(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, the title of my sermon this morning is chest pounding and fighting, chest pounding and fighting. Now when I say chest pounding, I'm referring to this gesture right here. And I'm talking about basically this kind of big ego, macho, I'm going to kick your butt kind of attitude right here. And we as Christians should not be involved in physically getting in fights. This is a carnal, sinful, wicked thing to do. And we're there in Titus chapter 1, but also in 1 Timothy chapter 3, we have a parallel passage about the qualifications for the bishop, the qualifications for the pastor of the church. And in 1 Timothy 3, it says, not given to wine, no striker, right? So one of the qualifications for the pastor is that he be no striker and that he be not a brawler. Now you might say, well that's just for pastors, but the idea here is that a man is supposed to be found having these attributes before he's chosen to be a pastor. This is something just all Christians should be living up to certain standards of morality and then when we go to choose a pastor, we're going to pick someone who meets these particular criteria because obviously God doesn't want any of his people to be strikers or brawlers. Look down at your Bible there in Titus chapter 1 verse 7, the Bible reads, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre. And of course, a lot of these things are connected, aren't they? You know, the self-willed person is probably going to be the same person who loses his temper and gets violent. Also alcohol tends to lead to violence. Not given to wine, no striker, okay? Soon angry is a recipe for getting in fights, right? What does it mean by soon angry? Like, you know, just blowing your top because someone supposedly looked at you the wrong way or something stupid like that or someone said something that you didn't like or whatever. Someone hurt your ego or your pride. Look, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, the Bible says. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We are not to be physically fighting. Now obviously, there may come a time when you actually need to defend yourself from a dangerous person or a dangerous situation. And obviously, I am certainly not against martial arts as a sport or as military training. Like I'm not against that type of thing. However, brawlers, they're not acting in self-defense. Strikers, what are they doing? They're based on ego, okay? They pick fights with people to show what a big man they are. It's all about pride, arrogance, and ego. Now if you would turn to 1 John Chapter 2. While you're turning to 1 John Chapter 2, let me just read you some scriptures on pride and arrogance. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 2, 3, talk no more so exceedingly proudly. Let not arrogance come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed. We shouldn't go around just talking in a prideful, arrogant manner about how bad we are, how tough we are, how I'm going to kick your butt and I can beat the crap out of you. That is not the right attitude for a Christian to have. It's arrogance, it's prideful, it's wicked. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance in the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate. Isaiah 13, 11, I'll punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. Jeremiah 48, 29, we've heard the pride of Moab. He is exceeding proud, his loftiness and his arrogance and his pride and the haughtiness of his heart. Folks, these are not the attributes that Christians should have in their lives. We need to be humble. Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Look down at your Bible there in 1st John chapter 2 verse 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world passeth away in the lust thereof but he that do with the will of God abideth forever. What do we mean when we talk about being worldly? We don't want to have the values of this world. We don't want to go after the pursuits of this world. Specifically when we talk about that which is worldly, we're talking about the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. What are we talking about here? Obviously the lust of the flesh, that's things to do with, for example, fornication, adultery, or also drunkenness, also gluttony, right? This is gratifying your physical flesh with sinful things, right? So fornication, adultery, gluttony, whatever, okay? Lust of the eyes, this is covetousness. This is the love of money. This is desiring things that are not rightfully yours. This is coveting your neighbor's wife. This is coveting your neighbor's vehicle or his house or anything that is thy neighbor's, right? The lust of the eyes, looking out there and desiring these things that are not rightfully for you. And then of course the third one that we don't really think about as much or talk about as much perhaps is the pride of life, right? This is the worldly mentality which is maybe not necessarily living for money or physical enjoyment but for power and glory and glorifying yourself and having all this ego and pride and arrogancy and this is how worldly people are. This is what they live. If they're not living for money, if they're not living to gratify the flesh, then what are they living for? Many times they're living for their ego. Hey, look at me. Look how smart I am. Look how athletic I am. Look how cool I am. Look what a big man I am. Look what a bad dude I am. This is not godly. The pride of life is one of the three major lusts that God is warning us about in this passage. That lust for power, that lust for glory, that lust for being cool or being powerful or whatever. And look, this is a trap. And if you would flip over to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, this is a trap that junior hires and high schoolers often fall into, am I right? You know, and you probably remember this unless you were homeschooled, probably even if you were homeschooled, but you know, but if you were not homeschooled and you went to school, you probably remember the type of grandstanding and chest pounding and trash talk that happens among teenage boys in the locker room, right? When you're in junior high, when you're in high school, and there's a lot of smack talk and I'm going to kick your butt and I can beat you up and blah, blah, blah. It's stupid. It's immature. It's juvenile. It's something that you're supposed to grow out of. Okay. What does the Bible say? Look at 1 Corinthians 13, 11, when I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. You see young people, their brains aren't necessarily fully developed and they obviously need to be taught in the ways that are right. They need to get some life experience and mature and grow up. And this is why that mentality is so pervasive in junior highs and high schools because it's just, you know, boys are just by nature at that age, immature, myself included. You know, I got involved in it when I was in junior high. I got in fistfights. When I was in high school, I got involved in fistfights, but you know what? When I became a man, I put away childish things. And it's pretty sad when you have these overgrown man children in their 40s going around picking fights, going around talking about how they're going to beat up this person and beat up that person. It's embarrassing and stupid and immature and you're a loser. Look, I'm 42 years old. Can you imagine me just going around talking about who I can beat up and, you know, how tough I can take on anybody and whatever? It's an embarrassment. It's stupid. It's ridiculous. You say, Pastor Anderson, can you beat up everybody? No, I can't. I can't beat up everybody. You say, can you beat up everyone in this room? No, I can't. You say, can you at least beat up your whole staff? No. Brother Segura could kick my butt. Okay? I'm just saying. And you say, well, oh, man, that's so embarrassing for you to say that. No, because I'm not a man child. I'm an adult. I'm an adult, so I don't actually measure my manhood by whether I can kick Brother Segura's butt or whether he can kick my butt. I already know that he can kick my butt, and I don't feel like less of a man because I'm not 12. I mean, it's stupid, my friend. You know, people today that are acting that way as adults need to grow up. We should be seeking to avoid fights, not starting them. Now, this morning in the sermon, I'm going to give you some points. I'm going to give you eight points on how to avoid fights, and if you would, turn to Proverbs chapter 13, how to avoid getting in a physical fight, because that should be the goal. I know you're 40 years old, still watching Marvel movies or something, but it's time to grow up and realize that that's not how the world works. That's not how we solve our problems. We don't use violence to solve our little ego problems or daddy issues or whatever you have. So point number one is be humble. Number one, be humble, because the Bible says in Proverbs 13, verse 10, only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised it is wisdom, right? Contention comes from pride, and we already talked about this earlier, but it's going to keep coming up because it's just the reason. It's what it is. Here are some verses in Psalms, you don't have to turn to these, where they associate pride and violence, because the two go hand in hand. Psalm 73, 6, therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain, violence covereth them as a garment. You see that association there? Psalm 86, 14, oh God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul and have not set thee before them. Notice the violent people and the proud people are the same people in these verses. These two things are associated. So number one, be humble. Number two, don't blow off your mouth. Don't go around blowing off your mouth to people. If you would flip back to Proverbs chapter 10, while you're turning there, Titus 3, verse 32 says this, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. It's funny, as I go through these eight points, some of these verses, I didn't know which point to put them under. Some of these verses have like three points in one verse. And so it's like I had to just pick where they fit best, but honestly, you're going to hear these points being reviewed over and over again, because point number one was being humble. Point number two is don't blow off your mouth, but in the verse about not blowing off your mouth, it tells you to show meekness, which is humility. There's going to be a lot of crossover in these scriptures, okay? To speak evil of no man, to talk crap to no man, you know, and don't say things that are provoking a fight. Don't be a brawler. Be gentle, right? Show all meekness unto all men. So number one, be humble. Number two, don't blow off your mouth. Look at Proverbs chapter 10, verse 11. The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life, but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked, right? You've got the healthy mouth and you've got the violent mouth that stirs up violence. Hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins, right? You say, well, this guy, he did something I didn't like. He did wrong. He did something I don't approve of. Does that mean that you're going to go beat him? No, because hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins, right? Let it go. You don't have to write every wrong in this world, you overgrown superhero wannabe. Let it go. Chill out. Be cool, which leads me to my next point. Number three, go to Proverbs 15. Number three, try to diffuse a situation. Try to diffuse a situation. Number one, be humble. Number two, don't blow off your mouth. Number three, try to diffuse a situation. And, you know, speaking of Brother Segura, he and I, we made a video about this many years ago. We made a video about this as part of our Landmark series, and we were talking about, it's still on Rumble, it's called like fighting and nonviolence or something, and Brother Segura and I are talking about this, and Brother Segura tells several stories about situations where people try to start a fight with him, and he was able to diffuse the situation. It's funny, I was just talking about this with Brother Segura a couple days ago. He literally told me a story from like less than a month ago, where a homeless person tried to pick a fight with him and was getting violent with him. And he basically just comforted the feeble-minded and didn't take the bait. Why would he? Like, yeah, I showed that homeless guy what was up. I mean, look, we could all just go around the whole city and probably just beat the crap out of every homeless person that we find. But what would be the point? And would God be pleased? No, it's wrong. So try to diffuse a situation. Look at Proverbs chapter 15 verse 1, a soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger. Right? Soft answer. Hey, man, sorry I cut you off. You know, I kind of cut somebody off in traffic the other day by accident. And then we both ended up in the same parking lot. And I thought to myself, you know what? This guy might say something to me, because I made a mistake in my driving. Maybe he's going to say something. And I already just decided that if this guy says something to me, I'm just going to say, hey, man, I'm sorry, that was totally my fault. Right? And most of the time, it's going to be over at that point. Most of the time, that's going to fix things. You know, now, obviously, every once in a while, you're going to have that person where you say, hey, man, it's cool. Let's not do this. And they're just going to attack you anyway. Obviously, that's out there, my friend. I'm not saying that if you follow these rules, you're never going to get attacked. I'm not saying if you follow these rules, you're never going to get in a fight. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying these are ways to avoid most fights. Right? I don't want to blame victims who get assaulted. I'm just saying that we want to make sure that we do what we can. It's sort of like driving. You know, you drive defensively. Now, sometimes you could do all the right things and still get in a horrible accident. Right? You know, you could be riding your motorcycle, you know, down the road and some guy is just on the wrong side of the road and runs into you. You know, one time I was just sitting at a red light and somebody just plowed into me from behind. What was I doing wrong? Obviously, things are going to happen, but if you will be humble, if you will not talk trash, if you try to diffuse the situation, this is going to get you out of a lot of bad situations. Number four, have self-control. Have self-control. Right? Don't just lose it. Don't just lose control. What does the Bible say? Proverbs chapter 25, and then after this point, I'm going to get to one of the most important points of the whole sermon for all the chest-pounding little hothead junior hires out there. But before I get to that, let's do point number four, have some self-control. It says in Proverbs 25, 27, it's not good to eat much honey. So for men to search their own glory is not glory. That means when you're talking about how tough you are and how cool you are, that ain't cool. Searching your own glory is not glory. Let another man praise thee, not thine own mouth. But then look at the very next verse. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. Have some rule over your spirit. Have some self-control. Flip over to Ecclesiastes chapter nine. You're in Proverbs, so you're close. A couple pages to the right in your Bible, you'll be there. Ecclesiastes chapter nine. Point number one was be humble. Point number two was, what was point number two? Don't blow off your mouth. Point number three, try to diffuse the situation. Point number four, have some self-control. And point number five, this was pretty important. Realize that you are never guaranteed to win a fight. I don't care how tough you are. You are never guaranteed to win a fight or to get out of there unscathed or to get out of there alive. This is never guaranteed. Nothing is guaranteed. Look if you would at chapter nine verse eleven. I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. Neither yet bred to the wise, nor yet richest to men of understanding, nor yet favored to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all. Right? It's not always going to be the strongest one who wins the battle, is it? No, it isn't. And you say, why do you include this point? Because you know what? In case anybody's too much of a dummy to understand all the spiritual points I'm giving about being humble, about pleasing God, about using a soft answer to turn away wrath, having self-control. In case they're just glazing over on that point, well here's a point that should be able to resonate with everyone. You are not guaranteed to win any altercation. I don't care how good of a fighter you are. I don't care how much training you have. I don't care how strong you are. I don't care how fast you are. You are never guaranteed to win or even come out alive of any of these situations. Never. Well, you don't know how tough I am. This is not a comic book, my friend. This is real life. And in real life, strange things happen and time and chance happeneth to them all. Let alone, how about when somebody has a weapon? Right? You're so tough and you're ready to just take on anybody, right? Are you going to take on a bullet? Right? Are you going to take on a gun? Are you going to take on a knife or a sword with your bare hands? No, you're not. And how about this? Multiple opponents. Oh, I know I can take this guy right until his buddy comes and feeds you with the lead pipe in the library with Colonel Mustard or whatever. But the point is you don't know if somebody's going to pull a weapon you don't know if there are multiple opponents involved and you don't know if you're just going to make a dumb mistake and somebody just gets lucky. Every once in a while somebody might just get a lucky punch and they just hit that right spot or whatever and you're just going to go down. You never know. You're invincible. I mean, look, let me tell you about a guy in the Bible who thought he was invincible because he was the biggest, toughest, baddest dude on the battlefield. What was his name? Goliath! I mean, nobody can beat this guy in a fight. He talked trash for 40 days straight and nobody challenged him for 40 days straight but you know what? If you talk trash, you can get away with it for a while if you're grandstanding and chest pounding and you know, think you're unbeatable and you get that 40 times but it's that 41st time that really gets you and you end up being decapitated by a teenager. Right? I mean, that's what happened. You don't know what's going to happen. So number five, realize that you're never guaranteed to win a fight. Number six, abstain from alcohol. Here's what the Bible says in Proverbs 23. You can turn there if you want. Verse 29, you're close. Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? You hear that? Contentions. Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? Proverbs 23, verse 30. They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine. Right? The drunkard has contentions and he has wounds without cause. Isn't that simple? Right? That's why you have the proverbial bar fight. Because somebody drinks a bunch of alcohol and here's one of the reasons why alcohol leads to violence is because of the fact that it boosts the ego. It boosts the pride. It makes you bold and you will start fights that you wouldn't normally start if you were not under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol, of course, for a long time has been associated with violence. I'm going to turn to Matthew, chapter number 5. Matthew, chapter number 5. Point number 7, turn the other cheek. Turn the other cheek. How do you avoid a fight? Number 1, be humble. Number 2, don't blow off your mouth. Number 3, try to defuse the situation. Number 4, practice self-control. Number 5, realize that you're never guaranteed to win any fight. No matter how tough you think you are. You're just going to go to the gym and get so huge that no one can ever defeat you. Okay, Goliath, but guess what? Somebody might have a weapon and then you're doomed. Number 6, abstain from alcohol. Number 7, turn the other cheek is what Christ taught. Turn the other cheek. Look what the Bible says in Matthew 5, verse 38. You have heard that it has been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil and turn the other cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain, give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. What is the Bible saying when it says turn the other cheek? Look, you don't have to right every wrong in this world. If somebody does wrong to you, let it go. Go, if you would, to Luke chapter 6. Now look, I do not believe that this is telling us not to defend ourselves if we're actually in danger. I don't believe that for one second. I think that if you're actually in danger, you have every right to defend yourself. Okay? But here's the thing. Someone slapping you on the cheek is not always putting you in danger. Right? Because who would say here, Pastor Anderson, I've been slapped in the face before. At some point in my life, I've been slapped in the face. Virtually everyone. Most people. And the rest of you, I don't, you know, you guys are living a peaceful life. Okay, now raise your hand if you've been slapped on the face before and it did not lead to a fist fight. Did not lead to any kind of, it's all the same hands virtually. Guess what? Getting slapped across the face is not typically what violent people do in order to, you know, initiate their destructive, you know, assault on you. Typically, the slap of the cheek is more about humiliation, arrogance, ego, pride, am I right? Or just someone's offended and they slap you across the face or, you know, or your parents slap you across the face because you said something stupid or obnoxious or blasphemous or whatever. Okay. But, again, you know, I mean, I know this is a stupid example, but, you know, the memes abound. That Will Smith, right? He slapped that other comedian across the face, I forget what his name is. He slapped the guy across the face, right? You know, it wasn't like he was trying to start a fight or whatever. It was more like he was offended about what the guy said about Will Smith's, you know, skanky wife or whatever. Is Will Smith going to slap me? Hopefully, he's not here. But anyway, I know his wife heard some of my preaching because his wife's TV show sent us a request to use some of the preaching and I'm just like, you could use all of it, whatever you want. People are always asking for permission to use clips from my preaching and I'm just like, you don't need to ask, just use it, you know. Tell it from the housetops. But anyway, you know, what was that? He slapped across the face and you know what? The other comedian guy, he just took it. And you know, the whole thing is probably staged anyway because it's these Hollywood people. Everything is probably fake. They probably planned it. Okay, I'm going to say this, then you're going to come up and slap me and now we're both going to get paid more on our next movie because we need the publicity or whatever. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing said, I don't know, I don't care. But the point is, one man walked up and slapped another man and the other man just took it and laughed and said whatever because he knew that he wasn't actually in danger at that award ceremony or wherever they were. You see what I'm saying? So, you know, we have to be able to differentiate between I'm in danger, this crazy, unhinged, violent person is assaulting me versus just, hey, you know, this person is trying to humiliate me, punk me, or maybe shut my mouth because I said something, whatever. Okay. We need to know to turn the other cheek. And what's the Bible saying here? That we don't have to fight back or right every wrong in every situation. Now again, I don't think that this negates self-defense and especially because you know, the term smiting on the cheek I believe is referring to a slap. It's not referring to you know, somebody actually attacking you in a way that's violent. It's more like just to offend you. It's sort of like when Jesus is in court and he gets slapped in the face during the trial. So Jesus gets slapped in the face during the trial. Remember? And then later the apostle Paul's on trial and he gets slapped in the face, right? What is that? It's more just a symbolic thing and that's the idea that we're talking about here with turning the other cheek. Okay. Now obviously it goes beyond the literal. I'm talking about the literal turning the other cheek. Like someone literally slapping you in the face and you just saying, hey I'm in no danger whatever. I'm not, you know, I don't have to because of my pride do anything or whatever. But obviously this passage goes further than that with its symbolic ramifications. You know, it can be someone just does anything to you like as far as just something that's not even physical. It could just be somebody wrongs you in some way somebody at work, you know does you dirty at work and maybe lies to the boss about you or, you know sticks you with all the bad assignments and they take all the good assignments for themselves or something. You know, you could also just proverbially like turn the other cheek in that situation, right? So that would be a more symbolic implication or interpretation of this. Okay. Whereas is there anything I need to do? Okay. Whoever's got the handheld, let's give it to Quinn. So, um that's what we got here. Did I have you turn to Luke 6? Look at Luke 6 verse 27 but I say unto you which here love your enemies do good to them which hate you bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you and unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again and as you would that men should do to you do ye also to them likewise. Look, what he's saying here is just letting things go. Let it go. You don't have to right every wrong. You don't have to still be mad days later weeks later, months later. Just move on. You don't have to, I know you think you're one of the Avengers or something, you know, you don't have to avenge everything. The Bible says avenge not yourselves. Give place unto wrath. Vengeance belongeth unto the Lord. You don't have to right every wrong in this world. And you know, a lot of people are like, why did I teach this guy a lesson? You know what, here's the thing about that is that there are like a million more people just like him that also need a lesson. And you teaching one person a lesson in the scheme of things, it's a drop of water on a hot stove. After you teach that guy a lesson, the world's still going to be filled with idiots. And in fact, the person that you teach a lesson is probably not going to learn it anyway. Now Jesus is saying this in Matthew and in Luke and Jesus practiced what he preached because Jesus was nonviolent. He's saying, how do you know that Jesus was totally nonviolent? Well, because of the fact that Isaiah 53 talking about Jesus says this, he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence. Neither was any deceit in his mouth. The Bible says that Jesus had done no violence. And there was no deceit in his mouth. And so Jesus preached that and he also practiced that. When he was reviled, the Bible says in 1 Peter, he reviled not again. You know, he turned the other cheek. And point number eight on this how to avoid getting in fights is number eight, realize that God will ultimately punish you for being violent even if the punishment doesn't come right away. Go if you would to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter number 24. And this is in many ways the most important point. You know, realizing that if you displease God, you're going to be punished. You're going to suffer. Even if the punishment doesn't come immediately. Right? When you reap what you sow but it doesn't always happen immediately, you give it a little time, that's going to come back and get you. Number one, be humble. Number two, don't blow off your mouth. Number three, try to defuse the situation. Number four, have self-control. Number five, realize that you are never guaranteed to win any fight. Okay? Mr. Tough Guy. Number six, abstain from alcohol. Number seven, turn the other cheek. And number eight, realize that God will ultimately punish you even if the punishment doesn't come right away. Look at Matthew 24 verse 48. The Bible reads, but if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to do what? To smite his fellow servants. Right? So what does this guy, this evil servant, because he thinks that he can get away with it in the short term, what does he do? He begins to smite his fellow servants. He's hitting them. He's punching them. He's fighting with them. And to eat and drink with the drunken. Again, the connection with violence and alcohol. And just lack of self-control in general. Right? Again, these points all connect with one another. Verse 50, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him as a portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And obviously this is a passage that's, you know, in a greater context about end times and all different things. But obviously we can understand scripture on multiple levels. You know, obviously it's part of a bigger teaching about the end of the world and Christ's second coming and so forth. But if we just look at the literal interpretation of the parable, what's he talking about? You know, he's talking about the boss is gone and so the servants that are left behind, what are they doing? You know, they're just getting rowdy, eating, drinking, smiting their fellow servants and this is not pleasing to God. And so of course you know, the boss is going to show up at some point when they're not expecting it and catch them acting this way and punish them. Well in the same way, we as Christians, if we begin to fight, if we begin to smite the fellow servants and be drunk and do these things, you know, you could go out and get drunk and you might not necessarily get punished by God the same day. But if you're a Christian and you're out getting drunk, you will get punished. You know, punishment's coming. That's a major sin. You know, if you you know, go out and just gratify the flesh and you're just eating and drinking and you're gluttonous. You know, it's not like you just wake up the next day and you're obese. Right? It's a process. It's not just like, what? You ate all those candy bars? You have diabetes? You may be able to keep doing that, right? Eventually there are consequences. Well in the same way, you go around talking trash, getting in physical fights and whatever, you're going to get away with it, get away with it, and then until you don't get away with it. And what's ultimately, you know, what's ultimately going to happen to you? Well, one thing that ultimately could happen is that you end up getting beaten badly. You end up getting killed. You end up getting arrested, maybe going to prison, right? All kinds of bad things could happen because of your behavior. And you know, I'm constantly saying, you know, to people, you know, don't just blow off your mouth at random strangers either because someday you're going to blow off your mouth with the wrong person. Oh, that little guy? Little guy with a big gun. Little guy with a big friend. You know, whatever. Or little guy who is lucky today because God wanted to punish you today with your pride and arrogance and violence. How does God feel about violence? Well, the Bible says in Psalm 11, 5, the Lord tryeth the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Right? God hates those who love violence. What goes around comes around. The Bible says, he made a pit and digged it and has thrown into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pain. Now in addition, I'll close with this thought, in addition to all these other things that we should do to avoid these types of situations, ultimately we should also pray for God to protect us from these situations. You know, I pray to God that I never am in a situation where I am violently assaulted or where I have to defend myself in any way. Like, I'm not just like, I'm not just, you know, at home just longing for someone to break in so that I can blow them away or something. Right? You know, just give me a reason or, you know, I'm not just going to go to the worst part of town which Phoenix doesn't really have a really super bad part of town. But let's say we lived in a city that did have a really bad part of town. I'm just kidding. It's just always funny when you're out soul winning in an area and people are like, oh, be careful. And you're just like, please. I've been to Chicago. Like, give me a break. But anyway, you know, I'm not just going to go to the worst part of town and just start, you know, looking at people and picking fights with people and just, you know, just give me a reason, bro. Give me a reason. Just do something so I can just have an excuse to beat you up or something. You know what I mean? No, no, we should be rather seeking to avoid these things and praying to avoid these things. And here's the thing. You know, I've made a lot of people mad over the years. You're not going to. I know it's hard to believe. I've angered a lot of people. And yet, since I've been an adult, I've never been in a fistfight since I've been an adult. And I've made a lot of people mad. I've had a lot of people threaten me and get in my face. And yet, here I am, you know, and I'm no striker. Still not a brawler. Now, maybe someday in the future, God forbid, some situation will force me into a situation where I have to use a gun or use my fists or use a knife or use a chair or, you know, a cafeteria tray or a shank or you know, I don't know. But look, God forbid that I would ever be in that kind of situation because here's the thing. I'm 42 years old. I've never been in a situation like that so far. And I'll probably go to the grave never being in a situation like that. But, you know, I'm going to pray that I am not a victim of violence. Right? We should pray to be spared from these things, not be longing for these kind of encounters to happen, just like hoping that someone gives me a reason, you know, so that I can just, you know, let out all this whatever, you know. See, the Bible says in Psalm 140 verse 1, Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man. Psalm 140 verse 4, Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent man who have purpose to overthrow my goings. Right? So there are multiple prayers in the book of Psalms saying, Hey, Lord, protect me from violence. Keep me from the violent man. And, you know, we should try to avoid these things. And, by the way, not just avoid actually being involved in fighting, but we should also not even go around glorifying it as if it's cool. Like, yeah, so cool, yeah. We should not love violence. We should not love the idea of people being physically beaten up. You know what I mean? Like, the only legitimate, you know, physical harm that should come to people is, like, a legitimate prescribed punishment. Like, obviously, in the Bible, people commit crimes and they receive stripes. They receive a physical beating. But just going out and just taking things into our own hands and just getting violent because we don't like what people said or we don't like what they did. Or, 90 some percent of the time, just for our own pride and ego and much... Look, you need to just realize that you are who you are. Okay? And, you know, you have your strengths and you have your weaknesses. And God made you a certain way and life has made you a certain way and you've made yourself a certain way and this is who you are. And we're all different in here, right? Some are big, some are small, some are short, some are tall. I'm not trying to be like Dr. Seuss now. But, you know, you have all kinds of people. There are people that are smarter than others. There are people that are handsome and people that are not attractive. Which one are you? You know? But guess what? We all have these different attributes. Different levels of intelligence, different levels of athleticism, different levels of financial prosperity, different levels... You know, we're all different. Okay? But you know what? I'm willing to bet is that probably no one in this room is really like the best in the whole world at anything. Like, probably the biggest dude in this room, there's somebody bigger. The strongest dude in this room, there's somebody stronger out there. The prettiest girl in this room, there's somebody prettier out there. The smartest guy in this room, there's somebody smarter out there. I mean, isn't that just common sense? You know, and you say, well, you don't know how exceptional I am. Okay. You're the exception that proves the rule, alright? We do have some world class athletes here, you know. But here's the thing about that is that, you know, 99.9% of people are never going to be the best at anything in their whole life. There's always going to be somebody better. Okay? And you know what? Only a prideful person goes through life just thinking about how they're so great and they're the best and wanting to be better than everyone else, right? Obviously it's normal to compete in sports. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about this attitude that wants to put other people down and you're the best and you're so cool and you're so great. Don't be prideful like that. You know, look, I'm trying to be the best pastor that I could be. I'm trying to be the best preacher that I could be. But you know what I'm not going to do? I'm not going to think about like, well, you know, where do I rank as far as like great preachers and, you know, what do I have to do to move up the slot or what, you know. It's stupid. It's wicked. It's carnal. We should not compare ourselves amongst ourselves in that way. So what I mean by that is that make peace with the fact that you are not the most handsome man in the world. Make peace with that. You're not that smart. Just make peace with that and just realize like this is who I am. And once you actually make peace with who you are and just realize like hey, you know what? I'm good at this thing but I'm bad at this other thing. You know, here's what, and look, I think about this like here's what I'm good at as a pastor. Here's what I'm not good at. Here are my strengths. Here are my weaknesses. Once you make peace with that and realize I have some strengths. I have some weaknesses. It is what it is. I'm going to do the best I can. I'm going to serve God with what I got. Once you make peace with yourself and who you are and just realize this is who I am, then you won't have this weird chip on your shoulder where you have to go around and prove to everybody how tough you are. Right? I don't feel like I have to just prove to myself and to other people how tough I am. And here's the thing about that is that when people have to go prove how tough they are, they're trying to prove to themselves first and foremost. You know, so they find some guy that they outweigh by 60, 70 pounds and beat the crap out of him and then that makes them feel good. Like, yeah, I'm a tough guy. Yeah. It's vanity. It's juvenile. It's stupid. Okay, look, I'll just tell you right now, I'm not the toughest dude. I'll tell you right now, I'm not the smartest person. I'll tell you right now, this is not the most handsome face ever. Okay, I'll tell you right now, my teeth are crooked. Every time I go to the dentist, they try to talk me into getting orthodontia done. And I'm just like, look, what are you trying to say? Because you keep bringing this up every single time I come here. But you know what? The reason I don't get my teeth fixed is because I made peace with my teeth a long time ago. I like my teeth. This is who I am. These are my teeth. This is how I look. I don't care because I'm not trying to win a beauty pageant over here. Okay. And you know what I've also made peace with? My masculinity. So I don't have to go around chest pounding and being all macho and talking to big talk and how I can beat everybody up and I can, you know, bench press 500 pounds or, you know, whatever. It's just like, no. I've already made peace with it. I am who I am. This is who God made me. And I'm okay. I'm going to serve God with what I got. Some of my attributes are good. Some of them are not so good. But you know what? This is the hand that life has dealt me. And I'm just going to do the best I can for the glory of God. You know, just make peace. If you're short, just make peace. I'm short. And that's okay. God made me short. Don't get the short man syndrome. Right? And look, maybe you're physically weak or something. You know, my hands are way too small. I have very small hands. You know, I'm not just going to go through life having to prove something because my hands are so small. You know, me and Donald Trump have small hands, okay? It is what it is. At least I have big feet to make up for it. Who cares? Right? There's nothing. Look, which of you by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature? You can't. You can't make one hair of your head white or black unless you dye it or something. But the point is that we all have flaws about ourselves physically. Right? You know, there are things that are wrong with our physical appearance. There are things that are wrong with our character. Things that are wrong with our brains. And don't have some weird chip on your shoulder where you have to go around proving to everybody how smart you are because the people who go around proving that they are usually the biggest dummies and then they just go around trying to look smart or something. Just be who you are. You shouldn't have something to prove about your brain. You shouldn't have something to prove. Just learn to accept the person that God has made you and then you won't need to constantly be grandstanding. And by the way, also and this deserves an entire sermon and we'll get an entire sermon in the very near future. Here's another thing, by the way, if you have a sinful, wicked past don't feel like now you have to just be so uber-righteous and holy and impose all these strict rules on other people because you have such a raunchy past. That's a little sneak preview on a sermon that's coming soon to a pulpit near you. Okay. And you know what it reminds me of? It's like these parents who, they didn't ever really make it in sports. So then they have to like push their kids to like, they have like a small child that's already being groomed for like the Olympics. It's like their 8-year-old daughter is going to be an Olympian or whatever. It's just like, look, you know you didn't, you made mistakes, you didn't, you know whatever you did in the past, don't let those mistakes from your past you know, make you now to where you just have something to prove now. Right? Lose the ego. Lose the pride. Lose the chest pounding. Be comfortable with who you are. Live your life according to God's word and don't go around trying to prove to everybody what a tough guy you are, what a big man you are. Okay? Just be a Godly Christian and do the best you can with what God has given you. Let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We thank you that you've given us these warnings about fighting and violence, striking, brawling, all these different things, Lord. Help us as Christians to not be a bunch of arrogant, overgrown man-children acting like it's a junior high locker room, going around like a middle school bully, Lord. Help us rather to be gentle, kind, meek, and not to get violent. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.