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All right Galatians chapter 5 continuing our study through the book of Galatians we're going to take a couple weeks to get through Galatians chapter 5 so we're going to talk This evening about the first few verses of Galatians chapter 5 and then we'll get into the the heavy doctrine of Galatians chapter 5 Next week so in Galatians chapter 5 Paul kind of takes two different tacks and I'm going to explain The first one for you this evening, but Paul has been in a defense Of the gospel in Galatians, there's somebody in the church some people in the church That are perverting the gospel that are teaching a workspace salvation and Paul has just been on this on this rant or this terror or this this Whatever you want to call it this dist He's just been giving a disposition or a dispensation of the the goth defense of the gospel is what he's been doing In Galatians up to this point, but he addresses something a little bit different It takes a little bit different of attack in the first few verses and I want to point that out So let's just go ahead and start in verse number one and we'll get into it this evening But we're gonna get through about maybe verse 12 and then we're gonna talk about the rest of it next week So look at verse number one of Galatians chapter 5 the Bible says stand fast Therefore in the Liberty wherewith Christ had made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage Behold I Paul saying to you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit profit you nothing For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law So once again, these people are you know, they're Judaizers They're coming in and they're saying you must follow the law in this case, you know, they're talking about, you know It's the it's the argument. I've talked about this in previous chapters the argument about what are we to do with these Gentiles? Are we to tell them, you know It's convenient if you have a bunch of people that aren't part of your culture that come into your religion now You're you know these Jews, you know, we're assuming some of them most of them whatever are saved and then you know They're like, oh now that you have all these other people from this culture, you know now they're trying to you know Control them and get them to be like they are is basically what was going on Well, you know why not add that to salvation that'll that'll look it's no different than what happens today You know people adding works to salvation to control people to get people to you know What do what I say or you know, you're not even saved or I'm gonna take away your salvation It's the same thing over and over there's nothing new under the Sun So again the question of circumcision and Paul is saying he's not saying that every man that is circumcised He's saying if you think that you have to be circumcised to be saved You have to you have you must have to you have to do the whole law then He's like you can't just say that. Oh one piece of the law gets you saved It's either all works or all grace, you know, the Bible teaches that again and again verse number four Christ has become of no effect unto you Whosoever of you are justified by the law you're fallen from grace So he's saying look if you are if you have to keep the whole law, you know, what do you need Christ for? You're you're depending on yourself here and then you know, you're falling from grace now Look just because you have a bunch of people that have made up a bunch of false doctrine about falling from grace Doesn't mean that that's what Paul meant by saying you've fallen from grace. He's like look you're you're stepping away from grace He's like you're stepping away from the doctrine of grace. It doesn't mean that grace has fallen from you It doesn't mean that you know, if you all sudden believe something stupid that now you're not saved anymore He's just saying that look you're stepping away from the doctrine of grace is all he's saying here Okay, look at verse number five for we through the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness By faith for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision But faith with worketh by love he's saying look it doesn't matter It's not being circumcised not being circumcised is by faith is what he's saying He's basically, you know Ephesians 2 8 and 9 is what he's saying right there, but now in verse number 7 He Takes a different approach here. He starts he he takes a turn and instead of talking about doctrine He focuses on something else. Look at verse number 7. He says he did run Well, he's like you were doing so well the last time I saw you He says who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth So this is the first time here that we see Paul said who is this person that is you know? Telling you these things Paul says and then in verse number 8 he says this persuasion cometh not of him that called you call at you So who called who called them God called them. He's like look this didn't he's like whoever this is It didn't come from God is what Paul is saying and then he says, you know You see you've heard this in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 in verse number 6 a little 11 11 at the whole lump He's saying look, you know one bad apple spreading, you know bad doctrine You know can can wreck the whole church can wreck the whole thing So Paul, you know, he he turns away for a minute here From just defending the gospel and just defending this workspace Salvation and he basically starts saying, you know, who is this person? You know, this person is wrecking the church is what he's saying. He starts focusing on the person that is doing this. Okay Excuse me a good verse number 10 second time. He brings it up in Galatians chapter 5 He says I have confidence in you Through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded But again, look what he says, but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment Whosoever he be this is the second time he brings up in Galatians chapter 5 Who this person is he's like who is this person? You know he that trouble with you and then in verse number 11 He says and I brethren if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross cease so he jumps back into doctrine a little bit in verse number 11 where he basically says He's like if I preached I mean it is kind of an interesting verse in verse number 11 He says if I preach circumcision, he's like if I preach the law if I preach what the Jews were preaching He's like if I priest a workspace salvation, that was the religion at the time He's like nobody would be mad at me He's like why would I be going through? All this garbage that I'm going through. He's like there would be look I would have zero trouble Paul is saying Like there would be zero disagreement with anybody. I mean the cross offends Because he was preaching that salvation is only through Jesus and not through their precious law That none of them were keeping anyway But that they were all puffed up about So verse number 11 jumps back into doctrine, but then look at verse number 12 once again Galatians 5 and verse number 12. He says I would they were even cut off Which trouble you? Again, that's the third time in Galatians chapter 5 that he attacks and he comes on the offense Against this person or people that are causing the trouble here And here he says he actually gives them the solution to it who he says who are these people? You know, what are they doing? They're troubling you they're gonna be judged whoever they are And then in verse number 12, he says I would that they were even cut off He's like they should just be cut off. They should be thrown out Is what he's saying they should not be part of your body of this church is what he's saying put them out So Paul addresses the people or the person that is causing the trouble here Three times specifically. All right now look and I mean he he He fights with doctrine very effectively up until this point in Galatians, but now in Galatians chapter 5, you know We're seeing this where he's coming at this person or these this group of people Okay, so that's what I really want to focus on this evening go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 in verse number 10 I want to focus on the idea of Somebody a group of people Someone that would cause divisions and what the Bible says about this because I mean we know that there's specific Things we know that there's specific things, you know that you know could actually get somebody removed from a church We've talked, you know a lot about that But the point is the Bible actually says that causing division is a very serious thing Causing division in the church look at 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and look at verse number 10 But this is that this is the ideal situation Look if we if we say how do we want to be as a church? How do we want to be as a church body if you ask me you say brother Jared? How would you like us to be as a church? What's your vision for the church? Here's the vision I mean before we have a vision of actually what we're gonna do this vision right here has to be realized So you're like, oh man, what what are we gonna? What great things are we gonna do in the next one year two year three year? I mean, I hear people talking about it all the time I hear people. Oh, you know, well, we could just with all these order. This one has to happen first. This is a prerequisite For any kind of greater vision that a ministry would have so let's talk about it tonight first Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 10, this is a prerequisite to doing anything great as a collective Church of Jesus Christ look at verse number 10 of Ephesians, I'm sorry first Corinthians chapter 1 verse number 10 now I beseech you brethren By the name of our Lord Jesus Christ look when someone says to you look I beg you I beg you by the name of Jesus Christ just listen to whatever they're gonna say after that Okay, when the evangelist or the pastor or whoever says look I beseech you I beg you by the name of Jesus Christ Please do this I mean if your mom, you know say, you know I mean, I doubt a mom would ever say something in such a way to her children, you know But that's serious talk right here is what he's saying I beseech you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing and that there be Some divisions among you, but they're small No, it says that there be no divisions among you But that you be perfect so he says I would rather that there was no divisions among you None, he doesn't say just small ones He says I would like that there would be no divisions among you, but instead instead of having divisions I would like that, you know, look that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind in the same judgment For it had been declared unto me of you by my brother and by them which are of the house of Chloe that there be There are contentions among you Now this I say that everyone these saith I am of Paul. I am of Paulus I am of Cephas and I am of Christ is Christ divided. That's really the key right there Is Christ divided Paul crucified for you or we baptized in the name of Paul? I mean, so I mean basically I mean this shows kind of Paul's humility a little bit right here I mean the specific case here was there was people in the church that had their their favorite Disciples or whatever their favorite, you know Evangelist or their favorite favorite, you know preachers, you know and and Paul comes in and he's like look He's like that. I mean he didn't come in and say look you should it should be me You shouldn't be with a Paulus. You should be following me. Apollos is an idiot, you know, he didn't say that He said look that why he's like, why are you why are you talking like this at all? He's like I didn't die for you but Paul did not look Paul if he wanted the preeminence and that's a key word this evening if he wanted the preeminence he could have you know Somebody that wants the preeminence would take a bunch of people that was just like, you know I'm your favorite like let's say that there's a bunch of people here that I'm their favorite and then you know Other people have other favorites or whatever, you know, and I just take that group people that you know Oh, yeah, these are my favorite, you know, and I and I use that because I want the preeminence Paul They want the preeminence. He didn't care about that. He's like Christ is not supposed to be divided It's like they should be we should be one no division Perfectly joined is what he says Okay, so look that I mean that's the goal. Okay, that's the goal and like you want to have a great ministry You want to have a great, you know, you want to have a great machine, right? It's just like it's just like it's perfect advice it's just like in the secular world you want to have a good team You got to all be working together You got to all be pulling together a well-oiled machine You got to all be pulling together You can't have you know eight people going this way and three people over there and two people going I don't know You know, it's just look I mean, maybe if you have the majority of people moving this way, you'll actually get some movement going But when you have everyone perfectly joined together It doesn't work the same as a church because you know These two people over here are gonna cause a lot of problems and a little leaven Spreads it can leaven the other eight or whatever, you know, so it's a little bit different in the church turn to Romans chapter 16 So that's the goal. Okay, that's the goal to be perfectly joined together to have no divisions To have no divisions, we don't just all have our own ideas and just running in every direction We're joined perfectly. That's the goal. I mean if you asked me and just said, you know, what do you want? That's the first thing that I would say right there. It's like what's your you know vision for this ministry right here? That would be the first one right there because everything builds from that everything Look at Romans 16 Now he tells us now he tells us in Romans 16 we see the goal in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 we see the problem That can be caused if you if you don't have that goal in Galatians chapter 5 But now, you know, we kind of get these some some some advice Some direction on how to deal with this in Romans chapter 16. Look at verse 17 Romans 16 17 Again, he says now I beseech you. I mean he's like he's like I beg you He's like I beseech you brethren mark them with which cause divisions and offenses Contrary to the doctrine which he have learned and avoid them. Once again, here's another area of separation right here He's saying look you got it. You got to recognize this when it happens. He says mark them and Avoid them and look at verse 18 For they there's such and then he gives you all this explanation on why this happens for they though Serve not our Lord Jesus Christ But their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple So he says first of all, he says identify these people Identify these people. I mean look the Galatians missed the bus on this whole thing They missed the bus like be smart enough. He's saying be smart enough To recognize it recognize somebody that's causing divisions Offenses, you know, basically it would be it would be someone like working against the agenda of a church Somebody came in and they were working against the agenda the gospel the the doctrines of the church in Galatia Same thing can happen here The same thing can happen here people could come in and start working against the agenda of this church The agenda of this church is the gospel by the way Okay, I mean it could be it could be doctrines It could be doctrines, you know bringing in it could just be you know own people's own personal agendas That they could be bringing in maybe you get somebody that comes in that just starts out They just kind of want to you know, they just kind of want to do things their own way. I Mean how many times have you heard how many times have you heard? I'm sure I've said it I'm sure pastor Jimenez has said it how many times have you heard this this statement if you want to be successful in church? Find the agenda find out what the agenda of your pastor is step one Find out what the agenda of your pastor is and then step two get on that agenda. I Mean, okay. So you say you I found out the the agenda of the pastor, but that's not an agenda I want to get on board. Well, then you're in the wrong church. I Mean, I mean, it's just this is really simple. You don't agree with the agenda What are you doing there? You know this person that came into the church of Galatia should have come in It's like oh I have all this weird doctrine and you know, oh they don't believe that But look people people like this don't operate like like I'm talking right now They should but you know, they're not good people, you know, if they were good people with bad doctrine, you know It's kind of an oxymoron, right? but look yet people will stay in a church and they will try to Cause divisions try to do things their own way and you know what these people they'll go to another church and they'll do the same thing They will just go from church to church to church and just cause divisions cause divisions cause divisions and I you know why? Look at verse 18. It tells us why Well, you see I mean it doesn't sound like a good thing to do but here's why they do it Here's why they do it For they are such that serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. That's it That's it they do it turn to 1st John chapter 3 People come in and they push their own agenda in a church because they're serving themselves It's it's you're like that sounds really simple. It is that simple it that's it They do it for themselves We see a guy like this in the Bible in 1st John chapter 3 I mean we have an example of a guy just like this one individual Just like this one individual look we have we have examples and we can take you know Romans 16 and apply it to Galatians and say yes, we know why they did it in Galatians They were serving themselves. They were serving their own belly, but we see a specific guy in 1st John chapter 3 look at verse number 9 And I wrote unto the church, but diatrophes who loveth to have the preeminence among them receiveth not receiveth receiveth us not Wherefore if I come I will remember his deeds which he doeth Prating against us with malicious words and not content therewith neither doth he himself received the brethren and Forbiddeth them that would and castest casteth them out of the church. This guy infiltrates a church He wants the preeminence Look, he wants to be the expert He wants to be and look be careful with people that are always trying to be the expert on everything first of all Okay He wants to be the expert, you know in this case I'm sure on the Bible so much that when the disciples, you know actually showed up. He didn't even want him there Imagine that he didn't even want the disciples there and people I mean look he was throwing people out that like that wanted the disciples There he was he was using church discipline and flipped on its head throwing people out I Mean what people like I've seen this happen People like this they want the preeminence. They actually compete against the pastor. I've seen it You know, I know more. I mean just think of the gall of this guy in 1st John chapter 3 Look and here's the here's the difference. Here's the difference. I'm trying to get you to understand in Romans 16 verse 18 We see the difference. He this guy look this guy doesn't want to serve in the ministry The guy in 1st John chapter 3 diatrophes. He doesn't want to serve in the ministry He just wants to have people, you know, he wants to have the preeminence over people He wants people to think look I've seen people that have become pastors just for this reason just because they want to have the preeminence over people It's no good Look, he doesn't want to this guy doesn't want to serve in the ministry He wants people to think that he is is the best. He doesn't want to earn respect. He wants to divide people unto himself That's what he wants to do and he doesn't care if it's at the expense of the church He's literally throwing people out in 1st John chapter 3 that are siding with the disciples He doesn't care about the people the people in Galatians. They didn't they didn't care about The people of the church look and the the people that are causing these divisions are doing the extremely wicked thing for themselves and They're doing it for themselves. Look this is easy to recognize Folks One thing I've learned about the ministry One thing I've learned and I mean, I already knew it. I had that I had the mind knowledge of it Going into it, but boy, do you learn it? Boy, do you learn it? Look it is a service It is a service. The ministry is a service If you've ever thought if you've ever thought, you know, I would you know you you men You've ever thought maybe I'd like to go into the ministry Let me tell you something. It is a service If you think that you're gonna go into the ministry so you could be in charge of people You can have the preeminence over people and you can walk in like I'm the pastor, you know, or whatever. It's like just forget it It is a service If I was doing this to feed my own belly, I'd be really skinny You understand it's it is it is a it is just it's a it's a life of service And I'm happy to do it I mean, I I love that it it's a service that I get to spend my life in service I would consider that an honor if I got to spend my whole life in service to Jesus Christ and his church on this earth I would consider that an honor but it is a service. It is not for your own belly That's the difference. That's the difference between these types of people and the pastor of a church its motivations That's the difference one is for like one of the pastor the shepherd the guard dog is for others is for you and The other is for you know, it's he's for that the pastors for the church the pastors. He's for Jesus Christ and The other guy in Romans 16 in first John 3 He's for himself And look if you can't recognize that You're simple I Hate to break it to you But if you can't recognize that you're simple look make sure so make sure like even us make sure even with small things You know that we're not you know that we're not causing divisions Because it's a it's a bad thing. It's a bad thing. I mean, you know think about Think about church culture. I mean just a just a simple thing that I bring up again and again and again Just you know, make sure I mean make sure what make sure talk about the agenda of a pastor or a church leader Look, make sure you're paying attention to the church culture because it's not just it's not just doctrines Okay, too many people think they could just come you know To church and just bring whatever culture that they have and just come to church and then it's gonna be their culture. No That's not gonna be the way it is. There's a culture here. Look there's a specific culture here There's a thousand cultures out there There's a billion cultures out there. There's one here. I mean and look Some of you are like, huh what exactly You know what? I mean? I mean if you don't know what the culture is here Look, you need to pay more attention. Like well, I mean, what am I talking about? I'm not talking about doctrine I'm just talking about church culture, you know, like, you know, we like to have an organized church here That's that's a cultural thing you would like to have, you know respect for things of the church that's culture We don't like to have just just you know, look chaos is never gonna be embraced here So I'm constantly trying to you know, find this this balance here and where you know We I mean, I don't want to be some Nazi, you know that that's that You know, no don't ever have fun because like church is supposed to be fun But you can have a you know a fun church and also I mean just little moments like the announcements today That's just that's just Pushing our culture is what that is That's just pushing our culture, you know, like look we like everything in this church and I've said this before I'll say it again everything in this church is done on purpose So don't just you know come to the church and look You know, there's no problems, but you know, this is why I say this again and again Don't just come here and be like, oh, no I want to do this or I want to have this or I want to look everything here is done on purpose So you need to be very careful that you know, you got to think about that you got to think about that We're doing things on purpose here because we're pushing a culture here You know, we're put I mean all the events are very well planned everything that we do during the services are very well planned It's it's not on accident It's not an accident. Look, we're here's another culture. We're friendly culture. I Mean when we have visitors, I am constantly I'm I always have one eye on the visitor all the time Like that visitor never better be, you know sitting by themselves I always like him, you know, if there's if there's a kid I'm always like recruiting my kids to go recruit other kids to go and you know Make sure that the the new kid is is you know, having fun and you know People are introducing themselves and and all this because look that stuff doesn't come naturally that has that's a culture here that you have to You have to embrace You have to embrace look I would rather like it was just me in my flesh I would rather just hang out with the guys that you know, I'm just most comfortable with and know the best You know and if a visitor comes in or two visitors comes in, you know, I mean, it's it's everyone's nature folks Everyone's you're like I'm shy. I'm he's not sure look. It's everyone's nature just to hang out with what they know it's it's a little bit of work and it takes some effort to go up to a new person and introduce yourself and make sure that Visitors and and you know, look you all do a very good job of this, but it's the culture here You want to keep that culture here? Look being a visitor you all probably don't even remember this But being a visitor to a new churches is a very intimidating feeling Walking into a new group of dozens of people that you've never met and you've never been to this church before And I guarantee you most people that walk in here never been to a church like this So It's up to us to be friendly Same thing out so any look look we better we had better we had better Walk away from from doors and Have people think whether they got saved or wanted to listen or not have people think you know what that was a friendly That was a friendly person That I mean that had better be the case here. We ought to not be These pushy people these Argumentative people look I'm not talking about, you know wicked reprobates or whatever I'm talking about just normal people. They just aren't interested in what you have to say Look, that's gonna be 90 some percent of the people that doors you knock on We need to be a good witness That's the culture here. That's the culture. We need to be polite. Look we want to be hard-working Want to be hard-working when it comes time to do things in the church to to I mean That's why we're we're encouraging, you know people to help with things in the church Now because we want to we want to have a hard-working church here Want to have you know people. I mean we need to take care of this place You know, we need to take care of this place. So I mean just remember I mean the culture here, you know, this isn't your house This isn't your house. This is God's house So, I mean if you're not paying attention to the culture it will cause problems Is what I'm saying And look your pastor your leader is dealing with enough to not have to deal with these types of silly things Okay, I mean because if it gets if it gets bad enough where you just like, you know causing divisions It could it could small things could turn into big things You know, unfortunately, so how do we recognize it? Let's go to how we can recognize You know someone that was causing Divisions. Well, I mean, let's just use the words of 1st John chapter 3 The first thing is you need to kind of watch out for it Look, and I'm not saying that if you meet some arrogant person cuz look, I mean, I don't know I don't know why there's so many arrogant people. I Don't know. I mean if I meet another arrogant person, I mean, no, I can't be like that because I'll just like But it's amazing how arrogant people are. I mean out in the world I mean we shouldn't be that here, but you're gonna meet arrogant people in church, too Unfortunately, okay, but look just watch out just watch out for people They just need to have the preeminence in things in conversations Always people that are always bragging about themselves. These are the people they're gonna not maybe not every single one But these are the people they're welled up with pride They're gonna these are the it will be someone like that If there's somebody in a church that causes problems, it will be someone like that someone that needs to have the Preeminence in everything, you know, they always want to give like unsolicited advice to people on everything It's completely ironic by the way That people that are always out giving unsolicited advice to people are the least qualified to give advice to anyone on anything It's almost a hundred percent of the time Pride is such a crazy thing You don't want to be infected by it. I Mean, I can't tell you how many bosses I've had in my life That I mean, let me just go off for a minute and just let me just vent we just open a steam valve here I can't tell you how many bosses have head in my life Where they cross this line? Into I'm not I've actually had a boss say to me one time, you know Say to the group that he was leading and I was in that group, you know, I'm not just here to be your boss I'm here to make you a better person You know, you know the guy's been divorced four times You know his children are you know In prison or whatever and I'm just like, you know, I mean or a boss, you know, that just they're Divorced and they're living in fornication and they're like, you know what every single meeting they're giving relationship advice or something And I'm just like I'm just like, you know how hard that is for me, you know hard that is for me I'm just I'm just saying there. I'm just like You know, I've been married for 21 21 years now and I'm listening to some guys been divorced four times. He's broke The guy makes like more money than you know Any of us will ever make and he's broke because he's paying like for women and all these children, you know Almoni he's like listen, let me tell you some relationship advice. I'm just like I Like why did I go to college, you know, I should have just you know, I Should just been like Kentucky Fried Chicken guy and just like killed it It can truck you I mean I could have been running that Kentucky Fried Chicken in like two years You know, I don't have to listen to this guy Anyway, what were we talking about? Anyway, the point is the arrogance of people It's just like you get infected with pride and you just become you just become a moron I mean you just become this person you can't you you're blinded is what it is. You're blinded to everything You become this person that you have no qualifications at all Look, it's so easy to recognize folks. That's what I'm trying to get you to understand You know, you see somebody that comes in here and they're trying to give you all this advice, you know And they're just a train wreck, you know, they're a train wreck and you're just like, oh man, you know Marked, you know secretly mark them, you know, don't like do anything weird on their forehead or anything But the point is, you know, it's gonna make a mental note. I mean, it's easy if you're not simple It's easy to recognize this stuff, right? So look, you know, here's a side note on growth by the way, and I see this I see this with you all So let me tell you about you all right now. Okay. Look the people the people who are growing the fastest here I'm telling you they're not gonna name names But the people who are who I see and that's one of the greatest things about Being in the ministry and being in this position. I never saw this before as a church member I never got to see this view but you know, I love seeing people grow. I mean, I've loved it in my career as well I love building people up and creating successful engineers and successful teams and successful projects But I love it even more here I love people seeing people grow in their Christian lives But here's the thing the people that grow the fastest here the people that are growing the faster Fastest here are the people they're not out there giving advice Because I'm paying attention. They're not giving advice to people they're asking questions They're asking questions They're seeking counsel from the right sources. Those are the people that are just like they're just they're just Superstars in growth in their Christian life. Look that's the same way. It works in the world, too It's much more important here obviously But I mean what people that you've gone to work and they pretend like they know everything they just they'll never learn And if they do if they do learn which they probably won't they're gonna learn by repeating all the mistakes of everyone before them and I'm just like, you know, you meet people like that and you're just like if you could just I Could have helped you with that You know, I could have helped you avoid that pitfall but look People they just pretend they know everything just to have the preeminence over people. I mean, they're not gonna grow That's the worst things. I mean you see the inverse of it with the people who are not given the advice they have some they're not prideful their their humble and They're growing and they're growing and I mean look I mean many times many times the worst types of people like this that want to have the preeminence, by the way Let's get out of the church for a minute. There are people that don't even attend church. That's the funniest thing. I Mean, that's the funny. These are your these are your YouTube warriors These are your internet commenters You see these internet commenters that are just like that. They're just like that the most judgmental nasty people You're like what in the world? You know and you're like, where do they go to? Oh, they don't go to church. I Mean, but they're experts on everything Every doctrine they're experts But the funny thing is they wouldn't last two months in a biblical church They come in they cause some kind of trouble and they I mean they'd get marked and they'd get put out. I Mean that's why that's why attending a church Regularly is a little bit different of a life than being a YouTube Christian. I Mean it's a little bit different. I mean there's a pastor here I mean, there's a church here with rules with a culture right with the protections in place It's also funny how you know attending a church on a regular basis will keep you humble. I Mean, isn't that funny how that works? It'll keep you from it'll keep you from being prideful Because if you if you attend a good church that actually preaches the Bible and the church gets up and it says, you know Hey, look, you know, these are some things you need to work on, you know Hey, are you doing this this and this and you're like, ah You know and you walk out of church going man. I'm not doing it right. Look that humbles you That keeps you humble and what look it's protecting you Because becoming prideful is one of the most dangerous things especially for you saved Christian Becoming prideful. I mean will destroy your life quite frankly So we see so we see who I mean we see what to watch for we watch for this preeminence this pride These people that are out there just trying to constantly just you know, give you all their advice and their thoughts constantly You're just like man. Did I ask you all this stuff? It's easy to see. Okay, but who will get deceived look at Romans 16 18 Look at Romans 16 18 for they which are such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ But their own belly and by good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple Imagine this church that diatrophies is infiltrating He's prideful He's serving himself He's not qualified he throws everyone out that's against him and He's left with the simple. I've seen churches like this I've seen churches like this Where it's nothing but you know this diatrophies That he he became you know a pastor or whatever because you know He wanted the preeminence and he's just got a bunch of simple people following him. I Mean you'll find that but look he's serving himself. He's not qualified He throws everything went against him out and he's left with the simple people like this go after the weakest So the question, I mean the answer there is you're like, what do we do? Well, here's the answer don't be weak Don't be weak Sunday morning We'll dig into that Sunday morning the answer to diatrophies is don't be weak because they go after the week That's it and we'll talk about that in detail on Sunday morning You say Sunday mornings Mother's Day Hmm So conclusion, let's look at this whole thing from Paul's perspective here. Imagine the situation. Imagine you're Paul Imagine you're Paul. He's going around the region. He is preaching the gospel. He's putting his life on the line in every way He's being thrown in prison. He's being beaten. He's being tortured. He leaves a place like Galatia. He spends time there he leaves a place and one of these prideful idiots comes in and Just undoes everything that he built Mean it's the same in 1st John 3 you have a guy he's not even receiving the disciples He hijacks the church. Look this is where this thing can go if we don't solve these problems right away Okay, so that I mean mark and avoid so the church is not lost. You're like, oh man, you know, no, no Single prideful person could come in here and do that. Yes, they could They could if we're not if we're weak if we're simple if we're not paying attention, you know The church could be in all sorts of terrible trouble Is what we're learning here Galatians Galatians the whole book of Galatians is about damage control. That's what it's about I mean Paul, I mean most of it most of it and what we're going to continue next week is The defense of the gospel is Paul just giving this great treatise on you know The defense of the gospel in like eight different ways. It's just this great, you know defense of the gospel This is why he's like this is why what these people can't you know? It can't be true what they're saying and he just takes the Bible and he just destroys This doctrine which is a great way to deal by the way with you know, false teaching and false doctrine I mean Paul doesn't get super personal on this thing Paul just pretty much takes the doctrine and just destroys it into the ground and then he tells them he's like look He's like look, here's how you handle these people You got to find him and he got to get him out. And by the way, here's what the truth is So like he's in he's in defense of the gospel 90% of the time next week will be back into that next week But the offense he goes against here is the is the people undermining it he goes on the offense so I mean fixing a problem is He's fixing a problem that is caused by people causing division and Unfortunately, this is something that we're going to deal with. I'm just telling you that and you know, because people are just selfish you know people are selfish the arrogant and It's just it, you know, so I mean You show me someone who causes problems in a church by spreading doctrines contrary to the pastor or that church's doctrines And I'll show you someone who's extremely prideful It's really that simple no, I mean but you say but you say, you know, no two men will agree on everything, right? I mean, there's always going to be small things. Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing The first choice is this the first choice is this that were perfectly joined you say what is my choice? My choice is is that we're perfectly joined that means, you know, you have a question on a doctrine or something, you know I should be able to explain that to you if I have an opinion on something I have an opinion on a doctrine. I should be able to explain that to you from the Bible And if I can't I should be honest enough to be like, okay, you know, maybe you're correct. I Mean, it's really that simple. The Bible is our guide and look, but there's small things Maybe there's small things where you're just like, okay, you know I was just raised this way and I'm just gonna always believe this and it's a small thing has nothing to do with salvation You know, but the thing is then you should just you know, keep that to yourself basically I Mean if you have a small difference in doctrine, you know versus you know what the pastor of the church teaches the first choice would be that you just iron that out and just have all the same doctrine and Be perfectly joined that would be my first but but I'm pragmatic. I'm not you know, I Understand how the world works. Okay, but look if you could take a small thing and you could make it a big thing And that's you know, that's where I think a lot of people misstep They take a small thing and they start going around maybe in groups and like yeah But I think this and I think this and I think this, you know Like, you know the pre-trib post-trib stuff is I mean that's not even really a small thing But I mean a tiny little doctrine could turn into a big thing for you if you just start Going around feeding your own belly on it So the first choice is that we're perfectly joined no divisions, that's what we should shoot for we should shoot for here Okay, at least we'll hit like, you know close to here, right? I mean, let's not shoot for down here So we want to be you know strong Perfectly joined no divisions because look and and how how well we do with that. Don't get me wrong here, please Please don't know. I mean, this is the whole point of the whole sermon how well we do at this We'll define how effective we are with our big visions going forward Okay, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer