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

you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you You might stand up here. I won't make you stand up in front of everyone while we sing Happy Birthday to you. Alright, we'll sing Happy Birthday to Leslie. Leslie. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday God bless you, happy birthday to you. Alright. And as always when you come to church on your birthday you get a free ice cream so be sure to help yourself to one of those. And you know this question came up if you are here on your birthday and you forget to get yourself an ice cream you can still get that in a reasonable amount of time after your birthday. It's like a coupon but it does expire. Okay you can't be coming back six months later going you know what I never got my ice cream it's too late it's already passed. Okay so if you forget it don't don't fret you can you can still redeem your free ice cream just as long you being in church on your on your birthday is what is what gives you that privilege so. Alright continuing on here we got more birthdays here in the month of May and anniversaries and then the upcoming events down at the bottom of course we've got the camping trip this week. The church anniversary June 25th which we actually have Pastor Mejia, Bruce Mejia from First Works Baptist Church is going to be preaching for us on that day so if you can make it out for that please do so. We'll probably be doing some soul winning on the Saturday before and then we'll have some type of activities in between the church services on that day to celebrate our five year anniversary as a church. And then on July 5th we've got Pastor Anderson coming out here to preach for us it's a Wednesday night and that is about it for our announcement so I'm going to turn the service back over to Brother Peter who can lead us our next song. In ninety three. Two ninety three. You're all on the altar. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sunday morning offering. offering place for being passed around. First Timothy. First Timothy. Chapter five. And as we do customary here in stronghold Baptist Church. Chapter. In first Timothy chapter five the Bible reads. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. And these things give in charge that they may be blameless but if any provide not for his own and specially for those of his own household he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. Let not a widow be taken in the number under three score years old having been the wife of one man. Well reported of. Excuse me. Well reported of for good works. If she have brought up children. If she have lodged strangers. If she have washed the Saints feet. If she ever. Relieve the inflicted. And she have diligently followed every good work. But the younger widows refuse. They have began to wax one against Christ. They will marry. Having damnation because they have cast off their first faith. And with all they learn to be idle. Wandering about from house to house. And not only idle but tattlers also and busybodies. Speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry. Bear children. Guide the house. Give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. For some have already turned aside after Satan. If any man or woman that believeth have widows. Let them relieve them. And let them and let not the church be charged. That it may relieve them that are widows indeed. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor. Especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith. Thou shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And the labor is worthy for his reward. Against an elder receive not an accusation. But before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all. That others may also fear. I charge thee before God. And the Lord Jesus Christ. And the elect angels. That thou observe these things without preferring one before another. Doing nothing by partiality. Lay hands suddenly on no man. Neither be partaker of other man's sins. Keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water. But use a little wine for thy stomach's sake. And thine oft infirmities. Some men's sins are open beforehand. Going before to judgment. And some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand. And they that are otherwise counted be hid. Brother G.J. if you could pray for us please. If you could pray for us please. Dear Heavenly Father God, I want to thank you for your word and for serving it. Thank you for our salvation and for this gift to be told in life. Lord please bless this service and bless Pastor Burzins as he come up to preach. And Lord bless this camping trip coming up next week. We love you. This is Jesus. We pray. Amen. Amen. Alright before I start the sermon one more little point that I forgot in the announcements is that there are going to be cupcakes available after service. So Mrs. Johnson was kind enough to bring in some cupcakes for Leslie's birthday to celebrate. And I guarantee you it will be a blessing if you want to get those. So make sure you get out there and get one because I can guarantee you they're going to be wonderful. So appreciate that. And they're out on the table. I can see them right now. So feel free to help yourself to one of those after the service. But now you got to hold back and refrain until after the service just like the prize is. Okay you got to wait till we're done and then go get one. Alright. Now my sermon for this morning. Sometimes you have to do things you don't really like doing. Sometimes I have to do things I don't really like doing. Okay there's an issue that came up recently. And you know I apologize for those of you who are visiting a church that you're going to have to go through this and deal with this. But it's something that's happened. It's something that came up. I don't think it's too big of a deal. But I'm going to we're going to cover it right now out and open. And I'm going to bring up basically I've had an accusation against me. And there is someone who is now withdrawn themselves from our church over this accusation. So I want to start off by making sure that things are being done decently and in order in this church. First and foremost. Okay and remind everybody as we started off in 1 Timothy chapter 5. I'll get to the accusation in a minute so just hold tight. But in verse number 1 of 1 Timothy chapter 5 I want you to look down the Bible says rebuke not an elder but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren. Now as you continue to read I believe that the primary application of this passage and you keep going. It's for the younger men, the older men, the younger men, older women, younger women that were treating each other appropriately just in general in the church. And when it's talking about an elder here the primary application the first surface application is an older man. Like physically, aged, older that you treat that man with respect. But I completely also believe that this applies to spiritual elders or someone who is called an elder in the church as well. Someone who holds the position of a pastor is also synonymous with someone who is an elder. So the way that you treat if you believe that you have a pastor that's in error about something is not to rebuke them but rather to entreat them as a father. And you think about what does that mean? It's like you don't have to call me father. That's not what it's saying. I'm not a priest. I'm not a Catholic priest. I don't call myself father. It's the level of respect that a person ought to have for their father. You think about how a son would approach their father. It ought to be with some fear and reverence and a little bit of, you know, entreatment of going, hey dad, you know, I'd like to talk to you about something. And be gentle in your approach when you think there is a problem with someone. Now that just kind of starts off this passage, right? That that's the way that people ought to be bringing things up. Now obviously, look, there's a limit. If someone's just like, if you have a pastor that's out committing adultery, you don't have to be very gentle about a sin. Like that, okay? Something that's just grievous sin. But in general, that shouldn't be happening anyways, right? And those aren't the things we're talking about. And look, no pastor is perfect. We're human beings, sinful, just like everybody else. And I hope I've never come across as being a holier than thou type of person. I don't think I have. But, you know, if I have, I'll tell you right now, you know, I'm not perfect. My family's not perfect. We have our own sins, our own problems that we deal with. Deal with the flesh on a daily basis, like everyone else, okay? But when we jump down, I want you to jump down to verse number 17 there, because now that being understood and that being said, so I want to make this clear. So if anyone has a problem or sees a problem with me or my family, this is how you approach someone, especially an elder, about this, about a problem that you see or that you're concerned about, okay? Because I don't want to come off today as being this, you know, just super angry and make everyone just feel like, man, I can't ever say anything to Pastor Burzins. I don't want you to feel that way. You ought to be able to say, if something's on your mind, if you're concerned about something, if you see some problem, you think there's some problem in my life that I need to deal with, that maybe I'm blind to, then by all means, let me know. But do so appropriately. Verse number 17, it says, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor. And, you know, in this passage now, we're talking about the pastor. We're talking about people who are ruling in the house of God, not just someone who is aged in the house of God. This is someone who's ruling. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Verse number 19, against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Okay, so if someone's going to start coming to you and talking about some accusation that they have against the pastor, you need to not receive that accusation unless you've got other people around, two or three witnesses, that can verify what's being said. Now, it doesn't mean you can't receive an accusation, but you have to have other people around. You can't have this one person tells one person, and it's kind of like this scuttlebutt, this, you know, things just being talked about in private, because that's how church splits happen. That's how deceitful workers work. They don't want to be out in the open and up front about it and let everybody know what's going on. They're going to be more subtle about it and sneaky and trying to get into the ear of different people and kind of play, how much can I talk to this person about, am I going to be able to, are they going to go for this or not? So they test the waters and then try to poison the minds of multiple people. That's why this is in place, because if you have something to say, if you have an accusation against someone, you ought to just be able to say, yeah, that's fine, let's get a few other people out here so everyone can hear what I have to say. And then that way, when it comes time to deal with an accusation, yes, I witnessed them say that. Yes, I witnessed that. I heard them say, this is what they said. Every word could be established. So there's not the, oh, I didn't see that. You have people trying to backpedal. I didn't say that. Well, yes, you did, because we've got other people. I heard you say that very thing. So that everyone could be held accountable for things that you make accusations about. It makes sense, right? Because if you're going to make an accusation about something, you better make sure you're right about it. And you better be able to stick to it. And you better not be going and saying more than you know to be fact. So this keeps people in line about just making frivolous accusations. So then you can deal with it. And then it says there in verse number 20, Then that sin rebuked before all that others also may fear. So if people are bringing false accusations and it turns out that this is all just a bunch of nonsense, He says, you know what? Rebuke them before all. That everybody else is going to hear and fear and be like, okay, well, I don't want to be brought into shame because I'm bringing an evil report against people that there's nothing, no foundation there. Now, I don't know if this has happened or not. I have no idea. I'm bringing it up because it may have, it may not have. I'd like to think that the person who's no longer attending our church has the integrity, and I do think he does, and I think he's just completely wrong about this. And I'll explain why as soon as we get into that in just a minute. But just in case there was any other communication going on that I'm not aware of, I just want to make sure that everyone's full well aware of what the Bible says about receiving accusations. Okay. So if you were privy to this and you know what's going on and you were in conversations about this, by receiving accusations, you know, you ought not to do that. Okay. And if you were, you know, in the future, if you were to become, does this happen? You know, you can't change the past. If you received accusation, okay, you know, I'm not mad at you, but we need to understand what the Bible says. And then in the future be able to say, look, if you're going to be bringing up some type of accusation, some type of evil report against a pastor, we need to have a couple more people here to hear this. And stop them in their tracks and say, this is what we need to do to do it right. Okay. And you know what, some, this, all of this is uncomfortable. You say, I don't know, I don't really want to say that. I don't really like when people even bring it up anyways. Yeah, I don't either, but you need to stop it. Right. So if someone's going to just be gossiping or bringing up railing accusations, it's not comfortable, but you need to stop it. It's not comfortable for me to stand up here and deal with this. I'd much rather have a much more joyful, hey, exciting, we got the camp coming up, I'm all fired up, this is great. Let's have a good time and just get everybody motivated and edified. But you know what, we got to deal with this. I didn't choose to bring this issue up, but we're going to deal with it. And you know, you could still be edified because you're in a church where we're just going to deal with this stuff. We're going to look at the scripture and deal with what it says. So let's get to the accusation. Turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Just go back a couple pages to chapter 3. Because this is why this person has withdrawn himself from our church. 1 Timothy chapter 3 gives the qualifications of a bishop. Verse number 1 about it says, this is a true saying, if a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires the good work. A bishop then must be blameless. The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy, a filthy lucre. But patient, not a brawler, not covetous. One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall in the condemnation of the devil. So, what I've been accused of is one that doesn't rule his own house well. Because my children are not in subjection with all gravity. Now, this is what came up. I had a phone call with the person. And honestly, who it is doesn't even really matter right now. Because this accusation, I'm covering it because it's a serious accusation. Okay, and I want to make sure there wasn't anything else going around, so I'm just dealing with it head on. But this person I want to let you know, too, isn't kicked out of our church. Okay, and I want him to know that, too. He's not kicked out of the church. He's chosen not to come to our church because he feels like I'm in violation of this. Okay, now if he believes that in his heart, then he ought not to come to church. But I think it's ridiculous. Now, is there anyone that's going to bear witness and say, Pastor Brozins, your household is out of line and you do not have your children in subjection. And maybe you're not feeling comfortable in front of everybody. But I kind of was taken aback because I was like, of all the things and all the reasons and all the things not to come, I'm like, wait, what? Excuse me? It's weird. And just to be sure, there are two men in our church that are well-esteemed that I asked on Wednesday night, just like, I just want to make sure I'm not just completely blind and that I just don't have these blinders on, you know, and they verified for me, too, and said, no, Pastor Brozins, that's not the case. Now, we'll go into this, and I want to go into this more in detail, too, because when we're talking about even just the qualifications for a bishop or for a pastor, you know, when it says that they need to be blameless, first of all, like, you can take this stuff and run and go wild with it. Like, well, I mean, if you take it to its extreme, blameless can just be sinless, right? Because they're like, well, I mean, you're not perfect, so you have blame, so no one could be a pastor, and that's stupid. That's stupid, and why would it even say that? Because no one could be blameless. Obviously, there's a degree of being blameless. There's a reputation that you have. There's a, how do you deal with people? Are you fair? Are you just, right? That's how you're blameless. Are you just known as being a crook in your business, even outside of church? Like, are you just some crooked person? You're always cutting corners and not, you know, like, well, that's not really blameless then. But you have to take into consideration that the pastor, while yes, there are qualifications, is still a human being, and still deals with the flesh. So, when you're, and the people that were brought up as being in, having a problem are ages seven and younger, as what the problem is. Now, is there any, is there any parent here that has children that are older than seven that might have told a seven-year-old to do something once, and they didn't do it? Has any, has that ever happened to anyone? No? Am I the only one that has a, okay, I see one hand back there. All right, somebody has had a say, okay, there you go. Thank you. You're probably thinking, like, well, Pastor Brooks, that's ridiculous. Of course, that's why we're not even raising our hands, because everyone that has young children knows that they're not perfect all the time. Okay, and someone who has witnessed, you told Jonathan to sit down somewhere and he didn't do it. Like, okay, I don't even remember that. It wasn't a big deal, obviously. If I said to do something at church, you know, I've got a million other things going on, if he didn't do something that I said, whatever. If it was a big enough deal, I would have dealt with it, but if it's something that's stupid, I don't even care. And I'm not even going to bring up all the little details, because they're dumb. Actually, I'm going to bring up a couple of them, though, because there's one thing, well, because this is what it's going to all boil down to. So, it starts with this not having my family in subjection, right, not being, but then it really, all it really is going to boil down to is discipline, is how we discipline our children. Okay, and I'm going to cover that as well, but first, I want to just cover this and look at the scripture here, when the Bible says in verse 4, verse 73, One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. Okay, gravity is seriousness, right? When I tell my children to do something, in general, okay, they listen to what I say. And the more you want to be able to judge whether or not a person is ruling his family well, you start looking at the older children. Before you look at the two-year-old, or the three-year-old, or the four-year-old, or the five-year-old, why don't you start looking at some of the older ones and see how they behave themselves? Now, again, my children are not perfect, but I'll happily put Elizabeth and Abigail, who are 13 and 11, up for anyone to scrutinize and say, Where are they not being in subjection? Where are they just being really rebellious and stubborn and not coming to church or anything like that? Like, what is that happening? It doesn't. Because whether I'm at home or whether I'm here, my will is done. Which is why I was just like, of all the things you're going to accuse me of, really? Like, if I am okay with my level of control at home, why are you worried about someone not sitting when I say sit? Now, I don't know what the perception is. Maybe it's like, you better have these robots or have them—but here's the real concern. Because there are—I've seen this before. When you have an extremely abusive parent, they might have their child, like, on a leash. Of just, like, not having a cold stare and just doing literally exactly everything that they're told to do because they are fearful for their life. But that is not what the Bible is talking about by having your family or children in subjection with all gravity. Okay? Because that does happen, where people are just so, so severely punished their children that they won't even blink without being given permission to blink. And that's crazy. Okay? And when you have younger children, they need to be able to be children. You need to be able to extend some mercy, too. And have some grace and long suffering as you raise them and rear them up and you train them. It's not all just—every single infraction is get the rod, get the rod, get the rod. Every single time there's any little minor infraction or any time they do or say something wrong. Okay, that's nuts. When the Bible says here, having children in subjection without gravity, and then it gives the reasoning behind this. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Basically, if you can't run things at home, if you can't run the house, manage the house, look, there's a lot of things that need to be done at home. Right? There's a lot of tasks that need to be done. Children need to be taught. The house needs to be taken care of. Bills need to be paid. There's all different things going on at home. And when you're renting a house, you need to be able to take charge and make sure things get done. Right? And if you can't do that at home, how are you going to step up to a bigger responsibility and be able to take care of a church? Where, yes, we're all brothers and sisters, but there's still, you've got to feed, right? As a pastor, you've got to be able to feed and provide knowledge and teach and train and do a lot more in regards to the maintenance of the church. So if you can't even keep things under control at home, how are you going to do that in the church? And I would say this, and this is what I said, I said, well, look, because that's the reason why you need to have, like, if the one is out of order, you can guarantee the other is going to be out of order. If I can't keep my household running, how in the world would I ever be able to keep a church operational and functioning? And I said, are you calling the question the way that I run the church? Because I haven't had anyone question my authority ever. In fact, I've dealt with things that other people wanted to maybe do some things different, and I put my foot down and said, no, and guess what? My way is the one that went forward. Okay? And you know what? I think happily, too. Because I'm not trying to be a jerk and lord over everybody here, which is why, at the beginning of the year, when I'm asking for volunteers for all these different ministries, we've had more participation than ever. We have tons of people that are interested in volunteering, wanting to do work and volunteer their time and sacrifice their time for the benefit of the church. I would like to, I would hope that that speaks a little bit to my leadership here and being able to run things. That people who actually care are involved in the church. I mean, things are running. We've got our live streams always going up. The music's in great order. I mean, hey, praise the lord for the music, right? The ministry. We've got people who are playing very well and praising the lord. The service is being run in order. What's the problem? If we're not seeing any big problems here, what makes you think I've got a big problem with my house? But on top of that, turn if you were to Titus chapter 1, because you might want to play around a little bit with having your children in subjection with all gravity. What does that mean? They're never going to disobey ever? Well, if they disobey, then it's not all gravity. Give me a break. Seriously, give me a break. Can you give your pastor a break for not being perfect, for not having children that just listen to every single word that just drops out of my mouth and just will always do exactly what I say every single time? But we get from a parallel passage in Titus 1 where it also covers qualifications for a bishop. I think a little bit more understanding of how far, how extreme should we take having your children in subjection with all gravity. Verse number 5, the Bible says, So this is the similar part to having your children in subjection with all gravity. They're not accused of riot or unruly. Now, that word riot, first of all, what does that mean? Well, it's not used very often in scripture. Okay, but being accused of riot, I'll give you a few of the examples here. You can turn it if you'd like to, but you don't have to. First Peter chapter 4, verse number 3, the Bible says, So this is talking about the contrast between sinners out in the world, unsaved people, and the difference between them and you who is not living that life in the flesh anymore. So being in the flesh, it brings up this excess of riot, its lasciviousness, its lusts, its excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, basically just partying it up and just living it up to the extreme. That's riotous living. Proverbs 23, 20 says, For the drunkard, which would be the winebibber, and the glutton, which would be the riotous eaters of flesh, shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Proverbs 21, 18 gives the law about, this is actually a death penalty, verse number 18, the Bible says, There's your unruly. Unruly means you can't rule over them. will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him will not hearken unto them. So this person just is not listening. This child's not listening to the parents at all. Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of the city and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. Look at this. He is a glutton and a drunkard. It mentions the gluttony and the drunkard. That's your riot and unruly. Okay, this is a shame. This is a disgrace to have a child that's in that condition. And they say they're just giving over. Now look, first of all, do you think a seven year old is going to be accused of riot and unruly? I would hope not. He's a drunkard and a glutton and good for nothing and doesn't respond. Look, this is what the Bible is talking about, about having your house in order. Because if you get a microscope and focus on anybody's life, you're going to find some disobedience. You're going to find not everyone's perfect. But I'll tell you what, there's a reason why when we go out in public as a family, I get compliments almost every single time. And I'm not I don't want to brag or lift myself up. But if this is happening, it's kind of like, well, which one's true? All these random people who don't know me at all that just decide to approach me while I'm eating dinner, that want to give me a compliment and tell me, wow, your kids are so well behaved. Or someone in our church that wants to accuse me of having children that are riot and unruly, apparently. Oh, that's not what he said. I just said that you don't have your children in subjection with all gravity. Same thing. You look at the parallel passage, the same thing. That's what it's talking about. OK. My kids are not perfect. Neither am I. But what standard are you going to set for the qualifications of a parallel? How close do you want to look at this and say, nope? I mean, good luck finding your unicorn church. It doesn't exist. You want to find someone that has that level of sinless perfection. Good luck. But now we're going to get to where I think was the real the real problem, because this is why I withdrew. I mean, that's a serious thing, right, that a pastor doesn't have his house in order and not ruling well. That gives you the reason to then to then leave. But it seemed to stem upon further discussion from they just didn't like the discipline measures that were being put forward by my wife during church services. Because believe it or not, now, this is coming from someone who has a husband and a wife sitting with many less children than what we have. But when my wife is sitting there by herself, because I'm up here, OK, and dealing with all of the children, it's not always easy if you need to take one of them out, especially one of the middle ones, and just leave everyone else behind. You don't want to cause more disruptions. Or you can get everybody up and walk out, and then there's another disruption. So it's kind of like there's always going to be some level of disruption. But it doesn't mean that the children aren't getting disciplined. But here's the problem is that it's not the way that they wanted it to be. Anyone who's been coming to my church knows that I teach and thoroughly believe in the teaching of the Bible, and turn you over to Proverbs chapter 13, that states that we ought to be using the rod on our children to correct them. I have taught this and believed this since before I had children. And this is totally biblical and scriptural. It's what the Bible says has been going on since the beginning of time. But what we're going to see real quick, and part of the accusation, is straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. Or being hypersensitive on the definition of a rod. This person actually told me that, well, if you use any other discipline other than a rod that's not scriptural, it's not biblical, and you shouldn't do it. I hear that. I hear that from people who have children, who have multiple children. And no, he's not just talking about inflicting physical punishment. If you use your hand, nope, not biblical, can't do it. If you were to use any other instrument than a rod, not biblical. Well, you know what's funny about that is this same person had a wooden cooking spoon. Well, you know, a cooking spoon isn't a rod. So I guess that's not biblical either, is it? I mean, if you really want, because they said, well, now you're on a slippery slope, I mean, if you start saying that, because I said, look, there's other means that are appropriate. I am all for using the rod, and we do that, and we give our kids spankings, absolutely. Yes, yes, 100%, you should not be sparing the rod either. But that's not the only means of discipline that you can use biblically as a parent. Okay, there are other forms of punishment that you can give your children that are acceptable and fine and work. Now, you can't leave out, you shouldn't leave out the rod. Okay, but I'm going to say a couple things. The rod is not just a literal physical rod as the only instrument of being able to meet out that punishment, okay? I'm okay with the paddle that isn't a rod. I'm okay with the belt that isn't a rod. You're doing the same exact thing. Anything that is not going to cause injury, because we don't want to injure your child at all. We don't want to, you know, definitely break bones or things like that, but we want to inflict the pain that goes along with the spanking to show and to drive it home into the child's head. You shouldn't be doing that. Now, the Bible talks about this multiple places. So Proverbs 13, 24, the Bible says, He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. Okay? Now, if you're sparing a rod, the Bible says you hate your son. And look, I've taught on this before and I still believe this to be true, that if people are not using, you know, the corporal punishment as discipline, you don't really love your child. Now, you can start to apply this and say, look, we shouldn't be sparing the rod in general because you're lazy, because you don't want to deal with it, because, oh, I'm too busy, I've got other things going on. Yes, that's true. But again, how far are you going to take this to where it's like, okay, so one time, if I don't spank my child the way you say I should spank him, and at the moment that you say I should do it, does that mean I hate my son? No. No. We, you know, there's lots of stuff in the Bible, and look, we believe the Bible literally, we believe every word, we look to the word of God, and we treat the Bible with as much reverence and respect and try to do everything as possible, as to the T as possible. But we also have to come with a brain and common sense in order to get the right understanding, not dismissing what the Bible says, but taking it as a whole with the spirit of the law and not just the letter of the law. What pops off to me right away is how the Pharisees are trying to condemn Jesus of healing on the Sabbath day. Oh, you're working because you're, look, he's doing, he's healing. What can possibly be wrong about healing on the Sabbath? Like, it's not. He even tells them, look, you guys are able, you do circumcision if the eighth day happens to be a Saturday, don't you? Well, that could be, oh, that's work. Oh, well, now we, look, no, it's not. It's an obedience to law. Well, you know what, healing stuff. If someone were to get, like, maybe mortally wounded on the Sabbath day, what, are you just going to let them die? That's stupid. That's not the intention of God's law. You know, God's not going to say, well, you can't lift up that person now. He fell into a ditch, he fell on a stake, he fell into a trap accidentally, and if you leave him there, he's going to die. Well, I can't lift him up out of there because then I'd be doing work. That's stupid. Okay, that's not taking the spirit. This is what the Pharisees were basically, their attitude was towards Jesus Christ. Okay, and it's the same type of a stupid attitude when you can't read the Bible and glean the understanding about disciplining your child. And you start to get so hyper-focused on, well, if it's not a rod, then it's not Biblical. Now, we are not a church that just completely dismisses the idea of using an instrument to punish your children at all. Like I said, it's found all throughout Scripture. Proverbs 22, we read Proverbs 22, or excuse me, Proverbs 13. Proverbs 22, 15 says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. The rod's driving it away. Proverbs 23, 13 says withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Amen. And look, for those of you that don't know, I do do this with my children. I do. Now, are you going to try to nitpick how often? Is it right to your standards? Is that how you're going to now judge? Like, well, I don't think you're ruling your house well. I would have spanked him in that instance and you didn't. Okay. How about you show a little bit of grace and allow for people to come up to their ills? How about you rule your family and I rule my family? And it got to the point where I'm going, like, how much are you looking at my kids during service instead of just paying attention yourself? I mean, it got so bad, he's talking about how my child looks at my wife. Like, what do you care if one of my children has a smirk on his face or is pouting because they got in trouble and is angry with my wife? What do you care? What does that mean for anything? But it just leads me down this path of going, well, I mean, so do you, I mean, are you going to beat your child, you know, over some look that they got because they got in trouble? I don't know. I mean, that's, some people do that. I don't, especially now with a young child. Give a little bit of grace, a little bit of mercy. And depending on what they did, too, I mean, if it's something that's really stupid and then they give you a dirty look because they're upset, whatever, man. That's not what the Bible's talking about, about just every single slight infraction, you just beat them with the rod. You have to weigh, you have to judge what they're doing. Now, the other thing is, too, is that in the Proverbs 13 that we read there, he has spared the rod, hated the son, but he had love with him, chasteneth him betimes. When you start early on with this discipline, you don't need it that much later on. I almost never spank my older children. Almost never. Because they don't need it. Does that mean they're perfect? No. But they're not really doing anything anymore that's going to require that level of discipline, and if they do, they get it. But when you do it early, they already know, and they don't want to have it. They've learned enough. You learn enough early on, and you just don't want to keep going back to that. Some kids learn a little bit faster than others, but, you know, they all ultimately will learn. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, verse 15, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame. And it says in verse 17, correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest, yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. So I am not against the rod at all. It's scriptural. It's biblical. But what they didn't like was my wife pinched the hand of one of my children. A firm squeeze to let them know, stop messing around in church. Am I way out of line here? Like, Pastor Berzins, you are so unbiblical. Your wife, I cannot believe she would do something like that, instead of just whipping out the rod, going and getting a switch off the tree, and just beating them right then and there, because they were starting to act up a little bit in church. I mean, am I just crazy here? Good, thank you, because I didn't think so either, because my response when I was on the phone was incredulity, and was one of saying, you know, like, they're saying, well, if you fix this, I'll come back. And I was like, no, you're not going to tell me, you know, this isn't even a problem, okay, and I'm not going to have you be in charge, oh, let me come and beg you to come back to church. No. Because you're out of line. I don't have a problem in my household. I don't have a problem with the way I discipline my children. I don't have a problem with the way my wife disciplines my children. If one thing happens, and you notice, or if there's something getting out of control, and you notice my kids are always being bad in church, let me know about it, okay? I can't always see everything that's going on, and if you think there's an issue, how about you approach me and treat me like a father, and respectfully say, hey, Pastor Berzins, you know, I've been noticing this is going on for a while, you might want to, you know, I just want to let you know about it, in case you're unaware. That would be different than saying, I'm not coming to your church anymore because you don't have your house in order. Yeah, and that's exactly the response I had, oh, well, whatever, right? Because if you're going to get that crazy about this, there's nothing, I don't know if I can help you. Now, the reason I'm even preaching is because I do care. It's not, because honestly, I've debated this, I've thought about it quite a bit. I don't think anyone in our church has a problem with the teaching on the discipline here, and I really didn't think that anyone was going to be caught up with, oh, yeah, Pastor Berzins, this doesn't have his house in order. I really didn't think that for a second. Okay, I didn't. One, I was a little bit concerned about, well, maybe people are receiving accusations when they shouldn't, so it's a good reminder to say, hey, if someone's coming. Now, I don't think this person is doing that either. Honestly, I don't think so. I don't believe that. I could be wrong. But I do care, I even care about this person, too. Hopefully they could listen to this and maybe see the error of their way and change their expectations of what you expect and how you understand the scripture here. And, you know, when I was talking about the rod, okay, not using a rod specifically, well, this is striving about words, because what is a rod? I went back to the Webster's 1828 dictionary, all right, because that's the one everyone wants to use. You've got to get a definition of the word, right? Let's go back and see what a rod is. Now, the Bible will tell you what a rod is anyways, because you have Aaron's rod that budded, right? You have Moses had a rod that became a serpent, okay? I don't see anyone displaying their children with a staff. And I'm not saying that would necessarily be wrong, okay, but I'm just saying that, I mean, how much do you want to get on this definition? A rod according to the dictionary, 1828, the chute or long twig of any woody plant, a branch or the stem of a shrub. So, it's a switch. That's what it is, right? You're getting a flexible branch, right? This is what's being referred to as a rod that you can whip the behind of your child. But you know what? I don't see that happening. I mean, then everyone must be out of line, including the person who's making this accusation to me, because they don't do that either. Well, how biblical are you? Oh, well, it's okay. So, it's okay for you, but not okay then for me. So, if I don't have an instrument around me and I decide to use my hand to paddle the back of my child's buttocks, then it's my problem. I'm way out of line for doing it and that's unbiblical. Whatever. Well, it's funny because the Bible even uses other examples of rods that God uses. Because we're chasing to the Lord, right, when we do wrong believers, children of God. And he uses rods for us, but it's obviously not a physical rod. Now, I'm not saying, I'm not trying to explain away all the, you know, the Bible's talking about the rod. But to try to narrow it down to just that one definition is nuts. Okay, go with the spirit of what the Bible's saying. Isaiah 11, verse 1, the Bible says, And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. So, there again, you could get the definition of a rod being like a branch, right, from a tree. And then it says in verse 4, But with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth. We all understand that. He's smiting with the rod of his mouth. 2 Samuel 7, 14 says, I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men. So God's saying, I'm going to use a rod, but I'm going to use the children of men to be that rod. Okay, and I would say, you could use the wooden spoon to be your rod. Okay, the whole point is that chastening and the discipline where they can feel it, and you're not injuring them, because you love them, but you're making it sting to drive the point home. So if I use a blind rod or a switch or a, you know, something to that effect that you can keep under control and provide that sting, you're doing what the Bible's teaching. I've got a lot, I'm skipping over some of this stuff. I over-prepared for the sermon. But the Bible, and here's the thing, it's not always just a rod, because the Bible talks about chastening, that's outside of just using the rod too. Okay, there is a chastening that you can give your child that is not the only way you can chasten your child is just with a rod. Because the Bible says in Proverbs 19, 18, chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. Okay, but it doesn't necessarily have to be with the rod. The Bible says in Hebrews 12, verse 5, And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Oh, now he's talking about a whip. That's what a scourge is. Wow, that's unbiblical too. Is it? It's not a rod. It's ridiculous. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Almost done. Deuteronomy chapter 8. The Bible says in verse number 2, And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, which means he allowed you to hunger, and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not. Neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment wax not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways and to fear him. How did the Lord chasten the children of Israel in the wilderness? He allowed them to suffer some hunger. That was a chastening of the Lord, and he was teaching them something in the process, right? Hey, man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word. You follow me, you obey me, I'll take care of you. You don't worry about the bread, I'll take care of you. But, you know what, in order to teach them that lesson, they hungered a little bit. So, you know what's another, I think, biblical way to teach your children something and to chasten them? Maybe if they're complaining about their food at night, you give them dinner, I don't want to eat this. You know what, you could go to bed hungry. And then, when you're hungry enough, maybe you'll like what I provided you. That's chastening. And that's chastening without the rod. And you know what, I think it's perfectly biblical, I think we had a good example for that. And what's the point? You don't always have to, it's not a one thing, only, this is the only way you discipline your child. It's not. It's not. That's one way of doing it. There are things you could remove, whatever the problem may be, just, nope, you can't have this anymore. I'm taking this from you. You're going to go without for a while. That's a chastening also. We don't throw out the rod, okay, we use it. But we use it appropriately and use some sense about when do we use this and when do we not. And when do we extend mercy? So if you're going to look at me and look at my family and look at my household and say, Oh, you're not, you're not using a rod every single time I think you should use a rod. You know what, too bad. And if that's going to make you leave the church, then good riddance. One more bit of chastising we see in the Bible. Turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 7. I'll read from 1 Corinthians chapter 11 when it's talking about the Lord's Supper, right? 1 Corinthians 11, 27, the Bible says, Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. So for the reason why people are eating and drinking unworthily, God was causing them to be weak and sickly. That was a judgment of God, that was a chastising of God, and many sleep, meaning they died. And then it says this, For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. God chastens us in ways that He deems appropriate. And to take the cake with this, and if you're going to come at me with something that I'm doing wrong, okay, you better make sure you don't have a big beam sticking out of your eye, especially in this area. Like in the very area you want to condemn someone else for. Like you're going to come at me and say my house isn't in order with all subjection. You better not have one of the rowdiest children in an entire church. You want someone to listen to you, how about you get your house in order first, and then start telling me how my house isn't in order. The Bible says in Matthew 7, 1, Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but consider'st not the beam that is in thine own eye? I'm not saying I don't have a mote. I'm not saying it. I'm not saying I'm perfect. I'm not saying there's not an area for improvement, because there is. Okay, I'll admit. Yes, can you improve your parenting skills? Yes. Can you improve your discipline of your children? Yes. Can you improve how well they sit in church? Yes. I can improve that. But if you want to help me with that, how about you get the big sinking beam out of your eye, because I don't think you can see clearly at all what's actually going on. Instead of spending so much time looking at my family, why don't you spend the time looking at yours? And keeping them from running around all over the place during service, and not looking at mine who are sitting in their chairs and you just don't like the look on their face. And yes, these are factual events. Okay, I'm talking real. Literal. Not just making up a what if situation. That's actually what's being brought against me. Or how wilt thou say thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and behold a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eyes. Look, I'm not above reproach. I try to be. Okay, I'm striving to be. I'm not perfect, my family's not perfect. But you want to come at me with my qualifications being put in question, you better make sure you've got a solid case. And if you're going to talk to anyone else about it, you better not receive it unless there's other people around to hear everything that's being said. So you can list out what is the accusation. There's no question about it, there's no he said, she said about it. This is what's going on. So, as I mentioned before, and this is why I left the person unnamed, because they're not kicked out of the church. Okay, I think they're foolish and in grievous error on this, even bringing up the accusation. And I'm going to defend myself, I'm going to teach on this subject and make sure that no one is confused about this in the slightest, I hope not. I didn't think you were anyways. But, you know, one thing I've learned being a pastor is that, you know, there's a lot of things that I never know. And sometimes things spread in churches and people talk and I have no clue what's going on. And that happens. So when I know about anything going on, I'm just, I'd rather just deal with it. Just bring it out in the open, you know, if there's anything else going on, you know, how about you, and, you know, here's another thing too, and this ought to stick in your mind. Okay, last point. Someone wants to come and you bring an accusation against me. Ask them, did you talk to a pastor about that? Ask them that first, because that might tell you where their heart is. If you love someone and someone's in error and someone's doing wrong, you can go to them and talk to them about it and not go around and start talking to other people about it. You deal with them first. If you see me having problems that you think need to be addressed, please come and talk to me about them, because I do want to know. And I'm not going to rip your head off. Okay, but give me some good reasons too, and if you're going to start accusing me of stuff that you are guilty of to the extreme, you know, I'm not going to say I'm necessarily going to change anything, because in this case, I didn't see anything that's worthy of needing change. Based off of every single little detail and accusation that was brought forth, it was all stupid. But I would like to know, and if you have a problem, you know, if I'm in sin, I know I'm in sin. I mean, I know the areas I struggle with and work on, okay, but if you see something and you want to, you know, feel compelled that I ought to be confronted about it, I am not above receiving that, okay? Just do so appropriately, and don't go talking about it to everyone else first. And that goes, not just me, okay, anybody. Someone's got a problem, you think someone's in sin, you don't just start gossiping about it. Why don't you love that person and talk to them about it? And yes, it's uncomfortable, but you know what, gossiping is wicked. And just talking about other people's sins behind their backs, that's wicked. Don't receive that, it doesn't fix anything. There's being a tale bearer. A gossip and a busybody. Those are definite sins. As you want to start talking about someone else's sins, now you're in sin. Way to go. How about you just, just approach them, okay? Otherwise, or if it's not worthy of approaching someone, then let them be and show some grace and mercy to someone who also isn't perfect. Because you don't need to approach everyone over every little thing that might be wrong in their, you know, in their life. Let them deal with it. Pray for them. Father, Lord, we thank you so much for your graciousness, your long suffering, your mercy, dear God. We thank you for all that you give us, Lord. We are truly undeserving of all the grace that you show upon us, Lord. I pray that you would please help us to be able to judge righteously and consider ourselves and, Lord, that we can do everything decently in order, especially in the church, dear God. And, you know, when I'm out of line, I want you to please just let me know and help me to understand these things. And I want to correct them, dear God. And I pray that you would please just bless our church. I pray that you would bless the whole week. Help us all to be traveling safely and that you would bless the soul this afternoon. And God, we just thank you so much for bringing all of us here together safely to serve you and to praise you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. We're going to sing one last song before we're dismissed. Brother Peter, will you please lead us? Psalm 306. All right. Let's sing this out on the first. All right. All right. All right. All right.