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. . When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. When you look at others with their lands and gold, think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold. Count your many blessings, money cannot buy. You're rewarded heaven or your home on high. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. So up in the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged, God is over all. Count your many blessings, angels will attend. Help and comfort give you to your journey's end. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God hath done. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God hath done. Thank you again, amen. We shall meet in sorrow never, meet the glory of the throne. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river, and close by the throne of God. Here he reached the shining river, lay he every word in town. Praise our spirits, build a liver, and provide a robe and crown. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river, and close by the throne of God. Soon we'll reach the shining river, soon our filbert will cease, soon our happy hearts will quiver, with a melody of peace. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river, and close by the throne of God. This is our Bible study. We're going to be studying Jeremiah chapter number two this week, going through the Bible, that chapter verse by verse. So if you'd like to come out and join us for that, we'd love to have you here at 7 o'clock on Wednesday. Soul winning opportunities are listed there, as well as the salvations and the baptisms for the month, as well as for the year at both our church here, as well as the plant in Greenville. So you can see all the work that's being done out there. We had that brand new church plant last week. Had a great opening weekend, so praise the Lord for that. If you went out soul winning today and you had any salvations, let's just get those counted up real quick. Slip your hand up. One, two, three. Amen. Four, five. Great. Good job putting in those hours, knocking on those doors, and preaching the gospel. That's how the work gets done. Does anyone have any other salvations report that might not have gotten reported this morning from the week at all? Okay. Very good. Continue down. We got the offering totals received through the month of July down there at the bottom of the page. Prayer requests. Mrs. Paris is doing better with her ankle, so we're going to remove her name from the list here, which is always good news. I always like being able to remove people from the list when things are going better for them. We're adding Brother Owen for his cough and bronchitis that he's had, which is not contagious, so you don't have to worry about that, but it is kind of plaguing him a little bit and causing him some problems, so we'll pray for him. And then we got the other updates this morning. So pray for our church plants. I was just talking about that. Pray for Evangelist Carter and the new workload that he's taken on himself. Starting to get a full understanding of a lot of the work that's involved behind the scenes, so just pray that God will strengthen him and his family. It's taxing on your personal life when you're adding a lot more work to your routine, so just pray everything goes well. As far as I know, everything's going great. It looks like everything's going great. Everything sounds great. I know he's kept up with everything really well so far and just looking forward to how things are going to continue to go. Just pray for God's strength there. On the next page, the July challenge is the visitor challenge, so we're encouraging our regular church members to encourage others to come and visit our church, but even if we don't encourage someone to come, if visitors actually just show up and happen to be here during the month of July, we have a special treat for you, so everyone that comes and visits us during the month of July will get a small prize, a small gift, so we appreciate you being here with us, and our ushers will make sure that if this is your first time visiting here that you get one of those prizes, and for the church members here encouraging people, we should still have follow-up cards located in the bookshelf. Those are good tools to write down some information about people that you talk to about soul winning that you think might be interested in attending church. Ask them if it's okay with them if you take their contact information and follow up with them about coming to church, and I only do that if they express interest, if they already say, yeah, you know, I'd love to come to church or something like that, then sure, follow up, say, well, is it okay if I get your phone number, and get their number, reach out to them, and contact them, and normally the best time to contact is on Saturdays, unless they say otherwise, to remind them about church the next day and say, hey, you know, I talked to you last week, and you'd mentioned that you wanted to come to church, just wondering if I could do anything, any ride, or, you know, help you out in any way, or if I could answer any questions for you, whatever, right? And following up and just that little call, text, whatever, however you communicate with people will go a long way, and I encourage you to do that. And then the Fundamentalist Conference, I mentioned that this morning, August 22nd through 25th, are the dates, I will get all the details this week, as soon as I can firm them up, and we'll have a preacher lineup, and more specific details coming soon, so be on the lookout for that. And then Hebrews Bible Memory passage, we're starting a brand new chapter, Hebrews chapter 12, we're going to do the whole chapter, verses 1 through 29, we've got about 15 weeks to get that committed to memory, so if you could get the entire passage quoted, word perfect, out loud to somebody else that's checking your work and making sure that you're saying all the right words, then you'll be able to earn a prize for being able to do that. We've got the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries down there at the bottom of the page, and I think that's it for the announcements. Did anyone have anything, did I miss anything specifically? Oh, but that's not an announcement, other than he's just coming up with a continued service for us. All right, well then with that, I will turn the service over to Brother Will, who will lead us to the next song. Turn to Psalm 73. Okay so far. Psalm 73, some golden daybreak. Psalm 73, on the first. Some glorious morning, sorrow will cease. Some glorious morning, all will be peace. Heartaches all lifted, two days all done. Heaven will open, Jesus will come. Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come. Some golden daybreak, battles all won. He'll shout the victory, rain through the blue. Some golden daybreak, for me, for you. Sad hearts will vanish, all shall be bright. Goodbye forever, to earth's dark night. Changed in a moment, like him to be. Oh, glorious daybreak, Jesus shall sing. Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come. Some golden daybreak, battles all won. He'll shout the victory, rain through the blue. Some golden daybreak, for me, for you. Oh, what a meaning there in the skies. No tears for crying, shout in our eyes. Love was united, eternal being. Oh, what a daybreak, that normal year. Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come. Some golden daybreak, battles all won. He'll shout the victory, rain through the blue. Some golden daybreak, for me, for you. Amen. Again, that is 1 Timothy chapter 4, the Bible reads, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed, seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding the merry and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving to them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourishing up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast obtained. But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profit little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe. These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine. And neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for letting us all come together to hear your word, that we may hear the preaching. Let us all have open ears to hear what the Lord has placed on Pastor Brison's heart. Give him a bold, powerful spirit that he may preach with authority. We love you, and thank you for everything you give to us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. All right, before I get started on the sermon, my son reminded me of another announcement that I failed to mention during the announcements. And that's kind of fun for the kids because Brother Lance has offered to hold some fun events for the kids after service before the soul-winning time to do some sword drills, right? And he's been giving away some prizes, so today was the first day. I'll give another full announcement on Sunday, for sure, to garner some interest. But there's a lot of fun in the kids, I think, especially for kids that might not know everyone else, got to get to learn everyone's names and have some fun time together and just enjoy it. So I appreciate the offer to help. And, you know, this just reminds me of the sermon I preached before about, hey, we should view our church as, you know, I want to go to the best church in the world, right? So I'm not saying that we are at that standard right now of being the best church in the world, in God's eyes or something like that. I'm not that proud. But I do love this church a lot. This is my favorite church, and I love everyone here. But, you know, in your idea and your vision of what would make this church better and what would be, you know, oh, man, this church, they do this and this and this and this. Well, the church is us, right? So offering and volunteering to do things, even little things like that is just a nice little thing. I think that's excellent for the children to sharpen their skills. Sword drills are great, learning their Bible and the prizes and things gives a little bit of an extra incentive for kids to want to learn where all the books of the Bible are and be able to turn to them quickly and kind of know the scripture. So I think that's wonderful. Thank you for offering to do that. And that will be something that's going to continue going forward at some type of an interval. I'll be able to publish this in the bulletin by next week. So there we go. All right. So this evening, 1 Timothy, Chapter 4, I've actually I'm starting a new series. It's not going to be a very long series. But the series is going to be derived from verse number 12 there in 1 Timothy, Chapter 4. The Bible says, Let no man despise thy youth. But be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Now, this instruction was given to Timothy, who was an elder. He was a pastor of a church. Now, I take it he was probably a younger man, but a man qualified to pastor nonetheless. And he's given instruction by the Apostle Paul. And he's being taught here, hey, don't let anyone despise your youth. And I taught this just recently, but let's go over this again real quickly before I get into the meat of the sermon. Because the most common thing when someone is a little bit younger, say you have a younger person, and that's a younger 20s, maybe even into their 30s, just viewed at, especially by people who are older than that, is being younger. And the common theme among older people is, well, what do these young kids know? Right? They don't have the experience or whatever. But oftentimes, the reason why people who are older think that way, too, is because of all the foolishness and stupidity that comes out of younger people's mouths, right? And out of their actions and out of the things they do. Because typically, younger people are known as just lacking maturity and just kind of being immature about a lot of things. But it's important, especially in the position of being a pastor, right, that people can take you seriously. And right before verse number 12, verse 11, he says, these things command and teach. So Timothy is supposed to be commanding and teaching. And if you're commanding and teaching, people need to be taking you seriously. Even if you're a little bit younger than what people might be used to, even if you don't have the gray head, you know, people still need to take you seriously because you're teaching and preaching the word of God. You're commanding and teaching the word of God. So how are you going to do that? How are you going to make sure people aren't despising the fact that you're young and you're youth? Well, here's how you do that, Timothy. Be an example of the believers. Be an example in word. So the first thing, what you say. You need to be an example in the way that you talk, in what you speak, the things that come out of your mouth, what you speak about. Not just the word of God, but just in general, your word. In conversation, which, by the way, I'll get to this later because we're covering this tonight. When it says conversation, it's not just referring to having a conversation with someone. The way that we think about it is having two people having a dialogue together. Conversation in the biblical context here is talking about the way that you live your life. It has to do more just kind of who you are in the way that you live. And I'm going to prove that to you. Don't worry. We'll get to that later. In charity, your love and care for other people, in spirit, in faith, in purity. And what I'm going to do in the next few weeks is I'm going to only cover a couple of these topics week by week. So, this evening I'm covering word and conversation. Now, even though this is commanded to Timothy and you say, well, I'm not a pastor, or you might even say, you know, I'm not that young, it still applies to you. These, you know, we have, for example, qualifications for a bishop. And for men, you know, you ought to be looking at it. Even if you're never going to be a bishop, even if you're never going to pastor a church, strive to meet the qualifications. Because it's a good thing, right, to make sure that you're living by standards and living a certain way that you can be above approach. And that's ultimately what's happening here is, look, you don't want people to despise your youth, so here's how you do it. You need to be serious. You need to be living right. You need to be doing all of these things and paying attention to this so that people don't just blow you off and brush you off as being, oh yeah, what's this young guy know? What does this young punk know? Right, I'm not going to listen to a word he says. And why is this so important anyways? Well, if you are saved, if you are born again, no matter how old you are, you are an ambassador for Christ. You are like a living testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He saved your soul. You deserve to pave your sins in hell, but God loves you and he gave you a free gift. And as a result, we ought to show our love, show our respect to God by obeying him, by trying to reach others, by living a godly life, by living a holy life, by living a separated, sanctified life. That is our reasonable service. The Bible says, present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service. I mean, we ought to be, we owe God everything. We can never pay him back. We can never think to pay for our own salvation, but we owe him everything. He paid all for us. The least we can do is try to listen and obey and do what he would have us to do. There's a whole host of reasons for that. Obviously, our lives will be better anyways if we could obey God's commandments. He gave us commandments that are based on our well-being. He knows what's best for us. Sin isn't good for you. The wages of sin is death. So let's try to follow the right way, the right path, use the light that God has given us to live the life that we ought to live. But not only that, we want to be able to reach people and not be viewed even as big hypocrites. You know if you're born again today. You know if you're a child of God. You know if you're a believer in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Do other people know that? Or would they scoff or chuckle or laugh? Do they go, pfft. Yeah, he's saved? He's a child of God? Yeah, right. Because of the way you live your life. And look, unfortunately, I had this testimony when I was younger. I was born again. I was saved. But if you ask anyone on the street, hey, do you think that guy's a Christian? The answer would be no. I didn't talk about it. I didn't live it. None of it. I believed it. I told you I was saved. I believed it. I put my trust in Jesus Christ. He was my Savior. Amen. But especially in my youth. I had a lot of sins in my youth that I'm not proud of at all. But this is why it's also important that we have churches that preach standards. And churches that have families that are bringing their kids here and we can teach our children. And that not only are they hearing the preaching in church, but mom and dad are teaching the kids at home the same exact things. And not just teaching, but also training. Training is important. And while this is geared a little bit more for youth, for people who are younger, it applies to everyone, but there's also a significant part that has to do with the parents because training up your children to be able to be someone that can be an example of the believers is a lot of work. And they require you to be involved in their life, maybe even more than you're doing right now. So let's turn, if you would, please, to Ephesians chapter number five. We're going to look at being an example of the believers in word. How are we going to be an example of the believers in word? Well, there's some do's and some don'ts. There's a lot of don'ts and there's a few do's. It's usually the way it goes, right? Don't do this, this, this, this, this. We're a lot more prone to that, but do this and this. So we're going to look at scripture and see what does the Bible talk about? How should we be behaving ourselves? How should we be speaking in word so that not, I mean, hey, you're a child of God, but are you going to say, you know what? I'm going to be an example. Now, whether you know this or not, you already are an example. So what kind of an example are you going to be? And this is, again, this is important for everybody, kids, adults alike. You're an example to other believers around you. There's examples. Hey, my kids see examples all the time. Your kids see examples all the time. What are they seeing? What are they seeing? And I'll tell you what. You might have a whole church full of parents that are really excited about serving the Lord and willing to sacrifice and dedicate time to serving God. And they may be getting sin out of their life. They may be doing a really good job. But I'll tell you what. It's not going to last very long getting, you know, this whole movement of getting people excited about serving God if nobody takes the time to teach their kids what's right too. You just take all the time doing all the work for the Lord just on your own and not passing down and not teaching and training up the children and not teaching them how to be good examples. It's going to be gone in a generation. And, you know, that's one of my big concerns is that all the zeal, all the excitement, all the soul winning, all the work that's going on is just going to be here today gone tomorrow because it doesn't continue with the next generation. And I'm worried that the standards aren't there for the kids of the next generation and that the parents aren't doing their job of making sure that your children are being an example in word, in what you say. And, you know, a lot of that's going to come from, well, what's their example? What's their example at home? What's their example day to day that has a big impact on how they will be an example? Because kids especially are going to be living and repeating oftentimes what they hear and what they're receiving. They're a reflection of where they're receiving input from. And maybe it's the Internet, maybe it's music, maybe it's movies, who knows? Maybe it's other kids, whatever. All the above. But we have to maintain a mindset that says, you know what? I'm a believer and I want to be an example of the believers. And I want other people to see what it's like to be a Christian and to follow the Lord and to follow the Lord properly with all your heart because you mean it. It's real to you. You love God and you want to keep his commandments. So we're going to the scripture to see what should the standard even be? And look, the worst thing that you can do is have this attitude that says, well, whatever, be real flippant and say, well, we're all sinners anyway, so whatever. Really? You're just going to give up. Verse number one, Ephesians five, the Bible says, Be therefore followers of God as dear children. Now, before I even continue this, I just want you to do this. Conjure up in your mind. An image. Of. A 16 year old child. Boy, girl, doesn't matter. What would be think about what that would look like? Of a good example of a godly child. Because when I think of that, I'm going to think of someone who is respectful. I'm going to think of someone who has manners. I'm going to think of someone who is going to be willing. Maybe the boy is opening up doors for people and seeing how they can serve and how they can help. And girls being polite and meek and humble and you go on and on and on. They're going to be well kept. They're going to have their manners in check. They're going to know how to behave themselves in public around other people. Right? And when you see people behaving that way. And how about this? When you have a conversation with them, you can actually have an intelligent conversation. Because they're 16. And they should already know things about the Bible, about the word of God. Hopefully. Now look. This is ideal. Right? Obviously everyone is in different situations. People get saved at different times in their life. Different up rings. All this stuff. I get it. There's a real world out there. But ideal. What are we going to look at if we say, well, this is the example. This is the poster child. What's that going to look like? Well, we need to try to raise ourselves and make sure that we're meeting that standard ourself as well to be the example of the believers. Because the Bible is saying, hey, you need to be an example. And obviously, look, I know Timothy had to be an example. He's the one standing behind the pole. But he's the one leading the group. But again, I don't think that's just for... Timothy has to be the example. But, you know, we all ought to be the example. So let's keep reading here in Ephesians 5, verse number 2. So hey, look. We're followers of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. So walking in love as Christ loved us is a self-sacrificial love. Right? I mean, just... He's the one that died for us. So we ought to have a similar love just in general for ourselves, amongst other people. Verse number 3. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as becometh saints. So look, here's a pretty good line for a standard. You want to be an example of the believers? Well, you better not be involved in fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness. That's not a good example. In fact, that ought not to even be once named among you. And that's among you. Right? Like, these should be standards that are taught, that are held, that are clung to, not just as, oh, well, OK, I guess they didn't. No. We're going to teach and preach this stuff and make sure our kids know it. And you know what? They're going to be different than the world. But as a believer, we're called to be a peculiar people. And God knows we're going to be different. But it's different in a good way. I mean, who wants their kids committing fornication, just going out and sleeping around with people? No one? But look at this, verse number 4, because this has more to do. I'm not going to go through all those other things. Believers, we need to be examples of believers in word. So look at verse 4. Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. See, one of the standards that we ought to have for ourselves is not to get too caught up in the joking and foolish talking and just foolery and saying a bunch of stupid things and joking about sin and joking about the things that, you know, like, and I'll put it this way. No one ought to be joking about sodomites. That was something that was popular, you know, when I was growing up and they put it on TV and everyone was a mockery and everyone laughed and ha, ha, ha, look at the queer guy, it's so funny, you know, he's a guy, he's acting like a girl, and people would laugh at him, it's comic relief. Now they don't do that, of course, because that would just be too insensitive or something. And now you're just being forced to promote it. But you know what? The jesting about sin, and I don't care if it's that or if it's any other sin. The drunkenness and joking around, you ought not to be joking around about that stuff. Fools, the Bible says fools make a mock at sin. Fools make a mock at sin. Does that mean you could never have a laugh? No, of course not. But it ought to be appropriate. It ought to be appropriate, right? You shouldn't have to have some filthy language or someone just spouting off a bunch of filth out of the mouth in order to get a kick or get a laugh. You ought to be a good example of the believers and not get caught up in the foolish talking and the jesting which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. Verse 5, let's continue. For this ye know, that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. And hey, these statements are pretty hardline statements. Hey, don't you know that no whoremonger, unclean person, covetous man, idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God? Like, what are you thinking, saved person? Why are you getting involved with this stuff? Why are you getting your entertainment this way? Let no man deceive you with vain words, the empty words of meaningless words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. See, people say, oh yeah, you're just this uptight, you know, hellfire, damnation, pastor, preacher, whatever, like, you know, loosen up, man. Loosen up, man, vain words. Be not ye therefore partakers with them, for ye are sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And you know what? People need to do a lot more proving of what's acceptable to the Lord these days. On the daily, prove, hey, what, is this really going to be acceptable unto the Lord? The things that you say in your word is, if you were to just, like, just imagine, if Jesus Christ was standing right next to you and you say some of the things that you say, is he going to be embarrassed? Is he going to be ashamed? Is he going to be upset? Is it going to make him angry at what you're saying? Prove it. Prove what you say. Prove the things and think about it. Test it, right? Think in your mind, is this something that's going to bring shame? I remember when I was young, of course, as everyone is, but I've done some things and I've said some things, that it was a shame when I got caught saying them, right? Whether it be my parents or a teacher or someone, you know, like, like you're messing around with the kids, you're messing around with other friends, and you just say a bunch of stupid things. And look, I know kids do that. But I'm asking the kids today to think about the things that you say and try not to do those things and think, hey, you know what? I need to be a better example. And one of the reasons is because we live in a digital world today that make it a lot easier to whatever example you are is now going to be broadcast to a lot of people. And I've just been lecturing my kids at home, preaching to them, whatever you want to call it. They always love these talks about, and you know what? I'm going to preach this to your kids tonight about how you need to be extremely careful about the things that you say in a digital world. Because when I grew up, anything that was stupid that you did wasn't recorded, it wasn't kept forever, it wasn't just stored away somewhere on the server where people just search for it and look it up 20 years later still see the stupid things that you're doing, the foolish things, and the dumb things that you said for a laugh and get a kick out of it when you were a kid. That stuff doesn't exist. Now look, it does exist in God's mind because God knows and sees everything. So this is what we're striving for anyways is knowing that. But also know that the things that you say and anything you write, you type anything out, you think it gets deleted, you think, nope. Never assume that that stuff is ever going to just be private. Never assume that. It's not. And you know what, parents, you also need to know that there are a lot of kids finding different ways of communicating and writing things out on platforms that you might not have even had any ideas about. And I get a lot of flack sometimes for the standards I hold in my house and the restrictions that I put on the devices, the iPads, whatever they have, because I block everything as much as possible. And even with all the things that I block, there's still things I don't like that they're able to see and get access to. And honestly, this is one of the reasons why I'm preaching this sermon tonight. Let's keep reading here because there's a verse I just want to get to before I even get to that point. Verse number eight, For you are sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord? Walk as children of light. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable in the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Look, a believer, when you come across or comes up about the unfruitful works of darkness, you ought not to be laughing about it and joking about it or pretending like you're one of them. You ought to be reproving it. You ought to be saying this is wicked, this is wrong. Because that's how things in a culture, in a society, become accepted and tolerated. That's how perversion runs rampant is when nobody reproves and no one says, look, this is disgusting. Verse 12 says, For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. There are some really wicked people who do some really wicked things, and the Bible says even just talking about it is shameful. There are things that people do that are dissociative. It's just like, don't even talk about it. Don't defile your ears and your mind by even bringing it up. The only time you do, would be like if you have to deal with something. But other than that, have nothing to do with it. And with all the restrictions that I have, and this is a fair warning to the parents too, you know, just recently, my kids got a lot more involved in Duolingo, and you know what? I was all for it. Why? Because I want them to learn languages. I think it's a great thing. I've used that tool myself, and I'm using it again to learn language. And it's a great thing. You know what I just found out? You can comment on people's things. Okay, yeah, that's great. So you can say, hey, good job, hey, congratulations, when you do whatever achievement that you make. And that's what it's designed for. But when you have things like that, now you've got people who use it as a chat room. And now you've got kids all over the place, and adults, and who knows? Because you could follow anyone, and you could have anyone follow you, and you could have different profiles, and you could have all these different things out there, and who knows who's saying what to your kids or in front of your kids. Now, me, as a parent, I care what goes in front of my kids' eyes. So you better believe I'm looking at that stuff. And you know what? It is a hassle. It is a pain. And I do have to waste some of my time to get their devices and look and see what are they doing? What's going on in here? What are they seeing? What are they commenting on? But you know what? It's important. And you know what's driving me nuts is there are people who are saying things in comments that my kids are friends with about sodomites and sodomite relationships that I know they don't believe, and they think it's so funny, it's a big, stinking joke. And they're saying this stuff in front of all these other kids, in front of my children. I don't want them seeing that junk. And they're people that might be looked to as someone who should be an example to the believers. And it's disgusting, and it's perverted, and it's wrong, and it needs to stop, and parents need to get involved. And some of these people are adults. And shame on you, talking like that in a forum, in an environment where you got little kids just trying to learn languages and saying congratulations and good job. And you got filth being put in the comments. Yeah, I'm angry. Well, what's the big deal? It is a big deal. It is a big deal. Are we just gonna let everything slide? Go ahead. Let it slide. How long is it gonna be before your kids are doing the same thing and saying the same thing? Well, I saw so-and-so said it. I saw so-and-so did it. I see it happen all the time. Kids start repeating and doing after what they've heard and what they've seen, which is why you need to be careful with what you let them see on TV, on movies, DVDs, on the Internet, whatever, whatever the source is. You ought to know what that is, what books they read. Hey, it's your job. You are the gatekeeper for your kids. And yet, as they get older, they're gonna get more exposed to things. We need to be able to raise them in a way where they're not just in a complete bubble, but they need to know the difference between right and wrong, and we need to raise them to be examples of the believers. Yeah, but you know what all the kids are saying in the world? It doesn't matter. You're supposed to be an example of the believers. Yeah, of course, there's all kinds of wickedness out in the world. Do you want your kids just to be in the world and of the world? I don't. I want someone to be able to look at my kids and be like, you know what, that is a good example of a godly person, of a godly young person. That's what I want. And that's what I'm gonna work hard to do. And you know what, it is work. And would to God, kids also have a desire to do that. Now look, I'm not saying that kids aren't gonna do dumb things, because I know they will. And we ought to have some compassion and grace and mercy on people when they do dumb things, especially kids. But it ought to be known that it's not okay. You can show grace and mercy in times and still have it known, but that's still wicked and wrong and not acceptable. Flip back if you would to chapter four of Ephesians. Remember the Bible said we need to prove what is acceptable unto the Lord. Just to put it in light, I mean you're sitting here in church, right? Hopefully you're in the Spirit. If you were to overhear me having some conversation with any one of the men here, Brother Owen, Brother Peter, whatever, and you hear us going back and forth making some comments about having some homo relationship or something like that, is that really a good example? Would you look at that and be like, oh yeah, it's not a big deal? No, it's a shame to even speak about those things that are done of them in secret. It's not a laughing matter. Verse number 29 in Ephesians chapter four of the Bible reads, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. And look, hey parents, the way that you speak is the way your kids are going to speak. You better believe that. How much corrupt communication are you allowing them to hear out of your mouth? But that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers. That's how you're an example of the believers in word is by saying good things that are good to edify people with. And look at verse 30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed under the day of redemption. The things that come out of your mouth, do you think that makes the Holy Spirit just kind of sorrowful and sad and grieved when you open up your mouth and talk? That's how you prove it. Just imagine someone saying, I remember vividly having some really dumb thing come out of my mouth. And I thought I was being funny with my friends at school and we're all lined up outside the classroom and we had to wait for the teacher to get there and we're all single file and all this stuff and then we had to march into the classroom as soon as the teacher came and opened up the door. And I was saying something really stupid, but I didn't realize right behind my back the teacher had walked up and I didn't hear him. And I was just, just mouthing off and just being really, really, really dumb. And oh man, I felt so small. He's like, what are you saying? Well, you know what? That's an example of whether someone's around or not, if you're a believer, the Holy Ghost is always with you. And yeah, people do dumb things, but we ought to strive to not do those things and not say those things and to be an example at all times. And that was in sixth grade. I still remember that. I remember it vividly. I know exactly what I said. There's no point in repeating it here, but it just, I know exactly what I said and I remember vividly what happened. Why? Because to me it was a big deal. Because I was raised to be, even though it wasn't even a saved household, to have a level of standards and be respectful and to not say stupid things and stuff. You know, that was part of the culture. But nowadays, things have become so vain and so base, not based like cool or solid like the way people are talking about base now, base as in low as in like sinful or wicked, okay? Like to your base fleshly lusts or whatever, people are just saying and doing whatever with no discretion. In the house of God, with the people of God especially, you need to have lines, you need to have standards, you need to have discretion if you're going to be an example in word. And you know what? If all things in word is probably one of the hardest things to control, it doesn't take long for something stupid to come out of our mouths at all. And especially if you're in a group, especially if you're young and in a group and you got a lot of things going back and forth all over the place, then it really doesn't take long. But hey, keep that in mind and everyone would do well to know things that you type out that's on the internet, you have all manner of people being able to see that stuff. Hey kids, Pastor Burson reads those comments. Pastor, anything that you send that my kids can see, I read that. Just know that. And I'll deal with issues and problems that I don't like coming in front of my kids' eyes. And I'm going to deal with this by the way too that I've seen. It's unacceptable. And it's not in this church, so you can relax a little bit. Verse number 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Evil speaking about people. That's also a way we need to be example believers by not doing a bunch of evil speaking and talking trash about people. Verse 32, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That's how you're an example to the believers. Hey, how about your words being kind, being tenderhearted? Turning to Ecclesiastes chapter five. Ecclesiastes five, I'll read for you from Colossians 3.8. Colossians 3.8 says, but now ye also put off all these. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Put that off. That's what the world does. Look, I used to talk like a sailor, so to speak, right? Cuss like a sailor, hang out with my buddies, say all manner of crude, terrible, nasty things when I was living like the world. When I was living like the world. Now it's embarrassing. Now it's a shame. I would be mortified if someone, like, came up and been like, hey, here's an audio recording of you talking in the bar. Like, what? I'd be terrified. But what I'm saying is this, though. We need to live our lives. So, like, keeping this in mind, hey, one, there's recordings everywhere now. I mean, cell phones, everything is recording. But besides that, and even more important than that, God knows. God knows everything. And you're saved. You have the Holy Spirit with you. Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. But when you quench the Spirit, then you're not even thinking about the Spirit. And I lived my life that way for years. Quenching the Spirit, not really trying to think about it at all. I don't like thinking about it. Not even now. Ecclesiastes 5, verse number 1, the Bible reads this. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they consider not that they do evil. Verse 2. Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven and now upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few. That's a great start for being an example of the believers. Let your words be few. Why? Verse 3. For a dream coming through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words. The Bible says in Proverbs, a multitude of words are wanteth not sin. So the wise thing to do for everybody, let your words be few. You don't have to be someone of a lot of words and actually the more you talk and the more you speak and the more things you're saying, the more likely you are to end up just getting yourself involved in sin or just saying something foolish. Let's turn now, we're going to shift gears to conversation because I said I wanted to cover two points tonight. So in word and in conversation, the two go similarly hand in hand. Let's see, where do I want you to turn? Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter chapter 1. In fact, we're just going to stay in 1 Peter. I've got a few other examples, but we're going to stay in 1 Peter. I'm going to read for you from Galatians. I told you I was going to approve from scripture that conversation is more to do than just like us talking back and forth and having a dialogue where two people talk back and forth with each other. And you can write this reference out if you want, I'll read it for you. And it's in Galatians chapter 1 verse 13, the Bible reads, for you have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion. He's going to explain what that conversation was, the church of God, and wasted it. So the conversation of Saul of Tarsus before he got saved was that, hey, he's a guy that had zeal who beyond measure persecuted the church of God. Like that's what he's known for. That's who he was. That's his conversation is that like, yeah, beyond measure I'm persecuting the church of God and wasting it. Because not everyone was doing that. There was a lot of Pharisees and Saul of Tarsus, he's going around and he's persecuting them beyond measure. That was his conversation was. That's how his manner was. Right? He had that zeal to just go after the church. So that's what that word means. Philippians 1.27 says this, stay in 1 Peter, only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel and in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. So he's saying your conversation should be what's becoming of the gospel. You say, oh, is that very becoming, right? Is that good? Is that pleasant? When you think about the gospel, is your conversation becoming of the gospel? Well, you're going to be example in conversation, right? So it's not just in word, but in how you act, how you are. In here, how did he represent that? That whether I'm there or absent, I can hear of your affairs, what you're doing, that you're standing fast in one spirit with one mind striving or working together for the faith of the gospel. That that's your conversation, that you're all working together for the faith of the gospel. That's very becoming. That's a good conversation. That's a good example of a conversation of the believers and not being terrified of your adversaries or enemies and not not shutting up when they're threatening you. Continue to preach the gospel, right? That's good. That's a good conversation to have. 1 Peter 1, verse number 13, the Bible says, wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. Over and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, right? What does that mean? So not being like the world like you were before you got saved, not just making yourself, just being just like everyone else, fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts, but as he which hath called you is holy, and God's holy, and you know what? God's called you to be holy. Because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. You're so legalistic. I want to raise right kids. I want the kids of this church to be examples of the believers. I want the adults of this church to be examples of the believers. I want God to look down from heaven and be pleased and be happy and say there's a people that loves me. There's a people that respects me. There's a people who are listening to me. There's a people that I could use because they're good representatives and good examples of the believers to bring forth the great glorious light of the gospel to a lost world. There's a people that someone can look at and say wow, they actually really believe and act on what they do believe. They actually believe the Bible. Like they don't just say that they believe it. They don't just give lip service to the Bible. They don't just say oh yeah, I love God. Everything's great. But when you open up the Bible and you kind of compare it to hey, the Bible says this. Wait, how are they living? Oh yeah, it says this. How are they living? And you kind of match it up. It's pretty close. That's being a good example of the word of God. A good example of a believer in this book. Now look, we're never going to be perfect but we're going to be good. Good example. Verse 17, and if you call on the Father who without respect a person judges the court in every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. For as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Flip over to chapter two. Chapter two, verse number 11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims. How are we strangers in this earth, in this world right here? We're strangers and pilgrims. This isn't our home. We're passing through. We're here. We're in the world but we're not supposed to be of the world. This isn't my home. I'm not staying here. When I die, I'm going somewhere else. I'm going somewhere better. Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. So, yeah, the Gentiles might have all these bad things to say about you as a Christian, as a believer, right? These heathen might have a lot of bad things to say about you and, oh yeah, they're crazy, that cold, this, that, whatever and make up lies and slander your name but he's saying, you know what? Have your conversation honest the way that you are, the way that you act, the way that you just are in general when you're around people, you're out in public, you're doing things, be honest, be upright so that they don't have anything to say, they can't speak against you as an evildoer, right? As someone who's doing bad things, you're committing crimes, you're doing evil to people. If you're not doing those things, if you're part of your conversation that you're actually someone who's known for doing good things, then, it says your good works, which they shall behold because if you have a good conversation they're gonna see your good works. It is being done in the open. It's not done to be seen of man, right, to receive glory and praise but it is done in the sight of men but we're trying to please God. But when they see your good works, then they can glorify God. God's gonna get the glory and the credit. Even though they hate you, you're doing good. Hey, at least you're lining up with what the book says, with what the word says. You're being a good ambassador, a good representative, a good example. Whether it be to the king as supreme or for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God. You say, yeah, but I'm free in Christ, so what does it really matter? It does matter. Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Hey, you're free. Yeah, amen. Amen. You're never gonna go to hell if you're saved today. Amen. I love that. I love it. But don't use your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. And you know what? We ought to be putting to silence the ignorance of the foolish people that are gonna try to slander and, you know, we're a hate group and we're a cult and we're this and we're that, and you know what? They're ignorant. But that's only gonna be true if you're living uprightly. Right? People might try to say all kinds of evil things against you. Well, if you're not doing any evil, then there's nothing that they can say. Nothing truthfully. And you know what? The truth always makes itself known. Chapter 3, last place we're gonna look. 1 Peter 3. Verse number 1. Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word, they also may, without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives. And again, we're looking at the word conversation and being a good example in how you live, not just the things you say. But, so what is the, what is the conversation of the wives according to scripture? Verse number 2 says, while they behold, your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Hey wives, you should have a chaste or a pure or a clean conversation. Not the bedroom talk, not the, any of the other wicked things that might be going on or might be said. And being pure in your actions, in what you do. How you live. Chastity. Purity. While they behold, your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Coupled with fear, you know what that is? That's a humble mindset, not a proud, stubborn, rebellious mindset. Humble. Meek. Who's adorning, or putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible. Even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. I'm not even going to expound on that. That's the word of God right there. You know, unfortunately, I think the word of God isn't even being read out loud in most churches these days. Because if it were, it's a lot different Christian culture than we do today. This has probably got to be one of the most permissive Christian cultures that's been on this planet for a really long time. Because the Bible's clear and the Bible hasn't changed. It still says what it says. It's just people who choose to read it, to look at it, to take heed to it, or not. Chapter 14. But and if ye suffer for righteousness sake, happy are ye. And be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, your good conversation in Christ. So no matter what they try to accuse you of, it ought to be false. If you have a good conversation, it's gonna fall flat on its face. There's gonna be no substance to it because they're just trying to come up with some kind of false accusation, a slander your name to bring you down because they hate the Lord or whatever. You're not having any indiscretions and affairs or stealings or other things that are gonna, you know, that rightfully so would get you in trouble and should get you in trouble. But as a Christian, as a believer, you should be living uprightly, above reproach. For it is better if the will of God be so that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. And that just makes sense I mean it's not pleasant to suffer, but if you have a clear conscience, that helps a whole lot. As opposed to you're actually doing something wicked, you're doing something wrong and then you get punished for it and then it's just like, well of course you get punished and now I just gotta deal with this and now you're embarrassed and ashamed. But at least if you're getting slandered for something, you're getting punished, that's a good example. We need to be good examples of the believers and I wanna be in a church where we have good examples of believers and I know people are gonna make dumb mistakes, I know we are. Adults and kids alike. I preach this sermon to get you mindful of it and everyone individually and I know kids and I know teens and you wanna try to be cool and you wanna try to make it sound like it's real to you and you're real strong and whatever and you have that attitude. I get it, but you know what? You think about these things too. Even if you don't let on that it actually means something to you. I hope it means something to you. I hope it's real for you. I hope you have your faith in the Lord and you actually care what God thinks about you and I hope that you would like to be able to step out and be okay with being a little bit different and I understand the pressures of being a teenager and being in that world more than it is to be popular amongst a bunch of worldly people. It is. But you have that decision to make. You have that decision to make. No one can make it for you. I just hope you have the love in your heart for Christ and what he did for you and really understand what he did for you to find that motivation to serve him. And be willing to go against the grain. Try to be holy. He's holy. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. Thank you for the admonishment. We thank you for your guiding words, for the light that you've given us to light our path. God, it's hard. There's so many influences from all over the place in this world that are going to try to steer us the wrong way, Lord. Thank you for keeping this light, this glorious light of the gospel, of your Word, that you preserved your Word for us even today in 2024. God, thank you for providing this for us, this book of wisdom and instruction. Help us to follow it more clearly. Help us to understand it better. Help us to make the proper applications in our life. I pray to you, please help us to please show us the right way and give us the courage and the strength that we need to make the tough choices and stand with you even if it causes other people to be against us or look at us differently or whatever. Lord, I pray that you would please just bless our church. Help us to serve you better. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. All right, we're going to sing one last song. Here it is. Turn to song number 115. Song number 115. Song 115. Don't ever care about Jesus. Song 115. Call on the Christ. I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus since I found in him a friend so strong and true. I would tell you how he changed my life completely. He did something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. Oh, my life was full of sin when Jesus found me. Oh, my heart was full of misery and hope. Jesus placed his strong and loving arms around me. And he led me in the way I ought to go. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. Every day he comes to me with new assurance. More and more I understand his words of love. But I'll never do this line he gave to save me till some day I see his blessing face above. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There's no other friend so kind as me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.