylan's bad i think dylan's dangerous this is what they say
did he commit a crime no did you witness a crime no click you know
it's like hey at church it's like you know what the past is going to deal with
spiritual crimes okay not your personal feelings or whatever or making friends or like
i'm just not that kind of police i'm going to deal with real issues okay and we want to make
sure that we also are are having the right mentality about things now i i have a couple
tests for you on how to figure out if something's you know gossip because you know apparently people
need help in this area but you know the bible literally says in the old testament thou shalt
not go up and down as a tail bearer among thy people so the bible doesn't even say like tail
bearings okay sometimes it's just a strict straightforward commandment don't do it don't
do it don't be a tail bearer don't be someone that acts like this okay let's get some more
definition proverbs 11 look at verse 13 a tail bearer revealeth secrets but he that is of a
faithful spirit conceal the matter notice again the righteous person has private information
that they don't share the tail bearer shares everything goes flip the page of the right to
chapter 20 for a second proverbs chapter 20 look at verse 19 he that goeth about as a tail bearer
notice this revealeth secrets now that's a pretty common theme isn't it it's telling people private
information therefore metal not with him that flattereth with his lips notice who's trying to
get the secrets the flatterer oh i'm so concerned brother oh i just love this person i just love
dylan so much tell me all the negative things you know about him it's like just don't just don't
engage in that behavior just don't fall for the trap and you know this is what i don't want you
to think i don't want you to think reprobates are enticing me to gossip no no everyone's enticing
you to gossip literally everyone you need to be aware of like be like thinking is this something
i should be engaging in you know and go through the proverbs 26 i want to read a little bit more
here but here's here's your threefold test and i'm not saying this is perfect but i think it's
a pretty good one would you say this information in front of the person you're talking about
because it's like hey did you hear so-and-so had a baby it's like you wouldn't have a problem telling
that person that they had a baby because it's exciting news and you're just sharing information
about another person but if it's like i hear so-and-so's having a baby
that's different or like i wonder what they were doing you know or you're just sharing
information you're just thinking like i wouldn't necessarily say this about did you see what she
was wearing like you wouldn't say that in front of her don't say it right you want to be careful
did you see that girl that he won on the date with oh now i might actually say that in front
of you but i'm just saying you know a good test is would this person say this in front of that
person here's the second way and it's pretty similar how would you feel if the person you told
tells the person you just talked about immediately
you say if you're sharing this information they just immediately said hey so-and-so did you hear
that they said this how would you feel about that that's another good way to test is this gossip
and here's the third one would you want the pastor to hear what you said
would you want the pastor of to heard what you said if you fail any of those don't engage in
the conduct it's not like i have to fail all three fail any of them any of them it's just like you
know what i shouldn't say that because i don't i wouldn't say that in front of the person number
one number two i wouldn't want this person now share what i just said and number three i really
wouldn't want pastor to hear what i just said okay and when you're failing those you need to
make sure that you're just keeping your mouth shut now proverbs 26 i want you to look at verse 20
let's read a little bit of bible here again where no wood is there the fire goes out anybody that
smokes brisket knows this for sure okay boy it's annoying when you aren't paying attention and the
wood burns up because the fire goes out and you have to start all over again it's really it's
really frustrating but you know it's saying this in a positive way in this verse notice what it
says in the next part so where there is no tailbearer the strife ceaseth oh that's good
so notice no tailbearer no strife so this is what i know when our church has a lot of strife and a
lot of people are mad at each other and there's a lot of problems there's a lot of tailbearers in
the room you know the way that a church is really unified and and people and things are going well
it's when people are very mature and there's no one tailbearing okay tailbearing is causing
problems in a church notice what it also says as coals are to burning coals and wood to wood so is
a contentious man to kindle strife the words of a tailbearer are as wounds and they go down in the
innermost parts of the belly you know gossip is not a victimless crime how would you feel if people
are saying things about you that are not true or even true but just embarrassing i mean if you
if you just make a mistake you sin because we all sin and then someone has to go tell everybody
about what you did you know it's just embarrassing i mean what if what if literally i had written
down on a piece of paper all the sins you've committed this week and i was going to read it
out loud who would be excited about that who's ready for that no one would be at church okay
literally i wouldn't want that that's that's just not you know this is not appropriate but you know
people love to share about other people's problems and other people's issues and you know i'm just
telling you we need to do the opposite it says verse 23 burning lips and a wicked heart are like
a potsherd covered with silver dross he that hateth dissemblest with his lips and layeth up
deceit within him when he speaketh fair believe him not for there are seven abominations in his
heart whose hatred is covered by deceit his wickedness shall be showed before the whole
congregation you know the bible saying is the person that wants to gossip and tell bear
oh i just love this person oh i'm just so concerned oh i'm just praying for this person
oh i just i don't want anything bad to happen but it's what does it say when he speaketh fair
believe him not don't share negative information don't share bad information that's private of an
intimate nature you know it just it's it's leading down a bad path and what happens is this person
they end up getting swallowed up in their own sin verse 27 who so dig at the pit shall fall there
in and he that roll the stone it will turn upon him a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted
by it and a flattering mouth worketh ruin people will flatter and and and do all kinds of evil
you know here's a verse that's really important in the bible it says that a whisper
separateth chief friends and it's just sad you know it can destroy really good friendships in
this room whispers and i think that us as a group are great friends and i think even in this room
a lot of people are really good friends and you know what will destroy friendships tail bearing
and gossip and railing and you know i don't want that to be destroyed i don't want things
to get ruined i don't want things to go bad that's why we take this seriously that's why we should
exercise control you know when people don't have control what do they start doing they start
littering on on on the streets and things start deteriorating and then this whole pretty soon the
whole city is destroyed why because people are being negligent not cleaning things up not taking
care of stuff not maintenance things this is how it works spiritually that people just start
littering and getting lazy and just causing all kinds of problems they deteriorate relationships
and institutions spiritually and we have to constantly cleaning ourselves up exercising
self-control exercising discipline enforcing rules and making sure that we're not letting
things deteriorate and be destroyed okay i don't want it no one wants it go to proverbs 14 now
here's the last group that i want to talk about and it's jerks okay so we've talked about railers
spreading false information then there's gossips gossips are just spreading information now here's
the thing i've focused a lot on the gossips telling things that are true many times when
people are gossiping it's false and then they they shift they they had no intention to be a
railer they're not even trying to but because they're just running with information they don't
know about they're misinterpreting information and whatever they end up falling into this category
now they're making false accusations now they're railing on people and and you could literally be
thrown out of church for that if you don't repent if you don't take it seriously okay
here's the third category this is someone that's just a jerk okay what's a jerk well
according to the dictionary it's an annoyingly stupid or foolish person okay here's another
definition an unlikable person now contrary to popular belief you will not be thrown out of
church for being a jerk
you know what does that mean i can't throw people out that are unlikable you would think
like there's a couple people in here you know it's like no i can't throw someone out for being
annoying i can't throw someone out for being a fool for being foolish for being stupid like i
can't you know and and so we have to make sure that we as spiritually mature christians recognize
these differences okay um look at proverbs chapter 14 verse number seven now here's my advice though
if you recognize a jerk in church if you recognize a jerk in your professional career if you notice
a jerk in your neighborhood if you notice a jerk anywhere how do you handle this person well what
does the bible say in proverbs 14 verse 7 go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest
not in him the lips of knowledge don't be their friend if you don't like someone don't be their
friend you know it's a big red flag to me is when i know because someone's told me literally they
don't like someone and then they pretend to be their friend in my presence and they hang out with
them and they go around and like thinking like what's wrong with you like why in the world are
you going to go to lunch and dinner and hang out with this person and be around all this person
well all the while you're telling you don't like them that's that's deceitful that's weird if you
just don't like someone just don't like them but don't pretend like you like them don't act like
your their best friend you know that's if someone doesn't like me i would way rather than just tell
me that they don't like me than to pretend to like me and you know what if you don't like me please
never invite me to have a meal with you ever like because i'll think you like me like i'll think
that we're friends or something but i didn't know that you're like you know don't the person that
invites you over and then like secretly records you or is like waiting to catch something out of
your mouth this is like the Pharisees and the Sadducees did to Jesus but they weren't his friends
don't be that person you know it's okay to not like someone too all right i'll put it back on
record it's okay to not like someone i will never hold anything against you because you just don't
like someone but here's the question how do you handle that if you're being faked to that person
if you're being rude back if you're gossiping about them if you're railing on them now i will
have to deal with that situation okay and it it's not for me to be like you know what i don't like
them too so let's all talk bad about them it's like there could be someone i don't like and you
don't like but i'm going to defend them and there can be someone i like and you don't like and i'm
going to defend them because it's my job to defend everyone the likable or the unlikable even defend
the jerks okay go to first grinthians chapter 13 and you know what's what's an example of a jerk
okay because i don't want you all to get confused about this it's when pastor shelly gets up and
preaches a sermon about hey if you're sick stay home and then immediately after the sermon you
walk up to someone and say you and your kids are the reason why he preached that sermon
you're a jerk i mean that's just that's just rude okay that's but you know what don't talk bad about
that person don't render evil for evil right hey this sermon on jerks pastor was talking about you
you're like this week you're like hey i'm gonna respond hey remember that sermon last week well
this one's about you buddy you know don't be like that you're the jerk pastor's preaching about
now you're the jerk okay right don't be annoying don't be rude the bible is really clear on this
look at first grinthians chapter 13 verse 4 charity suffereth long notice this and is kind
you know why someone's a jerk because they're not mature and they don't they're lacking in charity
they might have charity in some areas of their life but they're lacking in charity in all the
areas of their life and a spiritually mature person is kind regardless of who they're talking
to or who they're around okay we want to make sure that we are kind verse 5 does not behave
itself unseemly seeketh not our own is not easily provoked here's a good one thinketh no evil
they're not interpreting everyone's actions as bad they're giving people the benefit of the doubt
folks and you know as a pastor that's my attitude that's how i'm going to operate i'm going to try
and always give someone the benefit of the doubt and i'm going to always try and interpret
everyone's behavior in a positive light until they prove me wrong and when they prove me wrong
all right i'll deal with it but we we should give people the benefit of the doubt until the bitter
end okay i mean you could almost argue jesus did this with judas because he already knew all of it
and it's already happened and he's still kind of like asking judas like betray us down me with a
kiss he's like you know what like what's going on here you know and we should try to give people
the benefit of the doubt until they've proved us wrong okay verse seven bear with all things
believeth all things hope with all things endure with all things well you just believe everything
about that person well that's what charity is you just always seem to believe good about them
oh that's what charity is you endure all kinds of stuff well that's what charity is
that's how we're supposed to behave that's how we're supposed to act
go to second corinthians chapter number 13 go to second corinthians chapter 13 now
i i want to do something to help us remember okay and and i want to give a really big caveat
everything we're about to say is not true okay but i'm using i'm going to make up a scenario
and i and i just i want the scenario to help us recognize these differences okay and i'm
gonna i want some volunteers all right but i'm gonna try and handpick some of these okay
i want brent to come up on stage all right all right now here's the thing like i said
everything i'm about to say about brent is not true okay
this is just this is just this is just for example i love brent brent's a great guy
and that's why i picked him okay now let's say i came up to brent and i asked him how it's going
he's like hey i got a new car and i'm like that's cool what color is it he says it's white
and then i think you know i wonder why he bought a white car
you know i like that car it's a nice car maybe i'm a little envious of that white car
and i'm kind of just envious of brent and i'm thinking you know he probably bought a white
car because he doesn't like black things i don't even think he likes black people you know
and then uh you know i i need i need another volunteer ben you want to come down come on down
all right so i run into ben and we're just chatting and i'm trying to talk to ben about brent
and i'm like hey brent got a new car you know he got a cool white car come over here on this side
all right we're not hanging out with brent you know we're just we're just hanging out all right
we're going to the baseball game or whatever okay they have baseball in the middle east what do they
have they just stare at the sand or something sandcastle building i don't know all right this
is where rumors start okay i'm talking with i'm talking with ben and i say you know brent got a
new white car i think it's because he doesn't like black people and then ben hangs out with
another person dylan why don't you come on down all right
and ben and you know dylan they like to hang out with each other ben takes him to mcdonald's okay
it seems very realistic all right and so dylan's already kind of in a bad mood all right and and
ben starts talking with dylan he's sharing hey did you hear brent got a new car he's like yeah
you know what i also heard that brent hates black people
and then dylan hangs out with marcel come on down marcel okay
and you know they're playing baseball or something all right and they're just hanging out and they're
just playing and for some reason you know marcel is hanging out with brent the other day
and he brings him up he's like hey you see you got a new white car and dylan goes hey brother
i'm really concerned because i have to tell you something brent hates you
and so all that happened is brent told me he got a new car and it was white
i just kind of was mad about that i just decided to blow up my mouth and say i think he doesn't
like black people he interpreted that as that he hates black people then he interpreted that
he hates marcel and now all of a sudden marcel is like what's up with brent
okay and so you know what happened now all of these people are actually guilty of even railing
because they've just harkened to weird gossip and through the game of telephone and life circumstances
this is how it always happened things get misinterpreted misunderstood and usually it
started with some little bit of mistake and you know my mistake wasn't worthy of me getting
thrown out of church did you notice that i said i don't think that brent likes black people i
can't throw that person at a church for making that statement i could never do that because that's
not something that could be thrown out of church what happens is this person by spreading
information and growing and growing now it's gotten to a point where he just hates all black
people and of course we're applying that to marcel right so it gets really weird and then all of a
sudden marcel gets mad at brent they're no longer friends and they were friends brent likes marcel
okay he doesn't hate any black person in the in the in reality so okay you guys can go back and
sit down we're sitting here with with with ben all right okay he still likes black people okay
all right now let's say we we start over and i talk with brent and he tells me his white car
and the same thing i'm thinking you know what i kind of like that white car i wonder why he
got a white one i think i don't think he likes black people and so i come to ben i say you know
what did you see that brent got a new white car it's nice isn't it i think it's because he doesn't
like black people this is what ben should say where'd you hear that i don't know well why don't
we ask brent why don't we ask brent if he doesn't like black people or not and then ben says hey
brent i heard that you don't like black people is that true and he's like no of course i love them
i hang out with marcel and he's dominican okay all right whatever so i like hispanic and black
people mixed together okay i like them all he's my token everything friend he's my immigrant friend
he's my hispanic friend he's my black he's all of it right
and then and then you know what happened we didn't have dylan and marcel getting involved in railing
and all these kind of issues and then i kind of get embarrassed for even saying that and maybe
the next time i won't do that again maybe the next time i won't come to ben and think he's
my outlet to tell him all kinds of weird stuff or junk or whatever kind of an issue now
that was a scenario i want to i want to kind of play one other scenario i'm hanging out with brent
remember everything i'm saying is not true okay i'm hanging out with brent brent's like hey i
got a white car and i'm like that's cool he's like notice i didn't get a black one and i'm like okay
and he's like i don't like black people
and i'm like all right you know what that's kind of a jerky thing to say you know what i'm not
going to throw brent out for not liking black people if brent says i don't like marcel he's
not going to get thrown out for that but the person that's making a false accusation against
brent for saying that he said that when he didn't will get thrown out isn't that interesting why
because i won't throw out a jerk i won't throw out this person but i will throw out the person
throwing or making railing accusations against somebody now of course that's not true he wished
he'd bought a black car okay y'all can go sit down all right thank you you can sit down i just want
people to recognize there's a difference between these categories and again i'm not going to throw
someone out for being a jerk now i want to make something clear though that doesn't mean i won't
preach against you and i won't make it specific like he's calling your name but again i'm going
to preach about not being a jerk right and so here's the thing if you rail you get thrown out
if you gossip you're on thin ice and you you know better hope that you didn't say stuff that was not
true because then you're going to be moved to that other category and then thirdly if you're a jerk
you're going to be preached against okay so it's not like there's not consequences to all these
actions it's just different we're going to handle them a little bit differently and when it comes to
church you know some people get confused i am not going to police certain things i'm going to police
crimes so if someone has a bad view on health and does not take health advice that i give as
my personal opinion i am not going to do anything to that person i'm not going to call and be like
why did you take that medication why are you doing this you know if someone listens to bad
music i'm not going to call them up and be like what were you listening to if someone is manipulative
i'm not going to go and be like stop being manipulative if someone's a bad friend i'm not
going to be like hey stop being a bad friend of this person if someone eats indian food i'm not
going to do anything about it but i'm not going to eat with them either okay if someone's friend
with bad people i'm not going to do anything about it if someone visits bad churches i'm not
going to do anything to that person necessarily now i want to make it clear as i talk about this
list if someone's in a position of leadership they could be removed from leadership from making bad
decisions you could have a loss of privileges in the church and you could lose friends by doing
all the things that i'm saying you could be removed from leadership lose privileges lose
friends by doing these things but i'm not going to throw you out of church and get directly involved
okay if you make dumb videos i'm not going to get directly involved with that if you're watching
smut i'm not going to deal with that if you're a flat earther contrary to popular belief i'm not
going to throw you out for being a flat earther now i will mock you relentlessly from behind the
pulpit i will not get in your car you're not driving me anywhere because you'll drive off the
edge all right but i'm not going to throw that person at a church you know if women decide to
just get a job and go work and put their kids and child care and daycare and the public fool system
and don't care anything that i say or what the bible says about you know teaching their children
or staying home i'm not going to call them up and be like what are you doing not going to do it
if your kids are in public school i i'm not going to i'm going to love them and treat them nice
if you hire babysitters from care.com i am not going to call you and be like why are you hiring
that babysitter but why would you ever hire that babysitter you know i'm going to get up and preach
about it and say like look pedophiles are literally scowling these scouring these sites trying to
prey on people and it's happening all the time please never do this but i'm not going to call
and be like did you do it people can make mistakes people can make dumb decisions and i'm not going
to be there or care you could be vegan and i'm not going to do anything about it you could vote for
joe biden and i'm not going to do anything about it what do you want i mean you can deny the moon
landing still not going to do anything about it look if you want to be dumb be dumb if you want
to think stupid things think stupid things if people act bad okay we're all sinners i am not
the sin police i never want to be the sin police i'm not going to sin police myself okay folks you
know what when when we see someone sinning you know what we're supposed to do pray to god that
they'll get right and he'll be merciful to them that's what we're supposed to do now again in the
context of major sins huge big crossing the line issues like first corinthians 5 or capital crimes
or committing literal crimes you know what yeah we need to tell the authorities and the proper
channels if you report crimes to me i will tell the police i'm the last person to tell the like
of all the people you're going to tell committed a crime don't tell me because i will tell the
police you're like hey i killed this person hey police this person killed this person i might even
start recording okay like i'm not going to cover that up i'm not interested in those kind of things
but this person was mean i don't care revisit my sermon about jerks okay you can technically be a
jerk and come to my church now you'll probably feel really uncomfortable on lots of sermons
because i'm going to preach against being a jerk i'm going to compel people to be kind i'm going
to compel people to be sweet and have charity and to be nice and look this is not a sermon to say
like oh it's cool to do all those things never do those things never be that person you know my job
as a pastor is to rule the church this this situation is happening right now not your personal
life not your home not your family not your friendships i rule this zone what's happening
here right now as soon as this is over i'm done okay i'm just brother so-and-so just brother
shelly okay and it's in a lot of contexts all right now again i also am supposed to preach
the truth so i'm going to preach whatever the bible says on every issue and i'm going to make
seem really important but i'm not going to go around and you know enforce all that and i'm
going to try to be a good example of how to behave and what the bible says and sometimes i'll even
provide my personal opinion about specifics because i think that god wants me as a pastor
to make things plain and try to give really specific scenarios and make things clear and
sometimes that even verges into me giving a little bit of opinion here and there but you know what my
opinion is never more important than the bible it never triumphs that and when people don't do
what my personal opinion is you know what who cares i could be wrong even i don't think so
because i wouldn't say it if i thought i was wrong obviously okay but but at the end of the day you
know what i as the pastor want to make sure i'm doing what this says no more and no less
no more and no less and you know as a church we want to have unity we want to be having a safe
environment you know it's going to make our church feel safe when they feel like everybody's not cut
throat when they feel like even if they make a mistake someone is going to go share that with
everybody that they feel like even if someone doesn't like you you don't have to worry about
them saying all kinds of negative things about you that you can actually feel safe coming to
church you can be safe being friends with people and you know again this is not in this is not in
contrast or contradiction to other things that i've said obviously if you recognize hey i think
this person at church is toxic i think that this person's a bad person i have issues with this
person those are all fine to think those are all fine to share with your spouse they're all fine
to share with jesus but other than that don't talk bad about other people you know if you if
you just like man i just i'm just bursting to gossip well tell your spouse like you get you guys
get to share whatever you want with each other okay have fun you know just talk about all your
personal feelings and let it all out you guys are one flesh and you guys get to have whatever
personal opinion you want and to have but you know what don't go around telling other people
you know these kind of information and i'll say this if your spouse really struggles in
this area sometimes you should just even keep information from them just so they aren't tempted
to share it's like if you feel like hey i don't even know if i should be sharing this negative
thing i know about this person because my spouse really struggles in this area then don't even tell
them because frankly speaking we should try to protect each other from sinning and not helping
each other no salacious details but i'm just trying to be honest with you you know keep your
mouth people shouldn't know you guys don't know who i like and don't like necessarily because i
don't want to go around telling everybody my personal feelings about stuff you know i want
everybody to think that i'm their friend and generally i am there's not really like i hate
everybody in here or something like that okay i love everybody in this room and i i like everybody
virtually okay but if there was someone i didn't like you know what i'm not going to do hey ben i
don't like this person hey brent i don't like this person hey so-and-so i don't like this person i
don't want to go around and spread that how would you feel if that's what you heard pastor's been
going around telling everybody that they don't that he doesn't like you wouldn't that wouldn't
that suck wouldn't that be like a really disappointing thing to hear is if you heard that
and about anybody if you say hey i heard that ben doesn't like me or i heard that brother dylan
doesn't like me i heard even this i heard a five-year-old child didn't like me some people
get offended by that okay don't go around just spreading negative information if you don't like
someone keep it to yourself and you know the reason why this is important because sometimes
you change your mind and you you don't want to have burnt that bridge when there was a possibility
of y'all actually being friends in the future there's been people that i kind of didn't like at
first and then like later they grew on me and then i kind of like liked them later and you know
it would have been it would have been sad if i kind of burnt that relationship destroyed that
relationship before even giving it an opportunity because you can change your mind you can feel
differently about people people can surprise you maybe misinterpreted events and you know we want
to exhibit a lot of charity in this church please please please do not engage in gossip
tail-bearing railing and don't be a jerk and don't get confused if i handle these three people
differently because i will i'm going to handle all these three different people very differently
okay and i want people to be clear on that all right let's close in prayer thank you heavenly
father so much for giving us the word of god and giving us an opportunity to have church we have
such a great group of people and we have such a great spirit i pray that we wouldn't let ourselves
fall victim to tail-bearing and gossiping and railing and spreading negative information i
pray that you would help us all to have more discretion you'd help us all to have more charity
i pray that you would just help us to deal with negative situations better
and when someone's a jerk or mean or rude that instead of retaliating or rendering evil for evil
or railing for railing rather we would just turn the other cheek we would love that person we would
pray for that person we'd be kind to that person and i pray if there's anybody in this room or any
of us that are harboring ill will or negativity towards each other that we just let it go
that we give it up that we'd stop focusing on the on the negative and rather we just focus
on the positive things in our life in jesus name we pray amen all right let's sing our last song
then it looks like we're going to have a baptism or two this morning so let's stick around for that
let's turn to 449 dwelling in beulah land 449
dwelling in beulah land sing it out nice and loud 449
far away the noise of strife upon my ear is falling
and then i know the sins of earth he said on every hand
doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling
none of these shall move me from beulah land
i'm
on the mountain
underneath
the cloudless sky
i'm
drinking at the
fountain
and never
shall run dry
oh yes i'm
a man of
from a mountain
full supply
for i am
thank you
a land
far
below the storm
of doubt
upon the world is
beating
sons of men
in battle
on the enemy
will sail
save
am i within
the castle
of us were retreating
nothing that can
reach me
is beulah
land
i'm living
on the mountain
underneath the
cloudless sky
i'm drinking
at the fountain
and never
shall run dry
oh yes i'm
feasting on
the man of
from the mountain
full supply
for i am
welling gave you
a land
let
the stormy
breezes blow there
i cannot
alarm me
i am
shelter here
protected by
god's hand
here the sun
is always
shining here
is my hand on me
i
am safe forever
gave you
the land
i'm
living on the
mountain
underneath the
cloudless sky
i'm drinking
at the fountain
and never
shall run dry
yes i'm feasting
on the man of
from the mountain
full supply
for i am
welling gave you
a land
here
we hear
the words of god
i seek in
contemplation
here and now
his blessed
voices I seek
the way he
planned
welling in the
spirit here
a full salvation
that
we will
carry
with you
a land
i'm living
on the mountain
underneath the
cloudless sky
i'm drinking
at the fountain
and never
shall run dry
yes i'm feasting
on the man of
from the mountain
full supply
for i am
welling gave you
a land
we have a couple
baptisms this morning
and she thought it'd be
very special if evangelist
or bannock baptized her today
alright sister
graceland have you trusted christ as your savior
and i baptized you in the name of the
father son the holy ghost
buried in the life of the son of death
raise the walk in beautiful
thank you
we have salome coming
from baptism as well
salome have you trusted christ as your savior
then i baptized in the name of the father son
and holy ghost
buried in the length of his death
raise the walk in newness and life
make sure to congratulate our baptisms
you guys already missed
good job
you