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We're so free of the grass, we're not free. We'll sing it again, we'll sing it loudly. And we'll ride the Christmas tree. I was lost, but Jesus found me. And we'll sing it again this day. For there is love in us around me, for we guide me to his name. We'll sing it again, we'll sing it loudly. And we'll ride the Christmas tree. We'll sing it again, we'll sing it loudly. And we'll ride the Christmas tree. I was raised, but Jesus found me. And we'll ride the Christmas tree. We'll sing it again this day. We'll sing it again this day. The world is singing. And we'll ride the Christmas tree. There's also a love in us behind me. If we ever know nothing, we'll love you just as long as we love you. For there is love in us around me.. And we'll sing it again this day. We'll sing it again this day. I was raised, but Jesus found me. And the strength of the Savior still is heavy by the standards of life. Yes, I say of the life and story of the Christ, the life and faith. See within the saints and the high, and the high of his mercy. To the regions beyond I must know, I must know where the story has never been told. To the millions that never have heard of his love, I must tell the sweet story of home. To the regions beyond I must know, I must know where the story has never been told. To the world of the world, his salvation shall come. To the hardest of places he calls me to go, not thinking of boundaries. The world may pronounce me a dreamer of who we love in the master at least. To the regions beyond I must know, I must know where the story has never been told. To the world of the world, his salvation shall come. Oh ye that are spending your leisure and powers in pleasure so foolish and mild. Away from yourself is his holy insane, and go to the regions beyond. To the world of the world, to the regions beyond I must know. To the world of the world, his salvation shall come. There are other lost sheep that the master must bring, must the best is be told. He sends me to gather them out of the land, and welcome them back to his home. Lift up now to the regions beyond I must know, I must know where the story has never been told. To the world of the world, to the world of the world, his salvation shall come. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me. I praise salvation so rich and free. Here's the stand of liberty and pride. Mary, God, my Lord, was to stand by. Knowing I was to lead, I know now the love of thee. Mercy there was great, grace was free. Are you there with roles and lives to lead? There by birth spoke of liberty and Calvary. By God's word at last was seen, I learned, live like tremble and the long eyes burn, till the angels' story long returned to Calvary. Mercy there was great, grace was free. Are you there with roles and lives to lead? There by birth spoke of liberty and Calvary. Now I'm given to Jesus everything. Now I'm gladly open as my King. Now I have the soul, but only seek of Calvary. Mercy there was great, grace was free. Are you there with roles and lives to lead? There by birth spoke of liberty and Calvary. Now I'm the last now. Oh, the love that true salvation's planned. Oh, the praise that brought it down to heaven. Oh, the mighty golden God, his death and Calvary. Mercy there was great, grace was free. Are you there with roles and lives to lead? There by birth spoke of liberty and Calvary. Jesus, what a friend for sin! Jesus, Lord of my soul! Friends and family, close us daily. Be my Savior, praise we go. Hallelujah, God our Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, weeping, loving, He has sent me to the end. Jesus, what a strength in me, Let me guide myself in Him. Gently trying, sometimes failing, Be my strength, my victory wins. Hallelujah, God our Savior. Hallelujah, God our friend. Saving, helping, weeping, loving, He has sent me to the end. Jesus, what a helping soul! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to the Steadfast Baptist Church. It's great to see everybody here this afternoon. If we can go ahead and find our seats, we will go ahead and get started. Once we've all found a seat, let's grab a hymnal. And we'll start this service off with song number 39. Song number 39, How Beautiful Heaven Must Be. Song number 39. Let's all sing it out together. We read of a place that's called heaven. It's made for the pure and the free. These truths that God's worthy have given. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair native rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. In heaven no drooping nor finding. No wishing for elsewhere to be. God's light is forever shining. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair native rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. Your waters of life there are flowing. And all that will drink may be free. Where jewels of splendor are flowing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair native rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. The angels so sweetly are singing. From there by the beautiful sea. Sweet horse where gold arms are ringing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair native rest for the weary. Fair native rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. Great singing everybody. Let's open up the service now with a word of prayer. Lord we love you and we thank you so much for the opportunity to go soul winning this afternoon. And we just thank you for all those that were reached. Lord we love you and we just ask you to bless this service and fill this church with your spirit and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright for our next song. Let's go to song number 46. Song number 46. My Savior First of All. Song number 46. Sing it nice and loud. When my life work is ended and I cross the swelling tide and the rising floor is morning I shall see I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side and His love will be the first to welcome me. I shall know when I shall know and redeemed by His side I shall share I shall know when I shall know when are the clings of the nails in His hair O the soul thrilling rapture when I give His blood to faith and the luster of His kindly baby died My full heart will praise Him for the mercy of His grace everywhere for the avenging in the sky I shall know when I shall know and redeemed by His side I shall share I shall know when I shall know when are the clings of the nails in His hair O the dear ones in glory how they beckon me to come and are parting at the river I recall O the sweet nails of Eden they will sing my welcome home but I long to be my Savior first of all I shall know when I shall know and redeemed by His side I shall send I shall know when I shall know when are the clings of the nails in His hair O the gates to the city in a robe of spotless white He will leave me where no tears will ever fall In the glad song of ages I shall be going divine but I long to be my Savior first of all I shall know when I shall know and redeemed by His side I shall send I shall know when I shall know when are the clings of the nails in His hair Thanks for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you did not already get a bulletin and you would like one you can lift up your hand nice and high. We'll get you a bulletin. We're getting close to finishing Matthew 28. Anybody that can quote the entire chapter gets a prize. Insides are service and soul winning times as well as church stats. Make sure if you went out soul winning this afternoon to put your maps in our done bin as well as update the group chat. You can do that now if you haven't thought of it. On the right is a list of expecting and then we have our upcoming events. Our kids choir is going to be performing for us on Easter and I really encourage you to be here and check it out. I'm sure it's going to be not only cute but I'm sure they're going to perform very well as well so I'm excited to see their performances. The Mansville Soul Winning Marathon there is a sign up sheet out here in the foyer if you'd like to attend. We'd love for you to come out and join us for a couple different soul winning opportunities. We'll do it in the morning and afternoon. We'll have lunch here at the church and we'll have lunch as well so highly encourage you if you can participate. We're just trying to encourage not only us but other people to do soul winning on that day. There's a lot of other churches participating in marathons and events on the 19th and kind of like a mini mega marathon in a sense but maybe that's too many adjectives I don't know but essentially just an idea of trying to encourage a lot of people to do a lot of soul winning on that day before Easter. Easter services we're going to have the Lord's Supper for the evening service next Sunday so if you'd like to join us for that. Our church I know this is really controversial but I guess in a sense our church is kind of open communion in the sense that anybody who's saved is baptized is welcome to have communion with us even if they're not technically a member of our church and I know that'll cause some Baptist to not even be fellowshiped with you ever again so I don't know why closed communion is such a big deal for some of these people but I guess it is highly controversial. I do give warnings. I mean obviously the Bible says it should be for saved people that are baptized and right with God. They shouldn't be on the 1 Corinthians 5 list but if you meet that criterion let every man examine himself. Down below we have the Scott Baby Shower and then we have the Mother's Day Brunch You can either do the sign up sheet or you can just do the ladies group chat I think we're going to have a big group this year. I think my wife said there's already 90 ladies signed up and so we're going to be doing a different venue because the venue in the past can't accommodate the growth of our church and so we just have to keep finding new opportunities but that's a good problem. We're excited for all the ladies that are going to be joining us I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun. My wife's already been planning this so I look forward to hearing how it goes. Church reminders down below on the back we have the baby shower details. Please if you would like to get them a gift the Scotts and their baby boy they register on Amazon. You can bring a side dish or dessert nursing's only preferred RSVP to Miss Milstead and then we have our prayer list. That's pretty much all I've got. We'll go to our third song Psalm 126 so it's there in your psalm binders Psalm 126 Alright that was Psalm 126 Let's all sing it out together Psalm 126 Let's all sing it out together Let's all sing it out together So now let's come again with rejoicing Bringing his sheep with care Then said they among the even The Lord have done great things for them Whereof we are glad Great singing everybody. Now as the offering plates are being passed around go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Daniel chapter number six. That's the book of Daniel chapter number six Daniel chapter six The Bible says It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 princes which should be over the whole kingdom and over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first that the princes might be first and the princes might be first and the princes might be first. Daniel was first that the princes might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage. Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidences and princes because an excellent spirit was in him and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom but they could find none occasion nor fault for as much as he was faithful neither was there any error or fault found in him Then said these men we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel except we find it against him concerning the law of his god Then these presidents and princes assembled to the king and said thus unto him king Darius live forever all the presidents of the kingdom the governors and the princes the counselors and the captains have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days save of thee O king he shall be cast into the den of lions. Now O king establish the decree and sign the writing that it be not changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians which alterth not. Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed he went into his house and his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his god as he did aforetime. Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his god. Then they came near and spake before the king concerning the king's decree. Hast thou not signed a decree that every man that shall ask a petition of any god or man within thirty days save of thee O king shall be cast into the den of lions. The king answered and said the thing is true according to the law of the Medes and Persians which alterth not. Then answered they and said before the king that Daniel which is of the children of the captivity of Judah regardeth not thee O king nor the decree that thou has signed but maketh his petition three times a day. Then the king when he heard these words was sore displeased with himself and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he labored till the going down of the son to deliver him. Then these men assembled unto the king and said unto the king no O king that the law of the Medes and Persians is that no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. Then the king commanded and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel thy god whom thou servest continually he will deliver thee and the stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to his palace and passed the night fasting. Neither were instruments of music brought before him and his sleep went from him. Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste unto the den of lions and when he came to the den he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel and the king spake and said to Daniel O Daniel servant of the living god is thy god whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee from the lions. Then said Daniel unto the king O king live forever my god hath sent his angel and has shut the lions mouths that they have not hurt me for as much as before him innocence he was found in me and also before thee O king have I done no hurt. Then the king was exceeding glad for him and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no manner of hurt was found upon him because he believed in his god and the king commanded and they brought those men which had accused Daniel and they cast them into the den of lions them their children and their wives and the lions had the mastery of them and break all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. Then king Darius wrote unto all people nations and languages that dwell in all the earth peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the god of Daniel for he is the living god and steadfast forever and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He deliverth and rescueth and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father thank you for the word of God. I thank you for being able to deliver Daniel in such a great work and I thank you that you're able to deliver us also. Please fill Pastor Shelley with your Holy Spirit to preach the word now in Jesus name Amen. Amen. I want to look at the beginning of this chapter it says it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom and hundred and twenty princes which should be over the whole kingdom and over these three presidents of whom Daniel was first that the princes might give accounts unto them and the king should have no damage. So the entire earth is essentially conquered at least the developed world the civilized world and we need leadership we need a hierarchy we have the king, King Darius he ushers out a hundred and twenty princes is what the Bible says. The word prince simply means ruler. Often we get confused with Disney Channel or Disney movies and think of prince as the son of a king. Prince just simply means ruler and so these are a hundred and twenty rulers of those hundred and twenty there's three presidents and then of those three presidents there's one person that's the first president or the chief president and that is Daniel. What is the point of appointing Daniel over everyone? Because it's just like king, Daniel, then the three, then the hundred and twenty then who knows there's probably a lot more leadership underneath that. But that is the hierarchy of the structure. The point of putting Daniel in charge is that there'd be no damage. There'd be no damage to the king and I believe that this principle could apply to a lot of different scenarios but I want to also apply it to the things of God because what's more important than physical, carnal ruling is spiritual ruling and our king is the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ empowers and gives authority unto pastors and unto bishops to rule the house of God and that there is no damage. And so what I want to preach a sermon on this evening is called damage control. Damage control. And there's this idea that's constantly thrown out by people how they say oh you guys always preach damage control sermons. Amen. Why would I want there to be damage in the house of God? Why would I want there to be damage unto the king? We should constantly be limiting damage that's going on in this world. And let me tell you something that's really damaging. It's called sin. Sin is really damaging and we should be getting up and preaching the word of God and causing people to have a fear of God. I love the end of this chapter. Did you notice at the end of this chapter what it said in verse 26? I make a decree. This is the King Darius. That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of God. And fear before the God of Daniel. What did God we would have men thundering forth the fear of God and that people would actually tremble at the thought of God. They'd be afraid of the God of the Bible. They would see oh my company is losing money because I attacked the people of God. Oh this guy is getting a skin disease that's destroying him because he didn't fear God. Oh there's this guy dead in an alley because he didn't fear God. People should be trembling and be afraid of God and what God can do unto people. And at the end of the day when we talk about damage control, you know you could look it up in a dictionary or online. The idea is just trying to limit the damage as a result of some issue or some problem. That's kind of just a basic idea of what that means. But really what I think this is is it's a psychological technique of enemies to try and get you to not do something that you should do. And you know a lot of people will say oh I bet you're going to preach a damage control sermon about this subject and what they're trying to get you to do is not do what the Bible wants you to do. And I have eight things I'm going to bring up. There's eight things there's probably more. There's eight things that they don't want me to do when I get up and preach. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 4. And again it's kind of like if you play a sport or if you play a game with somebody and they want to win they'll use psychological techniques against you right. So if you play chess or something you play a sport and there's not a lot of trash talking in chess but just go with me for a second. But you know you're sitting there playing chess and they're like I bet you're going to move that piece over there. And sometimes they'll say that to you to psych you out so that you won't move that piece over there because they know that that's the right move. They know that you should do that. So they're saying that and trying to psych you out saying like oh I bet you're going to probably move your piece over here. They're trying to get you to second guess doing that. Or you know it could be a sport event. They say like oh I bet you're going to try and run over here. You know tell them I bet you're going to try and throw a touchdown. Yeah we are. That's the whole point of the game. So they try to use these psychological techniques to call you out. Say what you're going to do before you do it to try and get you to second guess that you're going to do it. Hey I bet you if I punch you you're probably going to punch me back huh. And you're like yeah. Hey I bet if I break into your house you might shoot me. Yeah. Hey I bet if I start keying your car you might try to stop me huh. Yes I will. And it's like oh I bet if I lie about you and slander you and attack you you might preach against me. Yes I might. I mean that's just the reality. But they think by calling you out and saying oh I bet it's a damage control you won't do it. You know just because someone calls you out or says hey I bet you're going to do this doesn't mean it's still not the right thing to do. Don't let people psych you out about doing what the Bible says. And here's the one thing that they really don't want you to do is name names. They'll say oh damage control is naming names. But you know what the Bible names names. Look at 2 Timothy chapter number 4 verse 10. For Demas hath forsaken me. You know what the word Demas is there. It's a name. And Demas I think it's pretty clear in the text if you read the Bible Demas was a saved guy. He was probably even on the right path at some point. But Demas what did he do. He forsook Paul. Oh Paul's Paul's a cult man. Why do I have to follow Paul. It's not about Paul. But notice what Paul says. Hey you forsaken me. Why. Because hey he's the man of God. He's the one going out and doing lots of works. And sometimes you rely on servants you rely on church members you rely on people and when they leave you they drop you like a bad habit it causes damage to the cause of Christ. And sometimes people need to be called out so then other people don't make the same mistake as Demas and go down the same path of Demas. And sometimes you got to name people like Demas. Why did Demas forsake him having loved this present world and is departed unto Thessalonica. So here's a guy who doesn't care about the things of God he cares about money. You know what people often leave our church or leave our churches or leave our friends churches for money because they just love money they don't care about the things of God they're not interested in telling the truth and they are just interested in just the pleasures of this life pleasures of this world. Probably the best case scenario I'm sorry the best example I could think of would be Paul Wittenberger hath forsaken the new I of B having loved this present world. There's a guy that just is love is trying to make a lot of money and doesn't care about truth anymore doesn't care about you know the things of God and you say how dare you say that Paul Wittenberger has filed copyright strikes on gospel presentation videos on the internet and then sells the exact same presentation on his website. So it's not that he's against the gospel presentation he's against someone getting it for free. Why? Because he cares about money. He cares about money. It's just fact. You can't argue with those facts those are just things that are happening so that's someone that forsook us not to get right with God not to do things that are more spiritual but simply just like money. And you say oh how dare you name the name this is damage control. Okay well I don't want more people to leave our church to go chase money. Why did Paul call him out? Paul called him out and look Paul filed a false copyright strike on my videos for all kinds of different things. The guy is just cares about money doesn't care about truth I've never done any damage to Paul. In fact I've given Paul thousands and thousands tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of being a pastor of this church done nothing wrong to him he files copyright strikes against us lies about us slanders us puts us down this is a guy that's forsaken us for nothing that we did to him. Why? Because he loves money. This is damage control. Sure you can call whatever you want but you know what the Bible says to call these people out Cretans to Galatia Titus unto Dalmatia only Luke is with me take Mark and bring him with thee for he is profitable to me for the ministry. So you know some people get honorable mention some people get a bad mention you know here's somebody that's done great Ben Naim did a great job putting together the Daniel series and we put that out online for free and Ben was promised zero dollars from anybody to make that he just of his own time just nights and weekends puts out the Daniel series product when people in our church and churches gave money and resources to produce this product and then Paul and bigger won't do it won't finish the job we volunteer our free time to get it done. And then he has to criticize it and act like it's an inferior product and trash us well you know what that's his problem and you know what he shouldn't do that he shouldn't trash churches he didn't you know our bad version of the Daniel series is better than his no version anyways I don't even think it's bad I think Ben did a great job I'm just saying even if it was an inferior product that inferior product is better than your no product and let me tell you something you single guys a not perfect wife is better than no wife okay sometimes you have to just realize don't let perfect get in the way of good and sometimes people allow perfect to stop them from actually accomplishing anything you know we need to call people out how about Alexander the coppersmith look at verse 14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil who did Alexander the coppersmith hurt Paul he attacked Paul he did evil unto Paul and then Paul's calling him out and we're talking about the apostle Paul here so you know here's another name how about Tommy McMurtry and Cassandra McMurtry and of course this guy is just probably the poster child for one that's trying to psych everybody out and saying oh everything's a damage control sermon but there's nothing wrong with a damage control sermon where does the Bible say thou should not preach damage control I think the Bible preaches that you should hey Daniel was a damage control expert he's saying no damage to the things that the king's entrusted to him and you know as a pastor as a leader you should try to reduce and eliminate damage over the goods that have been entrusted to you over the flock that's been entrusted to you and sometimes that's naming the names marking and avoiding certain people and calling them out and you know what the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not call out women so here's the number one thing people do they'll try to psych you out and say oh this is a damage control sermon he's probably going to mention me by name yep why because they don't want you to name the name the second thing that they do is they don't want you to call out women they're afraid of you calling out women go through to Acts chapter 5 go to Acts chapter number 5 but you know what there's nothing wrong with calling out women if women want to be loud and obnoxious and slander they're going to get called out just like a man would if they're meek and quiet they have nothing to worry about just like a man that's meek and quiet hey a man that's a busybody called out woman that's a busybody called out man that's quiet not called out woman that's quiet not called out it's not about men or women it's about what is your behavior and you know what men and women get called out in the Bible not just men everybody's fair game and if you want to enter into the arena then guess what you have the opportunity to be called out Peter didn't get afraid to call out women even women when they had no one to defend them look at verse 1 So Ananias makes a mistake he lies, he's killed that should cause people to fear and tremble before the God of the Bible when someone dies for having lied unto the Holy Ghost. Well keep reading it says in verse 6 in young men and women there is no sin and it was about the space of three hours after when his wife not knowing what was done came in so he was in the car playing games on his phone waiting for his wife to come out and then he just left early for church right so she comes out three hours later this is just my ad-libbing all right we don't know why did it take her three hours later to come in I don't know we don't know what's going on so she comes out three hours later to come in I don't know we don't know what's going on women take a lot longer to get ready though I know that's for sure she should have been with her husband verse 8 and Peter answered under tell me whether you sold the land for so much hey how dare you Peter ask her questions how dare you you know how dare you try to figure out if she's lying too well Peter's gonna figure out where this lady's at hey did you sold for this much and she said yay for so much then Peter said to her how is it that you have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out then fell she down straight way at his feet and yielded up the ghost and the young men came in and found her dead and carrying her forth buried her by her husband and great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard these things look you should follow your husband but not to sin against God if your husband is going wayward you don't go you don't go down with him hey if you get thrown out of church because your husband's a railer don't rail with him don't be a slanderer with him don't go down the dark path with him because you know what God will hold you accountable for your sins too and if your husband's a liar you don't lie with him you don't tell false things with him but you know what women can get called out just in the same way that the husband gets called out for the exact same sin with the same punishment because God's not a respecter of persons neither am I and you know what if a woman's going to be loud and obnoxious like Joyce Meyer like Beth Moore and run her mouth online someone gets to call them out if you want to teach the Bible online well you're fair game you don't get to just go online and preach false doctrine and lies and slander and no one gets to respond because you're quote a woman you know that's not I don't play that game and say how dare you ever call out a woman well you know I didn't force Cassandra Mercury to put a bunch of my videos on her YouTube channel I didn't force her to make videos slandering me and talking about my church constantly online that's not me doing it that's just her doing that kind of stuff so you know I get the opportunity to defend myself and I get to call them out just like Peter's calling out Sephira hey I can call out a woman go to First Timothy chapter 5 people say oh the men of God only called out bad women and and you know this is what people always do they'll say oh how dare you call out a pastor's wife but I'm not calling someone out because she's married to a pastor I'm not calling someone out because they're a virgin on their wedding night I'm not calling out a woman for loving her family I'm calling out a woman for slandering and lying but then it's like here's where you slandered but I was a virgin on my wedding night okay that has nothing to do with the fact that you slandered or lied can we address the slander or the lies that you made and again this is what people do is they just try to distract from the actual argument and just bring up something else about themselves that's positive and again Tommy Mercury is someone that's attacked my church relentlessly lied about me lied about our church calls us all Kool-Aid drinkers and a cult and says you guys have all been emasculated by me and all kinds of just nonsense and people in our church have left because of him they've been in communication with him and so you know I get a chance to defend myself against this guy and look this guy's teaching all kinds of heresy this guy's teaching weird stuff he taught that Jesus Christ was in Jerusalem the entire Old Testament up until the children of Israel took over offering sacrifices he said that he thinks Jesus Christ was an Old Testament Melchizedek that was there from the time of Cain and Abel all the way up until the children of Israel take over Canaan this is an insane blasphemous doctrine okay he taught all kinds of just bizarre things he's teaching all kinds of weird wacky things about Melchizedek temple just sacrifices I mean you just I did a whole show about it last night if you care alright but if you don't know who it is you don't need to know but what you think about it this way we didn't know who Demas was we didn't know who Alexander the coppersmith was but we just learned from the example sometimes people get called out you don't have to know their name you don't have to know anything about them but you know what the people that know they need to be warned about bad people okay first Timothy chapter number five look what it says in verse number six but she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth this is talking about widows and this is the apostle Paul giving instruction in Timothy hey widows that are not serving God don't deserve money from the church we're calling them out we're examining their lifestyle and determining whether they're worthy or not of even receiving money it says in verse nine let not a widow be taken into the number under three square years old have him in the wife of one man you're gonna have to ask women their age now that's spicy think about it like you know women get offended about being carded you know like 21 or whatever this is what they really get offended when they stop getting carded you know they're like what you don't think I look 20 or whatever she's like 45 and it's like hun no sorry but think about it it's like you're like 50 and they're like hey are you over 60 that would offend a lot of women wouldn't it but it's like hey you gotta check what her age is notice this have him in the wife of one man how dare you question some woman that got divorced from her husband well you know what you don't get money from the church when you're gonna leave your husband when you're getting a divorce from your husband well reported up for good works if she had brought up children if she had lied to strangers if she had washed the saints feet if she relieved the afflicted if she had diligently followed every good work boy it's gonna be hard for the church to give a lot of money to widows have you seen that list that's an incredible list but you know what here's a cool thing if you are that woman you the church should be able to provide for you if you don't have a family member that can provide for you so you know the church can take care of that but what does it say verse 11 but the younger widows refuse for when they've begun to wax one against Christ they'll marry having damnation because they've cast off their first faith and with all they learn to be idle wandering about from house to house and not only idle but Tatler's also and busybodies speaking things which they ought not I will therefore that the younger women marry bear children guide the house give none occasion adversary to speak reproachfully for some are already turned aside after Satan so you have women according to the Bible going down a lifestyle that the Bible describes as satanic so if you see a woman being a Tatler and a busybody which the Bible calls satanic and she's an example unto other ladies putting herself out there as the example for lots of other women and she's leading them to go down a tail bearing gossiping road that's satanic why would I not then want to say hey don't do that don't follow this woman going down this path I mean that only makes logical sense oh but I was a virgin on my wedding night okay did it say in this list that any of the women here were not virgins on their wedding night or did it say hey here's the problem they're Tatler's and busybodies you could argue that every single woman in this was a virgin on their wedding night and pure on their wedding night yet they were a Tatler and a busybody and that's what makes them satanic not that they were a virgin on their wedding night quit bringing up that as an excuse as to how you could never do wrong or never be called out for something yay you're so much better than us and you also know Hadassah okay so congratulations you are holier than all of us but you know what you could be the holiest person ever for your whole life and then you start tattling and now you're a satanic because all your righteousness will not be remembered when you sin go to Ezekiel you can be perfect all the way up to a point but then think about this I've never done anything wrong in my life as soon as you kill someone now you're a killer you know we're not going to talk about what you did in your past we're talking about what you did right now and the sins that you have right now women can be called out go to Revelation chapter 20 I'm sorry 2 Revelation 2 Revelation chapter number 2 I'm uncomfy Pastor Shelley well you know what welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church men and women can be called out and they are called out in the Bible and this is what I've noticed people that don't like a damage control sermon they just don't like the New Testament I mean what have I said that is not clearly in the text so far he's calling out women calling out women by name here's another one where we're going to get a clear call out by name specifically Revelation chapter 2 verse 20 notwithstanding I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which called herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols and I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not. Behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they repent of their deeds and I will kill their children with death and all the churches shall know that I am he which searches the reigns and hearts and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. So here's the Bible calling out Jezebel specifically now if you understand the context of this this is supposed to be written unto the seven churches which are in Asia go back to chapter 1 look at verse 4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia so let me tell you something six churches read about Jezebel and heard about Jezebel and she doesn't go to their church she has nothing to do with her church how dare you talk about someone that's not in your church why would God write an epistle and give it to seven different churches at the same time if he doesn't want them to know about issues going on in other churches you know what God doesn't want to have to punish seven women in seven churches to make this point he wants to punish one woman that's in the most extreme category of error here so that all the churches may know did you read that go back if you went to chapter number two and look what it says in verse number let's see what is the verse that I want yeah verse 23 and I will kill our children with death and all the churches shall know and all the churches shall know it sounds like people knew about drama in other churches didn't they and you know what I like about this epistle it's not a coincidence it's not like Jezebel died with all those same people and they were like man that's a random coincidence this lady was doing all this stuff and then something bad happened to her no it's like no you know God did it God took care of this person and God dealt with this person and you know what this woman got called out she shouldn't have been doing what she was doing she should have been teaching teaching this false doctrine teaching this heresy and God even killed her and the people that were partakers with her go to second Timothy chapter three go to second Timothy chapter number three first Corinthians chapter five we're going to go there in a minute but in verse one it says that there's an issue in that church where a man has his father's wife did you realize that the sin of fornication it takes two to tango both parties are getting called out it's not like they were only calling out the dude you can't do that you're calling out both parties in that particular sin in that particular issue so you got that woman getting called out for her sin yes women can get publicly called out women can be publicly excommunicated from the church women are named in the Bible and it's not even just the unsaved Jezebel of the Old Testament it's I believe the saved New Testament Jezebel you have Sapphira being mentioned you have first Corinthians chapter number five the woman that's obviously the father's wife that's being mentioned now that's not by name but I guarantee everything that church knows her name I wouldn't even guess that many people knew her name that weren't even a part of that church if you realize many of the epistles are even written to multiple churches at the same time they're not written just one singular church because you know God wants to communicate these messages to everybody did you realize that we're reading the New Testament it's written to the Romans Romans but I thought that was for us no no that's just for the Romans oh Corinthians that's just for Corinth glacier that's just for glacier Ephesus that's just for Ephesus no no we're reading about what happened in other churches so that we would know how our church should operate and the issues that are going on in our churches look at what it says in second Timothy chapter number three verse three without natural affection truce makers false accusers incontinent fears despises those that are good so according to the Bible there's false accusers is something that's going to happen in the latter days okay and it says skip down to verse six for of this sort are they which creep in houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with divers lusts so false prophets and false teachers come with all these all these sin issues and who do they affect the most silly women now silly we don't usually use the word silly I think the way the Bible is using it too much I think silly like I'm thinking of like tricks are for kids you know silly rabbit tricks are for kids and silly just kind of means like weird or goofy but in the Bible silly is is kind of more synonymous with just being kind of dumb or an airhead or just someone that's kind of foolish or lacking wisdom maybe doesn't take things very seriously and silly women are usually taken advantage of by bad men bad people and so they need to be warned from these type of issues and of course false accusations they really just resonate well with silly women they'll just repeat all kinds of stuff gossip lies slander that's why it's important to stop it right at the head call things out and not allow women to just repeat and go through the rumor meal of all kinds of false accusations and issues why would you call somebody out or call a woman out or call these things well you know what if there's a woman that's an example of slander and causing all kinds of problems you know it needs to be dealt with it needs to be publicly addressed and if you say oh that's damage control amen why would I not want to control gossip why would I not want to control slander why would I not want to limit the damage of sin and these problems in churches you know to me you just love lies if you don't want to control that people should be kept you know is basically in control go with the titus chapter 2 and look at verse 3 there titus chapter 2 we're right there just turn the page verse 3 the aged women likewise that they be in behavior as we come with holiness not false accusers you know who's preaching this the pastor the pastor's addressing the men he's addressing the women he's telling the women don't be false accusers don't be gossips don't be liars why because it's going to cause or approach on the cause of christ it's satanic okay go over to second corinthians chapter 7 so number one people say oh you preach damage control sermons they're trying to get you to not name the name i will name the name don't test me number two they want you to not call out a woman i will call out a woman if i feel like it's necessary number three here's another thing they don't want you to do is they want you to never defend yourself you know what the authors of the bible are constantly defending themselves against lies slander false accusations and all kinds of different things second corinthians chapter number seven the apostle paul is addressing issues that he had with this church and issues he already dealt with but look what it says in verse number one having therefore these promised dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness and the fear of god receive us we have wronged no man we have corrupted no man we have defrauded no man now keep your finger here go back to chapter one verse one second corinthians chapter one verse one just keep your finger there paul an apostle of jesus christ by the will of god and timothy our brother unto the church of god which is at corinth with all the saints which are in all akiah so it's written in a sense that it's kind of written from we who's the we paul and timothy paul and timothy are saying we have wronged no man paul and timothy are saying we have corrupted no man paul and timothy are saying we have defrauded no man you know that's called defending yourself oh how dare you defend yourself why is he happening to bring this up well if you read the context second corinthians is clear somebody in the church is probably accusing the apostle paul of stealing money or doing something wrong with money and as a result he has to defend himself over and over read in this chapter a little bit more and we'll say let's go to verse eight for though i made you sorry with a letter i do not repent though i did repent for i perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry though we're for but a season now i rejoice not that you're made sorry but that ye sorrow to repentance for you're made sorry after a godly manner that you might receive damage by us in nothing so the apostle paul is saying he wrote in first corinthians about issues that they had and in those in that epistle he's calling people out he's calling serious sin issues out he's calling people out by name in a sense just because people recognize who he was talking about and he's saying when i wrote that and i sent it out i then later thought about it and then i was like oh i probably shouldn't have said that oh i don't know if that was right i don't even know if that was appropriate and he kind of saying like i repented did you notice that when he said that he says i do not repent though i did repent that's kind of confusing what is he saying he's saying at first i kind of thought that was too harsh maybe i shouldn't have said that maybe i shouldn't have done that but then i noticed that you guys actually got right with god and i realized that it needed to be said it just it was it was supposed to be done it's not it's not comfortable it's not something i wanted to do but i'm glad that i did it because i see what ended up happening and you guys sorrowed after a godly sort which means what you got right with god godly sorrow doesn't only make you feel bad it causes you to change whereas the world sorrow you stay the same you don't actually end up changing you just you want people to just feel sorry for you like Saul Saul you know can sit here and cry Pharaoh cried Pharaoh was upset but you know what Pharaoh didn't actually change Pharaoh was just still angry at God angry at the people of God and never relented and you know we need to make sure when we get our feelings hurt but it's right that we change that's a godly sorrow is one that says you know what i didn't like that that wasn't comfortable i don't like getting called out i don't like hearing that subject but hey i need to just change and think about this this is going to happen occasionally but isn't it possible that in a sermon at some time in the future that there's an issue being addressed and that issue you feel like hey i kind of feel like people will realize that's about me but this is what you should think well but is it true and if it's true maybe just say hey it is kind of about me but it's kind of true why don't i just change and then fix it and then of course the apostle ball addresses this in second Corinthians like hey when people get things right let them live it down let's love on these people let's be gracious to these people you know when you're hearing a sermon there's a temptation for you to worry about other people don't think about other people right now don't think about your spouse don't think about your kids don't think about the person across the room don't think about the loud amen guy alright don't think about the person you have a crush on okay think about you and if you need to change i'm reading a lot of bible here the bible is true what do you need to change in your heart and you know what sometimes it's okay as a pastor or preacher to defend yourself and i'll say this you know sometimes pastors make mistakes i mean doesn't peter get called out by paul was peter in the right no but you know sometimes you still need to just defend yourself because you're an important person as a leader and you need to just go ahead and move on is it right does peter now have to step down because he made a mistake no oh well he's preaching damage control by defending himself or causing people to you know want to stay under his leadership or follow him in some way look do you think the apostle was perfect no you know the apostle paul made mistakes you know the apostle paul was told not to go back to jerusalem repeatedly and the bible says the holy ghost told him not to but did the apostle paul give up no did peter give up no hey peter made mistakes and it was nice that even jesus came back to him and said hey you know what feed my sheep and i don't i don't think there's probably any of us especially in a church context that have forsaken christ the way that peter did i mean peter denied christ that was a serious issue but you know what god wasn't done with him and god wanted people to still follow peter and peter was still in my opinion the first basically pastor or leader of that church and help that church grow god could use imperfect people that make mistakes and allow them to keep going and you know what sometimes you need to defend yourself against false accusations or unreasonable conclusions but you know a lot of times you're defending yourself because of just flat out lies hey john mark made a mistake but he got right and peter i'm sorry paul even defended john mark later there's another example of hey sometimes i see a friend make a mistake or people are attacking him i'll defend him against them because you know what we should defend our friends we should defend the work of the ministry we should defend the position of a pastor we should defend things from the bible look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 8 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 8 i robbed other churches taking wages of them to do you service now he uses really dramatic language here obviously he didn't hold them up at gunpoint or something like that he's just simply saying i got paid money from other churches that really didn't have anything to do with them i think that's why he's using the word robbed essentially think about it there's a church that he's not helping giving him money so that he can help this church who's not paying him so he's like i'm robbing this church in a sense to pay my wages because you guys aren't taking care of me financially and this is going to happen in church planting for sure some churches are going to have more money than other churches and sometimes you have to take from one to satisfy the other and it doesn't really matter because it's the work of the ministry it's all the same in a sense right the apostle paul got paid from this church but he didn't get paid from the corinthian church verse 9 and when i was present with you and wanted i was chargeable to no man for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from asedonia supplied and in all things i've kept myself from being burdensome unto you and so will i keep myself so he's also defending himself by saying look i haven't even taken a penny from you guys you guys are making some accusation against them about money or something and he's like i haven't taken a penny from you i haven't defrauded you i haven't burdened anybody i'm taking money from other churches and these people from massedonia are the ones supplying my need you see him defending himself here then he goes into this weird diatribe here look at verse 16 i say again let no man think me a fool if otherwise yet as a fool receive me that i may boast myself a little he goes on this whole monologue bragging about himself and says hey i'm not a fool only a fool would brag about themselves but i am going to brag about myself to show you what it would be like to be an idiot to be a fool this is again a whole defense of himself i mean this is the word of god i mean why would i have just chapter after chapter of paul defending himself going against false accusations and then get up here and say like how dare a pastor get up and defend himself in a sermon it's the word of god it's the bible you have moses defending himself to the people of god you have paul defending himself to the people of god you have constant scenario and example of the men of god having to defend themselves from false accusations slanders and all kinds of weird things nehemiah is constantly defending himself against false people look at chapter 13 verse 1 this is the third time i am coming to you in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established i told you before and foretell you as if i were present the second time and being absent now i write to them which heretofore have sinned and to all the other that if i come again i will not spare since ye seek a proof of christ speaking in me which to you word is not weak but is mighty new for though he was crucified through weakness yet he liveth by the power of god for we also are weak in him but we shall live with him by the power of god toward you examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith prove your own selves know ye not your own selves so that jesus christ is in you except ye be reparations but i trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates he's saying man somebody's even in there calling me a reprobate and he's like there's no new thing under the sun hey if you serve god if you're a pastor for a while you'll have people come out and they'll just start calling you a false prophet calling you a reprobate calling you all kinds of stuff and he's trying to tell his church look guys don't listen to them i know you know i'm not a reprobate wouldn't you think that's kind of silly i mean the apostle paul gets you saved and baptized and starts your church and does miracles and then he even has to defend himself those people saying look i'm obviously not a reprobate guys you should realize because if i'm a reprobate you're a reprobate you know that's the point he's trying to make examine yourself because if you're not reprobate then you know i'm not reprobate right that's what he's trying to explain that's the point that he's really trying to drive home and it's so funny there's all these people that got saved by pastor anderson and then they'll call him a reprobate later and i'm thinking like you know you're reprobating yourself you're pointing the gun back at yourself when you do that type of a thing i love the bible i love all this defense i love all this drama because you know what it's the word of god and it's reality you serve god and you're on the front lines you will see this stuff happen go to first timothy chapter one go to first timothy chapter one some people get uncomfortable about this some churches will never name the names okay but then why do the bible include names why is the bible telling us about women that got called out why is the bible giving us an example of men of god defending themselves it's because that's what needs to take place sometimes hey there's positive sermons there's encouraging sermons there's gentle sermons but there's also times for correction for a proof rebuke exhort you know exhortation hey there's long suffering there's all these different things but sometimes we need to preach uncomfortable truths sometimes issues have to be addressed and you know i'm not against a quote damage control sermon in fact i hope they're all damage control sermons because someone needs to limit the damage of sin right now in this world sin is is uncontrollable right now someone needs to get control of some of this sin and the attacks are relentless someone needs to defend against these attacks here's the fourth thing people don't like is you calling out heresy you calling out false doctrine they'll say oh i bet there's a list of things that i preach that are wrong and people are going to call me out on it yeah you know hey if i preach something wrong everybody has the right that's a preacher a pastor to call me out on something i preach that's wrong i'm not afraid of that in fact i would love that why would i not want to be corrected by the word of god why would i not want someone to say hey what you said here is not right what you said is not what the bible teaches you know you said this it's wrong here's what the bible says and i'd be like oh thank you you're right that's what the bible says but the people that don't want to be called out it's because they don't want to be held accountable for their false doctrine look at verse timothy chapter 1 verse 19 holding faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made sheprech of whom is hymenaeus and alexander whom i have delivered unto satan that they may learn not to blaspheme why does the apostle paul call it hymenaeus and alexander because of the blasphemy which they spake in some way they're preaching blasphemy let's keep reading we get more information look at 2 timothy chapter 1 verse 15 2 timothy chapter 1 verse 15 this thou knowest that all they which are in asia be turned away from me of whom are by jealous and homogeneous why would you call out a person by name and the heresy that they're teaching because they can affect whole churches and whole movements and turn them away from you and turn them away from the truth let's keep reading look at chapter 2 verse 16 but shun profane and vain babblings for they will increase and amorn godliness and their word will eat us at the canker of whom is hymenaeus and philitis who concerning the truth have erred saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the faith of some some people will teach that the resurrection has already happened who is this how about all millennialists all millennialists and preterists will say that all those things have already happened and they're denying the resurrection and they're overthrowing the faith of many people and you know what they should be called out and you know what tommy mercher got mixed up in a bunch of this preterism trash at one point i think he's tried to moderate his view but thinking that jesus christ has already ruled and rained on the earth for 2700 years almost seems like the same boat it's like a weird version of preterism or something that just creates all kinds of heresies and blasphemies you know that's gonna destroy people's faith when you have stupid doctrine like this when you have one bad doctrine sometimes it leads to more and it just dominoes and it escalates and it gets worse and worse and worse and look these people notice profane and vain babblings they will increase unto more ungodliness false doctrine leads to more false doctrine how dare you call me out for this little thing well it can escalate can it you know in cancer they try to get it early and they try to get it cut out real quick because if it spreads it becomes way more dangerous and the same way that's the canker here and this is the cancer that a little bit 11 a little bit of false doctrine can just start spreading like a wildfire and then all of a sudden now you have all kinds of crazy doctrines crazy ideas we can't allow that look at romans chapter 16 romans chapter 16 we need to call out heresy and sometimes we have to mark the person that it's associated with hey here's the person preaching heresy here's the person preaching blasphemy here's the person saying nonsensical things and it's important I think in the day and age because a lot of people that are false prophets will say good things I bet I could clip out Joel Osteen Kenneth Copeland T.D. Jakes I bet I could clip out Mormons saying things like just a small snippet and you'd be like well that sounded good well that was right and you know we don't criticize people for the good things they said we criticize people for the lies and the false doctrine that they said here's an example of them preaching lies here's an example of the preaching works here's an example of them blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ romans chapter 16 look at verse 17 if you don't like me naming any names you're telling me to violate this commandment this is a commandment in the bible saying to mark certain people what if I just said there's someone that's bad out there and they're doing bad things stay away from them is that you're going to do nothing with that information there's a person that does bad things don't hang out with the bad person doing bad things that doesn't help you but if you say here's the person's name here's what they're doing stay away from that person then you can actually apply that and actually helps you that's what the bible is saying mark this person and avoid them hey core stay away from him Saul stay away from him diatrophes stay away from him I mean the bible just gives scores of people's names Alexander the coppersmith all these different people stay away from Hymenaeus and Philetus and Phagellus and Hermogenes just stay away from these people mark them and avoid them damage control yeah we're trying to get you away from those people core and his family is going to go to hell and we're trying to limit the damage by saying get away from them so you don't go down with them we don't want other people to fall into their heresy go if you would to first corinthians chapter five so point one we we need to name names number two we need to call out women number three we need to defend ourselves number four hey we need to call out heresy number five is we need to exercise church discipline and I notice people they get mad they say oh this is a damage control sermon because they'll actually throw someone out of church but what does the bible say first corinthians chapter number five it says in verse number 11 but now I've written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator a covetous or an idolater a railer or a drunkard or extortioner with such and one know not to eat for what have I to do to judge them also that are without do not you judge them that are within but them that are without god judgeth therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person so the bible says some people need to be marked some people need to be avoided some people need to be put outside of the church these are just things the bible just clearly explicitly states and we need to do them go if you would to acts chapter number 20 go to acts chapter number 20 I will address issues as a pastor and I mean I just have so much bible on this you know people say I want relevant preaching what could be more relevant than addressing issues and I mean you know again you say oh that's damage control yeah I don't want damage to the church I don't want damage to you I don't want damage to my family I don't want damage to the cause of Christ I don't want damage to the soul winning I don't want damage to any doctrine I want there to be you know these things to be protected isn't that the point of a shepherd like what is the point of a shepherd with the flock isn't it to not have any damage to the flock and what if a wolf somehow got past you or a wolf snuck up and he just starts tearing into one of the lambs wouldn't you want to go over there and try to limit the damage wouldn't you want to try and rescue and salvage what you can that just makes logical sense and be like oh this shepherd's such a damage control shepherd what do you want an idle shepherd what do you want a lazy shepherd what do you want a hireling or a non-existent shepherd yeah of course you wolves want the shepherd to not do anything but you know what the shepherd is going to limit the damage to his flock and one thing that I like to do is I like to try to keep the sheep that we have I want to keep the sheep that we have like what it says in Acts chapter number 20 verse 28 take heed therefore on yourselves and to all the flock over the which the holy ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood for I know this that after my departing so grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock also of your own cells so men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them so people will say perverted things just crooked things false doctrines weird heresies and their whole goal is just to get people to follow them come with me and I'll show you where Satan presented himself before the Lord okay Tommy Mercury said that he has been where job one took place Tommy Mercury said that he knows exactly where it was and he was there literally where the sons of God and the devil presented themselves before the Lord in Job chapter 1 he says it's somewhere in Israel okay now I know they're the synagogue of Satan that's what the Bible says in Revelation chapter 2 but look that's stupid job one happened in heaven okay and he hasn't been to heaven yet all right but here's here's the thing that's funny about this is look some people say weird things like this why because they're trying to get attention they're trying to draw people away with them come detox with me he did this like nine part video series detoxing from the new I.F.B. or something and this is what's so funny to me he thinks that our church and churches like us are so bad but then it's like the majority of his friends the majority of his friends are people that used to be new I.F.B. so think about it if we're so bad why do we keep supplying you friends why are you just so great buddies with everybody that is in there because you're trying to draw away disciples after yourself okay now what does he say in verse 31 therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears boy Paul you know how often he preached damage control every night and every day every night and every day he said hey wolves are going to come in wolves are going to come in some of you are wolves even some people in here are wolves and you try to draw people away that's what the apostle Paul is saying he said hey I know especially when I'm not paying attention I'm not here when I can't be present the wolves are going to come out because Paul why does Paul know that because Paul is dealing with these issues constantly think about it Paul leaves and then it all happens like there's all these serious issues in the church and he has to come back and crack some skulls again and get it back in order and he's just like man I just know as soon as I'm out of here it's just going to be chaos again because you know with weak leadership wolves reign terror with strong leadership wolves are terrified and they're like oh you damage control preacher why because he wants you to stop protecting the flock and I will not stop protecting this flock you know what I love the people in this room and I want to keep them and I don't want you to have damage and I want to control the damage so I want to warn you about bad people and bad doctrines and bad issues so that you don't destroy yourself so you don't become a busybody and a gossip and a tailbearer and a railer and start believing weird things and try to go to Israel to meet where Satan presented himself before the Lord or something and donate money to movies that never come out and donate money to movies that are lies and false doctrine you know that doesn't make sense you know first Peter chapter 5 is being instructed to elders and he says to feed my sheep Jesus told Peter to feed the sheep and we need to make sure that we're taking care of the flock as a leader go over to Proverbs chapter 10 I just have two more quick points that I want to make but number one hey I'm all for damage control because I want to name the names when it's serious call out women if it's necessary defend myself against lies and slander and evil call out heresies for the heresies exercise church discipline when appropriate keep the sheep in the flock you know I have said a couple times recently that you know if you're like not wanting to be here you don't like us just to leave and I've been pretty emphatic about it but you know it's not like me saying that I want you to leave because I don't want you to leave I just want fake people to leave you know I just want insincere people to leave it would break my heart if any sincere person in our church left and it does every time you know it's disappointing to see people walk away from church or not want to be your friend anymore or not serving God or making bad decisions and even when people lie about me and whatever I still feel bad about it I've lost really close friends I've lost people that I've invested a lot of time and effort and energy into people just say craziest things about me and it is heartbreaking and you know what I don't want to lose people I don't want people to go away not because I need a big church but just because I like having you guys as friends I like seeing your children and I like seeing and hearing about your lives and I like seeing you getting people saved and you know I want the work of Christ to be magnified and glorified and I think the more of us that are rallied together it just gives more honor and glory to the things of God and so you know what I don't want people to leave our church but you know if people don't want to be in our church if people don't like us yeah that's going to cause damage to more people and I want to limit that damage so I've tried to give those people an excuse to leave you know what I mean you probably do I've given them some excuses but at the end of the day I don't want people here that aren't going to be able to handle certain things handle you know some rough things around the edges and of course I'm not perfect I've never been perfect I never will be perfect sometimes I listen to my preaching and I think that was a weird thing to say that wasn't the best thing to say but you know you get up here and preach three hours a week for a year and let's see if we could cherry pick some statements you made that weren't very good let's have you raise a whole bunch of kids and manage all these things and try to get all the finances and all the issues and the attacks that are happening and then you preach three quality sermons every single week where you don't speak amiss ever okay and again I'm not saying that some people aren't capable maybe there are people in here maybe there's someone here that's better than me praise God if they are but at the end of the day I guarantee no one in here will be mistake free yet some people want to hold you accountable for every little grievance and in many cases grievances that aren't real grievances it's just they think it's a grievance they just have their own personal issues but you know what I want to keep people in this church and you know what I also number one number seven is I want us to stay friends even if you left our church I still want to be your friend why can't we just be friends I mean we're going to be friends in heaven we might as well be friends now and I think this is what people want hey you're going to preach this damage control sermon why so that we stay friends wouldn't you want it like hey if I did something wrong to you wouldn't you want me to try and make it right or fix it or try to explain my side of the story so that we could stay friends and that's the whole point we want to be friends and I like being friends with our church you know the Bible talks of good things about being friends you should not be on a hair trigger to drop your friends look at Proverbs chapter 10 verse 12 hatred stirs up strife but love covereth all sins if you love me you will cover up for things that I do if I love you I'll cover up for things that you do because we actually love each other if we hate each other we'll call each other out on everything right we'll judge each other for every little grievance that doesn't show any love look at chapter 17 verse 9 Proverbs 17 verse 9 he that cover the transgression seeketh love but he that repeateth the matter separate the very friends someone that loves you is not going to call you out for everything someone that wants to destroy you will repeat everything they hear about you whether it's true or not and there's some people they hate me they will repeat any wild accusation they hear whether it has any basis of reality or not and they'll do it about you too look at Proverbs 27 verse 10 Proverbs chapter 27 verse number 10 hey we can't we limit the damage for our friends how about in first john chapter number five if you see your brother sin is sin which is not unto death he shall pray for him and he should give him life unto them isn't that damage control I see my brother sin and I'm asking God to give them grace and limit whatever issue that they have that is me seeking love and damage control for that particular person now if they sin sin unto death I do not say you should pray for it but there's a sin which is not unto death and hey when someone sins a sin which is not unto death hey let's pray that God will give them life let's try to cover that transgression let's try to extend grace unto that person let's love that person let's try to stay friends with people Proverbs 27 verse 10 thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not you should not forsake your friends you know even if my friend made a big mistake I don't want to forsake him I don't want to give up on him you know what's the point of having friends if they're only your friend when everything is good that's not really a good friend is it a good friend is someone that even when things aren't very good or they're a burden you know what's a burden something bad happens what does it mean to bear someone else's burden let's say something happens to someone else and they're burdened they have a problem and you just take care of it you take it and now you take the burden right someone has to carry a 50 pound bag and it's heavy and you just grab the bag now you're carrying the bag you're bearing their burden you know we should do this for our friends we should love our friends we should love each other we should try to limit damage and problems in our lives how pleasant how beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity go to Titus chapter 2 this is the last place I'll have you turn so quick reminder hey I'm all for damage control because sometimes we need to name names number two we need to call out women if necessary number three we need to defend ourselves from constant false accusation number four we should call out heresy number five we should exercise church discipline when necessary number six as a leader I need to try and keep the flock together number seven I want to stay your friend not just us be together and tolerate each other's distance I want to enjoy your presence I want to be your friend but number eight why would someone get up and preach a damage control sermon it's so that they respect their pastor and this is a commandment in the Bible it says in Titus chapter 2 verse 15 these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority let no man despise thee the Bible says that churches are not allowed to disrespect their pastor to not like their pastor to not appreciate him to not have some kind of envy or hatred or whatever bitterness towards their pastor I'm not allowed to let you do that so if you have an issue you know what I'm supposed to do I'm supposed to confront you on that and fix it let no man despise thee well it sounds like you're trying to control damage someone's mad at you and you're not letting them be mad at you what does the Bible say don't let people stay mad at you you need to address issues fix issues deal with things you know all of the stuff I'm saying is not fun it's not pleasant but someone has to do it who in here of you children when you grow up you want to go around and pick up trash all day for a living who wants to do that who in here wants to clean toilets for a living you know what I'm really glad somebody picks up trash and cleans toilets hey some jobs in this world are not pleasant and let me tell you something being a pastor in many ways is not pleasant there's a lot of spiritual trash and a lot of spiritual toilets you have to clean up there's a lot of junk you have to deal with there's a lot of spoiled and rotten food someone has to you know that thing in the fridge you forgot about and it changed colors and it's like taking over the container if you love it but it's that special container that your grandma gave to your wife because you're thinking like toss it man you know get the gloves and just toss it but she wants to preserve the container well someone has to get in there and wash that thing and scrape it and get in there it's a nasty disgusting gross job you might even kind of hurl a little bit when you're cleaning it up someone's got to do it and let me tell you something in church people have issues that are kind of like that no one wants to deal with no one wants to have to talk about you know I don't like the ugliness it's not it's not always fun to call out names it's not always fun to defend yourself it's not always fun I mean the apostle Paul said when he defended himself he felt like he was acting like a fool he's like hey let me act like a fool for a second I got to defend myself it's kind of ridiculous he has to explain to people he's not a reprobate this is the apostle Paul who's writing most of the New Testament he has to explain to us he's not a reprobate that seemed pretty trivial didn't it we see in the book of Revelation people getting called out women happen to get called nobody wants to call out a woman you know no one wants to hit a woman you know in our society it's kind of looked down upon if a man ever hit a woman but let me tell you if a woman came at me with a knife and was trying to hurt and attack me and my family I might punch her in the face now someone might get mad like how dare you punch a woman in the face but you know if I love my children my wife I wouldn't let a woman just run at them with a knife and you know if someone's going to attack my flock spiritually hey they need to sometimes get put back into their cage or whatever put back in the kitchen or whatever you know and it's not my fault that women are running around crazy running around unchained and running around unchained not being chastened not being scourged not being put in subjection it's not my problem but you know what if it threatens me if it threatens my flock hey we got to deal with these issues no one goes out I mean have you seen cop footage watch cop footage you know what they're constantly having to do they're constantly having to control women that are just insane throwing stuff biting them pinching them stabbing them with objects there was this like famous video that went viral not that long ago I think it was an Asian cop and there was this black woman just like running at him with a knife and he does everything he can not to shoot her because he knows the headline he knows he could be like Derek Chauvin and just put in prison for the rest of his life and he actually sustained multiple stab and slice wounds from this woman she like sliced his hand multiple times and he was gushing blood everywhere before he finally shot her and it's just kind of sad that a person running at you uncontrolled with a knife you can't shoot because of political pressure and because of how backwards our society is but let me tell you hey you're a woman you got a knife you're running at me I'll just shoot you in the head I'm not going to wait for you to slash my arm up and risk everything just because you're a woman you know we shouldn't have this attitude where we can't defend ourselves and we can't deal with these issues hey talk about damage control he didn't limit the damage he got all sliced up and killed I don't know if he died actually but I'm just saying in some cases they actually do die you don't want to do these things hey I don't want heresy to get in this church I want to keep people in this church and I want to keep you guys healthy I want to stay healthy so don't get offended at damage control you know what you should be thankful for the guys that take out trash you should be thankful to the guys that clean toilets you should be thankful for the people that do the dirty jobs because someone has to do it and you know I enjoy preaching but I don't enjoy all the other stuff but I will do it you know that I'll do it and I'll keep doing it and I don't care if they call me out hey he's going to preach damage control the sermon's called damage control he preached a damage control sermon yeah I did but it's not the last I'll continue to preach them alright let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us the word of God thank you for the church I pray that there would be pastors in this world that would have a desire to limit damage to churches today I pray that you would have people that appreciate a church where damage is going to be assessed where damage is going to be limited I pray that we could have the attitude in the spirit like Daniel that whenever you entrust us with something we'll protect those that are our own I pray that men will protect their families and protect their wives I pray that leaders and ministry will protect their soul winners and will protect their church and I pray that we wouldn't be offended by the things of God whenever we have to deal with difficult issues that we would just deal with them and I pray that you would continue to use this church for your honor and for your glory in Jesus' name we pray Amen alright in closing let's go to song number 18 song number 18 song number 18 take the name of Jesus with you take the name of Jesus with you child of sorrow and of hope it will join come forgive you may give and let you go bless his name oh how sweet hope of earth and joy of heaven bless his name oh how sweet hope of earth and joy of heaven take the name of Jesus ever as a shield for every sin if death takes him round together bring that holy name in prayer bless his name oh how sweet hope of earth and joy of heaven oh how sweet hope of earth and joy of heaven oh the precious name of Jesus how it grills our souls with joy when his loving arms receive us and his songs are done with joy bless his name oh how sweet hope of earth and joy of heaven bless his name oh how sweet hope of earth and joy of heaven and the name of Jesus how it holy cross may have his name the things of heaven will crown him when our journey is complete bless his name oh how sweet hope of earth and joy of heaven bless his name oh how sweet hope of earth and joy of heaven Thank you for singing everybody. You were all dismissed.