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All right, we're in 2 Corinthians chapter number 2, and chapter 2 has to do a lot with the restoration of the guy who was cast out in 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. And so when you read through this, you basically see the opposite side, the extreme, okay? Now if you remember in 1 Corinthians chapter number 5, what was the extreme case there? The extreme case is that they're allowing a fornicator to just be in church. You know, a guy was sleeping with his father's wife and nothing was being done about it. They were just allowing him to... It was commonly reported, the Bible says. This is something that everyone knew about in the church. No one did anything about it. And Paul had to come down on them and say, hey, you know, you need to cast out that leaven. You need to get rid of that person or else God's gonna judge that church. And it's in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, do we see the characteristics or the sins that people can commit that will basically qualify them to getting kicked out of church, to get church disciplined. Now, that's not to say that we get kicked out for any reason, okay? Just for being a sinner just in general, there are specific sins that a person can commit that will basically allow them to get kicked out of church, all right? That's a valid reason to cast them out of the church and the sin that was highlighted there in 1 Corinthians 5 was fornication. So these guys weren't kicking them out, they weren't getting rid of them. But now we read in 2 Corinthians that basically that's what they did, they kicked them out. Now the other extreme is this, they weren't allowing them back in church, all right? So this is a church that's unbalanced, okay? First they weren't willing to get rid of them. Now that when they got rid of them, they weren't willing to forgive them, confirm their love toward them and help them to be restored once again. And so we need to have a balance in that, right? Look at verse number 1, it says, but I determined this with myself that I would not come again to you in heaviness. Now what is he referring to there? Well, remember in 1 Corinthians, he's like, I'm gonna come to you with a rod, okay? If you think I'm messing around with this whole thing, I'm gonna come to you with a rod. He was rude in speech yet not in knowledge and you see that he was being very stern in 1 Corinthians. However, in 2 Corinthians, he's like, I don't wanna come to you in heaviness again, okay? Look at verse number 2, it says, for if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me? Now what is he saying there? He's like, if I make you sorry by the things that I say unto you, who's gonna help me be glad if you're the source of my joy, in other words, okay? And what is he referring to there? Well, these are the people that Paul went to the Lord. And one thing that we rejoice in, one thing that we have joy in is the people who we lead to the Lord walking in truth. So he's saying, look, I'm not gonna come to you in heaviness because it's gonna make me heavy and if I'm heavy and you're heavy, who's gonna make me glad? Now a good principle that we can learn here from that is something that actually I learned from my old pastor is this, don't discourage or encourage her, okay? Now this is in context of the church, but this could be applied to any area of life. You know, if you're married, you know, as a husband, don't discourage your wife. Why? Because really your wife is your biggest cheerleader, right? Your wife is your encourager. She's the one who's gonna back you up when everyone's turning against you, right? And the last thing you wanna do is discourage the person who's encouraging you. But not only that, just in the context of just relationships just in general, like in church. If you have a good friend, you don't wanna discourage those who could potentially encourage you in the future, all right? Now, we see a balance here with Paul because Paul's negative, but he's not negative all the time. You know, there's times when he's like, I don't wanna come to you in heaviness. You know, I love you guys and I want you to get right. Look at verse number three, and I wrote the same unto you, lest when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all, for out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly to you. So pay attention to verse number four, because we see here the appropriate attitude someone must have when they cast someone out of the church. You don't see Paul going, yeah, I'm putting them out of church. Now if they're a heretic, yeah, okay? If they're some pedophile or some reprobate, we rejoice in that. We put a smile on their face and it's a great thing. But if it's a brother in Christ who, you know, is just weak, they got involved in drunkenness or they got involved in fornication, we don't wanna rejoice in the fact that we're kicking them out. You know, it grieves me when I have to boot someone out of the church. Now I'll do it sternly, I'll rebuke the person and they're out, it's not gonna be tolerated, but you know what, in my heart, I'm broken, because I don't want them to get out of church. I don't want them to be involved in sin, I don't want God to destroy that person's life. But if that's what's necessary to do to get them back in church, then so be it. You see, the flip side of that is you have pastors who claim to be compassionate, they claim to be loving, so they house these fornicators, they house the drunkards, and they say, well, we're being loved, but we're not gonna cast them out, because we love them. No, obviously you don't love them enough, because if you did, you would cast them out with a broken heart and give them over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so they can get right with God. That's the appropriate way to do it. But we see the attitude that Paul has here, it says, of much affliction and anguish. You know, we should never have this attitude like, aw man, I'm so glad we get to kick someone out of church. That's not the attitude we should have. If that's your attitude, you're wicked. If that's your attitude where you feel no compassion, you feel no sincerity, you feel no love for the person being cast out, you're wicked. You need to get your heart right with God, you know? I won't struggle to kick someone out of church, but there'll be a struggle in my heart, the fact that I have to do it, simply for the fact that I love the person. That will not impede me from kicking that person out of the church, but it'll give me a broken heart for it. Why? Because it's a brother in Christ, okay? And he says right there, out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you, look what it says, with many tears. Man, I mean, Paul was crying as he was writing the letter saying, hey, you need to get this guy out. That broke his heart. So we see here that there has to be a balance, obviously, okay? And again, I'm not talking about reprobates, I'm not talking about heretics, I counted a joy to kick those people out. I was having a good time on Sunday when we were talking about kicking out Samuel. You know, I don't feel sorry for that guy at all. There's no grief in my heart. I'm not broken. There's no tears. There's no affliction. There's no anguish in that. I had a good time. Why? Because we don't want heretics in the church. We don't want people who are railing on people in our church. We don't want people who creep in unawares in our church. Therefore, when we get them out, hey, praise God. But a brother who's saved, who's involved in sin, that's a different story, okay? Now, look at verse number five. It says, but if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So this is in reference to the man that we saw in 1 Corinthians 5, who was involved in fornication, and you said, well, what was the infliction that was caused? The Bible doesn't necessarily say, but we do see that the command was to cast them out so that Satan can destroy his flesh. So who knows what this guy went through? You know, he's probably out there, and Satan's just, you know, destroying the guy's life. And obviously, it was sufficient because when he was destroyed, guess what happened? He came back. Now, that's the goal of church discipline, isn't it? The goal is that when they get out there, and the world and the devil's just chewing them up and throwing them out, that they say, this is stupid. I need to go back to church. I need to repent. I need to stop fornicating. Stop being a drunkard. Stop being a railer. Stop being X, Y, and Z, and just go back to church and repent. That's the goal. And when they come back, we'll get into it in just a little bit, we need to be compassionate towards those people and not rub it in their face when they get to church. Okay? You're done being a drunkard? Hey, you're still fornicating with that girl? You know? Don't say things like that. You know, you're a prideful, arrogant fool if that's something that you're doing once they come. You know, we need to make sure that we're compassionate, but I want you to notice that it says that the punishment was inflicted upon many, from many, excuse me. So that means it wasn't just the pastor who was in agreement that this person should not be in church. It was the entire church that agreed that this person should not be in church. Okay? And that goes to show that if I or Pastor Anderson boots someone out of the church, everyone should be in full agreement with that. Oh, you know, I had a soda with the guy and I thought he was cool. Well, no. You know, you need to be in full agreement and be on the same page and trust the judgment of the leadership to say, hey, if they have enough discernment to kick the guy out, obviously there's some validity to that. We're going to go ahead and stand with the leadership that this person doesn't belong in church. Oh, you know, but he loves God. Well, you know what? If you love me, keep my commandments. And one of the commandments is that you shouldn't fornicate. One of the commandments is you shouldn't be a railer. One of the commandments is you shouldn't be a drunkard. So if you really love God, then keep the commandments. So 2 Corinthians chapter 2, this is what this is talking about. Now, this is for a person who is saved, for a person who, obviously who loves the Lord and loves the Bible, you know, they're going to want to come back to church. They're going to want to get back into fellowship. It grieves them not to be in church, especially when they're getting whooped by the devil. Especially when their lives are just being destroyed, they're going to have the desire to get back into church, okay? Now, there's some that when they backslide, sometimes they just, what they do is they go to an old IFB church, which is, you know, I don't know what's worse, going to the devil or going to the old IFB church. And the reason they go to these churches is because these churches don't practice church discipline. You can smoke pot, drink, do whatever you want and still be involved in these churches, you know, which is an unfortunate thing because now this person is in fellowship with a group of believers, right? But they're not being chastised, they're not being shamed and so they're basically still, they're destroying themselves. They're self-destructing and guess who's aiding in that destruction is the church. That pastor who's allowing that person to be involved in that assembly, okay? And that's unfortunate. You know, pastors today need to just stand with the word of God and just read 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and say, man, you know what, we made a mistake. We shouldn't allow these people in church and cast them out so God's blessing could be on that church. But you know what's going on is that we see churches that are accepting these people who are not supposed to be in church and what does God do? God basically gives them over to those people. That's why you have old IFB churches filled with reprobates all over the place. Why? Because God's like, alright, if that's what you want, then that's what you're going to get. Now look at 2 Corinthians 2. So what am I saying there is that, you know, the members need to back up the leadership when someone gets booted out, okay? And don't criticize the leadership for booting someone out of the church. You know, we're not on a trigger-happy role to try to get people out of church. We want people to be in church, obviously. You know, we started a church so people can come, they can grow. You know, we can train them, go out and soul win. You know, we're not on a trigger-happy to just get everyone out of the church. But you know, when it needs to be done, it needs to be done, okay? Look at verse number 7. It says, so that contrary-wise, ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. So when he wrote that first letter, what do the Corinthians do? They're like, we got to boot him out. They afflicted him. It was inflicted upon from many, the Bible says. They executed righteousness. They did it right. So now Paul is coming to him and saying, okay, now you guys got to go back to that guy. Now that he's repented, he's gotten right and you need to forgive him. You need to comfort him because if not, he's going to be swallowed up over much sorrow. Why? Because if someone's repenting, okay, they're getting right with God, you know, they need some support. They need someone to come alongside them and say, hey, we can forget about the whole thing. You got it right, you know, let me go buy you an In-N-Out burger or a coffee or whatever. Let's fellowship once again. People love fellowship. And when you're out of church, you don't have fellowship. The only fellowship you have is the fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, you know, which makes it even worse. So they miss the brethren, they miss the people of the church, they miss the preaching. So when they come, we need to make sure we do these things. So when someone repents of their sin and wants to come back, here's two things we need to do, okay? Number one, we need to forgive them. So let's give an example. Let's say if someone is involved in fornication, they say, hey, Bruce, I'm involved in fornication. I just want to let you know that. I say, okay, you have a few options. You can either get married, you can separate or you can get out of church. That's the only options you have. Okay, I'm leaving church today because I want to keep fornicating. All right, then see you. Bye. When he gets out of church, the devil just starts, I mean, gives him a stinking, you know, STD. He's like, oh, man, I'm being destroyed. I need to go back to church. Comes back to church, you know, what we need to do is forgive him for being, having such an arrogant and prideful spirit because obviously he's repenting. He says, you know, brother Bruce, I was wrong. I suffered the consequences of my actions and I want to get back into church. Are you involved in fornication? I'm not involved in it anymore. I repented of that. I want to get back. All right, come on in, man. We forgive you. We forgive you. And you move on. So forgiving doesn't mean forgiving and reminding, okay? So in other words, if this person who was once at a church because of the fornication, let's say a couple months into their restoration, they offend you. You don't bring up the fact that they fornicated a couple months back or that they were, you know, disciplined for being a fornicator, okay? You don't say, well, yeah, you know, I know you caught me listening to rap music, but, you know, hey, at least I wasn't a fornicator. Don't do that. Forgiving means you forgave. Okay? Tell him I call him back. Just kidding. Forgiving means you forgive. You know, the Lord doesn't rub our sins in our faces. He's separated as far as East is from West. He's buried in the deepest part of the ocean, the Bible says. And so we're not reminded of those things. Now we're chastised when we commit those things, but God doesn't shove it in our face. Neither should we, okay? We ought to, when someone's trying to get restored, we don't remind them of the mistakes they made in the past, their failures, okay? Because what happens is that discourages them, all right? And look, what about the sins that you've committed that you weren't even caught for? What about the things that you've done and God had mercy and grace upon your personal life? So before you become this pharisaical jerk and you start gaining on the person who was restored but maybe messed up in the past, start thinking about your failures and the areas that you messed up on, and guess what? That'll cause you to put the brakes on a little bit when you're judging your brother who's coming back to church. Okay? So forgive them, but it doesn't say just forgive them. Guess what we got to do? Number two is comfort them. Okay? Because if they've been chewed out by the devil, if they've been destroyed, then guess what? They need some comfort. They need some encouragement. Comfort comes through food. Let's go out to eat, man, you know? Let's go to Art's. I'll get you a burger or whatever, you know? And let's go get a coffee. Let's hang out. You move on as if nothing ever happened is what you do. You got to comfort them, all right? Include them in the fellowship. Include them when you go out sowing. Include them when you go hang out outside of church. Include them. That's part of the comfort because that's what they need, okay? So you know, they're overcome with much sorrow. So why do we need to comfort them after we forgive them? It's called closure. They need to have closure from the mistakes they made in the past. And let me just remind everyone is that any time anyone gets disciplined, whether it's in a family setting, it's in a church setting, there has to be closure, okay? Let me give you an example of this, all right? I come from a Hispanic home. So in Hispanic homes, the mom knows how to whoop, okay? She has a good hand. It doesn't matter how far you are in the room. She's got a good arm. She's very accurate, okay? And she's fast. The hand is fast, all right? And the reason the Hispanics are alive is because they know what I'm talking about. And you know, I'm thankful that my mom whooped me growing up. I'm really thankful for that. I wasn't thankful for it when it was happening, you know? I joke and I say I learned how to box for my mom, okay, you know, just duking and trying to get out of the way. But here's the thing is one thing that lacked a lot in Hispanic homes when it came to discipline was closure. Because I remember there'd be times when we would get whooped and it's just like my mom and I wouldn't talk for like days. It's just like whoop, you get whooped and it's just awkward for days, you know? And you kind of have to ease into, you kind of have to ease into like talking to each other like, you know, talking about something completely different. And then you just move on with your lives like a week later, you know? And by the way, I'm not complaining about my mom nor am I dishonoring my mom because my mom was not even safe. And she did a good job putting a whooping on me and that's why I'm not dead today, okay? That's why I'm not involved in gangs and I'm not a stinking crack addict or anything like that. It's because my mom whooped me, okay? So I'm thankful for that. But an element that was missing within that discipline was closure. You see, anytime we get discipline, there needs to be closure to that. So if you discipline your child, bring closure to that to say, hey, you did wrong and this is why I disciplined you. Now let's pray. Give them a hug and let them move on with their lives, okay? By the way, that's how you can avoid your children being bitter towards you too, okay? Because a lot of times people grow up and they're like, yeah, I was whooped but it's just like I was just so mad at my mom, I was so mad at my dad because there's no closure. But if your parents, you know, whooped you and then they brought closure to it, they hugged you, they prayed with you, you understood that it came from a person who actually loved you, they wanted what's best for you. And I'm not saying our parents didn't. Obviously, they didn't have the instructions of the Bible, they didn't have these principles that we can go by but we do. So now there's no excuse, amen? We have the Bible, we have the Word of God, we know what the Bible says, we can apply this to our personal lives, okay? So it's important to have closure in family but guess what? In church as well. You know, that's why God says, hey, comfort that person. So don't just forgive them and give them the cold shoulder, you know, it's just like I forgive them but I'm not gonna talk to them, I'm not even gonna look at them, you know? If he goes over there, I'm gonna be over here, you know? Or if he, you know, takes from this drink right here, I'm gonna go, I just don't wanna see that person ever again. You don't have the right attitude, okay? Because forgiveness has to accompany comfort, okay? And a person who's mature in the Lord, who's not an immature little brat will say, you know what? There's more to life than just this. Let me forgive my brother, let me comfort him and you'll gain your brother, you know? The greatest thing in life is to gain brethren, you know, to gain friends, to gain people that you love, that love you back, that have your back and you have theirs. But you know what? If you don't practice this matter of forgiveness and comfort, you lose brethren, okay? You wanna make sure that you're a likable person, you know, a man who has friends must show himself friendly. Well, part of that is just comforting and forgiving when that person has done wrong, okay? So there needs to be a element of closure when you discipline your children, there needs to be an element of closure when you get in a fight with your wife, I mean a loud discussion with your wife, you know? If there's a time in your family's, in your marriage where you guys don't agree and you get in an argument, well, first of all, don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. Second of all, I forgive you and I forgive, you know, okay, but let's go ahead and comfort, okay? Let's go ahead and start talking to each other once again. Let's get along once again, okay? Because forgiveness needs to be accompanied with comfort as well. Why? Because when you comfort, you're confirming your love toward them, you understand that? Okay? So there needs to be closure in church, that's the same thing, when the person comes to church, they got right with God, they're not involved in these sins that we see in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, then we forgive them and we begin the process of comforting them, okay? See, churches believe they have it mixed up, you know, they comfort and still allow the person to be there. Well, you know, what have they done wrong in the eyes of the person who's actually done the wrong? They're like, well, I'm cool, I don't need to be forgiven. I'm a sinner just like everyone else, you know? And they come up with all these things, it's like, no, they need to suffer the consequences of their actions so it can cause a godly sorrow or repentance so they can come back and be restored and actually grow from that. Now look at verse number 8, wherefore I beseech you that you confirm your love toward them. So that's number 3, forgive, comfort, confirm your love toward them. Now go to 1 John chapter 3, hold your place there in 2 Corinthians, go to 1 John chapter 3. Now what does it mean to confirm your love toward them? Well, you know, one way you can show someone you love them is by saying it obviously, but you know, we're not necessarily the kind of church who's like, you know, just, hey, Marcos, I love you, you just kind of, you know, it's just not, you know, I'll say it to them on the deathbed, you know, Marcos, and then probably then I'll probably say it under my breath, I'm just kidding. You know, obviously words express that we love someone, right? But the fact remains is that actions speak louder than words, right? And look at 1 John chapter 3 verse 17 says, it says, but whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. So obviously you show love by forgiving someone, by comforting them, but then a confirmation needs to be made there. And that kind of goes along with taking them out to eat, involving that person in different activities, etc. You want to confirm that. Because in the back of their minds, they're thinking, well, yeah, they forgave me, but do they really still get along with me? Do they still like me? You know, or am I just seen as this wicked person who was cast out of the church? No, you want to make sure you confirm your love toward them, right? And look, the immature will not take heed to this at all. The immature will just hold bitterness, or the immature will just keep remembering the sins of the past. You know, we need to grow up, okay, and grow out of that, and forgive, comfort, and confirm the people who come to our church. Now go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. So let me say this, on that same point, you know, obviously we need to practice this when someone gets cast out of our church, but I think this is something also that we need to practice when someone is cast out of someone else's church for an unbiblical reason, and they come here. Okay? What do you mean by that? You know, let's say, for example, I don't know, like an old IV church kicks out a person or a couple or a family, whatever, because, I don't know, they listen to Pastor Anderson or something like that, you know, something like that, or because they're post-trib or the replacement theology, things like this, and they boot that person out of the church, you know, and this person's been listening to people like us for the last couple of months or years, you know, they come to one of our churches. But they grew up in an old IFB church. We need to take this into consideration when those people come to our church. Let me explain what I mean. So when a person comes, let's say a Bible college student comes into our church. Now Bible college is almost like a cuss word in our church, okay? But let's say a Bible college student comes into our church, but they've been listening to us in the closet for like, you know, months and years or whatever, they've been a closet listener for a while, you know, we need to make sure that we welcome those people with open arms, okay? And not look down on them for being in Bible college. Now did they make a mistake for being in Bible college? Yes. Marcos, you made a mistake. Ulysses, you made a mistake. I made the mistake. Who else is about it? Any of the other Bible college students here? Oh, Alex. You made the mistake too, man, all right? But you know what? Don't look down on people like that just because they went to Bible college. And you know, they come to church and maybe, you know, because old IABers, they have that look, okay? They got that look, right? The parted hair. That's one. That's how you can tell who's the old IAB in this church is the parted hair. I'm not getting rid of my part, right? Brother Jerry, amen? Got the parting? That's right. They got that look. And if you're not careful, you know, how'd you hear about, you know, I've been in Bible college. You go to Bible college? Dude, haven't you heard the sermons on Bible college? Well, look, if they've been listening to us for the last couple of years, they probably have. Okay. And the last thing they need after they get, you know, cast out of their church for being a new IAB listener is a new IAB member getting on their case for coming from an old... He's coming to our church. You know, be kind to that person. You know, and it's almost as if we need to, like, spoon feed them some stuff because they've been going to churches that are just lame. The preaching is lame. Everything's just lame about the church. And they're not used to having, like, filet mignon, amen? They've been eating tofu. And so their spiritual stomach is not used to digesting the good stuff. Okay. And so we need to be patient with people like that and not just cast them out as evil just because... Let me give you a perfect example of this, okay? No, actually, let's do this. Go to Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9. You know, or even if they don't come from Bible college, let's just say they just come from an old IAB church and they're as old IAB as the day is long. Okay. They, you know, they're a Sunday school teacher. The wife was a nursery worker. They're involved in bus ministry. They bought the church a bus. I mean, they're a full-blown old IAB, okay? Don't look down upon them because of those things. I'm talking about if they come to our church, you know what I mean, like, oh, dude, you're one of those? What are you doing, man? You need to get out of there and just come over here. Well, that's what he's doing. Thanks, Sherlock, for observing that. There's a reason they come to our doors. So if they're here, just know this, if they come through our doors, it wasn't by accident. It's not like, you know, I need to visit a different church. Let me just, oh, there's a Baptist church right here. It's called Faithful Wore Baptist Church, and they just stumble in. They know about the church if they're coming here. So realize this, if they come through our doors, automatically know that there's certain things that they already know, that they don't need you to remind them of, okay? And also know that they're probably bringing some old IFB baggage with them, okay? Some ideologies that we obviously reject completely, you know, and we're against completely, but you know what, they haven't heard preaching like you've heard preaching. They haven't been in a church like ours their entire life. But they're making the steps and the transition to become a part of our church. So we need to be patient. Now, a good example of this is Paul, who was formerly Saul, okay? Now Saul was persecuted in the church of God, you know, this guy was zealous for his religion or whatever, for Judaism, but then he gets saved, okay? Look at Acts chapter nine, verse 22. It says, but Saul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. But their laying away was known of Saul and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and led him down by the wall in a basket. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he is saved to join himself to the disciples, to the new IFB. But they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple. So he comes and he's like, hey guys, I'm part of the crew now, right? They're just like, oh, I don't know, man. Didn't you go to that one church with the Bible college and that pastor who called that pastor Andrews and stuff, wasn't that you? Aren't you a part of that church? That's basically what they're saying. Verse 27, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. So all these disciples are kind of like shunning Paul away like, ah, I don't know, man. I've heard about you. You're like against the Andersonites, the Mejiaites or whatever. And then Barnabas comes and say, hey guys, chill out. This guy's one of us now. I heard him preach before. He's solid. He's good to go. He's one of us. Okay. By the way, Barnabas, you know what Barnabas' name means? Son of consolation, which is what? Comfort. Right? So let's read on verse 28, and he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem. He spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians, but they went about to slay him, which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus and of course it's history after that. But if it wasn't for Barnabas, I don't know if this would have happened. See one guy had to step in and say, hey, no, he's okay. You know what I mean? There's going to be a lot of Sauls that come through our doors and don't be like the other disciples and like, oh, hold on a second, man. You know, I heard you talking trash on Pastor Aaron. Are you sure? You know, you know, we need to be the ones and say, he's probably come to the truth. You know, he probably realized that he was wrong. And let me give you an example of this, okay? Before I was part of the new IFB, I was a closet listener too, man. And I remember I went to go visit Faithful Word Baptist Church. I went to Faithful Word Baptist Church as a staff member of my old church, as a Bible college teacher of my old church. I was a Bible college teacher, okay? Come for me. But I went there because I was friends with Pastor Anderson. I knew who he was. I appreciated his preaching, you know, and I went, I wanted to see his church. You know, if it was everything that the critics were saying about him, in other words. Well, I met him and you know what? It was the greatest meeting that I've ever had. You know, that meeting was pivotal in the decisions that I would then make after that, okay? So I remember meeting him and then, you know, we went out to eat, we hung out. And my wife was actually a Bible college teacher as well, believe it or not. So I was on staff, she was on staff. I was a teacher, she was a teacher. We went out to eat with him and his wife. And you know what he said to me? You're a Bible college teacher? What in the world? Haven't you heard my sermon? On the Bible college scam? What are you doing? Check please. You know, I didn't know this much. Is that what he did? No. In fact, when he finally said, oh, you're a Bible, okay, what classes do you teach? I said, I teach Galatians. You teach Galatians? How do you get through with that? Because, you know, obviously Galatians is all about replacement theology. I was like, I just teach replacement theology. He's like, man, that's pretty cool. And then his wife asked my wife, so what do you do? She's like, oh, I'm a teacher as well. She goes, oh, okay, what subjects do you teach? Oh, no, I'm sorry. She was just like, what, don't you know your place, woman? No. And the entire time, they didn't condemn us once. You know why? Because he's thinking in his mind, well, this guy already listens to me. He knows where I stand in regards to these things. And by the way, if I didn't know where he stood, I would have just asked him and then he would have laid it on me, right? But he knew that I was there for a reason. You know, I didn't just stumble in there and just like, I had just heard of him right when I came to that church. No, I had been listening to him and he was gracious. He was kind and he was not what people made him out to be to me. And you know what that did? That made an impact on my perception of who he was as a pastor because I thought to myself, this is the most hardcore guy out there who's anti-Bible college as the days long, but he's eating lunch with a Bible college teacher and is not condemning him for it. That spoke volumes. You know what he was at that moment? He was Barnabas is what he was, you know? And the fact is, is that after that, I was just like, you know what, I don't care what anybody says about Pastor Anderson, it's not true because I met him face to face. And this man is not what people make him out to be. He's a great man. You know? So that meeting taught me that when I come across people who were in my position, I need to respond to them as he responded to me. See what I'm saying? And look, if he were to like get on me without me asking him, that probably affect my perception of him. You know, because I'd be like, Oh man, I already knew that this guy's already getting on me. No, it wasn't that because he didn't get on me because I already knew where he stood and it made an impact and it made me make decisions, good decisions after that. Okay. So I said to say is that, what I said to say this is that when Paul's come through here, you know, when they're Saul, when they're old IFB, don't just jump down their throat. Like, so what do you do at the church? I'm a Sunday school teacher. Are you serious? You're a Sunday school teacher? What, they give you like a lesson or something? Well, yeah, they do. I mean, don't you study the Bible on your own? Don't get on them like that. You know, if anything, we want to make sure we leave a good taste in their mouth. Because here's the thing, they're coming here, obviously, because they've been listening to us. But they're also coming here with the perception that their old church has been giving them about us. And you don't want to confirm that because, you know, they say they're unloving. They're jerks. They don't got a good spirit. You know, look, they're going to get enough of that from here, from the pulpit. I will preach on Bible, in fact, this Sunday I'm preaching on Bible college. You say, well, you know, are you against Bible college? Listen to the interview yesterday on Collateral Zeal. You'll see my, you know, opinion on Bible college. And if you don't believe that, just come this Sunday. I'll tell you what I believe about Bible college, okay? But the fact remains is that when people come here, you don't want to jump down there. You want to make sure that you're a good testimony. Testimony of our church, testimony of the Lord. Testimony of our movement. So then when they go back, they're like, these, my church lied to me. They're not the way people make them out to be. This is a great church. The people are unloving. They're kind. They're, they're zealous. They're hardcore. They're not jerks. You know, if they tell you what church they come from, don't say, oh man, that's a, that's, that's a weak church. I think it's lukewarm. You know? That church sucks. And they're just like, oh, thanks, that's why I'm here. And by the way, if, if they come from a church like that that does suck, okay? And you know that it sucks, then you just say this, okay. And then just ask them another question. When people tell me at the door that they're Catholics, I go, oh, okay. I mean, I hate Catholicism to the core, but you know, that's not, that's not essential when I'm giving them the gospel to tell them how much I hate Catholicism and how much Catholicism sucks. You know? So when people come here with their ideologies of the past, of the old IFB, you know, you don't want to, you don't want to start criticizing their church, okay? They'll get that from the pulpit. Because I'll preach some stuff and they'll be like, whoa, my old church used to do that. Man, that's bad. I didn't know that. Let them come across those truths on their own. You know, and introduce them to people while they're here. Take them to the bookshelf. Let them get some DVDs. Say, man, take as many as you want. Did you see this one yet? You know, hey, I hope you come back. If you come back on Sunday, let's go out to eat afterwards. Because here's the thing. If they're here, they probably don't have a lot of friends even at their old church if they're already here. People are already looking at them, you know, just like, that guy's been listening to the Anderson, you know. That guy, he's been listening, he's praying to Anderson in our church or whatever. So he's probably feeling left out in his church, right? Everyone's giggling because that's what's happening. That's what happens, okay? So when they're here, you know, they're craving fellowship. They want someone to talk to. They want to be able to go to someone and say, I'm post-trip. And not have to go, hey, are you post-trip? You know, all low key, I'm post-trip. You know, they can just like, I remember when Marcos first came, you know, he was a Bible college student here. And he's like, he was like too loud. I told him, I was like, man, he was just like, I haven't had any fellowship in months. He's like, I was just thankful to be a part like I can be myself. He's like, I haven't talked to anybody in a long time. You know? And it's sad, but you know, there's a lot of people in churches that are like that. So we want to make sure that when they come here, you don't judge them because they're old IFB. Understand, if they're coming through the doors, that's already saying a lot. You know, because we're on the internet, they know what we believe. It says Faithful Word Baptist Church. So it already carries the reputation of Faithful Word Baptist Church. So if they're here, that's saying a lot. That means they're making a transition. So let that be a signal to you, oh, this guy's making the transition. Let me go ahead, forgive him for being an old IFB-er. You know? Comfort him because he's probably been ostracized from his members and go ahead and confirm my love toward him by hanging out with him and showing him, hey, you got yourself a brother in Christ here. Let me get your number. You know? I'm telling you, people who come from these churches, they're dying for that. They're dying for it. You know, I'm thankful for the Barnabas's in my personal life when I came to the new IFB. People who were kind to me when I first met them, they weren't judgmental, they weren't like getting on me because I was old IFB, and I'm thinking to myself, man, I was a Bible college. You know, people are going to say all kinds of stuff, but you know, there's people who were very kind, you know, and they just forgot, they just forgave me of all that, you know? And look, I made mistakes. I regret ever going to Bible college. I regret, this guy got kicked out. I graduated in Bible college, okay? I taught in the Bible college. So there's a lot of mistakes that I made in the past, but I'm thankful for the Barnabas's who are saying, well, you know what? That's in the past. Let's just move on and let's preach against that stuff. Let's make sure we're on the right path and fix it from here on out. So we want to make sure that when these old IFB people, by the way, don't call them old IFB either. Oh, you're old IFB? It was like, well, I was planning to make a new, you know, I thought it was like a new IFB. Yeah, but you go to old IFB church. Now I'll call myself old IFB and it doesn't bother me or whatever, but to some people it probably does, you know, because we preach against old IFB like a lot. We have like entire sermons dedicated to them, you know? So we want to make sure that we're like Barnabas and we're like sons of consolation, okay? We're comforting them. We're kind to them and when you take them out to eat, you know, and here's a good, here's a good, this is a, here's good advice, right? And if you don't like it, just tune me out. When you're talking to someone from these old churches, don't give advice unless they ask you because typically someone who gives advice without being asked for advice, the person who's getting the advice is not going to listen to you because they're like, I didn't ask you. Why are you telling me this? I'm not asking you. You think I think you're wise or something? You know? Now if they ask you, hey, so what do you think, I'm in Bible college, do you think I should get out? Then at that point say, well, you know what? It's funny you mentioned that. I was thinking about that, but I don't want to say nothing, but you know, yeah, I would recommend that you do, you know, and here are the steps on how you can get out. This is what I would do if I were you because people need to be told what to do, but they also need instructions on how to do it as well because they don't know how to do it and say, look, if you need help throughout any of this, you got my number, we're new I've been man. Now let's go get the tattoo. I'm just kidding. You know, it's just like, we're, we're, we're good to go here. You know, here's my information. If you need help with that, you know, that will mean a lot to that person and you just never know. You might reach a Paul who ends up doing great works for God and who's going to end up encouraging you and your time of discouragement. See what I'm saying? So it's important that we, that these people who come through our doors because, and the reason I'm saying this is because over the next couple of years, we're going to have a lot of old, I have beers coming to our church and amen for that. Okay. They're waking up. They're like, I need to get out of this church and go to a church and get my family into a church where there's heart preaching. There's soul winning. You know, there's no reprobates. I need to get my family into a church where I know they'll be safe where I will learn the Bible. Okay. And we want to make sure that when that happens and they come here, like, Hey, welcome, glad you can make it. Let me know if you need anything. All right. Now look at verse nine, spend a lot of time with that, but it's necessary. Look at verse nine says, for to this end also did I write that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient in all things. So they're obedient and casting out the fornicator, but now they need to be obedient and forgiving them and allowing them back in. So to be obedient in all things is not only executing church discipline, but it's also welcoming them once they repent and they want to get right with God. Verse 10 says to whom you forgive anything, I forgive also for if I forgave anything to whom I forgave it for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ. And then you see there in verse number, let me see here. Verse number 11 says, let's Satan should get an advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. So it says this, make sure you forgive because we're not ignorant of Satan's devices. Now, what is he talking about? Well, when someone doesn't forgive someone, the automatic response to that is bitterness. So one of the devices that Satan uses in a person's life, excuse me, is bitterness. They become bitter. And the last thing you want to do is like, for instance, be bitter at your old IFP pastor. You don't want to be bitter towards that person, especially if they're saved. Now there are some heretic, unsaved guy who preaches for your sins, let it be anathema, amen. That guy's a curse. But someone who is saved, you know, we need to make sure that we forgive those people because they're saved. We ought not to hate those people because if you don't forgive, guess what the natural outcome of that is, is bitterness. And bitter Christians are some of the worst Christians you ever meet in your life. They're the most negative, ugly people you will ever meet. That's why reprobates are all bitter. Because they got molested when they were kids. And when they were given the gospel, they blamed God for that molestation and they became a reprobate. That's why they're so ugly, you understand that? But Christians, saved people can become bitter as well, all right? Now look what it says here. Go to, let's see here, go to Galatians chapter six, hold your place there in 2 Corinthians, go to Galatians chapter six. So it says, to whom you forgive anything, I forgive also for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it for your sakes, forgave by it in the person of Christ. So one way you forgive someone is recognizing, well, you know, I don't forgive others because Christ has forgiven me of all my sins, okay? Look at Galatians 6, 1, it says, brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. So someone who doesn't want to forgive, guess what? They think a lot of themselves. I'm not going to forgive them. I've been faithful. I've been in church. I'm not in sin. Yeah, you're thinking a lot of yourself is what you're doing. And guess what? You're nothing is what you are. What you ought to do is bury one another's burdens. So if a person is overtaken in a fault, help that person, restore that person back into fellowship. I'm going to skip some verses here. Now go back to 2 Corinthians. I'm pretty much out of time. Look at verse 12. You know, in Acts, you hear about, I think it was Simon, right, who was in the gall of bitterness. Well, why was he in the gall of bitterness? Well, because if you remember, he was a sorcerer and he had enchanted a lot of people. A lot of people were following and they were giving heed to his teachings. But once the apostles shut up on the scene, they gravitated towards the apostles because they were preaching the word of God. They were doing great things. And so they left Simon and they went towards the apostles. And of course, Simon ended up getting saved. But they saw that the apostles had all these powers and these abilities. And he said, give me the money. All right, excuse me. He said, you know, I'll give you money. Give me this ability as well. And they're like, you know, the power of God can't be bought with money. And that's when the apostles said, I perceive the power in the gall of bitterness. Why is that? Why was he bitter? Because they basically took his position as what they did. Okay. And we need to make sure that when you just remember this, there will always be someone better than you. Okay. There will always be a better preacher, a better soul winner, a better song leader, a better fill in the blank. There will always be someone bitter or better. Don't get bitter for that. There are always, there'll also be always someone bitter as well. Okay. So you got to make sure that when that takes place, that's why I said a couple of weeks ago, your greatest competition should be yourself. That way you won't get bitter. You know, you're competing with yourself. You're making sure that you're trying to go above and beyond what you're able to do. Now you're not comparing yourselves among yourselves. So on and so forth. Go back to verse number 12 of second Corinthians chapter two. The Bible says here, furthermore, when I came to trust to preach Christ gospel and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, I had no rest of my spirit because I found out Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia. Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ and make it manifest the saver of his knowledge by us in every place. Now I like this verse here. Now what does saver mean? Saver is just another word for odor, right? A saver, a sweet smelling saver is an odor. Now when you think of an odor specifically in the Bible, like a sweet saver, sweet odor, what do you think about in the Old Testament? Sacrifices, right? When you sacrifice something is a sweet odor. Now you don't have to turn there, but Romans 12 verse one says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So in the New Testament, when we're a living sacrifice, guess what, we're a sweet saver, that sweet odor, okay? Just as the sacrifices pleased God in the Old Testament with that odor, in a sense, you know, in the New Testament, when we're a living sacrifice, we're living a life that's pleasing unto the Lord. Verse 15, for we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. To the one we are the saver of death unto death and to the other the saver of life unto life and who is sufficient for these things. Now it's kind of scratching my head trying to figure out what that meant. You know, there's a lot of applications I think you can get from that of what that meant. Verse 15 says we're a sweet saver unto Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish. Verse 16, we're a saver unto death unto death and to the other, saver of life unto life, who is sufficient for these things. Now go a chapter after chapter three and go to verse number five. I think we can find the answer right here because I think obviously in context it's talking about preaching the gospel because it says unto them that are saved and unto them that perish, right? Look at verse number five. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life, the Bible says. So you know, when we give the gospel, obviously we got to get someone lost before they get saved, right? You got to teach them that they're a sinner. You got to teach them that they understand that they deserve hell, right? This is part of the gospel presentation. Well how do you do that? You use the letter. You have to recognize that they've broken God's commandments and what does the letter do? It kills them. Now some people are willing to admit that they're sinners. People are willing to admit that they deserve hell, but they just can't come to the conclusion that they don't have to work for their salvation and they end up not putting their trust in Christ. So for them, what are we? An odor, a savor of death unto death because we just brought them bad news, okay? They died is basically what they did. Man, this guy just told me I was a sinner, I'm going to hell, you know, and that was it. But they rejected the gospel obviously. Now on the flip side, there's people who the letter kills them, but guess what? They find salvation in Christ. They end up placing their trust in Christ and what does it do? What is that? That's the spirit giving life. So we are a sweet savor, some life, death unto death and some others of life unto life because you're like, man, people who, you know, I'm sure you've had people who you've witnessed to and they show a lot of gratitude. I thank you for coming. I didn't know these things. I'm saved, you know. I'm sure all of us can share a story of people who showed a lot of gratitude because of us giving them the gospel. That's a savor of life unto life, okay? So we're a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish as well, all right? And obviously this is in reference to, of course, we looked a couple of verses prior to that. It talks about how he makes manifest a savor, you know, or excuse me, the savor of the knowledge of Christ in us, right? And look down at verse number 17, for we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as sincerity, but as of God and the sight of God speak we in Christ. Now one of the main applications that there are people back in those days that did corrupt the word of God. You think of Alexander, Hymenaeus, you know, they were teaching that the resurrection had already passed. Different people who were teaching, they were corrupting the word of God. But in context, what is it referring to? He's referring to people who are not making manifest that knowledge of God that's in them. And you look in chapter three, he talks about how he says, you know, ye are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read of all men. Well, if you're not a sweet savor of Christ, you're not expounding that knowledge into others, guess what? You're corrupting the word of God. You're not being sincere. You're not being a good testimony. You think about the commandment of women, how they ought to be in subjection to their husbands and if they don't, what happens? They're blaspheming the word of God, okay? You're corrupting the word of God by doing those things. So we want to make sure that we're a good representation of the word of God and that goes along with what we talked about when we accept people within our church. So what's the message of 2 Corinthians chapter two? Well, the primary message is this, hey, we need to make sure that we forgive people once they're casted out and they repent, they get right with God, we need to accept them in. But not just them. You know, we need to forgive the old IMB. You know, if there's a guy in times past who used to get on you for listening to Pastor Anderson and he comes to our doors, you know, forgive that guy. He's here for a reason. You know, just get over it. Oh man, but you don't even know, that guy gave me a hard time. So what? You know, stop being such a sissy. Just get over it and move on with your life. You know? Yeah, but he was a jerk. Well, then don't be a jerk to him. You know, render not evil for evil. Got you. So you know, we need to make sure we accept these people and help them grow. So what do we do? We forgive them, we comfort them, and then we confirm our love toward them as well. Amen? Amen. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for 2 Corinthians chapter 2, so much truth packed into that chapter. I pray that you'd help us to be stern, be adamant as a stone, but also be compassionate towards those who come through our doors. And Lord, help us to be patient with people long suffering. And it says a lot when someone comes through these doors. They've obviously counted the cost if they've come through here. They know what we're about. They know where we stand. And Lord, help us to help them along. And if there's someone who's listening to this sermon, even online, and they're considering coming here, I hope that they would. And I hope that they would contact us, and I hope they would come. And we'd be more than happy to have them here. And Lord, I just pray that you'd help us to have that mentality and to forgive the brethren when they repent in Jesus. And we pray. Amen. Amen.