(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're here in Proverbs chapter 26, and the first sermon today we talked about conflict resolution, those that are directly involved in a situation, which means the two people that are basically most directly involved in the strife is like between them. But now what we're going to talk about is those that are indirectly involved, basically people that find themselves in the situation, even though it's not specifically related to them, but they just happen to be in the situation. Now you say, Brother Stuckey, I thought we said in the first sermon that we don't involve other people. Yes, but someone is always involved. That is the goal, to involve nobody else, but unfortunately that is going to take place very, very rarely. Usually other people end up getting involved. That's just the way it is. And so I want to preach on this sermon and this subject, if you happen to be involved in a situation one day, that you're not directly involved with it, but you happen to find yourself in this situation. Now I want you to notice something here in verse 17, and the first point is simply this, to encourage them to deal with it individually and involve me if necessary. So if you find yourself hearing about a situation, someone mentions it to you, whatever, what you should do is encourage them to deal with it one on one, like we talked about in the first sermon, and if necessary to involve me. Now I want you to notice verse 17. It's the wording here in verse 17. It says, he that passeth by. The implication of he that passeth by is basically you're not trying to get involved in fights. You're just kind of passing by and all of a sudden you see a fight and then you're like, okay, I'm getting involved in this. You're not trying to get involved, you're just passing by, you're walking by, I see a fight with Alexander and Jerome and I was like, okay, I'm getting involved in this. You're not trying to though, is what I'm trying to tell you. So in verse 17, the implication is basically someone who's not trying to get involved in a fight, but they happen to see one and then they do end up getting involved. This could come from various different ways, but maybe somebody talks to you about it and all of a sudden you find yourself indirectly involved. What do you do? Encourage them to deal with it one on one and involve me if necessary. Now if you hear about it though from a third party that is not directly involved, that means other people are already aware, you definitely need to tell me because we are past the point of dealing with it one on one because other people already know. At that point I need to know, but if it's just between one on one, encourage them, hey, deal with it one on one and you should still inform me because obviously the situation is kind of getting out of control a little bit. Notice what it says in verse 17, he that passeth by and meddleth with strife belonging not to him is like one that taketh the dog by the ears. So basically there's a fight between two people. It's not your direct fight, but then all of a sudden you're involved in the fight and maybe you didn't even want to be involved. You weren't trying to. You're trying not to get in fights, but you happen to find yourself involved in a situation. Even if you weren't trying to, once you're involved in it, it's like taking a dog by the ears, the Bible says. Verse 18, as a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbor and saith, am not I in sport. Mad in the Bible means crazy, kind of like the Mad Hatter. So basically as a mad man would basically randomly be throwing arrows out. Imagine someone who's crazy who has flaming arrows and he's just shooting them out randomly in different directions. Or he has a gun, a loaded gun, and he's just crazy, just firing every which way. That's what the Bible is saying, that if you're involved in this situation, you're like randomly firing shots and unfortunately some of the things you say will hit them. It's going to hurt. And sometimes you hurt people on both sides of the situation. You find yourself involved in the situation and you offend both sides. Usually that is what takes place. And then you realize, man, I should have just let them deal with it one on one. Okay? Because that is what's going to end up happening. Verse 20, where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceaseth. Look, if there is no wood on a fire, it's going to die out. If you don't pour gasoline on that fire, it will die out. But if you keep adding a little bit of wood, you keep adding. What do you do when you're trying to keep a fire going? Keep adding some wood, right? The fire starts to die down a little bit, add some gasoline, and it keeps it going. But if nobody adds anything, it's going to die out. See, this is what usually takes place in situations, okay? Usually somebody hears about something and they're going to tell their closest friend and say, do you promise not to tell anyone? I promise I won't tell anyone. And they tell one person who promises, I promise I won't tell anyone. And they tell one person, I promise I won't tell anyone, and then 25 people know about it. Right. Look, situations in church, these happen, I've seen them a million times, I mean, at every church this happens. And this is usually what happens because look, in the heart of every single person, we do like to gossip a little bit. Yeah. Even men as well, not just ladies. Now it is something I would say ladies struggle with more, if we're honest with ourselves, but when something frustrates you, your natural tendency is to complain to someone. That's right. And there's certain people you say, man, this is someone I can talk to and I trust and he won't tell anyone. But unfortunately, usually that person tells one person and that person tells one person and then everybody knows about it. This is reality. And so here's the reality, though. If nobody put any wood on that fire, it would die out. And so if you're directly or indirectly involved and you have any part of throwing a little bit of wood or even a little twig or one little leaf, look, you are adding and helping that problem exist. Okay? Right. Verse 21, as coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a tale bearer are as wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. And I want you to notice in verse 22 with a tale bearer, this is someone who is telling tales. Gossiping would be another way to say this, okay? But it says are as wounds. Every word's important. A wound is something that does not heal overnight. It takes time to heal. And here's the reality. We say that little nursery rhyme, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. But here's the reality. Just hit me with a rock, okay? I'd rather you just punch me in the face and knock me out and I'll recover quicker than words. Because words hit the inside. All right. You punch me in the face, it just hits the outside, okay? But you say certain words, it's going to hit the inside. And that's something that honestly takes a long time to heal. When I was in college, I had a staph infection and staph infections are pretty common if you work out or if you go to the gym. And I probably got it from going to the gym but basically, you know, I had a staph infection in my leg and, you know, and I don't like going to the doctor's. So when I'm going to the doctor's, I'm already at the point where I'm like almost dead, right? So I kind of go to the doctor's and he's like, man, you should have dealt with this like a long time ago. And so the problem was that my leg was healed on the outside, it didn't really look bad. But on the inside, the wound existed so he had to cut my leg open to get to the root of the problem. And see, the problem with a wound is it's on the inside. If it's just on the surface, it heals very quickly. But when it hits the inside, it's worse. And here's the reality. When you say words, those are usually wounds and they hit people. And look, the reality is they might take weeks or months to heal, they might never heal. Now ideally, people will not hold bitterness and they'll realize they'll just harm themselves. But unfortunately, oftentimes those words, you want to forget about them, but then they still come up from time to time and you just will not let it go. Be careful with the things you say, because once you say them, you can't just say delete. I changed my mind. They already came out. Turn to Ephesians 4, Ephesians chapter 4. Let me say this, that one big problem with drinking alcohol, which obviously there's a lot of problems, is that when people are drunk, they start to reveal what's inside their heart. And all of a sudden they say some really painful and hurtful things that people didn't even know they thought. And it's just like, well, it's too late. They showed what was inside of their heart. And here's the thing, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if you keep feelings in your heart, they will end up coming out. As much as you try to fight them back, they will come out when you don't expect them. That's why you must work on your heart. Ephesians 4, and remember, this is the context of the Church of Ephesus, Ephesians 4 verse 1, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Endeavoring means you're striving very hard to do this. You're working really hard to keep unity. As a local church, what he's telling the Church of Ephesus is work very hard to keep unity. Verse 4, there is one body and one spirit, even as you're called and one hope of your calling. One body is referring to a local body, a local church. And whether you like it or not, in this local body, you're all members together. This is your church family. I did not place you in this church. God placed you in this church to help partake with this church and help strive with this church to accomplish great things. God placed you in this church, okay? Whether you're the eye, the ear, the nose, the leg, or whatever, all of you are here and everybody in this room is important, every single person. This is your church family, okay? You can't change that. Look, we all were born into physical families and your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your cousins, they are your brothers, sisters, cousins, parents, no matter what you think. That's just the way it works. You cannot change that. And let me tell you something, as a church family, these are the members of this church. You say, Brother Stuckey, what if somebody's not perfect? None of us are perfect. Yes, we're all filled with envenus, strife, bitterness. We have problems. We're not patient. Yes, sometimes people do things, they make you mad. Look, we all make mistakes, but we're still part of the same local body and we must have unity and endeavor to keep that unity in order to accomplish something big for God, which is what we're doing. Turning your Bible to number 16, number 16, number chapter 16. And I want you to understand something because at a church with over 50 people, not every body in this room is going to be your best friend. And that's fine. I'm not asking you to be best friends with everybody because we have different personalities. When I was at Verity, there were certain people I was closer to than others. And there are certain people that got on my nerves from time to time. It just is what it is. But here's the thing, when I got partnered to go sowing with that person, it's like you're fighting together to accomplish something. And look, if there is any strife you have towards any member of this church, you must be willing to put it aside and not let it affect the church. You must be willing to work together. I'm not saying everybody is going to be best friends. Everybody in this room, there's probably a few people that you feel pretty close to, but there's probably some people that you're not going to message during the week. You're not going to ask, hey, how are things going? You're just not best friends with them and that's fine. You don't have to be best friends, but you do have to be willing to work together. And let me say this, I have applied this to my personal life. When I've been at churches. When I went to a church in West Virginia, there was someone at the church that just did not like me. And I knew this because, and it wasn't just me, he didn't like any of us that went sowing with him. And this is a guy who had been at the church for like 25 years. And I know this because of the fact I was friends with the assistant pastor and I was told that this guy does not like any of you. We tried to be nice to him, but he just didn't like the new, young, rebellious kids or whatever. So it's like, we were at this church and this guy didn't like me. And one of the problems was his son was a sodomite. And so he wasn't really a fan of us because of what we believe about the reprobate doctrine. That's a whole other circle. But he wasn't really much of a fan of us. But you know what? I got partnered with him sowing sometimes. And this is exactly what happened one time when we went sowing. Because what we would do is generally drive together because that way we wouldn't get lost from one another. So I rode with him to our sowing spot on a midweek. I can't remember what it was, Wednesday night or Thursday night or something. I went sowing with him. And I remember I was the silent partner at the door. And I've said this story I think a few times. I'm not sure if I did it in a sermon, but some of you know the story. I was the silent partner in a conversation. And he's preaching the gospel to someone. And it's very apparent to me the person he's preaching to is a sodomite, is a homosexual. You can just tell he's very effeminate and everything like that. And then that guy asked him, well, what does the Bible say about homosexuality and gay people? So it's very obvious to me. The reason why he asked that is that's inside his heart. That's who he is, right? So he asked the person, and I'm the silent partner. And look, I was quiet. I didn't try to cause any problems. And he gave his answer about what he believes and everything like that. And I'm the silent partner. Then all of a sudden, he looks over at me and he says, but brother Matthew over here has a different opinion about homosexuals. Why don't you tell him what your opinion is? And I'm just like, man, it's like, what in the world? Like, I'm not trying to cause fights or have any problems like this. This guy did not like us. He tried to basically get rid of us from church. And I'm not trying to cause strife. I'm just going soul winning. I'm the silent partner. And I just kind of gave a brief answer because I was trying to just not cause any problems. And basically, we're driving home and everything. It's very awkward at this time, and it's very awkward in the car. And all of a sudden, he just keeps trying to bring it up and say, why do you believe this? And then I would try to just give a quick answer and say, man, the weather was nice today, right? It wasn't that hot outside. And I was just thinking, man, 15 minutes, I'm counting down, it's a 15 minute drive. Please let this end. And this guy just did not like me. That just is what it is. And look, in church, you might have people like that, that for whatever reason they do not like you. But me basically going to war with this person, would that benefit the church? No, it wouldn't. And look, I don't believe in being, I'm not watered down. But look, at the same time, I'm not just going to, I'm not always just preaching sermons when I'm outside the pulpit. It's like, I'm just trying to get along with my fellow brother in Christ because he was a brother in Christ. I believe he was saved. He went soul winning. I don't hate that guy. But you know, he just did not like me. Okay, and he proved it with that conversation, you know, it's very apparent, he did not like me. But I tried to keep the peace with him. Why? Because he's one of the soldiers of church. And it's like, we're trying to keep unity because we're trying to get people saved. Number 16. And so the first thing is this, you know, if you find yourself indirectly involved, encourage those people to deal with it one on one and involve me if necessary, and let me know about the situation. And here's the thing, when people have let me know about situations, oftentimes I'm just like, well, hopefully they'll just settle it themselves. But then if I realize it's too big, I'll get involved, okay, if necessary, okay. Now number 16, and this kind of goes along with the second point, because you encourage them to deal with it one on one, and then you basically encourage them to tell me about it, but you double check that I am aware of the situation, okay? Because the problem is, oftentimes people just assume, obviously, Brother Stuckey already knows about this. And so everybody's passing on this situation. Well, of course, Brother Stuckey already knows about it, right? And then all of a sudden, it's like 25 people are involved, and I have no idea. I have no idea what's going on, okay? Number 16, verse one. Now Korah, the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Pila, sons of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before Moses with certain children, certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. Now I want you to see here that Korah basically has a problem with Moses, and he's fighting against him, and once he fights against Moses, he already has 250 people that he just calls on like that. Now, how does that happen? It happens because Korah had been subtly complaining and criticizing against Moses for a long time, and none of those 250 people let Moses know about it. Look, I promise you, some of those 250 people were saved people. I don't believe every single person was just a reprobate, okay? But Korah basically uses their emotions against them, and he finds 250 people that rise up against Moses immediately. How does that happen? He does it quietly and subtly, and they probably just assume, well, of course Moses knows about this. No, he didn't, okay? Make sure I'm aware of the situation. If you're indirectly involved, then I should already know about it. Make sure I know about it, because usually I probably won't know about it. Why? Because they want to involve their friends, but not me. That's just the way it works, okay? Turn to Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27. I apologize. Could someone give me a glass of water? I forgot to bring one up here. Proverbs 27. Proverbs 27. Now, I do want you to understand something. I'm not telling you to be like a tattletale, and if somebody did something really small, like, oh, he sat in my seat, you know, it's like, you don't have to tell me about everything. You don't have to message me and say, Brother Stuckey, I'm thinking about buying this blue car, but I wanted to make sure it was okay with you that I bought a blue car. Look, I'm not going to lord over God's heritage. Make up your own decisions about those things, and the reality is, with some churches, it's like that. Brother Stuckey, you know, is it all right if I get a jolly gee, because you preach against it a lot. It's like, go to jolly gee if you want. I don't care, okay? If you want to backside and you're not ready to go, go ahead and do whatever you want, okay? Look, you don't have to tell me about every single thing. I'm just saying, when there's strife, make sure I'm aware about it, okay? Proverbs 27, Proverbs 27, verse 23 says, Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds. Now, I want you to understand that symbolism we can use here is that when you're leading a church, the people are basically the ones you're shepherding, the sheep that you're shepherding, your flocks, your herds, and whenever you are overseeing something or you're a manager or organizing anything, whether in business, whether at church, you need to know what's going on with the people. A boss at a company is going to be a bad boss if he never has meetings with his employees, he never tells them things they're doing right or wrong, he never gives any feedback, he's going to be a bad manager just logically. You have to have meetings and have things organized to make sure things are going smoothly. So I need to be aware of the state of thy flocks, but I'm asking you to help me with this. Because sometimes if nobody tells me, I just will not know. Even though I want to know what's going on, I don't always know. And once again, I'm not saying I care about every single thing, you know, it's like so and so stopped wearing, you know, green shirts or whatever, they just want to wear blue ones. I don't care about stuff like that, okay? I'm just saying real situations, fights or whatever, those are things you should let me know to be aware about. Because how can I do a good job handling things if people don't let me know, okay? First Timothy three, first Timothy three. I remember a situation, I'm not going to name, I'm not going to name the churches with people or whatever, but I just know of this situation that I know the pastor who basically heard about a situation in the church that basically he had, you know, started a church or since someone had started a church and that person had quit the ministry, okay? And you know, this other pastor heard about the situation and he just double checked to make sure that the sending pastor had heard about it. Sending pastor didn't even know about it. Like lots of people were aware about the situation, but not the person who sent that person out to start the church. Why? Everyone just assumed he already knew about it. But there's no need to send him that message to make sure he knows what's going on. I'm sure somebody told him. Well, that's what everybody thinks. I'm sure somebody told him. And then he's just not aware about it. And look, the reality is oftentimes with situations, the person who's leading the church, people just don't tell about it. This is the way it is at every church. First Timothy three verse four. First Timothy three verse four. One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For for man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? One of the prerequisites to being a pastor is that you're married with a wife and you have multiple kids that are faithful. Okay. That's what the Bible teaches. So in case you've ever wondered about this, I am not the pastor of this church. Okay. You can call me brother Stuckey and I'm the evangelist here, but pastor Jimenez is still the ultimate authority. And so on big decisions, I will run those by him. Now just like if you work at a company, if you're the assistant manager, the manager probably trust you to do most things, but from time to time on big things, you have to run it by him. Same thing is here. Okay. But I want you to see here, the Bible says, you know, basically having your children under control. Look, if you don't know what's going on with your kids, you don't know anything about them. You can't do a good job raising them. If you're not sure what their problems are or what they're doing, that's good or bad or whatever, you don't even know what they like. You don't know what your son or your daughter enjoy doing. How are you going to do a good job raising them? It's like, you know, let's say for Jim, he said, man, I'm gonna take my son out to play basketball and he hates basketball. It's like, you need to be aware of that, right? You're not going to do a good job as a parent unless you know both the strengths and weaknesses of your kids. And all kids will have strengths and weaknesses. All church members will have strengths and weaknesses. It is what it is. And so I want you to understand running a family is very much like running a church. It's just the church has more people. Okay. And so if you're going to do a good job, you need to know what's going on. So if you're indirectly involved in a situation, double check that I am aware of it. Okay. First thing, tell them to deal with it one on one and then double check that I'm already aware of it. It might be I'm aware of it and I determined it's just not a big enough deal for me to get involved or it might be I just don't know about it. Okay. Jude one, Jude chapter one in your Bible, Jude chapter one. And let me just be completely honest. Every single one of us has been indirectly involved in fights before. Every single one of us throughout our lives, not even just in church, indirectly you're involved in fights all the time. And a natural tendency is basically to get on one side versus the other or try to deal with it like you think you should, but we should take the advice of the Bible. Should you get involved according to what the Bible says? Jude one verse 16, it says, these are murmurs, complainers walking after their own lusts and their mouths speak at great swelling words, having men's person in admiration because of advantage. Now this is a chapter on false prophets and bad people and the Bible says these people are murmurs. They're complainers. They walk after their own lusts. These are bad people. Verse 17, but beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. See, the Bible warns about these people and then it says in verse 19, these be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit. I want to highlight here in verse 19 where it says these be they who separate themselves. What it means by separating yourself is basically separating yourself from other people. When it comes to people that criticize a church, they never do it in front of like 20 people. They go one on one to criticize and complain and their goal is if they're bad people to get that person upset and they can just walk away and they weren't involved. And sometimes in fights it's not even the people that are at it that are really wrong, but nobody really knows who's wrong. Now as I've mentioned, as we preached on the reprobates, we preached a seven part series, but we cannot know like two plus two who a bad person is. But I want you to understand sometimes the people involved in a fight, they aren't even really the ones that are the cause of it. Somebody else has been throwing fuel on the fire and cause this problem and you might not even be aware who that person is. And the reason why you're not aware is because these people separate themselves. They do it quietly, one on one, and if they're successful, they're smart enough to basically make it not obvious and nobody's aware of it. Now turn in your Bible to second Chronicles 35, second Chronicles 35. Now look, I don't believe that we should just spend our whole lives playing detective, is so and so a bad person, is so and so a good person? I just want you to be aware that sometimes in situations, things might not be as clear as you think they are. You might be looking at something, but you might not know all the facts and the problem is when people are indirectly involved, usually they're indirectly involved because of either a friendship they have towards one of those people. So they're going to be a little bit emotional as well. But what you really need to do as we talk about the first sermon is kind of have a meeting and really get down to the root of things and just figure everything out. Notice what it says, and so the first point is this, encourage them to deal with it one on one and involve me if necessary. Number two, make sure I'm aware of the situation, but number three, stay neutral in the situation. Do not take a side. You stay neutral. Second Chronicles 35 verse 19. Second Chronicles 35 verse 19. Second Chronicles 35 verse 19, and let me say this, that these things, although these are very biblical, these are not easy to follow, okay? If I am indirectly involved in a situation, it usually means someone's a close friend of mine. And so my natural tendency would want to be to side with them against that person, but I'm telling you, it's better for those two people to deal with it, okay? It's just not good to get involved in a fight or you're taking a dog by the ears, okay? And honestly, if you're indirectly involved, oftentimes both sides will get mad at you. It's just the way it is, okay? Second Chronicles 35 verse 19. In the 18th year of the reign of Josiah was this Passover kept. Now let me ask you, was Josiah a good king or a bad king? Good king, right? I mean, he's in the top couple best kings. Did you know Josiah died as a very young man? Why in the world did he die at such a young age? Well, notice verse 20, after all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Nico king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates and Josiah went out against him. So Josiah is basically fighting with Carchemish against Nico. Verse 21, but he sent ambassadors to him saying, what have I to do with thee thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war. And so the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt says, why are you fighting against me? We don't have any strife with one another. Why are you fighting against me? This doesn't involve you. That's what he tells Josiah, okay? Now this is some advice I wish the United States of America would apply to their lives, right? Look, when there's a problem with North and South Korea, it's a problem between North and South Korea. It's not a problem with the rest of the world, okay? When there's a problem with two nations, it's like, well, we're just going to get on the side of Israel and just bomb these people. It's like, that's what the US always does, okay? But what would the Bible say about something like that? And look, I don't hate the United States, you know? I grew up obviously in the US, but the US is responsible for more bloodshed than any country in the world because they get involved in situations. They think they're the world's police. It's like, we get to decide everybody's rules. Last I checked, the US is not that godly of a country. They've got their own problems to worry about, and let me tell you something. Everybody in this room, you have your own problems to worry about. I have my own problems to worry about. You're not the world's police, okay? Verse 21, for God commanded me to make haste, which means to do this quickly. For bear thee from meddling with God, who is with me that he destroy thee not. And Pharaoh says, God is on my side, and if you get involved in this situation, you are meddling or fighting against God. Now, Pharaoh's actually telling the truth in this situation. God is actually on the side of Pharaoh in this situation. Usually you wouldn't think that, but in this situation, God does not want Josiah involved in it. You say, why? He does not pertain to him. It's not his situation. It's not his fight. Look, you only have so much energy to fight in your life. Use that energy to fight the spiritual battles, to go soul winning, to lead people to the Lord. Don't use up your energy to fight just in a physical, carnal way. You only have so much energy, okay? Verse 22, Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguise himself that he might fight with him, and hearken not unto the words of Nico from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. So Josiah basically disguises himself, and he basically pretends to be someone else because he wants to kill Pharaoh, but this doesn't even involve him, okay? Verse 23, And the archer shot at King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. Josiah ends up dying simply because he got involved in a battle that just did not belong to him. It was not his battle to fight, okay? And I want you to realize, usually when you're indirectly involved, you just don't know all the facts. You wouldn't even know what side to take. Your natural inclination is to take the side of the person that you're close to, but I'm telling you, you don't know all the facts, and I can promise you both sides are at least going to be a little bit wrong. I think we could agree that none of us handle things perfectly. So both sides are probably going to be at least a little bit wrong, and I'm telling you, it's better to let them deal with it, not to involve other people or get involved. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Why did they mourn for Judah and Jerusalem? Why did Judah and Jerusalem mourn for Josiah? Josiah was a great king. He was a godly king, got rid of the idolatry, got rid of the sodomites. He cleaned house. He got the word God involved. He was a great king. He was a godly king. They mourned because he was a great king, okay? And the reality is that sometimes when fights happen, look, the people are great people involved in the fights. They're godly people. They're soul owners. They love God. But fights do happen, okay? And I'll be honest with you, if people at our church got involved in a fight and left the church, I would mourn. I would be sad they left. Even if they're not perfect. You say, why? Because none of us are perfect. Even if someone has problems, I still want them at this church, okay? Good people make mistakes. I make mistakes. If you've been at this church since the beginning, I'm sure you have seen me make mistakes or have a bad attitude or do things wrong because I am a sinner just like you are, okay? When people get involved in fights, it does not mean that they're bad people. It just means they got involved in a fight, okay? Turn to Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19. See these kinds of sermons are the ones that are kind of hard to apply to our lives, right? The sermons when you start hitting out a character is because of the fact all of us struggle and all of us need to work on this. And these things are just not easy to do. It's easy to understand what you need to do, but to actually apply it when you're in the situation is probably pretty difficult, okay? Leviticus 19 verse 18. Leviticus 19 verse 18, thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, I am the Lord. Now notice how it says thou shalt not avenge. Now let me explain something to you. Avenge and revenge are different words. And the reason why people are confused with these words is because they have very similar meanings and they sound the same, very close to one another, but they're not the same thing. You say, what is the difference between avenge and revenge? Here's what revenging would be, okay? Let's say Brother JR just punched me in the face. Revenge would be when I punched him back. I got revenge. Say, what is avenging? If Brother JR punches me in the face and Brother Marlin punches JR, he avenged for me. Avenge is your own personal issue. Avenge is when someone else does it for you, you understand the difference? So when we're talking about being indirectly involved, that's what this verse is talking about because it's not your fight, but you're avenging for one of the sides, okay? That's what it's saying by thou shalt not avenge. What the Bible is saying is, wait a minute, this is not your fight, let them deal with it. The Bible speaks about the avengers of blood, certain people where their job was to basically put in tact the death penalty, the Bible gives rules for that. There's certain people designed as an avenger of blood. Now the reason why people can be confused is because the Bible also mentions the avengers of blood, okay? But avenge means when it's not your personal issue, but you come and get involved in it. That's what it means by avenge, okay? So that's referring to people that are indirectly involved. Turn to Psalms 92, Psalms 92, Psalms chapter 92. Here's what I want you to understand. If you are indirectly involved in a situation, and here's the thing, let's say you're not trying to be at all, you're just minding your own business, you're just passing by and you get dragged into the situation, and that happens sometimes. I want you to realize, I encourage you not to get involved, but I want you to just be okay with the fact that you might walk away with people upset at you, even if you're not even trying to be involved in the situation. Even if you feel like in the integrity of your heart, you're not trying to get involved, you're not trying to fight, you're just trying to help people settle the issue. I'm just being honest, the sides are probably going to walk away and be upset at you. That is why it's best to let them deal with it one-on-one. But lastly, I want you to see this, and the last point is probably the most important. The first sermon was a lot longer, because obviously a lot of these points are kind of similar, but the last point is this, do not allow strife to cause you to quit church. Do not allow a personal situation you have to quit a good church. Psalms 92 verse 12, the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. Now in verse 13, it talks about being planted in the house of the Lord. Planting, think about fruits and veggies. You put it deep in the ground and it's hard to bring up. Basically what the Bible is saying here is that you need to be planted in church and never leave. That's what it's saying. Now I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying. If your pastor commits adultery, leave the church obviously. I'm not saying your pastor commits some wicked sin or he's teaching heresy, I mean if your pastor commits adultery, leave the church and kick him on the way out. But what I'm saying is a good church, be planted in that church. Do not allow events to get you out of church. You say why? Look, I'll be honest, I do not have a church I can recommend anywhere near this church. Now look, I'll be honest with you, my good friend, Pastor Jason Robinson is a pastor, but you know if somebody had a problem at their church, there are a couple other churches I could recommend them go to that I used to go to that are decent, solid churches, if they have to go to a new church. I'm just being completely honest, I do not have a church I can recommend in this area and I'm not trying to say that to be arrogant, I'm just saying there's just a lack of good churches in Metro Manila. So lack of good churches in this area that are going soul winning and preaching the truth. I honestly, because look, if there was a good church within 30 minutes and someone had an issue or they didn't like me, I'd say, you know what, I recommend this church for you to go to. But look, I don't really have that. I don't really have a church I can recommend that I believe is really solid on doctrine and lots of soul winning and hard preaching. I just don't have a church like that that I can recommend. And if you know of one, let me know. Maybe there is a good church in this area, I just don't know about it. So I just want to ask you, where are you going to go if you leave? I mean, because the Bible speaks about being planted in the house of the Lord. Notice verse 14, they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They should be fat and flourishing. The Bible is saying that when they get older, they're still going to leave people to the Lord. Let me ask you, if you leave this church and go to a church that preaches repentance of sins, do you really believe you're going to do a lot of soul opening? Do you really believe that you're going to really grow and be a great Christian? Do you really believe that kind of preaching is going to change your life? Because let me be honest, these sermons are the ones that do help you change your life. They do help motivate you to work on your character, including myself. You don't get this kind of preaching at most churches. It's not about the words I'm saying because I'm just quoting to you Bible verses and explaining. There are great churches around the world just like this, but the sad reality is most pastors or preachers are just not preaching the truth. They're lying to their members, they're not feeding their members, and most of you are very aware of that from old churches you were at. So I want you to realize that when any situation comes up, don't allow that situation to get you to quit church. Is that going to benefit you? Is that going to help your life? Turn to 2 Timothy chapter 3. The only church I can recommend you go to within a few hours away is Verdi Baptist Church from Ponga. Look, you're welcome to. If you say, I just want to go to Verdi Baptist Church from Ponga, you're welcome to go to that church. I have no problem with that. No big deal. But I'm just saying, I don't have a church here in Metro Manila I can recommend you. There's a reason why people come from Cavite and Bulacan to come to our church. People come from crazy distances to come to our church. It's not because there's anything special about me, it's just because there's not churches out there. And one day, I hope, that's not the case. But the reality is there's just not a lot of great churches. And I want you to notice here in 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 12. Yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The Bible says everyone that lives godly in Jesus will suffer persecution, but I want you to realize this same promise is to a church as well. Any church that is accomplishing something, there are going to be persecutions and problems and things that take place. It's just reality. Any church that's doing something for God. And I want you to realize that, look, our church is accomplishing a lot of things. This week we're probably going to get more than 200 salvation as a church between our church and our church plan for the week. We get more than 100 souls saved almost every week now. Our church is growing, we have a successful church plan. I mean we might have the best missions trip in the entire world. I mean right? We get a lot of people saved. I mean we might have the best missions trip in the entire world that lots of people want to come to. People from around the world that didn't get quarantined were here, right? I mean it's a very successful missions trip. Our church is growing. There's people in this room that want to be pastors one day and I believe one day they'll go and start those churches and do likewise where they go and things such as like that. This church is growing, but I want you to realize there will be setbacks and problems from time to time. It just is what it is and you should expect that. When you're accomplishing big things, the devil's going to fight against you. Now I want you to understand in the Bible, the Bible refers to the devil as a lion, as a roaring lion. Now I'm not an expert at lions, but from what I understand and I've heard about lions is that when you're choosing to attack and I want you to realize it says lion not lioness so I believe it's probably a male lion because the Bible does talk about lionesses, but I think what with lions, the way I've heard they attack is basically they kind of hide and they basically confuse the enemy. They kind of let out a roar or something and the enemy's kind of looking around like, where's the attack coming from? And then boom, they get him. And if we think of the devil, that would make a lot of sense because you're prepared for certain attacks and I'm prepared for that NIV coming in. I'm going to grab that NIV and just boom, kick it out of here, okay? But you might not be prepared for other attacks that come and the devil's going to probably attack you where you do not expect it, where you're a little bit weak. That's why you put on the whole armor of God as individuals and as church because whatever area you're weak at is where the devil's going to attack you, okay? Look, and I'm not recommending like the UFC or pro fighting, but let me just help explain something to you. When it comes to pro fighters, they are experts at all types of fighting. They're experts when it comes to standing, they're experts with wrestling and jujitsu and submissions, they have to have good stamina, be strong, they have to have everything because if they're weak in one area, you can take the best fighter in the world, but if he does not have a punch, he gets knocked out within a minute every fight. You have to be strong in all areas. In all areas of your life, you must be strong in spiritual, in Bible knowledge, absolutely, in grace, absolutely, in patience, absolutely, in humbleness, absolutely, in all areas because the devil will attack the area you're weak at and if you're weak in one area, you end up leaving a church like this and ruining your lives. You must be strong in all areas. Let me give you a story about myself when I was at Verity Baptist Church and there was somebody I brought to Verity Baptist Church years ago before I even went to Verity Baptist. This is someone I knew just from the online community, from the new IFB so to speak and this is a person though that actually him and his wife introduced my wife and I because my wife went to church with his wife in the Philippines in Pampanga and he was someone that I'd been friends with and then they introduced us. So I brought this person to Verity and I was actually the best man in his wedding and he was the best man in my wedding and he was a great member, he was going soul winning, getting lots of people saved, but eventually there's just kind of a change and I believe that basically he had some bitterness in his heart and I remember telling him that. I told him specifically that he was bitter and let me tell you something, he doesn't go to Verity and this was someone that I brought, I mean he was the best man in my wedding, but do you think I quit Verity Baptist Church because he left? I'd have to be insane to do that. How would that benefit my life? Don't you see what I'm trying to tell you? Even if your best friend in this room left and I've been through that situation, don't leave the church. How is that going to help you? Even if it's someone you really care about, look, that will not benefit your life. And the reason why I wouldn't leave is because my feet were planted in Verity Baptist. It's like until Pastor Mendez removes those feet and sends me out, it's like I'm stuck in this church, I'm not moving, nothing's going to make me leave, even if I didn't agree with him. Even if there's problems, you say why? Because that was the church in the area. That was the church I was growing at, that's the church I was learning, nothing was going to make me quit that church. And I go, oh, you feel that way. If you really love this church and believe the preaching's great, the soul winning, it's changing your life, you should have the attitude that no matter what, I will not leave this church. And the reality is, there will be situations through the years that you're frustrated about, you're upset about. I did something you didn't agree with or whatever, and when you have a problem with a member, don't allow that to get you to quit church. But if situations like strife and church, let me just be completely honest, every single person is going to handle it incorrectly. Every single person. At least a little bit. If I'm involved in a situation, I'm not going to handle it perfectly. You say why? Because I'm a sinner. I make mistakes. We pray about it and ask God to guide us, but we're not going to handle it perfectly. But even if a situation happens and you don't agree with it, or you're upset, you still have strife towards someone, you are going to destroy your own life if you keep bitterness. Just allow the matter to be settled and say, you know what, I don't want this to affect my life. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here in your house today and ask you to help us to apply this to our lives. And we never know when this situation might be applicable to us, God. We all go through problems from time to time and things happen, good people that get mad at each other. I've been mad at friends before, it happens. Help us, God, when these situations take place to just try to handle it as best as we can and try to follow what the Bible says. And if not, God, just ask you to help guide those situations and don't allow it to cause anyone to want to leave church or things such as that, God. Help us just to all continue to grow and help us to grow not just in our knowledge of the Bible but also in our grace. This is something that all of us, including myself, need to work on, God. We just pray you continue to bless this church, bless the people in this church, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.