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This church on this Sunday morning it's good to see everyone here. If you want all please take your seats and take your hymnals once you find your seat. Let's all turn in our hymnals please to him number 209. Number 209 there is sunshine in the soul number 209. Once you've found your place number 209 we'll sing it on that first verse there's sunshine in my soul today more glorious and bright. Number 209 let's sing it on this verse verse together number 209. There is sunshine in my soul today more glorious and bright that glows in at the early skies there is music in my soul today to the king there is there is for when the Lord is near the flowers of grace appear oh when jesus there is where she gives me now for joy when jesus father you have a beautiful day and the collection of believers here in this church father I pray that you please bless the song worship and pastor amazon's preaching and help each one of us become better and better christians with every day in jesus name i pray amen and then back just a few pages number 200 he's a wonderful savior to me number 200. In number 200 I was lost in sin but jesus rescued me number 200. Sing it on this first verse watch me on the chorus number 200. I was lost in sin but jesus rescued me he's the wonderful savior to me i was bound by fear but jesus set me free he's a wonderful savior to me for he's a wonderful savior to me he's a wonderful savior to me i was lost in sin but jesus he's a wonderful savior to me he's the friend so true so patient so kind he's a wonderful savior to me he's a wonderful savior to me i was lost in sin me he forgives my sins i was lost in sin he's a wonderful savior to me nice and high we'll get to you with one on the inside we have our service times sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service sundays and the evening at six o'clock and wednesdays at seven is our bible study this week will be in judges 14 keep your hand up until they get you with the bulletin and then below that we've got the soul winning times salvations baptisms and then across the page there the coffee and donuts are in honor of those celebrating their birthdays in march and then below that we've got the end of the anniversaries and then and then uh thank you to all those who participated in the small town soul winning trip to safford that was a two-day trip uh looks like 19 soul winners and 15 salvations that's great great turnout for that trip and the next trip to globe is scheduled for this saturday so we're kind of rotating every other week between the single day trips to globe and the two-day trips to safford these are open to anybody transportation is provided meals are provided on the overnight trips lodging is provided you just show up and even if you just want to come as a silent partner and just learn the ropes this is available to you so the information to sign up is right over here on these clipboards and you can always speak with brother raymond he'll have all the details he's organizing this he'll be able to answer your questions so brother raymond is there for that today's the deadline to recite psalm 68 one through three if you worked on that and then it says here that please do not sit in the rows with the gliders these reserve these rows are reserved for family members of pregnant nursing moms who use the gliders so of course if you're a pregnant nursing mom you're good to go but we just don't want some single dude just man spreading in a in a row of gliders there uh and tying up the whole row and then uh the home school field trip for the out of africa wildlife park if you remember this had been cancelled well now it's been rescheduled for thursday march 18th all homeschooled children between the ages of five and 18 are invited along with one parent and any younger siblings and both parents of families with six or more children are welcome to attend so the information's there make sure that you're on time get to the parking lot early so that people aren't trying to figure out where you are you know just be there on time respect that and then that's about it for announcements we've got the spanish night coming up on the 11th this this thursday it's the second thursday of every month and that's about it for announcements let's go ahead and sing our next song come lead us all right you should find psalm 11 in your hymnals it's that yellow sheet there if you don't have one please raise your hand and we'll get you with one psalm 11 once you've found your place we'll sing it on that first psalm 11 oh what may the righteous do the lord is in his holy temple the lord's the children of man the lord tried the righteous upon the wicked he shall resist fire and brimstone and horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup for the righteous lord love with righteousness oh amen in your hymnals please turn to him number 452 452 all i need number 452 listen to these words as we sing number 452 sing it on this first verse together now jesus christ is made to me all i need all i need he alone is all my queen he is all i need with the righteousness and power holiness this very hour my redemption full and free he is all i need when he died all i need all i need i with him was crucified he is all i need with the righteousness and power holiness this very hour my redemption full and free he is all i need he's the treasure of my soul all i need all i need we have he is all i need wisdom righteousness and power holiness this very hour my redemption full and free he is all i need jesus is my all in all all i need all i need while he keeps i cannot fall he is all i need wisdom righteousness and power holiness this very hour my redemption full and free he is all i need glory glory to the lamb all i need all i need by his spirit still i am he is all i need wisdom righteousness and power holiness this very hour my redemption full and free he is all i need all right this time we'll pass our offering plates around as the plates go around let's turn our bibles to matthew chapter seven first book in the new testament is matthew matthew chapter number seven as we always do we'll read the entire chapter starting in verse number one follow along silently with brother raimond as he reads matthew seven starting in verse number one matthew chapter seven and verse one the bible reads judge not that ye be not judged for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure you meet it shall be measured to you again and why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye but consider is not the beam that is in thine own eye or how would thou say to thy brother let me pull out the moat out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye give not that which is holy into the dogs neither cast ye your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and him that knocketh it shall be open or what man is there of you whom if his son ask bread will he give him a stone or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent if he then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you do you even so to them for this is the law and the prophets enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrows the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves you shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles even so every good tree brings forth good fruit but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire wherefore by their fruits he shall know them not everyone that sayeth unto me lord lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day lord lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then while i profess unto them i never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them i will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock and everyone that hearth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it and it came to pass when jesus had ended these sayings the people were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes brother daniel will you pray for us dear father in heaven please uh bless us all this day please fill the pastor with your spirit and please give us wisdom understanding through this server we pray in jesus name amen man the title of my sermon this morning is the golden rule the golden rule is what verse 12 is typically referred to as the bible reads here in verse 12 therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the law and the prophets this is what's known as the golden rule a lot of people talk about this without giving credit to the lord jesus christ who is the one who said this and a lot of times this is just paraphrased as do unto others as you would have them to do unto you right all things whatsoever you would or whatever you want that men should do unto you do you even so to them he's saying for this is the law and the prophets flip over to luke chapter number six if you would we'll get the other scripture that states this luke chapter number six that's a pretty strong statement when he says this is the law and the prophets he's basically saying that if you would follow the golden rule if you would follow this principle of doing unto others as you would have them to do unto you then you would actually end up fulfilling what the law and the prophets are teaching you to do because the law can be summed up in just two things it it's summed up in loving the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself and the bible says that on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets so if you would actually get your heart right and actually love the lord and love your fellow man then you would actually end up fulfilling a lot of what god has commanded that's pretty much the point that god's trying to get across with all the rules that he gives you is to love god and to love your neighbor look at luke chapter 6 verse 31 and as you would that men should do to you do ye also to them likewise so notice it does not say whatever they do to you do it back get them back hit them harder no it says what you want them to do to you that's how you should treat them so we don't treat people based on how they treat us we treat people on the way that we would want to be treated that's what the bible is saying look at the next verse it says in verse 32 and if you love them which love you what thank have ye for sinners also love those that love them and if you do good to them which do good to you what thank have you saying look i'm not impressed with that if you do good to people who do good to you for sinners also do even the same verse 34 and if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive what thank have ye do not the jews do that no i'm just kidding for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again but love ye your enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great and ye shall be the children of the highest for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil now notice what he says here love your enemies and do good and so on now in matthew there's the famous scripture in matthew chapter 5 where it says you have heard that it had been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy but i say unto you love your enemies and the thing is sometimes this principle of loving your friends loving your neighbors and hating your enemies is sometimes called the iron rule in opposition to the golden rule now a lot of people get this mixed up because jesus said you have heard that it had been said thou shalt love thy neighbor hate that enemy but notice he did not say that it was written in the old testament or that it's written in the law or that it was written in scripture and a lot of people get this warped view of the bible where they think well in the old testament you know god's really mean and everything's really rough and you know it's just you hate the bad guys and you love the good guy but then in the new testament god just completely softened up you know people sometimes kind of soften up in their old age you know grandparents are a little easier to deal with than parents sometimes right because of the fact that people tend to soften up in their old age so it's this false doctrine that god has softened up in his old age and that new testament god tells you to love your enemies but old testament god everything was eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth folks that is a false doctrine that is false god said i'm the lord i change not therefore he sons of jacob or knock at two god does not change god is the same yesterday and today and forever and what you have to understand is that the concept of loving your neighbor as yourself the concept of even loving your enemies is clearly taught in the old testament this is not new this is not jesus coming and teaching something new this is jesus expounding upon and preaching what's already taught in the old testament nowhere does the old testament say to hate your enemies that is not what the bible teaches okay so when jesus says love your enemies he's not deviating from the old testament he's continuing to teach what the old testament already taught because in leviticus it already says hey if your enemy's ox or ass falls in the ditch pull it out help him out help out your enemy okay that's what it's if you see it going astray step in help that's what the bible has always taught that has always been what the lord has prescribed now when he says you've heard that it has been said he's just saying people said that he's not saying that he said it he's not saying that the bible said it it has been said and here's the thing you can find ancient literature you can study ancient greek literature where this is the mentality and it's not a scriptural mentality okay so don't think that this is an old testament versus new so then what happens is you show people old testament verses about love and hate and they're like oh well that's totally irrelevant because god you know he's he's not like that anymore folks the gnarliest book in the whole bible is called the book of revelation it's in the new testament it's on the far right of your bible it's the most vindictive vengeful gnarly wrath filled book in the entire bible okay does the new testament teach the love of god so does the old testament okay because god is the same you hear people out in the culture say things like new testament god and old testament god right it's a lie it's a false doctrine there's only one god and he stayed the same and people who actually read the bible know that his personality is the same his character his attributes are the same in both okay so we are to love our enemies what does that mean that means if someone does us wrong instead of retaliating we do unto them as we would have them do unto us as we would want them to do unto us okay so we don't have to always be getting payback and righting every wrong and avenging ourselves the bible says avenge not yourselves give place unto wrath the lord said that he will repay vengeance belongs to him let's keep reading it says in verse 36 be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful judge not and ye shall not be judged condemn not and you should not be condemned forgive and ye shall be forgiven give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom for with the same measure that ye meet with all it shall be measured you again go to matthew chapter 22 matthew chapter 22 now what is the essence of the golden rule that's what the sermon is called the golden rule doing unto others as you would want them to do unto you what is the essence of that okay well look what the bible says in matthew 22 verse 35 then one of them which was a lawyer asked him a question tempting him and saying master which is the great commandment in the law jesus said unto him thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind this is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbor and these are the key words i want to home in on these two words as thy self that is the golden rule right there now we think of you know matthew 7 and luke 6 but actually the golden rule is found in leviticus 19 because matthew 22 is quoting leviticus 19 because this exact wording love thy neighbor as thy self what is that as thy self doing there that's the golden rule it's basically saying hey put yourself in their shoes do unto them as you would want it to be done unto you love them as your own self basically you're putting yourself in their position you're looking at it from their perspective and you're treating them the way that you would want to be treated that's what it means to love your neighbor as your self because we we take care of ourselves we look out for ourselves and so we need to take care of and look out for other people we love ourselves we need to love other people and the bible warns in the last days there will be people who love pleasures more than they love god and they're kind of just lovers of their own selves they don't care about god they don't care about their neighbor it's the exact opposite of what scripture is teaching now go back if you would to exodus chapter 22 in the old testament second book of the bible is exodus exodus 22 and we're going to look at this concept a little more while you're turning to exodus 22 i'll read you some stuff from leviticus 19 leviticus 19 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 if you actually pay attention to the wording of that verse this verse is telling you to love your enemy specifically because it says thou shalt not avenge question do you avenge against people that haven't done anything wrong to you the whole point of how could you avenge unless somebody's wronged you so if somebody wrongs me the bible says don't avenge but rather love your neighbor as yourself so even the original leviticus verse telling you to love your neighbor is specifically talking about enemies in context because it's talking about don't avenge and don't bear a grudge why would you have a grudge unless you've been wronged when you've been wronged don't hold a grudge when you've been wronged then don't take vengeance when you've been wronged love your neighbor as yourself that's the actual context if you look it up and then later in leviticus 19 verse 34 he says but the stranger that dwells with you and when the bible says stranger we in our modern vernacular in the 21st century we would use the word foreigner that's what he means by that so he says neither shalt thou excuse me verse 34 of chapter 19 says but the stranger that dwells with you shall be unto you as one born among you and thou shalt love him as thyself for ye were strangers in the land of egypt i am the lord your god look at uh exodus 22 21 thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him for ye were strangers in the land of egypt and chapter 23 verse 9 is the key exodus 23 9 flip over one page also thou shalt not oppress a stranger and this is the part i want to emphasize for ye know the heart of a stranger seeing you were strangers in the land of egypt so what do we see here being able to empathize and put yourself in other people's position he's saying to them look don't treat foreigners bad don't vex or oppress or torment foreigners he's saying you know what it's like to be a foreigner love them as yourself since you've been in that position how did you want to be treated when you were a foreigner in egypt okay that's how you need to treat foreigners in israel treat them the way that you wanted to be treated and he's saying you guys should definitely know this because you've done it you've been a foreigner you should know exactly what this is like and by the way this is why god sometimes allows us to go through hard things in our life or punishments or just tribulations and trials and this is why we have a lot of problems that we have in our life to teach us to be able to treat other people better and not to get prideful and arrogant but to be able to put ourselves in other people's positions and to be able to understand the pain and suffering that they're going through you know the bible says in second corinthians chapter one that god comforts us and all our tribulation so that we can comfort those that are in any trouble and that the reason god allows us to go through tribulation is so that we'll be able to help out other people because we know how they feel we've been there and we need to care about other people put ourselves in their shoes and treat them the way we would want to be treated you know we would all when we were growing up especially as teenagers we would have loved to be you know tall good looking athletic smart popular right i mean teenagers would love these things but yet that's not the way it goes for most people you know usually something goes wrong along the way somewhere there okay you know i remember look when i when i was growing up personally you know when i was in elementary school i was the shortest kid in the class every single time now once i hit junior high boom i sprung up to normal white guy height where i'm at right now i'm like 5 10 5 10 and a half but when i was a an elementary school i was the shortest kid in the class i you know if you look at my school photo from fourth grade it was like me and a filipino kid and a hispanic kid in the very front row we're the three short kids and then everybody else is like way taller behind us you know and and so i didn't like that i didn't like being short you know i didn't like having a lot of acne when i was a teenager you know i didn't like the fact that i had to switch schools like every year because my parents uh either moved or changed churches or whatever so i ended up going to a different school in kindergarten then first grade second grade third grade fourth grade all different schools different different different different different and then it's like finally settled in for fourth fifth started sixth a month into the year my dad shows up all right son grab your stuff you're never coming back it's like bye friends start a new school seventh grade different school eighth grade switch again no so here's the at the time these things aren't fun but guess what i'm glad that i was short at elementary school i'm glad that my face was covered in acne as a teenager i'm glad that i had to switch schools all the time i'm glad that i wasn't good at sports because i'll tell you something going through these kind of hardships and bad things actually teaches you to empathize with other people because you see other people going through things and you know what they feel instead of just being like you're so lame i'm so awesome and you know what i promise you that if we grew up just with everything going for us if i personally would have just grown up just having it all together and i've got all the advantage i've got all the right brand names and i'm just you know looking good feeling good performing well on the sports field and performing well in the classroom number one most popular i'd probably be the biggest most arrogant jerk imaginable me personally why because because god actually brings those things into our life to actually make us a better person david said it's good for me that i've been afflicted that i might keep thy word and so here's the thing you you know if we go through these type of things and and maybe we've been picked on or we know what it's like to be an outsider or we know what it's like to have some kind of a physical problem with the way that you look or or whatever you know what then we're not going to be the one making fun of other people that are in that situation or treating them bad or or locking them out of the group you know we're going to want to include people like that because of the fact that we know what it's like we have that heart just like you said you have the heart of a stranger so street that treat the stranger well you know sometimes it's you know god allows to go through certain things so we could kind of have the heart of a dweeb you know or have have the heart of you know the short kid or have the heart of the one who struggled in this area or that area you know i look i've talked to some people who've never struggled financially and they just have this attitude of well anybody who's struggling financially is just either lazy or an idiot i mean i've talked to me you've probably talked to people who had that mentality hey if you're struggling financially you must be lazy you must be stupid but listen to me you know i'm glad that when i started out in life and when i got married and and had my first few kids you know i was out there working really hard and i was not dumb and i was working hard and yet i struggled bad financially so when i see people struggling financially i see how yeah it is possible to work hard and be smart and still struggle financially it's it can be hard you know you can be in situations that are tough whereas some people have no concept of that because they've never struggled financially they've just always had all the money they need and so it's not fun to struggle financially but you know what whatever you go through in life let it teach you this valuable lesson my friend let no suffering go to waste don't let a crisis go to waste all right if you're going through life this is the real definition of that if you're going through life and and bad stuff happens in your life don't let it be for nothing don't just go through that and learn nothing and no go through that and say you know what now i can understand what other people are going through i'm going to help them get through the same thing i'm going to sympathize with other people i'm going to be more gentle or lenient or more understanding of other people i mean think about it what if you had a pastor who's never had financial problems he's never had health problems he's never had any marriage problems he's never had a problem with his kids he's never had a problem on the job he's just everything's just gone perfect for him in life is this pastor really going to be able to relate to you and and guide you through what you're going through in the christian life when you have all these obstacles and everything was just handed to him on a silver platter and he's just basically living this charmed life and everything he touches turns to gold hey he might not be able to minister to you like a guy who's maybe gone through difficulties and problems and that's why god will put a man through problems who's going to go into the ministry obviously god knows the future god knew i'm going to be a pastor and so he caused me to go through certain problems and hardships and difficulties and and bad situations so that i could be an understanding person so that i could empathize and i could relate okay that's what the bible teaches second corinthians chapter one is a great chapter on that but all throughout scripture this is taught and so when we go through bad times let it be a lesson unto us to help us put ourselves in other people's shoes because the golden rule is that we do unto others as we would have them to do unto us or as we would want people to do to us that's how we treat other people and part of that is knowing what it's like to be in their situation knowing the heart of a stranger go if you would to uh romans 13 deuteronomy chapter 10 verse 19 says love ye therefore the stranger for you were strangers in the land of egypt and by the way this is what can be a little bit frustrating about being a white person in 2021 is people accusing you of just you've never suffered your white white privilege you've never gone through anything here's what's so stupid about it by the way the term white privilege is a stupid term don't ever use it because you know what you're basically saying you're saying is a privilege to be white sounds like you're the racist since what is being white a privilege folks being red yellow black white is meaningless in the sight of god it's meaningless in my sight and let me tell you something just because i'm white doesn't mean that i haven't gone through problems it doesn't mean that i didn't didn't get struck go through struggles in school it doesn't mean that i didn't go through financial struggles it doesn't mean that i don't know what it is like to be an outsider okay and by the way i spent a year of my schooling in a school where white people were the minority by far so i know what it's like to be a minority i know what it's like to be picked on for being white i was nicknamed casper okay that was my nickname for an entire year and that's not even the year i'm thinking of i was thinking of seventh grade that was sixth grade when i was casper okay i was i was that's what i was nicknamed for being so white and i said why do you call me that i said i'm not the only white kid but they said yeah but you're the only white kid that we hang out with what in the world so look folks don't sit there and and say you know oh you know don't don't judge people here's what i'm saying don't just judge people don't just look at somebody because they're white and just assume everything's been handed to you that's not necessarily true you know don't just look at somebody who maybe has money now and just assume they've never had financial problems right somebody who's maybe you know like myself i'm 39 years old and so he just looked at me and just said well you know it's easy for you to say you know you're uh tall and you you know have what you need financially and you that you know you don't know what it's like it's like yeah but but what about when i was the short guy what about when i was struggling but you don't know everybody's story so don't just look at people and just judge and just assume oh everything's been handed to them it's so easy for them folks that's garbage everybody has struggles in life everybody goes through problems we've all gone through a hard road to get where we're at you know it's just different for everybody so don't get this attitude like ain't nobody suffered like i you sound like a blues song or something right like ain't nobody gone through the trials that i've gone through quit singing the blues and sing some hymns amen to god be the glory great things he had done this my song through endless ages jesus led me all the way not i've been down so long since i began to crawl you know if it wasn't for bad luck i wouldn't have no luck at all okay that's not what we're talking about you know get a biblical mentality and understand the fact everybody suffered you know what the bible says the same temptations are accomplished in your brother and that in the world don't think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened to you because guess what people out there are suffering people in here are suffering we've all gone through suffering in our lives hey who's ever suffered in your life put up your hand if you've ever suffered it's every single person give me a break okay romans 13 the golden rule is about treating other people the way you want to be treated and part of that is being able to put yourself in their position put yourself in their shoes think about what it's like for them verse eight says oh no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another had fulfilled the law for this thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal thou shall not bear false witness thou shall not covet and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this thing think about what the word comprehended means think about something that's comprehensive what does comprehensive mean if i said you know a comprehensive health care proposal or something you know it means everything's covered it's all included so he's saying it's briefly comprehended he's saying if you want the short version if you want to write the law of god on the back of a postage stamp then basically you could just write thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself you know that's the key statement there that comprehends the whole thing briefly you just want to get the cliff's notes version of the word of god it's that specifically in regard to the law and it says in verse 10 love worketh no ill to his neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law flip over if you would to first corinthians 13. first corinthians 13 while you're turning there i'll read for you a couple other scriptures galatians 5 14 for all the laws fulfilled in one word even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself james 2 8 if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself ye do well now first corinthians 13 is the charity chapter and charity is another word for love and the bible says here in first corinthians 13 1 though i speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity i am become a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol now stop and think about this the bible is saying that if you are the most excellent speaker imaginable you speak with the tongues of men and of angels but if you don't have charity the bible says you're just like a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol you're just a bunch of noise look at verse 2 and though i have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though i have all faith so that i could remove mountains and have not charity i'm nothing so imagine a guy who not only is he an excellent speaker but he also understands everything about the bible now obviously this person doesn't exist but it's a hypothetical hypothetically speaking let's say you have a guy who's an excellent speaker and he understands everything about the bible and you say well that's still not enough okay how about this he also has so much faith that he could remove mountains so he doesn't just know a lot about the bible he actually believes the bible he doesn't just know the bible he knows it he believes it he understands it and he has the ability to communicate it is everybody getting the picture that's what it says oh but that's not all folks there's more verse three and though i bestow all my goods to feed the poor not only that but this hypothetical person also he's not one of these rich preachers that we talked about uh last sunday or the week before he's real giving real generous bestows all his goods to feed the poor i mean you'd say well this guy's got the whole package oh but that's not all and though i give my body to be burned this guy's willing to be burned at the stake for christ so this guy's willing to be burned at the stake for christ give away all his goods he knows the bible he believes the bible he's got the faith he's got the knowledge he's got the ability to communicate but the bible says that if he doesn't have charity he's nothing now that's pretty extreme isn't it the bible is really trying to drive this point in that charity is not optional in the christian life it's not optional for a man of god it's not optional for a lay person it's not optional for anyone charity is essential love is the most important commandment in the law because notice what this guy doesn't have he doesn't love people he doesn't love his neighbor and basically that just ends up voiding whatever else this guy has going for him does everybody understand that now this is showing us how important this is we need to make sure that we have these foundational things of loving god and loving our neighbor because those are the two things everything else is hanging on those two things on these two commandments hang all the laws and the powers like everything is riding on you loving god and you loving your neighbor everything is riding on that you take one of those out the whole thing comes crashing down because those are the foundational things and then he goes on to talk about all the wonderful things about charity and then he says at the end in verse 13 and now abideth faith hope charity these three but the greatest of these is charity now how would we apply this think about it if you go through life being a jerk to other people that's a reflection of what's going on in your heart when you're going to work every day or going to school every day or wherever you go in life whatever you deal with or in the home you know if you're a homemaker and you're being a jerk to everybody you're not thinking about their feelings you're treating everybody badly you're in it for yourself you know what then that shows what's going on in your heart and that you lack charity because at the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh what you say reflects what's in your heart what you do reflects what's in your heart and so if you're going to go through life just treating people poorly not caring about others then you're not a good christian period well you know how much i read my bible i don't care how much you read your bible pray oh look at all the time i spent on soul winning look how much money i put in the plate but let me tell you something even if you're putting money in the plate and you're praying and you're reading your bible and you're out soul winning and you're doing all these things but yet if you're a bad husband you're a bad christian bad wife bad christian bad son bad christian bad daughter bad christian bad co-worker bad christian bad student bad christian bad uncle bad christian you understand because you in every area of life are to be showing love and you are to be caring about other people and if you just care about yourself i don't care how much you read the bible go to church pray go soul winning but you're all in it for yourself something's wrong with you and you're not a good christian period you must love your family your friends your co-workers your church members you know you have to love people love the lost and want to win them to christ yes but you know you say well soul winning proves that i love the lost not necessarily because the bible says some indeed preach christ even of envy and strife and some also of goodwill the one preached christ of contention not sincerely so look the bible says there are people out there preaching the gospel preaching christ but they don't actually love people they're not actually sincere and they're doing it for the wrong reasons isn't that what the bible says in philippines chapter one and so we need to make sure that we love people look when you go out soul winning care about the people that you're talking to care about them and by the way that'll make you do a better job of soul winning when you love and care about people that you're talking to and what you're saying is from the heart you're not just going through the motions and just trying to check off another door or check off another salvation but rather you're giving it your best because you love that person and care about the person and by the way people can tell if you love them or not even if it's subconsciously even if they don't know it consciously on a subconscious level they get your vibe that you're putting out and they can tell whether you really care or not and by the way women are more perceptive than men are and so guess what your wife she knows how you feel about her because she can pick up the vibe and we can pick up vibes from our wives our parents our kids whoever okay and we need to make sure that we actually have a right attitude in our heart toward other people you know the bible says that we should each esteem other better than ourselves let nothing be done through strive for very vainglory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others so we need to care about other people where did i have you turn anywhere you're still in first corinthians go to colossians chapter three colossians chapter number three and look it's always disturbing to me when i see someone who's a devout christian who's an independent baptist who's a dedicated church member just kind of be a jerk to other people you know what i mean and to just kind of be selfish every every time somebody does anything wrong to them it's just boom they're ready to fire back isn't that how some people are i mean as soon as somebody rubs them the wrong way or burns them in some way it's like i'm ready to take vengeance folks it's it's sad to see people that are otherwise godly christians just have no mercy no mercy no tolerance for other people's mistakes no grace with people and or to just totally not care about other people's feelings and just walk all over other people's feelings and just hurt other people and just not even think about it you know it's disturbing because of the fact this is so important in our christian life you know you need to make sure you need to do a little self check and look in your heart and say you know what do i love people and then here's the next check do i only love people who love me or can do something for me or do i also love people who don't love me do i also love people who can't help me in any way who can't do anything for me in any way do i care about other people and you know what when you see teenagers making fun of other teenagers because of the fact that they're not as good looking or they're not as cool or they don't have the brands or whatever you know what it's disgusting and you teenagers that think it's fun and cool to make fun of other kids and laugh at them and tease them there's nothing funny or cool about that it's just wrong and let me ask and here's what you ask yourself when you're about to you know attack some other teenager because they're ugly or whatever problems that they have in your mind why don't you just ask yourself what if i were in their position how would i want to be treated you need to do that self-check every time you go to do something like that now look obviously there are people out there that are just the enemies of the lord evil reprobates horrible wicked and you know what the bible says of course that we hate those people and we would just want nothing we would not bless them at all because they're just these horrible pedophiles and just horrible enemies of god but you know what folks 90 some percent of people are not that even of unsaved people okay and look we you know i'm not saying hey you know if if a little boy comes to school to dress don't make fun of him folks i would attack and rebuke that and mock that all day long because that is of the devil straight out of the pit of hell okay but here's the thing you know when you hear talk about bullying today it's like oh don't bully the faggots folks the faggots are bullying everyone else in our society have you noticed that we're all being bullied into this filthy pedophilia faggoty crap okay but let me tell you something just because they're twisting the concept of bullying and trying to turn it on its head just like they turn everything else on its head and turn male into female and female into male they call evil good and good evil let me tell you something don't go the other extreme and just say oh we will bully whoever we know friend no we need to make sure that we don't let them dictate our behavior to where we're just like reacting to them or going too far in the other extreme and look this faggoty garbage is disgusting and we shouldn't have any tolerance for it and the bible doesn't have any tolerance for it god's word doesn't have any tolerance for i'm not talking about that i'm talking about making fun of people because they they're the wrong height or whatever or because they're a different nationality or making fun of people because they're not as cool they don't have the brands they're not as athletic they messed up on the sports field or whatever you know what that's disgusting to when you see christian people treating other people poorly over these dumb things you know if you want to get mad at something and fight something why don't you fight the evil that's taking over our world in our country and not get your kicks making fun of somebody because they're not as cool as you and you're not that cool either by the way and you know what your grandkids are gonna look at pictures of you right now and say that you look like a freak because you're all tricked out in the latest styles and guess what those aren't gonna be cool 10 years from now they're not gonna be cool 20 years from now they're gonna be like why are your pants so tight what a dork baggy pants are coming back my friend you know and i'm not i'm not necessarily into baggy pants i'm just into pants that fit but folks everybody everybody who's all trendy and all dialed in with the with the super tight pants right now that's not going to be cool down the road it's already not cool in my book but the point is you know and then and then some kid just dresses normally it's like oh it's such a door such a nerd you know so it's like why don't you just grow up and get over yourself okay and so we need to treat other people the way that we want to be treated and don't pick on other kids don't make fun of other kids and and we as adults you know we need to make sure that that when we're at work treat other people at work the way that we want to be treated be nice to people help them out and here's the thing this isn't just and i'm focusing more on you know the negatives like hey don't make fun of people don't be vindictive don't attack them don't hurt them but you know how about even going above and beyond and just doing positive things for people unsolicited you know what would be wrong with going to work and just helping people out with their jobs and just you know you got a minute oh here let me help you with that and says that's not my job that's not my responsibility i'm not the janitor i'm not you know i'm not gonna clean up after him you know why not clean up after other people why not just go the second mile just do extra you know why not be kind and loving and you know what then the people at your work are going to respect you more anyway and you're probably going to have a much better chance of winning them to christ when you show a good testimony of being a kind loving gentle good person and you know what if you're constantly making fun of every race and you're constantly making fun of every uh you know problem that people could have or whatever you know what people are not going to feel like they can come to you with their problems because they're going to feel like oh you know i don't i'm afraid he's going to laugh at me or something you know people people come to me with a lot of stuff because i tell people i you know i tell all my pastor friends i tell my pastor friends hey you can come to me with whatever because i'm not going to judge you nothing shocks me i've been at this thing for a long time i've heard it all seen it all and so no matter what you bring me it's not going to shock me it's not going to horrify me i'm not going to judge you and so you know a lot of my pastor friends they bring me their problems and things because i'm able to help them out without judging them and they know i'm not going to repeat it or make fun of it or or gossip about it or something you see what i'm saying and then i have the opportunity to minister to people because they know that if they tell me something i'm not going to abuse that information and that's how you want to be right you want people that you want to have that reputation you don't want to be the reputation of the big gossip who's out spreading everybody else's business spreading all their personal information spreading all their problems you know what that just tells other people don't tell this person anything i can't go to this person for help and you know when they're in their spiritual hour of need they're probably not going to turn to you either look at colossians chapter 3 verse 12 put on therefore as the elect of god holy and beloved bowels of mercies and remember we talked about this a few weeks ago the bowels this is the seat of emotion in the body when we talked about the kidneys the bowels because when you feel emotions you feel them in your midriff area you feel them in your abdomen not in your head even though your brain is doing the thinking feelings take place in the abdomen and so he's saying bowels of mercies he's saying you know not just being merciful but actually feeling feeling the right way toward people and what does the bible say rejoice with them that rejoice and weep with them that weep it says remember them that are in bonds as bound with them and them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body and so he's saying you know you need to put yourself in other people's shoes and feel their pain bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering now does that characterize your interactions on the job is this how you treat people at your job is this how you treat people at your school if you if you're in school and you say well i'm homeschooled okay is this how you treat people in your homeschool is this how you treat your brothers and sisters is this how you are with your brothers and sisters are you merciful kind humble in your mind meek long suffering bowels of mercies is this how you act at home say wow that seems pretty extreme it's a tall order folks this should be how you and you're saying sometimes people get the wrong impression of me because they they hear me up here screaming and yelling as a preacher of god's word where i'm preaching all these rough passages from the bible i'm preaching all these passages these people shall be put to death and these people shall be slain and you know he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked and all that you know so i'm going through all these rough passages because i'm getting up and preaching god's word here i'm rebuking the evils and the wickedness of this world but but they they somehow think that i just go through life just basically just like i just with a flamethrower just everywhere i go just like i'm just smashing everywhere i go i'm just rebuking you know like like literally they think i'm like that that that really old nintendo game kung fu where there's just this steady stream of guys coming at you you're just like you're just like destroying one after the other it's like it's really it was really low tech so those are the only kind of movements you can do you're like that's what they think they think i'm just going through life just smashing everyone destroying everyone and whenever i go soloing with people they're like wow i can't i you know i was kind of surprised how you were nice to people what did you think i was going to do folks when we go to work when we go out soul winning when we're at church when we go to school these are the type of things that should characterize us we should be nice to people we should be kind merciful oh oh somebody somebody uh messed up my car or my bike or whatever it's like hey that's okay no problem you know one time i was in the bank parking lot and this guy backed in and dented my car but it wasn't really a big deal it was it was just cosmetic like it didn't affect the function of the car it just put a big ugly dent in the back of my car that was a pretty new car and he just put it it was like an east indian guy not that that has anything to do with it and he backed into my car and put a big dent in it and you know what i said to the guy i said hey it's okay no problem he's like are you sure you know can i can i pay for it whatever i'm just like hey don't worry about it and you know i did as soon as i did that i got in the car and i prayed and i said god there's gonna come a time when i hit someone's car it's not if it's when and i just prayed and said god let that person do unto me as i have done unto him because if i treated him the way i want to be treated lord let this you know bless me in that way and you know what i was driving down the road i rear-ended somebody but it wasn't that big of a deal it wasn't a real high speed or anything i rear-ended a guy he got out of the car and said hey you know what bleep happens no problem have a great day and i was just like thank you lord now i wasn't an angel unawares i'm not sure that you know he would have talked to no i'm just kidding hey i'm telling you you know when you when you treat you treat other people the way you want to be treated not like somebody barely bumps my car puts his dent in it and it's just like oh i think my neck hurts now you know i got to go to months of physical therapy now you know i got to go get the look wear a neck brace for a few months just to kind of you know seal the deal folks treat people the way that you want to be treated right just i mean you should be kind to people be nice to people be humble don't walk around acting like you're better than everyone else yep i'm the best uh electrician on this crew that's a wicked attitude well it's true though folks the bible says esteem other better than yourself and you know what i hope you are the best electrician on the crew but you know what let another man praise thee not thine own mouth strangers not their own lips you should be characterized by humbleness of mind meekness long suffering meaning you're not just a short fuse you know somebody spills something on you it's like ah you idiot what have you done somebody spill something i should just be like hey no problem it's okay no problem no big deal don't sweat the small stuff if somebody spills something on you somebody breaks your your thing somebody dents your car you know don't just be out to just take vengeance and vindictive and i'm gonna prosecute to the full extent of the law now look if it's something look there and again there are certain things in life that do need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law there are certain things in life that must be confronted there are battles that we need to fight but let me tell you something most of the battles that we fight in our individual daily lives are the wrong battles we need to be fighting the lord's battles we need to be fighting spiritual battles against spiritual wickedness in high places not fighting the battle of office politics of school politics be kind be nice be humble be someone who lets things go you don't have to fight everybody you know what if someone says something about you that's not true you don't necessarily have to right that wrong because sometimes it's just not a big deal choose your battles folks and don't just be and and isn't that what it means long suffering eventually everybody's got their breaking point but let your breaking point be high not not just on a hair trigger where somebody just barely says the wrong thing to you you freak out you know be just be tolerant you know sometimes people say things to me that offend me you know you know it can be irritating sometimes when people are disrespectful to you you know this generation of young people has no respect for their elders in many ways kids don't respect adults but you know what when when when when children disrespect me i don't bite their head off i don't freak out you know children are disrespectful to me as an adult you know what i just i just take it despising the shame you know i just i'm just like you know their parents are failing to teach their kids respect you know but whatever it's not a big i don't just have to just right every wrong and i'm telling you there are people in this world who feel like they must right every wrong if you live your life that way you're gonna be a miserable person and you're not following scripture because scripture is about forgiving letting things go passing over a transgression the bible says sometimes we need to just pass over the transgression let it go not a big deal we don't have to right every wrong and exact every vengeance verse 13 forbearing one another that means putting up with people forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any even as christ forgave you so also do ye and above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness number one most important charity loving people and here's the thing if i have charity i'm gonna do all that other stuff anyway if i can get the love and charity in my heart the way it needs to be i'm gonna be kind to people why would you be nice why would you not be nice to somebody that you love if you actually love people aren't you just automatically gonna kind of be nice to them and if you hate someone aren't you automatically gonna want to just tend to just kind of rip their head off over something stupid you're kind of just looking for a reason to just thrash them so get the love in your heart go to first timothy one this is the last place we'll turn first timothy one i'm just about done here i hope that the message is clear this morning the golden rule treat other people the way you want to be treated be kind gentle loving good and before you go to say something to somebody stop and ask yourself is this how i would want to be treated you know somebody dents your fender a little bit what do i want to happen when i dent someone's fender should be the that should be what you ask yourself how would i how would i want this to be handled how would i want and look i understand there are certain situations you know somebody wrecks your car or something yeah you gotta get you know it needs to get fixed or whatever you gotta run the insurance i get that i'm not saying but i'm saying you know what here's the thing look i've i've been in accidents where i was at fault and you know what how would i want to be treated i'm fine with that person running it through the insurance if it's a big deal because i understand they need to get it taken care of i get it but if it's just something small if it's just something stupid you know i'd rather they would just kind of let it go and so then i should let things go and i know that's kind of maybe a dumb illustration but you could think of 30 other illustrations pick one that you like okay you know if somebody messes up something what if somebody messes up something on the job and i can fix it real quick and kind of cover for them kind of fix it take care of it and then later say to that person hey you made this error but don't worry i took care of it the boss didn't know i was able to fix it everything's cool now and not what or how about this i see my co-worker mess something up on the job and i'm just like oh man he's gonna get nailed he's gonna be toast but i'm not gonna say anything because i want him to be toast so that i can get the promotion so that i can get the raise so that i can look good think about that this is how real life works my friend those are two different mentalities one that just lets it all go bad and the one that says hey if i can cover for my co-worker and help fix something and make things right then the company benefits he benefits he said but he's treated me bad hey love your enemies yeah but he's always he's always blaming stuff on me this is my chance to to to get him back pass up that opportunity and god's gonna look down from heaven and see what you're doing he's gonna bless you for doing it right all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you do ye even so to them treat other people the way you want to be treated first timothy one five now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart notice what does it mean the end the end is the destination the summit the pinnacle this is the final level the end of the commandment the purpose of the commandment what's the purpose where are we going with this love the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and a faith unfeigned from which some having swerved have turned aside into vain jangling you remember how in corinthians it said that if you don't have charity you're like a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol well a tinkling symbol is jangling this is jangling jangling my keys right it's noise you know now where's brother matt adams hey so matt adams has perfect pitch right so if i play a key on the piano he can tell me what note i just played which is like one in ten thousand people or whatever so he can actually you know identify notes like that but but if i hey what note is this matt what what note here i'll do it right here come on what freak what's the frequency what is the frequency there is it's not making any discernible sound or noise there's nothing intelligible about that if i went over the piano and push keys on the piano then i'm sending him actual vibrations that he can that he can tell me okay that's a b flat that's an a that's a a d or whatever so so here's the thing vain jangling a lot of people have swerved from charity out of a pure heart actually caring about people actually loving people actually being a good friend a good husband a good father a good wife a good child a good son a good daughter a good nephew a good niece right they've turned aside from being a good student a good co-worker they've turned aside into vain jangling and you know what there are certain people that that you know nobody listens to them nobody wants to hear what they have to say when they start talking you tune them out because what they're saying is blah blah blah and then there are other people that you actually want to hear what they have to say and i'm telling you that if you don't have charity you're like the parents on charlie brown where it's just like wow and you're a vain jangler and you're a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal it's just noise it's not a musical tone it's just noise well if you want the people in your life to listen to you and respect you then you know what you need to love people you need to be a loving person and you need to make sure that you live a life in accordance with love which is a life characterized by gentleness goodness kindness meekness forgiving forbearing you should always be the person that you know when somebody bumps into you it's and they say oh sorry it's no problem no watch where you're going i mean folks we need this in our world today and you know i i don't care whether people think this is one of my best sermons or not this sermon is important whether you enjoy the sermon where it's a fun sermon to you this is the sermon that we need i'm telling you this is the concept we need this is the teaching that we need i mean these days out in the world the love of many has waxed cold i mean it always cracks me up i'll be driving with my wife my wife is in the driver's seat she's a woman she has a bunch of kids it's obvious that she's a mother with a bunch of kids i've seen her do something that someone didn't like where where she you know i don't know she just pulled out or they didn't think she should have changed lanes or whatever and i've seen just men that are like 30 40 50 year old adult grown men just over one little merge that they didn't like or one little turn literally just flipping her off screaming profanity at her i mean it's like what kind of a society we're living it's just like you just you accidentally do something and then it's just like the windows down and they're looking at this blonde woman with their kids just just driving down the it's like she's clearly a woman it's my wife's not some butch where they have to like wonder what it is i mean she's like she's clearly a woman she's clearly feminine right she's got her long blonde hair she's in the driver's seat and it's like you blankety blank blank f this and b this and it's just like flipping her off and i'm just like what is happening you know it used to be that people would respect a lady right you wouldn't you wouldn't just blow up i mean first of all even if it's a dude you shouldn't do that if it's a dude you shouldn't be acting that way but how much more egregious is it to treat a woman that way treat a month of course women want to be treated equally now so i guess that's where they're at now you know now they want to be treated equally now they're getting more equal every day now they're competing against uh men in sports and everything it's really they all their dreams are coming true right now you know they're getting treated but but folks there's something wrong if you're that person who blows up and freaks out like that when somebody cuts you off in traffic or somebody bumps into you and the worst thing is when you say you're sorry to someone and they don't tell you that it's okay let me just teach you everything if somebody says sorry you say it's okay i forgive you no problem not like hey bump into somebody oh sorry there's like is that gentleness is that kindness is that forbearing one another forgiving one another is christ forgetting is that how you want god to be you want to get on your knees and be like god i'm so sorry for what i did and he's just like lightning bolt well somebody's house is gonna burn down next week treat people the way you want to be treated treat people the way you want god to treat you treat people the way you want other people to treat you follow the golden rule in your life let's have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your word lord and and lord i just pray that these things would sink down into our ears and that every single person here would would care about other people and and lord help us to love the unlovely help us to love the unlovable help us to be kind unto the unkind even that grouchy rude person at work lord help us to be nice unto them help us to be nice to that jerk student or teacher or or jerk family member lord help us to love them and treat them kindly and overcome evil with good lord help us not to return evil for evil and feel like we have to be vindictive or right every wrong lord just help us to be good nice kind people lord help us not to get so caught up in the thou shalt and the thou shalt nots that we forget the thing that it's all hanging on which is that we love you and love our neighbor as ourselves lord help us to always keep that in the front of our minds and in jesus name we pray amen amen number 133 if you need the words for this one safe wherever i go number 133 we'll sing this twice number 133 safe wherever i go peace the world cannot know number 133 singing out all together number 133 safe wherever i go peace the world cannot know sins all forgiven and heaven my home i'm safe wherever i go we have the same class right here at five that's available for anyone and with that god bless y'all dismissed so