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We are in romans chapter number 13 look down at your bibles at verse number six It says for for this cause pay ye tribute also for there god's ministers attending continually upon this very thing Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honor to whom honor Oh, no man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled The law the title of the sermon this evening is staying in debt Staying in debt. Okay now in chapter 13 of romans the apostle paul obviously in the very beginning of the book of chapter 13 He's explaining the importance of being under god-given authority Of course, the main authority that we see there is that he's referring to governmental authority, right? Now we obviously understand that the only exception would be is when the government tells us or commands us makes a rule or a law That causes us to sin against god if the if the government says hey no more preaching the gospel at that point We cease obeying that authority because the fact of the matter is is that they are undermining god's word And when they undermine god's word, we undermine their authority and we keep doing what god wants us to do And look, that's what the first verse says. It says let every soul be subject unto the higher powers So who do we obey we obey the powers, but the higher they go the higher we're supposed to obey them, right? So in other words we have our parents we have a boss we have you know a church we have a pastor we have Government, but if any one of those gets out of line and tries to cause us to violate the laws of god Then guess what that authority is now null and void You know when a pastor gets up and starts preaching weird stuff and you know talking Preaching false doctrine or whatever it may be, you know at that point Yeah, you know we give honor to where honors do in regards to a pastor But when they surpass that point and they get into false doctrine, we no longer follow them We no longer are under an authority that's causing us to sin against the word of god and in like manner That is also applicable to the government now We see there that in chapter 13 god Has ordained specific powers that be For the praise of the just those who do good but also to punish evil doers Okay, so in other words, what are the police supposed to do obviously police are not it's not a biblical organization, right? But what are they supposed to do? They're supposed to punish evil doers There the bible says there that they bared not the sword in vain a sword is not something you spank with It's not something you slap on the hand with it's something you slay with And the reason they have that killing weapon is to punish evil doers. That's what the bible's telling us there. Okay And it says verse five wherefore you must need to be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake For for this cause pay tribute also Now what is this telling us when it talks about the tribute it talks about custom talks about honor. This is in context of payments financial payments to these Organizations. Okay, you know we were to give honor to whom honors do tribute to whom tributes do and look We're not the type of church that's just completely anti-government There's there's christians like that where they're just look obviously we're against the government a lot of the stuff that the government's doing But the government's still here To fulfill what god wants them to do as far as evil doers is concerned And thank god that we don't live in an anarchy type of society where murder is just legal rape is legal Child molestation is legal and all these things, you know, there are still crimes that can be paid for Now those are being taken away little by little we understand that But here what the apostle paul is saying is that we need to render to them that which is due. Okay And people who balk at that people who don't like to hear that I don't want to pay my taxes and I don't want to pay this and see I don't want to render to caesar that which is caesar. They're just too earthly minded Too earthly minded Too attached to their finances, you know too attached to the money of this world They don't want to give it up. Whereas jesus is like just pay them Just pay them. This is a spiritual battle We're in you know, god can provide let's just render to caesar that which is caesar render to god that which is gods Okay, then he gets into verse number Eight and he says this oh, no, man Anything so what does that mean? In other words, you shouldn't be in debt to anyone Oh, no, man anything now hold your place there go to proverbs chapter number six if you would proverbs chapter number six Proverbs chapter number six You see the bible doesn't speak lightly uh regarding debt Okay, debt is talked about a lot in the bible and let me just preface this by saying that obviously You know, there's going to be times in our life when we go into debt for whatever reasons maybe it's a in a medical emergency You know something that comes up where you're forced to basically go into debt for some specific need that you have not a want Talk about needs. Oh, yeah. I had this emergency. I need this yacht You know, I need this I need this brand new car and it has all the bells and whistles and I need to go In debt for that. No, that's not what you're supposed to do but there's gonna be times when you do have to go into debt and it's just in a sense it's forced upon you because Of the circumstance of the situation the the principle is this that you don't stay in debt That you pay it off Right look at proverbs six verse one my son If that be surety for thy friend if thou has stricken thy hand with a stranger Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. In other words, you're making an oath Right, you're making that vow. Didn't we talk about that on thursday? Do this now my son and deliver thyself when thou are coming to the hand of thy friend go humble thyself and make sure Thy friend so what is the main principle when we see when it comes to debt deliver yourself? You got to deliver yourself Don't stay in debt. You need to deliver yourself now look in regards to salvation How did we deliver ourselves by believing on the lord? Jesus christ who delivered us? Because of the sin debt that we owed, right? now Think about this debt holds a very spiritual significance When it comes to sin, I mean the bible tells us for the wages of sin is death. This is the payment This is the debt that human beings owe and look it's a payment that we can't pay You know go with me if you would to first peter chapter number one first peter chapter number one So the sin debt that we have is not a payment that we can make okay, this is why it's so ridiculous When churches preach a false gospel, what is a false gospel a works-based salvation? Because however, you want to wrap it however the calvinists want to call it However, the pentecostals want to say whatever they want to however, they want to deliver it It's still works-based salvation if it's not by faith alone Right and what it is it's self-righteous pompous holier than now people who think they can pay off their sin debt Oh, you know, yeah, you gotta believe on it, but you gotta do your part. What are they saying? You have to pay your debt Well, guess what, you know all other debts in this world can be paid except for that one And in fact look at first peter first, uh, first peter one verse 18 says For as much as you know that you were not redeemed. What does that mean bought back? With corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation Received by the tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood Of christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot. So how is the only way we compare sin debt through the blood of christ? That is the only payment god will even accept You know you go to certain places places they don't accept discover card They don't accept american express They only accept visa or something like that well god only accepts one type of payment You know, he doesn't accept your repetitive sins He will not accept you keeping the commandments. He cannot accept your baptism He definitely for sure will not accept your righteousness Because your righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of god. What's the only payment that he will take the blood of christ? And here's the thing. He's already paid it So he makes it so easy that he's already paid it all you have to do is accept the payment The bible tells us in galatians 3 13 christ had to redeem us from the curse of the law Be made a curse for us for it is written curse that is everyone to hang up on the tree So this kind of helps us to understand god's perspective on debt He hates debt so much that he actually sent his son jesus christ to die To sacrifice to be sacrificed. He was bruised for our iniquities. He was uh, he was smitten of god he was forsaken to pay our sin debt So don't take it lightly. Amen. We should never take our salvation lightly Because there is a great payment that was made in order to exonerate us in order to pay that Debt this is what god thinks of that and it's not something we can pay It's like well, I just got to go to church for the rest of my life I got to make sure I keep all ten commandments and no the bible says that whosoever keep it the whole law Yet offended one point is guilty of all You're just digging your debt deeper, buddy I just got to make sure I repent of all my sins. Look there's debt that you didn't even know you have There's debt that you have that you don't even know that you have So even though you paid off your little drunkenness debt because you no longer drink Guess what? There's a bunch of other sins that you probably don't even know about because you haven't read the bible cover to cover and your debt is deep You're you're deep in debt when it comes to being spiritual spiritually speaking Galatians 5 3 says for I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law So think about that God says look If you want to be circumcised That's not the only debt you have to pay you're a debtor to the whole law And sometimes when people think of the law they think of the ten commandments You know Ignorantly just think of only the ten commandments news flash. There's more than ten commandments Hundreds of commandments and we're only talking about the old testament. There's a bunch of commandments even in the new testament That we have to keep christ has become of no effect unto you Whosoever of you are justified by the law you are fallen from grace the work salvation is like you trying to pay off your debt and This is what's so foolish about this this this concept of a workspace salvation Is the fact that god says that salvation is a gift Not something you have to pay for It's a gift that you just receive right go to romans chapter number four You can't afford to pay that debt It's impossible to pay it Look at romans 4 verse 3 for what saith the scripture abraham believed god knows countenance to him for righteousness Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt But to him that worketh not but believeth on him to justify at the ungodly his faith is counted for Righteousness see the person who's working isn't really the person who believes that it's by grace alone right Because it's not reckoned by grace. It's a debt. They think they have to work for it to maintain their to maintain their salvation Well, you know he died for me So we got to make sure that we do our part And go through all these sacraments as the catholics say we got to make sure we we just we stay in the road And we stay on the path. No That's not the way you earn it You never earn it. In fact The only way you can get it is by grace and the bible tells us in romans 11 6 and if by grace Then it is no more works. Otherwise grace is no more grace But if it be of works, then there's no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work So god is saying if you try to do if you try to get salvation By grace and works i.e repent of your sins cleaning up your life. You name it Then you know what? You just made grace null and void It's only one one or the other Okay, and look you can get to heaven by keeping the law of god Right if you can keep it perfectly But there's no one who has That's what the bible tells us. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law Because there's not a just man upon earth that do with good and sin if not Okay now This goes to show us what god's perspective is on death Obviously, he doesn't look kindly upon it because of the fact that he even sent his son. Jesus christ to die To pay that debt that we owe Now, let me say this is there is a debt That we will always have spiritually speaking this side of eternity. Okay, and this is the this is the debt of fulfilling the royal law Okay. Now go back to romans chapter 13 if you would Hey pay that which thou owest make sure that you're not in debt Live within your means financially speaking, right? You know don't be a covetous person make sure that you're content with such things as you have Make sure you protect your wantor as my old pastor used to say so you're not going into debt just to get your toys Just to have fun and all these things, you know, it's okay to have pleasure in life But to live for pleasure will put you into debt Right whosoever, you know lives in pleasure with oil and wine. They're going to be in rags. They're going to be poor Why because that's not what life is all about We need to make sure that we live within our means We need to make sure that we're staying out of debt. And if you go into debt for whatever reason, okay You're not a wicked person, but you know what pay off the debt Right because this is the perspective that god has on this and there's a lot we can say about Financial debt and other things but we're trying to get this spiritual application here. Look at verse 13 or excuse me verse 8 He says owe no man anything Don't be in debt. Hey pay tribute to whom tribute is due honor to whom honor is due custom to who customs do the bible says owe no man anything but to love one another So he's like this is the only thing you should owe is your love Right for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law For this thou shall not commit adultery. Thou shall not kill thou shall not steal that shall not be a false witness Thou shall not covet if there be any other commandment It is briefly comprehended in this saying namely thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself love worketh no ill to his neighbor Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. We will always owe people love So what's the what's the sermon about stay in debt What is that stay in love with people Because that's something that we always owe people You know and look Stay in debt and here why stay in debt when it comes to this? Because of the fact that you're always going to work on paying it off You're always going to work on paying off your debt of love because you're will you will forever be in debt to that this side of eternity So gotta say hey don't owe anybody anything, but you do owe people your love You should owe people your love and look some people we all know love we all owe love to everyone But there's some people who just refuse to pay that debt They refuse to pay the debt And we as christians ought to live our lives working on paying that off for the rest of our life And figuring out which ways we can pay off that debt of love that we owe to other people not for salvation But because we should love our neighbor as ourselves And by the way, if you're glazing over at this it just shows me that you don't care about that debt Okay I don't care less about that love. Yeah, you have a love that's waxing cold is what it is. Okay Go to matthew 22 matthew 22 I'm going to read to you from james chapter 2 verse number 8 says if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself Ye do well But if you have respect to persons you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors You know the bible tells us that even god teaches us how to love right because god is love I think the struggle that we have as christians Is making sure that we're balanced and loving sinners and loving our brethren right Making sure that we're actually putting in the effort to love both in a balanced way Where we're not just oh, well, I do all so many but I don't like to fellowship with my brothers and sisters in christ Then you're you have an imbalanced love Do good into all men, but especially they of the household of faith So look do good into the sinner who doesn't have the gospel who needs to be safe But you know what the bible says, but especially unto them of the household of faith There should be a special love For your brothers and sisters in christ There should be a special love for your church members here. There should be a special love for your church Why because we're a family amen And as a family, you know what you owe me your love And vice versa I owe you my love Okay, and this is how we can live a life that is pleasing them to the lord where we're fulfilling the royal law In our church don't let your oh i'm just all about soul Don't talk to me. I just want to go soul winning want to preach the gospel see people saved Show them that I love them and i'm going to come here and sit here fellowship with nobody Don't talk to me I'm just here to work Then you're in debt to your brothers then You're in deep debt Because you owe your brother's love because the bible says to exhort one another daily How do you do that by not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but so much the more as you See the day approaching, you know The bible says let no corrupt communication proceed on your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying that it may administer grace unto the hearers and the hearers that is referred to Are those in the church? So look what i'm saying is this If you are of the sort that it's all about preaching the gospel But you're not about fellowshipping in church and showing your love to your brethren. You need to start paying off that debt Right You need to start going to your brothers and getting to know them and getting outside that shell of selfishness Amen And start showing some love Yes We'll talk about that in just a bit. Look at matthew 22 verse 36. It says master, which is the greatest commandment in the law Jesus said it to him thou shall love the lord thy god with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all Thy mind this is the first and great commandment. So we understand this the the greatest commandment you could ever fulfill is loving god, right? Making sure that you stay in love with god Verse 39 says this and the second well, you only ask them for one Right then he asked him he's like, which is the the the the which is the great commandment in the law He gives him one and he's like by the way the second No, you didn't ask me for it, but i'm going to give it to you. Anyways It's like unto it thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets So you know what this shows us is that if we love god We're going to love our neighbors If we love the lord if we delight in the lord, you know What's going to what it's going to cause is going to cause us to love people Now look we need to make sure that we have our hate life in place too. Amen But the way we make sure that our hate life is in place is that we love the right things because ye that love the lord hate evil That's what the bible tells us. Okay, you know We need to make sure that we're loving god so that the funnel of love towards people is in its right place Okay, and look Church is a is a social is a place of of social You know gatherings We come here to your preaching. Yes, but you know what preaching is from now up until like eight But you know what there's a bunch of fellowshipping happening before and a bunch of fellowshipping happening happening afterwards He said what are we doing? We're trying to pay off our debt You know, we're working on paying off our debt hanging out talking singing laughing fellowshipping Loving on one another we're paying the debt Is what we're doing But you know, there's churches out there. They only go to church They only hear some some watered-down preaching and then their debt is just going deeper and deeper and deeper because they do no fellowship It's just like And they're just like They're out of they're like we're done. It's like the school bell They don't want to fellowship with anybody you know and look here's the thing is I need to pay off my debt. So don't leave But you know, you need to pay off your debt too, so don't leave Okay, and I understand some of us maybe have a the type of personality where we're just You know, there's people out there. There's people in our church who are just like social butterflies right They're just it's easy for them to talk to anybody They're not shy brother. Mark is a perfect example of that, right? That guy can have a conversation with anyone with the wall And the wall will leave edified And believing everyone's a rapper right now, I'm just kidding I'm kidding. I'm kidding 100 But here's the thing and I understand there's people who have they're more outgoing than others is what i'm saying And you know what but there's people here they're probably more shy than others and it's harder for them to pay off that debt But you know, you got to work on it Because the responsibility is still there for you You know and maybe it's like well i'm struggling right now. Well, I just just just take heed to my advice What will help you with your depression with your anxiety or with every emotional thing that you're going through Is actually going and paying off your debt That's right I guarantee you it'll help Because then you take your eyes off of yourself And then you talk to someone and you realize that their problems are worse than yours You're like man, this guy's got bad I don't really have it that bad And then you're just like wow, you know and then you get to help that person And then misery loves company You know what I mean? Because you both are like depressed together. What i'm saying is this If you're shy And you're struggling go out of your way to go talk to someone Okay Go out of your way to talk to someone pay off that debt. We will always owe that And that is a reflection of our love for god when we love others Because the sake the second is namely like unto the first which is loving the lord our god with all our hearts So mind and strength Go to romans chapter number one Romans chapter number one Stay in debt stay in debt Now i'm going to give you a couple practical things. This is not a very deeply doctrinal sermon. Okay, this is very practical But it's regarding the most important subjects in the bible, which is love. Amen How can we pay off our love debt in a practical way? How do we pay off our love debt? Well number one you think about When someone is in actual debt like thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in debt You know you have to do it little by little You know when someone has a massive has incurred a massive amount of debt financially And they're like i'm not gonna pay this off You know, what is 100 bucks here 100 bucks. They're gonna do It's not gonna put any dent into the into the into the you know into my debts How am I even gonna how am I gonna pay it off? Well, the way you do is just little by little And being consistent, right? So in like manner how do we pay off our love debt by making weekly payments door to door Right So how do you make how can you make sure that you pay off your love debt to people who are lost? You know, ah i'm trying to witness to all my neighbors and I just don't have time and I just Got to make sure that I witness to this person Well, you know the way you can really just pay off your debt and not procrastinate is just do it weekly door to door Which is so winning, right? And look this is biblical Look at romans 1 verse 13 Now I would not have you ignorant brethren that oftentimes I purpose to come unto you But was led hitherto that I might have some fruit among you also even as among other gentiles. I am a what debtor Both to the greeks and to the barbarians both to the wise And to the unwise so as much as in me is I am ready to preach the gospel to you That are at rome also for i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god Unto salvation to everyone that believe it to the jew first and also to the greek Is it any coincidence that in chapter 13? He says oh man, oh no man anything but your love and he says here i'm a debtor I owe the greeks. I owe the barbarians. I owe you who are at rome also that I preach the gospel And you know what? He has I don't know. What's the best credit card out there? Does anybody know? visa Come on, I know some of you know some of you got them in your pockets right now You have like the gold card or something He has the best credit card there is because of the fact that he literally says You know that the gospel is the power of god into he says i'm not ashamed of the gospel He goes I ain't got the credit card payment and i'm just keep keep swiping And preaching the gospel to the scithian to the barbarian to those who are rome the greeks everyone Why because i'm in debt to them? I owe them the gospel This is a good mindset to have right here And this will keep you on track on loving people The unsaved and paying off that debt that you owe if you just on a weekly basis make it your point I'm gonna go soul winning and look I understand people have job schedules. Everything's different, you know, here's here's the options you have Go on sunday afternoons. What's your soul winning team? Go on thursdays before church Go on saturday afternoons. We meet here or give me a call and say I can't do any of those days Can you come with me sometime throughout the week and we'll schedule a date? I'll help you pay off your debt As you help me pay off mine But it has to be done weekly little by little Here a little there a little we are debtors You know when we came here to omani we had a lot of debt in omani did we not? Hey, but you know what? We've been chopping away at that debt We've seen a lot of people say in fact, it's been over three thousand souls that have been saved Over three thousand souls that have been saved since we started the church Three thousand souls. We're just swiping that card Like all right, I pay I paid this i've been reading my bible. I've been spear filled. Here's the payment. Here's the payment Here's the payment just paying it off paying it off paying it off Now look notice that he specifically said i'm a debtor both to the greeks and also to the barbarians This is a this is very interesting to me And the reason for that is because of the terminology that he's using Keep in mind that he's writing to the church at rome to the christians who are at rome, right? Now This is you know, obviously first century a.d And this is during the the empire the roman empire era, okay? And during this era, you know rome Was like that empire that just felt that they were better than everyone else Right, they're trying to convert everyone to being a roman and they're very racist. They thought that everyone was like beneath them They I mean, that's why he uses the terminology there barbarian Okay Now barbarian is basically someone to them who is just a foreigner someone who spoke in a different language, okay? But if you study roman history, you know, they were conquering all kinds of lands they went up to the north conquered britannia germania and all the tribes in those areas the barbarians So they saw them as basically an opportunity to conquer them and to civilize them to make them to be like romans You understand what i'm going? So they're trying to conquer like they're barbaric and they basically look down upon these people So the apostle paul is writing this to the romans saying hey romans even those who are believers You're a debtor to the barbarians, you know those people that rome has been conquering you know i've been um listening to this book about armenius one of the most interesting stories of the roman empire and Arminius was basically part of a germanic tribe who was taken as a little boy Into the roman empire was trained ended up becoming a very prominent leader was sent back to his hometown to basically Conquer them and he turned on the roman empire using his own knowledge that he learned of the roman empire And led a great war battle against the roman empire. In fact, that's the battle that rome lost They actually lost ground because of this guy named armenius And as you as I read the story you see how They would belittle these barbarians these people from germania these people from these tribes and how racist basically they were, right? So paul is around this time and he's basically saying hey You know, I know where rome says that you should be and the kind of attitude you should have towards towards these barbarians But you're a debtor to them if you're a christian So what's the application there pastor mihia? Well, I don't know I think we have like the spirit of rome today do we not I mean rome in those days was babylon and guess what america is babylon Is it any different today the attitude that america has towards the barbarians? Ie the muslims the mexicans Right the hispanics whoever Have this attitude we need to civilize them we need to bring our form of government to them and we need to conquer them and You know create all these wars so we can have a reason to conquer that land because they're barbaric And you know, what's sad is you have christians Who adopt that stupid wicked mentality Where they're more american than they are christians these fox news baptists You know, yeah jeff fugit who just took a picture with the you know with the president of the united states and he's just like Falling over himself because he was able to get a picture with the president of the united states This independent fundamental baptist pastor. I used to like jeff fugit to be honest with you until I got that picture You know because to him this is he's treating him like he's christ You know an independent fundamental baptists are guilty of this mindset right here where it's just like oh the muslims are barbarians No, you're a debtor buddy You actually owe the muslims a whole lot You're in debt So instead of criticizing the muslims instead of criticizing all the mexicans and get ice and all this stuff Why don't you actually work on paying off your debt? And actually giving them the gospel These sorry excuse christians Who? Make this more of a political look you're not a political realm. You're never going to be a politician Unless you're some rapper baby then yeah, go ahead run for it. You probably win We're debtors, you know instead of building the wall Why don't you actually build some credit Why don't you actually pay off your debt to the mexicans Oh, you're just saying that because you're mexicans. I'm not mexican Sucka You know, i'm like paul i'm i'm like paul because i'm like I was born here My parents are from tarsus or they're from uh, they're from guatemala But these christians owe a debt and if they would focus more on paying off the debt to the hispanics And paying off the debt to the muslims Rather than wanting to bomb them and kick them out God is even making it easy for these christians and just allowing the immigrants to come here So you can just win them to christ. Oh, what's going to happen to our land? I don't care what's going to happen to the land. You know, i'm care. I care about the millennial reign I care about my 10 cities. So while you're worried about, you know, jerusalem, which now is Is While you're concerned about what the jews get their land and building the wall that wall's going to come down buddy Like the walls of jericho in the millennial reign Because at that point it's not going to matter. You know what matters you paying off your love debt Do you owe to the immigrants the foreigners? So we see that we see that's why he says the barbarians he's like look get yourself out of this mindset You're just yeah, I know i'm writing to you because you guys are romans But guess what paul the apostle was a roman also And he's like i'm a debtor both to the greeks into the rome and to the barbarians And this is the kind of attitude we need to have Never have this nationalistic type attitude where we feel we're better than everyone because we're in america Okay, and look i'm thankful to be born in america I am this is where I got saved. This is where I learned to be an independent fundamental baptist. I met my wife here This is where i'm going to raise my children But you know the attitude of nationalism is unbiblical it's ungodly You know, and I don't care what anybody says in the comments section. Oh go back to guatemala. You're stinking wet back Make me You want to take me back to my country drive me to monobello that this is my country this is where I was born You're not going to get very far But this is the attitude that people have Yay, even christians this racist attitude Rather than thinking you know what actually i'm a debtor Why don't I just focus on giving these people the gospel and i'm not saying people people Can have their opinions amen They can have their opinions about other races if they want and they can have their perspective on this that or the other But you know what? What's what's preeminent? What's more important than anything else is what god says Period So don't go on giving your opinion if you have not fulfilled what god has said Right and paying off your love debt. Yay, even to the foreigner. Okay, go to luke chapter number 10 Luke chapter number 10 Turn off fox news delete the app Amen You know forget all these wicked vile politicians Oh, but they look like independent fundamental baptists. Yeah, the reprobate ones You know the ones you look Cameron, giovannelli And bill o'reilly they're the same same person both reprobates And both of them claim to be christian You know, these are not the people we should be looking towards and idolizing These are not the people we should be influenced by these are wicked people Okay, put away the fox news put away the talk radio and open up the bible and look how much debt you owe Open up the bank account And see that your debt is in the red Your bank account is in the red Look at luke 10 verse 29 But he willing to justify himself said unto jesus and who is my neighbor? And jesus answering said a certain man went down from jerusalem to jericho and fell among thieves Which stripped him of his raiment and wounded to him and departed leaving him half dead And by chance there came down a certain priest that way and when he saw him he passed by on the other side So what do we see here? We see a guy he just gets mugged. He gets beaten pretty bad And he's basically left unconscious there or something and the spiritual leader the priest Walks by sees him and just like goes the other way So now we're just like i'm not gonna help him out. This is the spiritual leader This is the man of god, right? And likewise a levite Oh, man, when he was at that place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side Okay, at least this guy had the dignity the decency to actually go and look at him like whoa that guy's Someone whooped that guy back see the priest went around The levite came and actually went up to him and looked at him and still walked by So actually that's not decent amen because he actually sees how bad he's wounded But a certain samaritan As he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him Why is this significant because of the fact that the priests and the levite are the spiritual leaders the samaritans were like dogs to the jews These half breeds right because they're mixed with you know being israelites but also being a part of syria and they're just all mixed in Okay And they were not looking they're not lightly looked upon by the jews But it was this samaritan who actually came saw him and had compassion on him And went to him and bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine and set him on his own beast And brought him to an inn and took care of him wow That didn't even know him When he picked him up he bound him poured oil and wine he put on on his own beast And he brought him to the inn and he took care of him. That says a lot And and look this is not the only thing he did So you said what is he doing in verse 34? He's paying his debt And on the morrow when he departed he took out two pence And gave them to the host and said unto him take care of him and whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again I will repay thee Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves and he said he that showed mercy on him Then jesus said unto him go and do likewise. So this could be lagging into someone who sees someone saved Right, you see someone who's wounded someone who's been beaten by the world You give them they give them the gospel you bound up his wounds, right? pouring that oil and wine that holy spirit And you set them on your own beast. What is that your your hoopty your car? Put them on your own beast you pick them up for church you bring them to the end the church And you take care of them And then what do you do you if you got if you got to go you find one of the brothers and say hey Can you start picking them up? And whatever you pay more i'll pay you What is this? This is someone paying off their love debt Okay And look this is this also Is what we're talking about in the previous point because there's a reason why jesus christ is talking about the priest the levite And then he says the samaritan Okay now Go with me to uh, let's see here i'm almost out of time. Oh, we got time go to first thessalonians chapter two Stay in debt Stay in debt now not financial debt Don't use that. All right, man, sounds good Talk about the debt of love that we owe Okay First thessalonians 2 5 says for neither at any time used we flattering words as you know nor a cloak of covetousness God is witness Nor of men sought we glory neither of you nor yet of others When we might have been burdensome as the apostles of christ But we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherished their children So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of god only but also our own souls Because you were dear unto us for you Remember brethren our labor in chervil for laboring night and day because we would not be chargeable into any of you We preach them to you the gospel of god that terminology is what we've been talking about He says I don't want to be chargeable unto you. I want to make sure that I pay off the love that I owe But not only giving you the gospel but even my own soul What is that? That's like discipleship right there? Get them saved and it's just i'm willing to give you my life my time my resources Because I don't want to be chargeable unto you I want to make sure that you get the full package. I want to make sure that I pay off my complete debt. Okay? Now by the way, let me say this is You know this point right here is obviously so many preaching the gospel, right? But don't be some holier than thou christian and use this to say so what you're not paying your debt today Are you going soul winning? No. Oh, why don't you know you have like a lot of debt that you have to pay off? Didn't you hear the sermon? You focus on your own debt Okay, now look invite people to pay their debts off But let's not use that terminology, right? You know say hey, can we go you want to go soul winning? and if someone says look when some when I ask someone if they want to go soul winning and They're like they start giving me a reason why not I immediately just drop it Like, okay cool. Well, maybe whatever you want and then just move on I don't try to peer pressure people once it goes home Because they got to pay off their debt some way or another and that's their responsibility But let me say this the longer you're in our church the more you're actually going to want to pay out that debt Because it's actually fun to pay off debt Right, it's fun. It's great And then you see that you're actually making an impact and look let me say this as you pay off the debt of love that You owe you're actually racking up treasures in heaven You know, you ever heard the concept that you just you know, after you pay off your debt you start paying yourself You guys know what i'm talking about? In other words you keep paying into that debt And then what ends up happening is actually you end up saving money So if you're in debt tens of thousands of dollars You're putting in this amount this amount for x amount of time months or years And then once you're done paying off the debt, you don't stop paying You keep putting into that the same amount of money as though you're still in debt And what happens 10 months later? You actually save a lot of money Well, the spiritual application that we have to that is this is that as we're paying off this love debt that we owe here on This earth we're racking up. We're saving up treasures in heaven of gold silver precious stones Okay in heaven, okay Now Go with me if you would to second corinthians chapter eight So, how do we pay off? Our love of debt our love debts. How do we pay that off? Well weekly little by little Preaching the gospel seeing people saved making sure you have a scheduled time to go out making sure that you're keeping that fire going And look if you don't want to die spiritually speaking in the sense of like just fizzle out as a christian I'm, just telling you right now You need to go soul Sowing will keep you on fire for god Like i'm on fire already. Okay, but here's the thing. It's gonna go out if you don't keep if you don't go slowly Because then so many is like crossing that barrier of the eternal Because when you see someone saved you realize that you change that person's destiny forever So you cross that barrier into that spiritual realm so to speak That glass that we see through darkly we kind of get a glimpse of it because we see that person saved And though we don't see it with our physical eyes we can see it with our spiritual eyes this person got saved And I will I will See this person again in heaven But number two, how can we pay off our love debts by going without in order to give without You know, one of the things they say is like if you're paying a debt you just got to make sure that you're making those those payments and That you're making sure that You know, you got to cut back sometimes Come back or going out to eat or getting those luxurious things that you like to get in order that you pay off this debt So in other words, you have to deny yourself Right certain things in order to pay off the love debt. Well in like manner, it's the same thing spiritually speaking something different You know in order for us to pay that love debt. We have to deny ourselves Do we not? Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness and mind let each esteem others better than themselves Let this mind be in you which is also in christ. Jesus you see in order to Be mindful of other people. We have to make sure that we're not mindful about us We have to actually go without we have to deny ourselves Look what the bible says in second. Corinthians 8 9 for you know the grace of our lord. Jesus christ that though he was rich Yet for your sake He became poor the ether his poverty might be rich the bible says even jesus christ himself Came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many the bible says He made himself poor so we can be rich the bible tells us so we can have heaven. Amen eternal life The bible says it says in second. Corinthians 12 15 and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you though The more abundantly I love you the less I be loved matthew 16 24 Then said jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me now We're going into the realm of paying off your debt for your brothers and sisters in christ Coming to church with the mindset that I need to go without in order to be a blessing to someone Right. So how do we do that? Well, here's a way to do it be patient with people Belong suffering with people Never have this attitude that because you know all kinds of bible Do you expect someone to be at your level of spirituality overnight? Some zionist comes in here some pre-tribber comes in here Don't jump down that person's throat just because you saw after the tribulation before they did Hey Just because you saw marching design before they did Oh, I got that right away. I can't understand why this person can't get it Well, sorry Why instead of getting on that person, why don't you focus on your debt and actually be long suffering towards that person instead? Be patient with that person Be kind to that person Because everyone is at a different spiritual level and we need to treat them as thus and be patient with them and look If you have a hard time with that recognize how patient god is with you God has been long. So the bible says that as high as the heavens are from the earth So great is his mercy towards them that fear him You know, god is merciful to us we need to show that same mercy to other people So another way you can pay this off is by simply exercising patience long suffering forbearing one another When they don't meet your standard When they don't meet who you know, the person that you exactly exactly how you are And look don't expect every person who comes to our doors to be exactly like us You know, yeah, but they're weird they believe they're from the old ifb and they do sunday school class and you know They nurseries and all this stuff. So what? I did sunday school and i'm the pastor I taught us I was a bus captain And i'm the pastor of the church My wife was a nursery she was in charge of the nurseries Beat that You know don't look down on people who come from different churches because they're here for a reason amen Let them grow be patient help them Or excuse me. You should allow them to help you pay your debt towards them To be you see someone who's just green they don't understand all the doctrines. You're like good This is a great opportunity to pay off my debt To be patient with them to love them to be kind to them To you know, bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the lord Okay, be long suffering be kind to them Don't have a pompous prideful attitude Don't try to act like a know-it-all if they say something weird or dumb just go along with it And i'm not talking about false doctrine either, okay But if they say something weird, it's like, you know, that's not that our type of you know christianese If they don't speak christianese Okay, if they start shouting out in the service like well, come on now You know You know just just just let them okay Just let them I like that. I enjoy that. Okay What i'm saying is this is you know, people are going to say things, you know Don't just jump down their throat just see as an opportunity to say, you know what? Here's my time to pay off my debt to be long suffering towards this person You know to love them even beyond this and look you're not all that in the bag of chips either So what are you talking about? You're not you don't come fully made and you know, you're not god's gift to this church Like this is the best, you know, I know we're talking about gifts to this church But you know what? We have plenty of gifts here and you don't never want to make yourself seem as though Well, you know, i'm like the best person here Everyone needs me this i'm the kind of new ifb i'm your model new ifb-er No, you're not We're not looking for model new ifb-ers either We're looking for christians baptists, okay Go to first corinthians chapter 13 First corinthians chapter 13 Says in verse number four Charity suffers long and is kind charity envieth not charity bondeth not itself is not puffed up Doth not behave itself unseemly seeketh not our own it's not easily provoked thinketh no evil Rejoiceth not iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things. Hopeth all things endureth all things See, this is the way we can pay off that love debt towards others is by simply having charity being long suffering being a servant Okay You know the bible tells us that the rich the rich ruleth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender So, you know what that means is that when you owe someone something according to the bible you become their servant Hey, that's interesting because we owe people our love. You know what we should be servants Serving our brethren, okay now Let's see here. Here's the last point proper chapter six if you would proper chapter six Proper chapter six How can we pay off our love debt number three make sure that you pay off pay it off speedily Okay as quick as you can Speedily could be if someone's in debt tens of thousands of dollars that could be five years that may seem long Or three years that can seem long but in the scope of life, that's not that long You're paying it off as as soon as possible Look at proper six verse one says my son if thou be surety for thy friend if thou strict in thy hand with the stranger Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth thou are taken with the words of thy mouth do this now My son deliver thyself when they are coming to the hand of thy friend go humble thyself and make sure thy friend Give not sleep to thine eyes Nor slumber to thine eyelids Deliver thyself as a row from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fallow What is he saying there? You know you think of a bird who's just been caught It's gonna it's gonna flap its wings. It's gonna just try to get out of that that trap That role is just trying to buck itself out of the hands of the hunter It's going to try to get away as fast as possible. It wants to deliver itself as fast as possible And this is in context of financial debt, but you know what we could also use it in regards to spiritual debt Don't wait until next week to pay off your debt Do it this week In fact, we can do it in just a couple minutes after we're praying we start fellowshipping You can start paying off your debt now Do it speedily deliver thyself as a row from the hand of the hunter as a bird from the hand of The Fowler now another application that we can have to this is this, you know A good way to express our love towards one another is this listen listen closely Forgiving one another Right That's kind of hard to do speedily sometimes. Is it not? Because you you like to fester you like to meditate upon these things you like to hold grudges We like to hold grudges We're sinners But what we need to do is make sure that the Sun does not go down upon our wrath and we need to speedily Speedily forgive Okay and the reason I say that is because of the fact that You will offend one another one day or another You're gonna offend someone. Okay, you're gonna offend someone someone's gonna offend you your wife is gonna offend you Your husband is gonna offend you He's like I know he does it all the time every day You know But you know what you need to do is when they offend you You need to pay that debt and love that person and forgive them speedily Okay, go to Psalm 86 Psalm 86 Release Them right the Bible talks about in Deuteronomy 15 verse 1 at the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release and This is the manner of the release every creditor the landeth ought not ought unto his neighbor shall release it He shall not exact it of his neighbor or of his brother because it is called the Lord's release Even in the Bible when there is a certain amount of debt at the end of seven years Guess what? They were released from that debt. They were forgiven. They were pardoned of that Look what it says in Psalm 86 verse 1 bow down thine ear. Oh Lord hear me for I am poor and needy Preserve my soul for I am holy O thou my God save thy servant that trusteth in thee be merciful unto me. Oh Lord for I cry unto thee daily Rejoice the soul of thy servant front to thee. Oh Lord Do I lift up my soul for thou Lord are good and look what it says and ready to forgive and Plenteous and mercy unto all them to call upon upon thee that's awesome right there The Bible says that God is ready to forgive Don't glaze over on that God is ready to pardon you He's ready to pardon you to cleanse you He's ready And we need that same attitude to well, that's God though, you know, you know, I can't do that That's God, you know, the Bible says to be kind once in another Tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you So there goes that one Be ready to pardon be ready to forgive be ready to be kind Okay, why cuz you owe that? You need to pay off that love debt and you can do it by forgiving one another look You'll be a happier person in life if you just learn how to forgive and forget Some of the most just miserable misers in this world are Unforgiving bitter people Unforgiving bitter people who can't stop talking about the past Look I'm the type I'm very nostalgic to the point where I really I like to reminisce a lot. I like I remember like all the good memories and I love reminiscing and Then sometimes people will bring up to my say remember this bad thing that happened 20 years ago I'm like, I don't I do but I don't want to remember that Why would I want to remember that? We're this is 20 years later. I Was like before I got married. This is before I had children before I was even saved These are things that I don't want to remember but you know people who constantly live in the past have a hard time moving forward in the future Because they're constantly think about the bad stuff that's happened in the past They're constantly bitter towards people who've been dead for decades sometimes I'm serious. I know people like that They're bitter towards people who are burning in hell today It's like hey, they're in hell It's over with move forward But they have a hard time forgiving people, you know, we with the power of God, of course Can forgive amen We can move forward we can forgive and look I'm not saying forgive the pedophile No forgiveness there look if God didn't forgive that person I'm not forgiving them That person has been given over to a reprobate mine. Hey, you know what God says you don't have to pay off that day He's paying all the debt the wages of sin and hell Forget it. No pedophile. We don't forgive no Sodomite or hater of God that's a different category Okay, I'm talking about regular people who have hurt you in times past and you're holding a grudge You need to be ready to forgive that person and look husbands and wives. This is applicable. Amen Now husbands don't tell it. Hey, so you're gonna pay that off or what? You're gonna finally forgive me. Stop. Stop shoving that in my face You know, just let God work on your wife. Amen. Let God work on your husband I Basically done. So here's my last point. We're not gonna go to a verse. It's simply this how do we pay off our love debt? Last point we don't Because it never ends So the title of the sermon is stay in debt and the way you do that is by staying in love with the Lord so as long as you stay in love with the Lord, you'll stay in debt and The day that you think you don't need to pay off that debt you're in trouble Because that means you lost your love for the Lord But as you love the Lord Mark it down. You're gonna love people and there's gonna be a burden in your heart to say man I need to like go so winning. I need to have fellowship I need to be with my brothers and sisters in Christ I got some debts that I need to pay this week I mean, I got some debts that I need to pay on Sunday on Thursday throughout the week Whatever it may be you keep them in the forefront of your mind. How do we pay our debts? We don't necessarily pay them off because we spend the rest of our life Paying into this. Amen, and we stay in debt by staying in love. Amen. Let's fire has another word of prayer