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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You know, that peace is ours. That means it's a volitional choice for you to give that up. You and I are in charge of our peace. Are we gonna be so soft, simple, and weak that we just let people take it from us? It's ours. Your peace is yours and it's your responsibility. It's your responsibility to manage it. It's your responsibility to keep track of it. It's your responsibility to place it on the right people in the right situations. No one else is gonna do it for you. You have to learn these things. You have to learn how to function in this world around other people. If not, you will become the helpless. Go to John chapter number five. John chapter number five. So number one I said, the type of person, the first type of person you cannot help is a person that will not accept it. A person who doesn't think they need help, you're walking away. Pray for them, walk away. Shake the dust off your feet. Do not allow that negativity, that rejection, and those lingering thoughts to rest on you because when it does, you have literally left your peace there. And then you are less effective with everyone else. You're less effective at the mission. And number two, I said that you cannot help people that won't eat a butter taco. Just kidding. You can't help people that don't see you as equal to or less than themselves. And then number three, people that know they need help but want you to do all the work for them. You have to be very careful in this situation because you don't want to offend these types of people. You still want to help them out and sometimes you have to. Sometimes you can't get away from it. But there's a nurturing process that you need to go through. You need to recognize and have communication and try to clearly explain to them, hey, I'm trying to help you, but if I keep doing these things for you, then guess what? I'm not really helping you. At some point, you are the one that's got to put the bottle down. At some point, it's you that's got to drop that needle. At some point, it's you that's got to take responsibility for your spending. At some point, it's you that needs to wake up. Not me. I can't do everything for you. And that goes back to this community out here. It's their responsibility to start at some point, especially the people that we get saved. It's their responsibility to take action and start to learn Bible doctrine because some people literally have this attitude and they've told us this. Next time you come by here, next time you come by to my house, I'm glad I got saved. Maybe you could teach me some more doctrine. It's like we may not ever come back here again. We may not come back here for five years. I don't know. There's a lot that could happen. You need to come to church. You need to help yourself. At some point, you need to take responsibility. All of us do. And let's move on to number four, point number four. So look at John chapter number five. Look at verse number one. The Bible says this. After this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda having five porches. Verse three. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk of blind halt withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. Okay. That'd be pretty crazy to have a situation like that today. But look at verse number five. It says and a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. So here you have a certain guy. Thirty eight years. Okay. With an infirmity. Verse number six. When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, wilt thou be made whole? Okay. Now obviously this guy has got some kind of infirmity to where he can't make it down. He's even going to say that here. Okay. But I always find it interesting that Jesus does ask him, will thou be made whole? Okay. Do you want to be made whole? Okay. That's for us to learn from. That's for us to take into the heart. Look at verse seven. The impotent man answered him, sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed and walk. Verse nine tells us that the man was immediately made whole. Okay. Now obviously in this story here, this guy's got nobody. You know, as soon as those waters are troubled, the people that can sprint can sprint. The people that have resources to get people down there, whatever the case is, he can't make it down. Thirty eight years with this infirmity. Again, at, you know, it doesn't say he was there for all the full thirty eight years, but we know that he just can't make it in of himself. He's got no one to help him out. Okay. But why does Jesus ask him, wilt thou be made whole? Well, because of this. You can't help people that consistently make excuses. Okay. Look, everybody in here has been in a situation where they constantly come to you. Hey, I need help fixing this. I need help with this. My marriage is in trouble. My relationships are in trouble. Whatever the case is. Okay. And you're like, cool, sit down. Let me show you this Bible verse here. Let me tell you about my past experience in this. Let me tell you what I've done in that situation and what has worked for me. And everything you say, they throw up an excuse. Excuse. Excuse. Excuse. I knew you when you were younger. I tried that already and it didn't work. Or if I do this, then they could do this. You know who, if you've ever done any kind of martial arts, you know this bothers you. You're trying to teach someone how to throw a punch. You're trying to teach someone how to do a wrestling move or a jujitsu move or a choke. And gym owners hate this. People that teach martial arts, they hate this. When you get the guy, well, if you do that, I'll just do this. If you do that, I'll just circle around here and I'll do this. Or if you do that, I'll pull out a knife. If you do this, I'll pull out a gun. Those are the worst kinds of people. And I know you guys are laughing, but when you get these kinds of people in martial arts schools, the instructors try to run them off. They'll literally try to hurt them. They'll say to somebody, hey, spar with this guy here and show him what's up. If you've done it, you've had that conversation. Where you've been the guy that's had to put in some work and get that guy out. But guess what? Those types of people will often wind up in your life. And it'll drive you absolutely nuts. It's like, I've got the definitive answer here. I can help you right now. That happened to me. All you've got to do is do this. Just like, well, if I do that, then someone's going to come and rob me tomorrow night. Oh, and it's just one lame excuse after the other. And boy, is that frustrating. Okay? Say, what do you do? What can you do? There are just some people you just can't help. You just can't help them. Okay? Now, what I do in that situation, I mean, in the jiu-jitsu school, wrestling, that's a whole other world. But, you know, this doesn't happen a lot. This doesn't happen for a very long time here. Okay? But when it does, or this happens, you know, from family or maybe somebody keeps calling and keeps messaging. You know, and they keep throwing up the excuses and throwing them up. You know, and I just want arm's length. Double arm's length. And it's easy for me to do it because I'm super mega busy. You know, I work at a lot of hours. And that's a whole sermon in itself. That's just another problem. But, you know, I just have to tell people, like, hey, did you try this? No? Well, I mean, I'll be honest. If you're just going to make up excuses with everything I said, then you know what? I guess you're just going to suffer. Suffer. Sometimes I get to that point. As a pastor with people, it's like, look, I understand you're having this relationship problem. I've identified the specific reason why you're having these troubles. This is what you need to do. Did you do that? No. What did you do? Nothing. Have fun. Sulk in your misery. Sometimes that conversation needs to be had. And that's going to lead to my final piece of application. Go to Proverbs chapter number 29. Proverbs chapter number 29. And a lot of times people will ask, and I've always asked this question, and I've talked to you guys about this before. There's a lot of YouTube videos out there that will tell you, you know, you need to stop caring about what other people think. And they're right. You know, it's true. But one of the things that they almost never tell you is that you can't. You can't. And if someone tells you they have, you need to have another conversation with them. I mean, I say that from time to time because I've gotten to a certain place in my life where I don't allow that stuff to really bother me anymore. But the truth of the matter is, as long as you're wearing this flesh, words mean things. Actions mean things. Words, actions say things. Okay? And we observe things. And we understand what's going on. And sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it bothers us. Okay? And so what do we do about it? Because, look, your motivational speaker guy out there, he's not going to tell you that. He's going to say, no, no, you're just not tough enough. You're just not meditating enough. You just haven't done enough squats. You haven't drank enough water. You're not, you're testosterone's way off. That's what it is. No, it's called being human. It's called acknowledging you're going to have feelings. You need to embrace that and you need to understand that. But there's still a solution. There's still a solution to get to the point where you can have the courage to walk away when you need to. To have that difficult conversation with someone who needs help but just won't listen to you because they've got excuses. Or because they're better than you. Whatever it is. Okay? And you know what it is? This thing here is what every great strong person in the Bible shared. I mean, just from the beginning of the Bible to the very end. You pick a strong biblical character and they will have this one thing here. Okay? And here's the reason for it before I get into that. Look at verse 25. The Bible says this, the fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Okay? So we talk about this from time to time. Okay? When we allow what other people think about us or what we're going to have to tell them advice wise or whatever it is. When we think about like you have a decision to make. You're like, oh man, I have to make this decision. I know it's the right one but it's going to upset this person. This person asked me for a solution to my problem and I'm going to have to give them a straight blast of truth. And I don't think it's going to go well. Okay? What separates somebody from actually going forth with that from somebody that just won't do it? Go to Proverbs 28 and let's look at it here. Look at verse number one. This is what all the great men, all the great women, all people that are strong. This is what they know and this is how they overcome it. Proverbs chapter 28. Verse number one says this, the wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a lion. So what that means is it's boldness. Okay? It's boldness. If you're going to give somebody advice, right? We're pretty bold when it comes to the gospel into the community. That's why it doesn't bother us that much when people slam the door on our faces. Right? You know, it's bothered some people in the very past. They'd be like, I don't know if I can keep doing this. And they would tell me this. And it's like, you just got to keep going and you just got to understand, man. There's some people you can't help. They won't accept you. They're not going to accept the message. Okay? What is it that determines somebody who's going to quit from somebody who's going to keep on plugging away? It's boldness in what you're talking about. Right? So what's the solution? What was Paul praying for all the time? Hey, pray for me that I might boldly make known the mystery of the gospel of Christ. Pray for me that I may speak boldly in these bonds. He was constantly praying that. Right? You don't think that David didn't have difficult conversations to have with people sometimes? Right? Other people had difficult conversations. Go see Nathan the prophet to have with David. But he still had to go forth. Why? How was that successful? Through boldness. Okay? We, as God's people, got to make sure, and this is what Jesus was trying to make sure, that these disciples would understand through the process of shaking the dust off their feet. See, how do I let go of those negative thoughts that have clung to me from this past experience with a customer, this past experience with a soul winner, this past experience with someone at the door? How do I do that? How do I leave that negativity behind? You do it by becoming bold in what you're doing. And obviously we want to be bold in Bible doctrine. We want to be bold in the gospel. Okay? If you're bold in these things and you take a solid stance and you love the word of God, you know what? Those things are not going to be able to cling to you for the long haul. You know, you're going to have a much easier time going to that next door because you're thinking, I've got to get this message out. I've got to get somebody saved. I'm not worried about what this clown just said to me over here about his threats and this. I'm going to call this person. Doesn't matter. Hey, burn in hell. Okay? That's boldness. Okay? So whatever area, okay? Now I'm talking a lot about soul winning. But whatever area it is in your life when someone comes to you with advice, if you're bold with that, you know that, you understand that, then you know what? You don't have anything to worry about. You can shake the dust off of your feet and you cannot let these things plague you and bother you. And you'll be more effective at anything that you do. A father, a mother, a wife, a husband, doesn't matter, a boss, an employee, whatever it is. This idea here, you being bold in everything that you do is going to help you out tremendously. It's going to help you be the one that people come to and ask for help. Right? Even if, let's say I have 100 people come to me and ask for help and none of them listen. Hey, at least I'm not the one constantly going to them because I'm bold, I'm studying, I'm learning, I'm training myself. You know, I'm working hard out in the community at my job to learn the best way to do these things. And therefore, I've got that boldness. I don't need to worry about what they, I don't have time to worry, to dwell on what they think, to dwell on what they say. It all, everything I'm saying today boils down to boldness. Remember that? And you won't have any trouble shaking the dust off your feet. So with that being said, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for this church. Thank you so much, Lord, for this teaching. I just pray you help us to apply these things in our lives. We thank you for all that you do for us. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Alright, please grab your songbooks one more time this evening and turn to song 324. 324, draw me nearer. On the first. I am thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice and it told Thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord, by the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope that my will be lost in Thine. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. O the pure delight of a single hour that before Thy throne I spent. When I kneel in prayer and with Thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. On the last, there are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy precious bleeding side. Amen. Brother Anthony, would you close the service in a word of prayer, please? Dear Lord, I pray that You keep us safe for the rest of the week. I pray that we take something from this ceremony and apply it to our lives, Lord, so that we can live safely on Sunday in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.