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All right, let's get into the preacher now. So if you look at Psalm 119, Psalm 119, and look at verse number 165, it says, great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Nothing shall offend them. That's the title for the sermon this afternoon. Nothing shall offend them. I was trying to find a sermon. I do believe I preached on offense once before. I just couldn't find the sermon. I must have titled it something unusual, but I couldn't find it. And I've been thinking a lot about this topic because I often get told by people, it seems like nothing offends you, Pastor Kevin. You don't get offended. You don't get irritated very easily. Even when someone's attacking you, even when someone's saying things about you, you just don't seem to care. You just fob it off. The truth is I do get offended. The truth is, you know, when you think about the word offense, it's an emotion, isn't it? It's an emotion. We all feel emotions. Emotions in of themselves are not sinful, okay? They're not sinful. You know, if you hate the things that God hates, that's right. You know, hate, the emotion of hate is not the sin. It's just what you hate might be sinful. But if you hate the things that God hates, that's fine. Hey, love is a great emotion, isn't it? But if you love the things that God hates, is that good? If you love the things that God hates, that's sinful. You know, you're putting your emotions in the wrong place. So emotions in of themselves, like fearing, you know, fear. Should we fear? Well, we should fear God, but should we fear men above God? No, that would be the sin. Fearing man would be the sin, but fearing God is righteous. You know, emotions in of themselves are not sinful. You know, be ye angry and sin not, the Bible says. Nothing wrong with anger. God gets angry, otherwise he'd be a sinner. Emotions are there. God feels, you know, many of the same emotions that we feel. And even when it comes to the topic of offense, God feels offense because every time you sin, you offend God, you offend his laws, right? And so the feeling of offense is not the sin. Obviously it's how you react or what you're getting offended of that might be the sinful thing. And so quite often, and I believe when I preached, I couldn't find the sermon, so you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the last time I preached on this topic, I was talking about the need to have thick skin, okay? Thick skin, and yes, that is an important part, especially as a Christian. In fact, when I look at my points that I have to preach this afternoon, that is my final point, that we need to have thick skin, okay? Because let's look at it once again, look at that verse. Great peace have they which what? Love thy law. You know, the more you love the law of God, the more you love his doctrines and his word, the more you're gonna offend people, okay? The more you stand on the word of God, the more people are gonna be offended by what you believe or by what you say, okay? And because they don't like it, they're gonna be saying nasty things about you. They're going to try to get under your skin. They're going to try to frustrate you, okay? But the more you love God's word, you say, you know what? I'm unmovable, I love his word, I'm gonna stand on his word even if it's unpopular, okay? And so yeah, you do need thick skin, okay? But you can see that being offended is based on, or how you get offended or how much you get offended is based on your spiritual maturity. The more mature you are, the more you know God's word, the more you love God's word, the less you will be offended. And so those that are easily offended, yes, there is a lack of spiritual maturity and that is an important part. You know, we should have thick skin, you know? But one thing that I've observed, and sometimes I have all these sermons in my mind that I want to preach, but I just don't know how to communicate it. And this is one of those sermons, and I'm going to try to communicate it clearly as best as I can, okay? But there's the thought, okay, I've got to have thick skin, you know, I'm just going to stand on God's word. And so you know what? You know, I need to proclaim where I stand. It doesn't matter who I offend. You know, the idea is that, you know, I'm just going to stand on God's word, you know, let the chips fall where they may, you know, it doesn't matter what happens. And yet we don't see that same attitude in mature people of God, okay? It's almost like, you know, in order for me not to get offended, I've got to offend everybody else before they get offended. I've got to tell them all this stuff. Listen, when you come to church, I'm going to preach to you God's truth unfiltered, unfiltered. If you get offended, you get offended. I'm expecting you want to come to church sometimes to get offended. That's what I expect. I expect because we're not perfect. We're not living perfectly, all right? We still do wrong things. And so when you hear things about your sin or about your situation, I expect you to get a bit uncomfortable, a little offended by God's word. All right, that's the right place for that. But then you want to do something about it, right? Instead of going, well, I got offended, I'm not going to come back to church. That's a wrong attitude. That's a sinful attitude. But if you get offended, you go, well, actually, you know what? That is wrong in my life. I need to fix that. Well, that's good. You know, it's good. The offense works the work that it needs to work. But it's almost like, and I've observed this, you know, in Christianity, it's almost like in order for me not to get offended, I've got to offend somebody else. And that's not the approach that we see with mature Christians. Can you please turn to First Corinthians chapter 10? Turn to First Corinthians chapter 10, please. First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 32. So just because the preacher behind the pulpit should preach unfiltered, preach the truth of God's word, it doesn't mean you now in your relationships, in your friendships, in your workplace, that you just go preach in the word of God unfiltered. Obviously, there's a right place for these things. It's not like everybody's asking you, you know, what does the word of God, how badly can you offend me? Listen, the world is already offended by God's word. We know that, okay? But when we look at First Corinthians chapter 10, verse number 32, again, this is Paul writing to an immature church, an immature church. He says to an immature church, give none offense. He goes, stop offending people, okay? So it's the mark of an immature person that's going around trying to offend as many people as they can. Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God. Why is that important? Look at verse 33. Even as I please all men in all things, so Paul's trying to please people. He's trying to get around and get along with people. Why? Not seeking my non-profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved. So Paul is very careful. I'm not going to purposely just get out there and offend as many people as I can because I'm trying to win them to Christ. I'm trying to see them saved. And so what Paul is saying that if you take this attitude, oh, I don't care who I offend, let the chips fall where they may, and you take that into your workplace, and you take that into your family life, your extended family, your friends, that you're going to be a detriment to their road to salvation. You could offend them so much that they're like, you know what, I want nothing to do with that belief that you have. I want nothing to do with that church that you speak about. And so we have to be careful about offending people. And if you look at, go to 1 Corinthians chapter eight, chapter eight now, and verse number 13, same book, chapter eight, verse number 13. Not only was Paul mindful about not offending non-believers because they are going to be saved. Remember he said, don't even offend the church of God. Well, Paul is even mindful to not offend his fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord. Look at verse number 13, chapter eight, verse 13. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, that's the food he eats, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. He says, look, before, if I'm gonna, you know, for him, it's fine to eat that plate of food. But if that plate of food somehow offends his brother, he's gonna be mindful about that. And he doesn't want to offend his brother. So he's being mindful, right, that he's thinking about other people. He realizes that a weak brother's in the Lord that may be offended at something that he feels by his conscience free to do, that's not a sin of itself, but to not offend somebody, he doesn't want to do it, right? So Paul, we see as a mature believer, speaking to an immature church, hey, be careful to not offend non-believers, but also your fellow brethren, okay? So we have to balance these two ideas, right? Being careful not to offend, but at the same time, stand for the truth. And basically, brethren, it's like this. As I said, at church, I'm just gonna preach, I don't care who I offend, I'm gonna preach the Bible. If I'm preaching the Bible, I don't really care, okay? Because that's what you come to listen to, right? Otherwise, I feel like I'd be offending you more if I didn't preach the Bible, right? Because that's, you come with an expectation to hear the word of God. But listen, if I'm about my business, and I'm coming across, you know, if I'm going to the shop, and I meet a cash register lady, and she's got a badge that says love is love, or something like that, I'm not gonna go and say, hey, you know what, you know what the Bible says about that? I'm just gonna be like, well, you know? I mean, I'm not saying that she's necessarily that way, but she might be supporting that, because that's the way this world is going, for example. You know, I'm just gonna, hey, thanks for, you know, have a good day, you know? I'm not seeking to offend. I hope that there are people out in this world that, you know, by your good conversation, by your good behavior, by trying to get along, not for your own profit, but that you're seeking the profit of others, that they would come to Christ, okay? So we have to balance these ideas. Now, if someone comes to you and says, hey, I know you're a Bible believer. What does God say about X topic? At that point, that person's coming to you, and look, sometimes they have come to me, and I say to them, look, if I tell you what I believe, well, the Bible says you're probably gonna get offended. Do you wanna hear it? At least, if they get offended, they know I was mindful enough to make them, that I thought about them, that this might offend them, and they can pull out now if they want. They can pull out before I go full on, but listen, you know, we have to be careful about those things, right? Now, I'm not talking about compromising what you believe. I'm not gonna compromise the word of God. I'm not gonna compromise what I believe, okay? I'm just saying, we gotta be careful about how we interact with other people around us, and so when we think back to that verse that we read, Psalm 119, 165, great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. Yes, it is partly, you need to have thick skin yourself, because you're gonna get offended, right? But also, when I was thinking about this, the more you love the law of God, what's gonna happen? Aren't you gonna grow in knowledge? Aren't you gonna know how to live that Christian life? Aren't you going to learn how to keep yourself from dangerous situations? That you're going to be able to keep yourself from sin? That you're gonna know how to live a life, how Jesus Christ wants you to live that life, and so it's not just having a thick skin, so that nothing offends you, because you will get offended, it's an emotion, okay? But rather, also, I shall not rather, but also, the fact that the more you know God's word, you know, you won't put yourself in a position to be offended. You won't put yourself in a position to be offended. So I've got six points, I believe, six points to get through this afternoon, or five points, five points, and the last point, yes, is about having thick skin, but the other points are about keeping yourself from a situation that will offend you. And if you put yourself in a position where you shouldn't have put on, put yourself in, you get offended, well, you should have loved God's law enough to know you shouldn't have put yourself in that position, okay, if that makes sense. So it's about balancing these two things. As I said, there are some topics that I find sometimes hard to communicate, so they're just back in my mind, so I'm doing the best I can to communicate, but of course, you can ask me any questions after the service. Now, if we can please turn to, let's have a look. Let's go to Matthew chapter six for me. Go to Matthew chapter six. So I'm mainly focused on preaching about not putting yourself in a situation that will cause you to become offended, okay? Because then you can say, hey, nothing shall offend me, because you didn't put yourself in that position to get offended in the first place, all right? You go to Matthew chapter six, and I'm going to read to you from Ephesians chapter six, verse five, which reads, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. Now, verse number six is the important part. Not with eye service as men pleases, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with good will doing service as to the Lord, and not to men. Number one, point number one that I have for you, expect to go unrecognized, that you do a work, you do a task. Just have the expectation that I may do this task, I might do this service, I might do this good work, and I'm going to go unrecognized. Just expect that to happen, okay? Because if you think every time you do something good, something right, that someone's going to come and pat you on the back and applause you, well, when it doesn't happen, you're going to get offended. You're going to say, well, why didn't they mention me? You know, this is what I'm talking about this morning. You know, I was thanking people that served, that helped out in the ladies' high tea. And I told you, I don't like saying that, because generally you miss somebody. You tend to forget somebody, not intentionally, but someone that does it for the praise of men, they're going to get offended and say, well, hold on, that person did less than I did, and they got recognized. What about me? And then what's going to happen? Ah, Pastor Kevin doesn't like me. That's why, or that person doesn't, oh, you just forgot, okay? That's what happened. You just forgot, that's all. It's not that you, you know, everybody that serves in this church, I appreciate you. You know, I'd rather say in general, I appreciate all of you, because that way I don't miss anybody, okay? But you know what? If you live a life expecting to be recognized, then you're going to get offended. You're going to get offended. And so what is that passage teaching us? That we do our task as unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus will always recognize you. Now, when I talk about being unrecognized, I'm talking about the praise of men, okay? You should be willing to do, no matter what it is, whatever's right, no matter who praises you. You know, I've mentioned before in my workplace, you know, I would make other people, you know, I'm thinking about to one of my main workplace where I worked for nine years in an electrical company. You know, I made other people look really good, okay? Because I would come up with ideas to help generate more sales for different departments to hit targets. I could look at a department and say, you know what? You guys could be achieving what you're trying to achieve if you did this. And I would try to find a way where they can help me and I can help them. So it's a win-win situation. But then that other department supervisor would get the praise. They would get the pay rises. They would get the bonuses because they were able to achieve those things. And I find sometimes that I was unappreciated, even though it was my idea. Now, there were times some people said, hey, you know what? Don't forget Kevin over there. Because he is the one that came up with the idea. But you know what happens sometimes? Sometimes those managers, they don't want to give, you know, praise to anybody else. And he'd be like, yep, I came up with the idea, even though they spent hours with me trying to work out what I'm trying to say to them to make things better for them. But they would not want to recognise me. And my manager came up to me and said, Kevin, you've got to toot your own horn. You've got to blow your own horn. You do something good. You've got to tell everyone about it. I said, no, I don't care. I don't care if no one recognises me because I already established in my heart, whatever I do, it's unto the Lord. Hey, if the company I work for makes more sales, that just guarantees I'm going to be my job longer. It just guarantees that people I work around are going to be a little happier. So it's going to make my life a lot easier. And if I don't get recognised by a man, hey, I'm going to be recognised by God. You always get recognised by God. Should we desire recognition? I believe so. But the recognition of God, here's the one that's going to reward us. Now he may reward you by somebody coming up to your back, patting you on the back, well done. That might be part of your recognition by God. You know, God knows that we need that from time to time, right? But that's not what we should be living for. You know what? If you don't get recognised on this earth, just remind yourself, I'm going to be recognised in heaven. The Lord will reward me. I'd rather get rewarded in heaven where those rewards last, those treasures last forever for all eternity than the temporary stuff on this earth. But you need to go in that mindset. Brethren, if you're serving this church, expect to be forgotten. You do a work, expect to go unrecognised. It's just expect it to happen. Now it's not ideal. You know, we do want to recognise people that serve and work hard. It's not ideal, but it's going to happen. And if you haven't prepared yourself, you're going to get offended. Hey, what did the Bible say? Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. So don't put yourself in a situation where you only do things if you want to be seen of men. Otherwise you're going to start serving the church. You don't get recognised, you don't get recognised. I'm going to quit. I give up, I give up in the service, okay? That's not the right way. If your eyes are on Jesus Christ to serve him, that's what matters. You're in Matthew chapter six, verse number one. Jesus says, take heed that you do not your arms, that's your good works before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. You know what? If your desire is just to please man, to be seen of man, God's not going to reward you. You're not going to be rewarded in heaven. Is that how you want to live your life? Of course not. Verse number two. Therefore when thou doest thine arms, do not sound a trumpet before thee. That's what my manager was saying to me. Like literally those words. You've got to toot your own horn. You've got to blow the trumpet, Kevin. And Jesus is telling me, don't do it. Don't blow the trumpet. Who am I going to listen to? I'm going to listen to Jesus, of course, right? Therefore when thou doest thine arms, do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men, verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But when thou doest arms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine arms may be in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. And so listen, you're never going unrecognized. If you have the right mindset. If you have the mindset that I'm doing it for God, no matter what man says to me, then you're always, you're not going to get offended. In fact, you're probably going to prefer not being recognized by man at all, just to make sure you get the full reward by God in heaven. And he's going to reward you openly. In heaven, everyone's going to know that you serve the Lord, you're faithful to him, and those rewards will be on show. So there's nothing wrong with desiring to be recognized as long as you're desiring to be recognized by God, and not by man. Now please turn to Luke chapter six for me. Luke chapter six. So point number one is expect to go unrecognized. I don't want you to live a life where you're constantly offended, all right? Expect to go unrecognized for the good works that you do. Now while you're turning to Luke chapter six, I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 26 verse 17. Hear that passeth by, and Medleth with strife, belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. Wow, all right? So if you're walking past, you see some dog, you grab the dog by the ears, you know, it's going to retaliate, it's going to bark, it's going to bite, it might chase you down. You're going to get yourself in problems if you go and pull that dog from its ears. That's the same thing as you getting yourself involved in somebody else's strife. Now here's the thing about this brethren, the point number two is mind your own business. Mind your own business. If you go and you meddle in someone else's business, expect them to retaliate. Expect them to say, hey, who are you? What are you doing here? Expect them to say things about you and then you get offended. Or maybe you, you know what, you wouldn't have gotten offended in the first place if you didn't get involved in someone else's matters. Mind your own business. Mind your own business. Look at Luke chapter six verse 41. And I'm sorry to say, but there are so many Christians like this in verse number 41. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceiveth not the beam that is in thine own eye? Listen, we all have sin. We all have sin. It's easy to point to someone else. It's easy to point to brother so-and-so and sister so-and-so. It's easy to hear a sermon and say, and I know I repeat myself, but it's so important. And say, well, oh yeah, Pastor Kevin's preaching about brother Tim. I don't know. You know, he's preaching about, I don't wanna say names, that's bad. But you know what? That's the wrong, that's easy. But no, you gotta take this on board. You gotta take this on board. There are too many Christians like this. Verse number 42. Either, how canst thou say to thy brother, brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye, thou hypocrite cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. And so the fact that it's in your eye speaks about your vision not being clear, okay? You look at somebody else and go, man, that person's struggling with sin, that person's not living for God, you know? But you've got something else in your own eye. You've got your own problems in your own eye. Listen, you need to cleanse yourself first so you can see clearly, then you can go help somebody else. Now listen, if that person doesn't want your help, they don't want your help, okay? I mean, at the end of the day, brethren, the least you can do is go to God in prayer and pray for brother and son and son, pray for sister and son and son. Sometimes you just have to leave things in God's hand. It's not your job to run around and sort out everybody's problems, everybody else's matters, everybody else's business. Because if you try to do that, those brothers and sisters are gonna retaliate and you're gonna get offended. And you're gonna say, well, I meant well. Yeah, but it's not your business. You might mean well, just like that brother, the brother meant well to take the beam, the mote out of his brother's eye. He meant well, but he had his own problems and he looked like a hypocrite in the eyes of his brother. Thou hypocrite, okay? You know, I'm even careful about this as a pastor. And I realize that more people are gonna come to me than if I was just an average church member asking for help or these things. I'm even mindful about how I speak to them about their matters. Because I realize, one thing I had to realize when I became a pastor is I do not have authority in your homes, in your lives. That falls under the hands of dad, of the husband, okay? That's the head of the house, not pastors, okay? Pastors are in charge in the church and Christ is the head of the church, okay? The pastor is just the under shepherd but the chief shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have to be careful not to be just looking out for somebody else's business and thinking that we can get involved and sort that out for them, okay? There are proper authority structures in other people's lives that they need to go to first and get that sorted out from. If you can go to Luke chapter 12 verse number 13 please, go there, Luke chapter 12 and verse number 13. Luke chapter 12 verse number 13. This passage that I'm about to read to you is the passage that made me ultimately say, you know what, yes, I'm ready to be a pastor. I'm happy to be a pastor now. Once I had to clear out my misunderstanding of what pastors are because I've seen many pastors do certain things and I'm like, you know what, I just don't wanna be like that. I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna get involved in that. I don't wanna know about this person's sins and that person and I don't wanna get involved in that argument there in that family. And when I got to this passage and it finally clicked, I'm like, praise God, okay? Because look at Luke 12, 13, Luke 12, 13, and one of the companies said unto him, that's to Jesus, master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me. And he said unto him, man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? Can you believe that? Jesus Christ, the God of the universe, the creator of all things says, look, who's made me a judge and divider over you? Look, Jesus respected, Jesus respected the authority, the decisions made in the family institution. He says, look, if your parents have left the inheritance to your brother, what's that to me? Or if it's not been divided, who am I to come? Listen, Jesus is the chief shepherd. Jesus is the chief pastor. You come to me with your family issues, I'm gonna be like Jesus. Who's made me a judge over you? Who's made me a divider over you? Hey, I'm the church pastor. If Jesus didn't get involved in that kind of business, then how much less should I? How much less should I get involved in that? And so I'm gonna mind my own business. I'm gonna pray, listen, if I know a situation, I'll be praying for you. That's the job of a pastor, to be praying for God's people. I'm gonna lift you in prayer, okay? But at the end of the day, I'm gonna hope, Jesus, God, can you just step in and sort that out? Or Lord, can you please put in the heart of that father, that husband, to work that situation out in his family? But at the end of the day, because I know, if I get in there, if I try to work things out, first of all, it's not my business, and I'm gonna end up offending somebody, and they're gonna get angry at me. They're gonna try to offend me back, all right? Who are you? Well, you're right. Who am I to get involved in your family business? Even Jesus was careful not to do that. But then, how many pastors wanna get involved in people's family business? Okay, how many times do you see this? Okay, Jesus is our example. He is the chief shepherd. All right, can you please turn to, I'll get to turn to, let's go to Proverb 17. Let's go to Proverb 17. So point number one, brethren, is expect to go unrecognized. Point number two is mind your own business. Point number three is develop friendships based on character, not interests. Develop friendships based on character, not interests. And if you've, you know, obviously I went to high school, and the kids that are homeschooled, you're not gonna necessarily understand this, I think. But, you know, in school, in the school system, you build friendships on interests. So if you're into some type of music, if you're into heavy metal, for example, music, you'll find friends that like that same kind of music, and that's your network of friends. Or maybe your friend, you like basketball, your friends love, you know, the other guys love basketball, you're gonna develop a network of friendships around that same common interest. I remember, you know, we had the dorks, the nerdy group, maybe not dorks, the nerdy group, where they like computer and technology. You know who their friends were? All their friends loved computer and technologies and the internet and programming and all that kind of stuff. You know, people develop friendships around interests. And I understand, I understand that if you find something that you're interested in the same area, you can have lots of talk about, and you'll be able to connect. But what happens when you build it on interests, you can make friendships with people who have bad character, who will be bad friends, bad friends, all right? Though there could be somebody that has no similar interest to you, but they just have a great character. They might be a great friend. And you know, in school, you don't really understand this, but as you grow and you mature and you're forced to interact, you go to the workplace or whatever, you're forced to interact with people that don't have the same interests. Well, all of a sudden, life becomes better. Life becomes more interesting. When you have a group of people around you that see things a different way, that are interested in other things, because then you start to learn. Hey, you know what? I had no interest on that topic, but you have a great interest in that topic. I can learn from you. You know, even unbelievers have interests that you might be able to learn from, right? They might have skills that you can learn from, all right? Now, I'm not talking about the bio. I'm not saying, you know, get around false prophets that have great character. They don't have great character than false prophets to begin with. But you know, that's the idea that the school system forces upon you to think I must make friends with people that have the same interests regardless of their character. But what we learn in the Bible, your friends ought to be based on their character, how they can be a support to you, how you can be a support to them, you know, developing good friendships. And the reason I say this is because if you've developed a friendship based on interest, but they've got a bad character about themselves, they could be a horrible friend and they could be offending you time and time again. I think we've all experienced a friend who is hot and cold. You know, sometimes it's great, but other times it's like you're walking on eggshells, you know, you're worried, they're lashing out and you get offended. You're like, is this guy my friend or not? But then tomorrow all of a sudden he's my friend again. And then see after that, you know, he's offended again. And you know, I don't know if you've all had a friend like that. Hey, that's a friend that has a bad character. You might've developed it on some interests, but now you've got to realize that person's no good for you. Okay, where did I get you to turn? Was it Proverbs? Proverbs 17. Well, before I read that, I'll read to you from Psalm 101, verse five. It says, who so privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off. Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. These are the words of God. Who so privily or privately slandereth his neighbor? God says, I will cut that person off. You know what? God gets to a point where he says, you know, that person has such a bad character. I want nothing to do with that person. I'm going to cut him off from the congregation. Who was that person? The slanderer, the backstabber, the gossiper, okay? The person that, you know, pretends to be your friend and you feel like they're your friend because they come to you, but they only come to you to slander somebody else, to speak about somebody else, to speak about some other family, other people, to talk bad of other people. Hey, that's a person of bad character. God says, I want nothing to do with that person. I'm going to cut him off. You need to make the same decision. Look at the friendships that you have. Do people come to you think, oh, hey, you know what? That person must really like me because they're coming with their concerns and problems, but they're not coming to find comfort in you. They're coming to slander other people. That's a bad friend. You might have many similar interests, but it's a bad friend. You need to cut that person off, okay? You're in Proverbs 17, verse 17. Proverbs 17, verse 17. It says, a friend loveth at all times. You know, a good friend, a friend, biblically speaking, will not be hot and cold with you. You know they're going to love you all the time. All the time. At all times, the Bible says. That means they love you when you're doing well, and when you're having your trials and difficulties, and you make stupid mistakes, they're still going to love you. They're still going to say, hey, if you need to talk to somebody, I'm here. Hey, if you need support, I'm here. If you need prayers, I'm here. Hey, that's a good friend. That's a good friend, right? They're going to stick around. And then it says, and a brother is born for adversity. That means if you're going through adversities, you're going through a trial, as I said, that person's going to stick around. It's not just a friend. That person becomes like a brother, becomes a brother or sister, becomes like family. We're going to stand together, okay? That's what a good friend is like. He's got good character. He's going to stand behind you. It's not just about destroying the reputation and slandering other people. That's a bad friend to have, okay? And you know, we're talking about getting offended, because that friend will offend you. If that friend is so comfortable to go to you to slander someone else, they're doing the same thing to you. They're going to somebody else. They're probably going to the same person they slandered and say, hey, I love you. But you know, brother so-and-so's over there speaking about you now. That's a horrible friend, okay? And you will get offended. You will get offended and you'll be like, oh man, you know, have I done something wrong? Have I upset that person? You're going to be constantly offended, constantly upset. It's because you put yourself in a situation of surrounding yourself with bad friends, all right? Now, if you're a slanderer, if you're a gossiper, you need to take heed because people aren't going to like you. As time goes on, people are going to find out that this person's a bad friend. This person slanders up. I don't want anything to do with this person. Eventually they're just going to drift away, okay? And you need to wake up to yourself before you lose everybody around you, before you lose all your friends and your family. You better just wake up and say, I better fix this about myself because eventually everyone knows. You can cover it up to some extent, but eventually everyone recognize you are the bad egg. You are the one that's causing problems. You are the one backstabbing people. Eventually people wake up to it and you know, you've got to change that about yourself. Develop friendships based on character, not interest. That's point number three. Can you please turn to the book of Romans now, Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14. And this kind of sounds similar to mind your own business, but it's a little bit different. It's along the same lines, but it's a little bit different. So minding your own business is the idea that if you get in someone else's business, they're going to lash out at you, okay? Because it's not your business and you're going to get offended. That's part of it, okay? This other part though, point number four that I have here is understand that your words of advice are just advice. Okay? Your words of advice are just advice. Just because you give someone advice does not mean that person has to take your advice on board. If you have that expectation, you're going to find yourself getting offended because not everyone's going to take your advice. All right? And I've preached about this before, but sometimes as I said, people come to me as a pastor, you know, I'm in this situation, what would you do in my shoes? My first thought is I probably would not even be in that situation to begin with if I was in your shoes. Okay? But I think if I was in your shoes, I think this is what I would do. But you know better than me. You know, I've just learned about this for a few minutes. You know, you've been living that life. You've been living that out. You know the options. You know the pros and cons on the decisions you make. You know better. It's your choice. Okay? And sometimes people take my advice. Great. You know, it's just my advice. Like I'm not saying that it's perfect. You might find advice somewhere else and it'd be better advice than mine. It could be. All right? Or you might just develop your own. After you've talked to a few people, you've developed your own thoughts to go, you know what, I think this is the best way. But sometimes when people don't take my advice, they come to me and say, pastor, I'm really sorry. I didn't listen to your advice. I don't be sorry. I'm not offended because I have no expectation that you're going to carry through and do my advice. Even if I know my advice is the best. Even if it's based on the word of God 100%. You come to me, say, pastor, what do I do in this situation? Well, God's word says, do this. And you don't do it. I'm not offended. I'm not offended. All right? I'm thankful that I got the opportunity to show you from the word of God what it says. But at the end of the day, it's your responsibility. You're the one that's accountable to God for your decision. Okay? I can be accountable for giving bad advice. I can be accountable for giving you unbiblical, ungodly advice. I will be accountable for that. All right? But even if I tell you what is right and true, straight from the word of God, and you don't do it forever, I'm not offended. You don't have to come and apologise for me. Okay? Whatever consequences arise from that, that's now on your shoulders. Okay? And again, I'll be praying for you. I'll be praying that you sort that out. You're in Romans 14, look at verse number 10. Romans 14, verse number 10. The Bible reads, but why dost thou judge thy brother, or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Then it says, verse number 11, for it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God, so that every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Every one of us shall give account of himself to God. You are gonna stand before God one day, okay? And he's going to ask you, or whatever, whatever it works out. You know, your works for him, your righteousness, you know, your service for him, you'll be able to stand before him and present that before him. And as we know, you know, the fires of his judgment will pass through, and if they stand, if they last, you're gonna be rewarded. If they get burnt up because there was no eternal value, then you're not gonna be able to stand before God. You're gonna be rewarded for those things. We understand that. But each of us are accountable to God. And so if I give you advice and you don't take it, I'm not offended because I'm not your judge. I'm not judging you based on that, okay? You will be accountable to God for the decisions you make. You will be accountable. And fathers, don't forget this. Husbands, don't forget it. You're accountable for your family. I'm accountable for my family. I'm accountable also for New Life Baptist Church, all right? Sometimes, you know, people come to me every now and again. That's fine, I don't mind. I like to hear what people have to say, you know? But I don't always take on board what people tell me that I probably should do as a pastor or what I should do as a church. And I always say, I have to have a clean account before God. I'm gonna stand before God, you know, on the day of judgment, and when God judges our church, however that looks like again, you know, we're all gonna give our own individual account, but one day every church is going to give account as well for what we've done for God. And I'm willing. I'm thankful for these three years. I'm willing to stand for anything we've done so far as a church. You know, even those six weeks that we did not have church service over the pandemic, I have a clear conscience before God. And I'm willing to stand before God and say, yes, Lord, I made that decision, okay? But, you know, we're not a judge over each other. It's the Lord God that is the judge of each one of us. So that person is accountable. I'm not gonna get offended. You shouldn't get offended. You know, if you're someone that thinks everyone's gonna listen to you every time, every time you get advice, you are gonna get offended. In fact, I know people like that because people give me advice and they don't take it on board. I say, thank you for the advice, but I don't take it on board. People get offended, okay? But if you love the law of God, you're not gonna be offended by that. If you know that, you know, your advice is just your advice. Your opinion is just your opinion. You know what? Everyone's got an opinion about situations, okay? But we're all accountable for the things that God has given us personally. Now, if you can please turn to, I'll get you to turn to John chapter 16. We're almost done now. Turn to John chapter 16. Let me go through the points so far. Nothing shall offend them. Point number one, expect to go unrecognized. Number two, mind your own business. Number three, develop friendships based on character, not interests. Number four, your words of advice are just advice. And number five, be spiritually prepared for persecution. Be spiritually prepared for persecution. This kind of now comes into the thick skin territory, okay? Thick skin territory. You'll turn to John chapter 16, verse one. But I'm going to just quickly read to you a passage in Matthew 13, 20. It's the parable of the sower, and I'm just gonna read one portion to you. It says, but he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word of God, and anon with joy receiveth it. Yet hath he not root in himself, but dearer for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. By and by he is offended. You know, there are many Christians that are not prepared for tribulation or persecution. We need to make sure that we are spiritually prepared for that. Now listen, again, getting rejected at the door, door to the sower winning, that's not persecution. Someone yelling profanity at you behind the door when you got a daughter, that's not persecution. Well, I guess it is, it's persecution. But when you read the persecution in the Bible, being arrested, being put to death, being sawn asunder, you know, being cast out, that's true persecution. The person, I got banned on Facebook. I'm in Facebook jail because of my stand or whatever. Who cares? Are you serious? You have to talk about it. You have to keep going on about it. That's not real persecution. It's on a computer screen. Your life goes on. Unless your life is that tied up to Facebook, you figure it's real life. That's a scary place to be, you know? But listen, the persecution we face is not real persecution compared to what we see in the Bible. What about the persecution Jesus went through when he got arrested? I mean, are we anything close to that, brethren? Are we right now in 2020 close to losing our lives? But some people act like it is. Some people act like, oh man, churches are under attack. We know this pandemic is all about destroying God's people. Really? We're still having church. I don't remember any soldiers coming in here just trying to stop the services from running. We're still operating, right? We're still going. We're still pushing ahead. Souls are still being saved. You know, there is persecution coming. It's guaranteed to come. And so we need to get mentally, spiritually ready for it. And so you're in John 16, verse number one. John 16, verse number one, it says, these are the words of Jesus. These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be offended. What did you say to us, Jesus? Look at verse number two. They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. Killeth you. That's real persecution. When God's people are being put to death for what they believe, for believing the word of God, for preaching the word of God, for practicing their religion in accordance to God's word. And Jesus says, look, I'm warning you. I'm telling you, there's coming a time when you will be persecuted. In fact, there are places in this world that people are being persecuted. There are places in this world where Christians are losing their life. Okay, persecution will come. And Jesus says, look, I'm telling you, I'm warning you so you don't get offended. Don't get offended when it happens. What is Jesus saying? Get some thick skin. You know, get some thick spiritual skin. Get some thick mental skin. Understand, you know, yes, you've been saved, praise God. Praise God you've got an eternity in heaven. But there can come a time when persecution arises and it will come. I don't know when it'll come on the Sunshine Coast. I don't know if it's my generation, the next generation. It doesn't matter when it comes. We still need to prepare ourselves for that and understand God does not want us to get offended. Does not want us to get offended. And so brethren, be spiritually prepared for persecution. If you don't prepare yourself for persecution, you're gonna be like that example that we saw in the parable of the sower, where by and by he's offended. You weren't expecting the tribulation. You weren't expecting the persecution to come. But it's coming. It's coming. I don't know when. You know, I don't know when, but it's coming. And so if we don't prepare ourselves, we will be offended. If we don't prepare ourselves, we will fall away from serving the Lord, from loving the Lord, because we're gonna try to hide ourselves from that situation. But you know what, when persecution comes, that's when Christianity blossoms. You read it in the Bible. When persecution comes, that's when the word of God gets spread throughout the entire world, okay? Because, listen, persecution will drive you out. You've got the word of God. You've got the Holy Spirit of the Lord. If you're close to God, he's gonna fill you with his Holy Ghost. You're gonna have a confidence. You're gonna have a boldness, more than you've ever had. Listen, Christianity flourishes under persecution. That's the kind of Christian God wants us to be, when that time comes that we're doing even greater things for God. Even greater things for God, under that persecution. So once again, brethren, the title, Nothing Shall Offend Them. Yes, get yourself some thick spiritual skin, right? Be spiritually prepared for persecution. But if you love the word of God, you've got to learn from that. And don't put yourself in a position where you will get offended, right? And those positions, like I said, number one, expect to go unrecognized. Number two, mind your own business. Number three, develop friendships based on character. Number four, your words of advice are just advice, okay? And number five, be spiritually prepared for persecution. Let's pray.