Today we're going to do discipleship and my corny title,
which I'm actually kind of proud of.
I'm not very I'm not often proud of my titles, but work won't
work which as we get into it, you guys will see that and it is
really fun. We get into the study a little
ways. I'll point it out, but Aunt
Sherry and her the 1st 2 songs were definitely for this study.
And lastly, for lifting up Aunt Sherry and just not trying to
take her crown away. But people claim that their
biggest fear is public speaking. I bet you it's not.
Because if I give every one of those guys that say public, you
can either go public speak or you can public stand up and sing
without an instrument. I'll bet you everybody's public
speaking because that is hard to do.
And I appreciate her and her ability to to fill that gap for
us. Anyway, we're going to be we're
going to read in second Timothy chapter 3.
We are, we are literally going to be all over the Bible.
But we're going to anchor ourselves here.
But now, Oh, sorry, let me my new Bible.
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come,
for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers without
self-control, brooder, despisers of of good traitors, headstrong,
haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having
the form of godliness but denying its power.
Does that sound like anything from such people?
Turn away, for of this sort are those who creep into the
household and make up, make captivities of gullible women,
loading down with loaded down with sin, LED away by various
lusts, always learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. Now as James and Jambreeze
resisted, sorry, Janice and Jambreeze resisted Moses, so do
these also resist the truth. Men of corrupt minds disapproved
concerning the faith, but they will progress no further, for
their folly will be manifest to all of their, all of theirs
also. But you have carefully followed
my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, purpose, faith,
long-suffering, love, perseverance, persecution,
affliction, which happened to me at Antioch and Iconium and
Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and out of them all of
the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live
godly in Christ will suffer persecutions, but evil men and
impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being
deceived. But you must continue in things
which you have learned and been assured of knowing from whom you
learn them, and what from childhood you have known the
Holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith, which which is in Jesus Christ.
And then all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
And Lord, I just thank you for giving us your word, Lord, thank
you that it is true and profitable, Lord, that it guides
and direct us. And Lord, I just thank you for
everybody here. Thank you for this time.
Thank you even for the weather, Lord that Lord, as it's cold,
that there would just be some blessings in it somewhere the
the sunshine. And Lord, that you would speak
to me, Lord, that you would speak through me, and Lord that
you'd be in our midst in Jesus name, Amen.
So discipleship is just discipling someone to become
more like Christ. That's, that's Christian
discipleship. Christ, Christ discipled many,
but he was there. There's twelve of them that
would have said they were in his discipleship school, right?
And the goal of a disciple is just to become more like the
teacher. And when you look at Peter's
life in Mark 117 and we've all heard the heard this one, I'm
sure. Then Jesus said to them, follow
me and I will make you become fishers of men.
And then Peter later understood his need to follow and learn,
right? And there's a there's a part
where Jesus, a bunch of Jesus, says some hard things.
And then when people question him on his hard things, he
double S down and makes them harder.
And then he looks at Simon, he looks at all the apostles and
said, are you going to leave me too?
And John 668 and 69 it says, but Simon Peter answered him and
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life also we have come to believe and know that you are
the Christ, the Son of the living God.
So as we disciple people, as we are discipled, the goal is, is
to teach someone who was dead to live the new life in Christ,
right, to become more like him every day.
And we don't do that in our flesh.
We do that through submission and and letting our flesh die,
right, and being less and less selfish every day and more, more
and more Christ centered every day.
Second Corinthians 517 And I'm kind of blowing through some of
these here just because they're the ones I use quite often.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
new and the when we read that the world the new believers come
out of today is backwards, right?
And Jesus has a lot of old thinking to remove and refill
with his own. Our culture, of course, isn't
unusual. Rome.
Rome was as bad, or at least no better.
And I know that there's there are lines out there that people
will say if God doesn't come and judge America owe Sodom and
Gomorrah an apology. But I'll tell you that when you
actually think that that thing, that statement through Sodom and
Gomorrah, we, we still have distance to fall, right?
I, I don't go visit towns and worried about worrying, worrying
about guys dragging me outside to have sex with me.
So that isn't we aren't there yet, but it is there is distance
there to fall in our culture, but our culture is still we're
definitely on the we have a lot of darkness in our culture that
is confusing, right? Because it, I mean, we have, we
have made everything, everything is how I feel and what I think
and my need to be validated. And, and Jesus is not that he is
not going to validate your feelings.
He isn't going to bend to your thoughts.
He isn't going to, he isn't going to care about your truth,
right? Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9 says
for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my
ways, says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
higher than your thoughts. So when we come to the Lord,
when we are, when we are teaching somebody or guiding
somebody to the Lord, it is not from a position of what is
culturally acceptable, right? We're, we're going to teach him
what the Lord says and, and he says some hard things.
The world cannot comprehend Christ and the power he has to
bring things to life, right? I mean, and, and when we, when I
say that as Christians, we have to know that the God we serve,
right? We have to know that whoever is
in Washington, DC, we have to know who's in charge.
We have to know that when someone that can't be saved is
saved, that God has the ability to change them from the inside
out, right? We have to know the God we serve
in such a way that we, we understand what he is capable
of, right? He is, He is bigger than we, we
give him credit for. And as a Christian discipleship
is completely different than what the world would, what the
world even thinks it is, right? Because the world would tell you
that it's like self help books is that you're just trying to
make yourself a better person. Yeah, church is good for you
because you know you need that crutch.
No, I need AI need a an EI need an ICUI don't need a crutch
right. I am I am always I'm the worst
part of my discipleship training right.
It is I am the one that is broken and I need Jesus to come
in and train me and teach me and show me every day of my life.
And when we're discipling others, that's what we are.
We are showing them is just we're guiding them to grow in
their personal relationship with Christ.
Right, guys? This isn't a Christianity and I
say it a lot Christianity. I don't want to be a Christian.
I don't want to act like a Christian.
I want to be 1 and to be one that is to what a Christian was
the first time they were called Christians is they were called
there was a mocking term that meant little Christ.
They were acting like these little Jesus is running around
right? That's what I want to be.
And the only way to be that is to spend time with the one that
can make me that. It isn't about anything.
I, I can, I can find a rule book, it's in here.
I can, I can check off all the rules that are in here and that
won't get it done right, That work won't work.
And but what I'm looking for is the living water of Jesus to
fill me up. And then when that fills me up,
I'm able to pour out into other people and it's an exchange of
my wants for his will. John 7 verse 38.
And this one is actually a life first for me.
And the living water line in Uganda is he who believes in me,
as the scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of
living water. And the idea there is, is that
when we, when we are in Christ, when he is filling us up, we
can't help but pour out into the, into the world around us,
into the, the people we work with, the, the people we shop
with. Just, we have a ability to
affect our community because of what Jesus has done in our
lives. Not because I've read my Bible.
I read, I read through my Bible twice a week, right?
Not because I'm, I'm like a speed reader.
I, I fast 14 * a month and I, I, I pray 5 hours a week, right?
None of that is point. The point is I am, I am so close
to Jesus that he that I reflect his light into the world, right?
And that is discipleship. As we get into discipleship,
what it is not is a list of rules you have to follow in
order to follow Jesus, right? It is and and like I call us all
the time dirt, right? We were made from dirt and we're
going to return to dirt. Our bodies are and and we can
get it in our heads. And I imagine the angels sit up,
sit up above us and look down and just chuckle that as we go
through this stuff, they're boxes to be checked, right?
That that we do these things to do these things and we don't
everything that we do, we do to grow closer to Christ period.
And that's and that is well, like I've talked about for the
last three weeks, the get TOS right, which is reading and
meditating, praying, memorizing, fasting, giving, studying,
worshipping and witnessing are all things that and are all
things that can become work right?
They they can become a works mentality of I have to do this
in order for Jesus to love me and guys, there is nothing you
can do to increase Jesus's love for you, right?
He loves you. He loves you as much today as
the day you were born. How much do you love him right.
And as we get into discipleship, sorry if you are if you are
doing them to build your relationship with Jesus, then
you're doing them right. I was just kind of poking at
Faye the other day and I said, you know, it's we get in our
heads that, that it's a works thing.
And you know, if, if being married, if I give you a, you
know, I go, I go to a guy. And I said, you know what, I see
you've been married for 60 years and I'd like to know how'd you
do it? And he looked at me and said,
well, I don't sleep with other women.
Now that is a should not right? You you shouldn't sleep with
other women if you're married, but I'm pretty sure that isn't
how he stayed married for 60 years, right.
It wasn't by the things he wasn't doing.
It's but we get it in our heads, right, that there is something,
you know the the reason all the things that I do with Faye, you
know, all the time I spend with her is to know her better,
right? It's, it's, it's not a
requirement that because I am married now, I have to sit next
to you on the couch. It's hard work, right?
Or I have to take her to dinner, right?
No, I get to take her to dinner. I get to watch movies with her,
right? I mean, I get to do this stuff
and my, my line where where I came up with work won't work.
Matthew 721 through 23. And everybody knows this one,
but it's not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter
the Kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my
Father in heaven, many will say to me in the day, in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast
out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name.
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me,
you who practice lawlessness. So this is this is a critical
point when we are asked why we should pass into peace, into the
peace and rest of Jesus, The only answer, the only answer is
by the grace of the King. That's it.
It's if any, and they, and that's where these people went
wrong is they said, Lord, haven't I done this and haven't
I done that and haven't I done this and haven't I done that?
And he said I did him in your name.
He didn't do anything. If it was done, Jesus did it.
You know, I don't have anything to offer him except my reliance
on him and Luke 1811 and this goes to my other one that I was
going to use was I could have used instead of instead of work
won't work. I was thinking I could use shall
nots shall not. But anyway, that's Luke 1811.
It says the Pharisees stood and prayed thus with himself.
God, I thank you that I'm not like other men, extortioners,
unjust adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
We won't be ready to meet Jesus if we think I am worthier than
other men, if we try to teach as we're doing discipleship, all
the things you shall not do. Now do I think that a good shall
not is I shall not sleep with other women.
That's a good. That's a good thing, right?
But I don't grit my teeth and, and try really hard not to sleep
with other women. I just love my wife and I spend
time with her, right? And so when we get into the, I
mean, I don't struggle with being an extortioner or being an
adulterer or even being a tax collector, right?
I, I don't struggle with those things.
I just, I just want to spend more time with Jesus.
And that really is our thing. And here's the here's the fun.
There is only one way, just one to get into heaven.
And and Sherri sang a song and then she sang another song just
to send it home. And in that song was a chorus
that said, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. That's it, guys.
When you're discipling people, when you're, when you're guiding
people on what it is to be with, be a Christian, that's what
you're teaching them, right? You're just sharing Jesus with
them. It's Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, right?
And I shared last week. Acts 4413 says Now when they saw
the boldness of Peter and John and perceived they were
uneducated and untrained, they marveled and they realized that
they had been with Jesus. Because that's all I want to be
and that's all you should want to be, right?
And that's all that's all the time.
If you're spending time with younger believers and, and
teaching them anything, what you should be teaching them is how
to how to be closer to Jesus. All right.
So how that how that growth works is as our character is
transformed. By spending time with Jesus,
then he changes the way I see things, right?
It's like, for example, my, my character is not to love my
enemies. It's not right.
My my character is not designed that way.
But the character character of God is to love them.
So as our thoughts and minds are conformed to Christ and the Holy
Spirit living inside of us, loving our enemies takes care of
itself. It isn't something I try to do.
It's just something that happens.
You know, it's I imagine, I imagine there are people here
that have went through where they were going to quit cussing.
I'm going to I'm going to quit cussing and how that work.
Just, you know, I'm just going to quit or did when when you
actually quit, was it something that God just took away?
Right. I can remember I was working a
job and probably probably one of my worst days I've had in
excavation for yeah, I still remember it pretty clearly and
it was like 12 years ago, so it was a pretty bad day.
But at the end of it, I threw my hard hat probably like I got out
of the truck and the water line, it blew up and it was the end of
the day and we got to dig it all back up and I hooked my hard hat
probably to the water. I was, I was not happy and I was
in charge. And what blew up was my fault.
And I mean, this was just one of those days.
And I was, you know, then you're, you're diving in,
getting things running so you can get it open back up and get
everything shut down. And the water purveyor walked
over to me about 10 minutes later after things had calmed
down. And he had my hard hat in his
hand and he handed it back to me.
And he's like, you didn't even cuss.
And that wasn't because I was trying, guys, right?
That wasn't, I was, I was as mad as I could be.
And I didn't cuss because it wasn't in there to do right?
Because he had taken that away, not because, oh, in this moment,
I need to not cuss. Trust me, that was not going
through my mind. I was mad.
But that leads us now we're finally to the discipleship.
And what is that? What, how do you disciple
somebody? What's a what's a road map for
that? Second Timothy 316 and 17.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be
complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
So the purpose here is to equip but equipping sounds like once
again we're back into that works thing and the goal here is never
it's why are we doing it right? You know, when pre marriage
counseling, why do you why? Why do I, why would I tell you,
you should get pre marriage counseling?
Why did why before I got married did we have pre marriage
counseling? Why do why do you do that?
Right? Because I want to know my wife.
I want to, I want to care for her the way she wants to be
cared for. I want to love her the way she
wants to be loved. I want to know her better.
And that pre marriage counseling helps with that, right, But
that's this kind of equipping is knowing Jesus better in what he
wrote down is beneficial to our relationship with him.
So Paul starts off with that. The word is first of all, it's
it's from it's inspired by God and it's in profitable for
doctrine and doctrine is just teaching, right?
Whatever is taught a principle or position in any subject
whatever is laid down as true by the instructor or the master.
And so that is once again we're in the word of God.
And John 716 through 18 Jesus answered and said to them, My
doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me.
If anyone wills to do his will, He shall now concern, He will
sorry, He shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from
God or whether I speak on my own authority.
He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks
the glory of the one who sent him is true, and no
righteousness is in him or no unrighteousness is in him.
So when we're teaching doctrine, not my opinion, but God's word,
that's that is your you do not want to create.
I do not want to create a bunch of little Nicks running around,
right? Not at all.
That is a horrible idea. And the number one principle
that we are not guiding them into into me, but teaching them
to be like Christ, right and reflecting his teaching and his
doctrine. And that can only happen when we
are in his word and praying right?
We, I don't have, you know, the I don't have the skill set to do
what God asks me to do outside of God, right?
If I'm, if, if I'm ever up here teaching and I'm doing it on my
own merits and my own ability, you guys are all going to leave,
right? It's, it is.
I am not capable of sharing Jesus with people outside of
Jesus. And when we are teaching
principles and truths taught by the word, be sure that I'm not
in it right? And that is, that is something I
struggle with you as I went through this study.
And that's one of the reasons I don't like doing topical
studies. As I went through this study, I,
I, I, I was done with this study on Wednesday.
Done put a fork in it. I now I can do, I can do some
other stuff. And, and then Thursday I
reworked it and then Friday we actually, I didn't do it because
we ended up in Spokane at a they had some stuff she needed to
take care of. And then Saturday I spent was
here till I was here late last night and I had pretty much
crumpled it up, threw it in the garbage and started over.
And the reason for that is that I felt like I was in it, which
is not where I want to be, right.
I want to tell you what what he says.
And so one of the ways we do that, one of the ways that we
and that the church has done it for centuries is teaching
doctrine is by by the use of creeds, right.
And a creed is just a summary of what the word already teaches.
So it isn't the creed doesn't make up new things.
It goes to the Bible and says, what does the Bible teach?
And now we're going to put that in a summary.
So what does the Bible teach about being a Christian?
So, and I'm sure everybody has, not everybody, but many of you
have heard the Apostles Creed. And if you're a Christian here
today, this is what you believe. It's, it's concise.
It's, there's a lot more that you believe, but this is what
you believe. If you don't know what you
believe, I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of
heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his
only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of
the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and
was buried. He descended into He descended
to the dead, and on the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the
Father. He will come again to judge the
living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the body of Christ, the Church, the communion of the Saints, the
forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and
the life everlasting. So if you're a Christian, that's
what you believe. Now, if I'm, if I'm discipling
you, how I'm going to use that creed isn't by saying you're a
Christian and you believe that I'm going to start breaking it
down and showing you in the Word where it says that right.
You can. And it and it, it's just works
as an outline. It's it's a way to to go back.
And so you can teach each one of those bullets.
And then you can come back to the creed as often as as needed
to, to figure out what, what other questions they have,
because they're there are questions in there.
So did the did, did Mary really have to be a virgin?
Yes, she did right. Is is the Father, Son and the
Holy Spirit all God? Yes, they are.
Is there only one God? Yes there is right.
It's all there and I can show it to you in the word.
I mean, the creed isn't the word of God, but the creed gives you
a a position, gives you a tool to use to go back and show
people. So if we believe Jesus is God,
then we believe John 1 verses one through 3 which is in the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God
and all things were made through him and without him nothing was
made that was made. So if we come at the Word from
that direction, right, the Word was in the beginning and Jesus
is the Word, right? Then suddenly the Bible is not a
book to be debated, but a book to be believed and applied to my
life. And the word was given by
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So when we are reading,
meditating and thinking about it or studying it, we should be
asking God what he would like to show us, right?
There's, there's nothing I can stand up here and teach you that
you can't learn from the Holy Spirit by reading his word and
asking, right? That's, that is the, that is
what's a lot of fun. I've done mission trips for
years and years. And the funnest thing about a
Bible believing church and it's any Bible believing church is
that you can, you can go and you can listen to him because they
all have the same book, right? They're they're they're reading
out of the same book. Now, do I think that there are
people that take take some liberties with it?
Yes, right. There is.
And, and I have a buddy that that says God Forgives me for
all of my sins, including my bad doctrine.
And that's a fact, right, because none of it, nobody got
it right. And when we get to heaven,
there's going to be things that I know that I know that I know
I'm right on, that I'm wrong. J Vernon McGee is my perfect
picture of that because anybody heard him on the Bible bus.
I don't even know if it's still on the radio anywhere.
But yeah, it's, it's five years. And he takes you from Genesis to
Revelation. And he's a really simple, crazy
smart, but very simple teaching through the Bible.
And when he gets to spiritual gifts, this man who can divide
the word with just perfection, like he, he can illuminate
Isaiah. I mean, he's great.
He gets the spiritual gifts and gifts and starts doing backflips
with his own rules, right? Because he doesn't want to
believe in spiritual gifts now, because God has because God has
a a great sense of humor. But so Bible bust was done and
then Jay Vernon got sick, I believe it was cancer, and then
he was healed miraculously. And he will say he would, he
would have said while he was still here that he was healed
miraculously, right? And so he went backwards on his
view on spiritual gifts by the end of his life.
But my point with all that is because he got spiritual gifts
wrong, do I crumple up the Bible bus and throw the whole thing
out? No, I read my Bible and I know
what it says, right? And and I learn, right.
You have to have your, you have to be Bereans.
You have to dig in and know what it says.
And that's what when you're, when you're discipling somebody,
that's what you should be teaching them to do, is to be
digging into their own Bible and reading it for themselves, not
listening to do what I say. That is not discipleship, right?
Discipleship is guiding somebody into that relationship, like
more like a mentoring than a than a bossing, right.
So another way to know that you're and when I guess how do I
know that I'm teaching what the Bible says?
You've got you've got multiple ways of doing that inductive
Bible study and that, but you also just have is it read that
whole paragraph does as you're as you're looking at that verse,
whatever it is, read that whole paragraph.
Make sure it's in context, context of what's being said.
Read the book. Make sure that the way you're
interpreting that paragraph makes sense in that chapter and
in that book, and then make sure it all makes sense in the in the
whole counsel of God. So that's once again, that's
kind of like Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
It's context, context, context, right?
Who was about who was it written to?
All of those things matter. One of my favorite ways to
interpret the Bible is using the Bible, which is is there
anything else that says the same thing right.
Second, Peter 120 through 21. And this would teach the same
thing as Matt as a second Timothy knowing this first, that
no prophecy or scripture is of any private interpretation.
For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God
as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, right.
So that that backs up that that the words of God were were
inspired by God to be put there. So doctrine or teaching the
Bible is the word of God and should be used to build a
foundation in Christ, right? And that is just build that help
them to build a relationship and let them know what know that
they know, right? I mean, that's when there are
many, many other religions out there.
The, the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses are the two
that I will poke at today. There's, there's people in those
churches that have no idea what they believe, right?
They there, they don't know, they don't know how dark their
beliefs are because they just, well, well, Jesus, I'm a
Christian. But the problem is they don't
know what they're being discipled in because they
haven't read their own books, right?
So how do you know what it is to be a believer?
And do you know who Jesus is? And when I say that I don't, I
don't mean like some special secret knock.
I'm saying, have you? Do you spend time on a regular
basis with your Lord? Because that's discipleship and
we all need it, right? Whether whether I am discipling
someone else or I am being discipled, right?
We we need to be about the Lord's business and then back to
second Timothy. The next thing Paul says it's
good for is rebuking and rebuking is showing strong
disapproval of someone because of how they are acting for the
purpose of restraint or reforming them.
The Proverbs 27 five says an open rebuke is better than love
carefully concealed. So a rebuke is simply being able
and willing to call your brother or sister out when they are in
sin and making justifications for it.
And that's the that's the one when you're rebuking somebody,
it's because they are doing something and they are good with
it, right? And the example of that is First
Corinthians 5, one through 5. And this is Paul rebuking an
entire church who thought they were being loving.
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among
you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the
Gentiles. That a man has his father's wife
and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned.
That he who has done this deed might be taken away from among
you, or indeed indeed as absent in the body, but present in the
Spirit, I have already judged as though I was present Him who has
so done this deed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you are gathered together along with my spirit, with the
power of the Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for
destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the
day of the Lord. So he was rebuking them for not
rebuking someone, right? So that tells you that you need
to be willing and able to call sin sin, right?
You need to be. It is our responsibility, our
duty. It's our obligation that we're
not supposed to be sin sniffers and telling people all the
things they're doing wrong. But if you see somebody that is,
I mean, this is a great example that is in sin and thinks they
are perfectly OK, you need to confront them in love.
And I mean, this isn't Paul throwing these people out of the
church. He's telling them to get their
act together, right? And and then telling them to
rebuke this guy. And then in the second letter,
if you guys haven't read it, but the second letter, the
Corinthians, he has to rebuke them again because the guy,
they, they tossed him out of the church.
And then he repented and wanted to come back and they wouldn't
let him come back. So we had to rebuke him again
because Paul. Paul had patience, right?
But our responsibility is Ezekiel 366 and seven says, But
if the watchman sees a sword coming and does not blow the
trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and
takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his
iniquity. But his blood I will require at
the watchman's hand. So you, son of man, I have made
you a watchman for the House of Israel.
Therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for
me. So our responsibility, our
obligation is to confront sin, to do it lovingly, caringly.
But there is a standard, right? And in that we're supposed to
bring people back. What God says here is if we
don't do that, those people, those people, sin will find them
out there in it. Their blood, his blood will be
required, but it will be at the it'll be on my hands, right?
It'll be on your hands. If I wasn't willing to stand in
right places, you know, and I would say in the, in the culture
we live in right now, there are hundreds, hundreds upon hundreds
of of churches that would call themselves Christian in America
that are going. The amount of blood they have on
their hands for not standing in right places and being willing
to say that is wrong and that is right and not in a not.
We should never be judging somebody and saying I'm good and
you're bad, right? I'm supposed to shine light.
I'm supposed to shine Jesus into people's license and share with
them what what his standard is. You know, when I, when I think
of, of my, my line of work as a supervisor, if I show up and
nobody is, is, if everybody is with everybody is using the
standard correctly. And let's say we're talking
about PPE and everybody's got their hard hats on, their safety
glasses on, their gloves on, their steel toed boots.
And then there's one guy, his name's Matt.
No kidding. Sorry.
That that's standing there without a hard hat.
He doesn't have, he's wearing flip flops and he, he, he has
one glove on. And I woke up and I talk to
everybody and I say, hey, how you doing?
And then I go, what if I just told the other five guys on that
crew that you don't need to wear your hard hat, that flip flops
are OK and gloves are optional. I didn't say a word, right?
All I, I just, I didn't confront someone who was not at the
standard and I wouldn't do that. I mean, my goal in in
confronting someone in that is that they wear their hard hat,
their safety glasses, their gloves and their steel toed
boots. And the reason for that for me,
the reason is I don't want them to get hurt, right?
And and that should be our heart when we're rebuking somebody.
I don't for you, you know, I'm not rebuking you.
So I feel better because I will tell you that if you've ever had
the joy of having to have that conversation with somebody, it
is not what you want to do if your heart's in the right place.
It is an argument you and the Lord have been having for a
little while going, Lord, please don't make me do this right.
It's it's the ones that I really want to say this.
I'm going to go tell them when I think about this and I'm going
to you should probably be quiet, but it's the ones that when it's
really hard, right, and how we know how we know when we're
supposed to be rebuking somebody is we need to be in our word.
We need to be listening to the Lord and we need to be learning
from him, right? It's it's his wisdom that I want
to share with people and it the thing with his wisdom.
When I do it with His wisdom and His knowledge and the words He
wants me to use, suddenly it has power that I don't have.
Hebrews 5412 says For the word of God is living and powerful
and sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing even to the
division of the soul and the spirit and the joints in the
marrow, and it is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the
heart. So when we are, when we are
rebuking somebody, make sure we're in the word right?
We're not rebuking our feelings. I don't feel like I like how you
acted right at that. That has nothing to do with it.
Make sure that that rebukes come from the word.
If it's if it's time to rebuke somebody.
Correction is the act of bringing somebody back from air
deviation to adjust standard. It's an adjustment or a fine
tuning, right? When we correct somebody who God
has put in our care, we use God's Word to adjust their
thoughts. Very often believers, solid well
meaning believers have have unbiblical thoughts like like
God helps those that help themselves.
You ever heard that one right? Hey, you're going to struggle to
try and find that in the Bible. It's it's not there.
But what I love is Paul groups all of the worldly wisdom, all
of the self help books, all of the all the body hacks, all the
things. He groups them all together.
He wads them up and he throws them out.
Colossians 220 and 23. It says, therefore, if you died
with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as
the living in the world, do you subject yourself to regulations,
do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern
things which perish with the using according to the
commandments and doctrines of men.
These things indeed have the appearance of wisdom in
self-imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the
body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the
flesh. So it just kind of takes all
those one liners that very many people use and throws them out
right. What when we're correcting
somebody, it's bringing them back into pointing them at Jesus
right And and saying we're to walk in the spirit.
And I know that I'm going to I'm as I go through this, there is a
point where we'll actually talk about the training of it.
But it's important for us to understand that as a Christian,
what you are agreeing to the day you gave your life to Jesus is
submitting and relying on him and his power to do his work in
your life right now. You get to know him more and he
gets to fill you more, but not because he isn't all there at
the beginning, but because you're holding things back and
as as a discipling somebody or even as being a disciple.
Our job is just to guide them in that submission to Christ,
submission to his will. Galatians 516 and 18 says or
through 18 says, I say then walk in the Spirit and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh for the flesh lust against the
spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.
And these are contrary to one another so that you do not do
the things you wish. But if you are led by the
spirit, you are not under the law.
So corrections are just guiding or adjusting through the word.
Corrections only work when you're in a relationship, right?
I can't walk up to a stranger on the street and, and really give
them a valid correction. I have to know where they're at.
I have to know them. I have to, I have to have that
right and I have to have, I have to be in prayer through all of
this. Paul, I would tell you knew more
about the Bible than I ever will, right?
He, he knew more about the word and the scriptures and how, how
they are to be translated and, and interpreted.
He is, he's better at it. And you know what he spent huge
amounts of his time doing praying, right?
He prayed for the churches that were under his care.
And that's where that the ability to give correction comes
from is you should be in prayer and and asking the Lord for
wisdom in all the situations. And whenever you see someone
that's in your care that that you have that relationship with
that you can reach into their lives and you see them drifting
away. You know, correcting them is a
thing that we do more Galatians 1/6 says I marvel and this is
Paul speaking. I marvel that you are turning
away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a
different gospel. And this is Paul's intro to the
church and it's a correction. And his heart was was to set
them free from bad doctrine. If you read all of Galatians,
you will see a perfect example of a written out correction,
right? And so that's us correcting
people. But it's when we're doing it,
it's, it's correcting them into Christ, right?
It's still never, never pointing at myself.
Then there's training, which is just the act of teaching or
informing, right, which is coaching, right?
It's very often we talk about discipleship and this is the
step we jump to, and it is an important step, but but the
outward action of a Christian without giving that solid
foundation of of doctrine, what we believe and and of rebuke,
where a Christian stands on sin and correction, willing to
adjust our thinking to his if we don't give that first
instructions can puff up. It can get the actions in front
of the Spirit right. I mean, I'm sure anybody that's
grown up in church or has been going to a church for any like
time, you know, you should have a quiet time every morning.
We should, we should read probably pray 5 or 6 hours a
day. Sorry, dwelling, which we talked
about, you know, just meditating and and spending time with him,
fasting and giving and worship and witness.
And these are all things that are, that are crucial to A, to a
vibrant Christian life, right? But not at the expense of not
knowing Jesus, right? You do these things because you
know him and you want to know him more.
I do things with Faye because I know her and I want to know her
more. That's why we do these things,
right? It isn't.
I have to do this so that I get a God's got this whole board up.
It's a big board because it's got us all on it and there's
little stars by every day and you know, and you need a star by
your name today for doing, you know, check you check the boxes
as that isn't it. They they unfortunately does
have that box and it's you'll see it and it's got stars.
My name misses a lot of stars, so I'm going to run through the
things that we teach when you're when you're when you're teaching
somebody, right? That first and foremost because
of what he has already done, We submit to his will and plan for
us. We teach.
We are dead and live only in Christ as our center and that's
Galatians 220. I've been crucified with Christ
is no longer I live the Christ who lives in me this life that I
now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me.
And that's critical, right? That we we teach that that this
is not a this is not a works mentality.
I am dead and the only thing I bring is, is faith that he can
somehow get life out of this dead body.
We talked about Joshua 18 last week or two weeks ago.
This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but that
you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to
do according that all that is written in it.
For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will
have good success. You don't.
You don't make your way prosperous and have good success
because you got a Gold Star for reading the Bible.
You make your way prosperous and have good success because you
know what the Bible says and apply it to your life.
And when you know the word better, you know the guy that
wrote the word better, right? And that's that's that point we
teach that we get to pray to Jesus, right.
I did a whole study on the get to's, but that he wants to hear
from us. It isn't a it, believe it or
not, Faye answers my phone calls.
I know, shocking. I wouldn't answer my phone
calls, but she answers my phone calls and usually, maybe not
every day, but usually she's happy to hear from me.
But he wants us to talk to him. Be anxious for nothing.
This is Philippians 46 and 7. Be anxious for nothing.
But in everything through by prayer and supplication make you
read, and with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to
God. And the peace of God, which
surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Right.
And we pray because we love Jesus and want to share our life
with Him by hanging out with Him and dwelling in His presence.
And then we do this. We come to church on Sunday.
And this is something. One day my daughter's will all
gang up on me and smack me for bringing them into my Bible
studies. But for a long time, I had one
that moved, moved away and they were looking for they weren't
going to church. And then they have me every
every week or so. You find a church, you find a
church, you find a church, you find a church.
And she, she would get exhausted of me saying it.
And so then she'd go find a church.
And they go for a little while and they, they bow out of it and
back and forth. And then they finally got
plugged into a church and and their life has improved
immensely, but not because they're going to church, but
because they're getting poured into and they're growing.
Her entire family is growing in their relationship with Jesus.
And that's don't that this is important guys, that we come
together on Sunday and then soon we'll come together on another
day of the week. But that we do this, this is a
gift. This is not a requirement.
This is a gift that he gave us that we get to come together and
build each other up and you guys got to listen to me.
But but before, before we get, we have to sing.
We get to visit with each other. We get to build each other up
and find out what he's doing in our lives.
And lastly, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me which is we follow
the Lord and it is a joy to do. He is, He is.
I wouldn't trade my life for anything compared to my life
before Christ. When I went through the suck of
of my life, at no point did I think that it was time to bail
on Christ because the one thing I knew is He is all I had.
Everything without Him isn't enough.
Nothing with him is more than you can imagine.
That's what we disciple. So Lord, I just thank you for
everybody here. I thank you for this time.
And Lord that you'd be with Aunt Sherry as she's coming up.
And Lord, that we would just dwell with you and just lift our
voices and our hearts to you. And I pray all this in Jesus
name, Amen.