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Amen, so the title of the sermon this evening is behaving yourself behaving yourself and of course I Get that there from Psalm 101 verse 2 where it says I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way So there is a way to behave yourself And that's really what I want to talk about tonight now if you would keep something there in Psalm 101 But go ahead and turn back to 1st Timothy chapter 3 if you're here last Thursday You'd recall that we went through the chapter the book of 1st Timothy chapter 3 and doing a verse by verse sermon through that and You'll see the same the same concept come up there if you recall 1st Timothy 3 chapter 4 verse 14 where it says These things right under thee hoping to come under thee shortly But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou ought how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God Which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth? So there is a way that we ought to behave ourselves, you know, not just in life in general Which is we're going to talk about but specifically here as well in church There's a way we ought to behave ourselves in church now, of course we went through many of those behaviors this last Thursday when we talked about the qualifications for the pastors and the deacons I mean that's kind of what Paul is saying is these things right I unto thee That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself So those behaviors that we read of in 1st Timothy chapter 3 those are behaviors that we ought to have in our own life In order that we might, you know behave in a correct manner or behave as we ought to So they are required of them, you know It's because of the fact, you know Those behaviors are required of a pastor or of a deacon because why as we talked about on Thursday because they are the examples It's not just because God wants to put an extra burden on them or make them stand out He wants them to be examples of the believers so that others would learn to do those same behaviors So those and I won't rehearse all of those things Obviously just preached about that on Thursday but there are also some real practical things that we could learn from this verse practical things that we need to be reminded of as How we ought to behave ourselves in the Church of God, you know And there's there's a lot of things we could probably talk about but you know It's just some of the things that come to mind right out of the gate You know would be probably in regards to children, you know We have a lot of kids and kids in church need to learn how to behave themselves You know, there's a time and place to run and play but you know when church it when you're in church Church is not the place for children to be running around and wreaking havoc now here. We're a little bit of a smaller group It's not a big deal. We have a little bit more room. They should still learn how not to do that I mean my kids are here obviously all day, you know They so when when we're out soul-winning and you know from the time we get back They have a few hours so they can just I mean they can flip the chairs They can you know run up and down the piano and I'm just kidding But you know, they have a little bit more they need to get that out you know need to be able to run and allowed what they do to do what they want to do, but When church starts when it's church time when people are coming in, you know kids need to stop running around They need to to mind their manners and they need to not be you know A nuisance or even make can I say this a danger? You know, this is something that you start to deal with when you get into a bigger a church Especially if it's a tighter space, you know, and there's not a lot of room to move around You know When you have kids running around that can be a real danger, you know It's something we're always having to correct in Phoenix Stop your you know, stop running stop running stop running and people constantly have to be reminded of but that is one way We could apply this say hey kids ought to behave in the house of God What's another thing that kids need to do? Kids need to learn how to sit still during a sermon and pay attention as well as adults, right? But we should learn that as children and one thing that they could they also need to learn to do is To not be getting up during a sermon, you know I understand if there's an emergency or something like that But a lot of times kids you'll see this they'll just get up in the middle of a sermon go get a glass of water They're not thirsty. They're bored You know and we try to be as preachers try to be as Dynamic as we can and try to preach sermons that are gonna be engaging but you know, you can only a lot of kids You know, unless you're shooting lasers out of your eyeballs and juggling sticks of fire You're not gonna hold their attention for very long. I mean, yes, if you were up against some stiff competition, you know I'm not some digitized, you know Pokemon character up here with with with flaming fire and everything else that goes on without all that You know, so they have a real short attention span as it is But it's up to us as parents to train our children to learn how to sit still to pay attention You know, it's gonna it's Johnny's gonna be okay if he has to go 30 minutes without a glass of water You know because here's the thing. It's distracting. It's distracting to those around you more than anybody, you know me, you know I've I've learned as a preacher and I'm still learning to not allow things to distract me But I'm not gonna say it never happens You know, we try hard to not let that happen and to and we want to minimize distractions But we also on the on the from the preacher side, too We don't want to try and preach in a vacuum, you know end up like being one of these preachers I just can't have any kids around us anywhere You know and if somebody makes a peep it's like it just throws off our game But that being said we should still strive to have our children behaving in the house of God Those are just some practical things that we could apply here, you know bathroom breaks, you know, people can can wait a little bit longer I know there's certain circumstances where these type of things, you know, we don't want any accidents out there But a lot of times, you know People are just getting up moving around just because that's what they want to do because they're just a little stir-crazy or whatever it is But that's not proper behavior in the house of God We need to learn how to behave ourselves not running around sitting still paying attention and giving our undivided attention to what's being preached I mean, that's why we came to church. I'd assume is to hear the preaching the Word of God That's why we would bring our families and our kids it only makes sense that we actually once we got him here to actually have Them pay attention and listen to what's going on so But I really want to focus in on that really on the practicalities of what we need to do because I think as a church We probably have a pretty good grasp that you know, we understand. I mean everyone here is pretty helpful You know, they they you know, they do things for one another they help out cleaning and stuff like that So, you know, we've got that pretty much down But this is just going to be kind of a reminder to us that we need to be careful how we behave ourselves not only in that Church of God house of God, but outside the house of God because There is a way to just behave in life in general, right? so What we want to start out with is with is how not to behave a lot of times you can figure out what? What is good behavior? Well, let's identify bad behavior, right? That's usually a good place to start identify. What are bad habits? What are bad behaviors to have and then avoid that and we'll probably be headed in the right direction of good behavior. So We need to learn how to behave in life in general Because of the fact that how you behave outside of the church is going to affect how you behave inside the church You know We should not be these type of people that just show up on Sunday and we're one way and then once that once we're done With services we go home and then the rest of the week. We're just a totally different person You know, our behavior is unbecoming of a Christian we should be living the Christian life Seven days a week 24 hours a day. That should be who we are It shouldn't just be a switch that we turn off and on I'm in church today Let me put on my church face and put on my church clothes and go act like I'm like I'm expected to act at church and then when I get back out in the world, you know I forget I forget that well that man and just go on the way I was You know how you behave the rest of the week is gonna show up in here as well How you are out in the world is going to show up even in church So look there in Psalm 101 verse 1 What's one of the first behaviors or bad behaviors that we should try to avoid in our lives? It says I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee O Lord I will sing I will behave myself in a perfect way now right out of the gate, you know this is just not in the notes, but There's a good behavior singing You know That would probably help a lot of people in their in their life from day to day if they would just learn to sing and Praise the Lord, you know, just having a song in their heart Just having you know, praise unto our God on their lips, you know That would probably correct a lot of attitudes If we find ourselves down in the dumps or getting a bad attitude if we would just stop and just praise the Lord It would probably remind us, you know to count our many blessings, you know, you sing that song I don't know how you can't you can walk away with that song with a bad attitude after that It's a reminds us that we should be counting our blessings But what I want to focus in here is verse 2 where it says I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way Oh when without come unto me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. So he's saying I'm gonna walk within my house with a perfect heart So there is a way to behave in God's house There's also a way to behave in your house. There's there's habits that you need to Avoid outside of the church. There's habits. You need to have in your life outside of the church You need to have these things in your house as well And one of those things he says is I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes and Here's a great truth what you watch affects your eyes. The Bible says mine eye affecteth mine heart You know the things that you look at the things that you watch the things that you let in through your eye Those things are going to affect your heart and they're going to affect the way you behave I mean is it it's no coincidence when we watch something. It's got a lot of cussing in it You know if we hear a lot of filthy language Just mark it down. We're gonna be cussing You know, it's gonna come out of our mouth because we're used to it And you know those of us that have gotten saved later in life, you know Unfortunately, this is more of a struggle for some people than others, you know I remember growing up when dad visited, you know, my folks were split up and when he would visit, you know We was down to the video store and it was every every action movie saga under the Sun every Rambo Every lethal weapon every predator every alien just one two and three every sequel and it was we'd sit down and we just watch him Non-stop that was like something he just loved to do and let me tell you something There was a lot of filth and there was a lot of just wickedness and there was a lot of just dirty talking going on In that those movies and that's something that you know affected my heart I remember you as a young man growing up as a child even just having these these dirty words They come out and if we're not careful these things still continue to show up Bible says be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners, you know the things that come out of your mouth They're going to affect the way you behave, you know If you're just gonna turn it you start cussing like a sailor and and saying dirty things and telling dirty jokes It's gonna affect your mind and it might even get to the point where it starts to affect your mate You're you're you're a behavior, you know where you start to say things make crude jokes and next next thing, you know well, it's just a joke and maybe you'll actually participate in some sin you just make some lewd joke about some crude sin and After you do that long enough you're around that kind of thing long enough. It desensitizes you to it And that's what television does, you know and and people they can make that decision for themselves I understand that every television comes with an off button, you know that you can you have some control over it But I I just I don't have one, you know now that's not to say that I don't watch anything Obviously I had you know everyone a lot of people today still I don't have a television But it's not because they're trying to live some godly life It's because they're pulling the plug on cable and everyone's going to internet, you know, they've all got You know laptops and computers and smartphones and that's how we take in a lot of things But here's the nice thing about those devices versus say cable television is the fact that you have some control about what you're going to watch You know, you're not gonna have some commercial coming on a lot of times the things that we watch Even on TV are not necessarily bad. It's everything that they stuff in between It's all the the cutaways to you know, the The bikini babe, you know holding the the fight card in your UFC fights, right? I like to watch UFC but I know for between rounds. It's you better look somewhere else You know because they got some girl up there who looks like she needs a large pizza and a trench coat You know and walking around with a with a with a card or it's the cheerleaders in the side of the Of the the football game or something like that. They're always cramming that stuff in there They're always trying to find a way to get that in front of your eyes some wicked thing To get you to loss to get you to covet to get you to desire things that aren't yours that you don't have any business wanting or looking at So go ahead and turn up keep something in Psalms 101, but go over to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians chapter 4 What you watch the things that you entertain yourself with those behaviors that you engage in are going to affect your behavior They're gonna come out and the way you conduct yourself The Bible says Ephesians chapter 4 verse 20 line let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers I mean, that's that's some heavy language right there. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers Those are the type of things that we should be saying And coming out of our mouths things that edify one another and build us up in Christ now I know we all like to sit around and cut up and joke and everything like that and I think that's fine But when it's when we start to get in that realm of saying things that are actually bringing others down when we're actually Corrupting other people with our language or with our speech or the with the things that are coming out of our mouth are Actually affecting people's minds and hearts in a negative way, you know, we had to avoid that We ought to get as far away from that as we can and we have to get as far away from that as we can And that type of thing is going to happen if what we're letting into our heart Is is corrupt if you let something corrupt into your heart, you know It's going to come out of your heart out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh You know those things which come out of a man they defile a man So if we're just filling our heart with the worldliness and the wickedness that's out there and all the corrupt things and all the wicked And evil things it shouldn't surprise us when those same things start to come back out You know and we can keep a cap on it, you know, we can put a cap on that when we're in church You know for a few hours on sunday But what if we were to go around week to week just day in and day out with one another? I wonder how many things we might hear, you know, hopefully not Because here's the thing if you if you set these wicked things before your eye go ahead and turn back to psalms 101 psalms 101 He says I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside It shall not cleave to me. Now that's interesting language that he uses there that it shall not cleave to him See wicked things that you set before your eyes those things cleave to you They don't it's not like you just turn off the tv and you forget them The things that you see on television the imagery that we see the and the here And the way it engages the mind and the brain it will cleave to you I mean, why is it? That I saw a movie when I was 15 and I could still get up to you and practically quote that That we can all sit around and have And and bring up movies from the 90s and the 80s and make these references we all remember I haven't seen those movies in a decade Some song will come you'll be in the supermarket or somewhere and you'll hear some song come on the radio You could sing along to it You haven't sung it in years It's because those things reach out and they cleave to you, right? so that's why we have to be really careful about the things that we let in because it's not just As simple as we like to think that well i'm just going to watch this today turn it off and forget about it It's going to cleave to you my friend and and And eventually it's going to come back out. That's why these old movies these old songs They're so easily recollected, you know But uh go over to keep something in psalms 101 all night, but go over to psalms Uh chapter 19 Now those things are in there. They're in there You know, we've had the past and we have we've watched the things that we've watched We've heard and seen the things that we've heard and seen you can't change that But really what we should try to be doing is to replace those things And I want to get ahead of myself but a lot of times people what they do Is they withdraw from that and then they just create a vacuum Like they just remove the wickedness that's there but they don't replace it with anything And if they don't do that what's going to happen is that's going to just suck them back in And they're just going to go right back into it because there's nothing there to keep them out So in psalm 19 look at verse 14 He says let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in my sight. Oh lord My strength and my redeemer my redeemer So we should be meditating on things that are pleasing to god. We should be uh, But the words that come out of our mouth, they should be pleasing on to god How is that going to happen if the meditation of your heart is right? You know if you're thinking on godly things if you're thinking about holy and righteous things, that's what's going to come out of your mouth So it's not enough to just say well i'm not going to watch this stuff I'm, not going to put these wicked things in front of my eyes and that's it. You have to move on to something else you know you have to take the The the the turn the rock station off, you know and turn on the king james bible You can't just turn it off and not listen. I mean if you can great But you're going to have a lot harder time not going back to it if you don't replace it with something It's just like people want to give up pop right so many people do this they give up pop They're i'm only going to drink water. Not everybody can just do that. Sometimes they still need that fizzle They still need that sensation. They still need to hear that On the can right and they end up drinking those things right there the la croix, right? But hey if that keeps you off the pop, you know, great, you know People need to you know, they want to give up their alcohol, but the same thing, you know They they they just want to go cold turkey. No, you probably ought to replace it with something You know something i'm not saying go get a non-alcoholic beer You know But replace it with something that satisfies some of those cravings that you have that have just inert things that have just been drilled into you So that's one way we need to watch our behavior that we should not be uh, you know Just letting wicked things into our heart and into our mind because those things affect our behavior and and they're going to affect our whole life so what's another way that we should be Behaving specifically how not behaving things that we should not be getting involved with From our data in our day-to-day life. How about this? Don't keep company with wicked people don't keep company with wicked people Our best friends in the world should not be Ungodly unsaved people i'm not saying you can't have unsaved friends, but i'm just saying That they should not be you know, your confidence in life They should not be those that you go to council for and and things like just some you know Obviously we all have parents and there's wisdom there that we can glean from them But i'm just saying in general, you know, your your buddy at work shouldn't be your bet You know your unsaved buddy who just wants to go out and drink after work probably shouldn't be your best friend And all the thing the only thing he has to talk about is worldliness And ungodliness, you know that guy's probably not to be the your your best buddy I'm, not saying you can't be friends to them be witness to them be a light unto them But we shouldn't make wicked people especially now obviously unsafe people are not necessarily just wicked But there's some time there's time i've known people that go out and make friends and they're pal around with wicked people I'm saying wicked people people that hate god Christians that get saved out of the world, right? And but they still keep their old friends and some of those old friends hate god So, you know people that are like here's an example if you have sodomites That are your old friends. You need to get rid of those friends You need to have nothing to do with them Because those wicked people are going to affect your behavior negatively Bad company equals bad behavior mark it down And the worst people that you hang around the worst you yourself are going to behave Here's the concept the word the bat the good never make the bad good Never you won't find that in scripture where you have good people making bad people better What you see a lot of is bad people making good people worse I mean go read about the children of israel. That's what happens time and time and time again They start getting involved with the heathen of the land and then they go into full-blown idolatry and god has to chase them It's the same thing today friend If you're a christian if you're a child of god and you start hanging around the wicked Ungodly people and making them your your circle of friends. They're going to drag you down Go and turn over to second samuel chapter 13 a very familiar story But one that needs to be repeated to remind us these stories aren't just in there for filler These are principles that we have to get down in our life and understand Second samuel chapter 13, of course Is the story of absalom the son of david now absalom had a wicked desire in his heart for his half sister You know, he wanted to have her physically and he knew that he couldn't act on that. He knew it was wicked And it says here in second samuel chapter 13 verse 1 and it came to pass after this That absalom the son of david had a fair sister whose name was tamar and amnon the son of david loved her And amnon was so vexed vexed that he fell sick for his sister tamar For she was a virgin and amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her So yeah, he loves this girl, but he knows that it's not right that it's improper. That's his half sister That she's a virgin, you know, she's a maiden of israel and he doesn't want to do anything. He thought it hard Why was he so vexed and and sick? Because he as much as he desired her he knew it would be wrong He said it said that he hard thought it hard for him to do anything to her But what's the next verse say but amnon had a friend And many a sad story in a christian's life could begin that way but so-and-so had a friend They kept that one sodomite pal around You know and and i've and i've you say that doesn't happen it happens And and it seems like they have you know, this happens to i i've i've seen this happen more with women than with men You know, they're out in the world. They have because women they don't really see how They don't only see how Sodomites what they are because they're very just we've talked about this already that they're very Women are very trusting in nature. They think the best of people You know generally speaking obviously people develop discernment and things like that But so when they get saved and all these these friendly They're they're gay friends at work, you know, all of a sudden They're trying to shake them they're trying and they have a hard time doing it You know, they're like, oh, I don't know how he can't get the message That I don't want to go shopping with him anymore that I don't care what his opinion on shoes are Or whatever it is that these these fags want to you know, what they do when they're hanging out with their girlfriends But they have a hard time shaking them, you know if they don't learn to do that It's going to affect them, you know and the same thing with guys, you know even if guys were hanging around a bunch of I don't know any normal guy that wants to hang around with another fag, you know some dude who wants to Is into whatever, you know, that's just to me. That's just weird especially as a christian I mean a little just being a straight guy, you know, it's just it would it's it's odd to begin with but you know They had they keep these these people around these amnons in their life and they start to drag them down now It doesn't have to be even a sodomite. I mean, it could just be some ungodly worldly wicked person I mean i've worked around guys, you know in the field different fields i've been in i've been around some real roughnecks And i'll tell you what hanging out with them 12 hours a day Going out of town having to work, you know sleep in the same hotel rooms eat every meal with them see them all day They it starts to have an effect on you Being around those people they'll it'll it'll start next thing, you know, you're like well, you know Maybe if I could just go to the bar with them tonight and just not drink And first you do that not thank god. I've never done that, you know, I didn't but what if I stayed around hung around long enough What if no one had ever taught me this maybe I thought well, what's so wrong about that, you know You know, what's wrong with amnon? He seems like a nice guy, you know, they just want to hang out and shoot the breeze Next thing, you know, you're at the bar and you know, it's the soda water and then you're like well, you know One drink's not going to hurt And next thing, you know, you're throwing back with them and you're you're stumbling out in the parking lot. Who knows? There's so many different examples we could talk about But the point being that if you keep bad company, it's only a matter of time until bad behavior follows And that's what we see with amnon this so-called friend And or excuse me amnam who had a friend whose name was Jonadab the son of shimei david's brother and what does it say about him? He was a very subtle man That's an attribute of satan. He was the most subtle animal a beast of the field right the serpent He was very subtle in his dealings and that's what wicked people are like They don't just come out and say hey i'm a wicked person and i'm here to destroy your life I'm going to drag you down with me. Is that what they do? No, they're very subtle You know and they probably don't even consider themselves to be that bad You know, they're they're they're like pathological liars. They they believe themselves They they've got themselves so convinced that they're they're good people that they believe it and that's why they're so good at convincing others But they drag people down, you know, they're not obvious now go ahead and turn over to genesis chapter 9 another familiar story Genesis chapter 9 verse 18 i'll begin reading and the sons of noah That went forth of the ark were shem ham and japheth and ham is the father of canan These are the three sons of noah and of them was the whole earth overspread and noah began to be in husband And he planted a vineyard And drank of the wine and was drunken now shame on noah You know, he should have not have been doing that. He should not have been Making wine and getting drunk, but he was okay And he was uncovered within his tent And ham the father of canan saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brethren without now this story Some people want to say that nothing homo happened here Okay, but I believe that something did happen something physically happened to him that ham Physically violated his father assaulted him All right, but I believe well, it doesn't say that exactly in text Yeah, because I believe that noah being the man of god that he was god is trying to spare him a little embarrassment You know, he's trying to kind of just kind of let us know. Hey wink wink nudge nudge. This is what happened I don't want to just come out and say it about noah. He's trying because obviously no it's a real guy, right? You know and this these are the eternal pages of scripture And everyone's going to know this story about noah so my belief is that something physical did happen because it goes on and says Verse 23 and ham and shafeth took a garment and laid it upon their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father And their faces were backward and they saw not their father's nakedness And noah awoke from his wine now here's where here's where you get the the the nudge from god And knew what his younger son had done unto him so he he woke up and said Something happened to me somebody has done something to me And he finds out who it was that he finds out it was something that his younger son had done unto him And he said cursed be canan a servant of servants. Shall he be unto his brother? I mean whatever was done unto him. It was enough for him to get out of his tent and say cursed be canan And curse his own son I mean, that's not just you know, dad's robe fell open and I saw more than I cared to right, you know, that's that's him Cursing his son because something had been done unto him So you don't have to agree with that, you know, I for a long time I had a trip didn't necessarily agree with that But i've come around on that and I think that is in fact what's going on here And really what we can learn from this is that bad company and alcohol are a bad mix If you start mixing bad company with subtle people And you start mixing alcohol into the equation Bad things are going to happen to you. I mean I we all probably have horror stories either in our own lives or from other people I mean I could tell you stories about other from I don't know from other people just the worst things happening to them getting raped Because of being around the wrong people and mixing alcohol You don't want that in your life But that's what happens out there and people need to be reminded that you need to mind your behavior The habits that you get involved in and the people that you keep company with can have devastating effects on your life The bible says in abakkuk i'll read to you woe unto him. Okay him Okay, that's that's male woe unto him that giveth his neighbor to drink that put us thy bottle to him So it's a him putting his bottle to him right two dudes that and makest him drunk And also that thou mayest look on their nakedness I mean there again just another proof text showing us that when you start mixing alcohol and wicked people Nothing good comes of it bad things happen Really, uh weird stuff and there's people that have absolute horror stories Things that they they got drunk around the wrong people and had advantage taken they were taken advantage of And they have to live with that, you know, and they have to try and live that down. That's tough Now So we see that, you know keeping company with wicked people is just not a good idea and uh And and we should not be keeping company with people that are wicked individuals and we definitely don't want to be Mixing alcohol in the equation as well But let's just move along in here for the sake of time what's another Type of people that we should not keep company with We should not be keeping company with people who talk a lot of trash. Okay Now, let me just come out and say this. This is not the same as expressing a concern about somebody Because this is something that gets blurred a lot of people they take this to the a complete opposite extreme and say I can never say anything critical about anybody ever. Okay, that's not what i'm talking about here It's not about expressing a legitimate concern to somebody But we also have to watch out for people that just want to go around and talk trash about people And this happens this happens in churches where people just live to go around talk trash about you know The preacher the pastor whoever talk about his wife talk about so and so their church member their wife Whatever and all they want to do is just stir up strife and and contention So we don't want to fall into that type of company either go ahead turn over to uh proverbs chapter 25 proverbs chapter 25 And really what this stems from when you have somebody who's just going to start talking trash about other individuals Whether it's warranted or not whether they What it's really coming from is a high look and a proud heart The bible says whosoever privately slandereth his neighbor him will I cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart I will I not suffer that's what we read in psalms 101 So we see it's coming out of a high look and a proud heart and really what it is Is we try to bring others down to exalt ourselves and we've seen this time and time again You know being involved with ministry where people just want to bring down others so that they can exalt themselves And how do you handle that? So how do you handle that when somebody is going to come to you and start talking trash and trying to bring another person down? You know not saying hey, I have a legitimate concern about this person here x y and z, you know And just looking for counsel, but it's going on. Hey, did you know about so and so did you know what they're involved in? Can you believe that you know and just try you know what I mean? It's a there's a difference there Okay How do you handle that when somebody comes to you and does that look at proverbs 25 verse 23? There's one way to handle it the north wind driveth away rain. So doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue You know how you handle that you give them a dirty look You know you say what do you know? We're hey, I don't want to hear that, you know Well, really? Let's go talk to them and you can tell me all about it in front of them and we can talk about it You know, we've done this, you know, my wife has done this You know, I I reminded me of an example. We had there was a person A lady, you know, she doesn't go to phoenix church anymore. This is years ago But she had developed she developed a reputation for being a backbiter. Somebody just went around talk smack about ladies You know would say things go to other men's wives and say hey, you know your husband's looking at me the wrong way Wicked right? These are bad things Try to divide make divisions in a marriage This is not good. This type of thing happens at a church And again, this is preventative okay, if this is the type of thing ever happens this is how you handle it You get the you get the angry countenance Because a person like that. They just want you to go. Oh really? Okay, and they just want to get an ear So they can just start to fill it and just start filling your heart with the same Animosity, okay So the the the angry countenance is how you handle it and that's what my wife did we had this Had this lainey over a couple and another couple over at our house for dinner And my wife was you know down the hallway a little bit and she overheard this woman whispering ever so slightly about so-and-so And did you know about so-and-so and this was a new and she's saying this to a younger Newer christian who had just come to the church And she starts starts it up again. Okay And what did my wife do? I mean she walked right up and she's like you're not gonna be talking about smack She did like the whisper yell thing, you know, you know what i'm talking you're not gonna come in here Talk white talk crap and something like that. You know, she's she she nipped it right in the bud And of course she's like, oh I wasn't talking about so-and-so. I wasn't doing that. She's like, okay Well, we'll go there tomorrow and you can say exactly what you just said to their face and then it was like, oh i'm sorry Please please forgive me, you know, and we did we got over it, you know, and it's not an example i'm bringing up just you know for Just for the sake of it. It's it's a perfect example of how to handle this type of a thing That when somebody comes to you and they're not they're not coming at you of a genuine concern, but they're just wanting to just fill your heart with Animosity towards somebody that's how you handle it right there When they're trying to just talk trash and and pit people against each other Now go back to psalm 101 if you kept something there So the the point is this, you know, we need to keep comp careful of the company we got to keep We have to Be careful of the company that we keep and i'm trying to get it out We have to be careful of the company that we keep because the company that we keep will affect our behavior whether it's a drunk Whether it's just a subtle wicked person whether it's somebody who just wants to talk a bunch of trash and be a gossip We have to be careful of these people and these are the type of things that that pop up in a church And he's and so we understand now what to look out for. Okay, what not to to be allowing into our lives But what should we allow into our lives? We'll look here in psalm 101 verse 6 He says in psalm 101 verse 6 mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land That they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way. He shall serve me So instead of you know, having your eyes upon the wicked of the land and keeping company with wicked people And subtle people and bad people we should be actually keeping our eyes upon the faithful of the land And that's why it's great when our fellowship outside of church Involves people from church You know, like I just heard about some fellowship that went on, you know this Saturday and quite frankly, I was a little jealous I wasn't there You know, I heard the wings were great. So I had some great wings at my house. Let me tell you they were some of the best things i've ever had Oven baked sticky not saucy just a little crispy. Oh, man could eat eat the whole thing. Anyway But the company that you know when we our company and our fellowship outside of church involves people from church That's you keeping your eyes upon the faithful of the land surrounding yourself with good christian fellowship So here's the thing Again, you can't just go into this vacuum, right if you've got wicked friends if you have bad influences in your life If you've got bad habits, it's yes cut those things out, but you can't stop there you can't just say well i'm not gonna have anything to do with that anymore and just You know just turn yourself into some kind of you know, shut in You know, and i'm just going to change my phone number or block those numbers and just You know not answer the door when they knock whatever you can't just ignore it and not You have to replace it with something you have to fill that void Otherwise, you're just going to create a vacuum And you know, I kind of already alluded alluded to this but one relationship that people have that they need to watch out for That has a major influence that has a lot of backbiting people One influence that has a lot of liars and slanderers and drunks and homos and wicked subtle people One relationship that people have that has a lot of that in their life is television It's the television And I know already kind of alluded to this But you know this kind of this illustration drives the point home You know, what if I had what if I had said came to you and I said to you that hey i'm gonna I I My wife kicked me out. I've been having an affair You know, I was lying to her I was cheating on her and I need a place to stay So i'm gonna come live in your house Okay, and I only need one room. I just need one room in your house. That's all I need But here's the thing i'm gonna stay there all day every day I'll be there every time you come home from work and we can talk whenever you want And you can spend all the time you want with me, right? And we can hang out we get to know one another and and here's here's the best part You're gonna pay me to stay there You're gonna pay me to stay in that one room and be there whenever you need me And we could talk about anything you want a dirty joke. I got you know, we could talk with dirty jokes Like we could talk about filth. We could talk about whatever you want. You'd say you're crazy No way brother. Corbin ain't gonna happen Right, but here's the thing. That's exactly what a television does That's what I am That's a tv You bring you set that tv in there. That's the exact same thing now You've got somebody in your house that you're gonna pay You know last time I used that illustration someone come and corrected me And someone who actually installed uh internet and cable and said it's actually more than 100 bucks. It's more like 200 bucks I mean they said it's actually it's more expensive You're gonna sit there and pay 200 for somebody to just pipe All that filth and trash into your living room You know, they're gonna set up some filth funnel the satellite up on your on your rooftop. Just filter in all the filth So you can just sit there and flip through and just take in all the ungodly worldliness So that's one behavior Or one, uh, excuse me. That's one relationship in our life that people need to seriously examine I mean if we're sitting down and just watching whatever's coming across the screen You know that stuff's going to be affecting your mind. It's going to affect your heart and it's going to affect your behavior The bible says there in proverbs Or excuse me psalm 101 where we are in verse 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight I only watch the news you're listening to somebody that tells you lies. I only tune into fox. You're filling yourself with lies Bunch of liars. I only watch Anderson pooper, you know Rachel man cow You know those you know, I watch them a bunch of liars I only watch you know, uh, sean insanity Liar You know rush limbatomy liar They're just filling yourself, you know all these bill, oh No, riley, right? I don't know. I didn't think bill lyrie. Thank you You know all the pundits that are just brainwashing you with their agenda, right? They're lying to you I don't watch the filth. You know, I don't turn over to the playboy channel. I don't watch all the ungodliness that's over there I don't watch hbo and cinemax and all that other filth. I only watch you know, I only watch the news you're still dwelling with people That are telling lies to you and the bible says here that the he shall that telleth lie shall not tarry in my sight I'm, not going to let him dwell and hang out and linger in my field of vision You know and it's not and it's not it's not well i'm just going to leave the room he's leaving the room Okay, it's going out And again, I understand that, you know, i'm not saying that the device itself that's mounted on the wall is wicked It's what comes across it You know people can have a television And control what's on there today, you know growing up. It wasn't the case for us, you know It was either antenna or cable and you know or or you got like the economy package, you know, 13 channels or whatever That's what we had growing up here 13 channels. One of them was the learning channel Didn't we come up with a good? Tlc acronym the other day the lying channel Right. That was the lying channel where they're just you know more lies. They're just filling yourself with lies Well, it's a learning channel. What could be wrong with that lies? Lying to you about god lying to you about the bible lying to you about evolution PBS what's a good acronym there, you know? The uh, I should have thought of this beforehand right and it was off the cuff public, uh A belial, uh signal, I don't know You know, but pbs what could be wrong with that? Oh, I don't know that they're lying to you, right, you know Yeah evolution all the other trash like the commie crap that comes across it So, you know television is the one relationship that people really need to examine in their life And whether or not they should even have that Now what's a great thing today is that yeah, you can have the device but then you can hook up, you know Youtube to it and you can put good preaching on it You can watch a documentary you could probably filter through and find some good clean entertainment to put on there You know, there's not every documentary has to be you know framing the world or or from the new ifb movement There are also other good ones out there. I highly suggest I got a few I could suggest, you know You know the the shackleton's voyage of the endurance, you know Narrated by leah nelson. You can even get your hollywood star in there if you want it, right? I don't recommend that version. There's other ones out there But those are there's other great informative things that we could take in for entertainment other than you know Watching, you know the fifth season of of seinfeld for the third time or cheers Or whatever wicked show that you want to you know friends I mean, they're still advertising seinfeld. Did you know that on billboards in phoenix? We've got rights to the reruns tune in wednesdays at seven You know and all these things that that we could sit down and just start to fill our minds with They affect our heart, you know, and I and I get it. I mean the allurement's there Seinfeld's a funny guy, you know, I mean there's some of those episodes were hilarious But you know what they start to affect our minds. They start to affect our heart We start to think oh, you know sleeping around it's not so bad Oh, they just make oh, it's no longer adultery. It's just an affair You know, it's just it's you know, and then there's the one the what now i'll admit I was a seinfeld addict Okay, you know the one episode I didn't watch sign is putty as a christian Because I knew they were just going to mock and it was it was like the second to last It was one of the last episodes they chose to air And I already knew they're just going to mock christianity to that whole thing. So I just didn't watch it You know, but that's not good enough. You know, we we need to get that stuff out of our lives So there is a way that we should behave, you know There's behaviors that we need to look out for and people that are going to influence our behavior We need to get rid of that those relationships whether they be wicked people Whether that be through the television or actual physical reactions with other people that are wicked we need to get it out of there and there is a way that we should behave so We talked a lot about tonight about what we shouldn't be doing, right? And when we figure out what we shouldn't be doing that usually gets us going in the right direction When we start getting away from the thing, you know these bad things normally we're going to be heading in the right way So what are some of the ways we should behave go and turn over to first corinthians chapter 13 first corinthians chapter 13 first First corinthians chapter 13 Beginning in first war the bible says And we should all know this one, right? Some of you should know it really well charity suffereth long and is kind charity envieth not Charity vanteth not itself is not puffed up doth not behave itself unseemly Seeketh not our own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil Rejoiceeth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things Hopeth all things endureth all things these should be the type of behaviors that we have in our life We should try to emulate these things You know if we're walking in the spirit and we're living for god These are the type of attributes that are going to begin to bear fruit in our lives But it's not always going to just happen automatically. We have to check ourselves to sometimes say am I behaving unseemly? Am I seeking my own? Am I easily provoked? Am I thinking evil? Am I rejoicing in iniquity? Am I rejoicing the truth? Am I bearing all things? Do I believe all things? Am I enduring all things? Am I suffering long? Am I being kind? Am I not envying we have to check ourselves with these and see how our behavior is lining up Because this is the way we should be behaving. These are should be things that are are You know indicative of our character as christians So what is charity? You know, it's an old-fashioned word for love basically charity is love and that's an attribute that should define us You know if someone would say what what is you know, how how what would What would you say about so-and-so? You could they say well, he's a very loving person She's a very loving individual Because they look at your life and say oh that person cares about others. They love others They're they're more worried about others than themselves You know most of us we could probably say that about everybody in the room You know people that want to go out and knock on some stranger's door and preach them the gospel That's a very loving thing to do You know, but there's a lot more to it than just that, you know, that's a good place to start But there's a lot of other things Uh that we need to do to where we show love. How about we should have love for the brethren, right? I preached a sermon about this a few Months ago the bible says you don't have to turn there first peter chapter two honor all men love the brotherhood fear God honor the king Now notice that's a serious command because it's right right between all honor all men and fear god Right, you have these two You wouldn't just say you wouldn't be flipping about that one. Well fear god, you know, that's optional not optional But right before that it says love the brotherhood. It's just as serious Notice how serious a command that is to be in the same verse as fear god So you can't you can't have love you can't lack love for the brethren and say you fear god Right because that that's a command You know, well, you know love the brotherhood. I don't really have to do that. Are you really fearing god at that point? Are you really worried about keeping god's commands if you're not keeping that one where we're supposed to be loving the brotherhood The bible says i'll read to you in first john four go and turn over to romans 12 romans 12 Bible says in first john four if a man say I love god and hated this brother. He is a liar For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love god whom he hath not seen? And this is the commandment we have from him that he who loveth god love his brother also So loving the brotherhood is a serious command That we have to take very seriously and it's not always easy to just love the brotherhood Look look here in romans chapter 12 verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation mean don't let it be fake Don't let it be simulated, you know, don't let it be just this this hokey fake love. Let it be real You know, we should weep with those that weep and rejoice with them that rejoice When we really get to know people the brotherhood and look i'm not saying everybody in church has to be you know, bosom buddies But I mean if you don't have anybody like that Like if you're not you don't have to develop any kind of relationship any kind of closeness with anybody in the church All right, you know i'd say are you really loving the brotherhood? Are you really in this? to to to You know edify and love one another and build the church up Or are we just coming in to just you know? Check off got church out of the way I'm right with god this week because I went to church Or is it i'm going there because I love these people. I want to help these people. I want to see God do something in this church So he says there let love be without dissimulation. Let it be real Abort that which is evil cleave to that which is good. There's that word again Instead of letting everything the wickedness and the worldliness cleave to us. We should be cleaving to that which is good Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another Not slothful in business fervent spirit serving lord rejoicing in hope patient tribulation continuing instant in prayer so We see here that you know rome that psalms 101 was kind of the negative right it was telling us to you know get rid of Uh to not letting the liars tarry in our sight to not let you know, the wicked people cleave unto us You know and to and to get away from wickedness and it was the negative side of our behavior things that we should not be doing But romans 12 is the positive, isn't it? It's saying, you know, uh, psalm 101 was set. No thing, uh, Wicked thing set no wicked thing before my eyes. It shall not cleave to me But here we say it bore that which is evil and cleave that which is good so again this concept of not living in a vacuum that's something I keep bringing up because That's how people end up so often going back to their old ways And not growing in this area is because they're not making a concerted effort to actually improve here Or getting rid of the bad and filling it with the good so verse 10 there is You know kind of a tall order when you look at it rejoicing in hope Patient and tribulation that's easier said than done sometimes, isn't it? When we're really being in tribulation, we're really being persecuted. We're really going through some tough time in our life It's hard to just tell you. Oh, just be patient You know, we have to try to do that on our own You know, the the preacher just can't go up say oh you need to be patient and that's going to fix it You have to make that effort And it's easier said than done. This is a tall order Patient and tribulation continuing instant in prayer. I mean that takes discipline and thoughtfulness Distributing this as necessity of the states given to hospital Hospitality, excuse me You know we are to be uh Kindly affection one to another with brotherly love So that's a command there and it's not always easy to do. In fact, there's going to be people that we find unlovable And you know, i've had my fair share of that over the years Just said I don't this person is very unlovable But the command is to love them all the same, isn't it? That is the command and again I'm not saying we have to bake them cookies and bring them flowers and and and and all of that But we have to try to at least love The brethren it's command Go over to ephesians chapter 4 in ephesians chapter 4. This is behavior. We're dealing with how we ought to behave ourselves These are the type of behaviors we should have and should not have in our lives Look at ephesians chapter 4 verse 31, you know, so often we just want to make it external, you know Not getting involved in xyz sin But a lot of our behavior has to deal with what's inside what's going on in our heart and in our minds Let all bitterness look at verse 31 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice And be kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another even as god for christ's sake hath forgiven you You know notice he says there Let all bitterness you need to let this happen God plays a part in this god, you know if we're walking in the spirit The fruits of the spirit, you know, uh joy peace long suffering gentleness meekness patience These things will begin the fruit of a spirit will begin to abound in our life And these things will start to happen to some degree on their own We'll start to let notice the bitterness and the wrath and the anger starts to go away the clamor the evil speaking But we need to let that happen some people fight that they want to hang on to these things They want to stay bitter. They want to have that wrath You know, they want to have the anger because come on sometimes when you're angry man, you feel alive, you know what i'm saying? You ever get really mad you feel like, you know, the heart's pumping, you know if you feel alive But we need to let these things go And we need to let this happen He says there be kind one to another tenderhearted You know, that's that's not always You know something that we always have sometimes we have to have it reminds me when I read that it reminds me of like You know, like some pieces like some cuts of meat are tougher than others Some of them are really hard to bite through and what do they do? They take a mallet a lot of times And they just beat that thing right to to loosen that up to mash that cut of meat to make it more tender, right? more tender piece of meat And sometimes that's what we need Sometimes we need someone to just take the bible and start to just hey you need to loosen up You need to get more tender You know when you get in the bible and prayer and let god just go hey you need to loosen up You need to be more tender and work on our on our hearts because sometimes our hearts Can they develop an unkind and unforgiving attitude? And that's an evidence of a hard heart and we need to let The preaching and the reading and the holy spirit begin to loosen up our hearts and become tenderhearted people forgiving one another You say well why why do I have to do all that even as god for christ's sake hath forgiven you that's why Because you know if you're having a hard time in this area just consider the offense that you were to god And just think about that That you were one time an enemy with god and what if god decided to not be forgiving? What if god decided to stay bitter and wrathful and angry? And and not forgive you and not be tenderhearted towards you when you were an offense to him Where would that have left us? So again, not easy. These aren't easy behaviors, but they're necessary And let me say this if you're ever going to be considered for ministry. It's 100 necessary You know just going through and checking off the requirements of first timothy three You know and having gotten your marriage down and read your bibles xyz times and and had x many amount of children And going through that checklist you can cross them all off. But if these attributes aren't in you Ministry is not for you because you'll fail and you'll ruin people and it's not what you want not easy But commanded these are the behaviors that we have to have the bible says in second second timothy chapter 2 verse 24 The servant of the lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves So that's the type of attitude we have to have especially if we're going to go into ministry Then we have to be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient and in meekness instructing others so You know, it would help us because that same verse it goes on and it says Why why does it you have to have those attributes? You know of the servant of lord not being one that strives But apt to teach to be patient to be meek and instructing those If god preadventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will That's why we have these behaviors. That's why we develop these attributes in our lives So that others can recover themselves out of the snare of the devil You know if you've ever been snared in the devil, you should know it's not a fun place to be It's not good And when we see somebody else who's snared by the devil Our heart should go out to them to want to set them free But that's going to require certain behaviors and that's going to require us to have a gentle apt apt teacher Be to be gentle to be patient and in meekness teaching and instructing others to help them set them free from that those snares And you know if we started to see others as that if we actually had saw people as captives that are taken, you know Of the devil we would probably be more patient with them and we would probably Have more of these attributes toward them if we could learn to see people like that People who have been ensnared by the devil You know some people in life. They're just trying to recover from a life of sin They're just trying to get their life in order and we should be gentle towards those people and we should be Uh, we should be willing to teach and instruct them to help them to get away from the devil And teach them things like this how to behave what behaviors they should avoid and what behaviors they should bring into their life because How others behave affects us that's the great truth of the sermon why should we concern about how to behave ourselves? Because how you behave affects people, you know for good or worse And and how we affect uh, how other people I mean think about it how other people behave affect you The way you behave affects others So that's why we need to consider our behavior not just In regards to you know, the external sins and iniquities and things that we should not be participating in But also in our own hearts the attributes the characteristics That we should be developing in our lives so that our behavior could be beneficial to others. Let's go ahead and pray