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Romans chapter 12, we start off here where it almost seems like he's changing gears but there really is a lot of stuff in here that's really kind of going back to what we were talking about, especially actually in chapter 8 where we were talking about the old man new man. And you'll see that especially at the end of chapter 13. But this is a famous passage right here. This is a passage I've heard quoted many times about making your bodies, presenting your bodies a living sacrifice. So notice verse 1 it says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. So what it's saying here is that this is also a good proof that the Calvinists and the Baptists out there that want to say well when you get saved there's going to be a change, there's going to be this, it's automatically going to happen. Well why in the world is he telling us to be conformed, to not be conformed but to be transformed if it happens automatically? He's talking to save people here but notice what's supposed to be the living sacrifice, their souls or their bodies? Their bodies are to be a living sacrifice and he's saying don't conform to the world bodily speaking right? Bodily speaking we're not to conform to the world but we're being transformed by what? The renewing of your mind. Remember we talked about this that with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin. So remember to mortify the deeds of the body and so this kind of, we're kind of coming full circle, we're coming back to what we talked about in Romans chapter 6, 7 and 8 where we're talking about this old man, new man and so be transformed. So that's what we're supposed to, that's what your goal is okay? And this goes right into that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God but I want to go first to go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. So what is he telling us to do here? And again remember the verse in 2 Corinthians 5 is where it says therefore if any be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new. Remember all things are become new so we're not talking about your body, we're talking about the soul at this point. Now we know that we're waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. You know one day that will be all new and even this earth and heaven and earth will all be new and old things will be passed away but we're not at that point yet and so we see in 2 Corinthians 5 it says that and then it goes into 2 Corinthians 6 but at the end of this chapter in verse 14 this is a famous passage that we quote a lot of times when it comes to getting married but this is just true as the day is long when it just comes to companionship in general but notice in verse 14 it says be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel. This is also a great passage to see that Belial is talking about the devil and so we see the contrast between Christ and the devil. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for ye are the temple of the living God as God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate said the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. Now keep in mind as I read this next verse what we've talked about with the old man new man about the manifestation of the sons of God and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters said the Lord almighty. Now notice now are we the sons of God and it doth not appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. We are the children of God now but if you're not walking in the flesh if you're not walking in the body or in the flesh you know as far as walking in the spirit and mortifying the deeds of the body then you're not as a child of God as you're walking in the flesh. Does that make sense? So if you come out and be ye separate you come out from among the world or out of the world and you're separate then that's when your body is acting as a child of God. Does that make sense? And so that's where you'll see the manifestation of the sons of God. How do you manifest the sons of God as you as a child of God when you're walking in the spirit? So if you're not walking in the spirit you're not walking as a child of God. That doesn't mean you're not a child of God because spiritually speaking you always are and nothing will change that. But bodily speaking if you're not abiding in Christ then you're not walking in the spirit. So we talked about this and I don't want to re-preach all this stuff in Romans chapter 8 and all those passages there. But see how that makes the Bible make a lot more sense though when you see these passages saying and ye shall be my sons when you separate yourselves. But you can see how someone can take this passage and say see if you want to be a son or daughter of God then you've got to come out from among them and be ye separate. So you can see how they'll take these passages but if you understand okay we're talking bodily speaking not spiritually and so if you understand that doctrine it'll help you in a lot of your scripture and just areas where it'll maybe be a little more confusing to understand. First John is one of those places. When you read First John it's one of those places where you're like there's some really great verses and you're like man that makes perfect sense and then you see these other verses and you're like what in the world? What does that mean? So this lays down a great foundation in Romans as far as the old man, new man. But anyway it says to come out from among them and be ye separate. We're called, you want to know what the will of God is? And we're going to get into that. It's being separate from the world. Obviously the will of the Father is what? That you believe on the Son. That's the first step, get saved. According to John 6, 39 and 40 this is the will of the Father and this is the will of Him that sent me that everyone will see the Son and believeth on Him. May I have everlasting life and I'll raise Him up at the last day. That's the will of the Father but then just the will of God in general is us to be separate. Now obviously when we believe on the Son our souls separate. We came out from among them and we're separate now spiritually speaking but this is talking about a physical separation. And so all this talk about the will of God for your life. What's the will of God for your life? And it's like this mystical like will somewhere out there. Like I'm supposed to find this mystical like will of God in my life. And don't get me wrong I do think that there is like a purpose, there's a higher calling and there's a purpose that God has He has something in mind for you. If you're saved today and you're breathing, God has a will for you. He has a place that He wants you to get to. And He's just wanting you to get to that point. He's got something He's wanting to use you for. But what I want you to think about first is the fact that in order to get to that perfect will of God just do the things that are clearly stated as the will of God in the Bible. Come out from among them and be separate. Start with that. When you get saved you need to get into church, you need to try to get out of the stuff that's not biblical, you need to get into the Bible, you read the Bible it's going to basically refresh your mind and get all this garbage out that you've been taught. But I want to show you some passages where it clearly states this is the will of God. So instead of just trying to come up with like okay there's this mystical will of God. Someone asked were you called to be a pastor? No, God didn't audibly talk to me. I'm going to tell you that right now. I didn't get like the burning bush like Moses. That would have been cool. But I didn't get that. They say well is this God's will? Well let me ask you a question. Is it God's will that more churches get started? That the gospels preach to every creature? That's what you've got to think about. What is God's will? God's will is that all would come to repentance. He's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. What's God's will? He'll have all men to be saved, who so ever will let them take the water of life freely. So he wants everybody to be saved. So preaching the gospel is obviously something that we should be doing. I want to show you places specifically where it says this is the will of God. So 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. This isn't an all inclusive list of things that are the will of God here. But these are things where it just clearly states something. If you're not doing these, if you're saying well I want to find this perfect will of God and you're not keeping any of the stuff that's clearly stated in the Bible, then you're not going to get to that perfect will of God. Start with the things that you know for sure and then get there. So there's all this mysticism that's out there for some reason in Baptist churches. It's like this Pentecostal emotionalistic garbage where you just got to pray and God will lay it on your heart. It's like listen if it's not coming out of the Bible, if you didn't lay a verse on your heart that's straight out of the Bible, then it's not God speaking. This whole idea of God laid this number upon my heart for this faith promise, that's a bunch of garbage my friends. It's just so stupid. It's just a big show. I don't believe it for one second. If someone is audibly speaking to you it's not God. Are you saved? Are you possessed with the devil? Where did you get that number from? But usually people are just thinking about stuff and just their own imagination. But this whole idea of this extra biblical stuff. Let's stay with the Bible first. You stay with the Bible, trust me there's enough stuff in here that God tells us to do that we don't need to just be adding stuff or trying to figure out stuff that's not in there. So 1 Thessalonians 4 starting there in verse 1. The Bible reads, Furthermore then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification that ye should abstain from fornication. So clearly right here and we'll read on but what's the will of God? Our sanctification. Remember to come out from among them and be ye separate and particularly to abstain from fornication. That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles of which know not God that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter. So it's going on giving us more information what this will of God is. So committing fornication obviously we shouldn't be doing that and then defrauding your brother because that the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified for God hath not called us on the uncleanness but on the holiness. So first thing okay well we need to stay pure. Okay and so this will go into also married couples. Don't commit adultery. Okay I'll put that out there. That's the will of God. Don't commit adultery. Don't get divorced. You know like all these different things but you know those that are not married you know fornication. Stay pure. Stay pure until you're married. Don't commit fornication. And so that's the will of God. I know these are simple but this is clearly stated in the Bible. So if you want to know what the perfect will of God is or what that that's acceptable. Remember your body is a living sacrifice. That's what we're talking about is keeping your flesh clean and pure. Your soul is already taken care of. Okay we're talking about your body. And so in First Thessalonians five and verse 18 remember in First Thessalonians five we have we have a whole list of different things. You know all these different commandments pray without ceasing. But verse 18 says in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So what's another thing that's the will of God that we give thanks. Remember it talks about the sacrifice of thanksgiving with our mouth that we're supposed to do with our lips in Hebrews chapter 13. And so you know we're supposed to be giving thanks unto the Lord always you know like all these different things. So give him thanks for your food. Give him thanks for your health. Give him thanks for salvation. I mean a lot of things that we should just be giving them thanks for. That's the will of God. So I know these are simple but these are just places where it's just clearly stating this is the will of God. And people get so hung up on this like mystical like perfect will of God out there in their lives they just need to stick to the stuff that's just very simple and stick to that. And here's the thing. You stick to this stuff. You stick to abstaining from fornication keeping yourself pure. You hold to giving thanks to God all the time. You hold to going soul winning and all this stuff. Listen that'll just prepare you for what God wants you to do. Because here's the thing. You've got to be prepared in order to get that will of God. You've got to be ready. You've got to be you know it's a journey. It's not something you just get there in one day. OK. It's not like God just like I'm waiting for you to walk into it. OK. You're climbing the ladder so to speak to get through this perfect will of God so to speak. And I don't you know I don't necessarily believe that you know we're necessarily you know we get there and then we've attained. OK. I don't look at it that way. I look at it OK. I'm just trying to keep stepping higher stepping higher stepping higher. I'm pressing on the on the upward way. New heights I'm gaining every day. You know that we're pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That means we're always pressing that way. But I believe the will of God is us pressing that way. OK. And we're trying to attain us to the resurrection of the dead knowing that Paul even said I haven't attained but he's striving to. He's pressing toward that mark. So go to first John chapter 2 actually first Peter chapter 2 first first Peter chapter 2. Then we'll go to first John chapter 2. First Peter chapter 2. So what do we see. We saw you know our sanctification to abstain from fornication to give thanks. Well first Peter chapter 2 verse 15 it says for so is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God. So what's one will of God that we put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. And so and obviously we're supposed to do that free we're not supposed to do it maliciously. But remember with meekness instructing and gentleness instructing those that oppose themselves. And so now obviously there's sharp rebuke dealing with false teachers. And so there's there's a time and place for different approaches to that. But what's the will of God that we put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. So go to first John chapter 2 and this really kind of goes back to the to the beginning with the sanctification. First John chapter 2 and verse 15 it says love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passeth away and the lust thereof. But he did do it the will of God abideth forever. You know what that tells me is that everything that's said there is not the will of God but everything opposite of that would be the will of God meaning that not loving the world is the will of God. You know and not having the lust of the flesh and not having the lust of the eyes not having the lust of the pride of life is the will of God. Okay remember the friendship of the world is enmity against God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Okay so we're not we're supposed to love the world in the aspect of loving the people enough to give them the gospel. But when it says love not the world it's talking about not loving the things of the world does that make sense like like the things that it produces like the things that it does. We're not supposed to love that. We're supposed to abhor that which is evil actually we'll see in a little bit as we get down through this chapter. So these are just areas where just this clearly spells out this is the will of God. This is the will of God in your life. You know what the will of God is? Keep God's commandments. You know stick with that and you won't go wrong if you just hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. You know that's all you really need to know is that you want to know God's will that you do what he tells you to do. Okay and this is this is there's a lot of commandments in here. His commandments are not grievous but you do those commandments and I guarantee you that God has has a perfect will of God meaning like what he wants you where for you to be and what he wants you to do. But I don't believe that the perfect will of God necessarily is like well you know you should have been in Florida. Like I should have started the church in like South Carolina or something like that. I don't believe that just because I started a church in one area I believe God gives us liberty of where we're at location wise and exact. But here's the thing. Can you go soul wanting in any of those places? Can you preach can you preach hard sermons in any of those places? So you know I don't believe that God's like well you know I wanted Jason to go here but you know and it really comes down to what's your desire what what's your passion for and I believe God can put that stuff into your heart. I'm not saying that that God doesn't give you desires to do certain things. Okay. And so you know I desired the office of a bishop but I believe the Holy Ghost has something to do with that. You know I don't think I always just wanted to take on the work here you know and then do all this. But but obviously I believe the Holy Ghost put that desire in my heart. You know I do believe that God is working in that but that desire probably wouldn't have been there if I wasn't reading the Bible. That desire wouldn't have been there if I wasn't going soul wanting a lot and seeing people saved. That desire wouldn't have been there if I didn't hear hard preaching and good preaching telling telling me that God needs people and needs servants to do to do great things for God. And so you know the Bible and God's word speaking to me through his word obviously is is is is why I'm doing this. Okay. Obviously so I don't want to take that away from it. But this whole mystical like you know I was like you know I heard the sermon and you know it's just like God was tapping me on my shoulder and then my I was grabbing onto the pew and my knuckles were all white and you know I had to come down I was weeping I got down on my face and bowed down towards the pastor you know it's like these stories you know it's just a lot and I'm not against anybody that did that you know or had like some emotional experience but I didn't have anything like that and so it doesn't mean that I'm not called or God doesn't want me to preach you know or God doesn't want me to pastor this church. It just means that hey you know you get you get the drive through his word not through emotion and that's where a lot of people go with the will of God and the calling it's all about emotion it's all about when you hear the music play you know and then they start talking to you as this music's playing it's like this whole like emotional feeling thing and it's like no you know what I read through the Bible and I see that there be few that are saved few there be that find it. You know what drives me is when I read about hell and people being cast into it and I think about the reality of the situation that we're in and the fact that people need to get saved. You know that's my driving force when it comes to going soul winning is the fact that people are going to hell and it's just the truth of it. I don't need to necessarily hear you know people just giving illustrations and talking about it. I just need to read the Bible and just realize it's actually real. So anyway that's the will of God. Okay there's a lot of different things in the Bible obviously but just keep it simple and keep it simple in the fact that just keep his commandments. All that stuff that I showed you are just commandments that he tells us to do. I mean you think about fornication you think about giving thanks like all these things are just commandments that he tells us to do and so that's his will is to keep his commandments. So let's go on here. So Romans 12 and verse 3. It says for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think sober according as God had dealt to every man the measure of faith. So it's an interesting verse here. I definitely think that this is talking about people in general and how God has given them the measure of faith but I don't want to go into that tonight because in context this is more so dealing with believers. Okay but I will preach a sermon eventually on those that had no faith you know and those that God has taken away the ability to believe. But note here God has given the delta to every man. So this whole idea that well for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself it is the gift of God not of works that any man should boast all see that faith is the gift. Unless God gives you that then you're damned it's like first of all it's being saved is the gift but the faith you know well everybody has it then. Is everybody saved? You know he's dealt to every man the measure of faith but I believe what this is dealing with more so is the measure of it and we'll get into that with the talent sometime but this is I don't want to go that route. I don't want to go into the route of like people in general and how you can choose what are you putting that faith into. Okay and there may come a point where God takes that away. Okay that's a sermon for another day but in context we're dealing with believers and the measure of faith that they have because there is a difference between faith in different people. Now believing with all your hearts all that saves you right but some people have more faith than others. Okay sometimes it just has to do with your walk of God with God. Some people have a lot more increased they have increased their faith by adding to faith you know virtue and knowledge and all these different things to where their faith has been increased and it's strengthened. So in second Corinthians chapter ten if you want to turn there second Corinthians chapter ten this is an interesting passage when you think about the measure of faith the measure of faith and so and what he's saying here is don't boast yourself you know above other people don't think of yourself too highly. Okay this is something that Paul writes about a lot in the Bible as far as don't think that you're just like the you know better than sliced bread so to speak I mean you're like I can't even think of the word you know but basically don't think that you're just this great you know you've attained it to this level when everybody's below you okay never get that mindset because there's always someone that knows more than you okay there's always somebody that's better than you at something okay and so unless God says so like with Joe he was the most upright man okay but to my knowledge I've never heard him come down in the cloud today and tell me who the most upright man is right here so but in second Corinthians chapter ten notice what it says in verse twelve it says for we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves but they measuring themselves by themselves compare and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise so what are these guys doing they're basically saying you know they're comparing themselves among themselves well if you compare two people that are illiterate and haven't read the Bible or you know like are worldly and you're comparing yourselves among that group well yeah you can make yourself look good but what do you what's the what's the group you know that's the group is really bad so comparing yourselves among yourselves isn't wise you know if we're at this church and we start comparing ourselves among ourselves and and let's say you know and this would be really proud you know I was I was to say you know what I'm the smartest guy here okay first of all that's that you know foolish to ever say anything like that and I'm the smartest guy you know that ergo I'm the smartest guy in America you know and so but I'm only comparing myself among people here okay even if that were true in this building in this church do you see how foolish that is to compare myself just among the small group of people you know and then and then compare and say that that applies to everything else so statistically that's not accurate okay so but but as we go on here it says but we will not boast of things without our measure but according to the measure of the role which God had distributed to us a measure to reach unto you even unto you for we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure as though we reach not unto you for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ not boasting of things without our measure notice this keeps coming up that is of other men's labors but having hope when your faith is increased that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand but he that glories let him glory in the Lord for not he that commended himself is approved but whom the Lord commended so he's rebuking them and he's saying don't boast of things without measure without your measure okay we're not gonna boast the things that without our measure and what this is really dealing with too if you know this this passage and what's going on here is that Paul's an apostle of God he's an apostle of Christ and these people are questioning his authority they're questioning his authority and he's laying down the law so to speak he's laying down the law on them saying hey listen you know I've been persecuted more than you all you know and as far as like revelations and all this stuff I mean he was high above there they're committing themselves among themselves saying how they're all these they're all wise and they know all this stuff and but Paul's like up here they're down here okay they're a bunch of babes in Christ okay comparing themselves among themselves so when it talks about this he's dealt every man this measure of faith yeah everybody has a measure of faith but you can increase that faith but you can add to that faith but you can have you know when it gets into the gifts of God and things that you know he didn't call all to be apostles he didn't call all to be prophets or preachers and he didn't call all to be teachers and so there there's a place for you in church but not everybody can be a pastor you know not everybody can be you know there's places for everybody in the body and so in Ephesians chapter 4 talks about this a little bit and I don't want to go read this whole chapter necessarily but it talks about the same thing a little bit so don't boast beyond things of your measure and it makes me think of people that want to they want to jump line so to speak when it comes to positions of authority they don't want to do the work themselves they don't want to work to get to that position they just want that recognition they want that commendation before ever doing what they need to be doing they want to be known as a leader in in the in the movement so to speak without reading their Bible without doing the studying on their own this is an epidemic even in our movement of people that that want that recognition they want and they really just need to sit down shut up and listen to the preacher okay and that may sound mean but I just is the truth you just need to you just need to read your Bible yourself you need to read it read it read it read it read it and then after you've read it five times then come talk to me about some doctrines okay but there's a lot of people out there that want they want to to be in the fight now and I and I love the zeal okay but sometimes you need to let the the the proved soldiers do the fighting sometimes when it comes to false prophets when it comes to things that are beyond your measure okay there's some things some battles that you just need to let someone that's more prepared take care of it okay and so and I'm not I'm not speaking to anybody here I'm just I'm just talking in general with you know there's some things that hey if you're not that learned in the scriptures if you haven't read through the Bible cover to cover then you probably shouldn't be taking on a pastor even if they are wrong okay even if they're wrong and they're just like you know as lost as a goose that could boost in the snowstorm I mean it even if they're there's you just know this guy is whacked out of his mind listen you know don't boast yourself beyond measure and there's some things that hey you can end up embarrassing yourself you could end up making Christ look bad if you're not prepared okay there's certain situations that I'm gonna put the best men into the battle okay there's certain areas like that and so we need to be careful that okay there's certain things that you know for example pastor Anderson has you know a big church and he's doing a lot of things but I can't there's just things I'm just like I can't handle all that you know I can't you know I'd love to be doing what he's doing on all these things making these films doing all this stuff it's like I just can't I can't do it I'm you know I I don't have the capacity to do something like that does that make sense like I I'm starting a church from scratch right now there's things that I just need to get done now I don't want to go beyond my measure okay so it can apply to anybody but anyway so Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 7 notice what it says it says but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ so we see the same thing with grace and it explains what this is talking about it's not talking about salvation okay it's not talking about well you're just giving this you know a little bit of measure of grace you need to get more to get saved you know it's talking about gifts okay so in verse 8 it says wherefore he saith when he ascendeth up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts on the men and so it goes on about Jesus how he died and rose again from the dead so he's giving gifts on the men notice what he's giving in verse 11 and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the preaching for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of fit of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and then verse 16 it says from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplyeth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself and love everybody's got a part you know when it comes to the body of Christ everybody's important okay everybody here is important part of Mountain Baptist Church and so but there's different people are at different levels okay and I wouldn't expect it to be any different okay if we don't have babes in Christ if we don't have people that are still learning like that are you know that that are maybe you know more on the bottom of the shelf and then you got people that are higher up on the shelf listen you know then we're not growing okay if we and we need to have people that are coming in here that are just getting saved and and they all they know is the gospel okay and they're starting from scratch right there that Amen we need that we need to always be striving for more but I'm not going to take that person that just gets saved and put them out and and say take on that Jehovah Witness over there okay does that make sense and so I if I were going to take on somebody first of all I would do it myself I'm the one saying it but but what I'm saying is that you need you need to be prepared you need to be proved and and stuff like that so but in in first Corinthians 12 actually I'm sure I didn't miss something there yes so in first Corinthians 12 we see this and that's what we get into as we go into Romans chapter 12 and verse 4 through through 8 there is we're talking about the same thing that we're talking about what the gifts the spiritual gifts okay and so we see this measure is giving you know gift is given to certain you know not everybody has the same gifts okay everybody's different and everybody has different qualities and different personalities not everybody's like outgoing and it there's some people that just will not preach okay and there's nothing wrong with that as far as preaching up in front of people and you know some people are always going to be backwards at doing something like that okay it's just the way we're made we're made differently and so but we're just as important that person is just as important you know it's not like the pastor's the MVP you know of the church all the time okay you know if someone's winning more people to Christ than I am or they're going out so winning a lot more than I am I would consider them the MVP okay and so but you know as far as importance as far as value okay now there's obviously an authority structure and that's what we're talking about don't go outside your measure as far as your authority goes so in 1st Corinthians 12 we're talking obviously about the the gifts of the Spirit in verse 4 it says now there are diversity of gifts but the same spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all there's the Trinity for you the Spirit Lord and God in verse 7 it says but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all for the one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit notice faith now these people are already saved they already have faith we're talking about increasing faith having more faith okay remember the measure of faith is given every man but you can go beyond you know as far as but you're the measure of faith where is that okay are you moving mountains you know so to speak you have the grain of mustard seed invert and keep going there says to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy that we're talking about preaching to another discerning of spirits to another diverse kinds of tongues to another the interpretation tongue so speaking many languages some people are really good at that now obviously it takes work I don't care who you are it takes work to learn foreign languages but some people they just they get it and it's something they enjoy doing and it clicks with them and some people it just and unless they're learning it as a child and growing up with it they're just not gonna get it so some people just have a knack for that verse 11 but all these work at this the one at that one in the self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will so I believe this measure of faith as we get into the next verses here and Romans go to back to Romans 12 and verse 4 and I'll keep having to go back and forth remember in 1st Corinthians 12 we're going to go into the body remember there's many members in one body if you don't have the ears and where's the hearing if you don't have the nose where's the smelling you know like and it talks about the feet it says it more honors given unto the uncommonly parts okay so you think about you know like just pieces of your body like your face or something like that compared to your feet which one's more attractive okay now some people okay now I'm just kidding but anyway so the feet obviously are not attractive piece of the body okay usually mine aren't okay I got like Hobbit feet or something but your feet are like you know but your whole body stands on that so you know the how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel peace bring glad tidings of good things how much abundant honor has been given to the feet okay but it's not a comely part okay let's just be honest it's not a beautiful part of our body so do you see how this works in the in the church because we're talking about the body we're talking about the churches in the church in particular each church represents the body of Christ and so there's pieces and parts obviously who's the head Christ if he's not then it's not a church okay it's not a legitimate church but Christ is the head of that body but we're all the members okay and so you got to understand that you know the hands different than the foot you know that doesn't mean that only certain people go soul winning okay don't take that too far because that's where people will go be like well there's the soul winners or the feet I'm the hand you know or something like that but what that just means is that remember there's different gifts that are given different people do the same thing in there about gifts of soul winning preaching the gospel no talk to me we're talking about stuff that's going on in the church okay everybody should be trying to preach the gospel to every creature but in Romans 12 in verse 4 it says for as we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office so we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith so proportion measure you know it's kind of the same deal according to the proportion of faith or ministry let us wait on our ministry ministering or he that teaches on teaching or he exhorteth on exhortation he that giveth let him do it with simplicity he that ruleth with diligence he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness notice there's a lot of different things here it's not all about ruling you know which is what the pastor does but the elders which rule well be counted worthy of double honor so if you don't like that word it is biblical you know the pastor is ruling he's not lording over the flock but you know you still have to you know have some kind of authority and so but notice that you know ministry ministering that's just serving so serving out yeah and teaching you know that that the age of women to teach younger women to love their husbands and and to be sober to love their husband to love their children to be discreet chase keepers at home not that there's any aged women in here but no so there's a lot of teaching that should go on it's not just from the pulpit okay teaching your children exhorting one another you know some people are just really good at lifting up people and exhorting people getting people on fire getting motivated you get it you had a bad day and someone just like hey brother how's it going you know just like they just lift you up okay so all that's needed it's all just like everybody has these little piece and parts and some people are better at things than others okay I'm not always a cheerful person okay okay I'm not that that guy that's probably just lifting everybody's spirits up okay but there are people that are like that and there are people that have other areas where they they really just thrive okay now we should all strive to try to do everything that we can okay it's not saying that just because okay I'm good in this nuts to everything else okay we should all try but there's different things that you're better at okay you know that's why I'm an engineer I was better at math than I was at you know writing novels okay so no but you know there there's just different strengths that you have okay when it when it comes to just the way your mind thinks so the first Corinthians 12 talks about the same thing we were just there where it says for as the body is one and as many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ so we're talking about the body of Christ which is the church the congregation of people makes up the body of Christ okay and so people get stuck on that like oh there's only one body well it says that Christ is you know is like the husband to the wife okay Christ is the head of the church and the husband's head of the life was there only one wife you know you know so it's clearly just giving an illustration Christ is omnipresent he's God he's everywhere he can be everywhere at once he can be in every single church everywhere so that's what that means it doesn't you know that that would mean let's just think about that for a second if if our church let's just use the churches in our movement okay the churches that were like these are good churches okay there's so many churches okay so Arizona would be a hand let's say we're a hand okay that body is pretty far stretched out we don't have any feet then okay where's the feet what that means is every single local church should have two hands two feet you know two legs you know all these things and everybody needs all those pieces because you got a function in that area you're at because we're independent you know that church it doesn't I mean obviously I'm sure they pray for us and we pray for them but physically speaking we're on our own here okay we're independent there's no umbilical cord there's nothing that ties us to any of these churches although I do love them and love what they're doing but we're all separate bodies that are doing the work okay so go back to Romans chapter or chapter 12 verse 9 there so hopefully all that makes sense I will get into a sermon eventually about I do believe that is saying though that every single person in the world has a measure of faith now you have the choice to put your faith in Christ and not okay and there is a time where God can take away the ability to believe they're ever learning never able to come into the knowledge of truth reprobate concerning the faith and it talks about well I'll get into that another day so anyway Romans chapter 12 verse 9 it says let love be without the simulation to pour that which is evil cleave to that which is good be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one another not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord so we're going through like a list of a whole bunch of things that we're supposed to be doing here rejoicing in hope patient and tribulation continuing incident prayer distributing to the necessity of Saints given to hospitality bless them which persecute you bless and curse not rejoice with them that rejoice which are with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep be of the same mind one toward another mine not high things but condescend to men of lowest state be not wise in your own conceits recompense to no man evil for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men if it be possible as much as life then you live peaceably with all men so there's a lot of things in here okay and this sermon is only gonna be an hour long or wherever we stop here so I don't want to go and like we're not gonna go through every single one of these and I'm just gonna show you scriptures on where it's okay so but the first one it says let love be without the simulation what's that talking about meaning not fake okay not a pretense not for show okay and there's a lot of people that do things just to make a show that make themselves look good okay love in charity is something that's supposed to be selfless okay read first Corinthians chapter 13 you know true love you know think of God commandeth his love towards and that why were yet sinners Christ died for us that's love okay that's where you are you're giving up everything for somebody okay so let love be without the simulation meaning don't let it just be a show don't let it just be a pretense let it be real okay and I think of people that just are kind of fake or they they don't you ever run into people that are trying to sell you something you know I was actually just talking to Justin about this my younger brother and someone come up to you and say you know I you know I can help you out on this I could do this and I could save you a whole bunch of money and you ask them you know how and they're like well I can do it I can do it I can save you a bunch of money I save a bunch of it's like you just tell they have an angle it's all like a pretense it's all a show and and they don't really care about saving you money they're trying to get something from you okay and so you know we need to be selfless you know loving each other expecting nothing in return okay and especially as we come into Christmas you know and I love Christmas you know and I celebrate Christmas you know and we give gifts to family members and stuff like that but here I want you to know this I don't expect anybody to give me a gift if I got nothing for Christmas I'd be like amen you know you know that's fine you know you know what I would think well at least they save some money and they didn't have to spend it you know and they that maybe they're just trying to pay off that you know praise the Lord but you know I don't expect gifts from anybody if you are then you got to think about your motives here okay if you give a gift then expect nothing in return you know I'm gonna be giving gifts to people but I don't expect anything from them okay if I do then there's something wrong with my heart so think about love you know without the simulation don't just give a gift for show like oh you know I'm giving you this what are you gonna give me you know or like it's not out of actual love it's not because you actually just want them to have something or you wanted to bless them it's because you're looking for something in return and so anyway a poor that which is evil obviously we're supposed to hate the evil worse and love the good and it talks about you know the beginning of knowledge is to hate evil okay so this comes down to like sin you think of like the abortions you think of sodomy you think of all this wickedness is going on in the country we're supposed to hate it okay we're not supposed to love that and so or be accepting of it isn't that what they want they're just like oh you need to not only you know condone of it but you need to love it you know if you've disdain this at all then you're you know a bigot anyway so I don't want to get off on that tangent I'll start ranting and raving about that but so as we go on not slothful in business don't be lazy work okay work for the night is coming my friends and so we live in a country and we live in a time and a generation where just people don't want to work they want everything handed to them they got a bunch of emotional like Millennials that are that think they have everything that's coming to them well they're gonna have something coming to them but permanent spirit serving the Lord rejoicing in hope patient and tribulation so that's something remember talking about patients worth work at experience and experience hope and and and through tribulation we already talked about that in chapter 5 and then distributed necessity the Saints given to hospitality obviously that's that's a quality that a pastor supposed to have given the hospitality a steward of God bless them which persecute you bless and curse not now this is something that we need to just keep reminding ourselves of okay because people will spurn us people will do bad things to us knee knee jerk reaction is to give it right back to him okay so if someone persecute you I'm talking personally I'm talking about things that are just like they run into your car and they're just like they're yelling at you and saying it's your fault those are hard times to get through without like losing it okay but you got to think about the fact that yeah or they're persecuting you because of your standards you know they're making fun of you and stuff like that you just need to take it just need to take it suffer to be defrauded and especially when you're dealing with Christians okay because we're never supposed to hate the brother in Christ so if you're dealing with someone that's saved but they're backslidden let's say and they're persecuting you for your stance on the Bible or stance on on different things that that the Bible teaches don't curse them don't hate them okay you just need to take it you just need to just you know bless and curse not meaning it blessing the in the fact that you just need to be praying for them that they get right with God okay and so we just need to remember that we need to have that patience we need to have that love and compassion you know it's not that it doesn't take that much compassion to love those that love us it takes a lot more compassion to love those that don't like us or even hate us now they're in sin okay if a brother hates you they're sinning okay no doubt about it but we need to we need to love the brother no matter what there are people that we're not supposed to love but that's why it says here if it be possible as much as life then you live peaceably with all men okay so this is where it gets into hey this is what we're striving for okay we're striving for the fact that someone's persecuting you're just gonna bless them you're gonna you know it just makes me think of just work you know when you deal with clients that get all outrageous with you okay it's not even your fault on a project and they're just screaming at you I've had this happen they're screaming at you saying you're worthless you can't do your job I mean you just want to like rip their face off okay especially when it's not your fault okay but if you you know a soft answer turneth away wrath and you know there was a case one time where I just you know said well you know let me let me take care of this I said I'll you know send this and just like really calm so that in my inside I'm like I want to rip your face off like I want to just tell you what I think but but I said you know what let me take care of this we'll get this done okay we're gonna fix it we're gonna we're gonna figure out what we need to do and he literally wrote an apology to everybody that he wrote emails to and like apologized to me and like ever since then he was like he like just loved me okay and so that's a case where you overcome evil with good if it's possible that's not always possible okay like thinking navel you know with Abigail obviously there's cases where it's just not possible but that's what our goal should be is trying to live peaceably with all men if we can you know especially in a wicked world that we live in going out soul winning doing all these things where people are persecuting us try to live peaceably with them if you can okay we're not out to try to pick fights with people and trying to get into these big fights and I don't particularly want to go to court and have to fight you know these causes but I will if I have to remember if it'd be possible live peaceably with all men and so I wanted to get to a larger point I'm running out of time so in verse 20 I had some other verses on that about you know avenging not yourself giving place under wrath you know it talks about in Hebrews 10 it says for for we know him that Seth avenging thongeth unto me I will recompense that the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people and so that particularly talking about Christians that are sinning willfully and remember if if Christians are sinning against you and I've had Christians so-called you know I believe they were and pastors that have you know told me off and you know and said lies about me and all this other stuff you know what you know let God deal with them okay let God recompense that I'm not gonna touch it and so that's what I'm talking about you know not the curse you know especially a brother in Christ if you believe they're a brother or sister in Christ then don't hate them don't curse them let God deal with them okay I'm not saying that that you gotta like try to be their buddy okay I'm just saying you know we need to have compassion now it says that we're to love our and our personal enemies okay now that's what I want to get a key in on here so notice in verse 20 it says therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good now this is clearly teaching us to love our neighbor or love our enemy okay if he's hungry feed him if he's thirsty give him drink now people for some reason think that this is just a New Testament concept okay go to Matthew chapter 5 this is where they they get that thought but what's interesting is this Romans chapter 12 is quoted from Proverbs okay where's Proverbs the Old Testament okay Solomon okay he's definitely Old Testament but that's a quotation from the Proverbs is that we're supposed to give our enemy food if he's hungry and we're supposed to give him drink if he's if he's thirsty but this is where they get this in Matthew chapter 5 he's going through all these different Commandments in different things that they say and then he's basically given his thoughts on it okay but in chapter 5 verse 43 he says ye have heard that it hath been said thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy now this is say that it as it is written in the law okay because show me where it says to hate your enemy in the Bible okay it doesn't say that it doesn't say hate thine enemy okay but I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that which despitefully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust for if you love them which love you what reward have you do not even the publicans the same so he's making it a thought here but he's not saying well you know back in the Old Testament I was saying to hate the hate your enemy now I'm saying to love your enemy no it's always been that way it's always been to love your enemy and to give him food Proverbs 25 is where this quotation comes from from Romans chapter 12 it says this in Proverbs 25 verse 21 if thine enemy be hungry give him bread to eat if he be thirsty give him water to drink for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head and the Lord shall reward thee sound familiar yes Proverbs chapter 25 and so and notice is saying that you're gonna keep coals of fire you is that exactly what happened with the person I worked with I keep heaped coals of fire upon his head okay and did he not feel guilty about what he said and did and so sometimes that works very well now it doesn't always work remember if it be possible but this isn't just in Proverbs Exodus chapter 23 Exodus chapter 23 verse 4 this is this is the Old Testament law this is the law that's being given to Moses when he's on the mount notice what it says in Exodus 23 in verse 4 it says if that if thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again if thou see the ass of him that that hated thee lieth under his burden and what is forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him so we see that even in Exodus is teaching the same thing you know your enemy's ox you know help him out if this guy hates you help him out okay and so the Bible is always taught this this is this is from Genesis Revelation of loving your enemies now where people take it too far is where they say you need to love everybody okay and and so that's where you take it too far okay because the Bible does clearly state that there are a certain group of people that we're not supposed to love okay and so but it's interesting because they're always like you know the Old Testament that's awful it's like well we saw here that it says to love your enemy Leviticus that's the only place you know where it says we need to love our neighbor as ourself you know where it quotes that Leviticus 19 right between 18 and 20 where it says that homosexuality is an abomination okay so you can't pick and choose which ones you want you know you're gonna take 19 well you know what it says right before it says love thy neighbor that you are thou shalt judge thy neighbor with righteous judgment you know what's the next thing they parrot you know don't judge me don't judge me only God can judge me anyway so but but in Ecclesiastes 3.1 I want to just kind of show you this now obviously here's the thing when you're dealing with loving people or hating people the majority of time you're supposed to love them okay just mark it down most of the time you're supposed to love who you're dealing with the the the the people that you're supposed to hate is a very small group of people and you need to be very cautious of of that okay but don't just throw it out and be like I'm gonna be safe and just love everybody okay because that's dangerous too okay because the Bible condemns that but Ecclesiastes chapter 3 notice what it says in verse 1 it says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven so everything is not just love love love love love or peace peace peace peace peace you know if there's different things in different times okay there's a time of weeping in time of mourning but notice what it says in verse 8 it says a time to love and a time to hate a time of war in a time of peace okay so there is a time to hate now we're supposed to pour that which is evil we're supposed to you know cleave under that which is good but so we're supposed to hate things but are we supposed to hate people okay that's where you get into the whole argument are you supposed to hate people well in Psalm 139 I know we're kind of going a little long here but I do want to get this point across what I what I believe is that we are to love our personal enemies people that just don't like us and hate us okay personally where the line is drawn is where they hate God okay that's what we're gonna see most people don't hate God okay they can hate me they can hate my guts for reasons that it doesn't even have to do with the Bible okay they can just hate my face there's like I just don't like the way you look okay you just don't know people are weird and so so but in Psalm 139 what's interesting about this chapter is this is a beloved chapter to a lot of people you know I'm fearfully and wonderfully made you know like all this stuff and Psalm 139 but man they don't like the end of it do they so in Psalm 139 and verse 19 we'll start in verse 19 and notice this is the sweet psalmist of Israel who spake by the you know the Holy Ghost speak by the mouth of David the Bible says surely thou wilt slay the wicked Oh God depart from me therefore ye bloody men so that notice what he's starting off saying here talking about these people that are wicked and bloody for they speak against thee wickedly and thine enemies take thy name in vain do not I hate them Oh Lord that hate thee and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies search me Oh God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting so notice what what he's saying here he says I hate them that hate thee okay so there's your there's your condition okay there's the reason there's the only reason that the Bible states as far as we're supposed to hate somebody okay we're to hate them that hate the Lord and I'll put this one in there I do believe I believe we should hate anybody that the guy that God hates okay if God hates them I hate him okay and if God gave up on them I I give up on them okay I'm not better than God and so this is where people get in well God he can do things that you can't do it's like no we're supposed to be like Christ isn't he God okay aren't we supposed to walk in his steps and these are the words of God and so but notice he goes on further and says you know search me Oh God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting this is pinned down in the Bible so therefore you know what that means that there wasn't any wickedness in him okay when you're dealing with the Psalms when you're dealing with narration in the Bible like epistles or you're dealing with just narration where in any book if someone if the narrator speaking mark it down it is the Word of God is true now some people can be speaking back and forth and that person may not be saying the truth does that make sense but in the Psalms in the case of the Psalms it's all scripture it's all you can take it to the bank what it says is true it's accurate it's what you should be doing okay and we'll do a whole sermon on imprecatory prayers eventually especially in the Psalms but you say well okay there's people that I should hate but I'm gonna be safe and just love everybody well in 2nd Chronicles 19 Jehoshaphat you know was rebuked for this okay he helped the king of Israel and in 2nd Chronicles 19 verse 1 it says in Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house and peace to Jerusalem and Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and saved the king Jehoshaphat so notice he's returning okay from this battle he was helping the king of Israel is it read chapter 18 you'll know exactly what's going on and so the the seer the prophet comes to him and says shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord so we see is that a good thing then he that he loved those that hate the Lord no the wrath wrath is on it and it says nevertheless so there's a conjunction there nevertheless there are good things found in thee okay so what are you saying is that the fact that you helped the ungodly and loved them to hate the Lord that's not a good thing okay so if you didn't get it when it says the wrath is upon me from before the Lord it's not a good thing to love them to hate the Lord well who are people that hate the Lord well the reprobates I mean Romans 1 it says haters of God so there's a group of people that are past feeling that God has given over to a reprobate mind he's given up on them and they hate him I don't love them okay and if God gave up on them I give up on them if God hates them I hate them and I just want to give you a couple verses I know we're going long here but this is an important point because we are to love I just want you know we're supposed to love our enemies so I want that to be ingrained into you that hey someone's persecuting you you know just let him just take it just take it and don't just lash out at people okay but it doesn't mean that every case ever you know there are cases where you know you're not supposed to love that person okay and in Psalm 5 4 and you don't have to turn these be writing down if you want Psalm 5 4 it says for thou art not a God that hath pleasure and wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee the foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will a poor the bloody and deceitful man now you know you may say well that's anybody could be that look up the workers of iniquity sometime and you'll know that's not just talking about sinners in general okay so but Psalm 11 5 it says the Lord trieth the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth there's someone that loves violence they don't just do violence they love it okay it says his soul hateth and Hosea 9 15 it says all their witnesses in Gilgal for there I hated them for the weakness of their doings and I will drive them out of my house I will love them no more all their princes are revolters so those are just a few okay but I just want you to see that hey okay there are people that we're not supposed to love but that's the very small minority okay I know the world wants to tell you that the queers are 30% of our population okay but it's not true okay we're talking one or two percent maybe as far as our population and so that means that you know one out of a hundred okay that you run into you're supposed to love that person I don't care if they're lost I don't you know and especially if they're saved if they're saved the Bible is very clear if you hate your brother you're a murderer okay so it's very don't be angry with your brother without a cause and don't hate your brother okay and so I'm never to hate a brother in Christ okay so obviously when we're talking about people that you would hate they have to be an unbeliever okay and not just an unbeliever they have to be someone that is twice dead plucked up by the roots okay so I want I want you to see that you know here's the thing study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth you got to take the whole Bible okay you can't just say well you know it says right here this I'm gonna ignore this no yeah it all has to fit it can't just how do you explain Psalm 139 how do you explain second Chronicles 19 I mean it either all it all has to you can't just throw it out you can't just be like well that that's yeah I just don't follow that no it's all got to fit and that's how it does fit is that there are certain people that are past feeling that God you know they harden their hearts then God harden their hearts and those people I'm not supposed to love but it is a small group okay most of the people that are persecuting you out so winning prior reprobates now I'm sure there are I've definitely run into reprobates before okay but a lot of the people that are slamming the door in your face making fun of you they may not be reprobates okay you know think of Paul he persecuted the church above everybody else he was given the consent to kill Christians okay and he wasn't a reprobate so you got to think that they can go pretty far people can go pretty far before God's given up on them okay and so they come out dressed like a woman and they're a man no no love for me so but but the great passage okay we need to present our bodies a living sacrifice we need to to love our enemies okay anybody that just hates you or hit you know is trying to persecute you personally you know we need to bless them and not curse them okay there's plenty of scriptures on that so we need to remember that to be you know just suffer to be defrauded okay because you never know you never know what you can overcome with that you know they may listen to you eventually they may say well you know what I'm gonna listen to them when they give me the gospel okay think about that sometimes you may be ruining a time a chance to give them the gospel later on if you just blow up on them okay and so it's hard I know it's hard but if it'd be possible to live peacefully with all man let's say I went to word of prayer there and they follow we think for today and Lord think for this evening and just pray that you'd be with us as we go home tonight and give us safety in our travels and Lord we love you for else in Jesus Christ name amen