(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Alright everybody, welcome to Shirk Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 520. We're going to be singing We're Marching to Zion. Welcome to Shirk Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your blues songbooks and turn to page number 520. We're going to be singing We're Marching to Zion. Song 520, we're marching to Zion. Let's sing it out together on the first. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Come we that love the Lord and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord. Amen. Our second song is going to be our new song for this week. Song number 73. Oh it is wonderful to be a Christian. It is a little fast paced so you got to keep with me. Song number 73. Oh it is wonderful to be a Christian. Song number 73. Let's sing it out together on the first. Life has purpose now it never had before. There is meaning to each day and even more. For a joy and peace I can't explain is mine. Since I found new life in Christ my Lord divine. Oh it is wonderful to be a Christian. Oh it is wonderful to be God's child. Oh it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven. Oh it is wonderful to be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled. I can go directly to the Lord in prayer. He has told me I may boldly enter there and he listens as his promises I plead. I find mercy there and grace for every need. Oh it is wonderful to be a Christian. Oh it is wonderful to be God's child. Oh it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven. Oh it is wonderful to be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled. And the hope of Heaven's glory thrilled me so. Where I'll live with Christ forevermore I know. That is why the things of earth I loosely know. I'm eternal, rich is better for than gold. Oh it is wonderful to be a Christian. Oh it is wonderful to be God's child. Oh it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven. Oh it is wonderful to be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled. Amen. Amen. Good morning everybody. Welcome to Church Foundation Baptist Church. It is wonderful to be a Christian. There's no better life than that. Let's take our bulletins and go through some announcements. If you need a bulletin would you just lift up your hand and one of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. On our front cover we have our verse of the week. It says let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12. Great verse there. And our service times, our Sunday morning service is our preaching service. It's 10 30 a.m. And our Sunday evening service is 3 30 p.m. Tonight will be in Exodus chapter 8 to finish off that chapter. And I'm preaching about the fourth plague, the flies. So it's always a great topic to talk about flies, right? So but anyway our sowing times are listed below. We do have sowing today at 1 10 p.m. If you're planning on coming or going out from the church please be in the auditorium at 1 10. There'll be a five minute sermon and then after the five minute sermon we need to get up and get to the soul winning destination. If you have no idea what I'm talking about well soul winning is when we go and knock on people's doors and try to present people with the fact that people are going to hell. And we ask people are you 100 percent sure if you died today you'd go to heaven. And then we try and take the Bible and just show them what the Bible says it takes to be saved. So that's what soul winning is. We're doing that today. If you're not in the WhatsApp group we have a WhatsApp group for soul winning. And if you're not in that group and you want to go and try to learn how to go so many will partner you with somebody that is experienced we're not going to make you talk or anything like that. As a matter of fact a silent partner a new person that's being trained is just silent and they kind of just maybe run a little bit of diversion. There's dogs or dogs to pet or babies to hold or whatever. I'm just kidding. But they kind of just learn that's what the whole purpose is and and we like to train new people on what to do when they go door to door and not we knock on doors. But we're not just handing out invitations or hanging door hangers we actually do want to confront people kindly with the with the gospel. So that's at 1 10 p.m. being here for the sermon and then the address if you need the address. Brother Sean where's he at right there. He's the guy that you need to get the address from he's the captain. So and then if you look down you can see our salvation's are basically our church that's our salvation's baptism brother when had a baptism yesterday from a new convert. And we've had 11 salvation so far this month. Last month we had 34 and our attendance was a lot bigger than it was today last week. What do you guys just want to show up. I just get like guest preachers here every week or something. Anyway there's a lot of people sick today and I know that I got a lot of text messages this morning with people who are sick or with sick kids and so let's remember to pray for them today. So our attendance is a little lean this morning but if you look over on the upcoming events we have the sewing class at the church on the 21st which is what this Tuesday. I think that's at 4 p.m. I guess unless Mrs. Harrington's not feeling well then we might have to cancel that but as far as I know it's still on March 7th and 8th is the next generation youth rally of Verity Baptist Church. And so that's 14. It's 13 to 19 get the poster up over the wall on the wall if you want to read any more information about it or you can see me after the service and I'd explain some stuff I'm not actually driving down there now. So I've changed my mind. So anyway my wife's having surgery next week and I think it's just going to be probably for the best. So anyhow the Lord's let's see what do we got going on else. Let's see we've got Usher training ushered in stewardship training that's going to be at 10 a.m. here at the church building lunch will be provided. So we're just going to do like kind of the yearly usher training. And so if you're already an usher I still want you to be here just for a refresher. But if you're wanting to work as an usher then I would like you to be at this class and it's not going to be super long just going to be a couple hours probably for both sets of training. And we'll just kind of go over the responsibilities but also kind of the expectations and also it'll be a little bit of money counting procedures. So sometimes we need to have people fill in for the guys that are normally counting. So we would definitely like some help in that area if anybody wants to be an usher. Is there anybody that wants to be an usher they're thinking about doing that already brother Alex. So yes you're you're more welcome to show up for the class. And then so like I said March 11th 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and then I'll even feed you lunch afterwards for showing up. So and then March 17th through 19th we're going to have spoken our church plant Spokane's fourth year anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been four years already. But here we are. Pastor Jared Pizarnsky is going to be preaching for us on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Spokane at the new church building. So we do have a new place that we're meeting at. And so if you need the address or you're interested in going please let me know get you all the proper information. And we're going to have some sowing on Saturday and some fellowship and then I'll be preaching both services on Sunday. April 1st is going to be a big sowing push for our church. So we're going to do a sowing marathon. It'll probably be in our area. So we have that that swap app that I kind of want to test it out because even though we might not be working with those people anymore we could still work directly with the app company. And maybe that will be just something we just do independently. You know we are an independent Baptist church so maybe we just have to go our own way on this thing. So but I don't want to just dismiss the idea outright. We do have a map that's already in there. So I definitely would like to work on that. And so doing a big push with our Easter invites will do that on April 1st and you know it's National Atheist Day also so it's a good day to do it. You know April Fool's Day of the fool has said as hard as there is no God so we'll try to unfool them right. And then April 2nd we're going to have the Lord's Supper at the P.M. service and we only do the Lord's Supper once per year. So you know if you think well there's a makeup one that we only do it once a year and pretty soon I'm going to teach a sermon about that. I usually preach a sermon about that topic once a year anyway and that'll be in Exodus when we get to Exodus 12 which will be fairly soon. I know this is kind of a ways out but it's kind of want to get your attention on these things. And then April 8th is a Saturday we're going to do a soloing push in Portland and I haven't decided where yet. We might go to Nopoe or we might go to Gresham. I'm not sure. But Nopoe, North Portland has been a good spot for us in the past and so is Gresham. So we'll try to find some really receptive places and are those people likely going to come to our church on Easter Sunday? Probably not but you know we're not we don't go soloing just to get people in our church we go soloing so they'll get saved. That's the main thing right. April 9th of course is Easter Sunday and we'll have services then and of course about the res talk about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then April 13th through 17th which is that following Thursday we're going to do our Detroit soloing trip. We do have pretty much all the plans ironed out concerning that brother Robert and brother Timo just made a new video about that. We'll probably do another video here in a few weeks or a couple weeks and add some more details to that. And then April 29th so the movie theater canceled us permanently when we showed Pastor Shelley's preserved Bible video. Because they don't they don't like people that preach hate and violence is what they said. So anyway I thought we were just watching a movie about the Bible but I don't know what that had to do with it. But anyway so I was thinking because I was thinking about having like a new film play every fifth Saturday. And then we'll do you know I'll preach a psalm and then the men can preach and all that's going to stay the same. But instead I'm just going to I just thought you know what would be better is for us to do a Sony marathon every every three months in a different place. So we've never gone to Salem before so we're going to have a Sony marathon in Salem Oregon. I know there'll be some people in here that are happy about that some people live there or closer to there. So it might be an easy one to get to and we can all go over to CJ's and have a barbecue afterwards or something. That's Rachel's like no. But yeah. And speaking of brother CJ please pray for him. He ended up having to go to the doctor this morning so please pray for him. He's not really sure what's going on. He's just having some issues. So anyway pray for him. Let's see what else we got. The King James Conference that's coming May 25th through 28th. And we're a family in a great church that means the children infants are welcome during the church services. Please if they are screaming or crying really loud please take them to the mother baby room or dad baby room. And if it's been like a couple times that they just keep having to outburst just maybe finish off the service in one of those rooms with them if they can't get it under control. Sometimes kids you know they just are kids and they cry. So that's why the rooms are available for you. So anyway also for other things but I also reserve the back row for families with young children and rockers or glider chairs or for pregnant nursing mothers or elders only please. No men allowed in the mother baby rooms or vice versa during the church services. Please no unattended children in any area of the building. Please watch your children and please no food in the assembly area today and silence your cell phones if you would at this time please or place them on airplane mode. And then escorts are available to your vehicles by the ushers and the ushers are the guys we're kind of running thin on them today but they're the guys with the pin that says usher on them. So if you need any help to your vehicle sometimes people just have an infirmity and they need to have some help to their car. There's no problem with doing that or sometimes it's just single ladies and sometimes there's just unsavories around here not very often but that fence has kind of helped a lot with that which I'm glad for. So but you know it is what it is. We're living in a strange world these days. So if you need an escort to your vehicle please don't hesitate to ask. All the online giving and tithe informations there at the bottom and anniversaries and birthdays are covered. And if you're a first time guest we're very happy that you're here. We appreciate you coming to our church and checking us out. We do have a gift bag that we like to give each first time visitor and that bag has the film being Baptist in it. It's got a nice pen and some other information about our church. So please take one of these bags on your way out as a token of the as a gift for being a first time guest. We appreciate it. And there's a little table around the wall the fake wall right there. You just grab one of these on your way up and please take it as a as a appreciation for being first time guest. So anyway that's all I have for announcements. Let's sing another song. We'll receive the offering. All right our next song will be song number two hundred fifty eight. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Song number two hundred fifty eight in your blue hymn books. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Let's sing it out together on the first. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Oh God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not Thy compassion. They fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hands have provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest. Sun, moon and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in manifold witness. To Thy great faithfulness mercy and love. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hands have provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings all God with ten thousand desire. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Great is Thy Faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hands have provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Amen. Good to see you. Brother Ramon, could you bless the offering for us? All I have needed Thy hands have provided. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. All I have needed Thy faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Great is Thy Faithfulness Lord unto me. Proverbs 22, the Bible reads in verse 1, A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. The rich and poor meet together, the Lord is the Maker of them all. A prudent man foreseeeth the evil, and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour and life. Thorns and snares are the way of the froward. He that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. Train up a child on the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity, and the rod of his anger shall fail. He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor. Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out, yea, strife and reproach shall cease. He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor. The slothful man sayeth, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit. He that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich shall surely come to want. Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply in thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing, if thou shalt keep them within thee, they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that sent unto thee? Rob not the poor, because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate. For the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee? Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men. Brother Drew, will you pray for us? Amen. Alright, well the title of the sermon this morning is, Habitual Line Steppers. Habitual Line Steppers. And I get that from verse number 28 in our text here. It says, Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for this beautiful day outside. And Lord we thank you so much for a great church. I pray that all those that are sick would be healed and comforted. And Lord we pray for CJ today that he would find out some answers. Let's pray that you would just bless the sermon as it's preached Lord. And Lord I'm going to try to preach this in the right type of spirit. But some of the things might be hard and I just pray that people would have ears to hear. What you have to say to them through the scriptures. And Lord help me to preach with grace but yet also with salt. And I pray you fill me with your spirit as I begin to preach now in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So this topic is not going to be an easy one. And I have a lot of things that I'm probably going to be bringing up. So I'm probably going to be all over the place. But anyway so habitual line steppers. What is a habitual line stepper. It's someone who always steps over the line. So we have a lot of lines in our lives and in our society. And lines are usually like a rule. You know so like on the way over here and it seems like more now than ever there's a lot of bad drivers out there. Ever notice that they're so distracted they're just like driving in the other lane. Those lines are there for a reason. That you're not supposed to drive over the top of the lines. Or with your tire on them or half way over. You're supposed to drive within the lines. Right. So there's a lot of things in our society and we might not even think about those things. But there's a lot of lines in our society and it might not necessarily be something visual. It could be something cultural. It could be. It could be. Yeah let me. Where's it. Can I get it. Brandon. Well. Brother Steve can you come up here for real quick. I just want to show just a quick example of something. I just want you to stand right here. Okay. Right. A little bit closer. A little bit closer. I just want to appreciate you for coming up and talking to me brother Steve. Is this comfortable. Oh that's great. That's the best. But you know. You go ahead and have a seat. The point is. Is that. Do you think that. Would you be comfortable talking to me at that level. He'd probably like you. You need some gum Pastor Thompson. But the point I'm trying to illustrate here is that. Even just in our normative behavior. That's not. It's not normal to walk up and talk to someone that close is it. Right. Would you back away. I mean he didn't back away because I told him to stand there. But he probably felt like that. Did you feel like backing away. All right. Well I must have had good breath. I tried to eat some garlic before I came to church but. I'm just trying to illustrate a point is that even physical boundaries are. They don't necessarily have to be something that's said but we should understand that there are certain lines that we don't cross over. And the Bible has this verse here for a reason. It's saying remove not the ancient landmark and you can spiritually apply this in a lot of different ways. Obviously the primary concept that's talking about is if someone has a property line. That's their property and they have you know in those times they would have you know and even today. We have fence lines mainly that kind of show property lines but there's also there's also like things that people just put in the ground and you might not know what that thing means. But it could be like a county line marker could be you know city line markers it could be your property marker maybe you don't have a fence but your property is your property now. So what it's talking about you know primarily is that someone could take that marker and even if they just moved it like an inch every year after a while you'd be taking up some space that's not yours. And so the concept here is you know don't remove someone else's landmark that shows what their property is and cross that line with them or remove something that belongs to them you're crossing a line with them. And the Bible says don't do that. And in our society there's a lot of like I said there's cultural norms there's there's there's norms of decency you know obviously you know should you be rude to everybody. No you shouldn't be rude to everybody you should actually especially in art in a church their kindness should be something that's exemplified in our church not strife not arguing you know and things like that. Only by pride cometh contention that's what the Bible says. How do contentions happen in our church or in anything? By pride. Someone is being prideful. And then if you continue on the back and forth then that can be both people being prideful. Now I'll say this is some people can be the prideful person that's causing the contention in the first place and maybe that other person doesn't want any. But somewhere in the contention is pride. Only by pride cometh contention that's what the Bible says right. So there are physical and spiritual boundaries set forth in everyone's lives and according to the scriptures and again some boundaries are just based on times and cultures like the close talker you know the close talker was what I was trying to show you an example of and we don't want to be that person you know so if someone's backing away from you you're in their comfort comfortable space it's an invisible line that that everybody has that they just don't want to get that close to someone. Obviously if you're talking with your wife and you have your arm around her I mean obviously you don't want to just be away you know it just depends on the situation. Cultural norms and then comfort. Like if I'm holding my grandchild of course I have to be you know within a boundary right. But turn over to Proverbs chapter 23 verse 10. Proverbs chapter 23 verse 10. I do have to preach fast this morning because I get a lot of notes here so Proverbs chapter 23 verse 10 says remove not the old landmark and enter not into the fields of the fatherless. So this verse is kind of basically saying the same thing but it's also adding something else to it. It's adding enter not into the fields. So you see how it's using the landmark to springboard into that truth also. Enter not into the fields of the fatherless. So someone that's already poor that doesn't have a father and a lot of times you know we don't live in a generation where a lot of our men have died from war because we're kind of skipping those generations a little bit. And obviously there is a lot of people that are fatherless because of war but nowhere near what happened in World War II or World War I or the Vietnam War things like that Korean War. So anyway the principle I want to just kind of nail down today is that we should have respect for borders and boundaries and lines okay. And I'm going to bring up a lot of different topics but I just think it's something that's important that our church needs to hear. I'm not saying that everybody's breaking you know boundaries. I mean actually we are though. Everybody probably breaks some kind of boundary sometime per day. There's these things called stop bars. You probably don't even know what I'm talking about unless you work in this field but when you pull up to a light if it's not a crosswalk but there's a bar that stretches from the like a little ways from the curb and that's where they want you to stop. But people always pull up past that don't they? And then you're like why is this person about to turn into my car? Well you know why because you probably went past the stop bar and they put that there so that your car doesn't get clipped when someone's coming around the corner. Now I was in that field for a long time so I understand how these things work but you know just if you just drive for a long time there's going to be things that you stop doing. Like people just stop you know stopping for lights, stopping for stop signs. I mean there's a lot of rules that people break but I'll get into the science thing here in a little bit but a landmark is a boundary of an area of land or an object marking this. So and today I want to talk about not just physical boundaries but I want to talk about spiritual boundaries too and boundaries of decency. So there's signs in our world that tell us what's safe and what's dangerous. Now a lot of people have you ever heard the term ignoring the warning signs? Well that's a real thing folks. There are warning signs and they're usually like a yellow color on the freeway. You ever see those signs and it looks like this? It's like Windy Road. Sometimes it just shows us in a picture or it'll tell you a mile per hour to go. You know normally this this road is 35 miles an hour but I'll say it'll show like a squiggly line or whatever and it'll say 20 miles an hour. You know what that means? That you should probably take this corner at 20 miles an hour. It's a warning sign for you to slow your speed down under the speed limit and do that. So there's lots of signs out there. There's private property signs. There's no trespassing signs. And people help put a lot of signs on even in their front doors. We understand that. And like when someone says you know we found Jesus. No soliciting. We found Jesus. We got our Girl Scout cookies. You know we're good bro or whatever. Whatever their sign says that's telling us don't bother knocking on this door because we don't want to hear it. That's what I take it as. And that's what most people take it as. We had a guy that emailed us like a couple weeks ago in Vancouver and he's like yeah I'm a day sleeper and they kept ringing the doorbell. And it's like first of all if that is true you know you should ring the doorbell maybe twice and wait and then that's it. Don't just keep ringing someone's doorbell over and over again. So that's probably a line of decency that we shouldn't cross. But obviously you want people to open the door and stuff. But you know dogs freak out on a doorbell for a reason because it's annoying right. So but this guy's a day sleeper and I said well you know I'm not trying to be rude here because I wasn't. You know I want to respect what he said don't come back to our house my house again. He's like I'm on a cul-de-sac on 130th Street. I'm like okay well what's your address. And they never will give me their address. And to me when someone won't give me their address I'm just like okay they really just have an axe to grind. They're just mad. Or what do they think I'm going to like come egg their house once I know which house it is or something. Like that's not I want to know so that I can respect the fact that they don't want us to knock on their door again. Because I don't want to just badger people and harass. We're not out to harass. It's not harassment Baptist Church. We want to reach people that want to be reached. So anyway the guy was just like he was upset and I said well he said I clearly have a no soliciting sign on my door. Now we're not soliciting when we go and knock on people's doors. Soliciting is selling something. You're going and you're trying to you know sell them a Kirby vacuum. Or sign up for some leaf guard gutters or whatever else people come and knock on doors for. That's soliciting. But we're coming to preach the gospel and invite them to church and give them a free gift of salvation. That's different. Now they might think that soliciting is encompassing. I just said you know again I'm not trying to be rude guy but like you know that's not soliciting. I said if you're a day sleeper here's a sign that we will respect. Baby sleeping or day sleeper. And I just hope that you all know that if somebody has that on their door don't knock on that door. Because if someone's asleep and sometimes people are light sleepers and if they work nights and you wake them up. I mean it is rude you know. But if you don't have a sign that says that obviously you don't want to tell criminals these days. Hey I'm asleep right now you can come on in and rob my house. I mean I get that too. But like you can't demand for us to stop doing something where we don't know which house it is. So but I'm just I'm just trying to give you some examples of lines of decency. Don't keep ringing the doorbell over and over again and beating on the door like you're the police okay. Because at some point you're going to be beating on the door like you're serving a search warrant. And someone's going to think you're serving a search warrant and it's not going to be a pretty sight right. So we just have even in door knocking we have to have rules of decency and lines that we don't cross. So turn to Numbers chapter 20 verse 14 and I want to show an example of someone where God tells people if you cross this line you're going to die. And actually there's lots of times in the Bible when this is said like even with the Levitical priesthood. The Levites were supposed to do specific tasks and if you've read the Bible more than once you probably know that it says and anybody any stranger that comes nigh shall surely be put to death. So the priesthood had specific rules and if someone tried to go well I'm from the tribe of Gad and I think that I'm like holy just like everybody else and they try to pull the incense out or they try to sacrifice something on the altar. They're dead that's the death penalty. So God took it very seriously but here's in Numbers chapter 20 verse 14 look what it says. And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom. Thus saith thy brother Israel thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us how our fathers went down into Egypt and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time and the Egyptians vexed us and our fathers. And when we cried unto the Lord he heard our voice and sent an angel and hath brought us forth out of Egypt and behold we are in Kadesh a city in the uttermost of thy border. This isn't what I was talking about before that's coming up I'm sorry. But this is still an example now the Edomites had a border. Moses sent people to say hey we want to cross into your border. This is the uttermost we're at the uttermost of your border we're at the border they didn't cross the border. Moses is respecting the property rights of the Edomites isn't he? Even though they end up being bad and God is angry at the Edomites after the way that they treat the children of Israel because they are related they are related by family through generations. But look what it says in verse 17 let us pass I pray thee through thy country we will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards neither will we drink of the water of the wells we will go by the king's highway we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed thy borders. So they're asking for permission to walk through their land whose land is it? It's the Edomites why did they ask for permission? Because it's not their property. But Moses is just asking see it's okay to ask people to cross a border with them right? To come into your backyard hey my kids kicked the ball who's had this happen? My kids kicked the ball over the fence can I come into your backyard and get it? That's what I did when I was growing up if we and our neighbors would get mad too because we played ball a lot it would always seem to go over their fence and they did get mad but it's like at least we're asking for permission there's just not some kid running around your backyard you know it's just decent right? So it says and Edom said unto him thou shall not pass by me lest I come out against thee with the sword and the children of Israel said unto him we will go by the highway and I and my cattle and if I and my cattle drink of thy water then I'll pay for it I will only without doing anything else go through on my feet and he said thou shall not go through and Edom came out against him with much people and with a strong hand thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border wherefore Israel turned away from him so they respected the border was it rude of them to not answer the request? Yeah I mean and obviously like I said God gets very angry with Edom and basically this makes the Israelites enemies with Edom from here to eternity or whatever and God didn't like the way that they treated their brother because we're supposed to love our brother we're supposed to be good unto our neighbors right we're supposed to do right by them and they refused to help them out now again we know the bad guys of this situation are the Edomites who are not being very kind but the point I'm trying to make is that even if we ask for a good reason to pass through someone else's border they do have the right to not be trespassed against don't they? and that would include anything any borders not just in your house not just in your yard but in your life too so if there's a border if there's something that you specifically put out as a border in your life people should respect those borders and not try to cross over into something that's none of their business none of their concern they don't need to know but yet people and this just is human nature people always want to know the scuttlebutt people always want to know what's going on and they pry into areas of other people's lives that they don't belong in and so when someone puts up a clear border and says I don't want to talk about this don't keep pressing them to talk about it I mean I just don't understand why that's so hard to get but because I preached a sermon about that about two months ago just talking about having a heart of discretion now again it's a you're crossing into territory that's not yours to cross into it's a border and here's the thing everybody should have some really healthy boundaries in their life what do I mean by boundaries? things that you won't let people entreat into into your life let me give an example do you let other people that are just friends of yours spank your kids? would you? what if I just walked up and spanked Hazel right in front of you guys because she was doing something she wasn't supposed to would you guys be mad? would you leave the church? but that'd be weird wouldn't it? see because I understand that it's not my place to spank their child because there's just things of decency and that's an extreme example but I'm just trying to get you to understand that we should have healthy boundaries in our life that we won't let somebody else cross into or things that maybe we don't want to talk about or whatever it is it's not your right to continuously try to cross people's borders and you know if someone comes out at you with the sword then maybe you shouldn't try to cross that border you know you tell someone nice the first time and then you don't want to you know you're like okay well if they keep doing it then it's like then you're intentionally trying to cross a boundary that doesn't belong to you hopefully that makes sense so anyway God makes rules about borders and property and laws and commandments and conduct etc and again when you continuously step over the lines all the time you have a serious issue and a massive flaw in your character it's gotten quiet there but it's true if that's you then you have a flaw in your character that you need to fix flaws can be fixed right most flaws can be fixed and look I'm not trying to beat people up today I'm just trying to tell you that the Bible does make it very clear that there's lines we just don't cross there's borders we don't jump into even if it's bad guys you know just well maybe so this you know I'm not going to go to TD Jake's house and say well just because he's a false prophet I'm just going to cross into his land and take whatever I want it's still not yours that's the point look at Song of Solomon chapter 1 verse 6 every person though should have healthy boundaries in their life no one's going to come up you know like here's another situation where if you're a man and you walk up and hug somebody else's wife that's just I mean I think most people in our church know that that's a no no here and you're like what's the big deal we're all brothers or whatever that's that's someone else's wife don't put your hands on somebody else's wife you know unless obviously you know I'll give Kylie hug a side hug she's my daughter-in-law and she tries to hug me sometimes but it's just like a it's a side hug it's family but if she said hey I don't want you to side hug me ever again I'd be like okay cool fine wear it up no I'm just kidding just saying that you should respect you know sometimes you don't know what someone's boundary is and then you cross it and someone says hey you know I'm not cool with that or or whatever and then instead of don't get mad when someone does that to you just that's their boundary let me give an example I'm sorry brother Robert I'm going to use you as an example when brother Robert first started coming to our church I just have a thing about me where I like to nickname people and I didn't mean anything by it but I was like hey Bobby what's going on like he's mad right now but he's like my name's my name's Robert I don't like being called anything else but Robert I was like okay and I don't and you know you might think well that's a weird thing it's not weird like some people get nicknamed whatever their name they get nicknamed something that's shorter every all the time it's like well why'd you name that thing in the first place if you didn't want to call the full name so I understand that like my I have an uncle named Richard but everybody calls you know I call him uncle Richard but a lot of people call him rich and he doesn't care but see if he did care then he would probably say something like hey I'd prefer if you call me Richard so I'm just saying that that's just something simple but it's something real it's something true it's a border it's a boundary that he has in his life that he doesn't want people to cross now everybody knows in the whole church that he doesn't want you to call him anything but Robert I'm helping you out brother so here's another here's another example and I already asked you for permission but I didn't tell you what I was going to say but this is Miss Annie Miss Annie's from Australia and she has an accent in case you didn't notice and I kind of had gotten into this habit where every time she said something I would say something back to her in an Australian accent and I didn't mean anything by it but she brought it up to me in a kind way where I got the hint and I don't care I'm glad that she said something to me because if something I was saying was bothering her that I'm glad that so I don't do that anymore do I have I ever done it since maybe I don't think I don't think I have but she just like and again there's nothing wrong with that like I was being an idiot I was just you know when someone's around you with a different accent you can't help but sometimes I can't help but say something apparently but anyway I'm just making the point that when I realized I crossed the boundary with her that she wasn't OK with and she didn't go like stop stop doing that she was just really nice she was like you know every time I say something you like or whatever with the Australian accent I'm like OK I'm sorry you know but I've crossed lines with people and I just think it's a good practice to instead of getting mad just put it just say whatever they did like even if it's a slight reproof a slight rebuke or whatever it is or maybe it's a stern rebuke maybe you cross some line of decency that you should have really just thought about it was really stupid just own it stop doing it it's real simple I mean look at Song of Solomon chapter 1 verse 6 it says look not upon me because I'm black because the sun hath looked upon me my mother's children were angry with me they made me the keeper of the vineyards but mine own vineyard have I not kept here's another thing a line that you can cross with people is that you know you're responsible for your own stuff your own family your own children your own cars your own property your own house all that stuff and so don't go try to keep someone else's vineyard when you're not even keeping your own don't cross over into the realms that's not your vineyard that's not your house that's not you know well that so and so had a TV in their house like that's not your house shut your mouth you don't have to say that you know everybody's on different levels of spiritual maturity and you can't just go nobody's even gonna want you to come over to their house if you're going to sit there and pick their house apart so I mean I'm just saying that before you start knocking on the neighbor's door and telling them what problems they have with their backyard why don't you fix your backyard first why don't you fix your problems first and then go and even then it's like it's still not your business so quit trying to run somebody else's garden when you need to tend to your own turn to Proverbs chapter 27 verse 23 Proverbs chapter 27 verse 23 I'm definitely not going fast enough here Proverbs chapter 27 verse 23 be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds apply this spiritually well again it's kind of like the last verse I just showed you be diligent so work hard at knowing what's going on in your own life in your own house in your own family and look well to that but don't again it's not your job to raise raise somebody else's kids it's not your job to being in somebody else's marriage and help them if they have someone here's here's my policy if someone asks me for help or counsel I will give it to them I will give my opinion but if they don't then I don't I'm the pastor of the church not the medaller of the church you know if you're having problems please yeah come to me if you if you think I can help you I'm not going to go tell everybody your business but you know understand this that I'm not going to just come up normally and give you unsolicited advice every once in a while I will but normally I don't do that but I'm just saying that unsolicited advice to people is also another boundary you could be pushing with somebody if they don't ask you for your opinion and what would that mean well how about your opinion on what's healthy and what's not that seems to be something that people like to you know an axe that people love the grind is help the health stuff and I'm just going to tell you this right now no you know yes God punishes people with with being sick for sinning would you agree that he does that sometimes is every time someone gets sick because they send I mean why is our whole chapters about the Levi's separating you for seven days or if your house has a fretting leprosy in it that you shut the house up for seven days and if the leprosy still in the house then you tear it down and burn it why would you do that is it because that house sinned and came short of the glory of God no it's because things are there's such thing as contagions and you can get sick from bacteria from viruses now can God protect you from those things absolutely I think he can I think he does but if you see someone sick it's not because necessarily something they didn't eat if they didn't want to eat organic they didn't take a certain kind of garlic drop they didn't try they didn't try to you know look you can't you got to stop with that stuff people if you want to control your health off of the Internet and you just you hate Western medicine which was be somewhere in the middle don't be so fanatical with your health views and try to push them on everybody else and if you if you don't think that things are contagious please keep that to yourself because I think it's just weird it's like borderline flat Earth theory it is like I only get sick if I eat bad so you're if I eat bad or if I don't take these certain natural healing things like you know essential if I don't have my collection of essential oils and I take a drop of every single one every single day then I won't get sick I know I won't if I do the Daniel diet I'll never get cancer look I'm and you're like just shut up Pastor Thompson you have no reason to be talking about health I'm not I'm talking about you trying to control somebody else's health and if someone asks you hey what do you do I've noticed you've been losing some weight you know what are you doing and that you want to tell them that's cool but if you're just saying because let me just explain this to you real quick if you believe that the only reason why someone gets sick is because they didn't eat right or God was just punishing them but some people take it to an extreme where they just say like well you only get sick because of these things the lack of this or the or the eating of McDonald's or something you're taking God out of the equation at that point aren't you that you're in control of your own health God can't just make you get covered 19 right now why is it that some people here get sick and some people don't well I mean it's just sometimes you get sick let me also explain something to you when you have small children they catch everything and it's important for them to catch everything because if they don't catch everything then they're not going to have an immune system and so guess what they challenge your immune system too and you're like well I just don't understand why I'm always sick it's this it's this it's just kids get sick our kids are sick too we've we've stayed up many or my wife stayed up many nights with them and I had to watch her suffer but you know what I'm saying like I'm just saying don't jump into a realm that you don't have the right to jump into and if you believe some kind of theory that we only get sick because of the things we don't eat or the things that we do eat let me just tell you something that's not true because why would the Bible say that things are contagious if they're not you understand what I mean like I just I don't care just don't cross borders with people don't tell people think there was this one video that I saw where it was a pastor's wife was saying I have the cure for strep throat I'm like what it's like there's no like if you do this this this and this you'll never get strep throat again it's like are you a doctor because you should be careful giving out medical advice to people when you don't know what you're talking you read something on the Internet you read something on natural news so now you're an expert on this on the subject you better do some research before you just start experimenting on your children experimenting on yourself and I know that I'm stepping on some toes here right now and look I'm not against natural medicine I'm not but I'm also not against some Western medicine I had pneumonia the last time I got pneumonia I was in Hawaii and I was really sick I was trying to tough it out because I was in Hawaii who wants to be sick in Hawaii right so I actually end up going to the hospital on the first night after the first not the first night but the second night I was there and they didn't know what what it was they stuck some Q-tip up my nose I was before COVID really launched but they that's how they test for the flu too so long story short I had pneumonia and like my wife I think she posted a picture of me in a wheelchair or something like that like but they gave me antibiotics they gave me a Z pack you know why because I had infection I had pneumonia and you don't play around with stuff like that I was like yeah whatever you got to do to get me better so the doctor calls me the next day and he's like how long are you going to be in Hawaii for I was like this amount of days or whatever is like another week or whatever and he's like what are you doing here and I said I'm a pastor I'm supposed to be preaching this weekend I got all this soul winning stuff to do and he's like he's like yeah about that he's like do you want to make it off the island alive I was like yeah he's like stop everything that you're doing don't do anything for the rest of the time here except for just stay in bed and heal and I was like well you know I didn't come all this way to not preach so I was really sick and I did stay in bed I didn't do anything my wife went and swam with dolphins that day and was doing all this fun stuff I'm sweating out this massive fever having fever dreams I felt like I was going to die and a lot of times I won't go to the I won't go to the hospital unless I'm feeling like you know I got something seriously wrong with me but the reason why I'm bringing this up is because online God bless their hearts online people are like put some onions in your socks and then put them on take some cayenne pepper and put it under your tongue you'll snap right out of it I'm like so if I took that advice instead of taking the z-pack I'd probably be dead right now so my point is that don't take these things too far folks remember I've been saved for a long time I've seen the Daniel diet the only eating raw fruits and vegetables cures cancer stuff the b-17 cures cancer in reality God cures people medicine does cure people but God also cures people you can't take it out of God's hands that was Asa's big downfall you know he was diseased in his feet until the day of his death and he spent all of his money on the doctors all of his money trying to just you know and he did not seek the Lord and the Bible specifically says he did not seek the Lord what did Hezekiah do though Hezekiah he's like you're going to die Isaiah is like you're dead he's like get your house in order and then Hezekiah prays to God that he would allow him to live and he did and he recovered and he put some kind of remedy on him and that was it he put on what he was told to put on I'm just saying like and I just want to caution people with this is that if you're giving away medical advice and you really don't know you're just going off of something you heard online look people will try to sell any kind of snake oil that they can online 409 cures all your joints and you know that was that stuff you spray for the lubricant it's a WD 40 was actually intended for people with joint pain but then the government stole the patent and now it's used to lubricate cars and stuff it's like do you really believe that spray it on your joints you know just it'll be just like you know be like the Tin Man or whatever just a little more here just saying like just be careful with this get skinny quick stuff this you know if you took every essential oil in existence every single day you'd probably dead one thing I found is that the people that are the nuttiest on the health stuff are always the most sick you ever notice that I just this is what you got to do even though they're like prayer request I'm sick again it's like I got this disease that can't be cured what are you talking about I thought that you had the cure alls sorry that's just how I see it anyway I'm going to move on since people are upset but I'm just kidding hopefully or not hopefully you're getting that in the right spirit because I'm not trying to be me I'm really not I just want us to think a little bit so let's see where's that let's get into the science all right so I was in the business of making signs installing signs I'm talking about parking signs stop signs street name signs things that a lot of people take for granted or don't look at I talk about warning signs but there are federally regulated signs that have to be installed at a certain height at a certain distance there's a lot of stuff there's engineering that goes into putting in signs and street name signs are those green signs that you'll see that help us guide us on streets where we're soloing a lot if you're paying attention you'll be like oh this one goes all the way I mean we they're called guide signs street name signs are our guide signs they're not necessarily federally mandated but they are helpful excuse me and they're usually green most are in a special neighborhood or something but they'll guide signs can also be hospital signs you know hospital have an arrow going this way those are helpful aren't they when you're like husbands having a heart attack you're trying to find the hospital I mean those things signs are good now obviously California I saw this one where California was like this tall maybe it was even taller now but it had street name or parking sign after parking sign telling you what hours what days this way that way parking kitty whatever you know and those things can get pretty confusing I gave you a ticket why well you're parked here between 6 and 8 am and you know you're not supposed to park here between 6 and 8 am it's like I paid doesn't matter you should have read that sign I think that gets ridiculous and redundant but they are parking signs are there to help you and believe it or not parking is engineered so a lot of it's stupid like in Portland they'll just land at drive they just put this huge bike lane and walking lane in with buffer here buffer there delineators all the way up and it's just like all those people that pay all those property taxes have to not be able to park in front of their house anymore so that some bicyclists can ride by there and feel free and secure or whatever it's just it gets crazy but we do need one way signs don't you think and you know the signs are supposed to be retro reflective so when the beams of your lights hit those it lights up it glows you ever notice that or have you ever seen a street that gets painted with lines you'll notice that it's really super bright for like a week or so well they put glass beads into the paint and it drops into the paint line as it gets painted so when the beam headlights of your car hit those then you see them how many of you have been on a dark road at night and all you can see is that fog line going around the corner well those were there to save your life so this kind of stuff is important but it's important in life too now warning signs like a you know I kind of talked about that but you know wouldn't you like to know if you're walking around in a bear crossing area or mountain lions or you're in a deer crossing zone me and my wife went on a on a trip a few years ago maybe it was two years ago for our anniversary and we're driving on this highway towards Fossil Oregon and I forget what highway it is but it's out by Mopin and then you know you anyway we were following this road and we went to church on a Wednesday night there and we were trying to be incognito in a church and I got busted in three questions of being a pastor but anyway we're driving and you just start seeing eyes all over and it's deer and these deer are so stupid they'll just walk right out in front of you or they'll just stand there with you know have you ever heard that saying like a deer in the headlights because we're like duuuuuu they just stand there but they'll also jump out from the side and it's like that was like that we were going it was like a 55 mile an hour road we're going like probably 30 because like just like they're just jumping out trying to commit suicide full-on the whole time we're driving but I forgot why I was even talking about that well deer crossing because there's warning signs that tell you hey there's a bunch of deer they should just have like a continuous deer crossing sign all the way to that town but you know we need to hunt that area or something but we need to heed the warning signs if you don't heed warning signs you could get yourself in trouble at Grand Canyon it tells you don't walk to the edge and what do people do all the time every year people die at Grand Canyon because they got too close to the edge they get vertigo or they just slip on some rocks it's a long way down folks don't do it get close enough you know there's pictures of it for a reason but you know even with the no parking you know but here's what here's what people do a lot of time with signs they ignore them don't they or they disregard them oh I can go faster than that on this road they're crazy well how about when it's icy how about when it's raining you know there's there's weather conditions it's called the general rule I think when you need to be going the appropriate speed of the weather that you're in and the conditions that you're in so you you can tell a police officer well it's 70 miles an hour through here what's the problem and you're on an ice rink like that's a problem you know you're probably you know they're gonna die or you're gonna get pulled over and given a huge ticket but what else do people like to do with signs well in my experience they like to spray graffiti on them or put stickers on them or whatever they want to stop that sign from being able to be read because then it's not enforceable or you know and I'm I'm 48 years old I've never ran a stop sign over in my life but you know how many I put back in a lot every day stop signs are being ran over like crazy in that city over there I'm not sure about here as much but I fixed a lot of knockdown stop signs it's like how did you hit that like I don't even know how like how they did it must be a lot of drunk people there or something I'm sure that's what it is but anyway people will just out and out to face them some people just remove them like there's there's specific you know people can't will start these big huge camps in Portland whole streets just filled with camper RVs that are filled with garbage and sewage and stolen cars as far as the eye can see and we have to put signs up like I was with brother Richard we used to go to our church and we're at this camp and my I didn't even know I was being sent out to the to the slaughter but like these people aren't happy when you show up to put signs you can't park there anymore no RV camping and so I'm just like I just walked around with a sledgehammer like this and then that was just like are you gonna say something I got a sledgehammer in my hand I'm walking around so I just did that for my protection but the point is they were gone the next week all the signs that we worked so hard to put in because people will just rip them down people don't want to follow the rules and when they don't want to follow the rules they'll ignore the warning signs they'll rip them down they'll rip down the parking signs they'll put graffiti on them so that they can so they can just do whatever they want which kind of goes into what I'm preaching about you know when you have clear borders clear signs clear lines you know and you cross those lines there's gonna be consequences for it it might not be the first time you ever do it but imagine if you just straddle the lane on the over the line because you didn't want the paint line to wear out and that you just hugged out over the top of that line do you think you're gonna get an accident at some point yeah probably the first day so that's just kind of what happens when you cross lines is that things happen they're there for a reason to draw Jeremiah 6 16 Jeremiah 6 16 it says thus saith the Lord I'm just gonna start reading thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where is the good way so God's saying stand in the ways a way is usually a way a place that you you know that you're walking a path that you're walking on or a road that you're driving on and it says see and ask for the old paths see there's just past that we should always go down that are the right path when you get straight off into the bushes or something that's when you get into trouble I read this story about a lady who they didn't find for years she went hiking on a trail and she wrote like a note that said whoever finds this please you know tell my husband and kid I love them or whatever and like she kind of like wrote down for 26 days how she was and they found her body at this camp that she had camped and she got off the trail the main trail we have the trails for a reason she was less than two miles away from where the trail was and ended up dying out in the woods because she didn't know how to get back to the trail so there's a reason why we walk on trails there's a there's a reason why we hike on paths there's a reason why we ride on paved roads and it says ask for the old paths where it is the good way and walk therein and you shall find rest for your souls but here's the problem God tells us how to walk in these paths God tells us where to walk he tells us all these things how we live our life and you know the rules he has for us it says but they said we will not walk there in and that is the problem that people have ways that they could should be going they have rules they should be following they have boundaries they should be enforcing yeah but boundaries they should be pushing but I mean not pushing but they have boundaries that they should have in place they should not be walking into other people's over people other people's lines but they said we will not walk there and there's just some people that's why I say it's habitual line steppers is the title of the sermon because there's just some people that no matter what you say no matter what you do no matter how much you nicely tell them they just continue to walk over that line and it's super annoying it's it's just it's not normal it's something that people got to get under control because it's just not a normal way to behave and it could be in any area that I've talked about so far so and there you know there's just people that are always gonna try to buck the system there's people that are always gonna step over the line there's people are always gonna answer back to their boss there's someone that's always gonna answer back to something that somebody says you can't just be quiet you have to you have to keep saying yeah one more thing oh but just shut up when the Bible says that you're not supposed to answer back against your boss that doesn't mean that every time he yells at you or something or gets on your case that you have to say something back to them but that goes in every area of life any aspect of authority you don't always have to answer back and as a matter of fact the Bible says you shouldn't and you're like well that person's not the boss of me but are they the boss of that situation are they are they the are they the sole winning captain the sole winning captain says here go here they're like but I don't want to I don't well I will not walk there and I'm gonna take my own path and then the sole winning captain doesn't know where you were at and so he can't mark off the map there's a reason why things must be done decently and in order and if you just start making your own path you might be the one dead two miles away from the from the trail you might be that person because you just can't well I'm just gonna find my own path how about that I'm gonna go my own way how about that well it's destruction the Bible warns us about it over and over again I mean that's what he's saying then in Jeremiah there's consequences for habitual line stepping and in the Bible I'm just gonna read some things real quick but there's some lines that you cross that you cannot uncross right and so in sin adding taking away from God's Word taking the mark of the Beast blasphemy of the Holy Ghost what is the penalty for committing those sins and somebody can I get a witness what that is you lose your chance to be saved that's what the Bible says Jesus said if you blasting the Holy Ghost you have no forgiveness in this life nor in the life to come well that's not very loving Pastor Thompson why you just take it up with Jesus then because he said there's some lines you can't cross adding to or taking away from God's Word if you're adding a bunch of stuff that's your own heart you know what the Bible says the the you're gonna be destroyed for that you're gonna receive the plagues for that and you're gonna lose your chance to be saved also you know like I said taking the mark of the Beast taking the mark of the Beast if you take the mark the Beast you lose your chance to be saved it's over you're blotted out of the book of life and that doesn't mean you lose your salvation someone that does this sin never had their salvation you just lost your chance to ever be saved see the difference there so in sin also breaking major moral commandments like first-degree murder rape sodomy incest kidnapping bestiality blasphemy adultery those all carry the death penalty as the punishment now God can forgive some of this stuff and he can forgive all sin but obviously if you're doing some of this stuff you're already crossed the line a while back that you can't come back from so I don't want to get into that all that doctor I'm just saying that there are consequences sometimes that you can never come back from in this life and the Bible teaches that very clearly turn to Exodus chapter 19 verse 12 Exodus chapter 19 verse 12 so here's an instance this is what I was first talking about but Moses is getting the Ten Commandments and God tells him to make sure the people are sanctified against the third day which of course that's a picture you know of Jesus but anyway verse 12 says thou shalt set bounds unto the people roundabout saying take heed to yourselves that you go not up into the mount or touch the border of it whosoever touches the mount shall be surely put to death you're like well that seems kind of dumb that God would just kill someone for touching something but it wasn't a permanent thing it was for this specific time for this specific moment and he's like this mountain is gonna be sanctified it's gonna be set apart and no here's the bounce here's the border don't touch it whenever you tell like little toddlers will do this you're like don't touch that and those walk over and go don't they but see when kids cross lines like that that's a defiant act and those things have to be corrected if you don't correct your children when they're when they're an open rebellion you're gonna have problems with that kid for your whole life but here's the point he God said don't do it what's gonna happen if you touch it if you even just go like this what are you do God dead that's what the that's what it is there shall not in hand touch it excuse me but he shall surely be stoned or shot through whether it be beast or man it shall not live when the trumpet soundeth long they shall come up to the mount so what happens it you know there's a time period where they can't come up to it they can't touch it you know don't get near it or you're gonna be stoned or shot through with a dart even if your and your dog you're like playing fetch with your dog and the dog runs and touches the mount dead like that's so cruel it's just got what God said but a lot of people just don't and this is just something simple it's up for a short time period but a lot of people just don't want to follow rules and you know God has very strict rules for certain things and things that we shouldn't cross over to think about us I'm not gonna have you turn to the verses but Uzzah put forth his hand to touch the Ark of God and then he died and you're like well that doesn't seem fair David was mad David was upset David feared the Lord but here's the point if God just said here's a here's something you should not do here's something you shall not do don't touch the Ark of the Covenant without it being a Levite from the from the certain tribe that they're supposed to be carrying it with staves not handling it not putting it on a new cart not letting oxen drive it the Levi's were supposed to carry it on their shoulders with a stick and what's David doing ignoring what the Bible says and allowing it to be brought in on a cart and what happened the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and God smote him there for his error and it said and it was called Perez Uzzah unto that unto this day and Perez means a breach so whatever it did it was not a pretty picture but why did he do it because if there's not consequences for the rules ever then why is anybody gonna be afraid to cross over them so David brought the brought it the right way the next time and everything was good sometimes we have to learn hard lessons so turn to 1st John chapter 5 1st John chapter 5 1st John chapter 5 verse 16 it says if any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask and he shall give it him life for a lot for them that sin not unto death there is a sin unto death I do not say that he should pray for it all unrighteousness is sin and there is a sin not unto death we know that whosoever is born of God sineth not but he that begot is begotten of God keepeth himself and that wicked one toucheth him not and we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth and wickedness and we know that the Son of God has come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true even in his son Jesus Christ this is the true God in eternal life little children keep yourselves from idols so he starts out saying hey there's a sin unto death I don't say I don't say that you should pray for it when you know that someone's sending a sin unto death don't be like I pray that God just kills that person the Bible says you shouldn't do that because think about the sins you've committed in your life and maybe you sin a sin that was worthy of death you know you shouldn't be going around wishing for other people to die especially save people when you know the Bible says not to pray for those things there is a sin not unto death so basically what I'm saying is that there's lines that are cross that are can be crossed with God and there are sins that are not unto death now obviously every sin is is a transgression of God's law and ultimately someone will be thrown into the leg of fire if they don't get saved but if we got killed for every single sin and transgression that we did we'd all be dead right now we wouldn't even be talking because God is merciful and long-suffering and he understands our sinful state but he also has given us understanding but I just thought it was interesting how at the very last it says little children keep yourselves from idols is it possible for Christians to get involved with idols well yeah I think most people in here don't worship a literal idol does anybody have a statue they bat on the two in here I don't think that you do I hope you don't hope you don't have some secret closet with a Moloch demon in it or something but stranger things that happen no it's my point is is that you know the Bible saying keep us from idols so that can be anything that you put in the place of God that's that's what I think it is now there's literal idols and there's also things that become idols in your life your wife can be an idol your husband can be an idol your children can be an idol your clothes can be an idol your life can be an idol just sports can be an idol music can be an idol dancing can be an idol there's a lot of things that can be idols but the Bible saying little children keep yourself from idols now turn to Matthew chapter 7 verse 12 and here's the thing that people here's what people like to do they like to talk about how loving and forgiving they are but in reality they just hit back when someone hits them and we don't have to strike it every single thing that someone does to us every dirty look every mean thing or whatever you know I mean because the Bible teaches in Matthew 7 there are things therefore all things whatsoever you would have men do to you do ye even so to them for this is the law and the prophets so the way you want to be treated basically is the way you should treat other people isn't that it's like called the golden rule right I just follow the golden rule I treat people how I want to be treated but is that really true is that how you treat people you know Samson in Judges chapter 15 he was the opposite of this every time the Philistines did something to him he did something back worse and he actually says the opposite of what Jesus does in Judges 15 11 it says then three men three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam and said to Samson knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us what is that that thou hast done unto us and he said unto them as they did unto me so have I done unto them see and I don't think it's a mistake that Jesus it's not a coincidence that Jesus says this and that Samson said that because most people when they're living in the flesh as a Christian they want to pay people back for what they've done to them and that is not a Christian principle now I'm not saying that we should never reprove or rebuke anybody because obviously the Bible teaches that also but you don't have to right every wrong you don't have to come back on everybody for everything that they do to you there is you know you can you know let things pass by the Bible says in Romans chapter 12 go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 12 I'm almost done here I'm gonna have to do a part 2 of this Romans chapter 12 verse 18 says if it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men dearly beloved avenge not yourselves but rather give place under wrath for it is written vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord so God is gonna repay your enemies you know if someone's doing something bad to you even if it's a Christian and they just could won't repent they won't they won't see the error of their ways then you know obviously it's not something not something you should pray for maybe against your brothers and sisters in Christ but if it's some evil reprobate that's stalking you or threatening to kill you or whatever you know obviously you leave that in God's hands is it wrong to pray against that person absolutely not but you can also you know so a lot of times there's this term of the Bible where it says you know the Lord judge between me and you and that's just another way of saying you know what I'm done arguing about this but let's let's let God say who's right and wrong in this situation the Lord judge between us because you're not always gonna come to the same conclusion you're gonna people fight just the way it is but we can also be decent with it right so the Bible says be not overcome of evil in verse 21 but overcome evil with good so vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord it's not in your hands to do that it's not vengeance is fine sayeth the Lord is vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord so it's not fine to just create your own vengeance and go after people for revenge now turn to Matthew 18 21 Matthew 18 21 the Bible says in Matthew 18 21 then came Peter to him and said Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him till seven times Jesus saith unto him I say not unto thee until seven times but until seventy times seven obviously it says how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him you know it's it's not just you know later on in the context it's talking about you know people ask asking you to forgive them so I believe that the most spiritual thing to do is to forgive someone even if they're not asking for it the Bible says we're supposed to do good to our enemies and and so on and so forth and we're supposed to treat our enemies with love even though there are enemies I mean if we if we just hated all of our enemies which is easy to do then what would Jesus even be talking about if we're supposed to do good unto our enemies pray for them to despitefully use you you know there are enemies in our life and there can be enemies that are Christians which is sad but it just happens right so but the Bible does say that we we can turn the other cheek and and we should do that in Matthew 5 38 it says you've heard that it's been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say unto you that you resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek turn to him also the other also so someone gives you a smack in the face go like that give him the other cheek but what happens when someone slaps me in the face is I want to turn their cheek that's what most people want to do I mean there's nothing that gets me madder than someone smacks me in the face that's just instant like I just get really mad don't ever do it I don't know if I'll be able to reframe myself but it says and if a man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain give to him that asketh of thee for him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away so but obviously there's limits and I do believe that sometimes people need to be put in their place when they consistently take it too far so the Bible does say to reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering doctrine talking about a pastor but you know the Bible does say that we're supposed to you know there there comes a time when enough's enough and like I said if it's a boy if it's a border that you have to enforce right then you know if someone's like I'm gonna sit next to your wife in the service some dude that's never been here before they're just gonna walk up and sit next to your wife I mean you got to say something to him like no that's not okay what's wrong with you creep get out of here you know there's certain times when you have to immediately enforce your boundaries Jacob he put up with a lot of stuff though didn't he with Laban you know he's like I'll serve thee for seven years for Rachel and it's like surprise it's Leah and then he has to serve another seven years for Leah and then Jacob I'm not gonna go into the whole story but Jacob ends up leaving and it's like he made Laban rich his life was blessed beyond measure but Laban wasn't a very good boss but Jacob just put up with it but then there came a time when Jacob was just like all right enough's enough Laban chases him and tracks him down and brings our men against him and then he's like accusing them of all this stuff you stole all this stuff you stole my children it's like those are my children but anyway but it says Jacob was Roth and chode with Laban that means Jacob had enough and he's and he just said you know he snapped on him but I think that Jacob was pretty patient with Laban for a long time says he changes his wages ten times he slept out in the cold when there was a loss he suffered the loss he gave up his cattle that were his instead of making Laban you know he was really a good employee to Laban but the point is is that there came a point when Jacob did stand up for himself and that he did go after Laban it was just like look you're wrong and so you know for 20 years he put up with that I'm just saying that when people cross lines with you you don't always have to just you know hit him back hard but there are certain situations where you would okay someone spanks your kid or whatever you know say something immediately but you don't always have to if someone just gives you a dirty look or you know says something rude to you maybe they're just having a bad day maybe they're just having a tough time who knows but again don't you know the Bible teaches us to be long suffer you know God's long suffering with us so shouldn't we be long suffering with other people yes but if people are gonna be habitually stepping over your lines of decency your boundaries then there does come a point and sometimes it's immediately like with you know Roberts name and his accent I mean I just immediately stopped doing it you know why because it's the right thing to do someone doesn't like something that you're doing then that person should be able to tell you and you stop doing it period and this goes for lots of different situations but I'm gonna go ahead and preach another sermon about this I'll probably finish it up at another time because I do have to be done but I'll preach probably part two of this and then the rest of you guys can not show up so all right let's pray Lord we thank you so much for the Bible and God I just pray that we get a hold of this subject Lord that there's just lines of decency we should never cross there's rules and laws in the Bible that we should never cross and Lord we do have forgiveness through you and Lord we can seek forgiveness for the things that we've done to others I pray Lord that we'd be a people in a church family that is like that willing to be peacemakers willing to make peace and not to be covenant breakers Lord but to be peacemakers and I pray Lord that you'd help us Lord in areas of our life or we're just maybe we've crossed boundaries with people maybe we've tried to raise other people's kids maybe we've tried to encroach in other people's marriages maybe we've sought or or you know tried to seek information that wasn't ours to know I pray Lord that you just help us with the with these things because it's gonna make us a better Christian in the long run and Lord help us to be gracious with people also and not to just jump down everybody's throat for every single infraction that they do to us but Lord help us that maybe are the boundary pushers maybe we are the ones that answered back maybe we are the ones that are constantly pushing and stepping over the line Lord I pray that you'd help us and not just have them be bitter about the message but have them just apply a look inward and apply these things in their hearts so that they can be better Christians and better people for it in Jesus name we pray amen all right the last time we saw number 379 like a river glorious song number 379 in your blue hymn books like a river glorious song 379 like river glorious so you have to get on the first like a river glorious his God's perfect peace over all Victoria's and it's bright increase perfect yet it flow for every day perfect yet it grow deeper all the way stayed upon job hearts are fully binding as he promised perfect peace and rest of his blessed hand never bow can follow never traitor stand not a surge of worry not a shade of care not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there stayed upon Jehovah hearts are fully blessed finding as he promised perfect peace and rest and every joy or trial all it from trace up on our dial by the son we may trust him all for us to do they who trust him holy find him holy true stayed upon Jehovah hearts are fully blessed binding as he promised perfect peace and rest amen good scene for Stephen could you close the water prayer