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All right, Galatians 5, look at verse number 15. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be consumed one of another. The title of the sermon is Don't Bite and Devour One Another. Don't Bite and Devour One Another. Now, this is a sermon that I preach from time to time. Every couple of years, every few years, I preach a sermon like this. Knowing that we're going to have many new families joining our church, I really wanted to make this a point to teach upon once everybody was here, once everyone got comfortable, because Paul is writing to who? The Galatian church. You know what's going on in the Galatian church? They're biting and devouring one another. You know what happens in church? Brothers and sisters say, not at New Life Baptist Church, but yes, at New Life Baptist Church. Yes, at every single church I've ever been at, it happens where brethren will have contentions, have issues, bite and devour one another. And so that's the title for the sermon. I had mentioned that this is kind of part two to Wednesday's part one, because what brings us into unity? What's the greatest thing that we can come together as a church is remembering the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice. That should be the number one thing that brings us together as God's people. But we can be divided. We can be separated. We can bite and devour one another. And this happens too often in church. I don't like it when it happens in church. I understand when it happens at work. And I'll tell you what I've observed in my life. It doesn't matter where I am. Doesn't matter workplace, school, church, family. What happens is you've got a couple of people and their best friends. We do everything together. We hang out. You know, my husband gets along with his husband. I get along with that wife. My kids get along with these kids and everything seems great and wonderful. And then a few weeks later, they're not talking to each other. It's like, what happened? Oh, well, we don't talk to each other anymore. We're enemies or they did this to us and we did that to them. Blah, blah, blah. Well, what happened? I'll tell you what happened. There was biting and devouring. That's what happened. And this will happen. And the reason I wanted to, not that there's any major issues, but I tell you now, if we don't pay attention to this kind of sermon, issues will develop, okay? And you're going to bite, you're going to devour. There are going to be people in this church don't talk to other people in church because something happened. And this is just sermon that we just have to really understand, really absorb. Because brethren, we have a flesh that is full of pride. We have a flesh that doesn't like to admit when we're wrong. We have a flesh that doesn't like to accept that sometimes we do step on each other's toes. And so we need to be reminded of this and hopefully not bite, not devour, not get to the point where we're causing any major issues within our church. Now we are going to come back to Galatians 5. You can keep a finger there or bookmark, whatever you want. If you want to do that, but come back with me to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Because on Wednesday, when we were looking at what brings us together, we did spend some time in 1 Corinthians. So I do want to pull out some other things here. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, please. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 10. And please, please don't have this attitude. Pastor, it's not going to happen in your life at this church. We're like-minded. We traveled this far to be in this church. We're not going, look, it's going to happen. Okay. If you don't pay heed, if you don't pay attention to God's word. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse number 10. Now I beseech you brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Look, that's the ideal scenario. That we would have no divisions, that we would have the same mind, we would have the same judgment. But verse number 11. For it have been declared unto me of you, my brethren, my brethren, my brothers and sisters, my saved brethren. I've heard this brethren. Say, pastor Kevin, have you heard? Yes, I've heard this stuff too in my church, right? By them which are the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Not amongst God's people. Yes, amongst God's people. Contentions among you. Verse number 12. Now this I say, that every one of you sayeth, I'm of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. And I had mentioned on Wednesday, look, in order for them to have to create contentions and divisions, there's obviously been some level of difference when it came to these men. Okay? There's always some issues. Maybe they expand the scriptures a little bit differently to the others. You know, I mean, there's going to be, whenever you involve man in God's work, again, the flesh is always going to be in the way. Okay? And these people started to create divisions and separations over what preacher they listen to. All right? And this then started the contentions and the problems and divisions in the church. Now he says in verse number 13, is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptised in the name of Paul? Look, we need to remember when we start to rub each other the wrong way, start to ruffle each other's feathers a little bit, I want you to just stop and remember, this is my saved brother in the Lord cleansing the righteousness of Jesus Christ. All right? And they stand before God and God is their judge. I'm going to do the best I can to not cause division. I'm going to do the best I can to bring peace amongst my brethren before this issue gets out of control. Before we start causing divisions and we start being man followers, we start dividing over these issues. I love what he says in verse number 14, Paul says, I thank God that I baptised none of you, but Crispus and Gaius. So there were a couple that he baptised. Now look, when I do baptism, I'm like, oh yeah, let's baptise more. Right? Is it next week sister we're having a baptism? All right. Does anyone else want to get baptised? Look, that's my attitude. Okay? But Paul is like, I'm just so glad I didn't baptise more of you. Otherwise more of you will be going like, I love you, Paul. We're behind you, Paul. We think you're the greatest man, Paul. We don't care about the other people. We don't care. He goes, man, I just, oh man, I'm so glad I didn't even go that far with you guys. Otherwise we're going to have more of a cult of Paul on our hands here at the church. So he's rebuking even his own followers. I'm glad I didn't baptise you guys, except these two. And then he goes, verse number 15, lest any should say that I had baptised in mine own name. And I baptised also the household of Stephanas, besides I know not whether I baptised any other. So obviously he's not done a lot of baptisms here in the Corinthian church. I assume probably Apollos, Cephas had done the baptisms of the other church members. Okay. Now I want to show you that it's, it's, it's, look, you see this in the Bible. Okay. You see this, we saw this in the Galatian church. Okay. We see this in the Corinthian church, contentions and divisions. And I want you to just accept in your hearts. If these churches had issues and contentions, New Life Baptist Church is going to have issues and contentions and divisions as well. But how do we minimise it or how do we avoid it? Hopefully, how do we get rid of it so we never get to that point? That we can be like what Paul said in verse number 10. Now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you should speak, all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. Let me say to you that when I hear of issues and contentions and problems, okay, there's always, when it comes to God's people at least, okay, there's always good intentions as the root of it all. At least verbally, I had good intentions pastor. I meant well. Yeah, but the result, it didn't end well, did it? And when you reassess your intentions, they weren't that good, were they? They were nasty. They were bad intentions. Always. But the flesh gets in the way. I had good intentions, so I'm right with the Lord. No, no, no, you did wrong. You did wrong. And it's so important that this gets preached. I've seen so many broken people. I'm not talking about just, I'm talking about my life journey in church. Why is that? We're just suddenly, we're fellowshiping, having the best time together. Next week, we don't talk to each other. How does that happen? I have a hard time losing friends that quickly. I just do. I like to think the best of people. I like to, even when someone's offended me or said something wrong, I sort of think, well, maybe I've been the more sensitive one. Maybe I've taken it a bit too far. That's my approach, okay? But at the same time, I also don't make a lot of really, really, really close friends either. To me, you're all my friends. To me, I want to be friendly to everybody. You know, obviously there are going to be people in church that I get along more than others. I have more interest in others, but I see everybody in my church as my friend. And when it comes to my really, really, really, really, really, really close friends, it's my wife and Jesus. That's pretty much it, right? They know all my secrets. They know all my dirty laundry. All right. They know the deep things. And I know, you know, neither my wife nor Jesus Christ is going to use those things against me. But when it comes to other people, yeah, they can use that information against you. Now, we are part of an independent fundamental Baptist Church, okay? So I've been going to an IFB church since my early 20s, okay? Now, I love the IFB church. Sometimes I preach against it, but to be honest with you, I want you to know, I love the church. I love the IFB churches. And the reason sometimes I preach against the doctrines that they teach, I just want them to get it right. So I can love them even more. I can appreciate them even more, okay? Because there are so very few churches that want to teach the truth, okay? But come back with me to Galatians now. Come back with me to Galatians 5. But if you're external from IFB churches, one common word that gets said about our churches is, oh, that's a cult. All right? Oh, that's a cult. Like, we know it's not a cult, right? This is not the church of Kevin Sepulveda. And I hope you guys know me long enough. And those that are new, you're going to know I don't want to get involved in your life. I don't want to boss you around. At church, I preach God's Word. But I'm preaching to me as much as I'm preaching to you, right? Like, I'm preaching things that I need to fix as much as you need to fix, etc, etc. I'm never going to come to your house and boss you around. Even when you're doing things that I don't approve of. I'm not going to come into your house and boss you around. Okay? And what happens is, in a lot of IFB churches, pastors think that is their job. Okay? And one thing that I've understood by the scriptures is that God has given us different areas of authority, different structures. And you need to know what your structure is, where you belong, and what your authority level is within that structure. When it comes to a family, the boss of that family, the head of the family is the husband. Wife and children are to be submissive to that man. That family. So let's say it's your family. That means I can't come into your family and boss you around. You say, but pastor, the Bible says you do have rule. I have rule in the house of the Lord. The way New Life Baptist Church runs is how I prefer. Or someone might say, pastor, what if we do this? They check it with me first. All right, let's do that. Okay? Because I have authority when it comes to God's house during this time. But guess what? When service is over, I have no further authority over you in any way, shape, or form. Okay? So what happens? Pastors get a power trip, church members get power trips, and they want to interfere in other people's lives. But God has created institution, boundaries, authorities in those institutions, and people to be subject under those authorities. You need to know super well what are my boundaries and maintain those boundaries. Don't open those boundaries for pastors to come in. Don't open those boundaries for brother and sister so-and-so who have been saved a hundred years longer than me that are a hundred times wiser than me to come into my family life and rearrange my life. That is the recipe for divisions and contentions. I promise you every issue that I know about is always someone is stepping on the toes of someone else. Someone has crossed the boundaries to someone else's life. And I hate it. I hate it. You know, because God himself has authority. God the Father is over the Son and the Holy Ghost. Okay? All three are one. Okay? But there's an authority structure. Okay? And that's how God is. And that's how God has created these institutions to be. To have a head and have people subject under that authority and not for others to creep in. I can't go to some Baptist church down the road and tell them how to run service. That would be me crossing my boundaries. You can't go to some other family's life and tell them how they need to run their life. That's you crossing. Oh, but I have good intentions, pastor. No, no. When you assess yourself, you'll find that they were wrong intentions. They were harmful intentions. Even though you may have meant well in your mind, but because of your ignorance, and I'll show you later on, because you're babes in Christ, not saying you're all babes in Christ, but many that are babes in Christ think they can do this. They've learned a little bit. Now I can tell everybody, right? Someone's just been saved and I know the Book of Revelation, I can become a pastor and preach the whole Bible to somebody. It's growth. Takes time. Now, like I said, a lot of churches think our side of churches are cults and some are. Brother WA, the stories you tell me, some of them are cults. You got to be in line on this issue or that issue or we want no fellowship with you. No sin. There's no sin committed. There's nothing worthy of kicking that person out of the church, but they'll kick you out of church if you don't line up exactly how they want you to line up. IFB churches can become cultish, okay? I'm a Paul. I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephas. And you start to follow a man rather than following our Lord God. But Galatians 5, and I want you to really understand this because I don't want you to be like this Christian. I got saved and now all these rules, I can't live my life. I don't know what Christianity that is. I live a very free life. Like I didn't get forced to be a pastor. I made that choice. I didn't force myself to want to be in a church like this. I made that choice. I made that call. I give my wife a lot of freedom to run the house as she thinks is best. You know? And kids, I try to give you guys a lot of freedom. As much as I know, it's going to be best for your future and your life. I'm not trying to demand, just be like this or just be like that. Because the truth of God's word in Galatians 5, 1. It says, Stand fast. The context of this, you had people coming to the Galatian church saying to the church, you have to get circumcised in order for you to be saved. Bringing people under bondage. Okay? But Paul is one of the Galatian church guys. You've been given liberty. You've been given freedom. You've been saved from the law. That's not a requirement for you to be saved. You've been given liberty. Would you admit that liberty means freedom? Does that sound like a restricted, oh the rules, oh I'm in jail kind of Christian life? Or does it sound like, man, I can really do a lot. God's given me a lot of ways to live my life now that I'm saved. That's what it sounds to me. Liberty, freedom. Now, drop down to verse number 13. So obviously verse number one is your position. You've been set free, right? You've been set free from sin, from the law, we're free in Christ Jesus. But verse number 13 doesn't deal now with the position, but with our walk, with our life journey. It says in verse number 13, Brethren, you have been called unto liberty. Now, before I keep reading, do you feel like you have the liberty? Do you feel like you have liberty in your Christian life? You don't have to give me the answer. Just think about it within yourself. You feel like, you know what, man, I get to enjoy an abundant life now. You know, man, I know what God wants from me. Man, oh man, I now know God's will in my life. I know my destination. I know how to be right with him. I know how to walk with him. I now know what is right and wrong because of God's word. Do you feel that liberty and freedom within you? Because I hope you do. And if you do, you need to afford that to your brother and sister in the Lord as well though. Or do you feel like, so many rules. Can't do this, can't do that, can't do this and that. If that's your attitude, you don't understand the liberty that we've been called unto. There is freedom that God has given us. Now, sometimes people are afraid to preach this because they're saying, oh, so what are you saying? I can just go ahead and sin and God doesn't care? Obviously, that's ridiculous. Because it says in verse number 13, it says, Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. So we have liberty, but don't use your liberty for an occasion to the flesh. So obviously the flesh is our sinful nature. Don't be like, oh, so I've been given freedom and liberty, then God doesn't care if I just go ahead and sin all my life. Don't give your limits to that. But when it comes to Christian liberty, Christian living, we have a lot of liberty, a lot of freedom. Now, when you look at that idea, does that sound like there's only one way to address? Does that sound like there's only one way to bake? Does that sound like there's only one way to breastfeed? Does that sound like there's only one way to give me something? Sorry? To read the Bible? To eat? To cut your hair? You're going to have my hairstyle. You're going to get kicked out of church. Look, our Christian life, there's a lot of liberty. There's a lot of freedom. There's a lot of options. As long as you're not giving the occasion to the flesh. And here's the thing, people have a wrong idea of this. Look, I'll admit one of my faults. It's not even a sin. I enjoy watching soccer. You guys, I don't hide that, okay? The reason I bring that one a lot is because I don't have a lot of like, I don't have a lot of waste of time. I don't have a lot. I don't have time to waste. If I've got nothing to do, that might be the time to put some highlights and watch some soccer highlights or whatever, right? A few minutes or whatever. That's like my one little thing, all right? Now some might say, well, pastor, you're giving an occasion to the flesh now. And what I mean by that is that sin, that's wrong. No, look, if it's wrong to you, it's wrong to you. Don't watch it. You know, that's you. You have the liberty to decide that as well, okay? But what is, according to this passage, what is the occasions to the flesh? It's not just your opinion of what is right and wrong or what is fleshly or not fleshly. The Bible tells us, okay? So if you look at verse number 19, now the works of the flesh are manifest. Okay, so we're revealing to you what these things are, what these works of the flesh are. That we're not to give occasion to the flesh. We're not to use our liberty for these things. Okay, so now the works of flesh are manifest. Which are these? Watching soccer. What else do you guys, does anyone actually go actual fishing doing proper fishing? Okay, fishing. What else? Yeah, brother, stop doing that. Half mile marathons. Stop it. I don't, it's funny, right? Do you believe there are churches that teach this stuff? Do you believe there are brethren that put these kinds of burdens on other people in the church? It happens. And I tell you now, if you're not careful, it's going to happen here. And your life at this church. And then what? Biting, devouring one another, okay? Now look, if you have a bite, look, I've gone to a point in my life, where if you want to bite at me for watching a soccer game, it's not going to hurt me. I'll show you later on this. We'll get to the end of the sermon about this, okay? I really don't care. But what are the works of the flesh that manifest? Which are these? Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variants, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envians, murders, drunkenness, revelants, and such like. So we've been given liberty, but not the liberty to sin. Is that clear? As long as you're not sinning against the Lord, guess what? You have freedom. You have liberty, okay? Now look, is there anything wrong with going to the beach? If you get sunburnt. Is it sinful to go to the beach and have a swim? No, but you know what? I'm going to use my liberty, but I also know that I have fleshly eyes, I have a carnal nature, and I want to go to a place where I'm not going to have to feast my eyes upon women in their underwear, basically, at the beach, okay? But the beach itself is not the problem, okay? Now this is the stuff that you're going to have to start trying to work out in your life, okay? And parents, you know, we try to teach our kids, you know, not just the commandments of God, but we also teach them the rules that we have around the house, don't we? But you know, some of the rules that I have around my house are not going to be the same rules that another family in the church has around their house. Does that mean that parent is ungodly or something? Am I going to go up to that parent at church and correct them on how they're raising their children? Because I don't think I agree with the way they're doing this or that. Brethren, it's going to happen, okay? And this is how it happens. This is how we let down the guard so easily. Oh, pastor, we're just getting along so well. This family gets along with that family. We're having a great time. And I praise God that you are. I'm not going to try to stop you from great times, but when we have great times, conversations start to flow, information starts to flow, you open up the boundaries that God has asked you to protect. And before you know it, you're going to be interfering in each other's lives. And maybe at the beginning, it's no big deal, but it's going to start to irritate you. It's going to start to cause issues and contentions. And before you know it, it all falls apart and there's divisions in our church. I want you to be careful. Nothing wrong with fun, having a great time. I'm glad you are, but that's when you let down your guard. That's when you drop the borders of protection that God has already put over your life, over your family or over churches. Okay. You start to interfere and you start saying, Hey, no, no, you shouldn't be doing that. Was that a sin? Are you taking away my Liberty? Oh, that's not the right way to do. I've been given Liberty. I've been given Liberty. Are you sure the way you're doing it or what you're saying that I shouldn't be doing. Are you sure that's a sin? Because if it's not a sin, shut your mouth before we start to bite and devour one another. It's important. It's important. I've seen it too many times. I hate it. Like sometimes I wonder like, again, you guys know I've been pastoring this church for six years, right? You guys know, I've said it before, I'm the last person to interfere in your lives. But if anyone at church has some authority to say something, surely it's the pastor. And even I don't do it. Some people just feel like, no, I've got to say, I've got to give my 10 cents. And before you know it, it's divisions. Oh, but I meant well, pastor. No, you didn't mean well. Okay, you interfered in somebody else's life. You started to put burdens on people because you told him it's not right when he was a sin against the Lord. You're trying to remove their freedom. There is something about man, I don't know what it is, that wants to restrict other people. I don't have the reference, but remember when Christ said to the Pharisees that you put these burdens upon people and you won't even push with one finger. You say, oh, that's the Pharisees, that's us. We do it. We start putting demands on other people that we ourselves don't do. We try to remove other people's liberties so they can measure up to our standard. And brethren, it's harmful, it's wrong, it's wicked, it hurts the church. It hurts friendships. You know, every time I preach this, this kind of topic, I have so many people come up to me later on. Pastor, you're right, I wish I heard that. I messed up or this person came to my life and this happened. And the thing is, I preach about it a lot. It's just that we hear it, we know it's true, but we just don't do it. We're just like, tomorrow you let down your guard. I'm not saying like, I'm just saying in general, right? And you're just doing it. But if there's every time to not be a hearer, but a doer of God's word, this is the sermon. Because I want our church to be vibrant and loving and growing. I hear sometimes people come and I'm not trying to hurt anybody. I'm not attacking because I love you guys. I hear people coming, new people come to church and they're like, man, you know, I can tell that this person doesn't talk to that person. I can tell that this family doesn't like that family. I can tell this doesn't, it's like, is that obvious? You know, is it that obvious? I guess it is. And it hurts me. It's like, why, why do we allow things to deteriorate so bad? You know, we buy and devour one another. Can you come with me to, you're in Galatians. So come with me to Galatians chapter one, Galatians chapter one. And verse number 13, Galatians chapter one, verse number 13. I'm going to talk to you about traditions versus the commandments of God. Brethren, really, when it boils down to it, traditions in of themselves again are not bad things. You might have traditions in your family. Maybe the traditions have been passed down generation to generation. There's nothing wrong with traditions in of themselves. Okay. But in Galatians 1 13, look at the words of Paul. He says, for ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews religion and how I beyond measure and sorry, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and wasted it. There was a time in Paul's life that he was persecuting the church of God and he goes, I've wasted some churches. I destroyed some churches. Say, Paul, how did you do that? Verse number 14, and profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. Because I was so zealous for my traditions of our Pharisee religion and my forefathers that with that tradition, with that mindset, I said, I'm going to go and destroy God's church. Brethren, your traditions can destroy this church. Your opinions can destroy this church. Okay. If you're not mindful about how you manage those thoughts and those ideas that you have. Come with me to March up to seven please. March up to seven and verse number five. March up to seven and verse number five. Now, I'm not having to go to the kids either. Okay. The kids, many of the kids and other church kids have been chatting on Discord and different chat groups. I'm fine with it. You know, as long as it's not wicked or anything like that, I'm fine. I'm not trying to embarrass any kids either. Okay. I'm glad actually, a lot of kids are talking about the Bible and asking questions about the Bible. But every now and again, one of my kids will come up, hey, Papa, can I just check something is X, Y, and Z a sin? It's like, why did you ask that? Oh, because so and so thinks it's a sin or so and so thinks it's wrong. I'm glad that discussion is being had. And because it's kids, I don't know what parents are teaching their kids. And so my default position is, well, if the parents of those children told them, don't do this, yeah, they should follow the parents commandments. Those children obey the commandments. Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Amen. But then for another kid to put that rule from their parents onto another child, you can't. Right? Does that make sense? Again, I'm not trying to stop that. I'm glad, you know, have those conversations. But what children sometimes struggle with when they grow up, especially I grew up in a Christian home, they struggle sometimes to separate what are God's commandments and what are just my parents rules around the house? Is there anything wrong with my parents rules around the house or the way we want to live or the way we want to dress or the way we want to do X, Y, and Z? There's nothing wrong with that. What you should be doing, of course, is obeying mom and dad. But like I said, sometimes they confuse it with God's commandments. And it's not just children. It's babes in Christ, new children that are recently saved. You might be 50 years old, recently saved, and you're a child in the spiritual life. And sometimes that child gets confused between what is God commandments and what are some rules that are heard at church, what are some rules that are heard at home, and they can't separate the two things. You need to be able to separate your traditions from God's word. And I'm glad my kids at the time, they asked those kind of questions. And sometimes I have to tell them, well, the reason we do that is because we just want to do it that way. But it's not what God commanded, but we just do it so we can have order around our house. And I'm glad that those kind of questions pop up. And we need to be able to teach our kids, look, when you want to know what God says, you need to have a scripture behind that passage. You need to have a clear scripture where God is saying, no, that is not right, that is wrong, that is contrary to my word, whatever it is. Then you can stand firm and go, well, that's right and wrong. And that should be right and wrong because God said so. That should be right and wrong for any family, for any church, for any situation, because God said so. But what is right and wrong in my house doesn't mean it's right and wrong in someone else's house. And the thing is, kids are learning that, but sometimes adults don't learn that. And I think what I know to be right should be what is right to this other family. Yet every family has different personalities. Every family has men working different hours, different number of kids, right? I'll tell you now, with 12 kids, you know, if you've got one kid, it takes us 12 times longer to do everything. It takes 12 times longer to have dinner. It takes 12 times longer to get ready for church. It takes 12 times longer to whatever you want. It costs 12 times much more to pay the bills, right? Every family is different. And every family, every mum and dad has to work out how do we run our family life. And often people come up to me, pastor, can you tell me, I just want your advice in this situation. If you've done that, you'll know my response. Usually, like brother, you've got the liberty to decide. Pastor, should I do A or B? If they're not sinful, you've got the liberty to decide. Pastor, with our kids, should we do this and that? How about you put your head together with your husband, why don't you put your head together with your wife and figure out what's best for your family. And if someone is like really lost and not sure, I might say, based on what you told me, if I was in your shoes, this is probably what I would do. But I'm not in your shoes. I don't know all the consequences of making that decision. So at the end of the day, that rests upon your shoulders. And you'll know that's what I say to people. And that gives you the ability to go back to God's word, to pray to the Lord and say, Lord, guide us in the best decision moving forward for my situation, my job decision, my family life. And you're going to grow grow in boldness and you'll know why you're doing things. Not because that's the IFB way of doing things. You know, because it's the best thing for your family or yourself before the Lord. And that helps you clear, keep a clear conscience before God. Because you're not doing it for man. You're not doing to fit in with what man wants. You're doing it to please the Lord. So appreciate the liberties that God has given you. And I'm going to be off track, but you know, we're talking about traditions and commandments. I told you to turn to March of the Seven, March of the Seven, verse number five. March of the Seven, verse number five. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, why walk not by disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashing hands? Look, I'm pretty confident. Again, I'm not trying to attack anyone. Please know that I love you. Church, I love you. I love you so much. OK, I really do. But I feel like if Jesus and his disciples was living today and we see them walking through and they start to get grain and they don't wash their hands and they start eating, I just know someone in our church will run to Jesus. Jesus, wash your hands. I mean well, pastor. I have good intentions. Don't, they might have bacteria and dirt and viruses and what have you in their hands. I mean well, pastor. I'm just, do you feel that? I feel that. I just feel like someone's going to go and rebuke Jesus. Kindly, I mean well, because of my traditions, because it's the right thing to do. And I agree with you, I like to wash my hands too. OK, but if Jesus doesn't want to wash his hands, guess what? He's not sinning. It's a good tradition, but it's not the commandment of God. And young people, when you chat about these things, you need to be able to tell the difference. Oh, but washing your hands is good. Of course it's good. I hope you all do it. But you can't command somebody to do it or say they're in sin if they're not following your household rules or your household traditions. I'm trying to stop the biting and devouring before it happens. So I want you to think about what you're communicating. Am I crossing boundaries? Am I putting burdens on other people? Am I claiming that they're not right with God? But it's just my tradition, maybe. Maybe it's just my household rules and I've not been able to decipher, determine the differences between what is our tradition as a family and what are the commandments of God. Verse number six. He answered and said unto them, Well have Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Is that what you want to be? Is that what Jesus want to call you? You want Jesus to call you that? Hypocrites? By your mouth? Yeah, I intend well, but your heart is far from me. You know why the heart is far? Because they don't know what God's commandments are. They don't know what God's standards are. And they're trying to make their standards God's standards. Verse number seven. Howbeit in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men. How would you like it if I come every Sunday here preaching my commandments as God's doctrines? I mean, I hope this church will empty it out pretty quickly. I hope that would be the case. Verse number eight. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups, and many other such like things you do. But pastor washing pots and cups are good things to do. Do you see how Jesus look? Yeah, these are like, there's nothing wrong with that. But when you make it God's commandments, you're a hypocrite. Verse number nine. And he said unto them, full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. Be careful when you enter someone else's life and start telling them how they should run life. It's your traditions. I don't want Jesus saying that about you or me or anybody. Look, there are two problems that we see that Christ brings up. Again, is there anything wrong with washing cups? Is there anything wrong with washing hands? There's nothing wrong with that in of itself. Okay, but the two problems that Christ identifies with them is, well, two problems when it comes to traditions or the commandments of man, is when your traditions, number one, when they contradict God's word. When your traditions contradict God's word, that's a problem. So we would all accept that. That's a basic one. But the second thing, the most important thing that Christ points out here, is when they make traditions the commandments of God. You're now saying, thus saith the Lord, when God never said such a thing. And again, when prophets of the Old Testament said that, what was their punishment? It was stone to death. I mean, think about that. Come on. I'm saying something that God never said. Okay, that deserves stoning. But I can go to someone else's family and tell them they're doing this wrong, and God will rather them doing that. When it's your tradition, you should be stoned. I'm not saying literally. But I wouldn't be, you know, of course God, the Lord's going to be mad at you. Of course he's going to be angry. You're speaking on his behalf words they never spoke. You're taking away people's liberties. You know what, when we have a church lunch, if half the church goes, you know what, we're not washing our hands this time. I'm fine with it. Okay. I'm fine with it. Hey, but let's say a church go, you know what, before we have a church lunch, I want everyone to wash their hands. But I make that clear. That's just what I want. I'm not teaching that as God's doctrines, but that's what God wants from you. So pastor, should we obey you? Well, I've got the rule in the house of the Lord. I'm not going to ask you to do that. But if I did, you should have no problem going, you know what, pastor said, we should wash our hands, let's just go and do that. Okay, because there is authority in different institutions. Okay. But if another person tried to take that authority for themselves that doesn't hold the office, we have a major problem. Again, there are boundaries, there are authorities, there are leaders, and there are people that are subject under that authority. You need to get this right in life. I promise you, if you just say pastor, it's not going to happen to me. I just, you know, everyone just loves my unsolicited advice. No, they don't. Oh, they don't. Pastor, this family has no problem with me talking to their kids and directing their kids and bossing around. Yes, they do. Okay, be mindful. Please be careful. Please be careful. The other thing people say is, let's say watching soccer again. Okay, just my issue, right? But pastor, watching soccer is not biblical. By saying like, by thinking that it's not biblical, you're right. Look, Jesus never watched a soccer match. Yeah, you're right. Okay, if that's what you mean, I'm with you. He never did. But when they say it's not biblical, they mean it's sinful. Or it's also not biblical to have a computer. It's also not biblical to have a mobile phone. It's also not biblical to use the swap app. It's also not biblical to drive a car. It's also not biblical to catch a train or catch a plane and get around the place. Does that mean it's wrong? Well, God never spoke about that. So I'll make the rules. I know what's right and wrong. There's a lot of things that are not biblical, but they're not sinful. Okay, what is sin? 1 John 3 for whosoever commit of sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. You want to say to me that is wrong or that is sinful. You need to open God's word and show me the law. And if you can't, you shut up. Otherwise, you're starting to bite and devour. You say, but I prefer. Good. You got the liberty. You got the freedom to decide what you prefer. But that might not be my preference. That might not be my wife's preference. That might not be my children's preference. Not that I have any issues with anybody in the church. Honestly, I don't. But would you believe if I hear these things and I know the fruit of it, I know where it comes from, someone wants to interfere and hidden behind, but I mean well. Well, now that you heard this sermon, you're hearing the sermon. If you really mean well, then you'll do what the sermon is teaching you to do. Okay. You got to understand that your good intentions are actually bad intentions, wrong intentions. When you try to strip away the liberty that God has given each one of us, as long as we're not giving occasions to the flesh, as long as we are not transgressing God's laws, everything you can go ahead and enjoy it. What did Paul say? All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient. Expedia means profitable. Yeah. It's lawful for me to watch a soccer game, but it's not profitable. God's not going to say, well done thou good and faithful servant, but waking up at 2am to watch Tottenham play against Liverpool. I know there's going to be no reward there. I know that. Okay. But have I sinned against the Lord? Of course not. Because there's liberty. And I don't know, I just, to me, this was, this is what makes Christianity so good. When I can be amongst brothers with different interests, we have different ways of doing things and I hear, oh, that's interesting. And I ask the questions and they might ask of me. When, but when everyone starts to become, why do you do that? Oh, because pastor Kevin said so. Why do you do that? Oh, because the lady at the church taught us all the ladies to do that. Because the lady at the church taught us all the ladies that we need to be doing this way. It's like, man, you are starting to get yourself into a cult and you got to be careful. You have to be very careful. Okay. Because what's going to follow soon after is the biting and the devouring and the divisions and the contentions. And it's going to be too hard for me as a pastor to fix it. You know, church splits and what have you not, this person doesn't talk to that person. Visitors come in, oh, church feels cold. Why doesn't that person talk to this person? Aren't you all brothers and sisters in the Lord? Aren't you all saved? Don't you all have the same goals in life? Don't you all just share in the communion of the blood and body of Jesus Christ? Okay. Can you come with me to Proverbs please? Proverbs 25. I love this verse. Proverbs 25, 17. One of my favorite Proverbs, if you guys want to remember this, if you want to memorize it, you can memorize it as Pastor Kevin's favorite Proverb, or one of my favorite Proverbs. Proverbs 25, 17. Proverbs 25, 17. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he be weary of thee and so hate thee. Just move your foot away from that person's family life and issues, please, because they're going to hate you for it. Isn't that, is that the start of the contentions? What if you just went door to door soul winning? All right. And someone says, I'm not interested. And you're like, ah, stick your foot in. You're going to hear what I have to say. Are they going to hate you? Yeah. They're going to hate you, but we do it. We do it to each other. We throw our two cents. We throw our 10 cents here and there. We put our foot in, put our foot in our, that's the saying, right? You put your foot in your mouth. And before you know it, divisions, intentions, problems, you need to learn when you need to withdraw your foot from a neighbor's house. You know, if your neighbor says, you know what? It's time for you to leave. It's time for you to leave. You know what, brother? That's my issue. Okay, I'll step away. Sorry about that. Maybe I did get too involved. You need to learn when to step away. Hopefully you don't put your foot in neighbor's house uninvited. And of course this falls under unsolicited advice. I don't give unsolicited advice. I don't. What does that mean? That means you give your advice, even though nobody's asked you for it. It's so easy to do because I mean well. Okay. Look, it's not your place. If someone asks, look, you say, well, I have to give advice because nobody comes to me for advice. There's a reason why nobody comes to you for your advice. Because your foot has been in the neighbor's house for too long. And look, you know what led to that verse? Look at verse number 16. Let's go back. Verse number 16. Hadst thou found honey? I found honey. Something sweet. Eat so much as is sufficient for thee. For thee. Lest thou be filled therewith and vomited. And then it says, withhold, withdraw thy foot from the neighbors. You know why? He's like, oh man, I found something amazing. Faster. I just got to tell. I don't know. Can you think of something? I've come across a toilet system that like the Japanese toilets. You know what I'm talking about? Where there's, you know, it sprays water. It heats up. Every house needs to have this. Brother, sister, you should have this toilet seat. Look, I'm glad you found honey, but enough that it's sufficient for thee. Just for you. Okay. Otherwise, lest thou be filled therewith and vomited. You know what that unsolicited advice sounds like to us that don't want it? Vomit. It's not sweet as honey. You might as well just vomit all over me. I don't, why'd you do that? That stinks. Why'd you have to come so close? That's unsolicited advice. It sounds like honey to you. Tastes like honey to you, but it's vomit to the other person that's hearing it. Coming to Proverbs 18. Proverbs 18, 15. When should I give my advice? When should I give my opinion, pastor? There's a simple rule in the whole Bible. I'll just give you this proverb. Proverbs 18, 15. This is just a simple, great rule of thumb. Okay. There are other times to give advice, but this is just a good rule of thumb. Proverbs 18, 15. The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. When someone is seeking knowledge and they come to you, brother, I think you have this knowledge. I'm seeking it. Can you please tell me what you think about this situation? Now it's not unsolicited advice, is it? When they're seeking is when you give them the knowledge. When you give them the wisdom. When someone is not seeking your advice or your wisdom, that's vomit. Okay. That's you're going to bite and you're going to devour. It's again, but ah, but what I have to say is so good. It's sweet to you. It's sufficient for thee, please. And leave everybody else. Stand away before you start throwing up. Okay. Stay away from everybody else. But I had good intentions. Again, I had good intentions and I believe, I believe, you know, when something happens, when things, I just, my default position, I'm just going to start to think they had, they meant well, they wanted to do what is right. Okay. But if you've heard this sermon now and tomorrow, you still don't do it. I'm not going to say that you had good intentions. I'm going to say, you know what? You still rejected God's word and your intentions are bad because it's your flesh. You're carnal. You're prideful. You think your opinion is more important than someone else's opinion. Really what unsolicited advice is, is just a power grab. It makes me feel good that I can tell people how to live their life. It's just a satisfaction of the flesh. Now come back with me to Galatians 5, Galatians 5, 15, please. Galatians 5, 15, where we started, Galatians 5, 15. And look, I'll tell you, I'll tell you what I, what I could be wrong, but I tell you, I reckon right now, as I'm preaching this, people are like, brethren, love you again, love you, brethren, love you, brethren. They're like, yeah, Fass, you're right. Brother and sister Sansa need to get out of my life. Don't worry. They're listening to it as well. You need to get out of that brother and sister's life. Okay. It's easy to be, oh, I hope brother Sansa's listening. It's harder to go, man, I better be listening. Maybe I've overstepped my mark. I bet you, you have. I bet you I have. We do. We make these mistakes. Okay. And if we don't stop it, if we don't control it, if we don't make peace, this church is going to be divided before, as quickly as new people have come and been part of the church, as quickly as it's going to dissolve and fall away. If we don't pay attention to this important issue. Galatians 5, 15. So this is where we started from, but if you bite and devour one another, so, okay, when this happens, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. And I told you earlier that I feel like people can take bites out of me now and I just don't care. Okay. You sort of, it's part of growing up. It's part of maturing in the Lord. We get to the point where like, I don't care what my brother or sister, I care what God says about me. You get to that point. You really do. It's like, well, God, I just want to have a clear conscience before you. It doesn't matter what man has to say anymore. Okay. And that's a really good place to get to. It really is. It's a really solid place. But I want you to notice, take heed that ye be not consumed. So to be consumed means essentially to be destroyed. So think about the concepts. Like I might take a bite out of, let's say me and brother Oliver have an argument and I take a bite out of brother Oliver and then I devour, it's like quick consumption. But he just doesn't get consumed. Right. And I try to eat him quickly in our argument. But then he's just, he's just not going down. I can't consume him. You know what happens? He becomes a choking hazard. I can't finish him off. Brevin, the last point I have for you is when people start to bite and devour you, you need to learn to become a choking hazard. You can't be consumed by it. You can't say, pastor, I'm done with church. Pastor, I'm done with Christianity. Church is full of hypocrites. I run and I'm out. I'm out completely. You've been consumed. You have to become a choking hazard. And that's why I don't mind anymore. If someone say, you'll take a bite at me and show me the Bible verse, please. I'm going to continue. I'll continue doing what you don't want me to do. Because I have liberty. And if you're choking it, you're choking it. It's your real problem, not me. And then people get mad when they choke. Oh, you're choking me. You're the one trying to devour me. You're, you're doing the attack. Spit me up. Right? Like, like, like Jonah in the way of just spit me back out and you'll be fine. You know, when sometimes people give us gifts for the kids and often the little gifts say something like choking hazard, small parts, not for children under three years. Okay. Cause that's the idea. Children under three years are more likely to take those parts and put them in their mouth. Start choking. Okay. Now come with me to first Corinthians chapter three. First Corinthians chapter three. First Corinthians chapter three and verse number one. First Corinthians chapter three and verse number one. Again, we know the Corinthian church was divisions, right? All these problems. First Corinthians chapter three, verse one, it says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. You know, it's babes. It's young, many times young believers that want to bite and devour. They learn something. Now I know better than everybody else. They learn something. Now I know more than the pastor does. They bite and because they're babes, they start to choke. Choking hazard. They're three years and under spiritually speaking, right? They start to choke. And look, he says in verse number two, I have fed you with milk and not with meat and hitherto you were not able to bear it neither yet now are ye able. Because I can't give you meat. I can't teach you the depths of God's word because you're going to choke on this. So all I can give you is milk. Again, milk is what babies get, right? That's what all babies can consume is pretty much milk. Once they grow, then they can add the solids to the diet and eventually meat. But there's a maturity that's required. And when there's fightings, fightings, devourings and contentions, I'm telling you, it's the nature of a baby. Like one baby takes another baby's toy and they start to cry. Even I didn't play for the last hour or so. He says in verse number three, are you not carnal, carnal fleshly? For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions. Like envying is looking at someone else. So, oh man, I want to have what they have. Strife and divisions, are you not carnal and work as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Paul, are you not carnal? Look, he's rebuking the church. He says, grow up, stop fighting. Stop biting and devouring one another. You say, pastor, what happened? I had a situation. Someone's taking a bite. Someone's tried to devour. Okay. And I feel like I've been consumed. I feel like I'm just over it, pastor. You know, I've come to church. I just want to be amongst God's people. Wanted to do what is right. And I'm just being constant. People just constantly coming into my life, trying to direct me. I'm losing the liberty. They're stripping away, you know, my freedoms in Christ. They make me feel horrible every time I do something they don't approve of. What do I do? Well, of course, I don't have time to go into this. Maybe next time. Okay. You need to take the issue one on one with that person and just tell them. Don't hide from them. Don't ignore them. Just take them one on one. Okay. God gives us, Jesus Christ gives us direction and just sort it out. And look, sometimes I go to a brother, I'll go to someone and say, look. And this is what I say, even if I don't think they mean well. Hey, brother, you probably mean well, you know, thank you for your concern, but. And usually, sort it out. I've had people come up to me, pastor, you've offended me. I'm glad when they do that. I'm glad they've come to me and not gone throughout the whole church and started to open their mouth for what this, sort it out, say sorry. I'm easy. I'm quick to say sorry. Because I know I'm a sinner. I know my flesh gets in the way. I know I say stupid things. I'm willing to admit all of that. But someone wants to sort it out. I'll sort it out. Yeah, I messed up. Even if I don't think I messed up. You know what, I'm quick to say sorry anyway. Because maybe I did. You know, maybe I was being an idiot, but I didn't see it. Okay. Blinded by my own carnal self. But come with me to Luke 6, please. Luke 6 and verse number 27. Luke 6, verse number 27. Because most of the sermon today has been stop the biting and devouring. But what if it has happened? Like I said, sort it out one on one. That's the right thing to do. But just some other verses that come to mind just to finish off the sermon. Luke chapter 6, verse number 27. Luke chapter 6, verse number 27. But I say unto you, these are the words of Christ, which here love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. Can you put that into your life? Yeah, maybe your brother did offend you. Maybe they did have a go at you. Maybe they did get they interfered. Maybe they did vomit their unsolicited advice all over you. It stinks and you don't like it. Can you do good to them? Can you say, you know what, I don't want this to continue. I'm not going to return with my bites. I'm not going to try to devour them in return. I'm going to try to do good unto them. You guys know these passages. First Peter chapter three, please. First Peter chapter three. First Peter chapter three, verse number eight. First Peter chapter three, verse number eight. First Peter chapter three, verse number eight. Finally, be ye of all one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing, knowing that ye are there unto God and that, look, ye should inherit a blessing. We talked about understanding the Book of Revelation this morning and receiving a blessing. God says, you know what, you're going to inherit a blessing too. You know, if you learn to make peace with one another, you know, and sometimes when you do good, when someone has intended evil upon you and you do good to them, yet they start to choke on that. They can't understand, you know, why you're not doing that in return. Like I've been in situations where people try to push my buttons to get a negative response as a pastor so then they can then complain about how I respond to that situation. And I found I'm never going to give them what they want and they never get what they want. They start to choke. They can't consume. I'm not going to allow myself to be consumed. And you're not going to be consumed if all you care about is what God thinks of you. God's asking you, look, do good to those that have done you wrong. Verse number 10, for he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Look, I want you, I want to love life. I want to see good days. That's the blessing, right? If we don't bite and devour one another. Verse number 11, let him assure evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it. My strong encouragement to you. The pastor, this person tried to bite. They did bite me. They tried to devour. They've tried to consume. We don't see eye to eye. We don't get along. You know, they crossed into my boundaries or I crossed into their boundaries and now it's all falling apart. Look, seek peace and sue it. I want you to love life. I want you to see good days. That requires you to make peace with the people that have been biting and devouring. So brethren, I just want us to always get along. I want 20 years from now that we're all still best friends, right? I want our kids to get along and their kids to get along. But we need to understand the reality. Contensions come. And when they come, please stop for a moment. Just stop. And it's a who has trampled into somebody else's territory. Was it me? Oops. I better refrain my foot from my neighbor's house. Was it my neighbor? Excuse me, neighbor. Can you please step away? I know you meant well, but that's my issue to deal with. Okay. And don't enforce your traditions or the commandments of men. Don't teach them as the commandments of God. All right. Okay, let's pray.