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God's wrath, strife, back-biting, whispering, swelling, and tumult. And lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall be well many which have sinned already, and have not repented of their uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. I want you to focus on verse number 20, where it says, Lest there be debates, envies, wraths, strifes, back-biting, whispering, swelling, and tumult. And the title of my message this evening is simply this, Debates, okay? We're gonna talk about this matter of debates. Now go with me if you would to Proverbs chapter 25. Proverbs chapter 25, though of course we're gonna be preaching today, it's gonna be just looking at a lot of scripture, especially in Proverbs, about this matter of debate. Now let's just go on and say, right off the bat, that I think every Christian is tempted to debate, okay? And what does it mean to debate? It simply means to argue, right? It simply means to argue a point with the predetermined goal to win, right? To prove someone wrong, not even necessary to win them over. Debates are typically made to argue, to prove a point, to make someone look bad, to prove that they're wrong, but you know what? In a debate, no one ever wins. Because one side thinks that they won and that they're right, and the other side thinks the same thing. So at the end of the day, no one wins a debate. Now why is it a temptation for us to get involved in debates or in arguments? Well simply for the fact is we know we have the truth. And if we know we have the truth, we know we can just put someone to shame and prove them wrong and say, yeah, I got the truth, I know what the Bible says, and I'm just gonna show you whether you get converted or not, this is what the Bible says. And that's a strong temptation for someone to get involved in, but the Bible forbids us to get into any kind of debates. And in fact, as we mentioned this morning, Romans chapter one, one of the characteristics of a reprobate is that they love to debate. You say, well, didn't you just say you have the temptation to debate? Yeah, but the Bible says in Romans one, the reprobates are full of debate. You see, we're not full of debate. We're not trying to argue with every single person we see on the street or every single heretic that comes our way and just want to argue with them over and over and over again. No, we got better things to do with our time. In fact, we want to win souls to Christ. We say, well, isn't that debating? That's not debating. When we go out there and preach the gospel, we want to give them the gospel so that they can be saved. If they reject the truth that we're giving to them, then guess what? We dust it off and move on to the next door and preach the gospel to them until someone gets saved. Arguing and debating, on the other hand, is just to prove a point, say that I'm right, and nothing gets accomplished after that. It's unprofitable, and it's vain, okay? Look at Proverbs chapter 25. This is the only portion of scripture that you will find where it's okay to debate. Look at verse number eight. Go not forth hastily to strive, lest thou know not what to do in the endereth, when thy neighbor hath put thee to shame. Verse nine, debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself, and discover not a secret to another, lest it he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away. You say, there you go, brother Bruce. It says debate thy cause. It says debate thy cause, it doesn't say debate thy doctrine. You see, there's a big difference. If I have ought against Alex, and we have some sort of contention one with another, then I'm gonna go talk to him about it, okay? Lest I should tell someone else, and I'm put to shame, because I'm gossiping about Alex. So I'm not gonna go to someone else if I have a problem with Alex and just start gossiping about him, start reviling his name to another person. No, I need to debate my cause with him, if my issue is with him, okay? This has nothing to do with scripture, all right? Now go to Romans one, we know the scripture, but we need to read it, okay? Romans chapter number one, Romans chapter number one in verse number 20, we'll start in verse 28 says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, referring to those who have rejected Christ, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness. So right off the bat, he's telling you, they're filled with all unrighteousness. And then it gives you a list of what the unrighteousness is. Look what it says, all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, so on and so forth. So it says that one of the characteristics of a person who's rejected Christ, remember, this is in context of someone who's rejected Christ, is that they're full of debate. So if someone comes to you wanting to debate doctrine, first and foremost, they're rejected right off the bat. Why is that? Because there's someone who didn't even want to retain God in their knowledge, and that's why they're in that state to begin with. You know, if they're always saying, well, why don't you debate me? Let's just debate. Let's just debate. Well, you're just showing me that you've already rejected Christ, because you're full of debate. That's a fruit. That's the result of you rejecting the gospel, therefore you're full of debate, okay? Now go with me to Isaiah chapter 58. So if we were to define debate, obviously if you look it up, it just means to argue. But we can give a biblical definition of what it is to debate, okay? Isaiah 58, I feel, defines this matter of debate fairly clearly. Isaiah chapter 58, in verse number 3, the Bible says, Wherefore have we fasted, say today, and thou seest not, wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labor. So these guys are fasting for the wrong reasons, okay? And look at the next reason they're fasting for. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate. So it uses strife and debate interchangeably right there. They're both used in the same way. Because when you debate someone, guess what you're doing? You're striving with them. You're fighting with them, is what you're doing. I'm right. No, this is what the Bible says. No, this and that. But you know what? The Bible forbids us to even strive. So if you look up debate or debating, it's not found very often in the Bible. But you know what you do find very frequently? It's this matter of striving, or strife. And in fact, it's a matter of, it's a work of the flesh, is what the Bible calls it, okay? It says, Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Would thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? So these people were fasting so they can fight and debate and strife, okay? Whereas the Bible says, no, that's not what fasting is for. In fact, you shouldn't strive at all. And let me say this, the Bible teaches us that the servant of the Lord must not strive. What does that mean? You shouldn't be fighting all the time, arguing. Why? Number one, it's just unprofitable. Number two, it gets you in the flesh, okay? Everyone in this room, at least one time or another, has gotten into a debate or a strife and you left that argument with fleshliness in you. You're pretty pissed off, okay, at the end of that argument, like, man, I hate that guy. This guy's an idiot, you know? And it just didn't do anything. Whereas if you were to spend 15 minutes of that one hour that you spent fighting someone out soul winning, you could have gotten more done. You know, preaching the gospel, giving someone the truth, that's far more profitable than just striving. But the Bible says we don't have to strive, why? Because we don't have to be meek, okay? You say, well, what about the times you call out people, aren't you striving? No, because the Bible says to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints. But where's that contending coming from? From the pulpit. You see, we fight false doctrine from the pulpit. We open up the word of God, we teach what the Bible says, we rebuke the false teachers and false prophets of today, but we do it from the pulpit. We're not going to have this event of debate where some false teacher is going to come here, we're going to have two barstools and a referee and a bell with a reward at the end to see who wins. You know, why don't you just get organized and why don't we just have a reasonable debate? Because that's stupid. You think I'm going to invite you to my church with a barstool and a little bell to ring when you made a good point? What good will that do? I'd rather preach to my congregation and just convince them for the word of God and have them be convinced because they're saved. You see, if I debate someone who is not saved and who has a corrupt mind, who has rejected the faith, I get nothing done because his conscience is already seared anyways. He's ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. As Janice and Jamboree's were, so these also resist the truth. So it doesn't matter how much scripture you give someone who you're debating, they're not going to get convinced. Whereas if you're in a church setting, there's safe people here who have the Holy Ghost residing within them. The word of God resonates with their soul when they hear it. And guess what? They hear it, they obey it, they believe it. Okay? And there's no strife involved. Yeah, do we lift up our voice like a trumpet cry a lot and spare not and we tell the people their transgression? Yes! But that's not striving, that's preaching. Go to Proverbs chapter 15. So we're going to look at some scriptures in Proverbs here. And as we go through these scriptures, think of the person that you've debated within the last month, two months, or three months. And tell me if this is not true. By the way, maybe even measure this to yourself. Maybe you're guilty of some of this right here. And look, none of us should even debate our family members who aren't safe. That's foolish. That's not doing anything. Okay? Well, I need to prove to my thea that the Virgin Mary is bad and she's, you know, no, you need to get your thea saved. Okay? You need to make sure, yeah, but I want to prove my thea about her idolatry. Yeah, you know what? But she needs to get saved first in order for her to understand these things. Because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Yeah, but I'm right. Okay, but that's not going to help them. That doesn't help them. Okay? So debating with unsaved people is even more unprofitable, right? Someone who, you say, what's the result if I do? You harden their hearts is what you do. Because then they just think you're just a pompous jerk who feels like they're a know-it-all. Right? And look, that's why the Bible says the servant of the Lord must not strive but be meek, humble. Right? The Bible says be ready always to give an answer to every man to ask it to you of the faith that is in you with meekness and fear. You know, I try my best, and I need to work at it, but when I go sowing, I try to come as fearful as I possibly can when I knock on the door. You know? I try to be very fearful when I talk to people about the Gospel. Not proud, not arrogant, not abrasive. I try to be fearful. Okay? You say, why is that? Because their souls are at stake. Okay? And the last thing they need is a pompous jerk to come up to them, knowing everything about the Gospel, to give them the Gospel, and, oh, they reject it, so I'm dusting my feet. Well, you know what? I want them to be saved, so I want to try to come to them as fearfully as I possibly can. Okay? You say, but aren't you, yeah, I'm confident, obviously I'm confident in what I'm saying, but I don't want to lose this person, so I want to be as fearful as I can. And guess what? We need to be the same way with our family. With our families. Whether it's your cousins, your tias, your uncles, whoever it may be, your brothers and sisters, don't act like a know-it-all. Have meekness and fear. And the last thing you want to do is debate them on non-essentials that they can't even understand because they're not even saved. Okay? It's not going to work. And it's funny, we hold ourselves to the standard of not debating, like the reprobates and stuff like that, but for some reason it just switches when it comes to our families. You know? We feel like they're the exception. That ought not to be the exception. Okay? Proverbs chapter 15 and verse number 18, the Bible says that wrathful man stirreth up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. So the Bible teaches us that the one who's always striving is the one who's always wrathful. Okay? The one who's always trying to start trouble is what they're doing. They're trying to stir up the pot, trying to get you angry, trying to get you mad. Go to Proverbs chapter 16 and verse number 27. I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 17, verse 14, where the Bible says the beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water, therefore leave off contention before it be meddled with. So the Bible's teaching us that when you strive, it's like letting out water. Why? Because it just gets all over the place. It makes a huge mess. So you better to just leave it off, walk away, don't get involved in it before it turns into a greater matter that's going to end up being unprofitable and it's going to take you off in the long run. Okay? Proverbs 16, verse 27 says, an ungodly man diggeth up evil, and in his lips there is as a burning fire, a froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separated chief friends. So these are people like the Caleb's of this world, right? Who's like following everyone on Instagram. You know, they're trying to follow everyone on Instagram and trying to soul strife here, soul strife there. You know, they're tagging people in their posts, teaching their false gospels and their false doctrine. What are they doing? They're trying to cause, they're trying to stir up trouble, strife. Okay? Well, the Bible says that that person's ungodly. Okay? They're froward. Why? Because obviously this guy has nothing better else to do than to be on Instagram all day and tag people and put up false doctrine. Okay? You know, you need to get off of Instagram and go do something else, buddy, okay? There's a lot more in this world to do. And by the way, I use Instagram. I like it. I like doing designs and stuff like that, graphic designs. I like graphic designs that communicate some sort of biblical truth. I think it's fun. It's relaxing to me, to be honest with you. But when you're on there looking for people to strive with, I mean, I don't go on Instagram looking for heretics. That's like the last place you would go to to look for heretics. You're a loser if you do that. But what is it? It's an ungodly man that diggeth up evil and is froward. Okay? Go to Proverbs 17 and verse 19. He loveth transgression that loveth strife, and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction. So it says here that the person who loves to fight all the time is the person who loves sin. They love transgression. And then it says there that they exalt their gate. They that exalt their gate seeketh destruction. What does that mean? These are people who are prideful. Because when you're exalting your gate, it's referring to this matter of just having authority. Like, for instance, Lot, you know, or the Proverbs 31 woman, her husband sat at the gates, you know, with the rulers. Lot was at the gates. He was someone who had an authority. So someone who's exalting his gate is someone who is prideful. What does the Bible say what a prideful person, what's going to happen to a prideful person? Destruction. A hottest spirit before a fall. Go to Proverbs chapter 20. So that's red flag number one. You see someone who always wants to strive and fight, you can for sure tell that they love sin. And don't don't ever don't be deceived by these people. But oh, man, these false teachers, they're just deceived, man, they're just they want the truth. They're just deceived. No, these people have an agenda to teach this. And they know that they're wrong. They know they're teaching lives. And if you think that they that they are deceived, and then they don't know it, then you're deceived. Okay. There's wicked, evil people out there who have an agenda to deceive people. They're pawns of Satan. Okay. Proverbs chapter 20, verse number three says it is an honor for a man to cease from strife. But every fool will be meddling. Man. I mean, take those words to heart right there. Bible says it's honorable for you if you're able to cease from strife. You know, what does that show? It shows self control. It shows that you can you have rule over your own spirit. Okay, you can pass. It is a glory of a man to pass over a transgression the Bible says, okay, if you're able to just be like, No, we're not fighting. I'm moving on to something else. God says that's honorable. But the Bible says a fool will be meddling. A fool always wants to get into debates. A fool wants to fight a fool wants to strive. Okay. Proverbs chapter 22, verse number 10 says cast out the scorner and contention shall go out. Yea, strive and reproach shall cease. So these people are coupled with scorners. Someone who's constantly scorning the authority of God's word. Scorning authority. Scorning God's wisdom. Go to Proverbs chapter 26 and verse number 20. By the way, obviously we're talking about in the context of debating doctrine, but you can apply this to any portion in your life. Okay. Look at Proverbs 26, verse 20 says where no wood is, there the fireth go without. By the way, that's not talking about like, you know, getting on fire for God or something like that. Okay. That's that's how it's been used a lot. So where there is no tail bearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. So another thing that we see is someone who's always striving is someone who is a slanderer or a tail bearer. Someone who lies a lot. Okay. Look, because in order for you to strive against someone, you have to find out against them. But if you don't, if they don't have any blemish in their Christian life, you have to make stuff up about them. You know. You have to make, you have to create this straw man and, and, and, and just destroy their character and lie about them in order to create this strife. You know, you think of, yeah, you think of, did you say Daniel? You think of Daniel. Exactly. Daniel, they couldn't find anything against them. And what did they do? They had to go to his law. Okay. They got to go to the law of God in order to accuse him. And by the way, he, when they said, don't praise, like, well, you're going to have to find, you know, Aaron that because I'm going to keep praying. And that's what they accused them of. And by the way, may it be said of us, right? That the only thing they can accuse us of is things that we hold true to be the word of God. Right. It's like, that's fine. I mean, just because I believe these things about the reprobates or whatever it is, replacement theology, post-trib or whatever doctrines that we hold dear. You know what? That's fine. But at least you can't, you can't accuse me of anything else. Okay. But these guys are liars. That's why I got like, for instance, like Caleb and I bring them up because this is the most recent thing that I can think of, of a person who fits this bill. You know, this guy lies a lot. Why? Because he's trying to create strife. Okay. Now go to Proverbs chapter 28. You know, go, go to Romans chapter 13. Excuse me. I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 28. Go to Romans 13. Proverbs 28, 25 says, he that is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he that put his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. One thing about someone who has humility is they're willing to admit that they're wrong. Okay. That's why it's important that we as Christians exercise this matter of humility, right? We try to do our best to, to, if we're wrong, we got to admit that we're wrong. Okay. And if we've wronged someone and someone comes to us and says, Hey man, you defrauded me. You did wrong against me. You should be humble enough to say, I'm sorry. That was my fault. I'm wrong. Why? Because the Bible tells us there that if you're proud, if you have a proud heart, you're going to try to debate that. Okay. You're not willing to admit that you're wrong. And by the way, most people who aren't willing to admit they're wrong is because they're being prideful. They're not willing to admit it. They're just like, no, I didn't say that. That's not what I said. And they just denied that all day long. You know? Well, no, we got to have a spirit of humility to say, you know what? You're right. And I'm sorry. And most people, they lie and they'll be prideful and they'll resist it because they don't want to be ashamed. They don't want to lose respect. But the opposite is true. If you humble yourself, you tell the truth. That evokes the respect of others because they see, oh man, this guy's sincere. He's being honest. He's not perfect. And he's willing to admit it. That's respectable. But someone who resists that and is prideful, they're not willing to admit it. People resist that and say, man, this guy's prideful. Okay. This guy's not willing to admit that he's wrong. Romans 13, 13 says, let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Now look, that's another thing. Strife and envy are often put together in the Bible. So someone who strives, someone who debates is someone who is envious. That's why you have a lot of people who are in the pre-trip crowd and the replacement theology, the Zionist crowd, you know why they're striving with us? Because they're envious. So they don't agree with our theology regarding the Jews or regarding end times prophecy. So they try to attack everything else. But the fact of the matter is that's not what's causing the problem. They see, look, it'd be different if like we believe in post-trip or replacement theology, but we didn't know sowning whatsoever. Then point the finger at us. You can say you bunch of stinking lazy perezosos, huevones, you guys preach all this stuff about the Jews in post-trip, but you can't even get out there and do something. Then at that point, in that case, it's like, okay, yeah, you're right. You know, we need to get right into that area. But you know what? That's not the case. Okay. We are putting in work and look, oh, you're just boasting. No, no, no, no. We're not boasting because you know what? We can do a lot more and we should do a lot more. And by the way, we will do a lot more. Okay. We're trying to do as much as we can based upon our efforts and the people who are here. That's what we want to get done. But here's the thing. Someone sees the works and all the souls that are being saved, what do they do? They have to attack other stupid little things. You know, they got to team up with the gifts of this world because they're mad about the works that are being accomplished. Well, you know why they're striving? It's because they got envy. Okay. And mark it down. You see strife in anybody. There's always a hint of envy in that person. Okay. They're envious. You know, they're envious of the fact that the next generation is being reached. There's people who are on fire for God, winning people to Christ. Not perfect. Okay. And, you know, these people aren't perfect, but they're getting saved. They're getting baptized or they're reading their Bibles. They're taking a stand. They're cleaning up their lives. The church is bearing fruit. So they strive because of that. Okay. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. So obviously, looking at all these scriptures, debating is not a good thing. Okay. It's never talked about in a positive manner in the Bible as far as when it comes to this subject right here regarding doctrine, but just in life in general, it's never good to strive and it's never good to debate. Okay. It's a characteristic of someone who's always in the flesh. And look, you know, you just got to shut your mouth sometimes when you're tempted to debate someone in your family, your friends. Just shut up. You know? Oh, to God, the lips would come with zippers. You know, just like, ah. Because sometimes Christians got big mouths, man. You know, and they just let it fly. You know, this morning we read over the scripture in James chapter 3 about the tongue, right? And sometimes you just got to shut up. You know, that's the best thing for you to do. Best advice you'll get tonight, just shut up sometimes. You'll save yourself from a lot of grief, a lot of, you know, unresolved conflict in your homes with your wife and with your husband, with your families who are unsaved, if you just keep your mouth shut. And you know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about the people who, you know, you have that one cousin or that brother who says things purposely just to get you going a little bit. And they'll make that comment and they'll kind of just like, isn't that right, Alex? You know? There's people like that, right? Even within our families. And you just got to smile. You know? Because look, like the water. If you say something, it's just over. You know, and then you'll get in the flesh and it's just all over from there. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 3. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual. So look at the contrast here. That as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ, I have fed you with milk and not with me. For hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal, why? For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men. So it goes to show us that that which is spiritual does not envy, does not debate, does not strive. Who does that? Those who are carnal. Those who are fleshly are those who do that. Okay, go to Philippians chapter number 1. Philippians chapter number 1. And nowadays there's all kinds of, because of YouTube and because of social media, you run into a lot of false teachers. A lot of people who even teach them false doctrine, but you know, maybe they're off a little bit, but then you have like the other extreme where they're just full blown false gospel and you can find them. Now it's good that you're just talking about the Lord in general, because whatever the Lord has talked about, we're just going to glory in that. But look what Philippians 1.15 says, some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of good will. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds. So the Bible's telling us there, there's actually people out there that are willing to preach Christ, not in the right way, just to add affliction to your bonds. Just to get you going. You know? Why? Because it ticks us off when someone says we're a Christian and they just don't believe the clear teachings of scripture, and they're teaching things that are contrary to the word of God. So what are they trying to do? They're trying to add affliction to your bonds. And some of these people are not sincere, they're wicked people who have no jobs. I just picture these people being in their mother's basement, in a dark room with a blue light in front of a computer, a computer from the 90s or something, you know? Just like, they got like six different accounts, they never post their picture on any one of their profile pictures, you know, and they go by different names, and they make comments and they say that they're Christians or whatever it is, but what do they do? They make comments in order to add affliction to your bonds, okay? That's what they're there for. You say, how do you know if they're not sincere if they're striving? And again, just like this morning, a heretic after the second and third admonition, reject. That's the best way to do it. You know? You say, how do I know so I don't get in a debate? Well, when someone asks you a question, you simply give them a scripture. If they don't understand it, you give them a second one. And after that, if they don't understand that, you make it very simple for them on the third one, and on the third one, you say, okay, see ya. Rejected. Rejected. Well, you give them the rejection hotline is what you give them. How many of you have ever heard of rejection hotline? If you have, I'm sorry. I'm just kidding. I've heard it, okay? Not because someone gave it to me. I looked it up on my own. But a lot of people, that's what you're supposed to do, you're just like, okay, I'm done with you. Why aren't you answering my questions? Answer me. I get that on YouTube a lot. Take time to read this. And look, if you want me to read, side note here. If you want me to read a comment on YouTube, don't make it like five paragraphs long. I'm always leery that when I go on YouTube, and they make a comment, and you see that one tab that says, read more. You know what I'm talking about? Blaidecki, that one guy. I remember the first time I met that guy, he was like, click, it was like, what the heck? I'm not reading all this. And then there's this one guy, he doesn't even put his comments on my YouTube channel. He sends me personal messages on YouTube. You have a message from so-and-so awaiting your reply. And you click on it, and this is like a paragraph like this big, then you click on that, and it's just like, a huge, like five pages of, and I'm like, I'm not gonna read all this. You know, and some of them are bolded, some of them are all capitalized, it's like, ah, I'm just getting ahead of looking at this thing. I'm like, this guy could possibly even be for us, but because it's so stinking long, I'm not gonna even try to read this thing. But most of those people who go on there, you know, they try to make themselves out to be these, you know, giant spiritual people who've got a corner on the truth. You know what they are? They're heretics who are preaching Christ of contention, not sincerely, they're just trying to add affliction to your bonds. Okay. Now, go to 1 Timothy chapter number six. By the way, I like what Paul said, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. Okay. And that's what, that should be the representation that we give off when we're defending doctrine, okay, is, hey, we're trying to defend the gospel. Why don't we defend the gospel? We don't defend it by disputing or by debating, we're defending first and foremost by doing it right and teaching our congregation how to do it right. Okay. So, did the air turn off? I think it turned off, huh? Did it turn off? I just heard it right now. That was weird. How'd you do that? So there are two types of disputes in the Bible. First Timothy chapter six, let me see here, let me go turn there myself. First Timothy chapter six and verse number three says, if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, so read this. It's giving you some instructions here what to do. It says, if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words. Whereof cometh envy, strife, railing, railings, evil surmising, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds. What does that sound like? Right? A destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness from such withdraw thyself. So the Bible says here, look, this is how you can measure whether someone's being sincere or not. Are they not consenting to wholesome words? What are the words it's talking about? The words that the Holy Ghost teacheth. Comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. When you use the word of God, simple Bible terms, and they don't want to consent to that, the Bible says there that they're proud, and they don't know anything. By the way, they can go back to the Greek all they want. A bunch of Greek geeks, okay, who can't even speak English, right, but they think they're going to school us on Greek. By the way, Brother Politis, Steven Politis, he's Greek. He is from Greece. And he said this, he said, most of these doctor fat bottoms out there, he goes, every time I, and he speaks fluent, obviously. He's from Greece, so he speaks fluent Greek, like he knows how to speak it. He goes, they always butcher the Greek every time I hear them give their little dissertation of what the Greek says. He's like, they never pronounce any of the words right. So he told me this story, it was so funny. He said he was at Starbucks or something, and he's like, man, brother, he goes, I just got in an argument. He needs to hear this sermon, he will. He was like, I got in an argument with the Calvinist. And you know, we're talking about, because obviously he believes in repenting your sins, and I was trying to tell him, look, it's by one saved, always saved. And then he says this, well, you know what the Greek says? He goes, no, what does the Greek say? You know? And he told them or whatever, and then Brother Politis said in Greek, oh, you speak Greek, I speak Greek too. He started talking to me in Greek, and the guy's all, what? He's like, oh, you don't speak Greek then. You know? Stinking liar. What is he? He's proud of knowing nothing. But doting about questions and strives of words. Let's read it again. I love this verse. Verse four. Doting about questions and strives of words whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmising. And look, you say, doesn't the Bible say that Paul disputed in the synagogues? Yeah, but look at the difference. Verse five says perverse disputings. There's a difference. What's perverse? It's something that is twisted, something that is rested. That's why these guys just say, well, you know, I mean, doesn't the Bible say we ought to reason? Nothing wrong with debate. We should reason. You're twisting it. They don't mean the same thing. Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds. Man, that sounds very familiar. And what else? They're destitute of the truth, and they ain't got no truth. Supposing that gain is God. And then look what it says, from such withdrawal thyself. So when you see these things, it's like, oh, man, this guy's destitute. That should be the new phrase. What's up with that guy? Yeah, he's destitute. He's doting, you know. He's a man of corrupt minds. He has perverse disputings. He's destitute. And what do you do? You withdraw yourself from that person. OK? Because here's the thing. When I say it's unprofitable, it's true, because God, he esteems our resources that he's entrusted into our care, whether it's finances, it's time. And the most important thing is the gospel, the word of God that we know. And the Bible says that we're not supposed to cast out which is precious before the dogs. Don't cast your pearls before swine. God's given us pearls, which is the gospel, the word of God. God says don't cast them before swine. That's not a good investment of your time. We ought to be giving what we know from the Bible to people who want to hear it. OK? Some guy who walks in here, he just gets saved, and he wants to know about the reprobate doctrine. That's a good investment of your time right there. Take him out to eat, sit him down, buy him a cup of coffee, sit down with Bible in hand, and teach the guy. That's a good investment. What's not a good investment? Perverse disputings? With men of corrupt minds? No, the Bible says you're supposed to withdraw yourself from those people. OK? Go to James chapter number 3. James chapter number 3. That's a great chapter. Great portion of scripture, even in 1 Timothy chapter 6. You know? And it goes to show that Paul the apostle is constantly talking about these men who are of corrupt minds. OK? By the way, corrupt means reprobate minds. That's what that means. James chapter 3 verse 13 says, who is a wise man and a dude with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation a good debate. Is that what it says? No, right? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. You see, I remember my father-in-law used to say, your walk walks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks. It's a tongue twister, but it's good. Your walk walks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks. You see, you can say everything you want, but you know what? How many souls have you won? You go sowing. These supposed Bible scholars who want to go back to the Greek, I want to see how much stink and soul-willing they're doing. Probably zero. They're doing soul-killing is what they're doing. They're destroying souls is what they're doing because they're on Instagram 24-7 trying to add people and getting rejected by people day in and day out. You don't have any time to do any soul-willing if that's what you're doing all the time. But the Bible says there, if you have knowledge, if you're wise and you're endued with that knowledge, show out of a good conversation your works. You see, I don't think it's no coincidence the people in our movement know the Bible pretty well, but guess what? They work pretty good too. All the churches in our movement, they're soul-willing Baptist churches. They have people soul-willing on Sunday afternoon, every single week, and even throughout the week. They're seeing people saved all the time, and these people are sound in the faith. They know their Bible, but they're not spending their whole day on YouTube looking for other people to prove wrong. They're not looking to dispute and debate. You know what they're looking to do? Soul-willing. To get out there and to preach the gospel is what they want to do. Why? Because the Bible says there, if you're endued with knowledge, you have wisdom, show out of a good conversation your works with meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. See, here's the difference. Those who are endued with knowledge and wisdom, they got the good work going on, which is what the Bible calls the first works. Those who are full of envy and strife, the Bible says they're full of evil work. They're going about trying to cause people to turn away from the faith. They're trying to cause people to learn these damnable heresies and things that will destroy them spiritually. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits. Without partiality and without hypocrisy, the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. I like how it says there, without hypocrisy, you know, someone who has the truth, they're not going to be hypocrites. Who I am here is who I am right there. If I say ask here, I'll say it right there. Why? Because I'm not full of hypocrisy. I'm trying to do my best to live in accordance with what God says here and there. But you know what the problem with these guys is? The men of corrupt minds, they're hypocrites, okay? And it says there with mercy and good fruits. You know, someone who has the truth wants people to get the truth. If someone, I mean, Milan, oh, you have talked to Milan today and Marcos, man, they led a guy to the Lord. It was like an awesome story. You know, this guy was just like, he was one of those what must I do to be saved cases. And the reason why is because he said himself, he goes, I'm a truther. And he got saved. He got saved, right? You know, and they got him saved. I think they got him baptized. No, they didn't get baptized. But they got him saved. He's post-trip now. He's like replacement. You know, he's just like, he heard about the King James Bible already. All these things. He's just like, I'm a truther. I want to know the truth. And that's why he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know what? I'm sure Milan and Marcos were not like, like just getting on him. I'm sure they're trying to be as meek as possible with him because they want him to be saved. And someone who genuinely wants someone to be saved and they have the true knowledge, they'll be patient with someone. They'll be meek with someone because they love their souls. People who hate souls want to just prove them wrong. Just admit that you're wrong, you know? Whereas people who have the right knowledge are like, no, I want you to get saved, you know? With the tear in their eye, go to Acts chapter number six. Acts chapter number six and verse number nine. The Bible says here, excuse me, verse nine says, then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians and Alexandrians and of Demosylicia of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. Isn't that crazy? These guys who are disputing with Stephen, they're arguing with him. They couldn't resist the wisdom of God's word. Now to a certain extent, obviously they did resist the truth, right? But they couldn't resist it. They're like, ah, he knows the Bible. So what do they do? Well, remember what we said of those who debate and dispute? They slander and they lie. And what do they say right there? Then they suborned men. They basically recruited people, which said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. That's a lie. Because they weren't able to resist it and they saw that he was speaking the truth. And I have no doubt in my mind that Stephen was speaking the words of God. He was preaching the word of God. Because you can do nothing against the truth before the truth. And once they realize, okay, this guy knows what he's talking about, they have to lie about him. And they stirred up the people. That's what suborned means, by the way. Verse 12, it says, and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council. And look what it says, and set up false witnesses, which said, this man seeth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place in the law, you liars. A bunch of Jewish liars. You know, you couldn't resist the wisdom, so you have to create these false witnesses and liars in order to build a case against Stephen. Go to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. And verse number 5. Acts chapter 15 and verse number 5 says, But there arose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there, excuse me, when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made a choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So look what happens here. So these Pharisees come up and they're trying to dispute. You got to keep the law of Moses. You need to be circumcised. You know what Peter did? He just got up and said, look, let me go ahead and just tell you how it's done. You need to believe the gospel. So what was Peter's answer to his disputing? The gospel. What should be our response when someone is disputing about, let me say this. This is a good practical sowing tip here too, right? Because often when you knock on the door, you're given the gospel and what happens? They try to derail you with another question, right? Why are you know, the earth is flat. You know, what do you think about that? What does the Bible say about that? You know, you need to be like Peter and say, look, let me ask you this first and then I'll tell you about the earth or whatever. But he basically just said, look, we're not going to dispute about nothing. I'm just going to go ahead and just give you the gospel. Okay. The word of the gospel and believe. Go to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19. So what is the right type of disputing? Because we look, we saw in 1 Timothy chapter 6 that there's such thing as perverse disputing. That's a type of disputing that rests, it twists things, it twists meanings. It's not correct. It comes from a corrupt mind. Acts chapter 19 in verse 8 says, and he went into the synagogue and spake boldly for the space of three months disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when diverse were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily in the schools of one Tyrannus. So here we see that Paul is disputing, but what is he talking about? He's talking about the word of God. He's talking about the gospel. Okay. You say, well, how do you know that? Because that's all he preached when he was out there. Right. And he did it for three months. And by the way, that doesn't mean like, he likes, you know, stayed the night at the synagogue and just like for three months straight was just in there. No, for three months he was out there sowing him, is what he was doing. Okay. And by the way, it says, you say, well, how do you know? Because it says when they speak, spake evil of that way, what way is he talking about? The way, the truth and the life. Okay. Which is Jesus Christ. Acts 24. Now, you say, I think you're making this up that like, you know, that there's like two different types of disputing. Well, then the Bible's contradicting itself in that case, but we know that it's not. Because look what it says here in Acts 24 verse 10. Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered for as much as I know that thou has been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, because that thou mayest understand that there are yet but 12 days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues nor in the city. Now is that true? No, because obviously he was disputing, but he was disputing the gospel, he was getting the gospel out. The disputing that they're referring to is this matter of striving, and he wasn't doing that. Paul didn't waste his time to do that. Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things that are written in the law and in the prophets and have hope towards God, that means faith, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. So he's saying, look, what they're accusing me of of these disputings, that's not even true. Because what was I doing when I was in the temples? I was preaching the gospel. I was giving the word of God. That's what I was disputing about. Okay, go back to Acts 17. And I'll prove it to you. Acts chapter 17, I'll prove to you that that is what he was disputing. Acts chapter 17 verse 16 says, Now while Paul waited for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he and the synagogues with the Jews and with the devout persons and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him, and some said, What will this babbler say? Other some, he seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods. Why? Because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. So what disputing was he talking about? Jesus and the resurrection. That's what he was talking about the whole time. So did he contradict himself when he was telling the governor? No. What they're accusing him was not this. They're talking about, well he's talking about heresies, he's trying to stir up the people against the government. That's not what he was doing. He was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. Go to Romans chapter 14. I know we're looking at a lot of scriptures, but I think this is important to know because every Christian is going to have the temptation to debate someone tomorrow this week. Some false heretic is going to get on your nerves and you know that you got that one verse to just shut them up. You know? Well here's the thing. I got something better for you. Give them three verses to shut them up and after that just reject them. Okay? See God is, he knows. He knows that we have a desire to give him the truth so he says, you know, just, okay go for it. Just give them three. You know? Give them three good verses and if they don't receive that, you know what? You can reject them. Okay? By the way, when you give three verses and you win them over, amen, you come out winning. If you give them three verses and they don't want it, you reject it. Guess what? You win. Why? Because you obeyed God's word to reject the person. Where do I have you turned? Romans chapter 14 verse number one says, him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs, so on and so forth. So it says there, you know, when you receive someone, someone who's weak in the faith, maybe they're a babe in Christ. The Bible says receive that person. But don't receive them to doubtful disputations where they constantly want to argue about some stupid little thing. Okay? Because sometimes you have babes in Christ and they're, you know, and by the way, we've had that. We've had people come to our church under that guise right there. Okay? Well, they'll say, pastor, I got a question for you. I was just wondering about, you know, what is the Bible, you know, and they'll talk about some way off the wall doctrine and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I was like, well, the Bible actually teaches that, you know, we're mind, body, and spirit. Okay? And, you know, you say, but why, you know, do you really believe that God died, that Jesus Christ died? I'm like, yeah, of course. You know? Of course there's a multitude of verses that can prove that. And then it's just like, okay, this guy's a little weak in the faith if he's asking for something like that. So I'm going to receive him. But then after a while, when he keeps doing the doubtful disputations, where it's just like, well, you know, the Bible says this, and it's just like, no, Jesus Christ died. In fact, hell is called death. He went to hell. The Bible says, my soul is not, his soul is not left in hell. You believe? It says it right there. You know? And then after a while, it's just like, okay, this guy's not trying to, he's weak in the faith, but guess what? I'm not going to receive him to doubtful disputations. Okay? It's a waste of time. By the way, that guy never came back. Then he called me. He called me, and it's so funny. He called me months later. He called me. I was at home, and I was working, and he called, he gave me a call, and I answered, and he started asking me about oneness. Big surprise, right? And he goes, yeah, I don't, I just, I'm really curious about this. And I gave him all the answers. I gave him the verses, and he just kept at it. And I said, you know what's funny? I told him. I said, I don't know who you are, but you sound exactly like a guy who came to our church a couple months ago who believed X, Y, and Z. He's like, yeah, that was me. I'm like, that's funny. I can recognize your voice, your heretical voice, and this is months ago that he came to our church, and then he came back, or excuse me, he called me, and it's just like, I recognize his voice right away. You know? You know, I don't know the voice of strangers necessarily, okay? But I do recognize them when they're preaching their false doctrine, their false gospel. And it was very similar to what he was saying when he came here. But the Bible says, don't receive that person, okay? And you gotta be able to determine whether they're being sincere or not. Okay, go to Acts 17. You're in Acts 17? Go to Acts 17, excuse me. So one thing that people will say when it comes to debates, and they'll say it like this. They'll say, well, you know, God says, come, let us reason together. They try to make it sound all nice and gushy and mushy and soft and beautiful. Come, let's just let us reason together. You know, didn't that Paul reason in the synagogue? You know, and they try to blend the lines between debating and reasoning, which they're not the same thing. Look at Acts 17, verse 1. Now when they had passed through Ephesus and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. And they'll use that. They'll say, there you go, see, he reasoned, he debated. No, verse 3, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed and consorted with Paul in silence, and of the devout Greeks at great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few. But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, there you go, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, I like that, that phrase there, the baser sort. So many people that can fall into that category. And set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. So what was he reasoning about? He was trying to reason with them about Jesus Christ and the gospel. Go to Acts chapter 18 and verse number 4. So this isn't like, he went up there and was just like, alright, who's up? Let's get this show on the road, let's debate. Give me a stool, you get yourself a stool Pharisee, and we're gonna debate right now. Where's the timer, what's the prize, let me just show you up. That's not what he was doing. He was preaching the gospels, what he was doing. Look at Acts 18 verse 4. And he reasoned in the synagogues every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was oppressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. Again, verse 6. And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Will your blood be on your own heads? I am clean from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. That's a good way to handle it. They're like, they blasphemed, alright, fine. Shake it off. I'm one of the Gentiles then, I'm not gonna waste my time with you. But you know what a lot of Christians like to do? They just keep racking up the dust. You know, all the dust. They're just full of dust. No, you just need to shake it off and just move on, okay? So why do we reason with people? Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 2, and we're almost done. First Corinthians chapter number 2. Because when you think of reasoning, you think of basically, for instance, for example, in Romans chapter 12, you know, it talks about our reasonable service, right? Which is our reasonable service. Basically that which makes sense. That which adds up, okay? So when we're reasoning the gospel, what are we doing if we're trying to make sense of the gospel to someone? We're trying to teach them the gospel. That's why it's important that when we go preach the gospel, don't make it complicated. Sometimes people make it way too complicated when they're out preaching the gospel. And they want to sound like some scholar out there, no, just make it as, you gotta reason with them, okay? Make it as simple as you possibly can for them to understand. Why would you want to make it hard? You know? And look, obviously as soon as someone gets saved, there's more things to learn about salvation afterwards, like all the verses and the process of sanctification, glorification, and all these doctrines. But let them get that afterwards. You know, not everyone's, you know, when they got saved, you understood salvation. Obviously you understood that it was by belief only, right? But you didn't understand the depths of it until later on in life. You heard some sermons, you read your Bible a little more, you ran into some different verses that reaffirmed what you already believed, and it just expanded your understanding of what salvation is. You know, someone who gets saved right off the bat, they don't understand the sacrifices of the Old Testament and how it is the shadow of things to come of what Christ was going to do, right? But no one needs to understand that in order to get saved. Look, someone may not even understand that Jesus went to hell for three days and three nights. They don't need to know that in order to be saved. Now was that a part of the salvation process? Absolutely, because he had to pay for our sins in hell, okay? But you don't need to go into, I mean, depth about these things in order to get someone saved. Reason with them. Make it as simple as you possibly can. Don't cut corners. I'm not saying cut corners. Be thorough, but be simple, okay? First Corinthians 2 verse 1 says, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. You know, he didn't come with a thesaurus, you know, trying to like sound all eloquent when he was given the gospel. He says, For I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and look what it says, and in fear and in much trembling. I mean, you ever been so scared that you tremble? I mean, when I was a kid, that's, I remember there's times when I was scared and it's just to the point where you're shaking. Paul said, man, that's how I came to you. I came with weakness, fear, and trembling. You know? Obviously, and by the way, he, you later on, you read that Paul, he said, Though I be rude in speech, rude in speech, yet not in knowledge. Paul could be, Paul could probably preach a very offensive message. But when he was preaching the gospel, he came in weakness, fear, trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Why is that? Well, obviously, when he's weak, then he's made strong that the power of Christ can rest upon him, right? Verse five, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. How be it? We speak wisdom among them that are perfect. So that's a good example right there. He said, man, but what if this is the only time I get to teach him, like, some really hardcore doctrine? Now, the guy who got saved today, he went out, he, like, wanted to know deep doctrine right off the bat. Okay? And in fact, the reprobate doctrine, he understood it, like, right away. Okay? But that's not every case. It says there, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are, what, perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to naught, but we speak the wisdom of God in the mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. So after they get saved, when they begin to mature, then you can give them the meat of the word so they can understand these things. But Paul said right off the bat, I came in weakness, fear, trembling. You know? I didn't act like I was trying to know everything. I didn't come with excellency of speech. He reasoned with them. He made it very simple to understand. Go to 2 Corinthians, chapter number 11. Verse number 3 says, but I fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his septility, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. So the Bible talks about the simplicity of Christ. That's what it means to reason, to just simply tell them. That's what the Bible tells us that even a child can believe. Because the gospel is so simple, so easy, that a child who has not formulated the proper ideologies as of yet, their minds have not grown as of yet, they don't know, understand all knowledge. Even that person, even that little child who's innocent, knows nothing, can know the gospel. That's how easy it is, okay? And that's how easy we need to present it, okay? Last verse here. Go to Nehemiah, chapter 8. I'm going to read to you from Habakkuk 2, where it says, the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. Now, I think anybody could agree that there's some deep stuff in the Bible, right? There's some deep stuff where it's just like, yeah, I'm going to need to meditate on that one for a while. I'm going to need to memorize that one, I'm going to need to meditate on that, compare scripture with scripture. And look, I think, I know there's things in the Bible that, I mean, myself, I don't even understand as of yet. And I'm not in a rush to understand it, I'm allowing myself to mature spiritually until I can gain understanding of everything, of what God is teaching in his word. And there's obviously some deep doctrines. By the way, the Bible says that the Spirit searcheth even the deep things of God, right? But there are some things in the Bible that are just plain. And God wants it to make it plain, but the most plainest of them all is this matter of salvation. Now look at Nehemiah, chapter 8, verse 8 says, So they read in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. What is that? He reasoned with them. He read it distinctly, he gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. That's what it means to reason with someone, okay? Debating on the other hand is taking you back to the Greek. Debating is like, oh, you know, you're mispronouncing that C in the Greek word, in the Greek this means actually this. And they try to throw you all the little symbols as if they're Greek scholars, okay? No, what you're doing is you're just proud and you're trying to make yourself look smart. And in the process you're making yourself look stupid, okay? Whereas the Gospel is just, no, here, let me show you, let me give you the meaning. By the way, that's why we don't need the Greek. I love the Texas Receptus, amen? But guess what? I ain't Greek. I speak English. And I read English, and Spanish, but better English. Everything that I need to know is right here, okay? And Greek is not some magical language that some, no, it's just like any other language. Yeah, but it just has this deep meaning. Look, you want a deep meaning from an English word, just go to the source. It'll give you different words that mean the same exact thing. We understand that, right? I mean, sometimes when you want to know a definition of a word and you look it up, it actually gives you other words that mean the same thing, but it just broadens the meaning of that word. Right? Well, that's the same thing with the Greek. It's not like some poofoo magical language, you know? But you know what these fools and these bums have done? They try to make the Greek language to be some magical language that they can use in their debates. Well, hush, you don't know Greek, okay? Bottom line. Now, we as God's people, we need to make sure that we're reading the book in the law of God distinctly, we give the sense, and we cause them to understand the reading. What's the message tonight? The message is simply this, don't debate. Don't be involved in that strife and vainglory, okay? Which basically all it does is create contention and strife and it ticks you off in the long run. No, we need to be on the other side of the spectrum where we're disputing about the fact that Jesus Christ died, resurrected on the third day. We need to make sure that we're on the other side of the spectrum where we're reasoning with people, helping them to understand the gospel simply, plainly, so they can be saved, amen? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, thankful for the example of palm, thank you for these definitions that we find clearly within your word. And I pray as your people that you'd help us to be reminded of the fact that we ought not to ever get into debates. It's foolish, it's vain, it's unprofitable, there's so much more profit in just going out there and reasoning with people, giving them the gospel and helping them to understand the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I pray you help us to do so. Thank you so much for all that you do for us, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.