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Amen, so I'm gonna be preaching a sermon this morning entitled seeing the potential in others seeing the potential in others and What I want to specifically want to preach about is the fact that we need to recognize What other people have to offer and treat them, you know accordingly and I want to help encourage us You know to be an encouragement to other people, you know, I think this is really important in the Christian life and And because of the fact that every child of God, you know has the potential to do great things You know, we should never think that Somebody, you know that maybe is not, you know on our level or whatever You know somehow can't do great things for God, you know, everybody starts out at a certain level everybody has the potential to do great things for God and that's a great truth that that people often need to reassure their own selves of You know not just be reminded of the fact that you know We should treat others well because others have potential to do great things for God But sometimes people need to be reminded that they themselves have potential to do great things for God And because every child of God, you know has potential We should be very careful not to discourage other people in the faith and you know, this can happen, you know You know even unintentionally often, you know just through Personality conflicts through just people being different coming from different backgrounds and having you know Just different views on things people can often have a Personality conflict and what that can actually can turn into is an excuse to try and discourage somebody else You know somebody might, you know Just develop a dislike or something and then actually that can turn into a very discouraging thing for that individual and we should avoid that and And really, you know not just so that that person is better off not just so that person Somebody doesn't get discouraged but because of the fact that that person is a child of God It's not just you know, somebody we can Treat poorly out of whim you have to understand that when you're in that church and you're dealing with brethren You're dealing with God's children You're dealing with fellow children in Christ. So our personal preferences How we feel like we can or can't treat somebody, you know gets Takes takes a backseat to the fact that you know, God's children are God's children So we should be very careful how we treat God's children And I want to help us understand that rather than seeing people in a negative light What we should learn to do in our lives is see the potential in other people and not just see the potential But then also try to foster that potential also try to you know Help that individual along to where they can do great things for God. Now you're there in Romans chapter 14 If you look there in verse 4, it says who art thou that judges another man's servant Worth thou that judges another man's servant, you know, and that's sometimes that's what happens in a church Is that people start to judge another man's servant and remember, you know, we're talking about God's servants this morning Every child of God is God's servant So who are we to go and judge another man's servant now when people get into sin and things like that? I understand we have to deal with that so on and so forth. But here's the thing You know, we if people tend to develop this attitude when they stop focusing on God We stop focusing on the work of God. They stop looking back to the Lord. They start looking kind of across at everybody else and Then if they're not careful, they can develop a very critical spirit and they can actually start to discourage other people What we want to do is we want to look at other people in our lives and our brethren You know in the church and we want to encourage them We want to see the potential that they all have you have to remember that Every single person has potential to do great things for God. It doesn't matter what their background is It doesn't matter what their age is doesn't matter what gender they are None of that, you know, everyone has the potential to do great things for God So we want to be able to see that and then encourage that in other people We need to recognize the fact that God's servants are God's servants and Therefore we are not at liberty to just dismiss them at our Caprice Actually what we should be trying to do in our lives is to encourage them And this will be easier Be easier for someone to do when you start to realize that nobody is perfect That no one is going to walk through those doors. No one's gonna sit in these pews No one's gonna stand behind this pulpit and be a perfect person You know, everybody has faults everybody has shortcomings and if we want to just start nitpicking and start, you know Biting and devouring one another will be consumed. We just want to start Pointing out everybody's shortcomings and focusing on that, you know, this isn't gonna last Nothing's gonna get done and people are gonna get discouraged and God's gonna get angry with the people that would do that We don't want to fall into that category. We don't want to make God upset We need to realize nobody's perfect, you know, and not even the men that Jesus himself chose were perfect You know, the disciples had flaws. Did you know that even the Apostle Paul had flaws? That they were all men of like passions if you would go over to Luke chapter 5 Luke chapter 5 You know when Jesus went to go pick his 12 disciples, you didn't say well Let me just find the most upstanding perfect individual who has no faults Because that would you know, he was the only person he could pick as himself. He's God He Said in verse 8 of Luke 5 when of course, this is him calling Peter after the miracle of fishes Says in verse 8 when Simon Peter saw he fell down in his at Jesus knees saying depart from me for I am a sinful man Oh Lord And Jesus said you know what Peter you're right. Thanks for bringing me my senses You're not gonna cut it. I'm out of here. I'm gonna go find somebody who's better than you No, he said if he said what verse end of verse 10 and Jesus said unto him fear not from henceforth also catch Ben the truth is is that the the real servant this person who is gonna do great things for God the person who has the most Potential is the person who doesn't need to have his faults pointed out because he already knows what they are That's Paul. That's what Peter Peter saying. I'm a sinful man I'm not worthy to be a part of your ministry and Jesus said you're exactly who I'm looking for You know, it's it's actually the opposite. It's the guy that would say, you know, I have I meet all the qualifications I'm the exact person you would want Jesus here. I volunteer myself That's the guy that Jesus can say. No, thanks. I can't use you because you're too full yourself. You're too proud You think you're all that? What he's really looking for is the person who recognizes the fact that they have faults He's not looking for somebody who's faultless He's looking for somebody who recognizes the fact that they have faults and the point I'm trying to make here Is that we all have faults we can all be used of God You know and we would love to believe that about ourselves and we should but we should also believe that about other people, too Not you we should also look at other people and recognize the fact that's a potential Peter over there that could be a Paul that could be a whoever and We need to see the potential and other people and not discourage them Jesus Saw the potential in Peter and he what did he do? He looked past his shortcomings Right, and and we all know the story of Peter. He had some shortcomings didn't he? we'll talk about one of them towards the end, but Jesus, you know, he was he was pitiful. So how are you going to see the potential and others, you know? It's it's one thing to just get up to say that but how are you actually going to put this into practice? Number one, you should be pitiful. What I mean by that is being merciful Go over to 1st Peter chapter 3 1st Peter chapter 3 Coincidentally the same guy that had we just read said depart from me here. He is now we're reading a book that he wrote He was used mightily of God not because he was perfect that because somebody took the time to see the potential that he had and nourished that and fostered that and didn't discourage him and Practice several of the things that we're gonna look at this morning one Was pity Jesus took pity upon Peter didn't he? He reassured him And then, you know Peter learned this lesson firsthand and he goes on to remind other people that they need to do the same thing He said in 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 8 finally be of all one mind having compassion one of another Love as brethren be pitiful be courteous Be not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing but contrary wise blessing knowing that you are Thereunto called and that you should inherit a blessing Now I want to focus in on this idea of being pitiful by Looking at the fact that Peter has says here says love as brethren We are to love as brethren right now. Isn't it true? Brethren, that would be like siblings, right? Is it true that siblings fight? It is that like is that like that in everybody else's house? Did you fight with your siblings? Wow, what a shocker Right, but this is the type of love that we have to have love as brethren, you know As people that are going that are heirs together, you know with Christ, you know, we're gonna we're going to inherit glory together We're gonna spend eternity with one another but that doesn't mean we're always gonna get along right siblings. They share the same house They might even share the same room. They might even share the same bed. They've got to eat together They've got to grow up together, but that doesn't mean that it's you know Just one big love fest the whole time Sometimes they start to it's cats and dogs going at each other Right and and you kind of see that in first Peter. He says they're love as brethren be pitiful right be courteous Not rendering evil for evil. He's talking about amongst us meaning This is that there's probably gonna be if you stick around long enough and you live the Christian life and you're faithful to church And you get to know the brethren Someone's gonna render evil at some point. Someone's gonna say something someone's gonna do something Someone's going to offend you they're gonna render evil and at that point that's where we have to do What be pitiful be courteous look past that fault and say I'm not gonna render evil for evil I'm not gonna render railing for rarely railing but contrary wise, you know the opposite. I'm gonna bless You know saved people You know fellow church members are going to offend you because again nobody's perfect But we all have potential And Here's the thing, you know this is important to keep in mind because of the fact that we have enough of a battle on our hands without a bunch of infighting and Look, there's gonna be some degree of that. I understand that, you know, that's just that's just human nature It's just the way it works, but we've got a big enough battle on it when we have enough enemies We don't need them in here We don't need to start picking each other apart. We don't need to start, you know, tearing each other down We got you know, my wife just got a text or some fag over in San Francisco Trying to you know, plead the case for pedophiles some random person just text my wife this morning Well, you know pedophiles, you know, not it's a very small percentage to actually act on their their impulses. It's not as bad It's like what are you talking about? Why are you texting my wife you coward you look up the area code It's coming from San Francisco. So how do you know as a fact? I don't know. I just connected the dots Okay, I just put it together. Okay It's a roll of the dice but you know chances are it's probably if you're if you're texting my wife About you know pleading the case for pedophiles I'm just gonna go ahead and step on a limb and say you're probably a fag. All right, the point is this Okay I'm not gonna go off on that as much as I'd like to is that we've got enough of a battle out there To her just random freaks are gonna be text messaging, you know our spouses They might be parading around out there. We've got enough of a battle We've got the world the flesh and the devil to fight. We don't need it in here We don't need to bring that in the church house. We need to love his brethren You know Paul were in the Corinthians about going to war going to law With one another, you know suing one another and he said of them that there is a fault among them Because they go to law one to another I mean, can you imagine? Your brother in Christ suing you taking you to court you say that never happens. It happened in Corinthians I I know of churches they have some split in there and now they're gonna sue it You know one group of people gets to the other one They're gonna sue they're gonna you know, they're gonna sue one another to get possession the building They're gonna, you know, take people to court for defamation of character. They do all kinds of crazy things Because they're carnal like the Corinthians were And what they're doing is they're rendering evil for evil they're rendering railing for railing They should just what do what Paul said in 1st Corinthians and just suffer themselves to be defrauded Be pitiful right be pitiful You know when somebody offends me when somebody does something wrong when somebody you know Does me if it's my brother and they do evil in some way or shape for me The best thing to do is just be pitiful and just forgive them without even expressing any kind of you know anger No, I get it. Sometimes, you know, if the offense is serious enough we need to go. Hey, you know He offended me and people will probably apologize but that's what it means to See the potential of other people is look past their faults Look past all the things that they're gonna do that might offend you and just be pitiful be merciful, right? I Mean, we've got enough of a battle on our hands. We don't need to bring it in here and You say well that kind of things never gonna go on. Well, Jesus dealt with it go to Matthew Matthew chapter 20 Jesus dealt with infighting in his ministry He Probably because all those sinners he chose to be part of his ministry, right? Probably because of the fact that nobody in his ministry was perfect And he had to deal with you know, he had to work out the squabbles and the drama And he had to you know You know take the brethren just like parents do with the kids. Sometimes you just got to separate them I just gotta hey, you know, if you can't play nice together don't play together and Jesus dealt with infighting in his ministry Matthew chapter 20 verse 20 then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons James and John right worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him and he said unto her what wilt thou She sayeth unto him grant that these my two sons may sit the one on thy right hand and the other on thy left in thy Kingdom, but Jesus answered and said you know not what you ask Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of and be baptized with the baptism? Where am I am baptized with and they said we are able he sayeth unto them? He shall indeed drink of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with But the sin of my right hand and on my left is not mine to give But it shall be given to him to them for whom it is prepared of my father now Don't you think that's kind of a pretty big request? To say hey when you come in your kingdom, I want my son on your right hand and my other son on your left That's literally what she's asking You know when you're up on the throne and you're receiving all the glory and the praise and the worship and the honor You know I just want my kids to be right there next to you And that's a good ask if you you know I you we could The disciples here of course they start we're gonna see it. We're gonna read it. They kind of they get mad right they get upset But you know that is should be our desire. We should want to be that close to Christ We should want to be that close to his glory I think that was a good thing and Paul or excuse me a Jesus didn't rebuke her for it He just said hey, it's not mine to give meaning this somebody's gonna get it. I just don't know who it is It's not mine to get it's prepared of my father look at verse 24 and when the 10 heard it they said wow I wish I would ask for that or Those guys are so spiritual right good for them Glad that they have a heart for that no they were moved with indignation against the two brethren It's the twelve disciples. They heard that and they're like who do they think they are they're mad they get upset. That's indignation but Jesus called them unto him and said you know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and They that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you Whosoever will be great among you let him be your minister so Jesus he's dealing with this infighting in his own ministry and He rebukes this attitude. He rebukes this attitude of This you know of them getting upset having indignation and fighting with it with their own brethren And you know and you say well, why would they even go there? Why would they be so upset with them? Why couldn't they just see that what they were asking was a good thing? It's probably because they they lost you know They stopped paying attention to the work. I love verse 27 It says and whosoever shall be chief among you let him be your servant even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many and As they departed from Jericho Jericho a great multitude followed them or followed him I Mean, that's what they should have been focused on is the work There to look at the fact that Jesus is you know We're in the midst of his ministry who cares who sits on his right hand or his left I know and that and really Jesus says look he that'll be greatest among you be a servant You should want that for other people you should want other people to succeed you should other want other people to be exalted You should want other people to you know reach their potential But how do you do that by being pitiful? By not rendering railing for railing not being upset when somebody else, you know, maybe is gonna You know Get something from God that maybe you didn't get If you would go over to Acts chapter 15 Acts chapter 15 You know, so that's the ideal isn't it? is that Brethren, you know, they would be pitiful. They would be courteous. They wouldn't render evil for evil They they wouldn't render railing for railing. That's the ideal That's what Jesus said you want to be the greatest to be the servant. Go ahead John. Go ahead James. Take that seat I want you to have it. I'm glad for you That should have been their attitude and that is the ideal but is that how it always works out nope, sadly sadly not a Lot of times like I said earlier the only thing you can do is just separate the siblings Sometimes you just have to take brethren and just go. All right, you can't play together Look at Acts chapter 15 verse 35 Paul also in Barnabas continue in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also and Some days after Paul said unto Barnabas Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do So Paul and Barnabas, I mean they've been working together. They've been laboring together. They're starting churches. They're winning souls I mean these guys are close and you know, anytime you you labor that closely with somebody you're gonna Have a closer friendship with that person. You're gonna have a shared experiences You're gonna have gone through trials and tribulations. These guys are close. It was they weren't just passing acquaintances. They were ministers together in the gospel and he's saying let's go to these churches that we preached to and see how they do verse 37 and Barnabas determined to take with them. John whose surname was Mark But Paul thought not good to take him with them who departed from them from Pamphylia when they when he and went not with them to the work, so they're ready to go on this trip and Barnabas says well, let's take John. Let's take John Mark with us Paul says no last time he was with us. He went not to the work. He departed It's not good to take him now we can debate on whether or not who was right who was wrong It doesn't matter the point is is that it's verse 39 and the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from another I Mean you had these two guys that had just been laboring together Spending all this time together and then then just this one little thing pops up and you would think that they could just see past that You know that they would just say well, you know, I guess I don't need to take John with me. Yeah, you're right Paul You know what Barnabas? Yeah, bring him along if he departs again. What's the big deal? But it becomes this this point of contention, maybe they just spent too much time together I don't know. Maybe they they finally reached that point where they're just kind of like well We need to just take a break from one another for a while But it says the contention was so sharp between them that they departed one from another And we can learn from this is that sometimes, you know brethren are not always going to be friends Not they're not always gonna be friends. You know, that's possible to be somebody's brother and not be their friends. I Mean, you know, maybe that That might be the case with some of us. Maybe we have some sibling that we're just not very close to right It could happen in here too. You know, we could all be saved we can be on our way to heaven We could be working towards the same goal, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we're all gonna be best friends and No one can make them be friends. Sometimes brethren aren't gonna be friends and no one's gonna make them be friends And I'm not interested in doing that Let me just go ahead and just go ahead and say that right now Don't ever come to me and say make so-and-so be my friend Because people have done that and not to me, but I've heard it happen elsewhere You can need to go tell so-and-so they have to be my friend. They don't have to be your friend They don't now they need to be friendly. They need to be kind and you'd be civil and polite and courteous and all that That doesn't mean that they have to you know Have you over for every little get-together and write you a birthday card and and make sure that you know and do all the little Things that friends do for one another You know brethren are always going to be brethren, but that doesn't mean they're always going to be friends But here's one thing brethren are always going to be and that's God's servants Whether they're your friend or they're not your friend. There will be God's servant They are still God's child and they don't be and you can't treat them poorly because of that They deserve a certain level of respect just because of that fact alone. I Mean look at look what what happened in our story verse 39 the contention was so sharp between them they departed Sunday one from another and We all know Paul was the real man of God and Barnabas just turned into this evil God hating reprobate that nobody could stand. Is that what happened? No, Barnabas took mark and sailed into Cyprus. They both went to the same work Barnabas didn't quit the ministry Barnabas just went and did his thing and said, okay. Well Paul we just you know, we're brethren But I guess we're not gonna get along. We can't agree on this point. We're just gonna have to go our separate ways And he sailed in Cyprus, you know Barnabas didn't stop serving God just because he wasn't hanging out with Paul anymore He was still serving God without him. I Mean he made mark profitable if you go if you fast forward, you know to 2nd Timothy chapter 4 I'll read to you Where Paul is writing to Timothy he says only Luke was with me take mark and bring him with thee For he is profitable to me for the ministry So, you know Paul at the beginning says I don't want mark around He's he left at the work at Pamphilius. They Barnabas takes him says fine I'll take him then and we'll go do the work and you go that way We'll go this way and we'll just both go do our thing You know years later You have Paul here st. Telling Timothy take mark and bring him to me he's profitable me for the ministry. How did that happen? How do you think that happened? Mark just figured it out on his own. No Barnabas got him there Barnabas was the one that took mark aside and said hey, you know why Paul me and Paul aren't gather. It's because of you Remember when you remember when you flaked out in Pamphilia You need to quit doing that and began to work with them and deal with them and brought him along and what it could why? Because Barnabas saw potential in mark didn't he and he was pitiful. I mean, he didn't say well you're lying Paul No, he didn't depart. No, he did depart But Paul failed to see the potential anymore, didn't he? You know, perhaps Paul in this matter of mark, you know, he might have been pitiful, but he lacks something else Because here's the thing if we're truly gonna see the potential in other people Not only do we have to be pitiful, but we have to be patient You have to be patient with people It's one thing to let things go and let things slide and not get offended over every little thing But you also have to be patient Give people the opportunity to learn and to grow in Christ You know in this church, you know, we're Bible believing we have some standards You know, there's things that we believe that are going to be new to people And you know and people need to be given the opportunity to learn those things and adopt those things And grow into those things on their own time, right? You know people don't just start coming to church here and we just hand on some manual and say this is what you must do If you have to meet all of these standards and you have to do X Y & Z if you want to go to church here It's not how it works You got to be saved And that's pretty much it Right what I got to be a member show up What I got to become a member at faithful word start coming to faithful word. You remember he saved And the point I'm making is this we need to be patient with other people let them grow in Christ Who are the first Thessalonians chapter 2? Maybe that's what Paul was lacking there in that story in Acts The fact that Maybe he got a little impatient with John Mark Maybe he's saying why doesn't this kid get it? What do you mean you're gonna quit on the work? I don't want you know, he doesn't have the patience to deal with somebody like that to bring him along Now maybe that's you know something believe me I'm not gonna take Paul aside and grill him about it in heaven but It very well could be the case Paul could have had the fault like that, right? We need to give people the opportunity to learn and grow we need to be patient with them because why because Everyone starts out as a babe in Christ. They're babes in Christ And like babes of the flesh, you know people do things they can't help themselves. They can't help it They're just acting out their nature. They haven't grown. They haven't matured You know my my my little darling Julie when she throws a fit I don't I don't get full of indignation and wonder why she's doing that and try to explain to her You know why she can wait another five minutes for her mom to come back from doing whatever You know or you just ate you don't need it. You know what I mean? It's it'd be pointless to me just begin to lecture an infant To try to talk them off the ledge of some fit that they're throwing right Explain it will get to your diaper. Can you just show some patience, please? You know, I know it's been a long day You don't want to be in that car seat right now Julie, but you need to understand that you know We have to X amount. It's be stupid She's not gonna go. Oh, you're right dad. Sorry about that Let me just knock it off. Why cuz she's a babe. She can't help herself You know and spiritually people come into the house of God people start to live for Christ and you know what? There's certain things they just can't help themselves Because they're babes and they have to grow they have to mature and develop and we that are you know have have matured and have developed and Have taken on these things need to do what be patient And see the potential that's there not see what's lacking and go. Oh, why this why that when are you gonna this? When are you gonna do that? It's be patient and let those things come. Okay Give people the opportunity look at first Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul uses a real interesting analogy here verse 1 for yourselves brethren No, the end our entrance unto you that it was not in vain But even after the we had suffered and were shamefully entreated as you know at Philippi We were bold in our God to speak unto the gospel of God with much contention For our exhortation was not of deceit nor of uncleanness or in guile But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel even so we speak not as pleasing men But God which try at their hearts for neither at any time used to be flattering words as you know nor a clerk cloak of Covetousness God is witness nor of men sought we glory neither of you nor yet of others But when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ look at verse 7 But he's talking about how they were how he behaved himself with the Thessalonians people Right when he when they came into them when he came and they had their entrance unto them verse 7 But we were gentle among you and how gentle work was he with these with these Thessalonians with these babes Even as a nurse cherish her cherishes her children Now, I don't know that that's the analogy I would have chosen That's the one Paul used. That's the one God put in his word is That he's like I'm like a nurse Who is nursing a child? That's how gentle he was talking about being with these people. That's the amount of patience He's talking about having with people That's what we need to do with people with babes in Christ, you know patience is something that's required of a nursing mother, isn't it? There's a lot of patience there with an infant there. A lot of patience has to be displayed if You're gonna be caring for somebody like that go to first Thessalonians chapter number five first Thessalonians chapter number five You know, we don't want to just take people's heads off You know ever People get so fired up sometimes and they get so self-righteous and so full of themselves that they you know They they they go find some fault in somebody else and they just want to take their head off And I think to myself where's the gentleness in that? You'd make a terrible nursemaid Don't let hope you don't ever have that responsibility They're Like that person just starts shaking the baby because there's no patience there And here's what's in here's the thing that's required. You have to have that patience Or people are gonna get hurt look at first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 14 now we exhort you brethren Warn them that are unruly look there's a time to you know Talk tough warn them and unruly. Hey, you need to work on this. You need to straighten this out Comfort the feeble-minded Support the weak But what's that there at the end, but be patient toward all men be patient toward all men You know patience is something that is required go to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 How are you going to see the opportunity or the potential in others What are you gonna do about it say? Well, yeah, I understand everyone's God's child. Everyone's got the God's servant great So how you what does that mean to you this morning means you should be patient with people Means you shouldn't just cut people off at the knees just because they don't you know They haven't got all their ducks in a row or whatever. You need to be patient with people It's required 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 2 and the servant of the Lord must not strive now We say all the servant Lord that's talking about the preacher Last I checked everyone's a servant God We were all called to serve the Lord now obviously That all the more so for the pastor and the deacon who would have to meet these requirements, but remember They're given those requirements because they are in samples to the flock. They're supposed to be showing the flock how to live And he's saying here the servant Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves So I don't know if I want to do that. Well, just consider the fact that God does the same for us, doesn't he? That's how God is towards us. How would you like it if God just clouded up and rained on you every time you did something? wrong or every time you refuse to change something in your life if God just said well, I'm not gonna be patient with you then and That's a real good reason for us to be patient with other people because God is gonna you know render every man according to his works and God sees us down here. Just lopping off heads and taking people out of the knees and being impatient and just cutting people down Don't be surprised if he does the same with you Under the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful and under the floor word thou wilt show thyself forward God does the same for us anyone that's matured in the faith anyone that's ever, you know, it has has you know Grown in Christ. It's only done so because God has been patient with them because God saw their potential Rather than just cutting them down over every little thing gave them grace gave them mercy and showed patience and allowed them to grow David said in the Psalms thy gentleness hath made me great thy gentleness hath made me great. What was it that made David so great? God's gentleness the fact that he led him along that he was patient with him that he gave him time to grow If we see the potential and others we will show pity if we see the potential and others We will be patient But here's the thing. I want to kind of close on this thought here is that Being patient is one thing don't mistake. Let me say it this way. Don't mistake being patient with being passive. Okay? Sometimes we get this idea. Well, I'm being patient with that person. So I'm just not gonna help them at all I'm not that means I shouldn't come to them and say hey, did you know the Bible says this? Hey, are you aware of this? You know and and take them under your wing and kindly and gentle and that's what it said at second Timothy and If you would keep something second Timothy you've turned away from there We're gonna go back in a minute, but he said he'd be gentle all men apt to teach Not just I'm patient with all men and I just kind of wait for them to get it He said no, I'm gentle and all men But I'm also apt to teach and I'm patient with them waiting for them to get it waiting for it to click Don't Mistake being patient with being passive some people need to be pursued Which means what we need to be persistent You want to see the potential in other people, you know be pitiful be patient, but be persistent with people Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 2 it says the sermon Lord must not strive I'll be gentle all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves You know, it's not that we don't instruct it's just that we do it with meekness We do it because we're not trying to you know, tear people down. We're trying to build them up We're trying to bring them along. Okay? Because here's the thing. You can't you can't ignore a baby Can't ignore a baby you can't just well, I'll come back when I'll come back Julie when you know, you're more reasonable We'll talk when you can finally learn how to talk You know when you're when you're more rational then well, you know until then I'm just gonna completely ignore you You know that they're a child's gonna die a child's gonna perish, you know the same way spiritually We can't just you know, say well, I'm being patient with that with people and just completely ignore them We need to be persistent with people and look I understand everyone has boundaries and you know, we don't want to you know hound people but And here's the thing some babies can't handle being left alone longer than others, can't they and There are some people that are gonna do fine on their own They're gonna get on their own but some people they need to be pursued They need to have some pressure put on them a little bit. They need to be encouraged They need to be motivated which means that us we who are trying to see the potential in others need to be persistent with other people I Mean Paul did it we read it there in Acts 5 that was what Paul and Barnas were setting out to do To go see and how the brethren in every city would really preach the word see how they do and we're gonna follow up on their converts and Bring them along We have to be persistent which means this that you have to be prepared You have to be prepared if you're going to see the potential other people you have to be patient You have to be pitiful. You have to be persistent. You have to be willing to go and instruct other people in meekness But you also have to be prepared. I mean, what are you gonna teach him if you don't know anything? I Mean what what what can you give somebody that you yourself don't have you have to be prepared? And really that's one thing that you know People who seem to just go around one and to just tear everybody apart seem to lack the most is their own self-development They seem to lack in a lot of areas be prepared to help to instruct to encourage in meekness and Instructing those that oppose themselves the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 iron sharpeneth iron Which means that you need to be iron you yourself need to be sharp you yourself need to what be prepared because here's the thing and this is the kind of the closing thought here is that Instruction is the duty of us all you want to see the the potential in other people Understand that the instruction is the duty of us all it's not just the preacher's job It's not just my job to be the bad guy to get up and just you know We don't want to just sit by and say well I know so-and-so will get out that'll figure it out once the preacher preaches on it Why don't you go talk to that person? Why don't you go in meekness and talk to that person and show them from the Bible when they come to you? Why don't you all I'm sure he'll preach on that. Oh, here's a sermon Well, why don't you open the Bible and explain it? Why don't you be prepared to do that? It's the duty of us all rather than just you know say well Let brother Corbin Do all that heavy lifting and look I'm gonna preach what needs to be preached and do what I need to do To instruct and so on and so forth But that doesn't mean we just saw the rest of us just sit on our laurels and just you know Wait, you know, we should be helping and instructing others and encouraging them And I'm gonna move along for sake of time here but I Think that's an important point that we should take to heart because here's the thing Some things are gonna be better received by people when they come from the pew and not from the pulpit You know some things that I might need to preach that people are just gonna bristle at and they're not gonna like it Because it's coming from me. It's coming from here But what if it came from a friend what it came from somebody that they learned to? Respect what if it came from somebody in the church who gently went to them one-on-one and show them those things It'd probably be better received Not all the time, but I believe that is the case in some instances You need to be prepared to help and to instruct and to encourage And I'm trying to just motivate us this morning to see the potential and other people see the potential other people You need to be prepared and you're not you need to be prepared not only to it to and to help it and instruct But you need to be prepared to be Disappointed okay, and this I don't like to end sermons on a down note, but it's just a fact of life. It's just a reality You are you know if you take this on and say I'm going to see the potential in others I'm going to do my part. You need to be prepared to be disappointed Because we will invest in people we will instruct people we will pour our hearts into people We'll pray for people try to bring people along. We'll see the potential that they have and then they'll make wrong decisions And they'll do things the complete opposite of everything that they've been told And it's nothing new under the Sun. I mean I've been and I've been in a lot of different churches now Well, not a lot of different churches But I've been in church long enough to see that the church front door is a revolving one That people are just constantly coming and going constantly coming and going And you know what you could I could just throw out my hands say well, what's the point? You know, it's just so discouraging. Well, I'm just trying to prepare you right now. You're prepared to be disappointed So that way when it does happen, you know, it's not such a shock. It's not such a blow You say I've been investing in this person I've been putting so much in them I see so much potential I've been trying to help them along and then poof They're gone. They make some decision, whatever People are going to disappoint you go to 2nd Timothy we'll close in here 2nd Timothy He says in chapter 1 verse 15 thou knowest This thou knowest that all day which are in Asia be turned away from me of whom are by jealous and homogeneous In order for them to have turned away from Paul it means that they had to have at one point been turned to Paul All they that were in Asia were probably the people that Paul got, you know converted or preached to or Taught the Word of God to that's who he's talking about You know, if I just if I jealous and homogeneous were probably people that Paul at one point had taken under his wing Then he's saying this thou knowest that they be what turned away They turned on him Do you think Paul might have gotten a little disappointed over that you think that might have been a little bit of discouragement to Paul? 100% but what did Paul do? Say that's it. I quit. What's the point? No, he stuck in there He stuck by himself go to 2nd Timothy chapter 4 He said in verse 16 at my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me You got to be prepared if you're going to see the potential of other people and pour yourself into them and instruct them that Sometimes they're going to do the wrong thing. They're gonna make the wrong decision. They're going to disappoint you. It's gonna happen That's no reason for you to get bitter and angry and upset with that person or anybody else You still need to learn to what see the potential and other people be pitiful be patient We have to learn to see the potential in others we need to practice pity we need to practice patience we need to practice persistence With people as they grow in the things of the Lord and you have to be prepared for disappointment You know part of being prepared is not just writing people off For not growing for not you know coming along as quickly as you think they should You know for them not growing at what our preferred rate. You don't just write people off over that That's a guarantee that people will not grow look if we don't practice these things if we do You know just try to How can I say this? You don't want to just write people off Okay, you don't want to just write people off and just say well. You know they're not growing They're they made this decision. They did that they did this whatever okay? They're not they're not I think they should be at this point by now that after all that's where I was you know You know I came into this church. I was already King James only I already had all these standards I already knew the post-trib rapture. I already had all these doctrines John's. What's wrong with these people? And that's a surefire way to get people to not grow That's a that's a that's a surefire way to discourage people from growing That's a guarantee that they will cease to grow what we want to do is the opposite be patient with people be pitiful and be prepared to instruct them and Not get discouraged when it doesn't always stick because here's the thing it's gonna stick with some people some people are gonna come along and Some people are gonna get it and some people are gonna grow and some people are going to do great things for God Some are but here's the thing everyone has the potential to do it. We just need to learn to see it. Let's go ahead and pray