Turn our handles over to page 19.
There is a fountain on the first.
Wives over there.
Anybody who needs to get you one, just raise your hand.
They're right there in the back on that black desk.
There you go.
Well, welcome to Spring Crest Baptist Church.
Today's February 1st, 2026.
And then our service time's right there on the left.
Sunday morning, 10.30, Sunday evening, 4.30.
And then the Wednesday service, 5.30 p.m.
Our sole winning time is Sunday, 2.00 p.m.
And then our memory chapter, Philippians 1.
And the verse of the week is verse 17.
But the other of love, knowing that I am set
for the defense of the gospel.
So a reminder, we are a family-integrated church.
We do have a mother-baby room,
and that's specifically what it is.
It's a mother-baby room,
specifically for if the moms need to go back there,
if the kids are getting a little bit loud,
the older children, of course, to be able to behave.
Man, make sure you got work today, good job.
And then right there at the bottom,
we have the baptisms and totals for last year.
So far, we've gone out,
but we've only had four souls, one this year,
but that's okay, it'll change.
I'm pretty sure as the weather gets better,
we'll start to get more souls tallied up.
And then the birthdays and anniversaries,
oh, I forgot to change that, four,
why do you still say December, man?
Sorry, guys, we're getting more help on all this stuff,
but usually I'm the one doing this last minute.
And so it's February, we're only two months behind,
but the birthdays for this month,
Nellie is on the ninth of February,
which is next Monday.
And then any upcoming activities.
First of all, I left that there.
Church Work Day was yesterday,
and I just want to thank Matt Wycliffe and Keith Fitz.
They came out, and also Sheena and her kids,
and of course my family was here.
We didn't do anything major.
We actually, because we had such a small turnout,
the ladies cleaned up all the cabinets.
Every time we come, we end up cleaning up more.
That's how much stuff there's been here.
It's only 63 years of church,
so every time we come, we just find more stuff
that we didn't even know we had.
And then we just kinda did just general maintenance
as amended, so I appreciate that,
because next week we have two events going on.
On February 7th, we have the group trip to NASA.
I think we have like over 30, right?
We have over 30 people going with us,
so that's gonna be a good time.
The church is taking care of the entrance or whatever.
I don't know, it's like a tour or whatnot.
The only thing you guys gotta do is get there.
I think the parking is $10 for the day,
and then I'm looking forward to that,
and we'll be doing that with Pastor Oz
and a couple of people from this church,
but we'll just have a good time of fellowship,
just hang out.
And then on the 8th, which is that Sunday, next Sunday,
Pastor Dylan Oz of the Anchor Baptist Circle
is preaching both services for us.
So I would encourage you definitely to come out.
Brother Heath, don't let me forget to make an announcement.
We're gonna make an announcement
so that anybody wants to come out and listen to him
and just listen to someone besides me,
which is not my bad idea.
That'd be great.
And then February 21st, we have a soul-winning marathon.
We're already thinking that we'll just probably end up
doing the Antoine area, 'cause it's nearby.
And so we'll just do the typical soul-winning marathon
schedule, 10 to 12, lunch, and then about two to four,
and just try to get as many souls going on that day.
And then in March, we have another soul-winning marathon
on the same day, March 21st.
That one will be, if we get prepared
for Pastor Bruce Mejia coming in on the 22nd,
Pastor Bruce Mejia of First Words Baptist Church
will be coming in that day.
And then just pray for the expecting mothers,
Haley, Maludich, and Christian Rogers.
Pray that they, just on a final,
I do wanna make one announcement.
Sister Millie is here.
She just had open heart surgery on the 12th of January,
so number one, we're really glad she made it through,
but number two, that she's here.
But with that being said, we are, you know,
I do ask the kids not to run and, you know, I mean,
I try to be, I understand the children,
but please today, be careful.
We do not want to be hurt.
That is a serious surgery and she's still recovering from it.
I do not want anybody bumping into,
I mean, I don't want anybody bumping into anybody,
but especially, you know, if they're necessarily hurt,
so please just watch out for that.
Other than that, I mean, oh yeah, I'm proud.
Thank you for reminding me.
But if you did bump into Sister Millie, she's so tough,
she might bump you back, so I just wanted to let you know.
Be careful.
I don't know if she'd knock you out or something.
And then my wife did remind me, we
did do the New Testament challenge
for the month of January.
And what it was is just reading through the New Testament
in the month of January.
If you did that, come to me after the services,
and I'll make sure to notate that,
and we will get a gift card.
If the kids did it--
I know some of the moms were asking if the kids did it.
And what I mean by that is they listen to it.
As long as they did listen to it, it's an honor system.
That's fine.
Obviously, that gift card will be
proportionate to that investment.
But I think it's a great investment of new time
to have your children read the Bible or listen to it.
How many of you actually read your Bible, the Holy Testament,
in the month of January?
Or if you don't want to raise your hands, don't do it.
Sheena back there, I know we did it.
I did it.
But if not, you know what?
March is around the corner.
We can run that challenge just every time we do 31st.
There's nothing-- think about it.
You would do it like five or six times in a year.
The amount of benefit that it would have to you spiritually--
who cares about the gift card?
That's bleeding.
But spiritually, it just changed your life.
I mean, I think it's one of the great things
that you can do for your family is to just read through the Bible
all the way through.
But at least, if not, do the New Testament to get started with that.
And then on the back, just as a quote real quick,
we have all the prayer requests.
The only ones that really stand out are Shelly family.
She passed away from cancer.
And then Dolores Barton, she can't pass away earlier.
I think the funeral services is tomorrow.
It's kind of a, that's how you know you live in Texas.
The funeral services are gonna be out in Livingston.
And then the burial the same day tomorrow
will be back in East Houston off of 59.
So it's just like you're driving all the way out there
and you drive all the way back.
You know, that's the Texas thing.
But other than that, if there's nothing else,
are there any announcements that I'm missing anything?
If not, turn your handles over to page 127.
127, that way we're gonna be in 1 Corinthians 5
for the Bible reading.
127.
(indistinct)
Thank you to everybody communicating.
I think WhatsApp group and we have text
and everybody just stay in touch.
I didn't want to cancel last week, but I'm glad I did.
I think the streets were frozen,
so I appreciate everybody just being in the loop.
And then I did want to welcome,
I've got so many announcements,
but the Capriotti family, make them feel welcome.
They've just moved here to the Houston area.
Well, they're in Huntsville, but might as well.
We're expanding everywhere, and that's my work.
My daughter's crying.
I think she just like lost herself over there.
And so just make them feel welcome.
And we just want to welcome them here to Houston.
Other than that, turn your himmels over to page 351.
351, and then we'll be in 1 Corinthians 5, 351.
Tell it to Jesus.
Sister Sylvia here today.
She's been under the weather.
She hasn't gotten sick in quite some time,
so if that happens, it's really hard to just pray for her,
and she just get better and get well soon.
All right.
Turn your Bibles over to 1 Corinthians 5.
As you are turning your Bibles
to 1 Corinthians 5, Brother Trey,
be walking around with the offering plate.
Before we read 1 Corinthians 5,
this wasn't on the announcements,
but tomorrow is Pastor Reyes' birthday.
So we're gonna sing him happy birthday,
and then after the service, there is a cake
for us to enjoy.
So further ado, let's sing happy birthday.
To Corinthians chapter five, 1 Corinthians chapter five.
1 Corinthians 5, Bible reads,
"It is reported commonly that there is fornication
"among you, such fornication as is not so much
"as named among the Gentiles,
"that one should have his father's wife.
"When ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned,
"that he that hath done this deed
"might be taken away from among you.
"For I verily as absent in body but present in spirit
"have judged already as though I were present
"concerning him that hath so done this deed.
"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
"when ye are gathered together,
"and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
"you deliver such a one unto Satan
"for the destruction of the flesh,
"that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
"Your glorying is not good.
"Know ye not that a little leaven
"leaveneth the whole lump?
"Purge out therefore the old leaven
"that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened.
"For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.
"Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
"either with the leaven of malice and wickedness,
"but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
"I wrote unto you in an epistle
"not to accompany the fornicators,
"yet altogether with the fornicators of this world,
"or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters,
"for then must ye needs go out of the world.
"But now I have written unto you
"not to keep company with any man
"that is called a brother, the fornicator,
"or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer,
"or a drunkard, or an extortioner.
"Such a one not to eat.
"What have I to judge them also that are without?
"Do not ye judge them that are within,
"but them that are without, God judge it.
"Therefore, put away from among yourselves
"that wicked person that's by our heads,
"and go to the Lord in prayer."
Father, thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for adopting us into your family.
Thank you for paying our sin debt.
Thank you for your word,
and thank you for gathering us here this morning, Lord.
We pray that you fill Pastor Reyes with your Holy Spirit,
and give him the power to preach with boldness
and clarity from the pulpit.
Lord, please give us ears to hear,
and hearts to understand,
so that we can become better servants for you.
We thank you, Lord, we ask this in Jesus name, amen.
- Truly are a family integrated church.
Sometimes the kids need to be with their dad.
All right, we're there in 1 Corinthians 5.
Let me just plug this in real quick.
We're there in 1 Corinthians 5,
and the title of the sermon this morning
is "Railing a Poisoned Tongue."
Railing a poisoned tongue.
And a couple of, I think it was like a month or so ago,
I did a sermon on church discipline,
and I was just talking about, you know,
how the church needs to,
what are the things that the church does to discipline?
It's something that I've not really covered.
You know, it wasn't really necessary as the church grew,
but over the last year as the church has grown
and things have arisen, you know,
it was a necessary sermon,
so I wouldn't have to revisit that.
If somebody ever comes to me,
I can just send them to that sermon,
they can listen to it, and it's all well.
But then as I thought about it, I was like,
you know, one of the things that I've always wanted to do,
and I love the lists in the Bible.
I love the lists in the Bible.
And one of the things is God gives us a list
for a specific reason, right?
He's not just throwing things out there,
but these are specific things that He wants us to focus on.
And so over the next year,
we'll probably focus on different lists,
but specifically individual attributes of those lists.
And the first one I really wanna touch on
for 1 Corinthians 5 is railing.
Because a lot of people say, oh, this is a railer,
or somebody railed on you, or things like that.
But we wanna look at it from a biblical perspective, right?
Why is that so important to the Lord Jesus Christ?
Why is it part of church discipline, right?
Why do we have to deal with these things?
And so we're there in verse number nine
of 1 Corinthians 5, and verse number nine says,
"I wrote unto you in an epistle,
"not to company with fornicators."
So Paul's saying, hey, I wrote to you before
not to have company with fornicators, right?
Don't be around these individuals
that are going around sleeping with other people,
that are having intimacy out of wedlock,
and they're just basically denying the Lord Jesus Christ.
They're hurting the body, they're becoming flesh,
one flesh with a harlot, and they're doing these things.
But then he says in verse 10, he says,
"Yet not altogether with fornicators of this world,
"or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters,
"for then must ye needs go out of the world."
And then so then he said, hey,
but also let me give you this other list.
But then when he gets here to 1 Corinthians 5,
he's like, well, let me make this list even stricter
because apparently you're not getting it.
So this is obviously something that all churches
should address because this is things that we deal with.
These are sins that can cause other major problems,
not only in the church, but even in your families, right?
And so we see this in verse 11, it says,
"But now I have written unto you not to keep company
"if any man that is called a brother."
And notice he's talking about other saved individuals.
Hey, we're not supposed to be part of the world.
He's not even addressing the world.
He's addressing the church.
He says, "Hey, if anybody's called a brother
"or a sister in Christ,
"if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator
"or a covetous, or an idolater, or a railler,
"or a drunkard, or an extortioner,
"with such in one, no, not eat."
So he's like, hey, don't even eat, right?
Don't even keep company with them.
Not only does the church discipline them and kick them out,
but it's your duty as a church member,
as a loyal member to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not to me, not to Spring Crest,
but to the Lord Jesus Christ,
not to even have fellowship with those people.
And I know it sounds extreme,
but that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's extreme in that regard,
because what he's doing is he's protecting us
from the things that could influence our mind,
or they could just detract us
from doing the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, my sister-in-law, I don't know if you know this,
but my wife is one of six people, I mean, one of nine,
but she has five sisters, but she's one of six females.
Like, it's a lot.
I don't know, my father-in-law is one tough cookie,
'cause the other ones are like really close in age,
and they all grew up together in the house
after my sister-in-law, my older sister-in-law and my wife,
which they're only about a year apart,
left the home, and you know, there's a gap there.
So, but he still had four daughters that he had to raise,
like through all the drama.
You know, you know how teenage girls are.
I mean, they're just going through all of that, right?
Needless to say, they love my kids
and they love, you know, my daughters.
And so they surprised my daughter with ballet lessons.
And she was really excited about it.
And you know, they paid for the whole thing.
And so she was going to the class yesterday.
And I said, look, Lucy, I said,
you've never been around people that are,
I said, is this a homeschool thing?
She's like, no, this is just a regular class.
I said, you need to get ready
'cause you've never been around these type of individuals.
I said, you know, people are gonna not like you.
They might treat you bad.
They might say mean things to you
'cause that's the world, right?
That's what we should prepare our children for.
But in church, we shouldn't have that environment.
Now we're not so liberal that I'm like,
hey, this is your safe space,
but this is a place where you should feel safe
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And what I mean by that is our safe space
isn't so we protect you from the world,
it's so that we can deal with the things of the world.
But that being said, there are things and influences
that we don't want to permeate the church, right?
That we don't want to just be allowed
in church at all at any point.
And one of them is Raylene.
And you know, Raylene is just an interesting word
because people use it all the time,
but constantly, most of the time,
what I've noticed is they use it out of context.
So let's really go through it,
but you don't have to turn there for the sake of time.
Turn over to 1 Samuel 25,
but I'll read for you really quick and James,
speaking of the tongue,
'cause railing is a sin of the tongue, right?
It's also a sin of the heart,
but it's manifest through where?
Through the tongue.
And the Bible says out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh.
James 3 verse 3 says,
"Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouth
"that they may obey us,
"and we turn about their whole body.
"Behold, also the ships,
"which though they be so great
"and are driven of fierce winds,
"yet are they turned about with a very small helm.
"Whether so ever the governor listeth,
"even so the tongue is a little member
"and boasteth great things.
"Behold, now how great a matter a little fire kindleeth,
"and the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.
"So is the tongue among other members
"that it defileth the whole body,
"and setteth on fire the course of nature,
"and it is set on fire of hell.
"For every kind of beast, and of birds,
"and of serpents, and of things in the sea is tamed,
"and has been tamed of mankind,
"but the tongue can no maintain.
"It is unruly, evil, full of deadly poison."
So we're not careful.
We're all capable of this deadly poison.
It says, hey, your tongue is unruly.
It's evil.
You can't even control it.
You know how we control our tongue?
We actually don't.
We just allow the Lord to take the spirit,
and we walk in the spirit.
But if we activate the flesh, and how many of you,
I mean, I think it was Brother Heath telling me yesterday
that on his way over here he almost got taken out
by a dump truck.
And if you ask him, I'm pretty sure he had some choice words
he would have preferred to use, right?
If he activates the flesh, he'll use those.
And nobody is, you know, what is it?
Nobody is removed from the fact that they can do this, right?
Everybody, the Bible says for all have sinned.
As a matter of fact, in Romans three and verse 10,
this is a great transition verse
as we get into the subject of railing.
I've only got four points for you this morning,
because railing is when you rail,
you don't have a true fear of God, right?
To get saved, all you gotta do is believe,
but to fear God is to really understand
what is God capable of,
and what are the consequences of my actions, right?
And even the angels, what's interesting,
when it comes to railing, even the angels know that,
but as humans, sometimes we get so high and mighty
that we think we're just better than the angels.
We think we're better than Lucifer.
We think we're better than God, you know,
but in Romans three, verse 10, it says, "As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of their way.
They are all together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open sepulcher,
where their tongues they have used to seat.
The poison of asps is under their lips,
whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood,
destruction and misery are in their ways,
and the way of peace have they not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Hey, the only reason we know to be peaceable,
the only reason we know to hold our tongue,
the only reason we know to love our wives
or treat our church members with love and kindness
is because of God, because of fear of the Lord.
The Bible says there is none righteous.
Like literally nobody in here, including myself,
is immediately just thinking great thoughts.
Bible says we're all sinners, right?
As a matter of fact, I mean, I've said this before,
but it's always a good reminder.
How did you teach your children to sin, to lie,
and to manipulate and to deceit?
You didn't, it's just natural in them, right?
As a matter of fact, the first time your child lies to you,
it's kind of shocking
'cause that's not what you teach them, right?
Nobody's going around being like,
"All right, kids, today we're gonna homeschool you
and we're gonna go over arithmetic and reading and history."
Oh, and we have a special section called deceit.
How to lie to people.
No, you don't do that, right?
And yet, what do they do?
Kids lie all the time.
I mean, that's just like a nature of thing.
Well, let's go to the definition.
You're there in 1 Samuel 25.
The word rail, really, when used as a verb, it's a verb,
it's just to utter bitter complaint
or vehement denunciation,
often followed by or against someone.
So synonyms of it are like to revile, to rant,
to castigate, to invade, to fulminate.
I mean, this is like something that,
you know, it's when you're really angry at someone
and you wanna really hurt them with your words.
Who's ever been so mad that all you wanna do
is just think about the worst insults ever
at the other individual
or at a certain group of individuals, right?
That's what railing is, right?
Railing is to complain bitterly or vehemently.
Other synonyms of this verb,
which is to criticize harshly, are castigate,
complain, fume, and vain, rant, scold, thunder,
abuse, attack, berate, blast, censure, fulminate,
jaw, rate, revive.
I mean, all the synonyms are horrible, right?
Upgrade, vituperate, vociferate, whip,
and then a chew out, tongue lash.
I mean, these are just, this is a harsh thing, right?
This is something that you don't want to do
and you don't want to be the recipient of, right?
Being the recipient of railing can also make you want
to react differently to other people, right?
And so the things that we want to protect in church
is number one, we don't want anybody just beating up
on anybody else verbally, but also we don't want
to create a situation where some people,
they're just looking for an excuse
to just like get into a battle.
And we need to choose the right battles, right?
I was, it's horrible and hopefully, you know,
you guys take it the wrong way or whatever,
but if you ever, I remember listening to this comedian
one time and he was making this distinction of races
of white people versus black people.
And he said, you know, the difference between white people
and black people when it comes to like challenges
is white people are like, you know,
they're trying to like not start anything.
They're just trying to be careful.
But what this makes me think of is like,
and the black people would be like, I wish he would,
you know, I wish he would come at me
so then he could retaliate.
Some people are like that.
We don't want railers in church for the,
I wish they would start stuff with me, right?
And there are people like that in church and in life
that are just like waiting for somebody
to start something with them so that they can do what?
Retaliate, right?
You ever see those videos where the guy's like just,
he's just waiting for that first punch, right?
He's like, "Hey, punch me."
'Cause what he wants to do is justify his self-defense.
We don't wanna do that in church.
So what is railing from a biblical perspective?
I've given you kind of an introduction,
I've given you the dictionary definition,
but let's look at what the Bible has to say, right?
Railing is a verbal violence against authority.
So it's not just in general,
but it's also against authority of the church.
And I'm not just talking about the pastor,
but even if you're just railing against let's say a husband,
the way he deals with his wife or his children,
or you're railing against the mother,
the way she educates her children
or disciplines her children, that's what railing is, right?
Outside of the church, hey, whenever we talk bad
of dignitaries or of our leadership, that's railing.
It doesn't matter if we think we're justified or not,
not, it's railing, right?
And also railing is a lie.
You know, you're lying about that individual.
You're making stuff up.
You know, I'll give you a good example
because, you know, these are the things
that have come up over the last couple of years,
but it is funny how people are,
like they make a big stink.
I literally just saw one of these right-wing guys
and that's why I'm thinking about it.
I think his name is Steven Crowder
and he did this clip where he's like,
how are you supposed to discipline your children?
He's like, how do you escalate this thing?
He's like, I don't believe in the rod or spanking them.
He's like, what do you do?
You put time out?
You know, if you've got a teenager who's losing their mind
and right, of course he's going
against the biblical authority.
That's a form of railing
because literally the Bible says
that we need to chase a child at times,
like immediately so that they're in order, right?
And so that is a form of railing.
Like, you know, when you get onto someone
and I'll give you a great example,
it's like, who's ever just been around someone
and they're like, oh, my dad, you know, abused me.
And I'm like, okay, what did he do?
Well, you know, he was just,
he went overboard with his spankings.
My dad, I think went overboard with spanking sometimes.
You know what, that's not abuse.
That's just like him discipline me.
But when you say negative things about that,
that's railing, right?
It's a matter of fact,
'cause everybody has a different way of executing that
and not everybody is gonna agree
in the way that it's done.
But let's go there to First Samuel.
First Samuel gives us a really good example
and we're gonna be there a little bit.
So just stay in First Samuel.
And speaking your mind is not railing.
If you speak up, if you do it in respect
and things like that, but when you're railing,
you're going against the authority.
You're trying to undermine the authority, right?
You're trying to cause division or strife or tumult
in the church, right?
It's abusive, it's contemptuous speech.
And ultimately, you know who it's aimed at?
It's aimed at God.
You know, all the individuals in here can be replaced
with other church members.
You can replace the pastor that's behind
this pulpit right now.
But if you do it, it's still the same result.
You're just attacking the authority that God has given.
So railing specifically from the Bible
is when you attack any authority
that comes from the word of God,
and you just have some word against it.
You don't have to shout about it.
You don't have to scream about it.
If you're just against it, that's railing, right?
In 1 Corinthians 5 verse 11,
but you're there in 1 Samuel,
but 11 just as a reminder says,
"But now I have written unto you not to keep company
"if any man is called a brother,
"be a fornicator, a covetous, or an adulterer,
"a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner,
"with such a one known I'd eat."
The reason I chose railing is for two reasons.
Number one, in the recent months we've had that issue
with these Trinitarians that just were railing,
basically not only against me, but against the church,
but also if you look, it says,
"But now I have written until you have to keep company."
You know, if you keep company with someone
who's been kicked out of church, that's railing,
because what you're saying is I don't agree
with the authority structure of the church,
I'm gonna do whatever I want anyways, right?
And what I mean by that is, I mean,
if I don't know about it, I guess it's no harm,
but if you're going around speaking about it,
or you make it known that you do this,
and today it's so easy to just know these things, right?
Everybody's on like social media,
and it feels like everybody's got their own reality TV show
called social media, and you just know these things.
If you're doing that publicly, that's a form of railing.
Well, let's go there.
First Samuel 25, right there in verse one,
the Bible says, "And Samuel died,
and all the Israelites were gathered together
and lamented him, and buried him in the house of Ramah.
And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Perun.
And there was a man in Malon,
whose possessions were in Carmel,
and the man was very great,
and he had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats,
and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Now the name of the man was Nabal,
and the name of his wife Abigail,
and she was a woman of good understanding
and of a beautiful countenance,
but the man was churlish and evil in his doings.
And he was of the house of Caleb,
and David heard in the wilderness
that Nabal did shear his sheep.
And David sent out 10 young men,
and David said unto the young men,
"Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal,
"and greet him in my name.
"And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity,
"Peace be both to thee, and peace to thine house,
"and peace unto all that thou hast.
"And now I have heard that thou hast sheers.
"Now thy shepherds which were with us,
"we heard them not, neither was there aught missing
"unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
"And the young men, ask thy young men,
"and they will show thee.
"Wherefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes,
"for we come in a good day.
"Give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thy hand
"unto thy servant, and to thy son David.
"And when David's young men came,
"they spake to Nabal, according to all the words
"of the name of David, and ceased.
"And Nabal answered David's servants and said,
"Who is David, and who is the son of..."
Which by the way, usually when you're lying,
you're gonna give yourself away.
Pay attention to what he says.
He's like, "Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse?"
So of course he knows who David is,
'cause he's already calling him out by his dad's name.
And he says, "There be many servants now,
"a day that break away from his master."
Now, is this true?
It's not, right?
I mean, as a matter of fact,
if you know anything about David,
he never even touched the Lord's anointed.
He had opportunity several times to take out Saul,
and he never did, right?
And these are the stories that are going around.
David has fame throughout the land.
As a matter of fact, there was a song, right?
David, I mean, Saul killed his thousands,
David killed his, what, 10,000, right?
So it's not like they don't know who David is,
and now this is where the railing is, right?
And he says, where were we?
Oh, there, verse 10, it says, in verse 11,
shall I then take my bread and my water
and my flesh that I have killed for my shears
and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be?
So David's young men turned away their way
and went again and came and told him all those sayings.
And David said unto his men,
gird ye on every man his sword.
And they girded on every man his sword.
And David also girded on his sword.
And there went up after David about 400 men
and 200 abode by the stuff.
But one young man, one of the young men told Abigail,
Nabal's wife, behold, David sent messengers
out of the wilderness to salute our master.
And he railed on them.
But the men were very good unto us.
And we were not hurt, neither missed we anything,
as long as we were conversant with them
when we were in the fields.
They were a wall unto us, both by night and day,
all the while we were with them, keeping the sheep.
Now therefore, know and consider what that will do,
for evil is determined against our master
and against all of his household,
for he is such a son of Belial,
that a man cannot speak to him.
So notice, this guy's a reprobate.
He's a son of Belial that is railing,
and he's making up lies.
You think his sheers haven't told him what's going on?
I mean, not only did David justifiably ask for these things,
but even if he didn't, number one, he's David,
and number two, he did do it, they protected the sheers.
It says they were a wall unto us both night and day.
He didn't have to do that.
Sometimes as Christians, you know what?
We do things we don't have to do, right?
Not only myself, but other people
that are just committed to the church.
There's a ton of things that go on behind the scenes
that you don't know about, that we do for you,
and that we execute for you,
and it wouldn't be wrong of me,
I'm not saying I'm gonna do it,
but it wouldn't be wrong of me to say,
hey, can you help me out in this situation,
or I need this, and for you to turn around
and have a snide attitude towards me,
or any of the other church members that do stuff like that,
would just be wrong, right?
It's the same thing in the world, right?
If you do something for somebody,
it's the mentality of you scratch my back,
I'll scratch your back type of thing, right?
We shouldn't be like that as Christians,
and David's not really doing that,
but he's not unjustified and saying,
hey, I just need this one thing done.
And not only that, I'm gonna make sure
that it gets taken care of the right way.
But this guy, I don't know why he's just,
well, we know why he's the son of Belial,
he's just got a bad attitude.
Usually it's because you just have a problem with authority.
Now go down to verse 21.
Like I said, we're gonna be here a little bit.
And notice that Abigail is two things.
She's a beautiful woman,
and she's someone who has understanding.
You know, I've been thinking about this a little bit
'cause you know, one of the things that people like to knock
is just the way that supposedly baptize oppressed women.
Apparently, they just don't read their Bible.
God has made women beautiful throughout the entire Bible.
You know, as a Baptist and as a Christian,
I want not only a beautiful woman,
but also you want a woman of understanding,
a virtuous woman who's far above rubies.
'Cause at the end of the day,
I mean, this is just a side note,
all women and all men are gonna get old,
and you know what's gonna last
is that beauty from the inside, right?
The beauty of the heart.
So we see this with Abigail
that she not only has beauty outside,
and this is obviously important to the story
because later on, she becomes David's wife,
but she also has understanding.
She knows who she's dealing with, right?
We go there to verse 21, it says,
now, and actually before I get ahead of myself,
it's what I had prefaced earlier.
What did David do when he hurt this bad railing?
I mean, he gets his sword.
David's a warrior.
He's ready to go take this guy out, right?
He's got 400 soldiers.
He's ready to just go and commit.
You know, basically he's gonna murder him and his crew.
There's gonna be a battle.
So we're there in verse 21, it says,
"Now David had said, 'Surely in vain have I kept
"all that this fellow hath in the wilderness,
"so that nothing we missed of all that pertained unto him.
"And he had requited me evil for good."
Hey, I did this thing.
I took care of him.
And this is the way you thank me?
This is what David's, I mean, David's fired up.
It says, "So and more also do God unto the enemies of David
"if I leave of all that pertain to him
"by the morning light, any that pisseth against the wall."
He's like, "You know what?
"Because of this, I'm gonna take out all the men.
"I'm just, I'm not gonna leave anybody.
"You know, I'm just gonna take them out."
Now go down to verse 25.
It says, "Let not my Lord, I pray thee,
"regard this man of Belial, even Nabal.
"For as his name is, so is he.
"Nabal in his name is his name and Foley is with him.
"But I," this is Abigail speaking,
"thy handmaid saw not the young men of my Lord
"whom thou didst send."
And basically, I'm just picking really quick
'cause I don't wanna go through the whole chapter.
We've got other stuff to touch.
But she comes to him and she basically appeases him, right?
She's like, "Hey, hold on, Nabal's a bad guy.
"She sneaks out when he's drunk.
"She doesn't even tell him what she's gonna do."
And she basically calms David down from doing this thing.
And if we go down to verse 29, it says,
"Yet a man is risen to pursue thee and to seek thy soul,
"but the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle
"of life with the Lord thy God,
"and the souls of thine enemies.
"Them shall he sling out as of the middle of a sling,
"and shall come to pass when the Lord should have done
"to my Lord according to all the good
"that he has spoken concerning thee,
"and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel.
"This shall be no grief unto thee,
"nor offense of heart unto my Lord,
"either that thou hast shed blood causeless,
"for that my Lord avenged himself.
"But when the Lord shall have dealt well with my Lord,
"then remember thine handmaid."
And David said unto Abigail,
and I know it feels like we picked up,
but basically she's just like,
"Hey, don't do this thing.
"You know the Bible.
"You know it's not for you to avenge yourself.
"You know you're anointed.
"You know you're gonna do great things.
"You don't wanna have this thing weighing over you."
And what does David respond?
It says, and David said unto Abigail,
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
"which sent thee this day to meet me,
"and blessed be thy advice,
"and blessed be thou,
"which has kept me this day from coming to shed blood,
"and from avenging myself with my known hands."
See, Raelin gets you fired up.
Thank God, obviously, his providence,
Abigail was in the way and David recognized it.
You know why David is so famous,
even though people like to pick on the fact
that he was an adulterer and he did commit murder,
but David was a man after God's own heart.
The one thing that separated David from Saul
is David was able to recognize when he was wrong, right?
The opposite of Raelin.
David's able to recognize when he's going against
the authority structure that's in his life.
You know, the Bible says that it's not for us
to avenge ourselves and David's aware of that.
He's like, you know what?
I had this blind rage, all I would see was red,
but thank you, Abigail, for reminding me
of what I need to do.
Go down to verse 37.
Nabal has this big party, he's drunk.
Abigail's like, you know what?
I'm not gonna tell Nabal what I did
until he's sober in the morning.
She does that and it's right there in verse 37.
It says, "But it came to pass in the morning
"when the wine was gone out of Nabal."
You know, he's hungover, he's probably not feeling great.
"And his wife told him these things
"that his heart died within him and he became as a stone.
"And it came to pass about 10 days after
"that the Lord smote Nabal that he died.
"And when Nabal heard that Nabal was dead,
"he said, 'Bless be the Lord that had pleased the cause
"of my reproach from the hand of Nabal
"and had kept his servant from evil.
"For the Lord had returned the wickedness of Nabal
"upon his own head and David sent and communed with Abigail
"to take her to him to wife."
And David is like, "Thank you Lord for protecting me."
But you know why the Lord protected him?
Because David was obedient to the authority of God, right?
When we speak about like church discipline
and these specific things,
it's not like we're just picking on people,
but also we need to be aware that,
"Hey, if a decision has been made,
"you need to also make that decision in your home
"to stick with the authority of God."
Not with me, not with the people,
'cause you know, I can make mistakes,
but God doesn't make mistakes, right?
Even in my error, if you're obedient
to the Lord Jesus Christ,
I'm just saying in this, I'm not using this example,
I'm just saying I can make an error.
Maybe I make a decision,
an executive decision from the pulpit,
and it could be in error,
but if you obey the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what?
He'll work it out.
I mean, David was going to kill Nabal with 400 men.
He was gonna take them out.
He was seeing red,
and he was gonna basically make the sin worse.
He was just gonna add sin to the sin.
And Abigail was like, "Don't do that."
And he's like, "You know what? You're right.
"The Lord says not to avenge myself."
And then it works out even better, right?
The Lord is gonna avenge us
for all the wrong that's ever been done to you,
for the wrong that's been done to me,
and for the wrong that's been done to this church.
Don't worry about it.
You know what?
I sleep well at night
for all the people that have ever said anything negative
or ever treated us wrong.
You know what?
We have fun with it because the Lord's gonna avenge.
But what I don't want is for you to suffer
if God's given specific instructions
and you're going against it.
And I'm not saying that's happening.
I'm just saying that's what we need to be careful with.
Go over to 2 Chronicles.
By the way, this is the longest point that I have.
But go over to 2 Chronicles 32.
Go over to 2 Chronicles 32 and we're there in verse 10.
And this is that famous,
this is one of my favorite stories in the Bible.
It's mentioned in the book of Kings.
It's actually mentioned several times,
like three or four times,
when the Assyrians are coming to attack Hezekiah
and basically the Lord spares them, right?
And it says there in verse 10 of 2 Chronicles 32,
says, "Thus saith Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
"whereon do you trust that ye abide in the siege
"of Jerusalem, doth not Hezekiah persuade you
"to give over yourselves to die by famine
"and by thirst saying, 'The Lord, our God,
"'shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria.'"
So what's going on here is the king of Assyria
is basically taking over all the lands.
He's becoming a dictator, a conqueror of land.
And everywhere he goes, he's taking them out.
He's winning.
And he does this same pattern where he goes to the land
and he's like, "Hey, we're gonna take you out
"and your gods can't help you."
And then he takes them out.
And so he gets here to Jerusalem and he does this
and he's dealing with the king of Assyria.
In verse 12, he says, "Hath not the same Hezekiah
"taken away his high places and his altars
"that commanded Judah and Jerusalem,
"saying ye shall worship before one altar
"and burn incense upon it?
"Know ye not what I and my fathers have done
"unto all the people of other lands,
"where the gods of the nations of those lands
"anyways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand?
"Who was there among all the gods of those nations
"that my fathers utterly destroyed,
"that could deliver his people out of mine hand,
"that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand?"
Notice all these patterns, right?
It says, "Now therefore, let not Hesekiah deceive you,
"nor persuade you on this matter,
"neither yet believe him, for no God of any nation
"or any kingdom was able to deliver his people
"out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers.
"How much less shall your God,
"capital G, if you're reading along,
"deliver you out of mine hand,
"and his servants spake yet more against the Lord God,
"and against his servant Hezekiah.
"He wrote also letters."
I mean, this guy's like digging in.
"He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel
"and to speak against him,
"saying as the gods of the nations of other lands
"have not delivered their people out of mine hand,
"so shall not the God of Hezekiah
"deliver his people out of mine hand.
"Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech
"unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall,
"to fright them and to trouble them,
"that they might take the city.
"And they spake against the God of Jerusalem
"as against the gods of the people of the earth,
"which were the work of the hands of man.
"And for this cause Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah,
"the son of Amos, prayed and cried to heaven.
"And the Lord sent an angel which cut off
"all the mighty men of valor and the leaders
"and the captains in the camp of the king of Assyria.
"So he returned with the shame of face to his own land.
"And when he was coming to the house of his God,
"they that came forth of his own bowels
"slew him there with a sword.
"Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants
"of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib,
"the king of Assyria and from the hand of all other
"and guided them on every side."
So we see here, what is this guy doing?
He's railing against who?
God Almighty.
He's like, hey, your God can't do the things
that all these other gods couldn't do.
So I'm gonna take you out.
Now, nice thing is, who's preaching in this one?
Isaiah.
And if you've ever read the book of Isaiah,
Isaiah was a hard prophet.
He didn't fear man.
He just called it like he saw it from the word of God.
And of course, the Lord avenged this.
In 1 Timothy 6, turn your Bibles over to Mark 15.
Mark 15, but in 1 Timothy 6,
sorry guys, I'm just gonna get a tissue
'cause I don't wanna be,
I need to keep a box under here, brother Heath,
if you don't mind.
But in, where did I have, oh yeah, 1 Timothy,
oh yeah, 1 Timothy 6, sorry guys.
It says, verse one says,
"Let as many servants as are under the yoke
"count their own masters worthy of all honor,
"that the name of God and his doctrine be not blaspheme,
"and that they have believing masters,
"let them not despise them,
"and they that have believing masters,
"let them not despise them because they are brethren,
"but rather do them service,
"because they are faithful and beloved,
"partakers of the benefit.
"These teach and exhort, if any man teach otherwise,
"and consent not to the wholesome words,
"even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,
"and to the doctrine which is according to godliness.
"He is proud, knowing nothing,
"but doting about questions and stripes of words,
"whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmises,
"perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,
"and destitute of the truth,
"supposing that gain is godliness.
"From such, withdraw thyself."
In other words, don't have anything to do with them.
And it's interesting, verse two says,
"And they that have believing masters,"
in other words, if you have a leader who's a believer,
it says, "Let them not despise them,"
because they are brother, "but rather do them service."
Hey, we all have to be in submission to someone.
You know, maybe at work, you have a boss who's a believer,
and you don't like the way the boss is doing things,
but especially if he's a believer,
you know what, you need to do them service, right?
When you come to church, we don't play church, right?
You do, you obey and you submit, not because of me,
or because there's a deacon,
or because there's somebody who's in leadership,
because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
At the end of the day, even, let's just say
that I continuously just screw things up
and do things wrong, you know who's gonna get blessed?
You will, God will strike me down.
As a matter of fact, that's why I, you know,
even just saying that just sends shivers down my spine.
I don't like to mess, you know, it's a scary thing, right?
Bible says it's a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of a living God, right?
Point number two is who do railers target, right?
You're there in Mark 15, who do railers target?
But just as a really quick, you know, what is railing?
It's pride with a microphone, if you wanna describe it, right?
It's pride against the Lord Jesus Christ.
You think you're better than God.
You're basically putting yourself
at the same level as what?
Satan, as Lucifer.
I mean, and don't think that you're not capable of it.
The Lord Jesus Christ said to Peter what?
Get thee behind me, Satan,
when he didn't know what he was talking about.
So don't think that you're so special
because you go to church and you're so saved
and all these things.
You can be saved and still screw up royally.
Just let me give you that.
And it's when you want everybody,
Rayleigh also is when you want everybody to know
you revel in this perceived attention
that you're causing this strife.
There's people like that.
They just enjoy causing, I don't know,
angst and strife.
It's rebellion.
So who do they target?
They target God from a Bible standpoint.
Somebody who's raeling, and that's
why you got to be specific, is when
you can listen to their words and decipher
a doctrine that is specifically against who?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not just-- I'm looking at Brother Matt right now,
but-- sorry, I pick on you.
But you and I can have a disagreement.
And we can be like, you're wrong, and I'm wrong,
and you're wrong, and I'm wrong.
We can just go at it.
We can just say, we're not going to talk to each other.
We'll be at church, and we'll just avoid each other.
50 feet, stay away from me, right?
That's fine.
But the railing is, if I'm like, hey, the Bible says this,
and you're like, no, that's actually wrong,
and you have very clear, distinct doctrine,
and you're still going against it, right?
If you can show verse after verse after verse,
and somebody's like, no, that's wrong, that's railing, right?
That's where the problems start to arise.
Go there to Mark 15.
Also, it's when they make fun of it, when they attack it,
and they mock it.
And as Christians, don't you just--
I mean, if you've never been mocked as a Christian,
you've just never spoken up.
I mean, in Mark 15, right there in verse 25, it says,
"And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
And the superscription of his accusation
was written over the king of the Jews."
Obviously, we're speaking of Jesus here, right?
"And with him they crucified two thieves, the one
on the right hand and the other on his left.
And the scripture was fulfilled, which said,
and he was numbered with the transgressors.
And they that passed by railed on him wagging their heads
and saying, oh, thou that destroys the temple
and build this in three days, save thyself
and come down from the cross."
I mean, they're basically making fun of Jesus, right?
They're walking by and they're like,
this guy can't save himself.
Look at him.
Says, "Likewise also the chief priest mocking
said amongst themselves with the scribes,
he saved others, himself he cannot save.
Let Christ the king of Israel descend out from the cross
that we may see and believe.
And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
They attacked him.
They made fun of him.
They mocked him."
Now what's cool about Jesus is he didn't care.
He said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do
because he knew he had a greater purpose."
And that's the reality of a Christian life, right?
Hey, we've got to put on the blinders
and we've got to have a bigger purpose, right?
It's not just enough to have church discipline,
but the reason that God says,
"Hey, don't even fellowship with these people,"
is because you have a greater purpose.
You're detracting your own success spiritually
when you go against the things of God.
Go over to Luke 23, go over to Luke 23.
You know, for us, obviously we're not hanging on a cross.
For us, our focus should be what?
The work of the Lord, soul winning,
raising our families in the fear and ammunition of the Lord,
obeying the Lord, cleaning up our lives.
You know, Jesus ignored the railers.
In verse 34 of Luke 23, the Bible says,
"Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do,
and they parted his raiment and cast lots.
And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with them to ride him,
saying, 'He saved others, let him save himself,
if he be Christ, the chosen of God.'
And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him,
and offering him vinegar, and saying,
'If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.'
And the superscription also was written over him
in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew.
'This is the king of the Jews.'
And one of the mouth actors, which were hanged,
railed on him, saying, 'If thou be the Christ, save thyself.'
But the other answering rebuked him, saying,
'Dost not thou fear, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?'
By the way, we could just surmise this whole sermon
right there.
One railed, and the other one's like,
'Hey, do you not fear God?
Don't you realize that you're in the same condemnation?'
Now, this guy doesn't know scripture,
he doesn't know anything,
but he realizes that he's in the presence of God Almighty.
And that's really, at the end of the day,
what it comes down to.
Go down to verse 41, it says,
'And we indeed justify justly,
for we receive the due rewards of our deeds,
but this man hath done nothing amiss.'
And he said unto Jesus, 'Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.'
And Jesus said unto him, 'Verily I say unto thee,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise.'"
Let me just give you a parenthetical.
I heard someone say about this that they asked him,
this guy never showed any outward change.
I mean, he died on the cross and went to heaven.
He's a thief or whatever, a robber, a murderer,
whatever he's getting hanged for.
And I heard this false preacher say,
"Well, if he would have come off the cross,
if they would have let him go,
he would have changed his life.
And he would have been a clean Christian,
and he would have sacked."
No, no, no.
The reason the scripture is here
is because all you need to do
is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't need to clean up your life.
You don't need to repent of your sins.
You don't need to do any of that.
And I know we know this.
You know what?
It doesn't hurt to just review it, right?
Go to 1 Peter 3.
Go to 1 Peter 3,
but I'm gonna read for you in 2 Peter 2.
This is the parallel to Jude,
and we're gonna touch on both.
But in 2 Peter 2, in verse 10, the Bible says,
"But chiefly, them that walk after the flesh
"in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government,
"presumptuous are they, self-willed,
"they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
"Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might,
"bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
"But these, as natural brute beasts,
"made to be taken and destroyed,
"speak evil of the things that they understand not,
"and shall utterly perish in their own corruption."
You notice it says, "Whereas the angels,
"which are greater in power and might."
Greater power and might than who?
Than us.
"Bring not railing accusations
"against them before the Lord."
In Jude, we're gonna see it,
it was the Archangel Michael
who didn't bring a railing accusation against who?
The devil.
I don't tempt the devil.
I know he's around.
I know he's defeated.
I know that we're gonna look down and Ezekiel says,
"Wasn't this the guy who ruled the world?"
And now he's in this position.
But at the same time,
I know that he has more power than I do.
Just trust the Lord.
Let the Lord rebuke him, right?
You're there in 1 Peter.
Point number three is what does God expect from us
when it comes to this topic, right?
Well, we saw it with David.
What he expects is restraint, not retaliation, right?
David was on the way to retaliate for these words.
And I mean, look, I'm human,
and I love a good fight as much as anybody.
As a matter of fact, I probably enjoy that, you know,
my wife, she's like, you know, when we first got married,
the hardest thing to deal with her,
like when we would get in fights,
is that I just want to continue the fight.
Once I get like fired up, I just want to be fighting.
Like I just, let's go.
We're already doing this, let's just do it right.
And you know, she just, once you deal with it,
she just gets quiet and moves on.
But you know, you ever been around a Hispanic family?
I mean, once the fight gets going,
I mean, we might as well make it a party, right?
Like, let's just, let's just,
let's see how long we can drag this thing out.
I'm not even, I mean, I know it sounds funny,
but it's kind of a bad thing, right?
But with a Christian walk, you have to show restraint.
You know, the only reason that I've made that change
in the way that my wife and I argue
or fight or whatever you want to call it,
it's not because of her,
it's because of the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
If I just don't listen to the Lord,
I'll get back there real quick.
Yeah, I've been trained for 46 years to fight like that.
I mean, that's the way I want to fight.
But go there at First Peter, right?
And just as a side note, I mean,
if a man rails against Jesus Christ,
why would we be surprised that he would rail against
like a pastor or a parent or even just the government
or the people that are in your authority?
You shouldn't be surprised about that, right?
In 1 Peter 3 and verse eight, it says,
"Finally, be ye all of one mind,
"having compassion one of another, love his brethren,
"be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil
"or railing for railing.
"Hey, don't join them, but contrary wise, blessing,
"knowing that ye are thereunto called
"that ye should inherit a blessing,
"for he that will love life and see good days,
"let him refrain his tongue from evil,
"and his lips that they speak no guile,
"let him eschew evil and do good,
"let him seek peace and ensue it,
"for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,
"and his ears are open unto their prayers,
"but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
"And who is he that will harm you,
"if ye be followers of that which is good?"
Hey, who will harm you?
Nobody.
"Greater is he that is in us,
"than he that is in the world."
Go to Jude 1.
Go to Jude 1, it's the only chapter.
And this is the parallel passage.
And right there in verse 9, it says,
"Yet Michael, the archangel,
"when contending with the devil,
"he disputed about the body of Moses,
"dursed not bring a railing accusation against him,
"dursed not bring against him a railing accusation,
"but said, 'The Lord rebuke thee.'
"But these speak evil of those things which they know not,
"but what they know naturally as brute beasts,
"and those things they corrupt themselves,
"woe unto them, for they've gone in the way of Cain
"and ran greedily after the era of Balaam for reward
"and perished in the game scene of Korah."
Hey, railing, you notice the theme here?
Railers, if they're not reprobate,
they're being influenced by someone who's reprobate.
It's pretty clear in the Bible
that these are sons of Belial.
This type of attitude is a devilish attitude.
It's a satanic attitude.
You don't wanna have this mindset.
You say, "Can a saved person rail?"
I think so.
But I also think that they're influenced by the world.
But also, it's probably more common
that it's just someone who's unsaved.
'Cause it's not just like you're angry.
You're really going against the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
In Proverbs 15, you don't have to turn there.
Proverbs 15, verse one.
"A soft answer turns away wrath,
"but grievous words stir up anger.
"The tongue of the wise uses knowledge of right,
"but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.
"The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
"beholding the evil and the good.
"Wholesome tongue is a tree of life.
"A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,
"but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit."
You wanna breach your spirit,
just let perverseness dwell, right?
I mean, if the Archangel Michael
won't even rail against the devil,
why would we wanna do it?
Why would we wanna even entertain the thought?
Right, and the last point I have for you
is how the church needs to respond.
And it goes back to 1 Corinthians 5.
How do we respond as the church, right?
And the way we respond is,
not only do we separate ourselves from them,
from such withdraw thyself,
but we need to do it without apology,
without like a bleeding hearts.
We shouldn't feel sorry for this individual, right?
And the reason that's important
is because as we grow the church,
we're gonna build relationships in this church, right?
We have friendships.
I mean, I have people in this church right now
that I've known longer than my wife.
That's a hard thing.
If, you know, God willing, I don't foresee it,
but anything's possible,
but I would hate to have this antagonistic relationship
and then, you know, put my foot down or vice versa.
And then you just have to remove the emotion of like,
man, this guy was my friend for so long.
And it's happened.
You know, one of my best friends in college,
he was my best friend for 10 years.
This is before I knew any of this.
He just divorced his wife and did things
and actually got my family involved.
Like he was real close.
He would come and visit my mom when I wasn't living
in Houston anymore and they'd just hang out.
He was good friends with my mom and my dad,
my brother and my sister.
And he was, I mean, we were like brothers
and he just did some stuff that was unbiblical,
specifically when it came to divorce.
I thought it like that even when I was just
the new babe in Christ.
You know what, I cut off that relationship
after I found something out.
And you know what was the last time I talked to him?
That time.
In two, I remember it was like in August of 2010.
I was with him and I found out that he was texting
with someone he shouldn't have.
You know, and I just never called him back.
I haven't talked to him.
I haven't seen him since.
I've never felt sorry for the situation because you can't.
I mean, you're either gonna serve the Lord Jesus Christ
or you're not.
You know, and I didn't know that I was actually
following this model at the time,
but that's what the Bible does, right?
It'll guide you in the right way,
even when you don't have all the answers.
Go over to Romans 16.
You know, notice how Paul wasn't like,
"Hey, you know, let's counsel them."
I have people in my life that go to another church.
It's a Baptist church, and it's in another state,
and it's another thing.
This is several years ago.
I had a conversation with him,
and this individual asked me, he's like,
"Hey, what do you think about a pastor
"who commits adultery?"
But he's trying to reconcile with his wife.
I was like, "Well, they shouldn't commit adultery.
"They should kick him out."
I was like, "Why is he even a pastor?"
Like, that's not...
He's like, "Well, you know, the church,
"it's a big church, so they have multiple pastors."
They're like, they're gonna have this,
they're gonna build this major, like, counseling center
for people, like, for pastors that run into this situation.
I was like, "Why?
"Like, you shouldn't have it."
Well, they wanna bring them back,
they wanna restore them, they wanna, you know,
counsel them, maybe even back to a position
of the same leadership.
No, this is why we have so many problems in America.
You know what, I answered the same way I'm answering now,
and you know how, where the conversation went?
It went nowhere, because nobody wants to hear that,
because everybody's a bleeding heart,
because people just want to coddle all the sin of the world,
and that's not what God has instructed us.
Go to Romans 16, but in 1 Corinthians,
just as a reminder, it says,
"Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world,
"or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters,
"for then must ye needs go out of the world.
"But now I have written unto you, not to keep company,
"if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator,
"or a covetous, or an idolater, or a railer,
"or a drunkard, or an extortioner.
"With such in one, know not, eat."
Romans 16, verse 17, the Bible says,
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them,
"which cause divisions and offenses
"contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned,
"and avoid them, for they that are such
"serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly,
"and by good words and fair speeches
"deceive the hearts of the simple,
"for your obedience is come abroad unto all men.
"I am glad therefore on your behalf,
"but yet I would have you wise unto that
"which is good and simple concerning evil,
"and the God of peace shall bruise Satan
"under your feet shortly.
"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, amen."
Hey, avoid them.
Mark them, move on, keep them away.
You know, 1 Corinthians is for the local church,
but I will say this, and now I'm gonna step into,
this is my personal opinion.
If you disagree with me on this, we can talk about it,
but I just think that I'm serving the Lord Jesus Christ,
and if somebody is marked somewhere else,
I don't wanna have anything to do with those people as well.
I'm talking churches with my friends,
I'm not just talking to UIFB.
Like if anybody has an issue at any church,
that's the attitude I have.
I mean, I remember a couple of years ago,
the church, the Baptist church we were at
before we were here, before I ever was ordained,
I marked this guy, I marked him.
You know, obviously I had no authority,
but I was like, I went to the pastor, I was like,
hey, this guy is a one motorist.
This guy is a bad guy.
He stole the money, he stole my business.
This guy left me destitute in the street,
and I took it to the pastor,
and the pastor sided with this guy.
And you know, I mean, he pulled us together in a room,
and we went into it,
and he didn't like the way I was talking.
I remember the pastor sitting there,
and he's like, you know, so-and-so, he's repentant.
I was like, no, he's not.
He's like, well, how do you know?
I was like, 'cause he still believes
the crap that he believes.
You know, obviously, I probably could've gone
about it better, but I was like 31, 30.
I was just like, I was really brash.
And I remember at one point, I was like,
look, this guy is demon possessed,
and he's a devil, and he's like,
whoa, we need to calm things down a little bit.
But you know what I didn't do?
I didn't start stuff at the church, I left, right?
I removed myself and I'm marking the board with it, right?
I'm not saying that the way that I dealt with
the whole situation was right,
but I know that not causing issues in the church was right.
Look, the pastor made a decision,
that was his authority decision.
It was my duty to respect that decision.
Wrong or right in my eyes, he's the boss.
So we walked away.
I guarantee you that guy's no longer going to that church,
but that's a whole conversation for another day.
But so for me, hey, if I hear somebody saying,
hey, these guys have been marked or these guys are railers,
I don't want anything to do with them.
Don't call me.
Don't tell me, hey, I left this church and all these issues
and 'cause I get calls like that.
Look, if you already had problems in the other church,
you're going to have problems in this church.
Don't come here.
That's why I'm also preaching this.
And I'm not saying that's happened right now,
but it's happened in the past.
So just go to 2nd Thessalonians 3,
and we've got two more places
and then we're going to be in Titus
and I'm closing this thing out.
But in 2nd Thessalonians 3,
2nd Thessalonians 3 and verse 6,
the Bible says,
"Now we command you brethren
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
that you withdraw yourselves
from every brother that walketh disorderly."
Hey guys,
I'm not just giving you one chapter and one verse.
This is a constant theme in the Bible.
"And not after the tradition which you have received of us
for yourselves know how ye ought to follow us
for we behave not ourselves disorderly among you.
Neither did we eat any man's bread for not
but we rot with labor and travail night and day
that we might not be chargeable to any of you.
Not because we have not power
but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us."
That says, "Hey, we didn't take advantage
not 'cause we could have, but I want you to follow me."
Right?
Then it says, "For even when we were with you
this we commanded you that if any would not work
neither should he eat.
For we hear that there are some which walk among you
disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies."
It's interesting how these people you need
to separate yourself from are also what?
Busybodies.
And it's so true, like people that leave,
they're watching the sermons, they're sending emails
and incognito and texts and WhatsApps
and they're trying to get your attention.
And you're like, I'm just living my life.
You know, I'm just trying to do,
I've got so much on my plate, being a busybody
is like the last thing on my list.
You know, I get up in the mornings,
you know, this like getting the dates wrong
on the bulletin frustrates me
because I just know that I'm just so spread thin
and I wish I just had everything perfect, right?
Like I can barely keep up with the things
that I'm doing now, let alone worry about
all these guys that have all these issues
outside of the church, right?
Go to Titus 3, go to Titus 3,
last place I'll have you turn.
Railing is not a personal fall.
You know, it's not like something that you're dealing with,
you know, that you might have like a weakness in.
It's a sin that disqualifies you
from being even in the church.
It's a disqualification.
You know, people like to say, "Oh, all sin is equal."
No, not all sin is equal.
There are sins that are more severe,
according to the Bible,
and we need to treat them as such, right?
Obviously we have a specific list.
That also is indicative of the fact
that I can't just arbitrarily kick you out.
You know why?
It's 'cause I'm glad that there's a 1 Corinthians 5,
because we're all human,
and there's things that are gonna rub me the wrong way
as it just is an individual and vice versa.
And you know what God says?
You can't just kick people out 'cause you don't like 'em.
'Cause their kids didn't act the way you thought,
or their husbands aren't leading their wives
the way you think, or vice versa, whatever it is.
I'm not just randomly gonna go up to people
and be like, "Wow, you didn't do this, so peace out."
We do things according to the word of God.
But in Titus 3, verse 8, it says,
"This is a faithful saying that these things
"I will that thou will form constantly,
"that they which have believed in God
"might be careful to maintain good works.
"These things are good and profitable unto men."
Hey, you need to be careful to maintain the good works,
not to get saved, but after the workmanship
that is in us, that we would maintain it, and why?
So that it's good and profitable.
And notice it's not unto you, but unto men.
Here's just the benefactor of the bonus,
so that it's good for everybody.
It says, "But avoid foolish questions,
"and genealogies, and contentions,
"and strivings about the law,
"for they are unprofitable and vain.
"A man that is in heretic
"after the first and second admonition rejects,
"knowing that he that is such is subverted,
"and sinned, being condemned of himself."
Hey, don't have anything to do with that.
You know, the Bible says sufficient
unto the day of the evil thereof, right?
Like there's plenty of evil today
to worry about all this other crap.
And I know it's also talking about like,
take no thought for your food and raiment,
but also just take no thought for,
once you've made that decision, you need to split it.
I don't have a, you know, I don't know all my strengths
and my weaknesses, you know, they have a assessment set,
but I do have one strength.
If I need to cut off our relationship, you know,
I'm, I'm quick to do that.
It doesn't matter if you've been with me all your life
or anything like that.
I'm not talking about my wife.
That's a, I will never cut that relationship off.
I mean, she's my wife.
The Bible also instructs me that of all the relationships
I could never, even if I wanted to,
being married is not, I mean, being married is the only option.
Being divorced is not an option,
but every other relationship, it's up for grabs.
If it's against the Lord Jesus Christ, it's done.
Move on, checkmate, it's over, right?
And you need to have that attitude.
So in closing, you don't just,
we don't wanna deal with railings, right?
It's poisonous, not only to their minds,
but to our minds, right?
It goes against the discipline.
It goes against the authority of the church
and it ruins the fellowship in the church, right?
So we just need to stick to the biblical matter.
We shouldn't be so nice that we out-nice God.
You can't do that, first of all, but you know what I mean.
I'm being facetious with that statement.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for today.
Thank you for the opportunity to be here
and to preach your word.
Thank you that everybody's back after last week
and thank you for the nice weather.
It was a little cold this morning, but it feels better.
Lord, also bless the food that we are about to eat
here in a little bit.
Thank you for all those that are here today,
new families, the old families,
everybody who's been faithful for years.
Thank you for Sister Millie.
That was great to see her today.
And she's only been three weeks out of surgery
and she's already up and about.
Continue to heal her and give her strength.
And we're just glad that we have both old
and new members that are faithful.
And so Lord, just teach us not to rail,
not to speak against the authorities of our lives,
specifically your authority.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Let's turn our hymnals over to page 259.
And then we will be dismissed.
Jesus saves.
♪ Her joyful sound ♪
♪ Jesus saves ♪
♪ The saved ♪