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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:18 Today's title, I'm calling weapons against a warring world, and I use this title because we as Christians are in a battle. And I just wanna say you may have seen me speak before, so0:30 your expectations might have something in mind. I usually rely on what I consider clever illustrations or funny jokes or stories, but,0:42 god convicted me with this message. And I just wanna say I'm not here to entertain you today. I'm here to convict you. God's here to convict you. So, hopefully, he will. I know it's Memorial Day, and0:53 maybe, maybe you lost someone because they fought in the war for our country. And, and I actually took that as confirmation today. When I originally planned to write this or when I was writing this1:05 message, it was originally scheduled for June, mid June, And then for some unreason unknown reason, I got bumped up to this weekend. And whenever I'm working on a message, I pray to God to1:17 give me a passage, and then I pray to him for it to be helpful and timely for the people that I'm speaking to. So when he moved it to Memorial Day, I took that as confirmation.1:29 I just wanna say I love our military. And if you have served in the military, thank you for your service. Maybe1:41 you've experienced some real battles in your life if that is you. And I don't mean this as disrespectful, but if you are in if you are a Christian, you are in a battle,1:52 a real battle every day, every second of every day of your life. Alright? And this battle has more at stake than any other war ever fought because we're not just looking to2:04 save lives, but souls. And that's the most important thing that we could do. This is a spiritual battle, so it has more at stake. And this battle needs to be taken more2:16 seriously because if we don't church, people are going to hell. It's a serious thing. I want us to be a bold people that that are willing to go to war for the souls2:27 of unbelievers. Too many of us get comfy and cozy in our Christianity knowing that we're saved, knowing that we're made right through Christ with God, knowing that we're not going to2:39 hell. But what about your friends? What about your family? What about the thousands of people in your hometown? Do they know about Christ? Do you care that without Christ, they're2:51 not going to heaven? Hell's no joke. A lot of people like to joke about heaven or hell today saying that it's gonna be a big party. I talked to a lot of atheists that say, I don't mind going to hell. I I'm3:03 gonna be partying with all the rock stars. That's not the truth. That's actually a lie. There's a new false doctrine in a couple churches today called universal salvation.3:15 Universal salvation says that everybody's going to heaven. They consider hell just to be a purgatory where God's gonna refine you. You'll be there for a little while, and eventually then you'll get to3:26 heaven. That is a lie from the pit of hell. You know why I know that? 1, because the bible tells me so. But 2, if that was true, I wouldn't be a pastor3:38 here. I probably wouldn't even be coming to church. What's the point? What's the point of doing anything? I'd probably be lying, stealing, and cheating because there are no consequences if everybody goes to heaven.3:50 We all have to accept Christ, and that's the only way to heaven. This is a battle. This is a war, and we need to take this seriously. A couple weeks ago, there was a pastor at a large church4:02 that was speaking on hell. And in the middle of his message, he dropped a curse word. And the whole audience was aghast. And then he said to them, I bet most of you or more of you4:14 are more upset about the swear that I just said than the thousands of people in your hometown that are headed to hell. I'm not gonna swear to you today, but I I wanna try to make this real4:26 for you because we don't often think or hear about hell, but we're gonna today. I was trying to come up with an illustration for this, and I came across an article. Maybe you've heard about this portal they have in New4:37 York. Have you heard about this? It's essentially like a a livestream in New York City all the way to Dublin. There it is. And so people are livestreaming to Dublin from New York4:49 from Dublin to New York. Now the artist that came up with this wanted this to be a way to bring the 2 communities together, to bring people together. So we had good intentions, but people suck.5:01 Just wanna say people are sinners. So this has been used to spread hate. This has been used for antisemitism. People are holding up pictures of 9 11, buildings burning.5:12 There's a lot of mooning going on in this, a lot of indecency. Alright? So it wasn't used for what it was intended for. But it got me thinking, what if every single Christian, instead of waking up5:24 flipping open your phone to go into TikTok or or checking your email, what if you could look into the pits of hell? What if you had a personal portal to hell? What would that look like?5:37 Doesn't look like a party to me. Looks like people burning. Looks like suffering. What would it do to you if you could actually see that every day? Would you care enough to tell your5:48 neighbor that they're headed to hell without Christ? I wanted to make it real for you. Hope that wasn't too much. But it is a battle we know. It's a war. It's not a physical 1. It's a spiritual 1. Right?6:00 Ephesians 6 12 says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of6:12 evil in the heavenly places. I wanna encourage you today, much like Peter did in this letter to early Christians. He was writing to the churches of Asia Minor. They were a6:24 persecuted church or persecuted churches. Now when you think about early Christian persecution, what do you think about? I normally think about Christians being burned on the stake or being6:35 crucified or thrown to the lions. There's actually 1 account that I read where they would take women and children, they would wrap them in animal skids and skins and throw them to ravenous dogs.6:48 Horrible. But that physical persecution actually happened under emperor Nero, which didn't come into power until the late 60 ADs. Peter is writing this letter in the7:00 early 60 ADs. So what was he talking about? Well, first of all, I believe this letter was 2 things. It was a prophetic letter to the people of the future, the Christians that are in the future that would face7:11 physical persecution. But if they weren't facing personal, physical persecution at that time too many p's. Sorry. If they weren't facing physical persecution at that time, what were they facing?7:23 They were facing political persecution, societal persecution, and verbal persecution. That sound familiar, American. Does that sound familiar to us? We're not yet facing physical7:35 persecution this side of the equator in this country. Not yet. It is coming. My bible tells me it will 1 day, maybe not in my lifetime, but it's coming, and we need to prepare for it. But we also need to be ready for the7:47 persecution that we're facing today. So I wanna give you 5 weapons against the warring world in this battle. So go ahead and pull out your paper notes. I believe in taking notes. I think7:59 it's important because you are gonna face some type of persecution in your life. So I'd suggest going back to this. If you're watching online or if we ran out of notes, go ahead to waters church dot guide. Right there,8:10 you can fill in the blanks. To your number 1 weapon against a warring world, your weapon is your desire. Your weapon's your desire. What do I mean by that? I'll8:22 explain. But first, in first Peter 3 13, it says, now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? The word zealous comes from the Greek word zealous, and that actually means8:34 adore or fever in spirit. There's an energy and enthusiasm about one's faith. The believer is eager to embrace, pursue, or defend everything8:45 about Jesus Christ. And if you're zealous for God, your desire is in him and his holy spirit. And this desire can be a powerful weapon that nobody can take from you8:57 because it's a gift from God. Your desire is a weapon against the enemy and against the warring world against Christianity. When God changes your desire, especially when you're a new believer,9:09 this can be a powerful testimony to other people. And let me say this to somebody that's recently come to Christ, they're not gonna like it most of the time when your desires are changed. Okay? But9:21 God's gonna do 1 of 2 things. He's either gonna take these people out of your life, or he's gonna use your desire to change them. There's a young man in this church right now that started coming about a year ago.9:33 3 months ago, he got baptized. A couple weeks ago, we started serving. By the way, that's how it's supposed to look. Come, get saved, get baptized, now start doing something for the kingdom. So he started coming. He got9:45 saved, baptized. He went home 1 day to his girlfriend, and he said, you know, God changed my desires. He used to make his living, make money, robbing people, stealing, and cheating, and he was open about9:57 saying that. But God convicted him, changed his desires, so he opened up his own lawn mower and company, and now it's flourishing, and he's doing wonderful. But he told his girlfriend 1 day, he said, God's changed10:09 me. I hate to tell you, but I have to move out. He said, I can't be sleeping with you anymore because God convicted me that's not the right thing to do. We're not married. Now she was understandably upset10:21 because she thought he was cheating on her. She's not saved. You can understand that. But what he did do is invite her to church and say, why don't you come and see what God's doing to me, and maybe he can do that to10:33 you. I don't know the end of the story. Right? So I don't know if she's getting saved or not, but I am telling you that God is either gonna remove her out of his life or convict her, right, to follow10:44 him. So your desire is a weapon. Second Peter 11 12 says, beloved, I urge you as sovereigners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your10:56 soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.11:08 When people see the change in you, it can show them Christ. Galatians 5 16 says it like this, but I say, walk in the spirit, and you will not gratify11:20 the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that11:32 you want to do. Look. If you're struggling with the flesh, I suggest you do 1 thing, give it up to God. Give it up to God. Couple of you probably know this story, but I bet11:44 a lot of you would be surprised to know that we have a woman on our staff at Waters Church with a rainbow LGBT community tattoo right on her wrist. She grew up11:56 confused. She came to her parents when she was 13, told them that she was bisexual and that she wanted to join the LGBT community. And she lived in that community12:08 for over 10 years. But 1 day tragedy came into her life, and somebody at work, a coworker, recognized this, and they invited her to come to Waters Church. She came to Waters Church. She12:20 got saved. She got baptized. And then she was sitting there 1 day when pastor Tim was preaching on the problem with pride, and she said to herself, I no longer have those desires.12:31 God just took them away. This is an amazing thing. Nobody convicted her. Nobody confronted her. There was no intervention. There was no brainwashing. God just took those desires away from her. And if12:43 you desire God, he will do the same for you. That's a great testimony, but it's not over. She's marrying a mighty man of God this September. And she12:55 kept that rainbow tattoo as a testimony to tell other people, but she covered it with second Corinthians, so if anybody asks. Amazing. Your desire changing is a strong13:07 part of your testimony, and you need to use it as a weapon. Alright? So I've got a couple of text takeaways. Write this down. Your first text takeaway, who can change you? Who can change you? Circle13:19 God in your notes. Look, people can influence you, but only God through the holy spirit can change you from the inside out. Second weapon. Your second13:31 weapon against a war in the world is your suffering. Just suffering. It's gonna be a hard 1 for some people. We all suffer in this world, but when you suffer for Christ, this again is a strong13:43 weapon to show the world why we suffer. First Peter says, but even if you should suffer for the righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them nor be13:54 troubled. The blessing comes after the suffering. We all suffer, but the suffering is only temporary. We're all promised something more from God. He says that in14:06 heaven, there will be no more weeping. There will be no more sorrow, and you'll have a new body. We're here for a small time temporarily. First Peter 5 10 says, and14:18 after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory will himself restore, confirm, and strengthen you. He will strengthen you through14:30 your suffering. I'm gonna try to get through this as quickly as I can. About 10, 12 years ago, my mom passed away. And the most I ever14:42 suffered in my life was watching her suffer. She was adopted much like the baptism video we saw. She was adopted as at a young age, and she always felt abandoned her whole life. She never14:53 truly felt loved. And, unfortunately, this led to her with a life of alcoholism. And I would say alcohol can kill. I'm not saying I never have a beer now and then, but be careful what it can do to you.15:06 So 1 day, we're in the old building, and I get a call on Christmas Eve that my mom had gone to the hospital. So I went down there to check on her, and she was in no condition for me to see her. So we came back the15:17 next morning. It was Christmas day. And to my surprise, my mom was sitting up, she was smiling, and we were able to have our last Christmas together. Couple hours later, her body went into shock, and the doctor15:29 came in. And I'll never forget these words. The doctor asked my mom, do you know what's happening? And she said, I'm dying. And he said, yes. About an hour after that, and let me preface this by saying,15:41 my mom was coming to church with me. I had many conversations with my mom about Jesus. I saw her raise her hand. I she didn't have that life change that many people have, but I know, I believe God gave me confirmation15:53 that she is in heaven even though she had to suffer. And I remember the last words my mom ever said as she was basically on that hospital bed. She said, I can see my mom. So16:05 something happened there. She loved her mom. She adored her mom. Her mom was a Christian, so I believe my mom was able to see her mom again. Now I wish that was the end of the story and the suffering star stopped there,16:16 but it didn't. My mom went into a coma. So for about 3 weeks, she was in the ICU right at Sturdier Memorial. And after that, her body stabilized, they moved her into a nursing home. She was16:28 nonverbal. She couldn't move. She couldn't dress herself. She couldn't feed herself. It took all the nurses to take care of her. And she was in a nursing home about 45 minutes from my house. This was during the16:40 worst snowstorm, like worst winter that I've ever seen in New England. It's when it snowed about 10 years ago every single day, if you remember that. Well, every day I got in my car and I drove to go see my16:52 mom. I knelt down on her bedside. I prayed for her, and I read her out of the bible. And it all accumulated to 1 day when her body just went into shock and it broke down. And this is a little graphic, but just17:04 to prove my point, my mom was in the hospital bed, and I spent 3 hours as her body just broke down, decayed inside, and she was coughing up blood. It's the most horrific17:16 thing I've ever seen in my life. I spent 3 hours wiping blood off my mother's mouth. I probably went through 100 different hospital rags. And and later, when her her body just started17:28 to break down, it stabilized, they brought her into a room, and me and my 3 2 sisters just lay down in the hospital bed next to her. And then about 6 hours later, I felt my mom take her17:40 last breath, and she gave up the ghost. And I thanked God that her suffering was over because I knew where she went. And I I don't just say that to tell you what17:51 I went through, but it actually strengthened me and refined me. I wouldn't be the pastor I am today. I wouldn't be able to minister to people the way I do if it wasn't going through that.18:03 A lot of you know I do a lot of weddings. Maybe I've done yours, but I also do a lot of funerals. I've done maybe 30, 35 funerals in the last 5 years. And I actually love doing funerals because hearts are open to receive18:15 the gospel during those hard times. And I'm able to minister to people because I've seen it, I've done it, and God has strengthened me through it. So your weapon's your suffering18:27 no matter what you're going through. First Peter 1 6 says, so be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead. Even though you must endure many trials for a little while, these18:39 trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong18:50 through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to you and the whole world. God refines us like gold. You know how you refine gold?19:02 You put it into the fire, it burns all the impurities away, and what you're left with is a much more pure product. Some of you know this, some of you don't. This building used to be a jewelry refinery.19:15 That classroom we have there, we call the vault because it's actually a vault. They used to store gold and silver in there. Baptism class after service, by the way. Get in there before you barbecue.19:27 This sanctuary is where they used to refine gold. They used to refine and make gold here. Now God is refining souls in this very sanctuary every single week.19:39 Suffering isn't something to fear, but something to embrace as God refines you. Psalm 27 says, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is19:51 the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? The other day, my wife made some cookies for my neighbor because he was going through chemo treatment. And I walked over to him, and I didn't20:03 know this. I didn't know he was a Christian, but he he knew I was. And I say that because I I gave him the cookies, and then he asked me to pray for him. And I I felt honored, so I prayed for him. And then after that, I20:13 asked him, I said, how are you doing? He said, I'm doing good because I know where I'm going no matter what. And then he said this to me. He said, every day I pray that God gives me the strength to handle what I can20:25 and the strength to let him handle what I can't. Some of you need to pray that. I'm gonna say that again. I pray that God gives me the strength to handle what I can and the strength to let him handle what I can't.20:37 Sometimes you gotta give it up to God. If you're a Christian, you shouldn't have fear of people whatsoever, but you don't even have to fear death. It's something that 1 day we can look forward to.20:49 Text takeaway here is who should you fear? People or God? God. People can harm you verbally. They can harm you physically. But fear God21:01 and fearing him is the beginning of all wisdom. If you fear God as a loving father, he will teach you respect. And after the respect comes obedience. After the21:13 obedience comes discipline, and after the discipline will come love. And that's our goal. Number 3, weapon against a warring world. Your weapon is your testimony.21:25 Your weapon is your testimony. First Peter says, but in your hearts, Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a21:37 reason for the hope that is in you. You do it with gentleness and respect. Gentleness and respect. You have to care about the soul. You have to care about the person that's going to21:49 hell if you don't tell them about Christ. Don't be just trying to win an argument. I see this all the time. Social media is huge for this. Don't worry about the argument. Don't worry about being right. Don't worry about22:01 being arrogant. Care about that person. If they don't accept Christ, they're not going to heaven. Psalm 1 45 says, 1 generation shall commend your works to another22:12 and shall declare your mighty acts. This is how the gospel works. You tell someone your testimony and that can speak to them. Nobody can argue your testimony. Nobody can tell you you're wrong because that's22:24 what God has done for you and through you. Psalm 71 15 says, my mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day. We need to be22:36 ready to tell our testimony. We need to remind ourselves about our testimony. This is why we do the baptism videos, which I love so much. And I just wanna challenge you. Some of you tell me you're too nervous to do the22:48 baptism video. But if you can't even tell your story for God's glory in a house that loves you and wants to celebrate you, how the heck are you ever gonna be able to tell your testimony to nonbelievers that23:00 you're afraid of? Some of you gotta step up and get baptized and tell your story. You can invite your family. Sometimes we have baptisms, and we have 30 to 50 new people here on the weekend23:12 hearing the gospel for the first time, maybe the only time, because you're willing to get baptized. Step up and join the battle. People are going to hell, and we need people to tell them23:24 about Christ. Get out of your comfort zone. You need to and let me say this, you need to be ready because if you're not, sometimes God is ready to use you, and you're not just ready to to23:36 I got a story for you. Hold on 1 second. My allergies have been killing me. I've been fighting to lose my voice all week, so I apologize. But this happened to me a couple weeks ago.23:48 So I was heading to the mall to get a sweatshirt that I really wanted. My favorite store, h and m at Emerald Square Mall, if you wanna get me a gift certificate for my birthday, it's coming up. But, no, there's a23:58 sweatshirt that I wanted. It was 70 dollars, and I just couldn't justify buying it to my wife, so I just let it sit. But then I heard it was on sale for over 50 percent off. So I'm like, okay. I'm gonna go get it.24:10 So I go to Emerald Square wall mall. I walk in h and m. I grab it off the discount rack. I'm so excited about this sweatshirt. And then I get in line. There's 1 person in front of me, and I look up to the counter. I see24:21 the checkout person. Checkout person's wearing a mask, has makeup on, has their nails painted, and he's wearing a skirt. And I say to myself, Chris, just don't say anything.24:33 Just buy your your, you know, your sweatshirt, go on your way, don't start anything. And then it's my turn. I get up to the line, and I don't know if you're like me, but I hate when people at the checkout24:45 ask me if I'm part of their rewards program because they always ask you, how many rewards programs can we be a part of? So my answer is always no. Thank you. So I walk up. The person looks at me and says, do you24:57 have a favorite bible verse? I said, no. Thank you. I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready for that. And then I said, oh, I'm sorry. What did you say? And they said, do you have a favorite bible verse, your25:08 sweatshirt? I didn't realize I had Jesus is king on my sweatshirt that day. I I had no idea. So I said and I wasn't prepared to give my favorite bible verse at all, so I just blurted out. John 325:20 16. And he's like, what does that mean? I said, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that if anyone believe in him shall go to heaven. And he said, well, I'm going to hell.25:32 I said, well, why do you why do you think that? That's really sad. He said, because people like you tell me all the time because the way I live my life, I'm going to hell. I said, let me tell you something. The God I25:42 love, the God I serve, wants no 1 to go to hell. He wants everyone to be saved. And if you ever wanna meet him, come to Waters Church down the street because I've seen God change people. Alright? And that25:54 was it. He asked me if I wanted to purchase a bag for 10 cents, and I said, no. Absolutely not because I don't believe in buying a 70 dollar sweatshirt and spending more money for a bag. Either give me a bag or don't.26:06 So I walk upstairs. I'm not finished shopping. I go to another store, and it's the Emerald Square Mall. It's a dining mall. So I go into the store, and there's nobody there. The guy's sitting down, and he stands up as26:17 soon as I walk in. And he looks at me, and he says, that's a cool sweatshirt. Where'd you get it? And I said, oh, I got it at my church, North Atterborough, down the street. We have a bookstore. We sell all kind of26:28 apparel. He cuts me off. He said, no. No. The 1 in your hand, you got that for 30 dollars. Where'd you get that? I'm like, oh, h and m, downstairs on the discount rack. Walked out. I'm hungry, so I go over to26:40 the gyro place. I love the gyros at the Emerald Square Mall, and I'm standing there for about 3, 4 minutes. Nobody's coming out, and then I'm getting ready to leave. Finally, this woman comes out with tears in her eyes,26:51 and she looks up. When she sees me, she puts on a big smile. And I'm like, oh, great. She looks at me and says, I love your t shirt sweatshirt. I said, oh, thanks. I got it downstairs27:03 at h and m. It's 50 percent off. She goes, no. The 1 you're wearing. Jesus is king. I'm like, oh, god. You're using the sweatshirt today. I'm never gonna wear anything else. I said, thank you. Are you a believer?27:15 She said, I am, but I don't go to a church, and I've been really struggling because nobody in my family is saved, nobody in my friend group is saved. And I was actually in the back having a really hard day, and I just27:26 cried out to God, say, God, I need to know that I'm not alone. I need to know I'm not doing this alone. Would you give me a sign? And then you walked up with Jesus is king on your sweatshirt. I said, praise God.27:40 I said, maybe this is your sign to get your butt into church. We do it every single Sunday. Come this Sunday. So all I'm saying is I wasn't ready, I wasn't prepared, but God used me and that27:51 sweatshirt 3 times to invite 3 different people into church within a half hour at the Emerald Square Mall. Be prepared, people. Otherwise, God's gonna use you regardless. Write this down. Your28:03 text takeaway is, who should you serve, people or God? Actually, put a big circle over both of them because we serve people because we love God. We serve God by serving people. And I28:15 just wanna say it's not just your testimony you need to talk about. Look. God took away your anxiety. Great. You can use that. God might have blessed you with a great job or a great wife or husband. That's great.28:27 You can tell other people that. He might have even healed you miraculously of a physical or a mental ailment. That is wonderful. That is your testimony. But there's a much more important testimony that needs to be28:38 shared, and that's the testimony of what Christ has done. You need to tell people that God sacrificed his only son for you, and if you believe in him, you can go to heaven and not hell. I28:50 want you to join me. I'm trying to recruit you today to go to battle with me. There's a bunch of people in North Attleboro or your town that don't know Christ, and it's our job as Christians to wake up and tell29:02 them, help me on this battle, people. I'm preaching today. Number 4, your weapon is your response. Your weapon is your response. How we29:14 respond is important. The world loves to argue. Please stop doing this. I know a lot of you do this. You go to Facebook. You put up something that you know is gonna get a reaction because29:26 you wanna try to argue somebody into the kingdom of heaven. It's not gonna work. Don't be a keyboard warrior. How many people do this? I know you do. You're watching a video on Instagram or TikTok. You either29:38 love this person what they're saying or you hate what they're saying. But before the video is even half over, you jump to the comments, you find something you disagree with, and then you comment on that person's comment.29:49 And the next thing you know, you're arguing with somebody that lives in their mother's basement with a cat as their profile. Stop doing that. You don't need to do it. You cannot argue anyone into the kingdom of heaven.30:01 The bible actually tells you not to do this. It says, do not cast your pearls at swine. In all ways, in all things, try to tell them about Jesus, but don't argue over the little things. Don't argue over the30:12 petty things. We need to look good in unbelievers' eyes because we already have a bad reputation. Christians are all already vilified around the country on TV, in30:24 people's homes. So just don't add to that. There's no need to, especially on social media. You wanna get that? Invite them to church. First Peter 330:36 16, having a good conscience so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. It says when it happens, not if30:47 it'll happen. If you're willing to join the battle and tell somebody about Christ, you will be attacked. You will be slandered. Don't be surprised by that. Don't be fearful of that,31:00 but respond with love and gentleness. Have good behavior in the eyes of the world and the eyes of the lost, and let God have the last word. Let God have the last31:12 comment. Let God have the last say. First Peter 3 9 says, don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead,31:24 pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you a blessing. Did you catch that? When people insult you, if you bless them, God is gonna31:35 bless you. That's good. The self actually has its down pat. What do they say every time somebody insults them down stealth? Oh, bless their little heart. We need to have that type of attitude. Bless31:47 people when they curse you. What did Jesus do? Jesus said, you have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, But I say to you, do not resist the 1 that is evil.31:59 But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn him the other. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. This is where we get turned the other cheek. Was32:11 Jesus literally telling us that when we're attacked either physically or verbally that we need to be passive and not doing anything about it? Well, what did Jesus do? In first Peter, it says, he did32:22 not retaliate when he was insulted nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He let his case in the hands of God who always judges fairly. Amen. We need to leave32:34 room for God to work. I learned this in my marriage, in the church, and with my friends. Sometimes you're gonna get in arguments. Sometimes that's okay. But a lot of times, cooler heads will prevail. You need to walk32:46 away, not continue to argue, and let God go to work. There's a woman in this church that I love. She helped my father get into a living assistance program or house. She actually32:59 she's a mighty woman of God. She's always telling all the residents about Jesus. She's always sharing Jesus. When her coworkers don't like this, and especially her boss who's a Muslim.33:11 So they were looking at ways to trap her and get her fired. And last year or the year before, it was pride month, and the boss told everybody that they had to decorate their offices to celebrate pride month,33:23 but she refused. So her boss came in storming in, and he got right in her face, started arguing with her, and she sat there, didn't say anything until she did. And she33:35 all she said was, as a Muslim, you should know better. And that's all it took. They fired her for religious persecution. Funny. She was getting persecuted for not being33:46 able to stand by her religious convictions, but they fired her for religious persecution. But God must have liked her response because 3 months later, she got a new job where they allowed her33:58 and she loved to preach gospel to them, but she also got a pay raise that doubled her pay. So you're gonna be blessed if we respond properly.34:10 This text takeaway, who can really harm you? People or God. You tell me who can harm you? People or God? Quiet. Who can who can harm you? People or God. I'm not stopping.34:23 People cannot harm you. God. Come on, people. Yes. People can harm you verbally. They can harm you physically, but God is the 1 that lifts up and takes down. Only God can destroy the34:35 soul. Don't worry about what people can do to you because it's only for a short time. Worry about what God will do to the unbeliever if you're not willing to tell them about Christ. That's what you need to be worried34:46 about. Finally, fifth, your weapon is your action. Sorry. I got mad there for a moment. Your weapon is your action. I'm sure you've heard it preach the gospel34:58 at all times. Do it with words if necessary. Right? There's some truth in that, but the gospel actually is good news, so it needs to be talked about. But there's truth in letting your action35:10 shine so people can see. And living right and doing good in the sight of nonbelievers can speak volumes. First Peter 2 says, be careful to live properly among your35:22 unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor and glory to God when he judges the world. Historically, this is how35:33 the church spread. Most Christians are the reason that we have not just churches, but schools, hospitals, and homeless shelters. If you don't know what to do, I implore you join35:45 1 of our action groups. Action groups are great. They're actually constantly looking for unbelieving family members or unbelieving people to bless. This year alone, they built a ramp for a lady35:57 that couldn't get into her house without it. They built a playground for a 6 year old cancer girl who was, you know, going through chemo, and her parents actually started to come to church because of that.36:10 I got a call the other day from a guy who had 2 strokes that needed his lawn mowed. I called Frank, 1 of our action group leaders, and we went down there the next day and did the guy's lawn, just trying to bless him in36:22 Jesus' name. We have to look for opportunities like that to bless people in Jesus name. Because again, if you don't, God might just present an opportunity for you. Last time I preached, I36:34 told you that my wife and I bought a new house, and it's been a blessing and a lot of work. My wife doesn't think I'm handy, and I've been doing my best to learn. We have a 200 year old house, so it's a lot36:46 of work. And we did all the inside. It's looking great, and now we're going to the outside with the season. We're mulching, we're planting, doing all that stuff. But as we're doing that, we discovered we have about 4 or36:56 5 stumps that need removal. And I I looked into renting an auger so I could destroy and take out those stumps, but it seemed like a lot of work and expensive to do. So I went on Facebook, and we just threw it37:08 out there if someone wanted to come by. Heard from this young guy who just started a company with his brother, and he said he'd come over, remove all the stumps for 450 dollars. If you don't know, that's a deal. So I was37:20 like, yes. Come on down. He came on down, and in an hour, he ripped up all these stumps while I was mowing my lawn. Did a fantastic job. And then as he was leaving, he noticed that we were37:32 mulching some of our beds, and he said, you know, I have an extra yard, yard and a half of that black mulch. If you like, I can sell it to you cheap. I said, sure. I like the guy. I wanted to help him out. So I said,37:42 sure. And then I asked him in front of my wife, okay. So what do we owe you? Because my wife writes the check. So I'm standing there, and he he looked confused. The poor kid. He actually his face dropped, and he's like,37:52 ugh. I shouldn't have dropped out of school. I'm like, oh, okay. Well, calm down. You you said 450 for the stumps, plus you took out another stump that I asked you to and the mulch. So figure that out. What do I owe you?38:04 He looked at me and he goes, 500 dollars seem fair? I'm like, yeah. That seems fair. I said, are you sure? He said, yeah. My wife said, are you sure? He said, yeah. I said, great. I got a38:16 really good deal on this. So I went back to mowing my lawn, and about 30 seconds into mowing my lawn, God spoke to me and said, I want you to give them more. Like, oh, God. I just got a good deal. I love good deals.38:28 He said, no. I want you to bless them. I said, okay. How much? He said, give them 100 dollars. So I went inside to tell my wife the bad news. And as soon as I walked in, Abby looked at me and said, we need to give him38:40 more money. I said, how much? Testing. She said, 100 dollars. I said, confirmation? Okay. So she wrote the check, and I walked up to him. And I said, excuse me, sir. It's gonna38:51 sound strange. And then his face dropped. He's like, what did I do? I'm scared of the kid, like 21 year old. I said, the only thing you did was a fantastic job, and you didn't charge me enough. And this might sound39:03 strange, but I'm a pastor at a church. God just spoke to me, and he told me to bless you. And he just teared up. He just said, you don't know how much this means. He said, my brother and I were starting this business.39:14 Every house we've been at has complained about the work and complained about the price, and we were ready to give up. And I said, don't give up. You're doing a great job. And if you ever wanna learn more about this GodShow more
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