afternoon everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. Great to see
everybody here this afternoon. If we can find our seats we will get started.
We've all found a seat. Let's grab a hymnal. Go to song number 245. Thank you
once again for this great church. Thank you for the opportunity to gather here
and just be a part of your great work. We love you Lord and we just ask now to
bless this service. Sing out unto you tonight and it's in Jesus name we pray
amen. For our next song let's go to song number 394. We sung it this morning. I
could tell it was new to a bunch of us. We'll get another shot at it this afternoon.
The work song 394. Let's all sing it out together as best we can. It's coming to
Steadfast Baptist Church. If you didn't get a bulletin you'd like one just lift
your hand real quick. One of our ushers come by get you guys a bulletin. Bible
memory passage Romans 10 verse 9. If you did complete our New Testament
challenge we'll have a prize next week. If you didn't finish it but you were
really close I'm gonna give you a grace week alright. So it's more important to
get the Bible right anyways so you still get that reward. All those guys that
were hired in the earlier part of the day can be mad just because because my
eye is good you know is thine eye evil just because I'm good you know there you
go. So also on the inside we have a service time, soul winning times and our
stats down below. Please make sure you're updating our group chats with just any
emails or any stats that you get. On the right is a list of expecting ladies
please be in prayer for them. Also down below we have an update from our
missions trip that's been going on. We have about 13 or so people from our
church that are out there on the mission field right now in the Philippines.
Please be in prayer for them that everything would continue to go
smoothly, they'd be healthy, they'd be able to return safely, but they're doing a
big work out there. If you if you look at some of the numbers, I mean they're
already close to almost 3,000 salvations for the trip so far and so
definitely a great great start to the year and praise the Lord for the work
that's being done out there in the Philippines. On the back is our prayer
list if you have any prayer requests please make sure that you submit those
and or email a group group and if you have an update or something or if you'd
like us to have a some kind of a change to the list we would love to make that
for you. So that's pretty much all I have we're gonna go ahead and just sing our
third song it's gonna be Psalm 58 sing it out nice and loud if you know it.
That was Psalm 58. Psalm 58. You can find it in your special binder for your King James Bible. Psalm 58. Let's all sing that out together.
Oh congregation, do ye judge our pride thee!
Son of man, will ye bear us with righteousness!
Oh congregation, do ye judge our pride thee!
Oh can ye receive us on thee presence!
Oh congregation, do ye judge our pride thee!
Oh can ye receive us on thee presence!
We 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 in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such
an 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 neither
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 company with fornicators yet not all together 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've 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 to eat for what have i to do 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 let's bow our heads forward a prayer father god i pray
that you just help us to pay close attention to the message this evening and also for the souls
that were one at our soul winning time that you would just uh enable them to serve god with their
lives and i pray also lord that you just fill pastor shelley with your spirit and give him
boldness to preach the sermon you've laid on his heart in jesus name i pray amen amen so we've been
doing a doctrinal sermon series and we are in a new section i'm just going to kind of read what
our doctrinal statement says but it's kind of dealing with the issue of church discipline
specifically and on our doctrinal statement it has stated everyone is a sinner but certain
sins should be punished with the death penalty i'm sorry i'm reading that one i want to read the
other one we already went that road lastly christians should not take the law into their own
hands but they should kick christians out of church for any offense punishable by death
additionally christians should be thrown out for being a fornicator or covetous or an idolater
or a railer or a drunkard or an extortioner until this person repents of this wickedness
they should not be allowed back into the church and honestly i think a lot of people being
ignorant of what the bible teaches would be pretty offended by the statement that i just made but
having just read first corinthians chapter number five hopefully it doesn't seem that crazy since
that's just exactly what the bible said i mean the bible just makes it abundantly clear here
in verse number 11 that's you know whether we have this but now i've written unto you not to
keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or
a railer or a drunk or an extortioner with such and one no not to eat and so we have a clear
commandment here in the bible it gives specific list of sins and i don't think that we should
necessarily limit this list but we should at least include the list you know when we talk about
church discipline and therefore you know i've obviously amped it up a little bit on our
doctoral statement clarified hey we also believe this would apply to sins that the bible is
punishing with the death penalty but probably the reason why those particular sins are not being
addressed is if you're a murderer in especially the first century you're going to be put in jail
or executed we weren't really wondering whether or not you should come to church so for the most
part it wasn't really something that was necessarily being addressed because obviously the rapists and
the murderers and most most of the things that we would think of as being capital punishment offenses
were actually punished at that time in the world and so we weren't questioning like should we allow
this serial killer into our church or not that was just an obvious like yeah we're not going to allow
that person to be in church but again there are some questionable circumstances like adultery or
things like that where maybe the law didn't necessarily punish that and obviously if someone's
an unrepentant open adultery they would be church disciplined just as much as the fornicator would
be church disciplined so yes i do believe that you know we would extend this particular principle
to even more egregious sins than listed here in the text but i also don't believe that we would
extend it further down you know we're not going to kick people out of church for being a sinner
because then no one could go to church and this is typically the argument a lot of people have
against the idea or concept of church discipline is they would say oh well aren't we all sinners
well for the wages of sin is death so that means we all deserve the death penalty we all deserve
death and we should all be kicked out of church and you know church is a hospital i hope not
because i hate hospitals number one number two you know you go to the hospital when you're sick
you know the the church is not a place for sick people to come you know carnally speaking and
spiritually speaking if they're sick i don't want them either you know the bible talks about people
that have heresy that have you know serious spiritual issues that we're supposed to reject
those people as well okay this this idea of church being a hospital is not true whatsoever
okay it's a bad analogy it doesn't really apply very well it doesn't actually flow very well with
what the bible teaches the bible teaches that you know to go to the old testament temple you're
supposed to be spiritually and physically pure you're supposed to have like washed your body
you're supposed to have like been cleansed you can't be defiled in any way additionally you're
going there to purify yourself spiritually that was the picture and again in the new testament
i would think a lot of that should overlap and apply in the sense that hey you should probably
groom yourself you should probably wash yourself to get spiritually cleansed by offering sacrifices
unto the lord they were coming with a repentant contrite spirit and heart at least if they were
doing it correctly i get it that bad people showed up there but in general that was the purpose of
coming to the temple was to have sacrifices and offerings and to get right with god and to be
pleasing unto god and in the same way the new testament church we should still see have an
attitude of reverence of humility of trying to come here to worship god to be pleasing unto god
and not everybody is welcome at church that is not what the bible teaches the bible does not teach
that church is for everyone it is for the separated called out saints it's for those that actually
want to be in alignment with god's principles and boundaries for church and it's crazy to me that
secular institutions can have rules and boundaries for their organizations and that church wouldn't
have any rules or boundaries you could go to you go to walmart they won't let you just dress however
you want now it's pretty close but even walmart has some limitations if you are dressed super
provocative or not wearing certain clothes even walmart would probably ask you to leave or cover
up or put clothes on obviously a normal restaurant they'll typically say no shoes no service no shirt
no service when we were at the bahamas i didn't even think about this but there was a restaurant
that i wanted to go to you had to wear a suit jacket in order to go to the restaurant you know
i was just wearing like a polo i was wearing a polo and like nice you know shorts and stuff like
this i mean they weren't like rags it wasn't like gym clothes or anything like that i was wearing
nice normal clothes i was not allowed to go to their restaurant unless i had a suit coat jacket
on now they'll let you lend one they have ones to borrow or whatever and it was it wasn't just me
it was a group and they were like how many you need i was like eight and they're like i don't
know so i was just like oh just go somewhere else but but i'm thinking like this is just a restaurant
this is a secular restaurant this is not a fundamental baptist institution and you're
not even allowed to enter without a jacket like this now again at our church we don't have that
standard we're not going to refuse people for coming in just because they don't have a suit
jacket or coat on albeit hey i don't think that's a bad rule i don't think it's a bad rule to dress
nice or to look good for church i try my best to look nice i try to look presentable we do have a
standard that behind our pulpit we don't want the music ministers or the bible readers or the
preachers to get up and not have you know you know a dress shirt on and a dress tie we don't
want them just showing up in a camel shirt or a t-shirt or whatever you know it just it just doesn't
seem as respectful so yeah we have some standards we have some rules but you know we also have
boundaries to where hey if you start acting a certain way or you're in a certain behavior
you'd be asked to leave the congregation there's rules no matter where you go if you're a part of
any kind of club you join a country club you join some kind of a group some kind of a kids club
they have rules they have standards they have policies hey you want to go coach your kids
soccer or football or basketball or whatever and you're engaging in like extreme behaviors
they'll cause you to quit they'll throw you out of the kids program out of the youth program
teachers unions have certain standards and rules you go to work you show up drunk at work they'll
they'll fire you i mean it's just crazy how the whole world accepts this principle and then you
say hey church has some similar boundaries some similar rules everybody loses their mind
everybody acts like how dare you i thought that churches anybody could show up and do anything
they want false including you know in minnesota recently a bunch of protesters just walked in
and just start disrupting a church service i think it was a southern baptist church i i think it's
happened multiple times but i know one for sure it was like a southern baptist church don lemon
the faggot came in some people call him don lemonade's i get it but you know he came in
there with a news crew and just like interviewing the pastor and this southern baptist pastor and
honestly it was kind of embarrassing to watch the entire thing unfold because you never saw
security doing anything you never saw the men of the church doing anything you just have to be
taking over the church service well no well that's illegal and yeah you know what those people are
not welcome in church and if they ever tried to come in our church we would pick them up and
throw them out physically because you know what church is just not forever it's not for the sons
of belial in fact there were some people in the house of god that sometimes had to get slaughtered
because they were inappropriate in the house of god and you know what someone that refuses to leave
or escalated to violence will be slaughtered in the house of god because they are not welcome to
disrupt god's house period okay and yeah most men in this church are armed and are ready
to use that if necessary use lethal force if necessary to protect this flock and to protect
this church but just as much as we would protect it from a physical threat we also have to protect
it from sin and spiritual threats and that's what's on the docket here in first corinthians
chapter number five this is an important principle now this church is screwed up and they're not
exercising church discipline and kind of in a really extreme scenario look at what it says in
verse one it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication
as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife so not only is
this church allowing a couple to be an open fornication it's just a bizarre weird gross
version of fornication that just everybody is just kind of like freaked out about everybody's
everybody's just everybody's talking about it i mean this is going viral as it were and they're
just thinking like what in the world this guy is just in this weird awkward relationship like why
is this happening but what's kind of strange about it is this is the opinion that Paul has
and that outsiders have and that the Gentiles have but the church somehow doesn't saying the
church isn't weirded out by this because if you keep reading it says a verse two and you are puffed
up and have not rather mourned that he that have 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 has so done this deed in the name of our lord Jesus Christ when
you're gathered together in my spirit with the power of our lord Jesus Christ to deliver such
and one unto satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day
of the lord Jesus. You know what Paul's saying? I already judged you should have picked this guy
up and thrown him out of church and allowed the devil to kill him. That's what the apostle
Paul's opinion is of this particular individual. He says this is embarrassing. This is shameful.
You guys are puffed up. You guys are arrogant about this particular situation. I already
judged the situation. You guys should have been sad, mourning, upset that somebody did
such a weird, wicked thing in your church, that you guys should be publicly embarrassed
about what's happened in your church, but you're somehow just like excited about it.
You're like, it's like positive view or something like that. This is bizarre. This is weird.
This is the wrong mentality when it comes to this particular situation. He's saying
in verse six, you're glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven leaven at the whole lump.
So there's somehow glorying and there's somehow puffed up about this guy being in their church.
Now I don't know exactly what that looks like. I can only kind of speculate. I just assume,
you know, based on churches today and how some people act today is it's almost like
this church has an attitude that you can kind of see sometimes in the world today where
they have that sign on the outdoor billboard or whatever where it says, "Come as you are."
So it's a church that says, "Oh we, we're a church that accepts everyone. We're not
like these exclusive churches. We're not like these people that think they're better than
everybody else. We're not like those people in their church. They think it's a good thing."
Or maybe it's just that they're glorying at the specific individuals in their church.
They're just, "Hey, aren't you so, we got this guy in our church. Isn't he awesome?"
And you're thinking like, "No. Isn't it so great? Look at our new buddy in church. We
have so-and-so, Mr. Fornicate with his stepmom." It's like, "Wow. Isn't that embarrassing?
Why would you be glorying in that? Why would you be excited about that? Why do you think
that's such a good thing? You guys should feel embarrassed. You guys should be mourning.
You guys should be upset. You should have thrown him out of church and given him to
Satan." That's what the apostle Paul is saying. He's saying, "And we're supposed to realize
that a little leaven, leaveneth the whole lump." If you're going to be positive towards someone
in open fornication, then what you're doing is you're giving a green light to all the
single people, all the young people, "Hey, if you commit fornication, no consequence.
In fact, we might even glory in you." And look, I've been in situations where I've
been in fundamental King James only Baptist churches where they had couples that were
in the church that were in open fornication. I'm saying they were divorced, they were dating,
they were not married. It was clear they were not married and they were a part of the church
and they would be praised about being in the church. They would be from the announcements
and from the Sunday school class, they're like, "Isn't it so great? We have this couple
in our church." And, "Hey everybody, we're going to have a Sunday school party at their
house. We're going to go to their house. Isn't it so great that we have this couple
in our church and it's so great? We're going to go hang out at their house. Let's all have
a party at their house." Like, that's kind of, in my mind, glorying in this group that's
a fornicating couple. You should be mourning that they're showing up and committing these
deeds, committing these acts. Say, "Oh Pastor, you're just mean-spirited. You just hate people.
You just don't like people." Well, you know what? That couple did eventually get married,
which they shouldn't have because one was divorced. And then now they're divorced again.
So I'm the hateful one by having tried to tell those people, "Hey, you shouldn't even
be dating. You guys should just stay single. You should stay away from each other. This
is gross. This isn't appropriate." No, we should have let them get married and then
get divorced again because that's the better alternative, isn't it? The better alternative
is just to turn the blind-- no, no. Look, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. You
know what that also did? It encouraged another young man who was in that same Sunday school
group to divorce his wife and then start dating one of the newly graduated high school students.
So then he just starts dating this other chick that-- again, he was married in the church,
everybody knew them, splits with his wife, and so then now he's just dating another girl.
Oh, and then there was another couple. This is in the same Sunday school class. I really
like Sunday school, apparently. There was in the same Sunday school class, there was
a couple, and they were like-- we were talking, and then I find out she's like, yeah, I used
to be married to that guy who's then married to this person, and they had been married
to someone else, and I'm just thinking like, is this like wife swapping Baptist church?
Like what in the world? It's like not only she can leave, she can marry the guy in the
other row. And it's just-- that's what happens. A little leaven leavens the whole lump, folks.
And look, if a church just allows fornication, just allows divorce from remarriage, just
allows all these things, it's going to happen in droves. It's going to happen in dozens.
It's going to happen all over the place. That's why you have to put this stuff in its place
and say, "Hey, you know, we're not going to allow any leaven." No leaven in this church
because we don't want it to spread. It's like a cancer. It's just going to leaven everything.
Everything's going to be like this. Sin is going to cause so much problems. And of course,
the spiritual principle here is that Christ is a Passover sacrifice. When you had the
Passover sacrifice, it was the feast of unleavened bread. Leaven can often picture sin. And since
it pictures sin, it's saying you can get a little bit of sin in the church, then it's
like the whole church is now sinning. The whole church has a lot of issues. The whole
church has a spiritual problem here. Verse 8, "Therefore, let us keep the feast not with
old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth." So it's important for churches to not allow these big major
open public sins to just be running through the church and causing everybody else to stumble.
We don't want the church to have a lot of malice towards one another, having a bad attitude
and a bad spirit towards one another. We don't allow wickedness to be spreading in the church,
but it needs to be unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Now here's the thing, no one in
this room is without sin. We get that. No one here could get up and just be like, "You
know, I just don't sin anymore. I didn't sin the last few weeks. I'm just perfectly right
with God." That person's a liar or ignorant at best, but just we all sin, we all struggle
with things, but there's certain sins. And if you think about the list that we're talking
about here in 1 Corinthians 5, it's public. And so as a result of its public nature, as
a result of how it influences others to go down this road, it has to be addressed. It
has to be dealt with. You know, malice, if you think about it, in the 1 Corinthians 5
list, one of the sins that's kind of related to this one would be the railing. And you
know, how can you really effectively serve God and love one another when people in the
church are falsely accusing you, making up lies about you, saying horrific, slanderous
things about you to other people? You know what? That's not going to be a good environment.
It's going to cause major problems. It's going to destroy the real spirit of the church.
The spirit of the church is supposed to come here with humbleness and meekness and loving
one another and being willing to sacrifice for one another. We can't have that if we're
sitting here lying and slandering and gossiping about one another. And so it's important for
the church to be healthy. And a church that has this kind of sin in it is an unhealthy
church. It's a leavened church. And a church that's been leavened should not be glorying
in their leaven, be excited about their leaven. He says in verse number 9, "I wrote unto you
in an epistle not to company with fornicators." We had not altogether with the fornicators
of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or with idolaters, for then must he needs
to go out of the world. Now, I think it's important to notice in verse number 10 and
verse 11, it's like the same list. It's the same concept. It's not bringing up random
sins and random sins. It's kind of the same list. That tells me that these specific sins
are important to be noted as specific sins. You know, we don't kick people, excuse me,
out of church for sins that are not on this list. Now, again, I mentioned briefly things
of the escalation, right? Capital offenses, yeah, I'm including. But I'm just saying,
like, you're not going to just get kicked out of church for any random thing. It's going
to be something that's identified clearly. That's why I made a clear delineation. Capital
punishment sins, 1 Corinthians 5 listed sins. These are my categories when it comes to this.
Nobody's going to be surprised. Like, oh man, I didn't realize that that sin or that issue
or that problem would get me thrown out of church. No, we have a clear, defined list
that we enact. And notice again, verse 10, it's like the same list, meaning it's not
just arbitrary, just sin, it's these specific public obvious sins, okay? Now, when it comes
to this particular concept, he's saying in the world, you cannot get away from fornicators
and covetous and idolaters and these drunkards and stuff, because then you would have to
go out of the world. You'd have to go and terraform Mars at that point, because just
the reality is virtually almost the entire world is a bunch of drunkards and fornicators
and covetous and just, that's just how the world is. So it's not that you are going
to be taken from the world. In fact, Jesus tells us, you know, in John, that he doesn't
want us to be taken from the world, but to be kept from the evil. Now to be kept from
the evil, think about this. What's going to keep you from the evil? How about going
to church where you're held accountable to not be like the world. And if you think about
it, without accountability, many of us are going to struggle, many of us are going to
struggle. If you know in the back of your mind, hey, if I go get drunk, if I go lie
about people, if I commit pornication, if I do these things, I get thrown out of church,
that could actually prevent you from doing that. Whereas by having, this is not on the
table, like you could do literally anything you want and just show up at church, then
people often actually just do whatever they want. They'll actually get into these sins,
they'll actually do these kind of actions, they won't put any kind of precaution in their
life, they won't try to live to a holy standard, they won't try to separate themselves from
the world in any way, and so these principles do work, they actually work, and you know
what, people say, "Oh, you're in church, how can you do this, y'all are a bunch of hypocrites."
No, we have a church where people are not in active fornication, active drunkenness,
active idolatry, active covetousness, active extortion, I mean, we enter in a church where
people are not doing that. It can work, it can happen, but admittedly, if you do this,
you won't necessarily probably have the gateway. You probably won't have a church where you're
running 10,000 people. Exercising church discipline will not allow you to grow to these extreme
numbers probably. Is that, but why do I care? I would rather have a small healthy body than
this giant unhealthy organism. And so, you know, we want to make sure that we stay healthy
as an organization and as a body, because we are described as the body of Christ. We
I want to be a healthy body.
I want to be a lean prize fighting machine.
We don't want to just be this fat,
overweight, incapable of doing any kind of exercise body.
That's just what a lot of churches are today.
Where they just, they're basically just a lot of fat.
They don't have a lot of muscle.
They don't have a lot of meat on the bone.
They can't really do any kind of exercise.
They're not really accomplishing anything.
They're just a glutton for false doctrine.
They're a glutton for sin.
They're a glutton for watching movies.
Every summer, it's just the "At the Movie" series
so they can just keep bringing in more people.
They should grow like a weed.
You know, that is not my mission as a church.
My mission as a church is to do what's pleasing to God.
And what's doing what's pleasing to God
is sacrificing in the way that he wants,
which is a Passover sacrifice, which is done without leaven.
We cannot allow this public leaven to be in our church.
That's why he said very clearly in verse 11,
"Not to keep company of any man that is called a brother,
"be a fornicator, covetous, or an idolater,
"or a railler, a drunkard, or an extortioner,
"with such in one know not to eat."
Now, practically speaking,
obviously this is within context of a church, right?
This is in the context of a local New Testament church.
And I get that.
But the Apostle Paul is not a part of this local assembly.
And he already says we should have nothing
to do with this guy.
You know what that tells me is that tells me
that if I have a brother in Christ
that doesn't go to my quote local assembly,
I should still apply this principle to them
regardless of they go to my church or not.
The apostle Paul is not saying,
well, I can hang out with them
'cause I don't show up at his church.
Because think about it,
as soon as you throw them out of the church,
they don't go to your church.
So then I guess now you can hang out with them again
because well, it's only for the local assembly.
No, look, it's saying you shouldn't hang out
with these type of Christians.
Did you even read the text?
It says if you have any brother that is,
or I'm sorry, any man that is called a brother.
So this is someone that you believe is saved.
Any person that is assumed saved,
that is in these type of behavior or activities,
you should withdraw yourself from that person.
And someone that's not is in violation
of what the Bible is commanding.
And they're endangering themselves
by becoming leavened themselves, by being...
Look, if you're hanging out with someone that's a drunkard,
you're gonna be likely to become a drunkard too.
You hang out with someone that's gonna be a fornicator,
you're likely to become a fornicator too.
And let me tell you something, you hang out with railers,
you're super likely to become a railer yourself.
And so you should withdraw yourself
from these type of people.
Now, what does it say in verse 12?
"For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
Do not ye judge them that are within,
but them that are without, God judgeth.
Therefore, put away from among yourselves
that wicked person."
So what is the Bible saying here?
The Bible is saying that I'm not gonna judge people
that don't go to church, that aren't saved,
because that's not my place.
The apostle Paul says,
what do I have to do to judge them that are without?
The people that don't go to church, that are not saved,
I'm not gonna sit here and criticize them
about being a drunkard or an idolater or a railer
or any of these things, 'cause they're not even saved.
So someone that's not saved,
we shouldn't necessarily go around
and make a big deal about this particular list
of these people.
We should just try to get them saved.
We should try to give them the gospel.
We should be in meekness instructing those
that oppose themselves.
Lest peradventure, God will give them repentance,
the acknowledging of the truth, so they can be saved,
so they can be pulled out of the snare of the devil.
That's what we should do to the unsaved.
But someone that is saved,
I don't need to give them the gospel.
I don't need to hope for them to get saved.
They're already saved.
I can't help them get saved anymore.
They're saved.
So then if they're in violation of these principles though,
I could show them these principles and say,
hey, as a saved person, you're not supposed to be a drunkard.
You're not supposed to be a realier.
You're not supposed to be covetous.
And if you are gonna be like that,
if that's gonna be your behavior,
I can't hang out with you.
I can't have the same relationship with you.
I can't have fellowship with you.
What is the example here?
I cannot eat with you.
And again, what is eating?
If you think about it,
that's how you hang out with people, right?
I mean, there's no new thing of the sun.
How do you hang out with people?
Let's go have lunch.
Let's go have dinner.
Come over to my house.
This is how you hang out.
You eat.
It's like that's how you date.
You go eating, right?
Isn't the proverbial date going to eat?
That's what you kind of consider.
Now again, it says here in a sense or in other passages
and when we apply these principles,
it's like you would treat him like as a heathen.
You would treat him as like a heathen, not as a brother.
And if you think about it, like,
hey, I go to work with all kinds of people
that are drunkards and railers and covetous
and I'm nice to the person.
I'm respectful to the person.
I'm kind to the person.
I interact with the person.
But you know what?
I don't go and have dinner with all the people I work with.
They're not coming over to my house to have dinner with me.
I'm not going and doing all this kind of stuff with them.
Obviously, I might be at a work function,
a work party with people, and so be it, right?
I get that.
But this is the principle I apply.
How would I treat someone I don't like at work
and I don't wanna be around with them at all?
That's how I should treat this particular person.
And look, somebody that I work with
that I don't really like, like,
I'd probably take their call.
You know if they called me and they're just like,
"Hey, wanna ask me a question?"
I'd probably answer their call.
But if they're like, "Hey, you wanna go to a game tonight?"
I'm like, "Mmm, no."
"Hey, you wanna go to my house
"and eat Indian food?"
It's like, "Uh..."
Corn dogs.
You wanna go watch a movie?
I'm probably gonna be like, "Yeah, I'm not interested."
Because I just don't really wanna hang out with that person.
In the same way, if someone was church disciplined,
I'm not saying that I wouldn't necessarily take their call,
but if they're not gonna get right with God,
if they're not gonna change their behavior,
then that's pretty much where the relationship stops.
It's like, "Hey, brother, stop drinking.
"Hey, brother, stop fornicating.
"Hey, brother, go apologize for whatever you railed,
"because otherwise, I'm not hanging out.
"I'm not having dinner with you.
"I'm not gonna do this with you."
And by hearing that, they could be like,
"Hey, I need to change."
But if you say, "No, let's go hang out,"
why would they ever change?
They're not gonna change.
The whole point of church discipline
is to put pressure on the person
to actually change and get right with God.
You're trying to help them.
You're trying to encourage them.
This is the type of discipline.
If the church does not do this,
if only the pastor does this,
but frankly speaking,
I don't hang out with very much of you anyways, okay?
It's very seldom.
So for most of you,
church discipline from me would be about the same, okay?
So don't think like,
oh, well, the pastor exercises here is a plan,
but I don't have to.
No, no, you're violating this principle
and you're hurting the body of Christ.
You have to also enact it yourself.
You have to withdraw from the person.
You have to stay away from them.
He is, you know, in this particular past,
I don't even think the First Corinthians Church
has a pastor.
It kind of seems like they're kind of like
just led by different individuals.
They're maybe without a pastor at this time.
They're kind of in a transitionary period.
So it's up to the church, it's up to the body
to exercise this church discipline.
And notice, put away from among yourselves
that wicked person.
The Bible called them wicked.
The Bible can call saved people wicked.
Oh, but think about it.
There's some people,
they don't even think God punishes saved people.
So then why would they ever apply church discipline?
I was like, why would I punish someone
if God won't punish them?
This is the nonsense and stupidity that happens
with liberal churches today and with bad doctrines.
People will not believe in church discipline.
But you know what?
I am a firm believer in church discipline.
I have exercised church discipline since day one
of being the pastor of this church.
I could argue it's like negative day five.
It was like before I ever became the pastor of this church,
I was already kind of enacting church discipline.
And in a sense, and at the end of the day,
you know what?
Every single time, it just proved to be true.
Almost every single time, these people just show themselves
to be the wicked people that they are,
the scum that they are, the problem makers,
the trouble makers, the leaven that they are.
And yeah, in some cases it even works.
There's been people that were doing something wrong,
got right with God, and still part of the congregation.
No harm, no foul.
Not like every single person that gets kicked out
stays kicked out.
There's been plenty of people where we've run into an issue,
had to resolve it, and they're doing good now.
So don't think like, oh, church discipline doesn't work
or it's causing problems.
No, look, it works, it's great.
And what's the goal?
The goal is for them to repent.
Anybody who repents is back in.
People that stay unrepentant,
they're not welcome back in the church
until they fix that particular issue.
And look, this is how we exercise as a church.
This is what we believe, this is what I do.
Don't think like you're also gonna get surprised
by church discipline.
Every single person, you know, virtually speaking,
you know, I could say maybe there's people
that were like from afar that was at a church plant
that they just kind of found out in a general video,
like anybody siding with Adam Fan and it's kicked out.
Okay, so maybe they didn't get a personal phone call.
But apart from that scenario,
people get a personal phone call from me
addressing the issue.
Hey, you're guilty of this particular sin,
or are you guilty of this particular sin?
Sometimes I just have to ask first.
And honestly, I've almost never,
I don't even think I've virtually ever
enacted church discipline on someone
that didn't openly admit to their sin to me.
You know, and sometimes I have to have lots of evidence
and be like, hey, here's the pictures, here's the video,
here's the video you uploaded to the internet
of yourself doing this.
Like, you know, like, did you do it?
It's like, yeah, we have the video of you doing it.
You know, you're showing yourself.
You're like, hey, I'm secretly recording the church.
Oh no!
You know, it's like, they video themselves while they do it.
That's a dumb idea.
You should probably edit that out.
But either way, it's like, yeah, I try to get,
hey, did you do this?
This is wrong.
You can't do this.
And you know, if they're not gonna be repentant,
if they're not gonna be apologetic,
if they're gonna give me a half apology,
I also won't accept that.
Well, I'm sorry that you're offended.
Wrong, false.
You are obviously not repentant for what you said
or what you did, you know, those kinds of things.
And I'll just say, hey, that apology is not legitimate.
You're gonna have to come up with a new apology.
Now, depending on how much I like the person,
I'll help them in that area.
Sometimes I'm just like,
I'm not even gonna help you figure out
how to be apologetic, 'cause I want this to be sincere.
I want this to be real, right?
But someone that comes to you humbly and says,
look, I'm sorry, you're right.
This is wrong, I did this, please forgive me.
What does the Bible say?
We have to forgive them seven times in a day,
seven times 70, hey, okay, we're bringing you back.
You know, it's not like church discipline
is pastor Shelley doesn't like this person,
they're kicked out.
Pastor Shelley likes this person, they get to stay.
There have been plenty of people
that I don't want in our church that I can't kick out.
And then there's been plenty of people that I like,
that I had to enact church discipline on.
It is not a I like them or I don't,
it's are you on the list or are you not?
That is how our policy goes.
Don't think like, oh, I'm afraid if I show up at church,
I'm just gonna be publicly named or something,
it doesn't happen, okay?
And obviously, you know, being publicly named,
some people get squeamish about this,
people in the Bible are publicly named.
I still don't even usually typically do that.
I typically try to keep it as discretionary,
give people paths to restoration,
try to fix particular issues.
But you know what, there are people publicly named
in the Bible, called out by name.
Do you think this guy, anybody's confused who this guy was?
This is a public epistle.
This is the apostle Paul writing
an entire letter to the church.
Hey, let's read about it.
Do you think, oh, I feel like this might be about me.
Yeah, obviously, this might've been
an awkward church service, right?
Read this before the congregation.
You start reading this section, you're like,
everybody's just looking at the guy, you know?
Like, yeah, you need to go hang out with Satan now.
Like, bye.
Like, think about it.
This is real.
This is a real letter written to real people
in a real situation.
And look, I'm sure people were his friends.
I'm sure people liked him.
People could've even been related to him.
It could've been their brother.
It could've been their son.
It could've been whoever.
You know, we don't know.
And hey, sorry, this is what has to happen.
You need to be churchless.
It's a grievous thing, it's a sad thing.
We shouldn't be excited about it.
We want people to be restored.
We want people to have good behavior.
We want people to do what's right.
This is how church discipline is being explained here
in the New Testament.
Now, there are other situations of church discipline.
I wanna go to a few others.
Go to Matthew chapter 18.
Let's talk about some others,
'cause this is not the only way someone could get kicked
out of church or be church disciplined.
Now, some people would also bring up the concept of like,
what about church discipline in relation
to like churches to churches?
You know, I have a general rule
that if someone was scripturally church disciplined
by another church that I would honor and respect
that scriptural church discipline.
If someone's thrown out of church for being a drunkard
or being, you know, some kind of a railing piece
of trash or something, then I would tell that person,
hey, you have to get right with that church
if you wanna come to our church.
You have to apologize.
You have to get it right.
You know, we're gonna respect that particular approach.
But there are some people, there's been some people
in our church that have been kicked out of a church
because they don't believe and repent of your sins
or because they're like friends with Pastor Anderson
or because they, you know, like the new IFB
or because they like me or, you know, just something like,
well, that's not really a scriptural excommunication.
I'm not gonna respect that particular church discipline,
that person.
I mean, is there anybody who's kicked out of any church,
you know, or been kicked out of a church
for a non-scriptural reason?
Yeah, there's been people that have been kicked out
of churches for non-scriptural reasons.
I'm not gonna respect that, okay?
If someone's been kicked out for a scriptural reason,
then we should respect that, I believe.
We should honor that in the same way.
But many churches won't.
Many churches will harbor people
that have been thrown out,
people that are causing problems in other churches,
causing serious issues.
And this is what we would refer to as a trashcan church,
a trashcan church.
If you're accepting trash, then you're a trashcan church.
And look, there are trashcan churches in our area.
There are churches in our area that will accept all trash
that comes from Steadfast Baptist Church.
It doesn't matter what they've done.
It doesn't matter what they said.
It doesn't matter who they are.
It doesn't matter how weird they are.
They will accept it.
In fact, there was a church where it's just like
dozens of people from our church have left and flocked to,
including one individual who came into my house,
secretly took a bunch of photos of my house,
then created a 40 page document,
making up some just horrific lies,
saying that I was like stealing money from the church
to fund all of these weird construction projects
in my house and just making all kinds of wild accusations
and lies about me and just emailing it
to just anybody and everybody
and just spreading it to everyone.
Well, it's like then this person goes to this other church.
So I'm just like reaching out to the pastor,
like, "Hey, I just wanna let you know
"this person's in your church, this is a courtesy."
Pastor won't take my call, won't take my email,
won't respond to me whatsoever.
It doesn't matter.
I mean, I've left this guy messages and messages
and emails and emails and calls,
and it's just no response, don't care, doesn't wanna hear.
Look, that's a trash can church.
And look, that is not right.
Look, if someone from another church was contacting me,
some pastor is saying, "Look, this person
"that's visiting a church has been lying about me
"and railing about me and making up fake documents
"to try and attack me and whatever."
I would say like, "Look, you need to fix this
"with this other pastor before I'm gonna be willing
"to accept you in our church,
"because that's just not appropriate.
"That's just not right."
We should have some decency
and have some respect for people,
regardless of how much we like them,
regardless of what we think
about that particular individual.
No, that's just a shame that you would be willing
to just harbor these type of wicked people.
And you know what, a little leaven?
Leaven's the whole lump.
So then it's just, now it's just railing church.
Now it's just anybody that hates us
and wants to rail on us can all flock there
and can all have a railing competition
on Steadfast Baptist Church
and just see how much they can talk evil
and trash about our church.
Well, you know what?
That's gonna affect that church negatively.
You know, and that church has had some serious problems.
I'm not gonna go into it,
but I wonder if maybe God's mad at you
when you accept these type of wicked people.
Maybe you're gonna be punished as a pastor
and as a church congregation.
But you know, that's a different sermon.
But here's the thing, we should respect church discipline.
Matthew chapter 18
has another potential church discipline issue.
This is where we talk about personal disputes, okay?
Matthew 18, look at verse 15.
Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee,
go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.
If he shall hear thee, thus gain thy brother.
But if he will not hear thee,
then take with thee one or two more
that in the mouth of two or three witnesses,
every word may be established.
And if he shall neglect to hear them,
tell it unto the church.
But if he neglect to hear the church,
let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.
So this is where I brought up that reference
of how you would treat somebody
that's been church disciplined.
You just treat them like a normal and safe person.
You're not gonna have fellowship with them.
You're not gonna eat with them.
You're gonna be encouraging them to get right with God
before you're gonna restore your type of relationship.
This is a different vehicle
by which someone will be church disciplined.
This is not just the pastor just coming in
and just church disciplining someone.
This is like a personal dispute between members.
So if someone does something to you
and you address it with them
and they're unrepentant and unwilling to resolve the issue,
then it can escalate.
Then it would escalate to two other witnesses.
It could be anybody in the church.
It's not about the pastor or not.
It's just two other people are brought in
and everybody's in agreement.
This person's at fault.
This is something that you need to apologize
or get right or fix.
And then if they still won't fix it,
then it would just be brought as the church publicly
where we would all say,
yeah, sorry, this is a big issue.
You gotta fix this issue or something.
You know, I mean, what would this be like?
And again, you know, if it's really petty,
if it's really nominal,
I usually just tell both parties to get over it
and just move on.
We're talking about like serious issues, major problems.
You know, what if some guy just like wrote something
really nasty on your car,
just like took a key and just keyed your car
and just wrote something horrific on it,
like said you're a reprobate
or something horrific on your car.
And it's like, bro, you can't do that.
Every time he goes around,
he's just like calling you a reprobate
and just being malicious towards you.
Well, you know, then we'd be like,
hey, you can't say that,
you can't act like that about me, right?
And then it's like, you bring in a couple of people,
they're like, yeah, obviously,
you can't be calling this guy this way,
you can't be acting this way.
You bring it to the church, we all agree.
The guy would have to say sorry and apologize and fix it
before this person be restored and fellowship.
Now again, if someone just, someone gave me a bad look,
let's bring it before the church, Pastor Shelley.
I was like, false, okay.
This is not something where we just get petty
and nitpicky and whatever.
But it's just basically saying you have an option here
that if you're going to church and you love your church,
but there's someone that's caused you a major issue
that's unresolved, you have the ability to get that resolved.
And you know what, that sounds great to me.
That sounds great to me.
I feel comfortable that, hey,
if there's a serious issue that's obvious
that everybody's gonna pretty much agree with me on,
we can have this issue resolved.
And you can go to church and not have unresolved issues
between members.
So you can have no malice in the church.
This is another vehicle by which people
could be church disciplined.
You know, you go around saying like,
"Hey, I think your wife's ugly and disgusting
and I hate her."
And they're not gonna apologize about that.
Well, then they're gonna be taking the task
on church discipline.
You know, that's not appropriate.
You can't just be doing these kinds of things
and act like it's okay or act like it's acceptable.
Look, you can not like people and come to church.
You can't be disrespectful and rude and malicious
and railing and just causing these kinds of issues.
You would be taking the task.
I wanna go to another example.
Go to Romans chapter 16 now.
Go to Romans chapter 16.
So example one, unrepentant wickedness
that's mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5
will get you church discipline.
Number two, if you have a personal dispute with somebody
that you are not willing to repent of or get right,
you could be church disciplined
in that particular situation.
Here's a third example would be someone
that's causing some kind of a doctrinal
or some kind of a spiritual issue in the church
that the pastor as the shepherd is recognizing
and wants to squash.
It says here in verse number 17,
now I beseech you brethren, mark them,
which caused divisions and offenses
contrary to the doctrine which you 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.
So someone that's going around causing some kind of a split
in our church over whatever doctrine,
maybe the Trinity trying to cause a doctrinal split
over the shape of the earth or something,
or trying to cause some kind of a doctrinal split
over just any kind of a belief
that's contrary to what the church actually teaches.
The Bible says that the pastor would have the authority
to mark that particular individual
and say this person's teaching this doctrine
or saying these things causing division.
And you know what?
We're marking them and we're avoiding this person.
Up to and including if someone is making a public statement
saying I don't wanna have any fellowship or relationship
with Steadfast Baptist Church and Pastor Jonathan Shelley.
I don't wanna be with them.
I don't like them.
They're bad.
And you agree with that statement.
You would be church disciplined.
Now I know this is radical
because we had somebody literally make public statements
saying they're separating from me
and want no fellowship with me
and can't be associated with us.
And then all these people are liking and hearting
and sharing this comment.
And I said, "Hey, anybody doing this
"is gonna be separated from our church."
And then they lose their mind.
They're like, "Oh, how dare you do this?
"You said you don't wanna have anything to do with my church.
"Why would you be mad if I say,
"then you're kicked out, I guess.
"If you don't wanna be with us, then fine, bye.
"But why would I want to allow people that hate our church
"to continue fellowshiping with you guys?
"Wouldn't that possibly cause you
"to also not wanna be a part of our church
"and not be friends with our church
"and say you can't even have fellowship with us?"
I mean, that just makes logical sense, okay?
So yeah, obviously, there's been people
that have been in that particular situation
that we've had to experience.
Go, if you would, to 2 Thessalonians chapter three.
Now, honestly, I don't think I've ever had
to really go all the way on Matthew 18.
There's been some times where maybe I've talked to somebody
and I said, "Look, if necessary, we can escalate this
"and this is gonna be the outcome,
"so you should probably just leave anyways."
But I didn't think that,
I didn't really necessarily have to go down that road.
I would if I had to.
But I have exercised Romans 16.
We have exercised 1 Corinthians chapter number five,
and we've exercised 2 Thessalonians chapter number three,
look at verse six.
"Now I command you, brethren,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you withdraw yourselves from every brother
that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition
which he received of us.
For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us,
for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you,
neither did we eat any man's bread for naught,
but wrought 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 insample unto you to follow us.
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 busy bodies.
Now them that are such we command and exhort
by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work
and eat their own bread.
But ye brethren, be not weary in well-doing.
And if any man obey not our word by this epistle,
note that man and have no company with him
that he may be ashamed.
Yet count him not as an enemy
but admonish him as a brother.
So what is the Bible saying?
The Bible saying if there's a person,
if there's a man in our church that's just not working
and he's just causing problems by being a busy body
that he would be potentially asked to leave the body
until he got that right.
And again, what is it saying?
He's working with quietness.
What is the contrast?
There's a busy body and then there's the working
with quietness. So someone that's taking care of themselves financially, working with quietness.
Someone that's being a busy body is going around not working, bumming money off of every
single person, trying to be like, "Hey man, I just, you know, I just need a few thousand
bucks." And look, there have been people in our church that have just shopped around and
just go to every single guy and just get two grand here and three grand here and four grand
here and five grand here and six grand here and ten grand here and two grand here. And
then once they run out of people to get money from, then they get thrown out of church for
some other issue because they start railing. And then they act like, "Oh man, you guys
are just a bunch of terrible people." No, it's you're a blood sucker. No, you're a parasite
that was going around and just exacting money of all these people. And honestly, most people
don't even realize it. Most people don't even realize there was people in our church that
kicked out for railing, but actually that was what was really happening behind the scenes
too. They were going around and just being a blood sucker and now they act like our church
is so bad. They're bad. And of course, you know what's so funny? The same people are
the same people that are the most covetous individuals I've ever seen in my life. And
they're so envious and they attack anybody that has any money or any possessions or any
goods. They act like they're just such a bad person. No, the Bible says the bad person
is the one that doesn't work with quietness and provide for his own needs. The person
that's not working is the bad person. The person that's not taking care of his family,
according to the Bible, is worse than an infidel, is what the Bible describes. Not the guy that's
able to actually provide for his family. And look, no one in this room is about to clip
Elon Musk on the richest list of Forbes or something like that. It's like, I don't think
that we're sitting here, you know, just because you have two cars does not make you some kind
of a covetous person or something. You know, oh man, you actually have a house? You actually
have two cars? Look, that doesn't make you rich or covetous or something like that. It
will provide for your family. You know, it's people that are usually guilty of this sin
that are the ones making these type of accusations. The ones that with busy, they're busy bodies
going around like, oh, did you see so and so has a new truck? Did you see so and so
actually has a shirt without holes in it? You know, you see so and so, it's like, bro,
get a job. Why are you coming around, you know, talking about this kind of stuff? And
you know, beware of the people that are always shopping money from you, grown men that are
constantly like the type of people that I like to give money to are the people that
didn't ask. That's the kind of people I like to give money to. You know, the people I don't
love to give money to are the people that are just asking. And here's the people I really
don't like to give money to people that are asking but not asking. That's the worst. You
know, if someone just came up to me and said, like, Hey, can you just give me $1,000? I'd
probably be more likely to help that person than that person is like, Oh, man, you know,
I just, I really need someone to help me out. You know, it's really hard. You know, it's
like a thousand bucks would really help me. You know, I don't know. I mean, I don't even
know if I'll be able to eat if there's no one helps me. You know, it's like, I don't
like that. I don't like that. It's kind of gross. It's kind of annoying. It's feminine.
If you ask me, you all laugh because you're thinking that's what my wife acts. And I'm
just kidding. Hey, wives, just ask your husband, right? Just ask or don't ask. I hate this
passive aggressive. Just like, you know, it's like, dude, just grow up, be a man. And look,
there's nothing wrong with asking for money. Occasionally. Hey, we all go to the bank.
We're like, Hey, can I borrow money to buy a house? Right? Hey, you get a loan, you get,
you get, you have credit cards. Obviously there's nothing wrong with asking. There's
something wrong with not working with quietness though. There's something wrong with just
not actually providing for your needs, not being someone that pays back loans, someone
that doesn't, you know, work hard. And look, we're not going to all have the same economic
situation, but in general, if you live in America, you're better off than 99% of the
world anyways. But you know what's a sad reality is a guy that just won't work. And the reason
why most people are struggling in America is because they won't work. Most homeless
people in America, it's for one reason, it's because they won't work. That or they're addicted
to drugs and have destroyed their life. But, or a combination, it could be definitely a
problem. But in general, people that are homeless in our society do not need handouts. You know
what, praise God for the Dallas forward area because I see plenty of signs out that say,
do not give money to panhandlers. Do not give charity to panhandlers. And let me tell you
something, I 100% agree that is biblical doctrine. Do not give money to panhandlers.
You know, also I'll say this, I'm not going to give money to single mother whores either.
And boy, that pisses a lot of people off. But you know what, at the end of the day,
why don't you just find a man to provide for you and be loyal to him
and be faithful and get married? You know, we shouldn't, I'm not the welfare system.
Our government shouldn't be the welfare system and it causes problems.
That was the first thing they did in feminism.
After we gave women the right to vote was the first thing they did.
Let's get free money. You know, it's like 1920.
We give them a bunch of free money and then we get the roaring 20s
where America just has this reckless spending spree
where we just spend money recklessly and then we get into what?
The Great Depression. Wow, what a shock, right?
We give money all this power and authority and they just run.
It's like giving a woman like an unlimited credit card.
I wonder how this is going to end.
It's just like shopping spree and then Great Depression.
And it's like that's what America did as a country.
As a country, we're just like, all right,
random shopping spree in the 1920s.
Oh, and stock market crash and economy fail.
And now we have the Great Depression for the next 10 years
that we have to basically just be destroyed.
And some people are like, well, they're not directly related.
I don't care if they're related or not.
It's the principle that matters.
And you know what?
Men that won't work should not eat.
That's what the Bible says.
You know why?
Because hunger will force you to start working again.
Giving money to pan-annuals
is one of the dumbest things you can do.
God's not even approving of that.
Like some people are like,
oh, I just wanna be so charitable and godly.
God's not giving money to these people.
He's saying don't give money to these people.
It's a fool's errand to give money to these people.
And you know what?
In church, we've had people that refuse to work,
that won't pay their bills, that are just bumming money.
And we had to say, look, bye, get out of here.
I've had people like that.
And you know, it's the same people that just say,
hey, do you just wanna pay me to just go soul winning
all day?
I'm like, no.
Prove to me that you're gonna go soul winning
and have a job before I'd even consider
paying you to go soul winning.
'Cause the guy that's faithful in that which is least
is also gonna be faithful in that which is much.
If you can't be faithful with a one hour
soul winning time a week,
how would you be faithful with 40 hours
worth of soul winning?
You know, we'll give that to people like,
you know, Vangels or Bannock who made personal
financial sacrifices to go and move to Houston
and try to run a church and do all kinds of things.
That's the kind of person that we wanna put
on the mission field.
And look at the results this guy's producing.
You look at a lot of missionaries today,
they go on deputation for two years,
then they finally go to the mission field.
They're getting like 1.7 people saved a year.
That's about how many words they're learning
in the foreign language they're studying
and about how many people they get saved.
And they're like, pray for, you know, Pablo
to finally come to church someday
and get saved or whatever.
You read their missionary letters, it's a joke.
I feel like it's a parody.
I'm thinking like, there's no way
they actually wrote this in her serious.
They're like, so, you know, Susan started cleaning
the kitchen again and Billy's learning how to ride a bike.
And I learned four new words in Spanish
and I met a guy named Pablo and I gave him a tract
and he acted like he might come to church someday.
Pray that Pablo will come to church.
Think about if our prayer list was all the people
that you went out soul winning
that said they might come to church.
Just think about how big our prayer list would be
if it was just like, let's pray for every single person
that said they might visit our church
after you gave them a tract or gave them the gospel.
We'd have like 10,000 names on the sheet.
And we're gonna pray for Pablo, for this missionary.
Like, and look, these missionaries
are getting some serious dough.
I know some of these missionaries are getting 100,
$150,000 a year to go and get no one saved
in a foreign country and just try to learn
a foreign language.
We don't even get, we're not even giving like a third
of that to our avengers.
And he's getting thousands of people saved right now,
immediately starting a church, planning a church,
going into schools, preaching the gospel.
You know what?
That's the kind of person we're going to employ
to do this.
Not the lazy bum that can't even have a job at Wendy's.
Yeah, the church is gonna give money to that guy
so that he can be a soul winner.
Let me tell you something.
Church is for the people that work super hard,
not for the lazy.
Pastor, the pastor is supposed to be a person
that it desires a good work, not to be lazy.
I wanna go to one more place, go to 2 John chapter nine,
2 John chapter nine, and yes, people that won't work
and are gonna go around and bum money off of people
will be thrown out of church.
People that are gonna cause disputes in the church
and not repent of them will be thrown out of church.
People that wanna cause doctrinal division in our church
will be excommunicated from our church.
People that are gonna be on that 1 Corinthians list
will be taken a task.
You're a drunk, excuse me, you're a drunkard,
you're a railer, you're a fornicator,
you will be taken a task.
And this is what's funny to me
about the whole railing thing,
is there's some churches out there
that have criticized our definition of railing.
My definition of railing is that you're slandering people,
that you're lying about people,
that you're making false accusations about people.
And there'll be churches out there
that'll mock my definition of this.
And they'll say their definition of railing
is just talking trash or saying anything negative.
Well, think about it.
That's their definition.
Then my definition always applies, right?
I mean, if what they're saying is true,
they're just talking any kind of trash
or just being, you know, talking negative about somebody,
even if it's true, is railing even,
then my definition is always the case.
So then that would mean every single person
I'm ever kicking out for railing qualifies for you.
But think about this.
If their definition is what they genuinely believe,
how many people would they have to be
kicking out of their church?
Isn't it funny?
The people that believe that their version of railing
is just talking any trash kicks no one out of church.
The people that believe it's limited
to the false accusations are kicking
those people out of church.
Because how can you make up a definition
that you can never apply and that you never apply?
It's ridiculous.
And of course, usually the pastor's the one
that's guilty of railing too when he has that definition.
It's just funny to me.
It's just funny 'cause I'm thinking like, wow,
if your definition of just talking trash
is when you would exercise church,
your entire church needs to be thrown out.
I mean, everyone needs to be thrown out.
But again, I believe that it's limited to false accusations.
So, you know, you make a meme and it's true,
you're good to go.
You make a meme and it's false,
well, you know, then you're in hot water, right?
You know, because what makes a meme funny anyways
is that it's true.
This is why the left can't meme.
This is why the spiritual Democrats can't meme.
That's why they hate memes is because they're true.
They're not mad at them for being false,
they're mad at them for being true.
Okay, now again, do I wanna live my entire life
just only memeing?
I mean, part of me does.
But at the end of the day, you know,
I don't get paid to meme, all right?
I would love to, and I like memes.
I think they're funny.
But you know, memeing is not railing.
Railing is making false accusation.
It's slandering people, it's attacking people.
And again, that's typically the most common denominator.
It's the most prevalent example
of when people get kicked out of our church.
But you know, it's just so obvious
when you kick these railers out,
they just expose themselves
to just being the worst people imaginable.
You'll kick out somebody for what seems like a,
kind of like a, "Is that really railing?"
Or, you know, maybe somebody might argue like,
"This seems like a gray area."
For me, it's not.
I'm just saying like,
some people might think it's kind of gray,
but then just fast forward two weeks,
and it's just like full wolf costume.
I mean, just, they're just like, "Wow."
Everybody in the church is a false prophet,
and a railer, and a reprobate.
And they just, they're just making this
the most wild, extreme accusations.
And you're just like, "Confirmed again."
You know what I don't see?
I don't see myself throwing people out for being railing,
and it's just like, "Oh, now they're going on mission trips
"and reading their Bible more,
"and they've gone to church even more,
"and they're getting all the people saved,
"and they're just so godly,
"and look at this wonderful example,
"and they got married to a godly person,
"and they're producing all these great little children,
"and they're just all so wonderful."
No, no, no, their lives usually end up in a train wreck.
And so you should beware of those people.
And often they'll even slip into this last category,
and this last category should be so obvious,
but it's if you have Daniel heresy,
you'll be thrown out of this church.
Look at 2 John chapter nine.
"Whosoever transgresses and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.
He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ,
he hath both the Father and the Son.
If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed.
He that bideth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds."
Look, people that believe in like oneness, Pentecostalism,
people that have some kind of an anti-Christ doctrine,
they're not welcome at church, period.
Jews are not welcome in this church.
We're not gonna bring some rabbi up on this stage
and have him teach us what the historical context
of the Old Testament was to understand
what the Bible really means.
Yet how many churches a day will bring a literal rabbi
into their service to teach?
The Bible says we shouldn't even say God bless you.
That's what the text actually says.
And anybody that does is a partaker of his evil deeds.
There are wicked churches out there,
evil churches that are bringing in anti-Christ
and bringing in false teachers,
people with Daniel heresy,
and they're parading them on the stage
and allowing them to be guest preachers
and allowing them to speak.
You know, this should be not tolerated at all.
And anybody that's mixed up on this kind of stuff
would be immediately discarded from church.
So look, you're teaching Dumbledore Heresy
out of the church right away.
You're causing other division on doctrine
thrown out of church.
You are unrepentant in one of the witness lists
in 1 Corinthians 5 thrown out of church.
And hey, if you're causing personal disputes
that are unresolved, unrepentant,
again, you would be church disciplined.
I think it's pretty clear.
We have clear boundaries, clear guidelines.
They will be addressed with you individually
before being publicly marked.
But hey, you have unrepentant sin in this church.
After being personally addressed,
I will not make any promise or guarantee
that you won't be publicly marked.
In many cases, you will be publicly marked.
Now, albeit that could be just in our chat group,
hopefully that's the most gracious
so then it doesn't have to go to the whole world,
but it could be even the whole world.
You're like, I'm nervous.
Well, you should only be nervous
if you're gonna be a punk, all right?
You don't wanna be an unrepentant, you know, wicked person.
Well, then you don't have nothing to worry about.
And you know who loves this doctrine?
The good people in our church.
The non-railers and the non-drunkards
and the people that don't wanna commit fornication
and the dads that don't want their kids
to commit fornication and the people that don't wanna be
in a church filled with heresy and Daniel heresy
and all this kind of nonsense.
And look, a church that has unrepentant sin,
you can see the effects.
And like, you know, I took over Steadfast Baptist Church
when the pastor was in clear sin, clear sin,
unrepentant sin, even at the time that he was caught,
he was unrepentant in his wickedness and his evil sin,
not taking ownership for it.
And I'm just gonna be honest,
like you could tell that the church had issues,
that the church had suffered from this particular situation.
It was a grievous situation.
We were sad.
We were saying, hey, we need to fix things.
We need to address sin.
We need to address issues.
You know what we weren't saying?
Like, let's praise the pastor.
Let's get up and talk about how wonderful
of a person he is.
Let's get up and make sure that everybody knows
that we're still best friends.
Let's make sure everybody
is just really appreciative of him.
Let's just, you know, can we condemn the guy?
Can we bring up like his sin is bad?
Can we address that like having a pastor
that's committing this sin
is gonna cause problems for the church?
Maybe the church is in sin.
Maybe the church has issues.
Maybe the church needs to address something.
Maybe the church needs to change
in the direction they were headed.
But you know what, just glorying,
like, oh, we're just so wonderful.
I just love my church.
It's just so great.
You know, this is a bad attitude.
It makes me think of 1 Corinthians chapter number five.
And you know what the church
that won't exercise church discipline?
Well, it's the same kind of church that will fall into this.
You know, like Verity Baptist Church,
who their pastor was an open railer against me
and my friends and our church.
I mean, he's calling me a weasel,
saying I'm low character individual publicly lying about me,
slandering me repeatedly.
And then of course, he has to step down
to some moral sin, whatever that,
I have no idea what that is.
I guess it's wrong, okay.
And then he makes a statement saying,
oh, it didn't affect my church.
Look, a pastor and sin like that
is gonna affect the church.
I'm sorry.
And you know what a church should do?
They should be grieved and mourned and say,
hey, maybe we need to fix things.
Not just be so excited about,
oh, let's just bring in some guy
that's done the exact same thing,
that's gonna do the exact same direction,
and we're not gonna apologize.
We're not gonna repent of it.
In fact, we're just gonna keep on the same course.
You know what, that's a bad situation.
And you know what, why would you say something like this?
That's horrible.
Well, you know what?
That church is guilty of just,
all of the men are screaming amen at these statements.
These men are guilty.
They're a partaker of that railing.
And let me tell you something.
You should be warned of the people that go to Verity,
because they don't like our church.
They've railed on our church.
And you know what?
Should you company with railers?
Sorry if you don't like the message.
Sorry if you don't like that kind of idea.
I'm just trying to tell you what the Bible says.
Hey, I'm telling you,
that church is headed in a bad direction.
Oh, I don't think it's that bad.
Well, let me tell you something.
You know what?
Sometimes it's worse than you think.
And a little leaven leavens the whole lump.
And I don't want your mind evil affected
against a good church.
You know what?
Hey, if that church is gonna rail on us
and rail on me and do whatever, you know what?
Hey, I don't think it's right to just gal pal around
with them and be best buds with those individuals either.
They should get right.
They should apologize.
They should make amends for that.
They should take their sin seriously.
You know, if I get up and they'll just start railing
on other churches and falsely accusing other churches,
you should take me to task on that.
Shouldn't be sitting here screaming amen
and being all excited about that kind of stuff
because you know what?
You're gonna be affected by the decisions I make.
And you know what?
You gotta hold your pastor accountable for those things
and hold your church accountable for those things too.
And you know what?
We shouldn't be sitting here glorying in that.
We shouldn't be glorying in a church that is railing
and causing problems and going in a bad direction.
I'm only saying this 'cause we've been friends with them
and they've been great friends to us in the past.
And I like a lot of people over there.
But let me tell you something,
they're in a bad situation.
And I'm not gonna just sit here
and pretend like it didn't happen.
I'm not gonna pretend like,
"Oh, now we bring in Pastor Jared Przarski
"and it's gonna all be great," or something like that.
False, they need to repent and they need to get right.
They need to repent of that railing.
And instead of pretending like,
"Oh, they're just the positive church,
"they're the nice church," or whatever.
Pastor Charlie destroyed their conference.
I didn't destroy anything.
It's just stupid railing.
And you know what, I'm sick of it.
I'm sick of it and I don't like people just pretending like,
"Oh, let's just be best friends with these people.
"Let's just like every single one of their posts
"and just be their best buddy."
Look, that's wrong.
How can you believe in church discipline as a principle
and just have a whole church be guilty of this kind of stuff
and just not deal with it?
And of course, in their church individually,
they have plenty of railers that they never dealt with.
And what happens, a little leaven,
leaven's the whole lump, my friend.
You should be aware of that.
You should be careful about that.
And you know, I say these things
because I love you and I care about you.
And I don't want you to go down a bad path.
I don't want you to allow negative bad people
to negatively affect you.
You can do whatever you want, but I'm warning you.
You know, you hang out with railers,
you might become a railer yourself.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you heavenly father so much for the word of God.
Thank you for giving us church discipline
so that we can keep ourselves sanctified and clean
and not be associated with the leaven of wickedness,
of malice, of insincerity.
I pray that you would help to keep our church body healthy.
I pray that you would give people the courage and the faith
to actually believe in church discipline
and exercise church discipline.
And I thank you that you give this option
so that we can keep our church trash free.
And I pray that if there's ever issues
that we would have the boldness and the courage
to exercise your principles,
whether we like the person or not,
whether we respect the person or not,
and that we respect the Bible over persons.
In Jesus name we pray, amen.
- For our last song this evening,
let's go to song number 208.
208 in your hymnals.
Song number 208.
Grace greater than all our sins.
Sing that out together.
Everybody, you missed.