Center condemned unclean. How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be.
How marvelous, how wonderful is my Savior's love for me. For me it was in the God.
tears for his own, grief but sweat drops of blood for mine, how marvelous, oh how
wonderful, and my song shall ever be, oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful is my
he made them his very own he bore the bird into Calvary and suffered and died
alone how marvelous how wonderful and my song shall
When with the ransomed and glory his face I at last shall see,
Twill be my joy through the ages to sing of his love for me.
How marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be.
Wonderful is my saviour's love for me.
Amen. Good seeing.
We have the announcements guy gone today and the guy who covers the guy who does the announcements is also going today
So you guys are stuck with me. We got our verse for the week, which is Ephesians 5 8
It says for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light and the Lord walk as children of light
That's again Ephesians 5 verse number 8 before I get into the announcements proper to brother Jake
Would you mind getting the offering plate from the room in there because we'll need someone to do that
as well. But we're here at our Sunday morning service time at 10.30. We'll have
our second service at 3.30 p.m. which I will be preaching because Brother
Jason is out of town. I think he's coming back to the service but he said he
didn't have enough time to write the second sermon. So again you're stuck
with me on that one. Usually it'll be Brother Jason or Paul that preaches that.
Maybe go through the book of John and I'll talk about that a little bit more as we get to the same night service
But then on Wednesdays, we have a Bible study. We're gonna be in 1st Corinthians chapter
4 now finally we're making strides getting through chapters actually so this time next month
I'll probably be to chapter 5 if that same pattern continues on
We got our salvations report though, for September we have six salvations, and for October we have zero so far.
But still, like I said last week, every soul that we get saved is worth it in the end, so we're glad for any numbers that are down here that's not a zero.
For our upcoming events, we have our homeschool day,
which will be October 14th,
and so we're having that at 11 a.m. at the church building.
You can RSVP with my wife.
They're gonna have crafts.
They're gonna have snacks.
You guys gotta love the crafts and the snacks.
That's more of a kid thing, I think,
but hey, adults are down with that too sometimes.
But we'll have food there too, yeah?
For everybody, yeah, so the snacks too.
October 26th, though, we have our church picture day, which my wife will be doing that.
So even if you're a single or if you have a whole family, my wife will take nice pictures for you
that you can give out for Christmas cards or just to hang up on your wall if you really want to.
And then we have our verse of the week, it's Psalms 46-1.
which is God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
If you memorize that verse,
you can talk to my wife and get a piece of candy for it.
If you're a kid, I think that's pretty much all.
Got the October birthdays, Hondo's birthday,
but he's towards the end of the month.
Gotta make sure I check that back.
Now it's a little bit sneaky.
But with that all being said,
we'll just get right into the prayer quest.
Our next song will be song number 130, yesterday, today, forever.
Song number 130, yesterday, today, forever.
song 130 let's sing it together on the first oh how sweet the glorious message
simple faith may claim yesterday today forever Jesus is the same still you
Cheer the mourner still, the tempest, glory through his name.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to his name.
Glory to his name.
may change but Jesus never glory to his name he who pardoned airing Peter never
needs thou fear he that came to faithless Thomas all
as tender lean upon his breast yesterday today forever Jesus is the same all may
change but Jesus never glory to his name glory to his name glory to his name
us never, glory to his name, he who mid the raging billows wart upon the sea, still can
hush our wildest tempest as on Galilee, he who wept and prayed in anguish in Gethsemane.
with us each cup I'm trembling in our agony yesterday today forever Jesus is
the same all may change but Jesus never glory to his name glory to
may change, but Jesus never glory to his name. As of old, he walked to a maze with them to
abide. So through all life's way, he walketh ever near her sign. Soon again shall we behold
will still be this same Jesus as he went away yesterday today forever Jesus is
the same all may change but Jesus never glory to his name glory to his name
changed but Jesus never glory to his name amen good singing brother Jake would
you bless the offering for us
everybody, welcome to Sher Foundation Baptist Church. If you could go ahead and take your
Bibles and turn to 1 Samuel chapter number 26. 1 Samuel 26 and as always here at our church,
we read the entire chapter before the preaching. 1 Samuel 26, the Bible reads,
And the Ziphites came unto Saul to give him up, saying,
Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Haqqailah,
which is before Jehshamun?
Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph,
having 3,000 chosen men of Israel with him,
to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
And Saul pitched in the hill of Haqqailah,
which is before Jehshamun, by the way.
But David abode in the wilderness, since he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
David, therefore, sent out spies and understood that Saul was come in very deed.
And David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched.
And David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner, the son of Nour, the captain of his hosts,
and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.
Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai, the son of Zura,
brother of Joab, saying,
Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?
And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.
So David and Abishai came to the people by night.
And behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster,
but Abner and the people lay round about him. Then said Abishai to David,
God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now therefore let me smite him,
I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time."
And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless.
David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into the battle and perish.
The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed.
But I pray thee, take down now the spear that is at his bolster, and the crews of water, and let us go.
So David took the spear and the crews of water from Saul's bolster, and they gapped them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it.
Neither awaited, for they were all asleep.
because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them.
Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of an hill afar off, a great space being between them.
And David cried to the people and to Abner, the son of Neur, saying,
Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Amner answered and said, Who art thou that cryest to the king?
And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man, and who is like to thee in Israel?
Wherefore, then, hast thou not kept thy Lord the King?
For there came one of the people to destroy the King thy Lord.
This thing is not good that thou hast done.
As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master the Lord's anointed."
And now see where the King Spear is in the cruise of water that was at his bolster.
And Saul knew David's voice and said, Is this thy voice, my son David?
And David said, It is my voice, my Lord, O King.
And he said, Wherefore doth my Lord thus
after his servant, for what have I done,
or what evil is in my hand?
Now therefore I pray thee, let my Lord the King
hear the words of his servant.
If the Lord have stirred thee up against me,
let him accept an offering.
But if they be the children of men,
cursed be they before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance
of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods."
Now, therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, for the
king of Israel has come out to seek a flee, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
Then said Saul, I have sinned, return my son David, for I will no more do thee harm, because
my soul was precious in thine eyes this day.
And David answered and said, Behold the king's spear, and let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
the Lord render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the
Lord delivered thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth my hand
against the Lord's anointed. And behold, as thy life was much set by this day in
mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him
deliver me out of all tribulation."
Then Saul said to David, blessed be thou, my son David.
Thou shalt both do great things and also shalt still prevail.
So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place.
Brother Daniel, could you pray for preaching?
Hey, man, you guys are there in a first stand of 26.
We're gonna look at verse number 21 where the Bible says,
then said Saul, I have sinned, return my son David
for I will.
No, or no more do the harm because my soul was precious in an eyes this day behold
I have played the fool and I've aired
Exceedingly the time I sermon this morning is the complexity of man. Let's pray different God. Thank you so much for today
Thank you so much for everything you do for us God
Thank you so much for this great church God and thank you so much for everybody that showed up this morning God and the
For the people that I know would show up God if they weren't
dealing with things in their life. God, I just pray that you would help all the needs of our church. God, I just pray specifically right now
I would lift up Brother Kyle for his situation and for
Brother Paul and Miss Victoria for their situation again God. I just pray that you would help them God and that you would
Help ease their nerves and give them comfort in this time of stress. Do you say pray? Amen
Telling my sermon like I said again is the complexity of man. We're here in first Samuel 26
21 and the reason I'm preaching this sermon this morning is because I think there's a topic that's can be very edifying for
Everybody in this room, and I think it's a topic that could be really edifying for all of time because of the fact that
This is an issue that deals with the very fiber of who we are
human beings and that's like this idea in this issue of tribalism. Now I title
this sermon the complexity of man but I really could have
titled this, The Sin of Tribalism.
These are the two co-themes through the sermon though,
the complexity of man and tribalism
and what these things have to do with each other
and what we can learn from these things.
But what is tribalism?
If you're not aware, tribalism refers to a strong sense
of loyalty, identity and allegiance
to one's own social group often accompanied
by an us versus them mentality
where the group's interests are prioritized
and outsiders are viewed negatively.
Now this has a very negative connotation and rightfully so because there's a lot of sinful and
bad aspects of this. It's definitely not a good thing all in all. However, it's important to
realize that there are some aspects of this that are not the worst thing ever. Like go to
1st Timothy 5-8, 1st Timothy 5-8 if you would, and maybe just keep a finger there in 1st Samuel
26 because we'll come back there later on. I'll read for you guys though Galatians 6-10.
This idea of prioritizing your family or your social group is not
a bad thing in and of itself. This is natural, actually. This is what the Bible teaches us.
In Galatians 6-10 it says this, it says,
As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, but then it says,
Especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
So we should do good to all people as Christians, but this verse makes it clear right here
that you should especially be doing good to those that are of the household of faith,
which means people that believe on Jesus Christ.
So that basically would mean like,
if you had the option between helping some random person
in this world or helping a safe person,
I'm gonna go with the safe person.
I mean, obviously we wanna help everybody,
but you prioritize safe people first,
because you should do good,
especially to them that are household of faith.
We also see this where you guys are at First Timothy 5-8,
it says, but if any provide not for his own,
and especially for those of his own house,
he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
The Bible is saying here that if you don't provide
for your own, which is talking about like your kin,
so maybe like your elderly parents or your grandma
or your grandpa or your brother or your sister
or your aunt or uncle, someone in your family,
he says, you're a bad person for doing that.
But then he says, above that, you are worse than bad.
You're worse than an infidel, an unsafe person
if you won't provide for your own household,
wife for your kids or you know something like that, someone that's directly in your household
because you're saying here that even heathen people, even unsaved people, take care of their
own household. So how much more should a Christian be doing this? And so we see here that there's
like a special evil in not taking care of the people that are close to you, the people that
break bread with you, the people that are in your direct circle. This is a step above in the Bible.
But even on a bigger scale, if you're going to apply this principle to America,
you'll see how ridiculous we've become as a nation.
Like I don't understand this idea where America is just sending other countries,
like millions and billions of dollars when it's like America has no money to give
out. We are trillions of dollars in debt.
We're in debt so deep that we will never recover for it.
And they're like,
Israel needs, you know, a new fighter jet. Let's send them the money. It's like, I just don't understand this.
Especially to a country like Israel where they spit on the ground every single time that you utter the name of Jesus Christ.
Not every single Jew there, but the Orthodox Jews, they will spit on the ground when you say the name of Jesus Christ in front of them.
That's not how much they hate our God. Why am I sending any money to these people? Why is our government sending money to these people?
I think it was a while back.
I forget exactly what it was,
but Elon Musk was going through
and cutting a bunch of stuff.
Did anybody remember like the big headline
that Elon Musk was cutting?
It was something super done.
It was like gender studies in Sudan or something,
something weird like this.
It was like, that's what they were funding.
And they're like, we're cutting this.
It's like, why is our money going to these things
when America has our own needs that we suffer through?
Like there's so many issues in America
that we could fit,
that we should be putting money towards
over just sending it to a different country.
Especially, like I said, a country where they spit on the ground, where they say the name of Jesus Christ.
But also, when we went and visited this Baptist church that Brother David goes to, not Brother David that was preaching,
but the Brother David that visits on Wednesday nights, he was saying that they had two former...
Minutes missionaries to Israel emphasis on former because the last time they tried to get in the country
They refused them service because supposedly you're supposed to be able to preach the gospel there freely
But I guess they didn't like what they were saying so they banned both of their missionaries from going and be able to preach the gospel
That's the nation that we're sending money to. I just think that that's insane again
That's not to say that we shouldn't help out other people
We should but the money that we you know the labor that we do and the money that we earn this country
You would expect that it would go to the elderly of this country our children in this country
The veteran in this country that fought for our own country, but they just send it all away. I think that's pretty insane
But so the real issue though
tribalism stems from the us versus them part of this definition though. It's
not that it's bad to prioritize helping your own, but it's this idea of being us
versus them. Like if you're not in our club, if you're not in our circle, then
you're just a terrible person. This is where things like racism comes from, like
white people are way better than black people, Mexicans are way better than, you
know, French people, Indians are way better than Polish people. It's just like
put in the world like that's where it comes from. I was even reading about in
World War two that the Japanese were going in committing all these atrocities
in China because they viewed the Chinese as subhuman.
And I'm just like, I mean, if you had like a bunch of in a room,
I don't know if I could tell the difference between who was Chinese and Japanese.
And then they're like, looking at each other like, you're subhuman.
I just thought that was insane.
People would say that that's racist, but it's not.
I was watching another video.
This is kind of off topic, but, um, this grandma, I think she was a Korean girl.
She was like, they had like a list, a lineup of like Asians from different
ethnicities and she was supposed to pick which ones she thought was Korean.
And she couldn't even get it right.
So if they can't get it right, you definitely cannot hold me to that standard.
Okay.
That's a different sermon for a different day
and maybe never a sermon, okay?
But go if you would to Isaiah 40 verse 17.
Isaiah 40 verse number 17.
This idea of us versus them where people will just be like they are terrible
They're subhuman their garbage if they're not in our in-circle is nonsense
This is where racism comes from though and this is where we see in the Bible that
This idea of racism or different races being better than another is stupid act 1726 it says you guys are going to Isaiah 44 17
It says in act 1726 it says and half and half made of one blood
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and have determined the times before
appointed in the bounds of their habitation. No race in the sight of God is better than the other.
We are all equal. And at that we are all equally worthless. Without Jesus Christ we're all worthless
and in Jesus Christ we're all equally redeemed. That's it. No race is better than another.
And I brought this stuff up a lot. I feel like in just recent memory I brought this up.
but I'll bring this up until the day that I,
cause that's a doctrine that I despise,
a false doctrine I despise,
where people will just like be like,
you know, everybody's equal, wink, wink,
but you know, white people are the best.
think that's stupid. It's carnal is what it really is at the end of the day.
God made you what ethnicity, what skin color you are,
so God is responsible for every different race and every different tribe
on this planet. So why would you think that one's better
than the other? The issues that people have are from their culture, not from
their inherent genetics or anything like that.
And we see in Isaiah 40 verse 17, it says,
all nations before him are as nothing,
and they are counted to him less than nothing in vanity.
Notice there that America's not on there,
it's like everybody's nothing,
except for United States of America.
No, he says we're all nothing.
Everybody at the day,
We're vanity is what God says right here.
Nobody's better than each other.
And if you even just think about so many,
this is why this teaching blows me away actually,
that there's Christians that will try to claim
that this is something biblical to be racist
or to elevate one race above another.
Think about what Jesus Christ says.
He says that many people will come from the east
and from the west,
and they'll sit down on the kingdom of heaven
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He says, but the Jews,
the ones that are their actual children, they won't.
The reason for that is that Jesus is saying that
is to show us that everyone's equal.
Every race is equal.
God doesn't care about your race.
In the book of Revelation,
there's a great multitude of what?
Of nations and peoples and tongues and kindreds.
tons of different people so no race is better than in God's sight hopefully
that's exceedingly clear and again I only bring that up because that dumb
stuff is on the rise not in our circles but you can see this in some of the
elements of our society
Going back to the us versus them mentality though something that goes hand-in-hand with that as I brought up earlier is the complete
demonization of the opposition where it's not enough to just be in the circle
They're like if you're not in the circle you are completely evil
You are the devil a good example. This is in politics like you have Republicans and Democrats
There's no such thing as a Republican who's like, yeah, I believe the country should be around this way
The Democrats think it should be around that way, but we all are just trying our best. It's like no
Republican, you are Satan incarnate.
You are the devil.
You are evil, completely.
You wanna ruin this country.
But it's like, that's really just not true.
I mean, I'm sure that there are liberals out there
that really wanna ruin the country,
but for the most part you'd say
that they're just brainwashed.
A lot of them are just confused
and we shouldn't just vilify them and write them off
as just being completely and utterly abhorrent.
People do this as well in relationships before I even say that I should say this because I'm not political by any means
There's a great sermon series. I think the pastor men is dead when he was talking about he's like God is not a Republican
He's like but Satan is a Democrat which
He's joking in that and that kind of like undercuts the point I was just saying but he is joking when he says that
I just thought it was kind of funny when I told that to my liberal co-worker at work
He laughed his butt off. He's like you got to get me a shirt that says that he just thought it was really funny
But we see this also in like relationships like people when they break up with someone or they divorce someone
Which you shouldn't do obviously, but when they do they'll be like my ex was the devil. They were the antichrist
They were completely evil. It's like then why?
Were you dating them in the first place?
How did you fall for that?
If they're just completely evil,
they're just like the worst person ever.
It doesn't make any sense.
People do this even amongst our circles sometimes,
unfortunately, where they'll be like arguing with someone
and they just don't like what they say.
So they'll be like, you know what?
I just think you're a reprigate.
I think you're a child of the devil.
They like revoke their salvation.
I think that you're just completely and utterly
without hope of salvation.
I want you to understand this morning though,
the reason why people do this is this,
is because if you make someone completely evil,
if you make someone completely and 100% of the devil,
then you can justify treating them and speaking to them
any way that you want to.
That's why people do this.
That's why for the longest time,
they've been painting Donald Trump like he's the next Hitler,
even though he's really like, I mean,
I don't like Donald Trump by any means,
but he's definitely not the next Adolf Hitler.
But they do that because they just,
as if you can make someone Hitler,
then you can lie about someone, you can slander someone,
you can attack someone in the most vicious ways.
And like, who cares?
I mean, would you care if you attacked Adolf Hitler like that?
That's their motive to like dehumanize people,
to make them just like,
basically lesser value so when you do the evil things to them that you want to you can justify it
Same thing with
Relationships, that's why people do this as well because if I make my ex out to be the devil to be evil
Then I can say anything about her and who are you to talk good about the devil, right?
Or with the enemies that people have as well though if they make them reprobate then I can say anything
I want about them and I can treat them any kind of way as long as they're just completely
Evil, but here's the problem with all of this is that the whole us versus them
Dynamic and the demonizing of people that are not in your circle is that
People are just more complex than this. It's people are more complex than just being completely bad and being completely good
Obviously, there's some exceptions to the rules. I know you guys have them in your brain right now
Just take those aside because I already we already have know these doctrines. I'm not gonna get into them right now
There is exceptions to this but for the most part is what I'm saying for the most part
Most people are not just 100% bad or 100% good. There's somewhere in the middle or there's somewhere slanted towards more one side or the other
Because we as human beings are complex.
Men are complex.
Human beings are complex.
Women are the most complex that there is, right?
It's like, no, just kidding.
People, you think that way.
Sometimes the way guys talk about women,
I think that they just add the emotional intelligence
of a plum sometimes.
But that's, again, another sermon for a different day.
But human beings, in all seriousness,
Complex and there's very few people that are just completely evil. They're just 100% evil incarnate and
Yeah, it's just important to realize that lots of safe people do evil things and lots of unsafe people do evil things
But that doesn't make them completely evil
There's very few people that are completely evil and the reason I think it's important to preach on this topic is for a couple reasons number one
Our society is extremely polarized.
Like every issue that there is,
you have to be extreme about it.
It's not just enough to be neutral or to be anything.
It's like you have to be completely extreme
for one side or the other,
or you're just garbage, you're a scumbag,
or you're on the enemy's team.
If you're not on my team,
surely then you're on the enemy's team.
People like that in our society with politics
and with a bunch of different stuff like I was saying,
but also I think that our church is being
extremely zealous, which is a good thing.
have a tendency towards adopting and breeding
this mindset of being us versus them
and being like, if you're not on my team,
then you're on the devil's team automatically.
And I just don't think that's a good attitude.
And here's the problems with this.
Like I said, number one, the first point in this sermon
is that men are complex.
Go back to first Samuel, 26, verse 21.
First Samuel 26 verse number 21
The reason why this is bad is because when you paint people with a broad brush and you're too general
then you don't judge people accurately.
Because most people, like I said,
are not just one thing or the other, they're a mix.
Most people are a mixed bag of things.
And mankind is very complex.
We see this in 1 Samuel 26,
or at least what I'm gonna build off this idea.
Verse 21, it says, again, I'll read it, it says,
then said Saul, I have sinned, return my son, David,
for I will no more do thee harm,
because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day.
I have played the fool and have aired exceedingly now if you've read the Bible before and you've read the story before then
You know exactly why I turn here and in the reason why is because Saul's a very complex character in the Bible
Saul when you look at him like he starts off really good and then he just tapers off most most of the rest of his life
I mean he has a little bit of up and down, but it's like
starts off good and then he kind of tapers off.
But like when you see the things from Saul,
like when you're comparing his actions,
you can see that there's a lot of good that Saul does.
Like he is the first king that's chosen by God
because he's head and shoulders above the rest
is what God says.
And with the men of Jabash Gilead,
if you remember that story,
there's Nahash, the Ammonite wants to go
and make a deal where he can pluck out.
all their eyes, which is weird.
I don't know why that's the deal he wants to make.
And Saul goes and saves the day.
He rallies all the troops and gets them.
And he saved those men's lives.
And he cares about people you can tell.
And he cares about being a good king
to these people at this time.
He gets a lot of the filth of the land as well.
Like, if you remember the story with the Witch of Endor,
which is obviously a bad thing,
but she's surprised that Saul's even there talking to her
because the fact that he was getting all these kinds
of wizards and witches and necromancers
out of the land at this time.
And a lot of people, he was kicking out of land
that were very evil.
And then you see, even when he does persecute David,
which is again a bad thing, but...
When David does spare his life and shows him mercy,
Saul reciprocates that mercy.
Because if Saul was just completely evil
when David uncovers himself and was like,
I could have killed you, but I didn't Saul,
he'd be like, well, you made a big mistake, boy,
and then he would have killed David, right?
But you see that Saul was warring within himself.
Like there is a battle that goes on there
where he does wanna do evil,
but then when push comes to shove at the most extreme,
you can see the goodness in his character
underneath a lot of the worldly surface.
But on the flip side of that, you also see that, you know, he tries to have David killed.
He tries to have Jonathan killed as well. He does kill, and or maybe I should say has killed,
his men, 85 of the Lord's priests for aiding David, for aiding David and what David never
You only see David ever do Saul good and then Saul kills these priests for aiding David who did absolutely nothing wrong to him in that situation
Very great evil. He goes to the witch and or obviously he rebels against God and has the the the kingdom
Taken away from him, and then you see at the end of his life. He kills himself by committing suicide
And when you like look at all these things and you kind of put him in a scale
You're like so was Saul a good person or was he a bad person?
And the answer is just kind of like
He's mixed he's not just one thing or the other and it really depends on like how you're judging him because you're like
Well, did Saul ever do anything evil? It's like, yeah, but everyone does evil things in reality
We're like, but did Saul do something really evil?
Yeah, but David also did some really evil things in his time as well
And my point in showing you all this is that you can definitely say like Saul was more bad than he was good or more good than he
was bad
But he just wasn't all good, and he wasn't just all bad.
He was complex, he was mixed on these things.
And if you analyze any character in the Bible,
outside of Jesus Christ, because he's perfect, obviously.
and maybe outside the devil because he's completely evil.
Most characters in the Bible, 99% of the times,
they're gonna see that they're all mixed.
Some of them are way more good than they are bad
and some of them are way more bad than they are good.
But a lot of times,
most of them are not just completely one or the other.
And this shouldn't surprise us though,
because as human beings,
this is who we are down to our very existence.
Go to Romans 7, 14.
Romans 7 verse number 14.
I want to see this how we are not even simple at our at our fundamental like beginning as a human per se
Or maybe I should say our current state as humans Roman Roman 714 says this it says
For we know, this is Paul speaking by the way,
that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal,
so learn to sin.
For that which I do, I allow not,
for what I would, that do I not,
but what I hate that I do.
And if you jump down to verse 21, he says,
I find that a law that when I would do good,
evil is present with me.
for I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin,
which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God, the Jesus Christ, my Lord.
Look what he says here.
He says, so then I with art,
so then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God,
but with the flesh.
the law of sin. And I've explained before this passage is describing saved Christians and the
struggles that we have as a spiritual being trapped in a fleshly carnal body.
But this truly shows us why we're not usually just one thing or the other because we're split as a say as a safe Christian
I should say that you're definitely split
But even as an unsafe person you still have to realize that even they have a conscience
So they're not just completely evil right they have the con a god-given conscience that sometimes can be seared
But again, we're not getting into that right now, but I just want you to see that down to our fundamental existence of who we are
We're split we're two different things. It's like we have
the old man and the new man.
We have the flesh and the spirit.
And sometimes we choose to walk in the spirit,
but other times we choose to walk in the flesh.
And this is why you see men like Saul,
or guess really every character in the Bible,
they're highs and lows because they're split,
because they're two different people in the same body.
Like you have Saul at one point,
executing the commandments of God,
and then you have Saul rebelling
against the commandments of God until the day of his death.
You have someone like David who's the man after God's own heart showing Saul mercy sparing his life not killing him
But then turning around and killing an innocent man like you're right the Hittite
It's like it's like man
It's like these are almost like two different people and it is because you have the flesh and the spirit that's in your body
And so we're mixed as humans as we just realized as mankind though we have the Holy Spirit inside of us
We don't always choose to walk in the spirit
We don't always choose to to walk how we should and that's why you see the the dual nature of us as saved human beings
And so why am I making a big deal about this though?
That's good. I think that this understanding this will help you with a couple things. Number one,
I think when you understand that people are complex, that it helps you to show them grace
and mercy. Go to 1 Samuel 26 verse number one, 1 Samuel 26 verse number one. When you understand
that people are complex and that they're not just one, just like that they're not just completely
then it helps you show them grace and mercy.
First Samuel 26, one, it says,
and the Ziphites came unto Saul to give you a saying,
doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hakelia,
which is before Jeshman.
Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph,
having 3,000 chosen men of Israel with him
to seek David and the wilderness of Ziph.
Now again, if you aren't familiar with the story
of Saul and David,
I was going to say to you that this is like the seventh time
that Saul has actually tried to kill David, like individually.
Because if you think about it, because we think of the two
times that he goes out in the word is to get him, but there's
even more than that.
Like Saul throws a spear at David trying to kill him twice,
which I don't know if he's just got bad aim or like what's
going on there.
Like it's like twice or David's got the moves.
He's like jukeing him out or something.
I don't know or the angel his angels slap it down get it out of here, okay
But either way through two times he throws a spirit David and he fails
He doesn't kill him
But that's two attempts to end his life
Then you see even with the Philistines when he wants to marry his daughter
What does he do? He sends him to get a dowry, which is like a hundred four skins of the Philistines
Which is weird. I don't know what they I mean. You can't got like fingers or something like that
Okay, different seven for a different day, but
He does that trying to kill David. He's trying to get the Philistines to kill him then also at the feast day David's absent
So he was gonna kill him that day if he was there. You also remember like he goes home and he
fakes sick basically he
He like stuffs like a pillow under the bed like a sheet like if you're trying to sneak out as a kid or something like that
He tries to kill him then and then twice after David had just completely ran out of town
I'm just trying to get away just trying to save his own life
Saul goes to try to kill him two more times.
The first time, David could have killed him
and he shows him mercy.
And then what we're reading right here
is the second time that that happens.
So we see that multiple times, not even just twice,
but like upwards of six or seven times,
depending on how you count this,
Saul has tried to kill David.
And this is the second opportunity
that David has to kill Saul.
and he doesn't do it, and he lets Saul go free.
And this is at a time where, truly,
nobody would have faulted David for killing Saul right here.
I mean, is this not self-defense at the most extreme?
I mean, someone tries to kill you one time,
you are justified to defend yourself,
according to the Bible, but, you know,
six, seven times someone's trying to kill you,
and David's like, no, I'm not gonna kill this guy.
Why doesn't he though?
And it's because David has mercy on Saul.
And look at verse number nine,
he talked about this a little bit, he says,
and David said to Abishai,
destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand
against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless.
Obviously we understand that David doesn't kill Saul here
because he's the Lord's Anointed, that's a big part of it.
But I also want you to realize
that's not the only reason why David doesn't kill Saul.
Like David's not just like salivating right now
to kill Saul in this moment.
He's not just like, man, I really wish I could kill King Saul
but dang it, he's the Lord's Anointed.
That's not his attitude at all.
You can tell that even beyond him being the Lord's Anointed
that David loves Saul
and that's why he doesn't want to kill him right here.
How could he actually love Saul though?
Someone who's trying to kill him multiple times.
And I would just say to you, it's because in my opinion,
David understands the goodness that is inside Saul,
despite his outward actions at this time.
He understands that Saul was a flawed and complex man,
just like David himself was.
Cause I mean, David's like Saul's trying
to kill an innocent man here.
But as we see from David later on,
he's definitely not above killing an innocent man
when it means benefiting him, right?
But I'm just showing you all this to show you that you know like
No matter at the end of the day the evil actions that people do if someone's a saved Christian
They're not completely evil. There's gonna be some good in them and
Because David understands that because he understands the complexity of Saul. He's able to have love and mercy for him
And so I think that someone in a church like ours,
specifically because we believe they're a great doctrine,
I think it's important to realize
that David doesn't just write him off as a reprobate here,
which would have been very easy for him to do as well.
And I don't know if I think about it,
if someone tried to kill me like multiple times,
I might be thinking that way too.
I'd be like, this guy like repro or something like that.
But it doesn't even.
doesn't even cross, you know, Saul's, or excuse me, doesn't even cross David's
mind in this story. He just continues to have love for him because he knew that
Saul was saved deep down, right? He knew that he did believe on God despite his
action showing that he was just completely backslidden beyond belief.
And so...
As a person that does believe that we're a doctor you should just be careful not to make the commandments of God of none
Effect especially when it comes to Matthew 5 the reason those are there is to obey them in the first place, right?
Like you need to realize just because someone does you wrong just so someone does you evil even if someone tries to kill you
Like we see in this story doesn't mean that they're not a Christian today
Doesn't mean that they're not you know a mixed person at the other day like we see the King Saul was
And over and over again in the Bible,
we see that really good people can still do really bad things
because the fact that we're complex
and because the fact that we are mixed down to our core.
Go to 1 Corinthians 3, verse number five,
1 Corinthians 3, verse number five.
I think when you understand that people are complex
and that they're mixed,
that should help you to show grace towards them.
And that even when someone is doing you wrong,
even if they're continually doing wrong,
Saul tried to do David wrong until the day that he died.
They could still, you know, be a Christian.
And we should just realize as Christians,
like it's really easy to just write people off
and be like, they're everybody because they did this or that.
It's really easy to do that, but what's right to do?
is not always what's easy to do, okay, as Christians.
We should always know that,
that we're commanded to have integrity, to be upright,
and not just do whatever is easiest in life.
We should turn the other cheek like Christ did,
and we should love people like Christ did,
and when people are reviling us,
and when they're attacking us,
we shouldn't just write them off because it's easy.
We should love them like Jesus Christ.
That's the true love of Christ that we see in the Bible.
But also I think understanding this will help you to have mercy towards leadership in general
We're there in 1st Corinthians 3 verse number 5 look at the Bible says here
He says we've been studying this a lot, but I thought it was really applicable to the sermon
It says who then is Paul and who's a Paul those but ministers by whom you've believed even as the Lord gave to
Every man. I'm bringing this up just because I want you to understand sometimes people get this idea that leadership
is is like you know perfect or that they're like just like a step above in every way like they were
like born to be just like this you know flawless you know infallible leader but that's just not
true and even with Paul right here we see that his his low attitude of himself he's like who's
Paul who's Apollo's he's like I'm just a minister what does that mean he's just a servant is what
That's all he is at the end of the day.
He's nothing special.
He's a servant of Jesus Christ and he gives all glory to God.
And so I think you just realize with every, you know, leader in your life,
you should have mercy for them and understand that just because they have
a role of leadership, that doesn't mean that they're always going to do what's
right. And I think about even with my parents when I was younger, there was
things where I was like, I just don't understand why my mom and dad don't do
this or do that. And then now that I'm older, I'm like, Oh, now it all makes
sense. Okay.
And there's so many moments like that in your life,
but there's even moments where like,
even if they were just completely wrong in a scenario,
you can still have grace and realize
that it's their first time being a parent too.
Just like my first time.
It's my first time being a parent.
It was theirs when they had their kids as well.
You don't just get a manual
where you know everything is apparent.
So you should have mercy towards your parents as children,
towards your boss at work,
towards the church leadership that's here.
I mean, you guys know me.
I'm definitely not a perfect person.
I make mistakes and I will make mistakes,
but I would just hope that you would have mercy and grace
for me and my wife knowing that we are complex people,
that we're people that want to do good,
that want to help the church,
but we're not always gonna be perfect
because we still have this flesh attached to us.
and we would want to show you guys everybody in the room the same mercy as well.
That's what we should be doing as Christians, is being understanding of each other and showing
mercy to each other and we'll make mistakes and we'll hurt each other feelings and times,
we'll offend each other, but the whole Christianity is based on the principle of forgiving and
The same thing goes with our pastor though, you know, I obviously, he's my dad, I love him to death,
but he's a human as well, and he can make mistakes, and you should know that he will make mistakes.
He's probably made mistakes. That's just life. There's no leader on this earth that hasn't made
mistakes though. And it's really easy when you're not a leader to play like the arm-chair QB,
where you're like, man, he should have thrown it to this guy. What is he doing? What an idiot.
I should be in the NFL instead.
It's really easy to do that when you're on your couch eating you know potato chips, but when you're actually in the moment and doing it
It's a lot harder. Okay, when you're actually trying to lead and you're dealing with the stresses of life
You're dealing with all these kind of things. It is tough. It's tough
For the for our pastor. I'm sure and for anybody that has any kind of role of leadership
Go to second Chronicles 15 verse number 17 second Chronicles 15 verse number 17
The same is true for any minister of Jesus Christ because no minister of Jesus Christ is perfect
The only perfect person on this earth that there ever was was Jesus himself
And just because someone makes a mistake,
that doesn't mean that they're evil either.
That's why I do want you to understand that
as we're going to St. Chronicles 15.
People can make huge mistakes
and still not be a completely evil person.
That's something that we like to do with people.
Sometimes it's a bad quality though.
They'll be like, he said this and this about me
or he did this and that to me or whatever.
So he just must be completely terrible wrought into the core.
It's like, or maybe your personalities
just don't mesh that well.
Or maybe, you know, they had a bad day.
Maybe you're wrong and they were the one who was right in this situation.
You know, you never, you never, you never know.
But all that to say is that people make mistakes and we should understand that as Christians.
Second Chronicles 15 verse 17.
Look what this Bible says right here.
I want you to see this because I think it's a huge principle.
It says, but the high places were not taken out of Israel.
Over and over again, God references the high places and how wicked they are, because people would go up and serve other gods,
and so many kings in the Bible just fail to take down the high places.
And he makes you think, like, man, if I would have been the king back in the day, I would have taken away those high places.
But it's like, there obviously was a reason why most of them weren't, though, right?
But...
I want you to see the end of this. He says,
nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
I want you to see that even with God showing that Asa is making a mistake by
not taking down the high places, he says his heart's still perfect with him.
What's that mean?
It means this, that at the end of the day, though Asa wasn't perfect,
he wanted to make God happy and God saw that on his heart and he was doing his
best to make God happy is what we should learn from that.
And there is a difference sometimes in trying to make God happy and actually doing what makes God happy
Go to mark 938
Point one of this sermon, let's talk about how humanity, how human beings are complex and that's why just
painting people with a broad brush is not a good idea and if you understand that people are complex
it'll help you to have mercy to not just reprobate people because they do you wrong one time and
to show the real love of Christ like we see in the Bible.
But the second reason why there's an issue with tribalism and with this us versus them mentality and demonizing people is that it
Causes you to fight the wrong people
You guys are there in Mark 938, it says this, it says,
And John answered him saying,
Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name,
and he fall with not us, and we forbade him,
because he fall with not us.
But Jesus said, forbid him not, for there is no man
which shall do a miracle in my name
that can lightly speak evil of me,
for he that is not against us is on our part.
I just want you to see right here,
like John sees this guy,
doing a good work. He is casting out devils and John's like, wait a minute, he's not in the
discipleship program. He's not under Jesus Christ. What is he doing? He can't do this and he goes and
says, hey, you knock that off. You stop casting out demons, which like seriously, when you take a
step back and look at it, you're like, what is he doing? That's so weird. It's like, he's casting out
devils and he's like rebuking him for it. Okay.
But like we think this is weird too, but like and it is weird
But there's no new thing under the Sun Christians still do the same thing nowadays
We're like someone will be trying to serve God in the way that they think is best or they'll be doing good works for God
But because they're not in the club because they're not in the cool kids club
People are like trying to attack them and tear them down. I just want to understand that is carnal
That is not the attitude we see of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ rebukes John for doing this here.
He says, hey, why would you be hindering someone
who's trying to do a good work?
Like, and I think this is like so prevalent amongst like,
not as, a lot of circles do this,
but they'll just tear people down.
Cause it's like, they didn't preach exactly
how I would have preached.
They didn't say exactly what I would have said.
They didn't, you know, believe the doctrine
that I exactly believe.
So they just must be on the other team completely
because only my team,
does good all the time.
Only my team is doing the real work for God.
Jesus is saying here, this is carnal.
This is stupid is what he's saying right here.
And I just want you to realize that this is a puffed up
and prideful mindset where you would attack someone else
who's doing the work of God just because they're not
in your little club and your little circle that you're in.
Cause I just want you to realize as well at our church,
I obviously go here because I think that our churches
the most doctrinally in line with the Bible,
not just because I preached it was even before
I was preaching here, okay?
But even with that being said, we're not perfect.
And Christians should understand that there's plenty
of good people in this world that are not in this room
that would never step foot into this room.
And it just is what it is at the end of the day.
I was telling Brother Daniel before the service,
my former pastor that I had,
I think he's a really great guy.
He goes out, soul-warning.
He preaches.
He doesn't believe a giant chunk of the doctrines we believe,
but this is what he does believe.
He believes the king takes perfect.
He believes in soul-warning,
and he believes that salvation is by faith through grace.
He would never, ever.
I mean, he might step foot in here, but he would not be in the club, okay?
That's all I'll say to you, okay?
He would never, but you know what I know is that he's a good guy, and that he does try to serve God to the best of his ability.
And here's the thing, I'm not the one who's gonna be the judge the other day, God judges all of us at the end.
So if he's serving God better, or if I'm serving God better, that's not for us to decide.
It's gonna be Jesus Christ that decides it at the end of time. So why would I attack him?
just because he's not on my team.
If you're not on this team,
if you're not going to this church and you're wicked,
it's like, well, then that's just like a cult at that point,
right? It's like, that's a, when I was in Portland,
there was a cult, a literal cult that was called
the followers of Christ that we're not following Christ.
But they were, they taught,
they taught though that if you did not go to their church
in, I think it was Malala, Oregon or Oregon city, Oregon,
you were going to hell.
and there was multiple people that worked for the city of Portland that went to this cult
and they were straight up about it they're like if you don't go to this church you are going to hell
That is a cult by definition, right?
But even outside of just not thinking everybody's safe,
we should just not attack people
just because they're not in the little club, right?
Because there are plenty of people
that are doing good works for God outside of our knowledge
in countries that we've never heard of,
names that we've never heard of,
and they're still trying to serve God
and they're still trying to do their best for God.
And just because someone doesn't do the way,
you know, things the way that we would necessarily,
doesn't mean that we have to
you know, think of them lesser or treat them like they're not, you know, a servant of Jesus Christ.
Luke 9.50, this is what Jesus says again. He says the same idea.
And while I'm going there, you guys can go to Proverbs 26-17.
Luke 9 50 it says and Jesus said unto him forbid him not for he that is not against us is
For us. Here's my line on things. I mean, this is not just for fellowship
I'm just saying for me, you know being supportive people per se if someone is King James only if they're preaching ones
They've always say that they're not anti-soul winning at the very least
I'm on their team and guess what they're on my team and they never have to come in my building
And I never have to come in their building
but I'm not gonna be against them by any means.
Why would we?
We're on the same team.
And what are the teams?
It's, you know, team Jesus and team Satan,
the saved and the unsaved.
These are the two teams that we have.
And I, when it comes to like the complexity of man again,
this is kind of how that ties into this.
It's like, I was saying earlier,
there are Christians that,
I could never get along with, in reality.
Like the contention would be too sharp.
The strife would be too much.
The arguing would be too much.
But I can still take a step back and be like,
hey, just because we don't get along,
I can still be like, God bless you.
I hope your ministry goes well.
I hope you go and win souls for Jesus Christ
just somewhere far away from me, right?
I was like, you know, you can have this.
Like there can be a world where someone doesn't like me
and they're still a good person.
because I'm annoying. I already know I'm annoying, okay? I'd get annoyed with me if I was dealing with
me every day. So, like, I can understand you don't have to like me. You don't have to like this
church. You don't have to like all the people in this church to be a good person. And you would hope
that they would reflect that same kind of thinking to you. But, you know, at the other day, you just
need to be the person who has integrity as a Christian. No matter what anybody else does,
you answer to God at the end of the day. So, do what's right in God's sight, not with what other
But I just want you to realize as I kind of get to the end of this sermon that
This is what the devil wants from us as Christians. I said this again
I've said this before and I'll say this till the day of day is the day I die as well
The devil wants us to fight each other as Christians
That's his goal because when we do that we really let the devil off easy because what I say earlier
I said that there's there's two teams that we have the the team Jesus team say and you have like the team save team unsaved
Going and fighting with this guy. He's like hey you knock out you stop casting out those demons
And then this random guy, maybe he's arguing with Johnny's like I'm gonna cast out demons if I want to and they're just back and forth
Who wins in that scenario? It's not John. It's not that guy. It's not the work of Jesus Christ
It's a devil. You know why because less demons are being cast out at the other day with that scenario
the devil wants nothing more for us to fight each other
because when we fight each other,
we're focused on the wrong thing.
And then he can do all of his little Weasley works
in the background.
And I said I've talked about this before,
but what better time is it to talk about than right now?
I think it's more applicable than ever right now
because, you know,
To just address the elephant in the room of things. Okay, if you know, you know
Like there's the drama that goes on outside of our doors and if you don't know God bless you
And here's the thing even if you don't know what's going on
You don't need to know what's going on because when I preach a sermon, I'm never gonna preach for the internet
I hope you guys all understand that this is kind of a side note to what I'm about to say
But I would also expect this from the people in this room as well
If you're gonna go behind the pulpit I when I get up and preach a sermon
I never think like man YouTube's gonna love this one
You know what I'm thinking when I write a sermon, I'm like,
how can I help the people that are the flesh and blood
that I'm looking at in this room?
That's what preaching should be, okay?
So, I mean, obviously the online aspect is a benefit.
I mean, cool, if anybody hears my sermon
and gets, you know, edified online, that's super great.
Like, I'm glad for that.
But here's what my litmus test is.
If there was no internet, if we had the power cut off
and I'm just up here yelling to you guys
in a dark room or something like that,
would my sermon still be edifying at the end of the day?
That's my test.
Because if it's not, then you know what that means,
I'm not preaching for you guys,
I'm preaching for you two.
And again, there's nothing wrong with, you know,
doing a double application, maybe,
but my goal is always gonna be to help the people
in this room, and I would expect that
from you as a man as well.
That if nobody else saw your somewhere
but the people in this room, it should be edifying.
Because here's the thing, the people on YouTube
didn't wake up in the morning, get all ready,
and drive, you know, super far to church,
to hear you preach to someone on YouTube, right?
It's like,
And the people that are on YouTube,
if they wanna hear a sermon, you know what they should do?
They should get their lazy butts inside of church.
That's what they should do.
Obviously, we know that there's acceptance.
That's not what I'm talking about right now.
What I'm talking about is this,
is that when you're a man in here,
your goal should be to edify the body of Christ
that meets under this roof.
That's my point.
And I'm not bringing that up because I don't think people do that, okay?
Here, you need to pause for a second, okay?
People think sometimes when I'm bringing up stuff that I'm like addressing something passive-aggressive,
it's just not always true.
Sometimes I'm just bringing it up because I want to be edifying, okay?
Because I'm not shy from not being passive-aggressive,
but I just sometimes I think that I'm like, people must be thinking right now,
who's the guy who preached the unedifying sermon?
Get that out of your mind.
That's not the point.
The point is that from this point forward nobody does it, okay?
Interesting though. I'm talking about I'm bringing this all back to what I was just saying though about the drama of stuff, okay?
If you're unaware
The church that you're in right now is sure foundation Baptist church
No other Baptist church sure foundation Baptist church is where you decided to come to church this morning for better or for worse
Okay, so when it comes to this church though
We are doing a great work for the people of Spokane, Washington.
That's the goal of this church.
That's why we're here to help the people in this room
and to reach the community of Spokane.
So I'll just say this concerning any kind of drama
outside these doors.
You should never let any of that affect you
from the work that you're doing in this building.
There's going to be drama.
People are going to have different opinions about this.
you know, everyone has an opinion about everything, okay?
It's like, whatever, you can have your opinion,
you can have your disagreements,
you can have your whatever,
but never let this out, anything outside these doors
affect the work that you're doing in this church, okay?
Cause like to tie that back even to the beginning
of the sermon about, you know, caring for your own first,
people outside these doors are important
in other churches, they're important.
But you know who I'm gonna prioritize the most
is the people that are inside this building.
That's who I'm gonna prioritize,
taking care of and ministering to.
The people that are in, you know, other communities of this world, they're important as well,
but the people that are in the Spokane community, that's who I'm going to prioritize,
that's who I'm going to try to preach the gospel to first, because we're going to try to reach
first. Anything outside of that that's pulling us from being able to do that is a distraction.
And whether it's of the devil or whether it's just a vanity, we don't want any part in that.
And it kind of, it does break my heart when people are fighting that I like, you know, two people that I like, it does, you know, it makes me upset.
It's not ideal in a perfect world. You'd wish that it wasn't so.
But no matter what issues are going on outside of these doors, you should be focused on the people in here because that's who we should prioritize at church is the people that are actually under your roof.
So all that to just say is don't let the drama affect what you're doing here
Well, what you guys are there in parbers 26 for 17 with the Bible say it said he that passeth by and
metaleth with strife
Belonging not to him is like one that take of the dog by the ears
What's someone who takes the dog by the ears is a random dog my name is own business. They're unwise. They're stupid
They're foolish, right? What's this problem trying to teach us?
Getting involved in other people's business,
getting in a fight that's not your own fight
is stupid is what he's saying right here.
It's not wise to do these things.
So don't get involved in strife.
You can have your opinions about different things, okay?
But there's no reason for any of us to insert ourselves
in any kind of strife online, okay?
You guys are there in First Corinthians.
You guys can go to First Corinthians 3-3.
This is where we'll end the sermon at.
Verse number three.
I just, again,
I could talk about how we've been preaching through this,
but I mean, do you think it's a coincidence
that we're going through these chapters right?
Like at such a time as this, I don't think so.
First Corinthians three three look at the level says it says for ye are yet carnal for where is there is among you envying and strife in
Divisions are you not carnal and walk as men for one sayeth?
I'm of Paul and another I'm of Paulos are you not carnal is what Paul says
And with the situation being applicable right now,
I would just say this,
that if you're someone who's like, I'm team so-and-so,
I'm team this guy,
then your carnal is what Paul is saying right here.
You can have an opinion about who's right or who's wrong.
That doesn't matter.
But no matter who you think is more right
or who's more wrong,
this was gonna be realized.
There are no splits and divisions in teams
in Jesus Christ.
It is team Jesus and that is it at the end of the day.
And I'm going to talk about how complex things are
and how complex people are.
You should just realize that there's good people
that make mistakes, there's good people
that don't serve God the way that you would,
there's good people that have different opinions
about different things.
Don't let any of that distract you, though,
from the work that we need to do in our community,
in the church, in the work that we need to do at our church.
Because something that my dad said recently
in his sermon that I thought was really good
is, like I was saying, how to team Jesus.
You have God, you have the angels,
and you have...
us as safe people. Then team Satan you have the devil, you have the demons and you have the
children of the devil and then what we're doing is fighting for everybody else in the middle.
But what the devil wants us to do is to turn on our own ranks and start fighting each other
again because then he has less people to worry about, he has less people to fight
and we let the devil off easy when we do that.
Don't worry about fighting your brother the I mean so many times the Bible talks about unity
But we need to make sure take a step back sometimes and realize who are we fighting?
Who is the real enemy at the end of the day?
What's our real goal as a church and then you should align your actions according to that belief?
so with all this being said, you know
The title my sermon was the complexity of man the problem with this us versus them mentality and this tribalism and this demonizing of people
number one is that people are complex and painting them with a broad brush is not
a good idea because it's not accurate to make just sweeping statements about
people or to completely demonize people make them completely evil or
completely good
And also number two is that this us versus them mentality
and this demonizing everybody that's not in our circle
causes us to fight the wrong people.
It causes us to fight each other.
It causes us to fight other people
that are trying to win Jesus Christ,
or absolve for Jesus Christ in their own community.
What it what is that if it's not the devil winning over us, right?
Don't don't don't turn around and fight people that are on your own team
And even if you don't like people that are on your team, that doesn't mean you have to attack them
And then that's not true there. I'll tell you this right now
There are names that I know that you guys know who I'm talking about right now that I would name and be like
I do not like this guy. I think this guy is you know
a person of low integrity that I think he's a scumbag.
I think I could give you a list of bad adjectives
for this guy, okay?
But I would still say this guy's saved though, okay?
And he's still getting people saved where he's at,
so I'm not gonna be against him.
I might bicker with him a little bit sometimes,
but I'm not gonna be completely against him
and be like, this guy's of the devil.
Because at the end of the day,
whether we like it or not, we are on the same team.
So we just need to reconcile that fact at the end of the day.
And if it takes being far away from each other
to make that work, then that's where it is.
But we should never just make our ministry or our goal
to destroy.
other people that are saved that believe in Jesus Christ
If they're getting people saved or even if they're not because if people are saved
We should not just make it our goal to destroy them. We should be fighting against the devil as Christians. That's what Paul wants
That's what God wants. That's what we should be doing as a Christian. So just don't
get involved in a bunch of drama that'll cause you grief in the long run.
That all means that let's pray.
Do it for the God.
Thank you so much for this wonderful day.
Thank you so much for everything you do for us, God.
Thank you so much for the people at this church, God.
And thank you so much for the people that spent time out of their weekend, God, to hear
your word preach, God.
I just pray that the words that I preach were edifying God and they would help people,
God.
And I just pray that truly would take this to heart, God, and not to worry about divisions
the issues of things outside of our church. God I just pray that we would be able to serve you
to the best of our ability and focus on the work that we have here and that we would remember who
the real enemy is at the end of the day and that we'd fight against the devil himself and
The love of God song number 188 the love of God
Song 188 let's sing it together on the first the love of God is greater far than tongue or pen
Can't ever tell it goes beyond
the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell the guilty pair bowed down
with care God gave his son to win his airing child he reconciled and pardoned
strong it shall forever more endure the saints and angels song when ory time shall
pass away and earthly thrones and kingdoms fall when men who hear refuse to
shall still endure all measureless and strong, redeeming grace to Adam's race the
saints and angels song. Oh love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and
strong, it shall forevermore endure the saints and
song could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies a parchment made were
every stonk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade guns are the love of
those struts from sky to sky. Oh, love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong,
it shall forevermore endure the saints and angels song. Amen. Good singing. Brother Ryan,
would you close the board of prayer?