Thanks for watching!
The Lord lifteth up the meek
Cast with the wicked down to the ground
Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving
Sing praise upon the harp of to our God
Who covereth the heaven with clouds
Who prepareth rain for the earth
Who will make it grass
Grass to grow upon the mountains
He giveth to the beast his food
And to the young ravens which cry
He delighteth not in the strength of a
For he taketh not pleasure in
The legs of a man the Lord taketh
Pleasure in them that fear him in those deaths
Hope in his mercy praise the Lord
O Jerusalem praise thy God
O Messiah praise the Lord O Jerusalem
For he hath strengthened the bars
Of thy gates he hath blessed
Thy children within me he maketh these
In thy borders and fill in me
With the finest of the weak he sendeth
For his commandment up on earth his work
Fronteth there he squarely giveth
Stone by gold he scatterth up
Or frost by ashes scatterth
Or frost by ashes he casteth forth
His eyes like more souls who can stand
Before his hope he sendeth out
His word and not to them he calls
And his wind to blow and the waters full
He shall win his word unto Jacob
In his statutes and his judgments unto him
To Israel he hath not dealt so with
Any nation and as for his judgments
They have not and praise he the Lord
As the offering plates are being passed around
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 14
Romans chapter number 14
Romans chapter 14
Romans 14 the Bible reads
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye
But not to doubtful disputations
For one believeth that he may eat all things
Another who is weak eateth herbs
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not
And let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth
For God hath received him
Who art thou that judgest another man's servant
To his own master he standeth or falleth
Yea he shall be holden up
For God is able to make him stand
One man esteemeth one day above another
Another esteemeth every day alike
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind
He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord
And he that regardeth not the day
To the Lord he doth not regard it
He that eateth eateth to the Lord
For he giveth God thanks
And he that eateth not to the Lord
He eateth not and giveth God thanks
For none of us liveth to himself
And no man dieth to himself
For whether we live we live unto the Lord
And whether we die we die unto the Lord
Whether we live therefore or die
We are the Lord's
For to this end Christ both died
And rose and revived that he might be
Lord both of the dead and living
But why dost thou judge thy brother
Or why dost thou set out not thy brother
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ
For it is written
As I live saith the Lord
Every knee shall bow to me
And every tongue shall confess to God
So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God
Let us not therefore judge one another any more
But judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block
Or an occasion to fall in his brother's way
I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus
That there is nothing unclean of itself
But to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean
To him it is unclean
But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat
Now walkest thou not charitably
Destroy not him with thy meat
For whom Christ died
Let not then your good be evil spoken of
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink
But righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost
For he that in these things serveth Christ
Is acceptable to God and approved of men
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace
And things wherewith one may edify another
For meat destroyed not the work of God
All things indeed are pure
But it is evil for that man who eateth with offense
It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine
Nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth
Or is offended or is made weak
Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself before God
Happy is he that condemneth not himself
And that thing which he alloweth
And he that doubteth is damned if he eat
Because he eateth not of faith
For whatsoever is not of faith is sin
Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for Romans chapter 14
And I thank you also, Lord, for the opportunity we have to listen to it
Be expounded tonight. I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit
And help him to explain the chapter to us, Lord
And keep us safe as we go our separate ways after the service
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen
Amen
So we're here in Romans chapter 14
And we've been kind of going through just different exhortations, instructions
For the Christian life
And a lot of what's been discussed in chapters 12 and 13
Is just kind of a lot of really clear things
Things that are instructions that we need to make sure that we're following
And when we kind of get into chapter 14
I think it's the apostle Paul
And of course obviously this is the Holy Ghost
But just giving us a little bit of a balance
To the Christian life
In the sense that some things in the Bible are just very clear
They're just a straightforward commandment
And then beyond that there's going to be some discretion
As far as the decisions and the choices that we make in our lives
Where it's not necessarily sin or not sin
But just what's the most expedient
What are our preferences
And what are our own personal convictions
And it's okay to have personal convictions
And personal convictions
And personal convictions I believe distinguish from sin
Is the fact that we're not deciding what's sin or not
It's when people go above sin
Or have their own personal standards that are above sin
That they for their household want to have
Some clear examples
You know the Bible talks about nakedness
And the nakedness is from the loins under the knee
Is basically what a garment or fabric should cover on a person
But what if someone just decides you know our personal convictions
Is we're going to make sure our garments go to the calf or something
Or go to mid-calf
Or sometimes people come up with these ideas
That they don't want their daughters to dress in a skirt that goes down to the knee
But rather all the way down to their calf
As a personal conviction
Meaning that it's not, according to the Bible, a sin to go to the knee
But rather as their personal conviction
They're just not comfortable going there
So they themselves want to have a different standard
Or another rule on top of this
You can see the Recubites
Their father is giving them or their grandfather is giving them instruction
Not to drink wine
That's not based on the Bible
Or if it's a sin or not
That's just a personal conviction or standard that they have
You know people in their own houses are going to have different rules
Different standards, different beliefs
That go above and beyond what the scripture just clearly states
And for that household that is fine
And there's nothing wrong with having personal convictions
I would argue that personal convictions are good in and of themselves
But what we don't want to do is force our personal convictions onto other individuals
Or we also don't want to take someone who has a personal conviction
And ridicule them, mock them, or despise them for their personal convictions
Because we have a different standard
So if someone decides that they are going to have a standard for the dress in their household
That exceeds yours
We shouldn't ridicule or mock that person for their personal conviction
But rather we should try to be peaceable and welcoming of that brother
And I think that's what the first verse is trying to tell us about
It says,
Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations
Now this verse is kind of a hard verse in my mind to just exegete exactly what it's saying
But I'm going to give you just my view of what it's trying to say in a real granular sense
But keep your finger here and go back to chapter 4 for a moment
Now many times in the Bible it'll say the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
So that gives us a little bit of an idea of what it could mean to be weak
Is that someone that's more prone to the flesh than prone to the spirit
Someone that's more tempted to do things in the flesh
Than someone who is able to actually overcome the flesh or crucify the flesh
You know you could look at someone who struggles with a particular sin
And you don't struggle with that sin
You could say that that person is quote weaker in that context
Meaning you know maybe someone in this church building they have zero temptation to drink alcohol
They just honestly they're just like you know I just really am not even tempted if I was around it
I'm not even enticed, it smells terrible, it looks terrible, it's expensive
I just don't want it right
Whereas other people in this room could say you know what unfortunately I made choices in my past
That have led me down a road where I am tempted by alcohol
It would cause me to potentially stumble if I was around that environment or around that situation
And just being honest that person is quote potentially a little bit weaker in that category right
That doesn't mean that they're physically weaker
It may not even necessarily mean that they're spiritually weaker
But in that context they're weaker because they have a proclivity to that particular sin
Also just someone that's maybe just not spiritual right
Someone that's been going to church for a long time, three times a week, going soul winning regularly
Is going to arguably be a little bit stronger of a Christian than someone that just got saved and just started going to church
They might be more tempted to get out of church, stop reading the Bible and not serving God
And they could therefore arguably be a little bit weaker
Look at Romans chapter 4 verse number 19
Here's the Bible bringing up weak
It says in being not weak in faith he considered not his own body now dead
When he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb
So this is talking about Abraham
We've already gone through this chapter
But notice it's saying he was not weak in faith
Meaning what?
That he was fully persuaded that the promises of God that he had delivered unto him
God was going to perform them and so therefore he was trusting God in that area of his life
Go back to Romans chapter number 14
So some people may be weak in certain areas of their life
They're not fully trusting God with their marriage
They're not fully trusting God with how many children they're going to have
They're not fully trusting God on tithing
They're not fully trusting God on church attendance
They're not fully trusting God in all these different areas
And you could argue they're a little bit weaker
Okay
Now in Romans chapter 14 because the context is a lot about food
I believe that the historical context has a little bit at play here as far as the understanding
You know, if you were in Rome at this point in time
There's a lot of pagans, there's a lot of false religion
And as a result of that, many of the meals were animals sacrificed unto false gods
Where the meat that was offered on the table
Whether that be, you know, bacon or whatever
Was literally offered to some kind of a false god
And so many of the meals are kind of considered unclean
There's a lot of different things at play here
And the apostle Paul addresses this in other epistles
He addresses this in 1 Corinthians
About if someone invites you over
And they basically just put a plate of steak, you know, on the table in front of you
Don't ask how that steak got there
That's basically what he's saying
He's saying don't ask how they butchered it
Don't ask if it was, you know, sacrificed to a false god
Just for content's sake
But if for some reason they bring up and they say
Hey, I just want to let you know this was offered to Zeus
Or I just want to let you know this is Diana's steak
You know, Diana, great of the Ephesians, right?
This is offered and sacrificed unto her
And we're worshiping Diana with this meat today
Well, then the apostle Paul is just saying
Well, at that point you need to refuse it
Because, you know, we shouldn't be eating meat sacrificed unto idols
But if he doesn't know and he doesn't ask
He has liberty to eat this meat
Because, frankly speaking, he makes it clear that
The meat itself is not like contaminated with demons or something
It's not like when it was sacrificed unto idols
Demons entered the steak body or the bacon
And now all of a sudden when you consume it
You're going to be consuming literal idolatry
But rather, you know, everything is kind of pure in and of itself
And so as long as you're eating and thanking God for that meal
There's no problem
But once it's been announced this is offered to a false god
Well, now there's a problem because
You shouldn't be having fellowship with devils
And with idols and false religion
And, of course, if you are in the presence of other believers or other persons
And you're eating a meal in sacrifice to a false god
They're going to get confused and think like
I thought you were a Christian
Like, why are you now eating this meal to a false god
That doesn't really make sense
And what could happen is maybe someone that's weaker in the faith
Or not really as strong in the faith
Could be tempted to say
Oh, well, if Paul's eating meat sacrificed unto idols
Then I can do that
And let's go hang out with this false religion
And let's join the pagan temples
And let's get involved with a lot of different demonic practices
And so that's kind of the context that we have here
But it also says that we're not supposed to receive them unto doubtful disputations
What does that mean?
Well, it's kind of a phrase used once in the Bible
Okay
What is doubtful?
Something that's unknowable, uncertain, not really clear
What is a disputation?
Well, if you just think about kind of the root word
How about dispute?
You're having an argument, right?
So it's like an uncertain argument
Or not a very clear argument
So I think what it's trying to communicate is this
If there's people in our church that are not the most strong Christians
They're not the most zealous
They're not necessarily the best Christians
It's okay to hang out with them
In fact, do hang out with them, right?
Someone that's brand new to church
Go have a meal with them
Go hang out with them
Fellowship with them
Do things with them, right?
But do not include people that are weak in the faith
In an activity that you know would cause them a problem, right?
And he's going to give us a lot of different scenarios here
But look at verse 2
For one believeth that he may eat all things
Another who is weak eateth herbs
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not
And let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth
For God hath received him
So if someone just had a personal conviction and say
You know what? I don't eat red meat
And in fact I'm kind of offended at people that eat red meat
Well then don't say like
Hey, we're having a barbecue at our house
You need to come over
Right? Because now you're kind of like insulting the person
Because in a sense you already know that they don't like that
And you say, well what's the big deal?
The Bible says that there's nothing unclean of itself
You're right, okay?
It's not that you're wrong
But at the same time you shouldn't just kind of throw it in people's faces
When they're wrong on these issues
Or maybe they have a personal conviction
Because is there anything wrong with never eating red meat?
From a sinful perspective there's not
Like you could serve God to your fullest
And never eat red meat ever in your life
Now are you going to be a little weaker?
Yeah, you're going to be a little weaker
Physically, for sure
And then of course from a spiritual perspective
It's saying that you're a little bit weaker in the sense that
Why do you have this particular standard
That's not necessarily required
And in the sense that you don't have to have this standard
You're kind of creating this boundary
That you don't have to
And so it's kind of viewing this person as maybe being a little bit weaker
Someone that's stronger in their faith
Says, you know what, I don't have a problem eating this
There's nothing wrong with it
And of course when we talk about the difference between
Kosher diet and non-kosher
This is like a Judaism type term
But specifically the Bible
In the Old Testament they had dietary restrictions on certain animals
And I'm sure some Jews struggled with the idea of ever eating bacon
Or ever eating pork
Or ever eating some of these other animals
So if they just said, you know what, I know that
You guys are doing this
But I'm not going to do it
I don't want to partake in that kind of meal
And I don't invite them over for a pork barbecue
Because then that's kind of like
Causing them a problem
It's causing you a problem
And then notice what it's saying in verse 3
Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not
So, hey, how dare you not eat this
I'm better than you
Or whatever could be the conflict here
Thinking that you're somehow better than someone
Because you eat stuff that they don't eat
Or vice versa
And, you know, in our context
I think that this is not very common
Like there's probably not a lot of scenarios
For us in this room
Where we run into this exact scenario
But I'm just trying to give you an idea of what this is saying
And then we'll make some applications for us
But in general
What I believe is just trying to communicate
Is when someone has a personal conviction
Or they have a standard
That's different than yours
And you're aware of this
Then try not to rub their nose in it
Try not to cause a conflict
Don't invite them to that particular event
Knowing that they might be offended
And don't look down upon them
For having that event either
If someone has a personal conviction
You know, let's say again
You say, well, we're going to wear dresses and skirts
Down to our calves
Well, then don't despise the people in the church
That wear it to the knee, though
Don't look at them and say, well, they're wicked now
Because they have a different standard
You know, we should not stand in judgment
Of our brothers and sisters in Christ
On doubtful disputations
Meaning things that are personal convictions
Personal standards or personal ways of life
You know, some people may look at someone wearing a shirt
And say, oh, that Nike shirt
Well, did you know Nike donated money
To this horrible thing
And it's like, I'm sure they did
And it's like, Nikes are related to like some false pagan god
And, you know, so I think that you're a pagan worshiper
Because you're wearing a Nike shirt
This is just, it starts getting pedantic
And it starts getting weird
And sometimes people are like this, though
About different topics
And as we get in this chapter, it gives a couple of other examples
What does it say in verse 5?
One man, I'm sorry, verse 4
Who art thou that judges another man's servant?
To his own master he stand of their fall
For God is able to make him stand
One man esteemeth one day above another
Another esteemeth every day alike
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind
He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord
And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord
He doth not regard it
He that eateth eateth to the Lord
For he giveth God thanks
And he that eateth not to the Lord
He eateth not and giveth God thanks
For none of us liveth to himself
And no man dieth to himself
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord
And whether we die, we die unto the Lord
Whether we live, therefore, or die
We are the Lord's
For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived
That he might be Lord both of the dead and the living
But why dost thou judge thy brother?
Or why dost thou set it not thy brother?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ
So, kind of what the Apostle Paul is bringing up
Is this idea of, hey, if some guy is saying
I'm not going to eat this because I want to serve God
And then the other guy says, I am going to eat this
Because I'm thankful unto God
Who are you to judge that person
In doubtful disputations
Because we're both the Lord's servants
And it's not really right
For us to become the judge
Us to become the master
When Christ is ultimately the master
And so, what the Bible is really trying to hammer in
Is the fact that not every disagreement
Needs to even be had
You've probably heard this phrase
Let's agree to disagree
You know, you probably hear this all the time, right?
I believe that's true
But in some contexts, right?
What is the context of Romans chapter number 14?
Doubtful disputations
It's not saying, well, you think that murder is okay
And I don't, so we'll just agree to disagree
Wrong, okay?
That person needs to be rebuked, okay?
The Bible is really clear in Leviticus chapter 19
We're not supposed to hate our brother in our heart
And we're supposed to rebuke thy neighbor
And not suffer sin upon him
So when we're in the context of sin
When we're in the context of right and wrong
You know what? We need to judge
We need to make sure that we're helping our brothers and sisters in Christ
Be right with God
There's a time and a place to rebuke your neighbor
There's a time and a place to correct them
And of course we should do it with meekness
We should do it in the context of not being hypocrites
When we do it
But in this context it's saying there's gonna be some things in life
That you need to just be okay disagreeing on
Saying, you know what?
I firmly believe you're wrong
But it's not a sin issue
Therefore I'm not gonna talk to you
I'm not gonna condemn you
I'm not gonna look down upon you
I'm not gonna treat you any differently
And it's totally cool that we disagree on this, okay?
What is the example it brings up?
Holidays
Now, what does holiday even mean?
Well, the root is holly like holy and day
What is holy? Set apart
That's simply what a holiday is
It's a day that's set apart
What does that mean? You're making it special, right?
A birthday is making a day special for a person
You're just setting that day and saying
We're gonna treat this person different because it's their birthday
Where we could have a lot of holidays that are kind of an American culture thing
We have Thanksgiving is kind of a traditional holiday in America
We have Easter, we have Christmas
We have a lot of different holidays that are kind of traditional
There's some holidays like Martin Luther King Jr. Day
And some people set that apart
Now, you know, I don't celebrate that day
Because I don't celebrate adulterers and false prophets
But at the end of the day
Some people are gonna celebrate some days
Some people are not
I pretty much celebrate all the traditional holidays
Me and my family, we love Thanksgiving
In fact, I think it's my wife's favorite holiday
She just really loves Thanksgiving
And I get it
It's a great time, great meal
Although she wants me to cook brisket or something for her
Albeit, she loves Thanksgiving
It's really special to her
She loves the fall
Of course, I've always enjoyed Christmas
Christmas was a lot of fun growing up as a child
I loved the candlelight services at church
Growing up, that was really special to me
And you know, some people think like
How dare you celebrate that pagan holiday Christmas
And I'm thinking like, it's called Christ
You know, Christ-mas
How is that pagan, right?
Well, they'll say, well, if you go back in these origins
Back in this, you know, 1400s, 1500s
I don't care
Because you know what, I'm not doing
Well, you have to understand, trees are pagan
God created trees, folks, okay
And of course, the Apostle Paul is saying
Hey, nothing is like evil
Everything's pure in and of itself
Well, God would never decorate with trees
He decorates the temple with trees, okay
They're literally taking palm branches
And laying them down before Christ
As he enters into the heavenly Jerusalem
And in fact, one of the main decorations
Of the new heaven and the new earth
It's a tree
It's called the tree of life
How am I supposed to think that trees are pagan
And that trees are evil
When the tree is the most common
Representation of Christ himself
Like, what is the most common
Picture of Christ in the Bible
I mean, it starts with the tree of life
It ends with the tree of life
He's hung on a tree
It's on the cross of Calvary
I mean, a tree is such an important symbol
In the Christian Bible
In the Christian faith of the Lord Jesus Christ
And now I'm not allowed to celebrate Christmas
Because trees are pagan
You're weak, okay
You're weak in the faith
Again, here's the thing
If someone comes up to me and says
I don't celebrate Christmas
You know what I'm not going to do?
Well, you're an idiot
I'm not going to say that, okay
I don't even despise that person
Great, no problem
You don't have to celebrate Christmas
I'm not celebrating Christmas
I'm not going to get mad at you for not celebrating Christmas
And if you tell me you're not going to celebrate Christmas
You know what I'm not going to do?
We're having a Christmas party, you want to come over?
Right, because then that's
Now I'm kind of like receiving this weaker brother
Into a doubtful disputation
And now we're going to have arguments about Christmas
And it's like, that's not profitable
Is it really profitable
If Christianity
Basically just gets broken down
On whether or not we should celebrate Christmas
We should just not even have that discussion ever
It's like, I'm going to do it
If you don't want to do it
Do whatever you want
And if you say I'm going to celebrate this weird holiday
From Asia
Go for it
But I'm not going to do it
You're going to celebrate Cinco de Mayo
Do whatever you want
But I don't have to do that
You're going to celebrate some British holiday
Well, we already separated from you
So I don't want anything to do with that
I'm mad at you for celebrating that
You can do whatever you want
Now of course there's some holidays
That are inherently sinful
Right, like there's some holidays
That are literally worshipping the devil
Or death or something evil
And yeah, I think there's a time and a place
To talk about that
But, you know, is it
Oh, on October 31st you're going to have a chili cook-off
Well, we're not celebrating the devil
On that day though
We're doing our own thing, right
Well, we're going to do whatever we want
We're going to celebrate chili
And we're going to be thankful
unto God who gave us meat
And we're going to be doubly thankful
Because we're not going to put beans in it
We're going to put meat
So that's just like extra thankful to God
For good food
For the fact that we live in a country that has meat
You know, there's so many people in the world today
That don't have
Beanless chili because they're poor
Like it's not because they wouldn't want it
They know that's the right doctrine
They're very godly
But they just can't afford it
They couldn't have it
And so like we're having it for them
And we're being thankful to God for it
But what if someone said, you know what
I think that meat and chili is a wicked abomination
Well, don't come to the chili cook-off
Okay
That's fine
You can do whatever you want
You know, but what we're going to do
Is we're going to have that party, right
People do their own thing
People have their own idea
Some religions will teach that you can't even have a birthday celebration
I think this is like Jehovah's Witnesses
And I think they really just don't celebrate any holidays at all
They think that they're all bad or something
You know, again
If people celebrate birthdays
And it's like the biggest deal ever
Or some people say like, we're not even going to really celebrate birthdays
Because it's not that big a deal
Who cares?
You know, and like for me personally
I could never celebrate another birthday
And be totally fine
I just really don't even care anymore
You know, and I'm saying for me
But I celebrate birthdays because it's important to my wife
Or my kids
Or other people
And there's nothing wrong with that either
And it's sometimes just an excuse to hang out
And that's fine too, right
But if someone's like, I really hate birthdays
I'm not going to invite them to my birthday party
Right
Because there's no point
And just rubbing people the wrong way
And if people say
Well I think that birthdays are prideful
And I don't do them because
I don't want to be prideful
And I'm going to serve God by not having birthdays
Well okay, have your view
And we will make sure to never invite you to anything, okay
But is that really wrong
Like, are you really going to be in heaven
And be like, you're not going to get as many rewards
Because you didn't celebrate birthdays
No
I'm not saying one day above another
If he's fully persuaded, let him do his own thing
If another guy's fully persuaded, let them do their own thing
And you know what, I'm not against holidays
I think that you can have your own
If you just want to have your own special day
Where you just celebrate your family
How about just celebrate family pride
Go for it, you know
I might even join
But at the end of the day, let's not be mad at each other
Over holidays
You know, I'm going to be mad that you're arguing about it
Not mad about which position you're on
Okay
And of course the Bible is saying
Let us not do this
Let us not destroy someone's faith
Or have a controversy
Or get mad at each other
Because of what days people celebrate
Or how they treat the holidays
Or what they do for the holidays
Or their traditions
Or whatever
Who cares
Some people have ham on Christmas
I don't like ham
So you have ham and off steak or something
Some people have enchiladas on Christmas
And I'm thinking, what are you?
This is America
No, I'm just kidding
I like enchiladas, so I'm not against that
I'm just saying, cultural appropriation
I mean, come on
Feliz Navidad, what is this?
No, I'm just kidding
But hey, you go for it
Some people have turducken
They put like, turkey
Like turkey, deer
And what is the other one?
Dove, yeah, it's like turducken
I've heard about this
What is this?
That sounds weird
You know why they have to do that?
Because nothing compete with steak
They're like, let's put a bunch of animals together
And it still didn't work
Alright
But I'm not against you having your own
celebrations
But don't be against me for my celebrations
But if someone is really kind of
has an aversion
or has some kind of a personal preference
against something that you're doing
Don't include them in that, right?
Include them in the things where there's not going to be conflict
And on the things that you know
there's going to be conflict
Don't invite them
Don't have them over
Don't try to cause problems on purpose
And don't then look down upon them
Don't look at it as an opportunity to preach to them
the Bible and preach to your personal convictions
Try to convince everybody to be on your side
of an argument
No, he's saying like, let Christ judge that person
And you be fully sufficient
that you're going to be persuaded
to be able to talk to Christ about your decisions
Right?
But we're not in the context of sin again
When we're not in the context of sin
Drop it
Quit worrying about this stuff
Don't make extra controversy
Just do your own thing
And make sure that when you're judging someone
there's a really good reason to do it
Right? Make sure that you're not a hypocrite
Make sure it's a clear-cut sin issue
before you open your mouth
If you're not sure on it
it's a doubtful dispute, just keep your mouth shut
Right? And just judge yourself
This is how we'll have a successful church
when we're not quick to just
get on each other's cases
cause a lot of controversy
constantly rubbing people the wrong way
And again, Christ died for this person
Christ loves this person
They're Christ's servant
and so we should look at them with honor and respect
Some people take this phrase
a little too far of like
God's not a respecter of persons
that we shouldn't show each other respect
or honor or something
It's like, well I'm not a respecter of persons
so I don't care if you're a pastor or saved
or a brother in Christ
That's a dumb attitude
The Bible is saying that we're supposed to show honor one to another
So how do you reconcile that?
What it's trying to say
is that God is not
elevating certain groups of people
above others based on some
arbitrary distinction
They're from Israel
God's not a respecter of persons in that category
But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't
show each other respect and
honor and that there isn't positions
of respect and honor in a household
and that a child shouldn't look at their parents
with respect and with honor and with
dignity and that you shouldn't treat
saved people with honor and respect
But of course you should
And that's just silly
So we should honor and respect one another
when we have personal convictions
that are not
clearly violating the Bible
If someone's not clearly violating the Bible
leave them alone
Who cares?
To get specific on this
what I've noticed
is that people want to pick
on other churches
and the old I of B
on things that are not in the Bible
And they'll get really mad
about things that
other churches are doing
that are not in the Bible
on either side of the equation and then acting like
they're superior because of their personal convictions
Okay?
Like, specifically when we talk about the
old I of B
a lot of people hate on the old I of B
for their own personal convictions
not things that are clear in the Bible
And look, I'm all for
having standards, having
personal convictions
You know, there's some things in our church
that we do that are different than other
independent Baptist churches
And you know why? Because we're independent
Baptist churches
And I'm not going to hold them
to my personal convictions
You know, what are some things like this?
How about special music?
Who's been to an old I of B church and heard special music?
Alright, hands all over the, yeah
If you say, I don't know if I've heard it
then you haven't heard it, okay?
You know if you've heard it, right?
What is special music? Basically, special music
is just a common thing
where they'll have somebody from the congregation
get up and just sing a solo
sometimes they'll have a duet
or a quartet
or maybe even a choir special, okay?
It's kind of all over the board, sometimes they'll have an instrumental
special. Arguably
we kind of have that in the
offertory, we have an offertory special, right?
Right between the Bible reading
and that third song
I have our instrumentalists
play one verse of a song
just kind of as a change of pace
give people time to turn to their
Bibles, people, you know
handle tithe money
or the offering or something like that
and so that's just a decision I made
Is that wicked and evil
because I did that? No
What if a church says, you know, we're going to have
one of the best singers in our church get up and sing
a song under the Lord. Is that evil and wicked?
No
How is that evil or wicked? That's their personal preference
Now, I lean towards just not having
much of that. I would never
say though that I would never do it
because maybe we would one day. Maybe if we got to have
a really big church and we have some really talented
singers or some really talented choir
maybe every once in a while we would have
that or, you know, some churches
will have a choir special for Christmas
or something like that. Am I going to really
get up and say like, you guys are super evil
and wicked for having special music?
No. But, you know,
for my personal preference
I've been to churches where you have
like four specials in a row
you like, you sing, then
you have announcements, then you have a special, then you have a sing
and then you have another special and then like another special
and then another special and it's like I've been here for
40 minutes and then by the time
we're done with all that we get a sermon for about
10 minutes and I'm thinking
like I'd rather like reduce the
specials and get a little bit more
preaching. And that's my personal
preference. But you know what I'm not going to do?
Well this church is wicked because
they have so much special music and they don't have more
preaching. No, that's just your
personal preference, okay?
Look, I really have
strong feelings about this and I believe
that what we're doing is superior
but I'm not going to judge
another church for having more
music and less preaching than us.
Having a different balance or having
a different perspective. You know,
also I think a lot of special music,
sometimes people are getting up there for the wrong
reason. Like they're getting up there
and they're just kind of trying to showboat a little bit.
Okay? So
could there be some bad
special music motives? There could be.
But is that going to mean, hey, everybody's
ever saying special music is wicked and evil?
No. Some churches
have other ministries that we don't
have. They have Sunday school.
Now look, I'm not
a proponent for Sunday school. I don't want to have
Sunday school. I don't believe that we probably
ever will have Sunday school, okay?
But if there's a church that I was going to
that had Sunday school,
I'd probably go to the Sunday school.
And, you know,
I did. Like it's not even like
a hypothetical like I would.
Like I literally did go to an old IB church
and I literally showed up for the Sunday school
classes. And then I also
went to the main service. So it's not like something that I'm
saying that I might do. I
have literally done it. And you know
what I wouldn't do is I wouldn't be like this church
is wicked as hell because they have Sunday
school. That's a
personal conviction. And you know
what's silly? It's silly
that there's so many problems in the world
today. There's so many enemies
in the world today that I'm going to pick
a fight with churches because
they have Sunday school or not.
Now look, some Sunday school
they have women getting up and teaching
men. You know what I would say?
That's unbiblical. Now that's across
the line where I would say you know that's just not even
right. We shouldn't have women getting up and teaching
men in the Sunday school. That doesn't
even seem biblical. So I think
you should eliminate that practice.
Right. But is that. Can I just then say
carte blanche Sunday school is evil
or wicked. No. And you know what I bet
a lot of people in this world have gotten
saved in a Sunday school class.
So am I going to sit here and say
like how dare Sunday school ever
exist because it
show me the Bible says Sunday school
okay well show me the Bible where it says don't have Sunday
school.
Riddle me that one. And again
this is where we start getting into doubtful
disputations right. Here's another
one. How about bus routes.
Now look
we don't have a bus route.
But you know what there has been people that have emailed
our church and said hey I don't have a
ride because someone gave me a ride and someone
goes in the church van and picks them up and brings
them to church. How wicked
you know. How
evil. Right. And
how dare someone
take a bit even bigger vehicle
and get a lot of people
and bring them to church. I mean can
the horror. Right.
I mean how dare. Can't you think of all
the clear commandments in the Bible says thou
shall not bring a bunch of people to church at
one time.
I don't remember that passage in Scripture.
OK. Now look
when we talk about bus
I've known people that
are really really great people
that have run best routes.
There's people in this room that have run bus routes.
Do I think that every single person
that's ever run a bus route is wicked.
No. Now have there
been bad people that have run bus routes.
Yes. Have sometimes bus
routes turn into a headache or nightmare for a
church. Yes. Do I really
want to do a bus route.
Probably not. Especially if
I'm just picking up kids without
their parents. But
what if we go into some of these poor neighborhoods
and just picked up the whole family and brought
whole families to church. Are you going to really
condemn our church for
having bus routes.
That seems silly. And that would be the same logic
as to say well there's bad pastors
out there therefore every pastor is bad.
There's bad churches out there
therefore every church is bad. There's been
bus route drivers out there
therefore all bus route drivers are bad.
You know this is a bad type of logic.
And again if
our church says well we're not going to have bus routes
we shouldn't be damming
churches that do.
And then churches that do have bus routes
shouldn't then be damming churches that
don't have bus routes. Being like
how dare you not go out and bus the kids
in and try to reach your community.
Well you know what. Not everybody has the
same budget. The same scenario.
The same ministries. The same
personnel. The same vision.
Why are we going to sit here
and just judge one another
and judge other churches
based on our own personal convictions
that is not biblical.
Why do I have
to get mad? And you know some people
even get mad at Christians for
going to Old Ivy churches. Like
somehow they're a worse Christian.
Like oh I can't I could never
go to a church that's pre-trib.
You weren't
even saved two years ago. Get over
yourself.
You don't even know what that means.
Like come on.
Like some people they
act so big and tough like
I would never do this or whatever.
And they if we examine their life
they got serious issues.
It's like they're sitting here and nitpicking
the qualifications of a bishop
while their wife's in pants.
And I'm sitting here thinking like who are you to judge?
Right?
And of course there's all these you know
people online and
people out there that are just so quick to judge
and they do it by tearing
other people down because they want to lift themselves up.
And when you're
helping your brother realize hey this is a sin
please don't do it. I love
you. This is wrong. That's
not an effort to build yourself up. That's
you genuinely caring about someone and loving
them and trying to help them. And you're trying to build
them up. But when you're taking someone
that's not sinning that
has a different personal conviction and you're
trying to just tear them
down that's trying you to just build
yourself up because you're prideful.
It's pride that says I'm better
than you based on something that's not even in the Bible.
You know that's just not the attitude we should
have as Christians. We should love one another.
We should love our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And you know what I believe there's thousands
and thousands of Christians
in this country that go through a quote old
IAB church and how dare
someone hate those people.
Well they're pre-tribbed. They must hate
the Bible. No you hate the
Bible for hating on your brother in Christ.
Well they must not
read the Bible. Well it sounds like you don't read the Bible
since you're ignoring Romans chapter number
14. You're ignoring the fact that you're
supposed to love your brother and sister in Christ.
You're ignoring the fact that the Bible talks about
rebuke not an elder. You're ignoring all
kinds of clear passages in the Bible and
pontificating about how much you love it.
You know what and there's so many people
that just think they're so much better than everybody
else and it's sickening.
It's garbage.
And they hear hard preaching and they don't know
how to do it themselves so they just tear other
people down in an effort to be
a hard preacher. Look when you're a
harder preacher than Pastor Anderson it's fake.
It's just
fake. They want to be cool
and you know what stop trying because
you're not cool anyways. Just be yourself.
If you want to be cool be
yourself. You're actually cool
as yourself. You're not cool when you
try to be something that you're not.
And you know
people like differences.
You know what would not
be cool is when I go
to a restaurant and they're like hey we're from
Italy. Our grandmother
was from Italy. We have
a million recipes for
some of the most amazing dishes. Pasta
ravioli
everything.
But you know the only thing we have on the menu
is Asian food.
It's like
why? Well we just
want to do Asian food. It's like
dude do Italian food.
Like that's cool.
Be you right? And then you meet someone
who's like we're from China
and we have all these Chinese recipes on
egg rolls and dumplings and whatever
and it's like then make Chinese food
right? It's cool that you're
being yourself. But don't be
someone that you're not.
And it's okay if people
are different. Hey if you're the best old
IFB out there doing the bus route
and doing your Sunday school thing
and you got all these special music and whatever
you know what? God bless you and
reach those people.
And be the best version of you that you can
right? But let us not sit here
and just condemn everyone that's
not like us. Not
everybody's going to be like us. Not everybody
wants to be us. Let them be
them. And if someone says
you know what? I'm going to be a blessing in this church
even though they have issues. You know what? Don't look
down upon that person or hate that person
or think that they're well they're just not
hardcore. You know
because they don't go to our
church or my church or they don't like
my sermons or whatever. You know
he's a weaker brother.
No you know you just don't really understand
humility do you?
And we need to make sure to check
ourselves and test ourselves
and make sure that what we're saying is even right.
And look I'm not saying that
hey let's not criticize
false doctrine. Let's do right?
Hey I'll preach sermons on how the preacher rapture
is false. I'll preach sermons on
you know issues that other people have
sin. Let's talk about it right?
We shouldn't shy away from sin. We shouldn't
shy away from correcting people. But
let's not unfairly criticize
individuals when we're not
talking about sin issues.
We're not talking about things that are clearly outlined
in the Bible good or bad. That's just
your personal conviction. If you have a personal
conviction you say I think all
Bible college is wicked and evil
then okay don't go to Bible college.
You know what? Don't just sit here and say
that everything about Bible college is super
evil and wicked because of your personal
conviction. Because you know what? There are some
Bible colleges that are under the authority of a local
church and what's wrong with the local
church teaching and training men to become
pastors? What do they
call it? Church
college instruction
institute
men's preaching class.
Like what's the difference folks?
Get over the labels
and don't get so pedantic
about things that aren't
clearly sin or not.
This is the whole essence of this chapter.
And don't let us have
Christianity devolve into
this competition
of whose personal convictions are the best
personal convictions. Let everybody be
unique. Let everybody
decide their own things. We have
enough clear commandments.
Don't add your list to it.
Right? Like there's already
so much in here you're not doing.
We don't need to worry about all the extra things.
Okay?
There's plenty that we have to work on.
Alright? We don't
need your extra special list that you're
going to, you know, note
tab in here. Right?
If we keep reading, it
says in verse number
11, it says,
For it is written, As I live, say to the Lord,
Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue
shall confess to God. So then
every one of us shall give account
of himself to God. Look, you're
going to get all the time you want
to explain these things to God.
So buckle up, buttercup.
Okay? And look, that terrifies
me. You know, I don't look at
this verse and think like, I'm ready.
Got this. I'm thinking like,
man, that's a scary thing.
I'm going to have to stand before
God, and I'm going to have to give an
account of the things that I did. That should
make us fear the Lord. And that
should motivate us to make really good decisions.
And it should motivate us not to be such
a hypocrite
and judge everybody else
so pedantically. Because
you know what? God often talks about how we're
going to be judged the way that we judge other people.
So you know what? I want to be really gracious
towards others so that God
will be really gracious when he judges me.
You know, I don't want to be this like
ultra critical person
and hold everybody's feet to the
fire because then when God does that to me,
it's going to hurt.
I'm not perfect. I have
issues. I don't do everything right.
And you know, I'm not wanting to sit here
and let's examine
Pastor Shelley's life real quick. Let's get the
microscope on him and
see every single thing he said, thought,
did, wore,
ate. It's like,
wow, that sounds
terrifying. And the person
that is like, I'll do it right now
is a lying fake.
OK, no one
that is sincere wants that
to happen. OK, so let us not
treat other individuals like this
and hold everybody under the microscope
when we ourselves
would be terrified of such a thing.
Verse 13, let us not therefore
judge one another
anymore. Now again,
some people love to just take this verse out of context.
Oh, never judge
anybody ever again.
Is that is that really what we said or the context?
No, no, no. We're talking about
in this context of doubtful disputations,
personal convictions, this
don't judge in this category, right?
But judge this rather
notice the next verse. But judge this
is like, hey, don't judge anymore.
But wait a minute. Judge.
So again, don't just take one
verse out of the Bible and run with it like judge
not and then just run
because then in the next breath, he's like telling you
to judge. Jesus Christ has said
judge not according to the parents, but judge
righteous judgment. So, of course,
the Bible doesn't say just stop judging.
It's like, let's be careful
how we judge. Let's not be hypocrites when
we judge and let's not judge things that are personal
convictions. But what should we judge this rather
that no man put a stumbling block
or an occasion of fall on his brother's
way. So here's something that we should
judge. If we notice someone
putting stumbling blocks
in someone else's way,
we should try to correct that issue.
We should say, hey, look, this guy
doesn't believe in Christmas. Leave him alone.
Right. Because if this guy is trying
to hurt someone or cause someone
to stumble or cause some kind of an issue,
we should make sure that we're not allowing
that to happen. If they say, hey, they
don't like this food or they don't
want to participate in this activity.
Okay, let them do that
or don't do that or whatever
the scenario is. But let's make sure
that we're not putting stumbling blocks and causing
people to be
offended. Like I've heard
I didn't witness it, but I've had multiple
witnesses tell me that in Jacksonville,
you couldn't have a microwave in
church. Okay.
Now, now here's the thing. That's weird.
If someone had that personal conviction,
okay, but what if you have a new person
coming to church and
they're like, yeah, sometimes we
just microwave our dinner and like how
wicked
you microwave your food.
That's like, that's like putting
Satan's, you know,
microwaves into your food or something.
And it's like, then that person's like, I don't even want
to be a Christian because I can't even use a
microwave. Okay.
And now all of a sudden you're putting this weird stumbling
block on people
out of a bizarre personal conviction
that has nothing to do with the Bible.
Now, look, I've
heard some people say, I don't want to have a microwave
because I don't
want my wife to get lazy.
I want her to have to actually cook every meal on the
stove or the oven so that
you know, we'll have higher quality
meals. She won't be as lazy
and we're going to have better quality food.
And you know what? That's my personal conviction.
Go for it.
I agree with your logic. There's nothing even wrong
with that. But you know what? If that's
not your family, okay.
Right. Am I going to then be like,
well, your wife's wicked because she uses a
microwave. It's like, no, that's
we have a microwave over here. Okay, folks.
Now you say, I hate microwaves. Just don't
go over there. All right. Don't even
look. Just, you know, okay.
But but at the end of the day, like
we don't want to
constantly upset one another
over stupid things that aren't
in the Bible, that aren't
a clear commandment, that aren't
this doubtful disputation.
You know, we want to make sure
that we're not putting these stumbling
blocks on each other.
Well, Pastor Shelley, you know,
you got to wear a garment that covers
your elbows because that's your nakedness
and you're causing people to stumble. That's
stupid. Okay.
Again, it's always these
hyper spiritual types that have these rules, isn't
it? And they always seem to be wicked
and they always seem to push their personal convictions
on people because they're not actually
spiritual and they have to pretend
like they are. So they come up with new rules
that aren't in the Bible and then they push them on everybody
else and just
mark it down. These people are almost always
very evil, very wicked
when people are pushing their personal convictions
that are not found in the scripture,
not found in the Bible.
You know what? We need to stick to the Bible
and not let our personal
convictions cause
people all these issues and cause
people to stumble and cause people
to get offended. And if someone
says, you know,
I don't want to participate in
this particular activity because I think that
it's sinful and
you realize it's not,
well, don't try to do that
in front of them or
try to cause them to think that, you know,
you don't take Christianity seriously.
You know, that's what possible is kind of bringing up
about the eating meat sacrifice and
idols. And I think
some people, they, you know, they get
confused. And I've heard this
like in the job market area. Well, they'll say,
well, I don't want to work for this company
because this company seems really
evil. But, you know, when you start playing
that game, you pretty much can't
work anywhere pretty soon.
And so, you know, but
someone could just genuinely say, like, I just don't want to
work for this company because I personally have
taken offense to them. Or like, I don't like
their, you know,
policy or I don't like their business model
or whatever. I find it really,
you know, convicting
to me to not work for them.
And they see you working for them,
you know, it could cause them
to possibly have a different view.
How can this guy participate
in this activity, you know,
that I think so sinful? Well, you know,
I'm not saying quit your job
just to protect this weaker brother.
What I am saying is don't rub your nose in it
and don't like try to
bring this guy into a workplace environment
that they feel uncomfortable with. Right.
Like, I'll just give you an example. I work
for a company and they would have like
alcohol at their
events and I would go
and I would just eat the dinner. I wouldn't drink the
alcohol. Okay. But
if I knew somebody in my church
that also worked in that same company
and they struggle with alcohol,
I would be like not trying to encourage
that person to go to that party
because I wouldn't want to put a stumbling block in front
of them, even though I feel like, you know,
I'm not going to have an issue here and it's not a problem
and I'll, you know, go
and I'll just ignore what's going on.
But if this person I know
is going to struggle with this more
or is weaker in the faith or
maybe even just him
knowing that I'm going to go is going to
cause them to go and then they're going to be in a bad
spot, maybe I just won't go to that party
just to help that brother in
Christ. Right. But basically just think
about other people, care about
them, try to make sure that you're not always
worried about yourself
and if you know your brother and sister is weaker
then don't do that for them.
Right. What if it's your spouse?
What if your spouse struggles with
drinking?
Well, then don't
take them to the family party
where there's going to be alcohol and you know they're
going to be tempted, right?
And say, well, even though I want to be there
like you ladies, if
your husband struggles with drinking
and you want to go back home to see your family
but you're going to put your husband in a bad position
maybe say, well, let's, you know what
just not see the family because I don't
want to put my husband in that position
and make it awkward on him
and cause him to stumble, put a stumbling block
in his way because I'm taking
him to the family party and there's going to be
all this pressure and they're going to make fun
of him if he doesn't drink so you know what
we just won't even go so
as to not put this stumbling block
in my husband's way, right?
Like this is just being considerate of one another
thinking about one another and
not putting them in a bad position
because at the end of the day you don't
have to go to every party to serve God.
You don't have to eat every meal to serve God
you don't have to celebrate every holiday
and notice what he says in verse 15
but if thy brother be grieved with thy meat
now walkest thou not charitably
destroy not him with thy meat
for whom Christ died
let not then your good be evil spoken of
for the kingdom of God is not meat
and drink but righteousness and peace
and joy and the Holy Ghost. So if someone
just really hates something
or has a personal conviction against it
don't try to invite them over
and cause this controversy
and then your good of inviting them and having a party
turns into evil because you
cause all this unnecessary strife.
Don't try to invite
people to do things or
hang out with people in scenarios where it can cause
them to sin, they're going to be offended
you know there's going to be a problem
maybe they don't agree
right? What if you
have a party at your house
or what if you say like hey we're going to all go to the lake
right? What if you say we're going to
have a party at the lake and you invite
family members
to this party and you know
your family members are not going to dress
appropriately
but then you invite
a bunch of the men
you know to go hang out it's like you're almost like
putting a stumbling block in those men's
way by putting them in that
scenario and then you could cause
strife or conflict and what if people
what if there's literally a couple that's struggling
in their marriage and then you're
inviting them to these parties
to be around people they shouldn't be around
or a bad environment on purpose
you know that's not walking charitably
and even though you're trying to do a good thing or trying
to throw a party or just trying to be nice
don't let your good be evil spoken of by
putting people in bad scenarios
bad situations
causing them all these issues
you know even though maybe
they're the weaker brother
let's not despise the weaker brother
hey this guy struggles in this area
let's not look down upon him because we all struggle
in our own areas or we have our own problems
let us not you know
do that kind of thing right
if someone struggles with anything
we want to make sure that we're not
destroying them you know they're on a diet
and it's like hey
we're having a dessert party at my house
it's like well you know that's kind of mean
to do that person right
like if they're struggling with this
don't then entice them
and cause them to kind of have an issue
in that area right so
just think about it and be
kind and charitable to one another
verse 17
saying again for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink
but righteousness and peace and joy and the Holy Ghost
you know when I knock on someone's door to give them the gospel
it does not matter
what I ate that day
it does not matter if I'm a
vegan, vegetarian
if I had beans in my chili
or whatever it's like it doesn't really matter
cause that's not the kingdom of God
the kingdom of God is not meals
it's you know
righteousness and preaching the gospel
and peace and
being filled with the Holy Spirit says in verse 18
for he that in these
things serveth Christ is acceptable
to God and approved of men let us therefore
follow after the things which make for peace
and things wherewith one may
edify another for meat
destroy not the work of God all things
indeed are pure but it is evil
for that man who eateth with offense
it is good neither to eat flesh
nor drink wine nor anything
whatsoever by thy brother's tumblest
or is offended or is made weak
hast thou faith? have it to thyself
before God happy is he that condemneth
not himself in that thing which he alloweth
and he that doubteth is damned
to eat because he eateth not of faith
for whatsoever is not of faith is sin
now just kind of to conclude
these last few verses in one thought
it's just basically saying look if someone has a personal
conviction and you
somehow entice them to go against
their own personal conviction
you could actually cause them to sin
so why in the world would I want
to cause them to sin
by having them participate in an activity
that they don't really want to, they don't really like
they think is kind of wrong
you know there could be restaurants
or places that people want to go
that people have mixed feelings on
I don't want to go to that restaurant
because I think that they
have something
that's inappropriate there
whether that be food, the servers, whatever
like I just don't want to be in that environment
and they could have that conviction and they feel bad
about going there and if you drag
them there anyways you're causing them
to sin because they in their own personal
mind don't want to go there
they don't want to be involved in that, they don't want to
participate in some activity where it's kind of
confusing and you know we live
in a sinful world and so
when someone has a personal conviction
let them have that personal
conviction right
and when someone
is
quote stronger
in the faith and able to do things that
you personally don't like but it's not
really a clear commandment
well you know what don't get mad at that person
for doing that either right we just need to be
careful that we're not judging
another on things that are not clearly in
the Bible and if it's
questionable and you think it might
cause someone else to have a problem
then just don't do it right
don't even cause them to
have an issue if someone
you know this is
the way I look at things
it's like well what is
going to please all of the people what's going to
please my brother in this situation
rather than what's going to please me if I
have a choice A and
I have choice B okay
and choice A is what I want
but he's going to be offended or not want to participate
then just choose option
B so that they can
participate and enjoy
and have a good time and they're not
necessarily going to be offended
or cause some kind of a problem
because I just don't want to put people in awkward
situations you know I've
I was in college I was around people
that they would want to do something
that I had kind of a personal conviction
against or I felt like was wrong and I didn't want
to participate or do and
just because of peer pressure I ended up doing it
and you know what that's
that's my fault that's my problem
but it's a real thing where people
are sometimes talked into
or because of peer pressure or because of
whatever they make decisions
they don't want to or they don't like
or they don't feel comfortable with and
we shouldn't force
others to do these kind of things
there's personal preferences
we have a wide range
of personal preferences
and we shouldn't look down on others
one other example to kind of be
specific you know what about
breastfeeding you know at our
church we have a
basically a policy of just do
whatever you want like we don't really care you know
some people are open breastfeeding
some people are open
breastfeeding in a private area
some people cover some people pitch
an entire tent you know you know some people
go in the bathroom some people go in their car right
there's all these different variations
let's not get mad at one
another for having different views on that
right let's not have the ladies
be like mad at one lady
for having a completely different standard
here a completely different view and we don't
want to put women in a position where they're
pressured to change
how they feel on this
based on your personal conviction
you know let every woman be fully
persuaded in her own mind and let
everyone be fully comfortable with what she
wants to do and let us not
despise one another on her own
oh I can't believe she made that to say
you know there's just it's so quick
and in women's nature to get mad at each other
for stupid personal convictions
stop getting mad at each other
okay like
it doesn't make any sense
you know they're just trying to feed their child
you know we all have
our own views now obviously
there's things that cross lines
and we want to make sure that we're
helping one another but when it's not a
clear sin issue just shut up
just don't care
leave them alone
love them be charitable
when you do get to make a choice think
about how other people feel about it
think about their preferences think about
what they like and try to
make decisions that bless others
instead of just being selfish about everything
that you do and selfish about everything
you know you men that get to make every
decision for your family why don't you just
decide you know what I'm gonna start making decisions that my wife
likes I'm gonna start making decisions that
my children like I'm gonna start helping
them and loving them and being charitable towards
them hey I get to be in charge
but you know what as the dictator of my
household I'm gonna love them
as much as possible and choose
good for them as much as possible
you know let us love one
another in sincerity
and not go around and be like
when will you ever come up to my level
and understand my rules
and be on my
program
why don't we condescend to men of all states
and say you know what
I'm willing to do what you want
and go where you want and enjoy
what you like and help
you and I don't want to
destroy my brothers and sisters in Christ
I love them
and we want to love one another
as much as possible
let us close in prayer
they give me father so much for the sacrifice
of your son and giving us this opportunity
to have a church and have so many great
brothers and sisters in Christ I
pray that we wouldn't despise one another
and especially over
silly pedantic things
doubtful disputations
personal convictions
I pray that we would just love
one another and
when people have differences of opinion
that we wouldn't judge them for that
we wouldn't despise them for that
that we would allow people to have freedom
to have liberty
to be unique
I pray that we would love our brothers and sisters
in Christ that aren't in this room
that we allow them to have freedom
that we wouldn't be these overly critical
harsh judges
and that we would actually love
one another when we have opportunities
to be charitable, we choose to be
charitable and at the end of the day
we would realize that we're all here to serve
you and in Jesus' name we pray, Amen
Alright for our next song
it's going to be 110
All the Way My Savior Leads Me
110 All the Way My Savior Leads Me
Song 110 All the Way My Savior Leads Me
All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask His side
Can I doubt His tender mercy
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Here by faith in Him to dwell
For I know what e'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
For I know what e'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
For I know what e'er befall me
Jesus doeth all things well
All the way my Savior leads me
Cheers to the twining path I tread
Gives me grace for every trial
Feeds me with the living bread
And my soul the thirst may be
Gushing from the rock before me
Though a spring of joy I see
Gushing from the rock before me
Though a spring of joy I see
All the way my Savior leads me
All the fullness of His love
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father's house above
With my spirit cold and mortal
Things is like two realms of day
Through this my soul through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way
Through this my soul through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way
Thank you.
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Miss Emma, happy birthday to you.
21! God bless you, you are dismissed.
Thank you.