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Amen. So keep your place in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. We'll get there in a few minutes. I first want to give you an introduction about what we're going to talk about for the next two, maybe three weeks on this idea of, I want to talk about church culture, church culture for a few weeks. That's a big deal to me. I know I brought it up many times over the last two years, church culture, what we should be like as a church. And I've been thinking about lately, I don't know, maybe it's because we're about to, you know, become our own church. And I've been thinking about it again lately. And, you know, I've been thinking about, you ever think about when you think about the church and together on a Sunday morning like this, you know, that we're just kind of an odd bunch? You ever think about that? You ever think about, I know I'm not the only one that's thought this, like, how did a bunch of people like us, you know, find each other and end up in the same spot on a Sunday morning? And, you know, I mean, you just think about we have all different sorts of people here. You know, I mean, we're, you know, I guess we're a multicultural church, right? I mean, we come from, we have construction workers here. We have bankers here. We have electricians and plumbers here. We have all sorts of different types. We even have a rocket scientist here. Did you know that? You know, I just called you a rocket scientist, brother, so you're going to have to, yeah. All right. So, I mean, we have all kinds of different people here. So how do we relate to each other? And how do we have a positive church culture? First before I get into the sermon this morning and what it's about, keep your place. Just bookmark 2 Corinthians chapter 10. We'll get there. But, you know, we all have a sense of belonging. Did you know that? That everybody has a sense of belonging inside them. It's kind of hardwired, so to speak. Let me read you a quote from a website called verywellmind.com. I'm not advocating this website. This is just a secular study of this sense of belonging that everybody has. What is a sense of belonging? And it says this. It says, the need to belong, also known as belongingness, refused to a human emotion, emotional need to affiliate with and be accepted by members of a group. This may include the need to belong to a peer group at school, to be accepted by coworkers, to be part of an athletic team or some other team or to be part of a religious group. In 2 Chronicles chapter 7, I'll just read it for you, but the Bible all over the Bible, this is just an example, God refers to Christians as my people. He refers to God's people in the Old Testament, my people. In 2 Chronicles chapter 7, one of these examples in verse number 14 says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. So the point I'm trying to make to you as an introduction to this series is that we're all looking for our people in our lives. Even people that don't go to church, that aren't believers, they're looking for their people. People are naturally looking for social groups. It's just a reality. People to join and identify with. Now, look, some of these are okay. Some of these are bad, however. Let me give you some examples. You ever heard about the kid who just went awry and they say, well, what happened? Well, he just fell in with the wrong crowd. That's a kid that found he's looking for a social group and he found the wrong social group. He found a bad social group. Let me read for you another scientific experiment that was done about social groups. It says, in an experiment, as a matter of fact, this sense of belonging, by the way, before I read this, is so strong inside of us that it takes very little for people to identify with social groups many times. It takes a very small amount. I'll read you an example. In an experiment, researchers had 10 random participants do a coin toss. They took 10 people and they had 10 people flip a coin. They took the people that basically called heads and they put them in a group and they took the people that called tails and they put them in a group. Let's say it was 50-50. The other group, so now we have two groups. These participants did not know each other before the experiment. Their grouping, heads or tails, was basically meaningless. Each participant was then asked to distribute money between the other nine participants who were only identified by the heads or tails group membership. It was found that they gave more money to the people that chose the same coin as them. Just on such a meaningless thing as a random heads or tails choosing, they immediately identified with that group. Even though it meant nothing, it had no long-term meaning of anything. I mean, it was a very light association. These meaningless associations are everywhere, I'm telling you. I'll give you some example. Harley groups or whatever. I'm not against motorcycles. A bunch of guys that get together and they're like, hey, we all bought the same brand of motorcycle, let's have a club. That's a meaningless relationship, but these are groups that are formed. They're silly. They're shallow. You think about sports friendships. We're all fans of the same team or whatever. We get together and watch and waste our time together. Clubs, teams, things like work friendships are usually very light associations as well. We both got hired by the same employer. Thus, we must have something in common. Most of these things are very shallow. Here's one that we run into a lot here. Gangs, gangs. Fresno has a lot of gangs. I can't tell you. What do they identify with? These are people that want to identify with a group of people. Much of it is maybe by their race, why they're in a gang or the neighborhood that they grew up in or whatever. These are shallow. By the way, my experience, I can't tell you how many gang members I've talked to in the last five years. My experience with gang members is this. It's a vast majority of fairly nice individuals, actually, is what I found, that are influenced by a few bad people, is the story that I've learned. Look, I'm from North Dakota. There's no gangs there. This is my gang experience from just speaking to people in gangs. They want to fit in. They want social acceptance from a group. That's what they want. Unfortunately, these gangs, they are influenced. They are led by the few bad people. It's very similar to a public school situation. The worst will run the show. When you think about it, when you think about these shallow associations, it's kind of sad. It's kind of sad that you'll see somebody who's maybe even an older person that has not found a way, has not found their people, has not found somebody to associate with except on these shallow, meaningless levels. It's very similar to just choosing heads or tails in some cases. But look, we are different. We are different. God literally calls us His people. He says, My people, those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the saved people on this earth. Look, we're the minority. We know that. But we are God's people. Look, we're a group. And we identify with one another. We identify with one another. You say, like, on what level? On what level do we identify with one another on? Well, what level does this go to? We identify with one another on every level. The Bible talks about everything. There is no stone unturned in the Bible. Look, we have common goals. We have common biblical goals. I'm not saying we're all in the same place. I'm not saying that we're all going to have different issues and different problems that we're struggling with. But basically, our goals for the marriage, our goals for the family, our goals for our children, they're all right here. We identify together with those things. But there's some management that needs to come from that. And that's when we start talking about church culture. Because whether or not, look, you have chosen to be here, right? You have chosen to identify with this group. Look, nobody is forcing you to come here. I mean, if they are, let me know. Okay, because that's, there's a problem. Okay. Look, even the kids, look, even the kids, I sit there and I walk, I go over my sermon in the morning, and I see the security camera. I even know the kids aren't being forced to come here. You know why? Because the kids are blasting through the doors of this church, like two minutes before their parents every single time. I don't know if they're jumping out of the car before it stops or what's happening. But you know, even the kids here, they've chosen to identify here. And I understand that, you know, we lead our children spiritually. That's not what I'm saying. But look, nobody, you have chosen voluntarily to associate with this ragtag group is what I'm getting at. All right. But look, we all came from somewhere. We all came from somewhere. We all came from before we got saved. We had all kinds of different cultures that we came from. And even now, even now, I bet that some of your past culture has remnants that hangs with you today. So for the next couple weeks, we're going to have some practical sermons on how to function as one people, how to how to have a positive church culture, no matter where we came from. Because you think about how do we do this? I mean, this is this is a majority or a good portion of Paul's epistles are just especially in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 is how do we function as a people? You know, Paul, I love that verse in in in verse number nine, that I that I would terrify you by letters, right? He says, Okay, I don't terrify you with the sermon this morning. But I mean, look, he's he's teaching them how to function as a people together. Okay. Look down at first Corinthians chapter 10. And I'll show you. Let me read for you. First Corinthians chapter 12, while you look down at first Corinthians chapter 10. The Bible says this in first Corinthians 1212, for as the body is one and have many members, and all the members of that body being many are one body, so also is Christ. So look, there's many members of this church. And there's many functions of all these different members. And we all came from different places. But in order to function as one church, we all need to have a common culture. I mean, really, I could just say the Bible is our culture. Let's pray. But we'll go over some practical sermons in the next few weeks to talk about, you know, just really practical examples of how to have this biblical culture and function as a church. It's super important to me that we have the right culture as a church. Because look, you will find churches that have the right doctrine, you will find churches that have the right gospel, you will find churches that have all the same doctrines as us, but completely different cultures. I want a very specific culture here. That's why I've talked to you about many times about being friendly and just, you know, very specific sermons about all these types of things. It's important because I want that to be the culture here. Okay, look down at second Corinthians chapter 10. And look at verse number 10. The Bible says, for his letters, they say are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. Let such and one think this, that such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also indeed when we are present. For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. Underline that in your Bible, are not wise. But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God had distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. So look, this morning I want to talk about the culture of not comparing ourselves amongst ourselves. Okay, not not boasting of things and being this church where we're constantly weighing one against another. And I really want to give you two ideas this morning on where people commonly do this. Okay, I want to give you two areas in Christian life, in church life where people commonly compare themselves. The first one is this, in worldly things. In worldly things. And look, I don't want that culture here. So let's talk about it. And what am I talking about? I'm talking about worldly things. I'm talking about worldly possessions. I'm talking about worldly, you know, money. I'm talking about how much money you make. I told you, this will differ in a church. In a church you will have people that do all sorts of different things. You will have people that make a lot of money and you will have people that don't make as much money. That is just the way it is going to be. But let me say this, turn to Mark chapter 12. How much money you make or don't make or the possessions that you have or don't have will have zero bearing on how you are treated here. Go to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. Look at verse number 42. Look what the Bible says here. Look what Jesus says here. And there came a certain poor widow and she threw in two mites which make a farthing. And he called the disciples and saith unto them, verily I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance and she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Now look, I mean, every now and then, maybe once a year, you know, you'll hear a sermon on tithing, just a biblical sermon on tithing. Look, but here's the thing. That's between you and God. Tithing. Okay? That's not on me if you don't tithe. But all of that to say this. The person that makes very little and tithes to God is more right with God than the person that makes a ton of money and maybe gives 10 times more than that person, but they don't tithe. Okay? So that is what Jesus is saying here. So you're saying, how much money do I need in my life? Look, here's what the Bible says about how much money you need in your life. As far as comparing yourselves amongst yourselves, because you're like, man, there's people that make more money than me. You know, I should make that much money. Well, here's how much money you need. As long as you're supporting your family, that's how much money you need. As long as you're not a sluggard, this is what the Bible says. Turn to 1 Timothy 5. This is what the Bible requires, that you support your family. 1 Timothy 5, look at verse number 8. 1 Timothy chapter 5 in verse number 8. The Bible says, but if any man, but if any provide not for his own, and specially those for his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. This is what is required of you. This is what's required of you, to provide for your own. That means, look, if you're providing for your own, that means that no one is providing for you. That means that, you know, your friends aren't providing for you, that your family isn't providing for you, or the government isn't providing for you. That's what that means. It means that you're doing it yourself. It means that you're out there, and look, that's gonna take some work. And those of you that do it know that it's gonna take some work. And if you don't do this, look, if you don't provide for your own, I think if you've learned anything over the last year and a half, you're gonna have a hard time with me if you don't provide for your own. We were driving through a town yesterday, and the town was, it was like north of town, I can't even remember the name of the town. And it was this super clean little town, and it reminded me of like a Texas town. There was no paint all over everything. There was no graffiti. And I told Garrett, I said, look, I was like the mayor of this, the mayor of Fresno should get the mayor of this town and like interview him, and figure out how did you do that? And Garrett said, well, he probably knows how he did it. The problem is he doesn't want to do those things. But, you know, here's the thing. They just, turn to Second Thessalonians Chapter Three. Second Thessalonians Chapter Three. See, if everybody else could just figure out what we're talking about here, we wouldn't have, you know, 90% of these problems that we're dealing with today. Second Thessalonians Chapter Three. All that's required of you is that you provide for yourself and your family. That's all that's required as far as how much money you need in your life. Look at Second Thessalonians Chapter Three. Look at verse number 10. The Bible says, for even when we were with you, this we commanded you. More church management here from Paul. That if any would not work, neither should he eat. You know, I mean, that's actually a big answer for, you know, we had a sermon on fasting last week. Fasting is the answer for California, actually. If you don't work, you don't eat. Have a nice day. I mean, that's it. That's it. I mean, look, hunger is a strong desire. When people get hungry, they're going to go to work. We were at McDonald's yesterday and there's literally a sign there that says, help wanted. Fifty feet from the sign is a guy sitting on a bucket walking around harassing people for money. Help wanted plus bonus. It'd probably be less work to go work at McDonald's than do what he was doing. It's bizarre, folks. I'll never get used to it. All right? It is bizarre. So back to the sermon. That's what's required. Flip over to First Timothy Chapter Six. That's how much money you need is to support your family. But look, in a church, we are always going to have people that make less and make more than others to accomplish this noble goal. All right? So while that, we keep that in mind, is I need to make enough money to support my family, we need to make sure also, and it's interesting that it's just one chapter over in the Bible, we need to make sure that we don't overcorrect. You say, what do you mean? Look at First Timothy Chapter Six. Look at verse number 10. We need to make sure that we don't overcorrect here. The Bible says, For the love of money is the root of all evil, which some have coveted after they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. Do you know that money can be an obsession? It can become an obsession with people. Did you know that? And look, this is not a rich versus poor thing, because I've seen rich people obsessed with money, and I've seen poor people obsessed with money, or poorer people. I mean, it's all relative. Anybody, look, even the poor people in the United States are richer than 99% of the world. So let's be real. Okay, but look, an obsession with money, even if you don't have that much money, an obsession for other people's money is, look, this is what makes up socialism, by the way, is an obsession over money. It's just an obsession, in this case, over other people's money. That's what fuels socialism. In a population that's covetous over other people's goods, it's the love of money. That's what it is. They form a government that will force the government to make other people give them all their money. That's exactly what it is and where it comes from. It's pretty much where we are today. I mean, have you ever heard about this idea that it's the economy stupid when it comes to politics? They're like, you know, all the political commentators and the talking heads will be like, it's the economy stupid. Whoever, look, it basically at this point running for office is whoever can promise the most stuff to the people wins on both sides. It's all the same thing. But look, here's the thing. Turn to Hebrews chapter 30, 13, Hebrews chapter 13. All that means is that everyone is covetous. That's what that means. That's why we're heading towards socialism because we have a covetous society. You know, people should say, you know what, that might be better for me economically if the government gives me all that money, but that's not right. You know, I should be doing that myself. I should be providing that for my family. But look at, putting aside, you know, your own personal economy, that takes principle is what that takes. I mean, you should be against the government giving money to pretty much anybody, including you. Look, a man used to be insulted if somebody would try to give him a freebie. I mean, it's like two generations ago. You guys under 35 probably don't even, that seems weird to you. But like two generations, three generations ago, look, you would be insulted if, you know, the government tried to give a handout to somebody for something. He's like, I can work for my money. I can work for a living. But here's the thing. The more we get like this, the more covetous of a society that we become, the poorer we will become. There's some irony for you. So what about us? Where's the line in supporting our families and becoming obsessed with money? Where's that line? I love sitting around here late at night talking to you guys about business and how your businesses are doing. I love doing this. This is not what I'm talking about. Okay, I just want to give you some practical tips of, you know, how we can not cross these lines as a church culture. You know, I love asking you guys, how are things going? Look, I hope all of you are very successful. I hope all of your businesses are super successful unless it turns into a love of money for you and that derails you spiritually, then I hope you're not successful. Okay, then I hope that, you know, God removes the blessings from you until you can get the right things right in your life. But look, I mean, all that to say this, I mean, you know, I love the new ideas. I love talking about taco trucks with big, you know, rubber lobsters on the roof. I mean, I mean, we're going to have to cut that out of the sermon. That's such a good idea. We're going to have to take that out of the sermon and edit that because we don't want it getting out to the public. But I love talking about this stuff. Brother Matt's going to be in the lobster suit. He even volunteered. It was late. We had a lot of coffee. But look, I love talking about this stuff. Let me give you some cultural guidelines here on what we should never do that can pull us into this comparing one another against each other. This is going to be some practical tips. Okay. Never tell people how much money you make. There's a practical tip for you. You say, you say, why? What if I'm asked? Look, if you're asked, don't tell. I've told Garrett this. If anybody asks you how much money you make, just say I'd rather not say. Look, if anybody asks you, I mean, I made this mistake like 15 years ago. We had just moved back to North Dakota and there was a farmer that I saw every day and I asked this farmer, I said, I asked this farmer, I was like, how much land are you farming now? And he looked right at me and he said, how much money do you make? And I got right away, I was like, okay, I asked, it was dumb of me to ask that. And then every time I see that guy for the next eight years, he's like, how much money do you make out there working for the power company again? He's just, you know, kind of twisting the knife and we would laugh about it, ha ha ha, all this. But the point is, I should have never asked him that. I should have never asked him that. Look, nothing, you just think about coworkers. Nothing good will ever come of two coworkers knowing how much they make. You say, why? I mean, why doesn't everyone just go to work and have their salary just pasted right on their chest? Look, there's a reason for it. It's because if one coworker asks another coworker how much they make and the other coworker tells him, you know, then either the coworker that found out is going to be like, that guy makes that kind of money. I'm way better at my job than him. Or he's going to be like, oh man, you know, you only make that much? Why make this much? And now you have, like, they start comparing themselves amongst themselves. And look, all you need to do at work is just worry about improving yourself and look, everything else of value will follow. That's it. It's the same thing in church. We don't want to get into, look, ideas and businesses and all these different things. That's all great and wonderful conversations, but we don't want to get into things where we could cause like us to be comparing ourselves amongst ourselves. So look, some people are just going to make more than others. That's just the way it is. We don't want to make anybody feel bad. I mean, look, I don't want, you know, somebody to tell me how much they make and I feel bad, like, oh man, you know. But if you're one of these, and if you're one of these people that makes more than somebody else, then just count your blessings. You don't have to go around telling everybody, you know, how much money you make. You know, don't throw it in people's faces. You say, I don't, but that's not really what I'm doing. That's how they're going to take it, is the problem. And look, here's the thing. Just because people may make less money does not mean they work less hard. I mean, some things just pay more than other things. Here's another one. Here's another one for you. Turn to James chapter 4. I know I told you to turn to Hebrews chapter 13, but I must have had too much coffee when I was writing that down because I have nothing there. Anyway, turn to James chapter 4. Never say how much you paid for things. And I'm talking specifically about, like, big things, like houses, you know, cars, things like that. And look, you know, if asked, don't tell. Okay, look, I'm preaching against myself because I made this mistake with Brother Matt this morning. I'm going to chastise myself here. Brother Matt was telling me that he just, I'm looking for rentals for the church for the next few months, and Brother Frank and I had just been scouring the town. And, you know, Brother Matt's like, well, I just rented an office in this area. And I was like, oh, how much did you pay per foot for that place? And look, I know it wasn't a boasting thing that I was asking, but I should not have asked that. I should not have asked him how much he paid for something. Look, it wasn't, and I said right away, I was like, man, I'm preaching against this today. And I just did it. So you got to just be careful. Just watch yourself. You know, it might not be something that you're intentionally doing, but, you know, especially things with, like, that are boasting, like a big house, like, oh, I just bought this million dollar house, and, you know, I got a great deal on it. I got it for a million bucks. You know, I mean, look, you shouldn't be doing stuff like that. You're going to make people feel bad, or a $50,000 car. Look, if you can do that, that's great. Okay? Count your blessings. I mean, we're certainly, I'm certainly not against success. Like I said, unless it derails you spiritually, then I'm against it. But we're forming a culture here. Don't boast. And that's what it will come off as. Look at James 4 and verse 16. The Bible says, but now ye rejoice in your boastings. So here's people that are just, they're rejoicing in all their, you know, oh, I'm so blessed, and look at all this that God has given me. They're rejoicing and they're boasting. All such rejoicing is evil, the Bible says. And it's funny because the context of James 4, look back at verse number 13. The context in James 4, look at verse 13. He says, go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. For ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. So these people were just like, oh, we're going to go into this city and we're going to make all this money and we're going to do this and this is how people were talking. And the Bible says, look, your life is a vapor. It's like God can just like take it away like that. You know, all your blessings can go away like that. Your life can go away like that. And you're going to come and you're just going to, you know, talk about how much gain you're going to get and how much, you know, all this. I mean, look, it's only by God's will that you have anything. By becoming obsessed and bragging about how much you will make in the city. I mean, look, just don't forget where it came from. Don't forget where it came from. Look, and all it will do if you go back to the beginning of James chapter four, all it will do is cause lust and fighting amongst the brethren. And we don't want that here. And look, just people probably just won't like you is what it will mean for you. Because you know what? You'll make them feel bad. You know, if somebody makes less than you and you're constantly just throwing in somebody's face how much money you make all the time, they're just not going to like you because look, people don't like people that make them feel bad. It's pretty simple. You know, I mean, don't you want people to like you? Turn to Philippians chapter four. Here's how you get people to like you. You say, nobody likes me. Here's how you get people to like you. This will solve all your problems right here. Philippians chapter four, look at verse number four. Look what the Bible says. The Bible says, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Jesus Christ. Just have the mind of Christ. That's it. Just focus on helping and being a blessing to other people. Someone who is truly spiritual, like truly spiritual, will focus on the success of their brothers and sisters, not their own. They will focus on, look, and look, let me just selfishly say that if you do that, there is some benefit for you because look, there's a lot of joy that comes from focusing on the success of other people. That gives you, it doesn't give you fun and happiness. It gives you joy. It's better. It's better in your life. It makes you joyful. I mean, it's not like you can go and just invest as, you know, we heard a sermon about a couple weeks ago, just invest in your brothers and sisters and they're just like nothing for you. No, there's a tremendous amount of joy in it. Go help somebody out. Go, you know, serve somebody. There's benefit for you. So look, we see with worldly things that we should not do these specific things because what it'll do is it'll drive us to be comparative amongst ourselves. We don't want that. We want to sit here and we want to hear about all the cool stories about how, you know, businesses were formed and how, you know, you improve something and how things are going for you and how you're working hard and how things are going at your job and you're learning different things. I want to hear about all that stuff. I care less how much money you make. I care less how much you paid for things. And we don't want to bring those things up because it will make other people feel bad. It'll put other people down. And whether you think you are doing it or not, it's really boasting in many cases. Okay, turn to John chapter five. So where's the other area? There's two areas. The first one was worldly things, possessions, money, all these different things. The second one is this, spirituality. We should not be comparing one another, you know, in the spiritual aspects of our lives. You know, we shouldn't walk around, look, we shouldn't walk around boasting or talking about how spiritual we are or how, you know, great we are doing for the Lord or whatever. You know who did this? Look at John chapter five. Look at John chapter five. Look at verse number three. Let's look at somebody who did this in the Bible. John chapter five and verse number three. The Bible says, Then Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then said one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for 300 pence and given to the poor? It's like, we should have been more spiritual and not so wasteful and we should care for the poor. And like he's trying to, look, we know who this guy was. This guy was wicked. He was there to betray Jesus. Look, he was fulfilling a purpose, but he tried to make himself look more spiritual than everybody out of this situation. He didn't just say, I want the money, because that would have been the truth, right? He made a spiritual matter of it that he was concerned for others. Obviously not the case. Look, this is the same as money. This is the same thing as money. You have obligations to God in your life. Just like you have an obligation to support your family, you have an obligation to God. You have an obligation to go to church. Did you know that? You're not to forsake the assembly of the believers. You have an obligation to read the Bible. You have an obligation to teach the Bible to your children. From the time you ariseth up in the morning, Deuteronomy chapter 6, to the time you go to bed at night. This is why we're advocates of homeschooling, because the Bible tells us to. Look, we have an obligation to spread the gospel around the world. We have an obligation to go out and be ambassadors to Christ. To go out and seek and save the lost. But look, we're not to make a boasting matter of it. I mean, you ever met a person who's just like, I've been saved for so many years, and I've done this and that and whatever, all talking about spiritual things? And you're like, man, that's like the most spiritual person in the world ever. Right? I mean, but look, here's the thing. I mean, there's spiritual boasting, just like there can be boasting over worldly possessions. You know what's funny? You know what's funny about those two things? About, I've been saved for this many years, and I've done all these things in my life? Spiritually, spiritual maturity has nothing to do with either of those things. But it has nothing to do with how old you are. And it has nothing to do with how long you've been saved. Nothing. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4. I should have just had you stay in 1 Timothy, and we'd just be going back and forth. But look, turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4. Look, Timothy was a preacher that Paul was training and bringing up to be a pastor. And look, the Bible tells us he must have been a young man. He must have been, at least from the perspective of most of the people in these churches, he must have been a young man. Because look what Paul says to him in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse number 12. Spiritual maturity, like, how old you are spiritually has nothing to do with how old you are physically. Nothing. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4. All the teenagers were like, Amen. Calm down, teenagers. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Look at verse number 12. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity. You know what was happening here? You know, Timothy, an up and coming spiritual leader was, you know, he was running into a lot of people or Paul was assuming he was going to run into a lot of people who are like, Listen here, Sonny. Let me tell you how it is, because they're older than him. Okay, look, your age or how long you have been saved has nothing to do with your spiritual maturity. Nothing. If you think, look, if you think that every person in above or an authority over you needs to be older than you, you're gonna have a hard time in life. I mean, I realized I think I was like 30 when this first happened to me where I first had a I first had a boss who was younger than me. And I'm like, this is kind of weird. I mean, it was just it was the first time that that happened to me. But what pastor is like nine or 10 years younger than me. So what it has nothing to do with spiritual mature maturity. But some some men, some men in this church, actually, they will be given or they have been given certain responsibilities. And, you know, leadership roles. And you know, what was not a factor in any of the cases, is how old they are, or how long they've been saved. Not a factor in any of the cases, you know, what was a factor, consistency, reliability, honesty, dependability. Those were the factors. It's kind of like James chapter two says, you know, that, you know, by a work by your works, a man is justified. That's how that's how they ended up in those roles, because they were justified to me by their works. They weren't justified to God by their works. But that's how we can. That's how you're justified to men is by your works. And that's the whole point of James chapter two, but age had nothing to do with it. Turn back to First Corinthians chapter 10. First Corinthians chapter 10. So we see that, look, we see that we could be very, we could be a church where everyone's competing against each other, you know, where everyone's competing against each other as far as worldly things, cars, houses. Look, especially in this country, especially in this country, we're very covetous as a country. We don't want that culture here as far as worldly things. And we see spiritually, we don't want that culture here as well. Look, I don't mind the fact that we count salvations. Okay, I don't mind the fact that we go out soul winning and we keep a salvation count. But here's why we do it from my perspective. It's to motivate you. It's to show you, look, here's what we're doing. Here's the difference we're making here. Here's the results that we're getting here. What it isn't to do is to have groups come back from soul winning. How many did you get saved? How many did you get saved? Oh, we got four. We got two. Because then, you know, we don't want that. We don't want that. I don't mind counting salvations because it's a good target for us to see. It's a good target for us to see, you know, how receptive neighborhoods are. Or, you know, just how effective we're being in the first works as a church. It's a good thing. But it's never to be comparing one another against each other. Ever. Okay, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Look down at verse number 12 again. For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. But they measuring themselves. Let me turn to the verse in my Bible here. But they measuring themselves and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. But we will not boast of things without our measure. But according to the measure of the rule which God had distributed to us, a measure to reach even to you. Verses 12 and verses 13. It's really about not boasting. It's really about, turn to Proverbs chapter 27. It's really about not commending yourself is what the culture is about. It's about not lifting yourself up. In Proverbs 27 verse number 2 the Bible says, Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and not thine own lips. Let another man praise you. Look, that's how you get praise. You let somebody else do it. You know, but this isn't the culture today that we're being raised in. You're like, well, you know, no one praises me ever. Well, you're justified by your own work, so maybe you should do a little bit of reflection there on why you're not getting praised by anybody. But look, judging, I mean, refocus on yourself if you're never getting praised by anyone ever, okay? And try to see things from other people's perspective. But back to boasting. This is really about boasting, and it's about boasting spiritually or about worldly things. Let others do this. It just says, Let others do it, is what it says in verse 12. And don't fall into it. It should not be part of our culture here. I mean, this is how the world functions. I mean, it's almost encouraged. I mean, you think about, you know, just telling, I mean, I went and I looked at a building on Friday, and the guy was just like, he just wouldn't stop just telling me how many different properties he owns, and like how important he used to be in Fresno, and I used to be here, and I used to do this. And I'm just like, why in the world would I care? You know, but this was defined, it's what defines him. That's why he's talking to me about those things. Look, it's almost encouraged in work environments to just build yourself up and boast about yourself and your accomplishments. It's completely, it would be completely weird for somebody to let someone else praise them and give other people credit where credit is due, as the Bible says. But look, we need to be more focused on others here, the Bible says. We're not a shallow social group. So we need to do things that are against, you know, this fleshly nature that we have. We do, look, you do something great, you do something totally great. I mean, you want to tell people. I mean, you want to be like, look at this thing, you know, you want to tell people. I mean, it kills you inside. You know what really kills you inside, is doing something great and then having, like, not saying anything about it, just being like, here's this great thing, and then watching somebody else take credit for it, and then, like, not saying anything. That takes, like, some self-control right there. But that's what we're supposed to do. Just let somebody else praise you. And most of the time, folks, if you do great things, people will recognize it, okay? People will recognize it. We need to be more focused on others here. And because, you know, we're not a shallow social group, we have to just, we have to fight the flesh in all these areas of our lives. We want to praise ourselves. The Bible says no. We want to do all these things. The Bible says no. We want to do these things our way. The Bible says do it this way. In every single one of these areas, this is just one small area, we need to just follow the Bible culture because that is the culture that makes our social group. That is the culture that we're all here. That's how such a ragtag group of people from all these different places, of all different ages, of all different cultures that we came from comes together and we just magically agree on everything. That's why. Because we accept the culture of the Bible, not what we think or we feel. And that's what this series is about, to just reinforce the culture of this church. Don't be a boaster. Build other people up. Boast about other people. Be that person in Proverbs chapter 27 that is praising somebody else. Look, there's plenty of things to praise from your brothers and sisters in Christ. Find those things and boast about those things. That's what we should be doing, not for ourselves. Let's bow our heads and have a word of. Let's bow our heads and have a word of.