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🎵Music🎵 You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You I'll give you a 30-second warning because we're always late Baptist Church Welcome to Shurf Foundation Baptist Church. Turn on your hymnals to 601 in the Blue. 601 in the Blue today. Battle Hymn of the Republic. He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored. He hath loosed the faithful lightning of terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. I have seen him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps. They have builded him an altar in the evening dews and damps. I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. His day is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that can never sound retreat. He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judge and seat. O be swift my soul to answer him. Be jubilant my feet. Our God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea with the glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me. As he died to make men holy let us die to make men free while God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on. Great singing. Brother Sean Conlon, can you open us in a word of prayer? Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for this opportunity to be in church today. I pray that you bless this day. I pray that you bless the soul in it. And please bless our worship for you right now. Lord, God bless your spirit today. Amen. Next hymn will be 51, To God Be the Glory. 51 in the blue hymnal. To God be the glory, great things he hath done, So lofty the world that he gave us his song. O yield in his life an atonement for sin, And open the life gate that all may go in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear his voice, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, And give him the glory, great things he hath done, O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, To e'er he believeth the promise of God, The vilest offender who truly believes. But moment from Jesus a pardon receives, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear his voice, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, And give him the glory, great things he hath done, Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done, And great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son, But purer and higher and greater will be, Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the earth hear his voice, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, Let the people rejoice. O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, And give him the glory, great things he hath done. While they're doing that, I'm just going to read the verse of the week on the front page there. It says, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2 verse 15, it's a great scripture there. Very important that we rightly divide the Bible and not make up our own doctrines, things like that. So, on the inside left page there, we have just a short message from me to any first time visitors or new families here. We are Independent Fundamental and we're King James only, we're Soul Winning and Salvation by Faith alone, family integrated and we sing only the hymn, songs and spiritual songs as directed in the Bible. So, if you have any questions, feel free to come and talk to me after the service. If you need to be baptized or you're not 100% sure you're saved, you can talk to one of the ushers. The ushers are the guys with the pins on their jacket that obviously say usher on them and they'd be happy to help you with that. Or if you're not 100% sure you're saved, they can show you how to be saved. Or if you need to be scripturally baptized, and scripturally baptized means that you've already believed in Christ, you're saved, then you may be baptized. So, if anybody needs those two services, we'd be happy to provide those things. Like I said, if you're not 100% sure you're saved, it's not a good thing to just walk out of here without knowing for sure. So, our service times are listed there below. We have our Sunday morning preaching service at 10.30 am. And our Sunday evening services at 3.30 pm. We'll be in Exodus chapter number 34 tonight. And Thursday Bible study is at 6.30 pm. And we'll be finishing up the book of Ecclesiastes. So, it's been a great study. It's kind of ending on a little bit of a negative note though. But it's still a great book. Learned a lot of great lessons and a lot of great doctrine out of that book. So, we'll be moving on to other things after that. And then, the soul-wanting times. We have many soul-wanting times to choose from. Virtually almost every day of the week except for Wednesday. And so, if you're wanting to go out soul-wanting, soul-wanting is when we go and knock on people's doors and try to present the gospel to them so they can be saved. Jesus said to go ye therefore and preach the gospel. So, that's what we practice at this church. And it's a really big thing. It's our main ministry that we do. We want to see people saved. And our praise report. You can see the salvations, baptisms, and attendance totals. There was actually a baptism up in Spokane. So, there should be three baptisms on there. I missed that on my editorial side there last night. But, let's see. The attendance totals from last week. And the upcoming events. We have the mega marathon coming up at multiple locations. Our church plants around the world and in this country. We also have maybe regional people taking part in it in North Dakota and other places. And Strong Tower Baptist Church is involved. They're going to be doing it also. And any other church. I don't know if any other church listens to our announcements. But, if you happen to catch it, we are doing the mega marathon on the 23rd. As a church here, we're going to be going to Kelso, Washington where it's been very receptive. And we're going to knock doors and provide some food up there for lunch. And we'll have a good time. So, if you're just starving to get somebody saved and you haven't knocked on a door around here that's wanted to allow you to open up your Bible, it'd be a good day to go to Kelso. So, that's the 23rd. That is next Saturday. March 24th next Sunday. We'll be doing the Lord's Supper on the Sunday evening service. And so, if you've been here before, you understand how all that works. So, that's just a special service. We obviously don't believe that we're supposed to keep the Passover anymore. We've never changed that to the Lord's Supper because He is the Passover. Amen. And March 31st is Easter Sunday. We're going to have a potluck in between services. Nobody's volunteered to do ham that I know of. So, I'm just going to start asking people right now who can do a ham. Anybody. God bless you. I see the hand. There's another one. There's another one. Willing. They are willing to do it. So, okay. Lift up your hands one more time so my wife can see. She'll memorize it. Well, we could probably do them in the crock pot at our house, but it'd probably be, you know, we want the full effect of the ham. They're all going to be spiral cut, so you won't have to mess around with that. But the glaze and all that stuff, the honey glaze and all that good stuff that goes on it would need to be done probably in a proper oven or something like that. So, anyhow, so that's between the services on Sunday, Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday, whatever you may call it. So, and then we have a baby shower coming up April 6th for Miss Stacy. And that'll be at the church building here at 11 a.m. April 7th we will have Pastor Tavenner. And actually before that, I want to say the Thursday, whatever that date is, I think it's the, let's see, the 4th. April 4th, our Thursday service is not going to start until 7 o'clock at night. So, 7 o'clock at night. You can be here at 630, but we won't start. So, most people will probably be on time because of that, because you're all going to forget. And then you're walking late and then, yeah, so anyway. But 7 o'clock on April 4th is our Thursday. I forgot to put that in there, sorry. And so we also have Pastor Tavenner coming to preach for us that Sunday. He's preaching both services and then he's going to be flying out with me to the Next Generation Youth Conference, which is April 8th and 9th. And so hopefully you've all signed up for that, anybody that's going. If you're still on the fence, there's still time to sign up. So, the website's there on the page for you, ages 13 to 19. April 28th is the SFBC Seattle one-year anniversary. And we'll have Pastor Bruce Mejia preaching for both services on Sunday at our Seattle location up in Tukwila slash Skyway slash Renton slash Seattle. And the reason why I say that is because if you stand in certain areas of the parking lot and call 911, you're going to get a different precinct of police that come out. So, if you're standing on like the north side or the east side or down on the south side, there's like all, it's like, I don't know, some weird hub right there. So, that's why I say that. So, but it is right there kind of on the border. So, and we are a family integrated church. That means that we don't separate the children from their parents for any reason. And the children are allowed to be in the services. In fact, we encourage that. If you are training your child or you, they're not ready to sit through the services, please just take them to the mother-baby room. And obviously, if they're being quiet or, you know, the little jibber-jabber that they do doesn't bother me at all. But when they're screeching or screaming, that's probably the time to take them out. So, but anyway, we have a mother-baby room. It's located back there. Dad-baby room located back there. They have comfortable seating. You can still listen to the preaching. And so, whatever you need that room for, please use that for your convenience. And reserve the back rows for families with young children. No dads are allowed or no men are allowed in the mother-baby room during the services. No moms in the dad-baby room during the services. So, also no unattended children in any area of the building. Now, I say this a lot, and I'm just going to say it. I'm going to say it again. You need to watch your children, okay? And I'm not just saying that as in, no, just generally watching. No, I'm saying you need to watch your children. If they're off in a room by themselves, then you're not seeing what's going on. Things can happen. You just don't know. So, obviously I would like to think that everybody in our church is good and safe and everything like that. But, you know, sometimes kids also fight with each other or whatever. And, you know, we just don't want kids going into the bathroom with other kids or going off into some corner of the room. And so if you're a parent here, obviously sometimes it's hard to watch all six children at the same time or even sometimes one or two, you know, depending on the spirit of that child. But I'm not saying this to be mean. I'm just saying this for your good and your benefit. And the reason why we're family integrated is so, you know, we don't have some stranger taking your children off to some Sunday school class that you don't know, that you don't know what they are like or, you know, how long they've even been at the church. Because I've been to Sunday school or, I mean, I've been to Baptist churches where, you know, someone comes and they've been there for a week and they're already, you know, trying to get them to be a Sunday school teacher. It's just like, you don't even know these people. So, obviously we don't want to suspect people of doing things. But we also, we don't, we're not supposed to trust just everybody with our kids. Even if people are from church, you can't necessarily always trust people. I mean, Judas, they all trusted Judas, but guess what happened? He betrayed Christ and they had no idea it was coming and he just did it. So, and those are the types of people that would be perverts with your kids. And look, again, I'm not suspecting anybody, but I'm also not trusting people necessarily either. So, again, I don't, you know, if you don't see what's happening with your kid, then how are you going to know for sure? You know what I mean? So, keep your kids with you. And, you know, maybe if you want to talk or something, obviously one of the tricks I know that my wife used to do, she used to kind of back up into a corner, which is kind of hard to do here. But, and then let the kids play behind her so if she saw them shoot out from the left hand or the right hand, she could intercept them and put them back where they belong. Put them back in the corner and all. But give them something to play with and something to do and obviously I want our kids to have fun, okay? But, you know, sometimes they can get too rambunctious and they're running around even after the services. I, you know, multiple times said, please don't let your children run in the church and yet I still see children running in the church. So, it's like if you see them running, don't act like you don't see it. Do something and correct them because then they'll just stop doing it. But if their parents aren't even listening to what the rules are, they're not correcting their own children. If they're not even watching your children, then, you know, lots of things can happen. And then you're going to be all upset because you don't know the truth of the matter because there was maybe one witness or maybe the witness is just that one child. I mean, things can happen. You just don't know. And you can't put, you know, children are great and they're, you know, whatever, but there are children that do misbehave when they're not with a parent or whatever. And so you just don't know. You can't trust, I mean, what's to stop them from hitting another kid that's smaller than them or whatever. So, obviously, we, you know, I could just go on about this for a long time, but I don't want to do that. All I want to say is watch your kids and don't let them just tear up the mother-baby room after service. If you're in there with them, then I'm fine with that. But if your child is in the mother-baby room just doing whatever they want, bouncing off the furniture, tearing everything up and you're nowhere to be seen, after the services, that's not the jungle gym. So, I don't want that happening. I don't want them climbing all over everything and stuff like that. And you're like, well, you just don't want them to have fun. Look, we have plenty of fun. They can have fun without, you know, just being, you know, without you allowing them. You know, it's not them really, it's just what parents are allowing to take place. So, I'm sorry I had to bring that up in the Sunday morning service, but it's just a reality and something that, you know, and the ushers are instructed if they see your child doing something that they could get hurt on or whatever. I had a child escape and was running towards the street at night and I ran and I picked that child up and I took that child to their mother and I'm not trying to bat, you know, things happen, you know. Kids escape sometimes, you know, that's what they do. They feel like they're in prison, they want to break out or something. They're always pushing the button over there, let me out, let me out. And it's like, it's disabled for a reason, folks, because we don't want them running out. But kids get loose, kids, you know, get into trouble. So, it's our job as parents, you know, to instruct them on how to behave in the house of the Lord. So, let me move on. Also, please silence your cell phones at this time and if you need to escort to your vehicle for any reason, just ask one of the ushers. The online and text-giving information is at the bottom, along with the offerings so far for the month of March. And then we also have Eli Lambert's birthday on the 19th and Miss Rachel Woods. Where did she went and hid? I knew she was going to do that. So, let's sing happy birthday to her. Everybody gather at the window and go look. No, I'm just joking. But let's go ahead and sing happy birthday to Miss Rachel Woods and brother Eli. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday God bless you, happy birthday to you. Alright, that's all I have for announcements. I'm sorry that went over. Let's go ahead and sing another song, we'll receive the offering. Alright, thanks brother Bill. Alright, next song is hymn number 70, Holy, Holy, Holy, number 70 in the blue. This song can be done slow and majestically, but we're doing a little upbeat today. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, early in the morning our song shall rock to thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and Zarephim falling down before thee, which burdened Norton evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, all the darkness hide thee, holy are your sinful men thy glory may not see. Only thou art holy, there is none beside thee, perfect in power in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, there is none beside thee, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. This time we'll take our offering as the ushers come forward, and Brother Shawn, will you bless the offering? This time we'll take our offering as the ushers come forward, and Brother Shawn, will you bless the offering? This time we'll take our offering as the ushers come forward, and Brother Shawn, will you bless the offering? Open your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 19. Leviticus chapter 19. If you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible under the seat in front of you. Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19, the Bible reads, and the Lord is speaking to Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Ye shall fear every man, his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths, I am the Lord your God. Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods, I am the Lord your God. And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will. It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow, and if ought, remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire. And if it be eaten at all, on the third day, it is abominable, it shall not be accepted. Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of the vineyard, thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger, I am the Lord your God. Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God, I am the Lord. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him. The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God, I am the Lord. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. But in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people, neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor, I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart, thou shalt not in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, I am the Lord. Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind, thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed, neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee. And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her, she shall be scourged. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free. And she shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he hath done, and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him. And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised. Three years shall it be uncircumcised unto you, it shall not be eaten of. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof, I am the Lord your God. Ye shall not eat anything with the blood, neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shall thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you, I am the Lord. Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore, lest the land fall to hoard them, and the land become full of wickedness. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary, I am the Lord. Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards to be defiled by the gods. I am the Lord your God. Thou shall rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God, I am the Lord. And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt, I am the Lord your God. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meat-yard, in weight, or in mazur, just balances, just weights, a just ephah. And a just hen shall ye have, I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe all my statues and all my judgments, and do them, I am the Lord. Brother Bill, will you pray for us? Heavenly Father, we thank you for this church. Thank you for the reading of your word. Help us to find the holiness and everything that is written here. Amen. All right. This morning I'm preaching about seven ways to love thy neighbor as thyself. And so, for those of you that say I never preach anything loving, well, you'd be wrong today. So, but obviously the Lord loves you, loves you, loves you, loves you, loves you, loves you, loves people, and he wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. And you know, you're like, well, why are you reading this out of Leviticus? Well, if you were paying attention during the Bible reading, you'd see that that's where that actually comes from. People get this weird idea that the God of the Old Testament is not the same God, or he's nicer now, he's nice Jesus now, and he was nice Jesus back then too. He was nice back then, and merciful and all those things, but he also, you know, can cloud up and rain and smoke things and smoke people. And, but we get, you know, where Jesus gets this from the second greatest commandment in the whole Bible, he says, like unto the first commandment. The first commandment is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, right? And I've applied this a lot to soul-winning, and rightly so, because there's nothing more loving to your neighbor than to get that person saved, and like who is your neighbor? Well, it's anybody that's around you, basically. So, but this morning I'm not gonna be preaching about the soul-winning portion about it. I preach about that lots of times, so I'm leaving that off the list this morning, but obviously you know that it should be the number one thing and there's lots of things, lots of sermons about that, or at least mention it multiple times, but there's other things that we can do that show that we love our neighbors as ourselves, and one that I didn't even get in there, which I will be going, but go ahead and put a ribbon or a bookmark in Leviticus chapter 19 because we're gonna come back there, but where it says that we should treat the strangers of the land and love them as, you know, we're supposed to love them as ourselves also. We're supposed to treat the United States and, you know, they want to be a part of our country and learn our ways and obviously we would treat them just like we treat everybody else. And so this country's got it all backwards in a lot of different ways and I understand that there's a big fight about illegals and all that kind of stuff. You know, Biden walked that back. I mean, they don't want to call, they want to call them undocumented or whatever, but that's not really, the issue that people have is that it's illegal. So, and obviously that's not what I'm preaching about this morning, but, you know, when someone comes to our country, we shouldn't treat them like a second class citizen. I mean, we don't treat people like second class citizens, but notice the end of that is citizens. So, you know, obviously people immigrate to this country and they don't have citizenship yet, but that should be something that they strive to do because there's a lot of, a lot of just politics that are involved in all that, which I'm not going to preach about today. I'm preaching about seven ways to love thy neighbor as thyself, but that was another instance there in the book of Leviticus. There's a lot of things in this chapter. I can't go through the whole chapter, but I just have seven points and that can be scary to some of you guys, but I assure you, lunch will be on the way at some point. So the first point that I want to emphasize is helping the poor and the strangers. So number one, the first way you can love your neighbor as yourself is to help the poor and the strangers. So let's look at our text at Leviticus chapter 19 verse nine where the Bible reads, And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. So what this is talking about, you know, they're talking to God. God says not to do that. He says leave some for what? Look at what it says in verse 10, And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard. Thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger. I am the Lord your God. And gleaning is a great system and it's something that was put in place so that strangers that are poor could go and they could pick the rest of what didn't get picked in the first run. They couldn't pull all the olives off or, you know, they weren't supposed to get every single minutia off of that property. They were supposed to leave it for the poor, but they weren't supposed to gather it for the poor. They were to leave it so the poor could get it themselves. Because if a man doesn't work, neither should he eat. That's what the Bible teaches. And we got a lot of derelicts and homeless bums that don't want to work. They just stand there trying to get drugs. They're trying to get money for alcohol and drugs. That's what it is. I mean, you're like, well, how do you know that for sure? Well, because I see them every week in the same spot. That's how I know. And, you know, sometimes you see them and they seem like they're normal, but, you know, it only takes a couple bucks to get your fentanyl fixed nowadays. So they can just get a couple bucks and they're right to their pill, whoever's selling them the pills. And they can lower the land so they can work for that, not so that you can just give it out for free all the time. Because that's not helping them. You know, all these, there's churches in this area right here, in this complex, and they have like a breadbasket type thing where they give the homeless people in the area a bunch of free food. And you know where those packages of free food that they end up not eating end up on our church grounds? You know where they end up coming under the bus and they use drugs and they leave their needles all over the place? And look, that is not the neighbor that this is talking about, okay? You know, people are like, well, what does your church do for the homeless? We don't do anything for the homeless. We don't. You know? And look, this is America. So let's just be realistic. And obviously I know that rent prices are high and houses are expensive. I get that. But somehow everybody in this room makes it, don't they? Somehow people, at least all over this country, make it and somehow they persevere and they have a place to live. Obviously there's the probably one or two percent maybe that did have some kind of string of bad luck. I'm not saying we should be down on those types of people. And if people want to get help for their drugs and alcohol problem, I get that. They should. But you know what the cure for that is? The care for that is that they get saved and just straighten up their life, you know? But we're going to have people call this church and they've never set foot in this church one time. They just go through a rolodex of numbers of churches in the area and they call each person, hey, can you pay my rent? Hey, can you pay my rent? And this is what all pastors go through. Somebody that never has been here before or they'll show up after the service or they'll show up before the service asking for stuff and they'll sell their sad story pretty good. We've had some pretty weird people show up at this church and this Ukrainian Russia or a Jew guy that came. He's like, did I mention I was Ukrainian? You know, it's just like he's using that because there's a war in Ukraine and Biden and all his cronies are behind that war and, you know, all the churches in the land are for that war or whatever. But, you know, he just thought he would name drop Ukrainian and then Jew at the same time and that we're just going to help him. That's just not how it works. I mean, the guy was just so pushy. I finally had to just tell him, oh, just take me to Costco. I was like, Costco's closed, man. You know, well, maybe a truck driver there will help me. I'm like, oh, so the truck driver's just sitting there waiting for you so you can come help? I said, I'm not taking you anywhere. Who knows what he would have tried to do? I don't know. The guy was really weird and he was not saved and he wouldn't get saved. We tried to get him saved, but he just wanted nothing to do with that. Who was here when that happened? All right. So, look, I'm telling you, that is a fact that we have a homeless problem. Yes, that's a fact, but it's being enabled by our government. When they make a state of emergency for the city of Vancouver that we have a homeless problem, you know why we have a state of emergency and a homeless problem? Because of the idiots that they have in city council. Because the mayor that we have in this city is just copying what Portland did so that we can be the train wreck that that area is down there. Where nobody even wants to be. I mean, where people are just getting robbed and stolen from left and right and it's all starting to move out here. And when they build that max line that comes across the bridge, they're surely going to get free train rides across the bridge every single day. They're coming to do the same stuff here on a more massive scale. But you would think that the liberal madness would end when they see what the ends of that kind of policy is. We're not supposed to just be supporting people that refuse to labor. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says if a man doesn't work, neither should he eat. So am I supposed to just go out and have a soup kitchen outside the front doors here or let people come in here and just get free stuff every single week? They don't come to this church. They're not saved. And I'm not saying don't help unsaved people. I think we should. But how many of those people are getting saved that come to this complex every week? They had a PB&J sandwich or something and then threw the wrappers somewhere and then they're coming over here and doing drugs on our property. That's how much they respect our church. You know at any given Sunday you're going to find trash all around our building because they won't even stoop down and pick up a piece of trash and throw it into a garbage can. That's lazy. You know the Bible talks about that person that they're so lazy that they won't even put their hand into their, oh I can't do it, help me. I can't put their hand in their bosom or whatever. That's lazy. And it's really lazy and trashy and it's disrespectful. When I see people camped out around our church building I tell them to leave. I want them to gone. And obviously you know if they clean up after themselves I'm okay with that but how do I know that they're going to? I don't. And they don't. So don't get mad at me about it. But we shouldn't do that. We shouldn't do that. We shouldn't do that. We shouldn't do that. We shouldn't do that. We should help the poor. You're like well what are you talking about pastor because those are the poor people I know. I know a lot of poor people. There's poor people in this church. When you compare it to how much more money everybody else has. Look we believe in this church that the man is supposed to be the sole provider of the home. Okay. And a lot of men in this church are the sole providers for their home. And it's already hard for us to make it on one you know with one person working the system that the devil has put into place into this country is that men and women work. You put your kids in the government babysitter camp and then you get they can get molested and indoctrinated by these teachers. I mean have you seen the teachers that are teaching at school lately the ones that are all over tick tock showing how they don't care what the parents say they're mine for this time. They don't care. And they're literally having drag shows at children's movies. They're coming from schools. I mean I saw the guy who was wearing a shirt yesterday and said this this would never happen in a small town. And I was like I like that shirt. But you know what it probably is happening in small towns because nobody's nobody's willing to stand up to these bullies. And you know what we stand up to them and we get a lot of flack over that. But you know what. You know the Lord is not wanting us to help people that hate him. Period. That's right. And I'm not talking about the homeless people I'm just saying you know these sodomites and stuff like that. So now turn turn in your Bible to Galatians chapter 6 verse 9. Galatians 6 9. So God wants us to help the poor and the stranger but what does he mean by that. Well I believe he's probably talking about the working poor because if they wouldn't go glean they're going to starve to death. Right. I mean when Ruth was gleaning the fields she was doing that because Boaz was a righteous man and he was allowing her to do that. And so that was a benefit to the system of living in the government of Old Testament Israel. Hey if you're if you're hungry go gather some things you know some from the gleaning fields and store up and eat. That's what she was doing. She was bringing a whole bunch of stuff back to her mother in law. She was like oh wow how'd you get so much because Boaz is a nice guy. That's why. But she was working hard and she wasn't you know running around with the men and you know trying to you know make herself available to them if you know what I mean. She was very reserved and that's why he ended up marrying her. But anyway look at Galatians chapter 6 verse 9 it says and let us not be weary in well doing. So should we do well. Should we do things for people. Absolutely. For in due season we shall reap if we faint not. So there's this reaping and thawing principle that if you sow that you're going to reap good things you know if you sow good things you're going to reap good things. But if you sow wickedness you're going to receive the whirlwind you're going to see receive the judgment that you get for that. But it says as as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men especially unto them who are of the household of faith. So we should be doing things for unsaved people. Absolutely. But we also should be especially doing things to those people that are of the household of faith. So look I'm more willing to work to help the working poor in our church any day of the week than I am somebody that just doesn't want to labor and refuses to work. And we don't really have a gleaning a way to glean. You know they could they hold up their cardboard sides it says will work for food. But they really don't mean that. And so I mean and you don't really see those signs very often more because I think that you know they kind of evolve as the times change with their signs and stuff. There's a guy that's down the hill right now on Andreessen and he's holding a sign about this this wide just holding it there in the middle of the median. He's in the road and you know why he does that why they all do that. So that you'll slow down and give them money. They're like literally impeding traffic I'm like this guy's gonna get killed and I know I'm not wanting him to get killed I'm just saying that like if you play in the road you know bad things are gonna happen you know if you stumble when a car is coming you're gonna get hit by a car. So but so how do we help people that are poor of you know people that are the working poor or of the household of faith sometimes. Look I was poor for a lot of years in church and people helped me. And you know what. Praise God I'm glad that they did you know what. I don't want to say that we should help. First of all you know if we have poor people in our church that are actually just trying really hard to make it and then you're walking up and throwing a hundred dollar bill so some guy can get his fentanyl pills that's just that's just backwards. You know that's not what the Bible teaches. And the Bible actually says we're supposed to kick men out that refuse to labor. We're supposed to mark them. We're supposed to avoid them. And we're supposed to admonish them as a church that just refused to labor and refused to work. I mean Paul was an apostle going all over the place and he was working and laboring to pay his own wages because he didn't want people to say oh Paul just took all of our money every time he came or something like that right. Even though he could have but he just didn't. So that that is. So when you help people that are poor it's called giving alms. Who's heard that or read that in the Bible obviously probably most everybody thinks it's for food or things given to the poor. Okay and we should give to the poor. Jesus talks about it. Go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 6 verse 1. Matthew 6 1. I'm going to read in Proverbs 19 verse 17. Proverbs 19 verse 17 says he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord. So when you have pity and you help someone that's poor it's like you're you're doing it for God you're lending it to him and it says and that which he hath given will he pay him again. So look you might not get the exact dollar amount back or the exact you know whatever but it says he'll pay him again. So God loves a cheerful giver. He loves it when people are not selfish with their money and want to help people. Matthew 6 actually explains the way and attitude you should have when giving alms. Because some people do it for nefarious reasons. They want accolades of men. They want people to go to church. They want people to go oh did you see how much so and so gave so and so. And you got these people that literally make videos of themselves and post it online or post it on Facebook or post it on YouTube of them saying you know that like this single woman is you know checking out all of her groceries and all of a sudden he goes hey I just paid for all that so you're welcome or whatever and they're like oh thank you. And they record that stuff. You know what they have their reward. They have their reward. And I've seen Christians do this. I'm just like it's just the ultimate cringe. It's like you haven't even got past the first six chapters in the New Testament and you're just completely forgetting what Jesus said. Look at Matthew 6 1 it says take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven. So if you do it to be seen if you do it for any other purpose then you're just trying to be neighborly then what's it say? You have no reward. So it's like you're just giving it away and then getting nothing in return basically. Now obviously we do things not so we can get something in return but that's the point right? God rewards us for those things. We don't expect it from the people that we're giving it to. It says in verse 2 therefore when thou doest thine alms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the hypocrites do. So what's he saying? If you sound the trumpet you you start to lock the live stream of you helping somebody that's poor that's that's the modern day sounding the trumpet isn't it? Then it says do not sound the trumpet before they as the hypocrites do. So it's saying that you're a hypocrite in the synagogues and in the streets that they may have glory of men verily I say unto you they have their reward. So just make sure that you're doing things for the right reason. You're doing it in the right spirit. Verse 3 but when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth that thine alms may be in secret and thy father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. So you know Jesus is instructing us to do it in secret. Don't do it in front of a bunch of people. So is secret uploading it to YouTube? That's not that's not secret is it? Is secret telling everybody in the church that you help somebody? No that's not secret that's telling everybody. See secret is like telling everybody that you're doing it or very few people know and sometimes people come to me and say hey I want to help so and so can you give this to this person or whatever and I'm like sure yeah I'll do that and they because they want to be anonymous and I understand that but that's because that's what the Bible's teaching this is not talking about tithes this is talking about something you would do outside of tithing. Look at Luke chapter 12 verse 33 says, Sell that you have and give alms, provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. So Jesus is saying this in respect to alms. When you give and help the poor it's saying when you give and help the poor it's saying when you give and help the poor the poor it's saying when you do it do it you know when you do alms for the right reasons and all that then you're you're actually doing it and it's that stuff can't be taken from you is basically what it's saying isn't it it's saying you know a treasure in the heavens that faileth not when you get to heaven that reward for doing those alms is gonna be there for you and it does the bag doesn't wax old thieves can't go up to heaven and steal because there are no thieves in heaven I mean we'll be there but we won't be thieves anymore right so but it says nor neither moth corrupt us so there's no moths in heaven that can corrupt or or take your rewards away they can't know because moths eat do what they eat garments they eat clothing and that's why they're pests right so God's saying like that sounds to me like when you do give alms in the right reason and for the right purpose then you have a reward that lasts forever turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 and this Paul in this passage here he's talking about a offering that he's taking to Jerusalem where he collects from the Saints that want to help out the poor Saints in Jerusalem and he quotes Psalm chapter 12 9 and Psalm 12 9 says he had dispersed he hath given to the poor his righteousness endureth forever his horn shall be exalted with honor 2nd Corinthians 9 6 says but this I say he which so as sparingly shall reap also sparingly so if you're kind of a tightwad or a little cheap you know and obviously if you're if you're poor you can't really give a lot can you but you can still give something now people that say I'm too poor to afford tithing or I'm too poor to afford something you're not really too poor because the with the widow the widow's might if you've read that story Jesus said see what she did and you know obviously she's not doing it to be seen of all Jesus and all of his disciples but he was watching her and he said what did she give like a penny or something or two two mites yeah the widow's might all right yeah so or a might yeah anyway I forget what the exact is it the way is it two mites or one might is it two okay so she puts that in and he said she gave all of her living she gave all the money that she had she put in there so was she poor yeah that's if she that's all she had that she was poor but do you think that God just didn't bless her after that that she do you think that she didn't get that back probably a hundredfold she probably did look what it says so if he reaps if you so sparingly you'll reap sparingly and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully so when you when you have a big heart you give a lot then you're gonna reap those things and it might not be monetarily it might be in blessings in other ways so but verse 9 or verse 7 says every man according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give not grudgingly because you feel like you have to or because you just don't you're just like yeah I just don't want to give it but you know that's just a bad a bad way of looking at it or of necessity like you have to do it you need to do it for God loveth a cheerful giver and this isn't in context to alms it's not people will say this and they'll apply it to tithing that's not what it's talking about here if you read the context of the chapter it says and God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work as it is written he hath dispersed abroad he hath given to the poor his righteousness remaineth forever so he's specifically talking about what when you do alms and when that alms is given in the right spirit and for the right reason then the Bible says your righteousness remaineth forever the reward you get for that cannot be taken away now people when people teach that you can have your rewards taken away when the Bible talks about that it's not talking about that you know God just counts your sins that you did after you got saved then he says well you know this good work you did gone no reward taking your reward for that he would only do that in the case that you did it for the wrong reason or for yourself but if it's an eternal reward if it says his righteousness remaineth forever then that means that that's an eternal reward and in Luke chapter 12 it he backs that up by saying you know the treasures that you earn in heaven for giving alms are not going to fail the thief is not going to steal it the moth is not going to corrupt it you know what God's not going to take it away from you so there's rewards for doing other things it's not just so winning you know obviously we should be complete Christians and loving your neighbor isn't just so winning there's other things like giving alms so it says verse 10 there says now he that minister is seed of the sower both minutes minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness so the fruits of your righteousness you know you're gonna earn rewards in heaven for being a generous giver to people and helping the poor number two using God to deal falsely using God to deal falsely well we don't want to use God to deal falsely we don't want to deal falsely in church so to be a good neighbor you don't do those things you know we shouldn't be here to run our businesses through the church and you know we don't want people coming in with their amway their scam way and their pyramid schemes and their gold buying schemes and whatever else that they have and they're peddling hey look you do that stuff outside of church but you know I seem to remember twice where Jesus cleanses the temple and one of those times he made a whip and started whipping whipping and and doing a basically an animal stampede in the temple to get all them out he wouldn't even suffer someone to walk across with a container that had their goods in it so he said make not my father's house a house of merchandise and merchandise is anything that's bought or sold so could they was it wrong for them to sell doves no was it wrong for them to sell the sacrifices there no but it was wrong to do it inside God's house so we're not supposed to use God's house as a house of merchandise so look at back in our text of Leviticus 1911 so you know that is a way of dealing falsely is that if you're here to make a buck off of off the believers you know that's wrong and please if people are doing that I want to know about it so I can correct it okay because it shouldn't be going on these people that come and peddle all their CDs and music CDs and everything look I used to like to go back and look at the stuff that the missionaries would bring in the back of the church I just really didn't think about it you know but when I got right on this doctrine or you know because if I'm buying something in God's house that someone brought to sell that I'm breaking that I'm breaking that commandment so that's why we don't let missionaries come in here and sell books and sell CDs and all that stuff you know buy it online if that's where you want to buy it do it but I just you know sometimes these preachers they have these big conferences and the first 20 minutes of their of their sermon is an infomercial on all the books that they've read all written excuse me and you know if you buy this CD then and then they're just like making God's house a house of merchandise so Leviticus 19 11 says you shall not steal neither deal falsely neither lie one to another obviously those are all bad things to do don't steal from your brothers in Christ or anybody I mean obviously I'm talking about your neighbor this applies to anything neither deal falsely neither lie one to another so dealing falsely is like deception you're just you're doing dealing deceptively with someone or you're lying to someone you know I mean obviously those are things that Christians should not be doing to each other or to other people outside of church it says in verse 12 and you shall not swear by my name falsely so when people swear to God and they don't do what they say they're gonna do that's swearing to God falsely but you know what lots of kids in school do that kind of stuff you know they would say I swear to this or I swear to that I swear you know my dead homies or whatever but they'll say they they swear to God I swear they'll say I swear to God and when they do that falsely that's a wicked thing to do neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God I am the Lord thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor so that is also some sort of you know normally like some sort of monetary value but it could be things that you borrow or whatever neither robbed him the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning it's like all these principles still apply in the New Testament they get the people who just get this idea that the Old Testament doesn't apply some of it doesn't apply the feast the new moons the trumpets the you know all that all those feasts that they were supposed to keep in the Old Testament we don't have to do that anymore we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore because Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath but the moral laws those are still in effect and loving your neighbor as yourself Jesus quoted that that's that passage of Scripture so we know that that's not done away in Christ obviously I mean anybody with two you know brain cells to rub together knows that right but anyway so well look at so first in 1st Corinthians in the New Testament it it actually deals with this topic of not dealing falsely or not defrauding thy neighbor look at 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verse 1 1st Corinthians chapter 6 verse 1 the Bible says dare any of you having a matter against another go to the law before the unjust and not before the Saints so if there's some kind of matter that hat is a financial thing that should be gone to that person you don't call the police and turn them in necessarily I mean obviously if someone wipes you out for a million dollars or whatever that's something that goes beyond you know obviously you know that's that's pretty bad but you know even then like we're still supposed to go to the Saints and have them judge this situation you know there's some things that we can judge in this in the church and some things that we can't I can't if somebody murders somebody and I know about it I have to call the police because I can't deal with that myself because that'd be against the law because we don't live in Old Testament Israel so even though those those laws about murder and putting you know putting doing the death penalty and all that stuff those are in effect still but we do have in Romans Romans 13 it explains what the government is supposed to do the government is supposed to you know do good for the people that are living right and so on and so forth but it also is for the punishment of evildoers and so when the children of Israel lost their ability to self-govern when Babylon destroyed the first temple they lost their ability to self-govern from that point on and so the Gentiles you know basically rule over this world you know of course with you know some some tunnel dwellers in high places but obviously we do we are under the the power of this system but here's the thing it says in verse 2 do you not know that the Saints shall judge the world and if the world shall be judged by you are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters if someone hey someone borrowed 20 bucks from me and then you're like I'm calling the police because you refuse to give me my money back I mean that that would be ridiculous we should be able to judge something like that and that's what Matthew 18 is for like the the specific when it's talking about Matthew 18 you know obviously Matthew 18 can be different situations but you go to the first the person first you go to the person between who the the problem is with first if someone borrowed money from you and said they'd pay you back by a certain date and they're not doing it and they just keep blowing you off you go to that person but if they still won't do it then you get two or three witnesses and you know when it when it gets down to the point of pastor has to get involved you know that's going to go in front of the church so someone refused rip somebody off in this church and refuses to pay him back whatever it is then that's when the church gets involved and they still refuse to hear it then let them be as a heathen man in a public in the Bible says and you know we're not gonna the heathen and the public and are not people that we hang out with or we're supposed to hang out with outside of the church doors right as far as like obviously you got your family and whatever but I'm talking about like your best friends the people you hang with on a normal basis they shouldn't just be unsaved people okay so but it says are you not worthy to judge even the smallest we're gonna judge the world someday that's what the Bible says it's not saying that we're gonna condemn necessarily places you know God you know make a volcano appear over here or something like that I'm not talking about that but when it says judge you're gonna judge between what's right and what's wrong and what the Bible says and what it doesn't say and you know when it says we shall judge angels well you know that might you know obviously judgment can be indignation and in a final absolute judgment to that person but it also can just mean hey who's right in this situation who's doing right who's doing wrong let's figure this out and we should be able to what Paul is saying is we should be able to figure this stuff out the small stuff out should not be something that we just call the authorities for for any reason and it says verse 4 if then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church he's like basically saying the person that's least esteemed that maybe they only show up every blue moon and they're not really involved they'd be better for that person to judge the situation than to take it to some judge outside of these rooms because judges become corrupt the gift perverts them and the the the hope of money and accolades or whatever you know judges can be corrupted you know they're not supposed to be corrupted but we see it a lot today don't we we see it in a lot of different prosecution cases or not prosecution cases and now it's coming down well you know were they were they if they were black then we're not gonna prosecute them if they're white we are gonna prosecute just stuff like that I mean the world's getting pretty crazy or if you're Donald Trump you know and I'm being you know just there's been some crazy judgments against them that it's just like it's very obvious that people just hate him and those people in high places allow those judgments to take place when there there's no precedents to rule in the ways that they have but this doesn't just happen to Donald Trump obviously I just think of that because I he's being sued by everybody and for everything and in every state and you know whatever so that's what just comes to my mind but people get railroaded all the time in this country and you know what they're gonna especially do they're gonna railroad Christians they're gonna kangaroo court Christians like Pastor Shelley you know but obviously God is with us and we should be willing to you know walk through those fires when we have to but look what it says in verse 6 but brother goes to law with brother and that before the unbelievers now therefore there is utterly a fault among you because you go to law one with another why do you not rather take wrong why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded you know sometimes you can just take the take the loss you can take the hit you don't we don't have to write every single wrong and and just hold everybody to the fire over everything that they say everything they do everything that they don't do it says now you do wrong and defraud and that your brethren so it's wrong to defraud your brother is it wrong to defraud or to steal or to you know deal falsely with someone that's unsaved also absolutely yeah absolutely we just should be this way this is how we love our neighbor we don't defraud them we don't lie we don't try to get them involved in some kind of pyramid scheme that we know that you're there the bottom rung or whatever you know just to get all your little parent you know however many you know you have to set up lines to these pyramids and all those I say a pyramid scheme but not all of our pyramid schemes they could be you know Ponzi schemes or it's pretty much all the same thing it's just a multi-level marketing is what it's called and Christians really get hung up in this stuff if you go to the average Christian church the average Baptist Church there's people that are unchecked in these churches that are just allowed to go around and do this and you know how I know that because I used to go to them and we we've gotten invited over to dinner a couple times one time we you know we had we just saw cool they're being so nice to us and it's just like let me show you my this machine or let me show you these vitamins or it's always some kind of thing to get you in on the level right so number three this morning mistreating handicapped people or really just mistreating anybody that doesn't fit the the the picture of what everybody thinks that you should look like in society whether ugly short fat or whatever you know we shouldn't be mistreating people we shouldn't be making fun of them we shouldn't be mocking them you know we don't know what they're going through and obviously if someone's handicapped or special needs is what they call it now but you know but they'll say well I'm handy capable okay I get that you know you're handicapped but you're capable of still doing things I don't think that's that's a wrong thing to say but look at Leviticus chapter 19 verse 14 Leviticus chapter 19 verse 14 and I just I just can't understand how someone would even do something like this but God puts it in the Bible for a reason because it does happen thou shall not curse the deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind but shalt fear thy God I am the Lord so God really gets upset when you mistreat people that aren't able to defend themselves you know and a lot of these perverts they want to take care of people in special-needs situations because a lot of parents don't want to deal with them they don't want to take care of them they put them in these special classes or whatever so they can both work outside the home or whatever and look I'm not faulting them all for that I understand but understand this also that if they can't speak and fight back for themselves that they are you know predators do pray where they can get the easy prey you know most most predators are always picking on something that's weaker than themselves they're not picking on something that can fight back generally and when they do you see those nature videos where you know they mess with the wrong bull or whatever you know some lion you know gets a bull that's a little more spunky than the rest he's flinging them this way and that way and you know making a fight out of it at least but generally predators go after people that can't defend themselves you know what you know people we're just people are just mean by nature and kids in public schools are really mean sometimes I went to a deaf school I remember people teasing that we'd go there's a deaf school on the bottom level of the school that I went to and we people go down there and I forget what reason I would have to go to I think of the gym was maybe down there or something but they would tease the deaf kids and they would make them get mad so they would hand sign like and you know tell them off or whatever which you know is is wicked it really is to just sit there and tease someone to get him to do something so you can laugh at him but also it says to put a stumbling block before the blind I mean you're literally some blind persons walking and you're gonna put something in their way and just like and then they fall on their face I mean how weird would that be for someone to do that like if I saw someone do that probably beat him up just I'm just being honest you know if someone was mistreating someone that was handicapped I would probably freak out I probably would you'd be like well pester you shouldn't say that well you know people shouldn't pick on weak people I've always been a person that doesn't like people bullying other people so I mean it's just always been a thing I just won't allow that kind of stuff to happen in my sight you know when I was a little kid my dad you know he came and picked me up for a visit because my parents weren't together and he used to drop us off with this guy named Richard and hopefully he's in hell now but you know you're like why would you say that because he was a queer and he was more I think he was molesting kids but like my dad put me with that guy to babysit and I'm just like I didn't know he was like that but later on I found out he was like that but he never did anything to me praise God for that but he did take care of kids that were mentally handicapped and they're like like drooling unable to function unable to barely speak and I'll never forget this and I was probably like I don't know six seven years old and he this and the guy the handicapped guy was he just wasn't doing something that he wanted him to do but it's like he's in a wheelchair he can't even he can't really talk and the guy just just slaps this guy in the face as hard as he could and and I think he'd hit him multiple times and like why does that why did I never forget that because I just thought what a wicked thing to do and as a kid I couldn't do anything about it but you know if I saw that happen today I would freak out wouldn't you I hope you would you know all these people that just stand around videotaping things while people are just getting the crap beat out of them I just find that so strange that you wouldn't help your neighbor you know like well I don't want to get involved well you're getting involved by putting your phone there and maybe you're doing you know if 50 people are recorded on their phone then maybe just a couple of those people should help the person that's getting beat up but people are cowards they don't want to stick their neck on the line to help somebody but you know if someone's mistreating somebody that is handicapped or special needs for whatever reason it's it's it's just wicked you know but also this if you want to apply this in a spiritual way we should also not curse people that are unsaved now I'm not saying if they're a reprobate that's one thing but if they're not then why would you you know Jesus said not we're not supposed to curse people we're not supposed to put a stumbling block before the blind well what would that be well how about you as a safe person being around an unsaved person and doing things that they think well Christians aren't supposed to do this so you're putting a stumbling block to them getting saved because they're blind but they could see but you're putting a spiritual stumbling block for them to not ever want like well I've seen how Christians act and I don't want to be like that so there's a spiritual application for this verse to be a good neighbor look at 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 1st Thessalonians 5 14 1st Thessalonians 5 14 1st Thessalonians 5 14 says now we exhort you brethren warn them that are unruly comfort the feeble-minded support the weak so as Christians we're supposed to comfort the feeble-minded wasn't talking about people that just have you know whatever we would call it learning disabilities they're just not as intelligent or you know there maybe they were born with some some kind of handicap mentally but also support the weak you know people are born weak and maybe bad immune systems bad you know they they might be born with a disease or something that they can't help maybe they can't walk maybe they you know have some kind of thing that makes them unable to you know walk or do things that normal people would do the Bible says to support the weak help them not tease them not mock them not make fun of them so you know the Bible is very clear that how God feels about this and he says it multiple times over and over again and what do you see Jesus doing Jesus is going around healing people and then you know the the Pharisees are getting mad a guy who has a withered hand you know Jesus restores his hand whole and then you know before he does it though he looks on them angrily because of their attitude towards this man you know or you know you talk about the blind man that was healed and asked to go wash his eyes at the pool of Siloam you know the Pharisees kicked him out of church because he got healed I mean how weird is that you know the Pharisees are the are the example for us to not be like okay so when someone gets saved you know and and look the blind guy that he that there was born blind that was for God's glory to be shown to you know that whole John chapter 9 that is a whole story about this guy that's blind that gets healed and the interactions he has with Jesus Christ and you know Jesus asked him at the end of the chapter because you know the guy is really well spoken when he's dealing with the Pharisees he's really funny actually but at the end Jesus says dust out believe on the sound of God and that that that is an important question but like he he wasn't a stumbling block he was a help to this guy getting saved obviously we can't heal blind people this is never done before this this miracle that Jesus did was never done before but the spiritual application is is that we don't want to be a stumbling block to those that are spiritually blinded okay and because in the end they can get saved just like Jesus got that guy saved right he ends up believing in getting saved so we should refrain from teasing those that are handicapped that should go without saying and you know Jesus made a regular habit of healing people like that it's just super wicked I just I just can't even if some if some person if I saw a church member of mine mocking someone that was handicapped for some reason now and you know you're gonna be like well I saw this video pastor Thompson where you made a joke about a guy in a wheelchair and you know what I did but I wasn't making a joke because he was handicapped I was making a joke because he was a queer that's a different story and so you know if you're a queer you're queer and they were protesting pastor Jones Church like they've been doing all this time and they're they're in the middle of the driveway where they're not supposed to be where the police have told them several times not to block the entrance and you know they just they were there to antagonize me and you know pastor Jones doesn't mind going out and antagonizing him so I went out with him but this guy you know he's a homo in a wheelchair and I just I just said a joke I said I said what do you call what do you call a fag in a wheelchair I said roll-aids you're like well you just contradicted everything you just said the guy's a reprobate okay the guy's a queer and I you know it was funny but but I wasn't you know it wasn't like I was like oh that guy's in a wheelchair I'm gonna make fun of him because he's a wheelchair I was making fun of him because he was a queer okay two different things so number four this morning is judge righteously so look back in our text at Leviticus 19 15 Leviticus 19 15 I got to hurry up here it says you shall not do unrighteousness in judgment thou shalt not respect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor so we're supposed to judge things according to what's right and true about what the Bible says well whether it's you know whether it's right or wrong not as to how much we like that person you know because you know that's not respect the person of the poor that's the Democrats that's the the pandering they do is towards the Democrats you know the Democrat I mean the Democrats pander towards the poor they'll say well we'll give you all this stuff just vote for me and so they're respecting the poor but they're just using them to stay in power they don't really care for the poor kind of like Judas didn't care for the poor either and it says nor honor the person of the mighty so we shouldn't respect people in whatever position they are how much money they have you know it says but in righteousness shout thou judge thy neighbor so sometimes causes come up and you have to make a decision or you have to make a judgment and whoever they are it doesn't matter if it's your best friend or or if it's a family member it doesn't matter you should judge the situation based upon what's right and wrong and sometimes people have a hard time doing that you know that same blood is thicker than water some people will defend their family no matter what they would defend their family over a person in church just because their blood related that's not what the Bible teaches we're not supposed to judge in that way and obviously yeah we got you know we love the people that were related to problem more than other people but you know sometimes that's not the case and I would say a lot of times that's not the case if none of none of your family is saved your your extended family are saved I mean you spend more time together here at this church than you do with family that you rarely see and you know we should just make sure that we're not judging things incorrectly or just because one of your friends doesn't like someone else in church doesn't mean that you don't like that person because that is also not right that's being a respecter of persons in judgment so Proverbs chapter 18 verse 17 and here's the other thing people will believe anything that someone says because they were the first person to say something and then people will just jump right on to that person's side no matter what because that person said something but what's the Bible say Proverbs 18 17 says he that is first in his own cause seemeth just the people that come out say well I'm just doing this because of this this and this and they tell everybody they want to tell everybody why they're right and everything like that but it says but his neighbor cometh in search of them so as a neighbor as a good neighbor we're supposed to just search the matter and find out whether it's true or not and it says a brother offended is hard to be one than a strong city and their contentions are like the bars of a castle so look we don't want to be a respecter of persons and then and then offend somebody in our church and then you had the wrong idea about them or you jumped to judgment for somebody else that was wrong just because you like them see this is what the world does but this should not be how God's people behave we should not just stick out for people and and and take their side just because we like them more than somebody else that's wrong that's what the Bible saying do no unrighteousness and judgment that's not respect the person of the poor nor honor the person of the mighty but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor Jesus said judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment so however if someone appears whatever the situation looks like don't judge it based upon those things you judge it based upon what's right and wrong righteous that's righteous judgment so again just because you like somebody more or they're your friend or family member our judgment should not be impeded by any influence besides what is right and what is wrong and don't just automatically assume someone's guilty before you see the evidence this is another thing I see happen a lot they're like oh yeah I think they're guilty just because I don't like them this is like yeah I believe it because you know if you're saying that you believe something without seeing the evidence then you could be wrong about that and everybody does that to some extent or has done that to some extent in their life you're wrong about something like oh man I was totally wrong about that I think I preached about this before there was a guy named Justin Gillen who was a pervert that was exposed to us at a church that we went to before and his son was killed by the babysitter and it was a baby you know he just ended up getting sent or this lady just end up getting sent she was a nanny that worked for she went to church with them she just took care of their kids and you know their son was born and at some point she shook him to death and the first thing that popped into my mind was he did it I didn't before I knew any details like the first thing I thought was he did it you know why I thought that because he's a pervert but I was wrong to jump to the judgment like that I mean he's he's guilty of a lot of different other things that he shouldn't be around for but that wasn't one of them he actually didn't do that but that's the first thing I thought so that's why I'm saying that we can't just jump and say hey this person's guilty of this we know it when we haven't seen the evidence first so don't just automatically assume someone is guilty before you see the evidence number five tail bearing I'll just briefly cover this because I've covered it not too long ago but the Bible says in Leviticus 19 16 thou shall not go up and down as a tail bearer among thy people neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor I am the Lord so if you're gonna be a good neighbor tail bearing is not how you you know how you would do that you know tail bearing is what your tail you're taking a tail and you're burying it to somebody else it's modern day is called gossiping and a lot of people like to do that too people like to gossip they like to tail bear but the Bible specifically says and this is the first time this word is used in the Bible thou shalt not go up and down as a tail bearer among thy people so specifically God's people obviously nobody should do this but and you shouldn't do this about anybody else outside of church either but this is talking about the people of the Lord here and people just take stories and run with them and this is how ugly gossip gets spread okay and when we're just constantly trying to dig up evil on other people and sowing strife and whispering about things that you don't necessarily know for sure and you know it's just what that's wrong it's wicked to do those types of things look at Proverbs let's see I'm just gonna skip to Proverbs 20 verse 19 there's a lot of other verses I'll just read one while you're turning there Proverbs 18 8 says the words of a tail tail burr as wounds and they go down to the innermost parts of the belly and then Proverbs 26 20 says where no wood is there there the fire goes out so where there is no tail bearer the strife ceaseth so you know what causes strife in churches is people that like to gossip and tail bearer to other people it causes problems it causes divisions it causes you know people to have their own little clicks and things like that and you know when you're out just saying things and even if it's true it's still and it's not your business to repeat it then I just you know just people just have to do this type of stuff and why does God tell us and warn us about it because people do it all right and if you want to be a good neighbor that's not what you do if you know some secret about somebody don't go broadcasting it to everybody else it's not your business to do that you know and I had to turn to Proverbs 20 verse 19 it says he that goeth about as a tail bearer reveal his secrets and so is that a positive thing or a negative thing it's a negative thing therefore metal not with him that flattereth with his lips because people will fire you oh yeah just tell me I'll never tell anybody else and then they want to know what the scuttlebutt is and when they you know if they said well so-and-so promised not I promised me not to tell anybody else and then they're trying to and then they tell you then what are they telling you that they're not going to keep your their word when they're when they're dealing with you either so they're gonna tell whatever you say to other people too you know what I mean you can't trust that person if they're gonna tail bear to you and say oh so they told me to promise never say anything but I'm just gonna tell you they're telling other people too because that's what tail bearers do so and it causes strife and it causes contention in church and that is not a good way to treat your neighbor now number six let's see Leviticus 19 17 says thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt any wise rebuked thy neighbor and suffer sin upon him now Jesus in the in the New Testament he gave a new commandment that the and it's in John 13 34 you don't have to turn there but turn to John first John 3 actually no go ahead and turn to John chapter 13 I'm gonna read just one verse in 1st John 3 15 it says in 1st John 3 15 whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and you know not that and you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him hereby perceived we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we have to lay down our our lives for our brethren so we're supposed to love our brothers in verse 14 of that same chapter says we know that we have passed from death into life because we love the brethren so the Bible is very clear we're supposed to love our brothers and sisters in Christ obviously your brothers outside of here to people you know like your little literal brother or sister or family member but this is specifically talking about saved people because you know this same John also penned these words down that were Jesus's words in John 13 34 says a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another so Jesus commands us to love one another but then I see strife and I see backbiting and I hear about things being talked about about other people and I'm like well how is that loving one another how if you have some kind of beef with somebody in church and that person is your brother or sister in Christ why are you still holding on to that beef you know why are you still you know holding or harboring ill will towards that person when Jesus said as I love that you love one another as I have loved you how did Jesus love you did Jesus love you and just say well if you do something wrong I'm gonna hate you forever no he he he wouldn't allow people to spit in his face and slap him and punch him and pull out his beard and and whip him and carry his cross and nail him to a cross and he you know people were just saying all manner of evil against him and Jesus forgave them and when when Peter even Peter you know he went searching for Peter when Peter quit Peter denounced the Lord he said he didn't know him he lied and said he didn't know him just so he could save his own skin and then he left and went fishing again when Jesus told him you know this is your full-time job now and yet he forgave Peter you know obviously what Peter did was wrong and we do wrong also and your brothers and sisters in Christ here are not always gonna treat you perfectly and great we're sinful but don't hold grudges and hold you know these hateful this hateful bitterness in your heart towards somebody else in your church and you're you know they're your brother and sister in Christ like why would you do that why would you continue to just harbor feelings towards them when Jesus said we're supposed to love each other like he loved us did he forgive all your sins yes he did does he forgive all your sins yes he does does he love you does he care for you does he make sure you know to treat you well he says the Bible says he's not ashamed to call us brethren and even though we do shameful things and we have done shameful things but then we're gonna turn around and not be loving towards someone else that maybe they're just not your cup of tea maybe they're not your best friend whatever I didn't say you have to be best friends with everybody in here but you can be respectful you can be honorable you can still be nice it doesn't you don't have to go on windy walks and and hold hands with these people or anything like that I'm just saying that we should love them though that's what the Bible commands us to do by this shall all men know that you're my disciples so how how did Jesus say that people will know the way we treat each other the way we treat each other if you have love one to another and I'm talking about people that are saved here right now you know I'm not talking about loving false prophets or loving just everybody no matter what they do that's not what I'm talking about I'm talking about people that are saved in this church or in other churches that's how you should treat them how Jesus treated you he forgave you he loved you he died for you would you put yourself would you put your life on the line for another brother or sister in Christ of this church that's kind of what he's saying you know that's what he did for us he put his life on the line he literally died for us so Peter in first Peter chapter 1 22 it says seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love for the brethren what does that mean it means not fake we shouldn't be fake loving people we should actually really love them see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently fervently is like you know like with a with a passion that you just with a burning passion basically that you love that person and I just will never get when I see you know people in our church or other churches hold grudges against each other for long periods of time it's like you're like well how do you know pastor you think I don't hear stuff you think I don't know things I know things I'm the pastor I'm supposed to know right I'm not saying I'm just like have this network of spies or something like that's not true I just I do hear things I hear some people when somebody has a grudge against somebody else and look that just shouldn't be happening it blows me away and and I guess it blows me away because I just don't think that way I don't operate that way and I'm not saying I'm perfect I'm just saying I just don't think that way like I I kind of want people you know I and I've always been like that before I was saved I'd always try to get people from all these different groups of my friends to all hang out together and they're like really never worked out you know and then like they're getting in fights and stuff like that like why why why can't you why can't we all just get along you know but but if that's just the way it is but in church it's different you know we should we should be better than the world you know all those worldly friends that I had that couldn't get along that I tried to you know the rockers and the gangsters and whatever else whatever their social you know their jock or whatever whatever their social status was I wanted them to all get along and I don't know if that's just because you know God was preparing me or something for the ministry but I just I will never understand why someone just holds a grudge against somebody in our church and you just always hate that person and look don't just come up with stuff to reprobate people or you just if you suspect someone is bad or a reprobate you can suspect that all you want but until you know for sure that you should just shut up about it you should just keep that to yourself or obviously you could bring it to me and I'll consider those things but I'm just saying that you know we just shouldn't treat people as if something's emphatically true and we don't know whether it is or not we shouldn't be out witch hunting everybody in our church and in all these other churches or whatever I just should not be something that we do so and and I just think you know you're like well pastor you have to love everybody you have to gather everybody together yeah I know but which one of those verses said pastor in it that I just went over which one of those verses oh the pastor has to do that no it's everybody in here has to do that so look at Ephesians chapter 4 I got a couple more places I know I got to be done so just a couple more places to turn will be done I'll briefly go over the last point but this applies to point six so let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor evil speaking but be put away from you with all malice I mean that's pretty clear this is like two two of my favorite verses of the Bible just because this this should set our compasses back to the right side let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice those are those that's a list of things that are cousins and and and and half brother and sisters or full brother and sister these things are tied together for a reason this isn't be kind one to another tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you so do you see where it applaud I mean it's the same it's basically saying the same thing you know Jesus said as I am to you so we are supposed to be like Christ is for us last point and I'll get it really quickly is we need to learn to let things go which ties into that verse I just was that let all these this bitterness and malice because malice is like you're intending to harm somebody you're spreading things to hurt somebody or you're doing things to harm them you know and and when people get bitter they just can't let it go that's why we should just let that stuff go and don't be bitter you know if someone does us wrong or you perceive that they did you wrong they might not even know that they did something wrong I mean they might not know have you ever actually told them that they did something wrong or that you feel like they wronged you but then you're gonna carry this little bitter bitter herb with you this bitter pill with you all over for years or months or whatever it is and really it was just a misunderstanding you know either look give me a dirty look I've accused my wife of give me dirty looks before you know when I'm preaching like why are you giving me a dirty look really she's just struggling to see you know just kidding but we do have to learn to let things go it says thou shalt not avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people so isn't bearing a grudge isn't that bitter or avenge or you know you revenge yourself for something they some slight that they did to you or something that you perceive that they did wrong says but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself I am the Lord you know I don't have time to get into this but Jesus tells this story about the Samaritan on the or the the guy that was robbed on the side of the road in the Samaritan that helped him nursed him back to health paid for his stay at the end bandaged him up cleaned him up and you know the religious people the Levites the Pharisees they all just actually literally walked on the other side of the street so they could walk around because he was a Samaritan and then you know Jesus said who what who was the neighbor unto the unto the man that fell among the robbers and obviously if you listen to the story you know that the Samaritan was so in in Revelation chapter 12 verse 19 and we'll close that right after this it says dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord you know if the person's your brother like you shouldn't be like kill them Lord or make them go to jail I hope they make them break their leg for what they for the dirty look they gave to me I mean that's just should not be our attitude right so but God will take vengeance and you just let him do his thing if people are mistreating you or or you know doing things that you think are wrong towards you then let God take care of that you just pray for that person and and pray that they get their heart right because some people are really difficult to deal with some people just don't don't get it but just because they don't get it doesn't mean you can't get it and you know it's funny that Jesus he goes he goes through this list of things and and and he says you know don't sinners love each other you know I'm not I'm paraphrasing it or whatever but don't they love you know don't sinners love those that love them you know so like we're supposed to be different than the world and the world does the things that he's asking us to do and it's like if you know if somebody lends us something or gives us something you know we appreciate it but what I'm saying is that people God expects people to you know be different that are Christians so we deal with each other differently we deal with other people differently because we are the salt of the earth and a city that is on a hill you know cannot be hidden it can't be hidden so we don't want to be that worthless salt that is cast into the dung pile we want to be the salt of the earth that is helpful to other people that we're being a neighbor unto other people we're being a neighbor neighbor to each other and we're loving each other we're loving our neighbor obviously soul winning yes we should get people say but you know there's a lot of vast a vast topic of just being a neighbor to somebody obviously more than I could ever fit you know God talks about it constantly and so we should be different than those people in the world and different than the Pharisees there's religious people are like that but there's churches that are rude to people that come to their door you know in their door they don't say hi to the visitor you know I was thinking about Temo who never nobody ever said hi to him at a church that I used to go to and I'm like well that's how that church is but let that never be said about our church we should love the people that walk in these doors let's pray Lord we thank you so much for the great scriptures in Leviticus 19 where people will just not seek to preach a loving sermon but Lord we know at this church that you loved in the Old Testament as well as you love in the New Testament and you're the same yesterday today and forever and Lord we thank you so much for this great church and for all the great things that it does I pray that you'd help us Lord if we have bitterness in our hearts were grudges against each other in this church that or we just get those things right that we just confess our sins and you're like and that we would confess those sins to you Lord and just get right with whoever we are wrong with right now pray these things in Jesus precious name amen one four two look and live I have a message from the Lord hallelujah full message on to you all give recorded in his word hallelujah it is only that you look and live look and live my brother live look to Jesus now and live recorded in his word hallelujah it is only that you look and live I'm a message full of love hallelujah all message all my friend for you is a message from above Jesus said it and I know tis true look and live my brother live look to Jesus now and live is recorded in his word hallelujah it is only that you look and live life is offered unto you hallelujah eternal life thy soul shall have if you'll only look to him hallelujah look to Jesus who alone can see look and my brother live look to Jesus now and live is recorded in his word hallelujah it is only that you look at live I will tell you how I came hallelujah to Jesus when he made me whole was believing on his name hallelujah I trusted and he saved my soul look and live my brother live look to Jesus now and live is recorded in his word hallelujah it is only that you look and live amen brother drew would you close us with a word of prayer you