July26_2023_Psalm62_Titus3

The main ideas from this information are: - The speaker is praising and thanking God for his salvation and transforming power. - The speaker reflects on going astray and not relying on God for salvation and defense. - The speaker encourages trust, reliance, and confidence in God at all times. - The speaker highlights the emptiness and futility of worldly rankings and material wealth. - The speaker warns against placing hope in extortion, oppression, and robbery. - The speaker emphasizes the need to wait upon God, submit to Him, and pour out our hearts before Him. July 26, 2023. Treasures in Christ. Psalm 62. Jehovah, Yesha, Kabbah. Our Lord God who is our salvation and glory. Psalm 62.7. With God rests my salvation and my glory. He is my rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness. And my refuge is in God. Oh, Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning, Father God. We just praise you for keeping us through another night. We ask that you, I ask that you purge me this morning, Father God, of the ways in which I went astray yesterday. I thank you for that cleansing, Father God. I thank you for that direction that you give me as you wake me up and you give me a heart with a direction that is towards you. I thank you for your sovereignty, Father God. I thank you for your transforming power. The power of the Holy Spirit you put in each of us to transform us, Father God, into that image of our Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. For you are our salvation and our glory. Outside of you there is none other. And we thank you for this truth today, Father God. We pray as we come after you this morning in your word that you transform us by it. Give us more knowledge and understanding, Father God, of your ways that we can know you. We praise you for who you are, my king. For it is your kingdom that we serve in, Lord. We serve you in the kingdom. For you are our glory and our salvation. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen and amen. Good morning, brothers and sisters. I'm excited to jump into Psalm 62 this morning. We've got to know the source. We're going to see David talking about this again today as we jump into Psalm 62. We're going to see David giving us the standing operating procedures yet again. And the encouragement in this very fashion, to be in this very place. It says in verse 1, For God alone my soul waits in silence. See, it says secret place is the most high that he's talking about. No matter what's going on all around him, it's that inner man, the inner woman that waits in silence. And he goes on to say, From him comes my salvation. See, when we get off course and we start thinking that it's going to come from something else. You know, yesterday I went off course. You know, I was offended and I went into silence. But not into silence in the Lord. I went into silence with just silent treatment. Thinking that from that would come the salvation that I needed from this situation. But it never came. Because I was off course. I was off course. And David reminds us that we have to have our very essence, the very being of ourselves, the very soul of our life waiting in silence for God alone. For from him comes our salvation. Verse 2, He is my, He only, and this is the critical thing, He only is my rock and my salvation, my defense and my fortress. I shall not be greatly moved. See, David sold out. He sold out. He sold out. He made up his mind, as they say. He made up his mind that he's not going to go anywhere outside of God. God is the only resolution. And I know this is where God's got, He's training me now. I'm in the training process, so I thank God for His transforming power. How long will you set upon a man that you may slay him, all of you, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? They only consult to cast him down from his height, to dishonor him. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly. For God alone, my soul waits in silence. For him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my defense and my fortress. I shall not be greatly moved. How long will you set upon a man that you may slay him, all of you, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? They only consult to cast him down from his height, to dishonor him. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly. It's a law of pause. I don't think they do that. See, I was operating in verse 3 and 4 yesterday. I was just going to press in on this insult, and I was just going to use my weight in deception, really, because every time I was asked, are you okay? And I'd say, yes, I was lying. I would say nice things, but inside I was saying, but that hurt. Instead of trusting in and relying on the Lord for him for my salvation, I went off course. So David reminds us back in verse 5, he wants us to get this right. He says, my soul wait only upon God and silently submit to him. See, it has to be submitted unto the powerful hand of God in sacrificial worship. Then he says, and in this place, for my hope and expectation are from him. See, God is the one, because he's operated in our life already, we know the truth of God, to whatever degree God has shown us his truth. All of our hope and expectation has to be in him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense and my fortress. I shall not be moved. Yesterday I found myself, I was moved, because I couldn't get resolution, because I wasn't silently submitted to God, keeping my hope and expectation in him, because I wasn't standing on that rock, on his rock, knowing that from him comes salvation. I wasn't using him to defend me, I wasn't using him as my safe place, and I was moved. I learned it first hand yesterday, and it's amazing now, the timing of the scriptures to show us. With God rests my salvation and my glory. This is where I'm going to find him, and this is where we know we can't give God any glory. Our lives can show forth the glory of God, as he operates in us and through us, as he goes on to say, he is my rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in God. We've got to be in this place of sacrificial worship, submitted to God, and in that place comes his salvation, and in that salvation his glory comes through us. Verse 8, trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in him at all times. It's pretty straight forward, all times. You have to have faith, trust, and lean on, relying on, confidence in God. He says, trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in him at all times, you people, pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us, a fortress, and a high tower. David's encouraging us to stay in this open place. Let's go back and read 5 through 8 again. My soul, wait only upon God. See how he's talking to himself? He's trying to encourage himself, because the temptation is to go the other way. The temptation is to not wait upon God, and to submit to God, and submission to God with our hope and expectation in him, because the flesh wants resolution in the flesh. The God of spirit. So this is the challenge, and this is why, my soul, wait only upon, he's talking to his soul right now, he's talking to himself. My soul, wait only upon God, and silently submit to him, for my hope and expectation are from him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense and my fortress. I shall not be moved. With God rests my salvation and my glory. He is my rock of unyielding strength and impenetrable hardness, and my refuge is in him. Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in him at all times. You people, pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us, a fortress and a high tower. It's the law of pause, and calmly think of that. Verse 9, men of low degree and social scale are emptiness, futility, a breath, and men of high degree and the same scale are a lie and delusion. In the balances they go up, they are together lighter than a breath. There's no weight in, you know, what do they call it, false humility, or, you know, there's just no weight in any social ranking. God is no respecter of persons. And what he's saying is, you know, the emptiness, there's futility, and low degree, he's trying to give reference to where help might come from. Well, you wouldn't go to somebody of low degree because there's an emptiness there, but if you go to those that are high degree, it's a falseness either way. There's no resolution, there's no results, no answer from either place, because those of high degree are just simply living a lie and a delusion. Because God is the place, not man, but man can't do anything for us. So in the balance they all go up together like a breath. Trust not in and rely constantly not on extortion and oppression, and do not vainly hope in robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. This is an amazing little truth right here. Because if we put our hope and confidence in things that are a lie and a delusion that come from extortion and oppression, and I found, you know, God had to keep things in perspective because I have a problem with idolizing. I don't recognize I do it at the time, but I can idolize. If I listen during COVID, I was, you know, listening to a lot of YouTube sermons. And there were some really good ones, you know, there were some people that were hitting on some cylinders, you know, that were on time. But at the end of the day, if I put them on the pedestal, when they're just a lie, they're lighter than a breath, and I put any hope and confidence in them, it's just going to let me down. Vain. They do not vainly, and do not vainly hope in robbery. What we're just going to go in there, while I was thinking about the, you know, the oppression and the extortion. You know, because at the end of the day, they all had their own agendas still. They were still in some fashion, God, He took the sparkle off of them, that's what He did for me. Because I was starting to lean on and trust and rely on them, and not on the truth that they were speaking, not on the God that was speaking through them during a time when the body of Christ needed some good teaching and preaching, some good encouragement in the Lord, and we were getting it, but at the end of the day, it was really just a facade at the end of the day. You know, when I think about robbery, you know, when you are poor and you want money, or maybe you're not poor, but you just want more money, and robbery becomes this, you put your hope in it. Well, if we can rob this, we can get this. It's vanity that he's talking about, and he's not talking about just robbery, but what he's talking about is that mindset, the heart. I was talking about the first part of the verse where I was putting my trust and hope and reliance on other people, and at the end of the day, it was oppressive, and it really extorted, you know, steals from the kingdom, really, when the hope, trust, and confidence is not in God. And in vain, we're just going to get in there and get ours. And here's another mindset he's warning us against. These are mindsets. These are warnings. These are rebukes and corrections here. These are rebukes, really. If riches increase, set not your heart on them. You know, sometimes things can be going well, and it's just like, and I'm tempted now, you know, as I'm preparing for this new season, I'm looking around, I'm looking at different jobs in this industry, and I'm seeing, okay, this one pays this, this one pays that, and, you know, my heart can get quickly set on the riches. And God's warning me here. You know, our trust, hope, confidence needs to be in Him at all times. And that's why He gave us that, and He's trying to show us we can't put our hope in those that seem to be debased and those that seem to be elevated. You know, two of the different preachings, you know, there was one of each. Well, there's more than two, but there was, you know, some that were of lower, you would look at them and they'd say, those are more debased men, those are of lower status, and those are of higher status, you know, the fancier church and the fancier clothes. And either way, together, they're lighter than a breath. There's nothing there, there's no content there, they're not the magic. And it was my mistake for starting to put my trust, hope, and confidence in them. And then God came right in behind it and took the shine off of it real quick. Because He didn't want me going that route, He was showing me the right way to go. And I can see verse 10 really just gives us a lot of angles. You know, we can get caught up in things that seem to be successful, but at the end of the day, if the house was built without the Lord, it was built in vain. Verse 11, God has spoken once, twice, have I heard this, that power becomes a burden. Verse 11, God has spoken once, twice, have I heard this, that power belongs to God. See, that's where He's bringing us back, that's the correction. See, we can't look to anything else outside of God. Where we put our trust and lean on, rely on, confidence in Him at all times, and pour out our hearts before Him, and make Him our refuge, our fortress in high tower. David's given us the standing operating procedures, and he's given us some warnings here, some things that can lead us astray, that can lead us out of course. Also to you, O Lord, belong mercy and loving kindness, for you render to every man according to his work. So at the end of the day, we can confidently be in the secret place of the Most High, and know that God is a just God, He's a merciful God, and a gracious God. And that all power belongs to Him, and He will give us according to what we do. And that all power belongs to Him, and He will give us according to what we do. There's no Pollyanna doctrine. Huh, that was a short but sweet and a reminder, you know, to be cautious, to stay in the secret place of the Most High, to make sure our heart and our minds, our souls, our direction doesn't go to anyone, no matter how encouraging they can be, no matter how much God can speak through them, it's still God who's speaking, and He's the one we trust on, lean on, and rely on. And here's some practical, He sent me to Titus 3 today on this salvation, going deeper, you know, because God is the source of our salvation. And it's a, you know, that psalm was reminding us, we can't ever go outside of God for this. Now, yeah, we're talking about our eternal salvation, sure, but we're not just talking about our eternal salvation, we're talking about the salvation God brings us in the midst of our walking, in our sojourn here on earth, in these places of deliverance that He brings us out of, that He saves us from our own insanity, usually our own idiocracy, He's usually saving us from ourselves. But, you know, the thing is, is remembering, always remembering to stay in that secret place, always remembering to stay bunkered down right there under His powerful hand, because God is all power. We see that, that power belongs to God, we saw that in verse 11. And with that power, though, we're reminded, you know, we don't, it's not a, the dog's gonna bark, bite me kind of a fear. We don't stay in the secret place, because if we step out, God's gonna destroy us utterly like a, you know, a wild animal attack. We stay in there, and verse 12 is a beautiful summary to that, because it's also to you, O Lord, belong mercy and loving kindness. So that's why we stay in the secret place, because all power is there, but in that place of power comes grace and mercy. And we're gonna get what we, we're gonna reap what we sow. I mean, there's, that's God's law, it's the law from beginning, and it's the law all the way through. Jesus doesn't, didn't change anything about the law. Not one iota of the law was changed, He said. In fact, it'll stay until that new heaven and new earth is created, and then there will be no more pain and sorrow, no more sin and death, eternally speaking. So that's an amazing truth, you know, of staying bunkered down in the secret place of Mosai, making sure we're not leaning on anything else, making sure we're not leaning on anything else, ourselves or others, as our place of safety, as our strength, as who we rely and trust on, and it's the Lord only. And so here's some standing operating procedures in Titus 3, here's some practical in this place of operation. In Titus 3, 1 says, Remind people to be submissive to their magistrates and authorities, to be obedient, to be prepared and willing to do any upright and honorable work. Well, this is an interesting, he says it a couple times in here too, I noticed when I browsed through it this morning, I thought, wow, twice. So if you're ever curious about what type of job you should have, well, here's one descriptive of what type of job you should seek. And it says, honorable work. You should do a job that has honor to it. Any upright and honorable work. Any upright and honorable work. That would probably disclude drug dealing, that would probably disclude, you know, I don't know how many can go through them. I'll let God convict each and every one of us individually what he means by this. But I'm seeing exactly what it says, and the Spirit is saying this is correct. It has to be upright and honorable work. And you have to be prepared. It says we have to be submissive to the magistrates and authorities, to be obedient to the law, to obey the law. You know, this is what he's saying. You have to obey the law. And if for whatever reason in our heart we don't feel like that law should be there, like we've seen a lot of up to do about the abortion thing, but that's the law of the land. So we're not going to go around bombing, you know, abortion clinics, killing people, hurting people, threatening people, being abrasive to people, when the law says that this is what they can do. The law also says not to litter. So on the other end of the spectrum we can go to that and say, OK, so every time I throw a piece of trash on the ground, I'm being disobedient to what God says here. And on and on and on, I mean, from top to bottom, this is what he's talking about. Obey those that govern you. And to be prepared and willing to do any upright and honorable work. It doesn't matter how lowly it might seem. It doesn't matter how high might, high in fluidity it might seem. If it's upright and honorable, we should be willing to do it. This is standard operating procedures when we're in sacrificial worship. Verse 2, just slander or abuse or speak evil of no one. Boy, is this hard. I confess. It is so easy to get in, especially when you're in a work environment or you're in some sort of a roommate environment or any environment where you're around other people and you get to see them a lot. It's so easy to focus on others and look to slander and abuse and speak evil. And I think it's that human desire to have misery loves company kind of concept. And I think this gives us the brass tacks why we don't do this. And I remember a pastor, I heard him say one time, he says, don't come up and start telling me about this person or that person because when I'm around them next, I'm going to feel some kind of way towards them. You know what I mean? And verse 2 gives us the brass tacks of why we want to avoid slandering, abusing and speaking evil of other people. It's to avoid being contentious. To avoid being abrasive is the word I like to use. You know, contentious means to contend, to fight with, you know, to contend against. And even if that person's been a wonderful friend, for example, but we're doing all this backroom slander, abuse and evil speaking, then when we're around them, we're going to start to have this abrasive standoffishness to us. You see, that hinders the work God's trying to do as He's calling everybody and wanting none to perish but all to come to repentance. We begin to get in the way of the gospel. He's setting us up here to operate in this place where we can operate, and we already know from Psalm, Sacrificial Worship, we have to be under the powerful hand of God, operating under His power. Because, see, when we start getting moved and led around by ourselves and others, like that tottering wall Psalm was talking about, you know, where just the pressure's coming in and we give in to it and we operate in it, then contention comes and we're not operating in kingdom work, we're operating in something else that's hindering the kingdom work. But this is what God wants. He wants us to be at peace with everyone. Well, we can be at peace with just being obedient to the Governing Body and doing, working with our hands that which is good, you know, and in the process not slandering or abusing or speaking evil of anyone to avoid being contentious and abrasive. To be forbearing, which is yielding and gentle and conciliatory. To show unqualified courtesy toward everyone. Everyone. Everybody. Everybody. Not some people, not just the people in my church, not just the people in my school, not just the people at work, but everybody. My home. And I didn't do this very well yesterday. Man, I could have used these pro-tips yesterday. Well, I got them today to help teach me and train me because I became contentious instead of being forbearing and yielding and gentle and conciliatory. And to show unqualified courtesy toward everybody. For we also were once thoughtless and senseless, obstinate and disobedient, deluded and misled. We too were once slaves to all sorts of cravings, pleasures, wasting our days in malice and jealousy and envy, hateful, hated, detestable and hating one another. See, this is how we operated just in the flesh. This is a fleshly behavior because it becomes thoughtless of others and senseless. It's not sensitive to others and it's obstinate. It wants its own way. It becomes disobedient in what it does because it just wants to get its own way. And that develops this delusion. Remember, God brings a delusion. And we begin to operate in delusion and are misled. And we become slaves to all the cravings and pleasures of the flesh. And it ends up being a waste of time, wasting our days in malice and jealousy and envy. This is the outcome from it. Because, see, when we're operating in our own agenda, we want our agenda to be good. We want it to be the best. We want it to be successful. We will do anything we can to make it happen. And when we see our plans begin to struggle or fall short because it's a human agenda, then we'll start to lash out and we'll start to come against others. We'll start to have this hateful, detestable attitude, hating one another. Because misery loves company. You know, it's a simple fact. We will become enslaved to the things that our flesh is crying out for. But when the goodness and lovingkindness of God, our Savior, to man as man appeared, He saved us not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but because of His own pity and mercy by the cleansing bath of the new birth, regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out so richly upon us through Jesus Christ, our Savior. This is an amazing two verses that summarize the gospel from beginning to end. See, the gospel is not just a day we raise our hand. The gospel is the relationship God wants to have with us now and for all eternity. For us to have a relationship to God, He must be transforming us through sanctification by the Holy Spirit. It's a renewal. It's taking the old man and creating the new man in him. Or woman, of course. And it was poured out onto us through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That's why He said I must go to the heavenly realm so that I can pour out the Holy Spirit of sanctification and purification. The one that will come in and put the depths of deeds of the flesh and transform us. And this is the work that's being done. And it's the righteousness of Christ that covers us in the process. And this is why we see, well, pity or compassion and mercy. And when we see mercy, we can always assign that to not getting what we do deserve. The righteousness of Christ puts us in position to not get what we do deserve. And then we see the compassion, the love, the grace. And we go back to verse 4. The loving kindness, which is a reflection of God's grace. It's a beautiful, actually it's 4, 5, and 6. It's a beautiful synopsis of the gospel. It is not a decision. It is a life that we live with Him. It's not a life of perfection, which we see. The salvation doesn't come from anything, how good we are. Even though He was just warning us about some of these mistakes up above, like we saw in Psalms, where is our place of power? Our place of power is in Him. It's not in anything else. It's not in how good we can be. It's not in how good they can be. It's not in any of these things. He's reminding us, and this is the gospel. This is why it's good news. Because if it was how good we are, well, how good do we have to be? You know, how good is good enough? Because everybody makes a mistake at some point. And this is, and he's going to go on to expound on it. Actually, the gospel continues in verse 7. And he did it in order, he does the salvation towards us. Right here we saw in verse 5, He saved us, right? So, we're talking about the salvation of God now that we're reading about in Psalms. And he did it in order that we might be justified by His grace. By His favor, wholly undeserved. That we might be acknowledged and counted as conformed to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action. And that we might become heirs of eternal life according to our hope. See, can you see the relationship in that? Can you see it? Because when we stay bunkered down in the sacrificial worship and God is transforming us. Because He's chosen to do this for us and bring this salvation to us. All out of anything we can do to earn it. He's given it to us by grace. And the transforming work of the Holy Spirit is what transforms us and conforms us to the divine will and purpose and thought and action. This is our role, to offer our whole lives as living sacrifices to this process. And in this process, we become heirs of eternal life according to our hope. That is what we're hoping in. We're hoping in the transforming work of God by His grace and mercy and Holy Spirit and salvation of Jesus. You know, all of this gospel is our hope. It's our hope of the transforming work of God. The justification by grace through the transforming work of the Holy Spirit that conforms us to the divine will and purpose, thought, and action. You see, it's a process. It is not a decision. We've been so sold a bill of goods that salvation comes by just making a decision. And I just don't find it in the Word of God. It's just not there. It's by grace through faith. This is faith. When we put our hope in, trust in, rely on God to transform us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ with a heart of gratitude. We don't ever want to forget the gratitude that we have to have in the process. So that we can become joint heirs with Christ. That we can become the sons and daughters of God. We're all children of God in the sense that He's created us all. But when a son or daughter begins to reflect their parent, that's what He's talking about. And we do that by putting our hope in, confidence in, trust in, and lean on entirely on God. We just got that in Psalm. We're getting it again. This is why we work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Why? What is the work? It's operating in faith, moving the direction of the conforming work of God, which is putting us into His divine will, purpose, thought, and action. See, faith without works is dead. And it's impossible to please God without faith. Thankfully, He gives each of us a measure of faith. God never asks us to do anything that He hasn't provided the means by which to do it. That's it. There, man. You want to get a summary of what it looks like to walk in relationship to God when we are operating here, and this is why yesterday was so memorable for me because I was operating outside of this place, see? I wasn't letting the Holy Spirit transform me. I was rejecting the Holy Spirit to go my own way. But I recognize today this is what it was. And I, well, yeah, and then I can see, because up above in verse 3 and all these other ones, we go back to Psalm 61, all those verses where it shows the outcome of operating outside of the secret place. And that's, you know, I started detesting her, and I started, you know, hating the situation. You know, I wouldn't say that I hated her, but yeah, I guess not loving something at any time in space would be hating them. You know, the opposite of love is hate, right? And I became a slave to that, and wasting my day, I wasted my entire day in malice. It's an amazing truth, and I'm thankful the Lord brought the Scripture today to give me not just more conviction, because I had the conviction when I woke up and I was just thinking about a new day, and I was thinking about yesterday that I didn't really, I didn't do that right, and I knew that I did something wrong. And I could tell the conviction came first thing. And it's, you know, it's one of those things. I'm kind of an idiot, and God sometimes has to really, really give me a hard thing, right? And so, for me to catch it. And so I caught it, and I'm like, okay, this is wrong. And then he gives me the dummy CliffsNotes this morning, completely about what had happened. And I'm like, what a good God we have. He never leaves us floundering around, just like, well, maybe they'll flop out of water long enough, they'll figure out they need to get back in the water, the living water, right? Because we are fishers of men, correct? And Jesus is the living water, yes? So when we flounder around outside and go our own way, we're like fish out of water, yes? We need to get back in, I need to get back into the living water, so that I can have life again. And here, the renewal, the regeneration, the rebirth, all of these things. So I could operate back on the rock again, instead of a shakable movement around the tottering, being a tottering fence, I could be unmovable on an impenetrable rock. But a beautiful word, and it's so on time for me this morning. The gospel is truly a good news gospel. Verse 8, this message is most trustworthy. And concerning these things, I want you to insist steadfastly, so that those who have believed in, trusted in, relied on God, may be careful to apply themselves to honorable occupations and to doing good. For such things are not only excellent and right in themselves, but they are good and profitable for the people. See, and again, God has to bring conviction for whatever it is you do for a living, like occupation. And, but it's just, it's not just the job we choose, it's end to doing good. See, I would have done much better yesterday if I would have, I've not been involved with any of that backbiting, judging, you know, verbal stuff that I did, which goes back to that verse, speaking evil and slander towards others. If that would have been a good start, and let me go down here to see where, oh, here we go. And instead of being cold-shouldered to the situation that caused me hurt, I could have just, I could have just went and been, went into more of the, let me get back up there and play that again, the unqualified courtesy, right? There's no, it's unqualified, you know, it's, it's courtesy, it's being kind and courteous to others without having a reason. It's kind of like that attitude you have, if you own a business, we owned one for 21 years, and sometimes customers are just wrong. And not only are they wrong, but they're downright nasty and mean. But they are the customer, and so you, what's that old saying, the customer's always right? Well, it's not necessarily they're always right, but you always have to be courteous to them, regardless. And there were a couple times over the 21 years that I wasn't, and I was real nasty. But the reality is, is I was supposed to be courteous without it being qualified. There was no, there was no qualifying factor to qualify them for my courtesy. It was just a simple fact that they wanted to bring in money and pay my bills. And that's enough, you know, it doesn't even require, there's no qualification. God says, I mean, even unqualified, that's why we love our enemy even. So we want to be careful to apply ourselves to honorable occupations. We don't want to be doing shady things, as far as what we do for a living. And we don't want to, and we want to do good, right? And in and of themselves, that's a good thing. But he's saying, but it goes beyond that because it's good and profitable for the people. Because there's one less place of contention. There's one, there's one more, when you're at peace and doing good and doing these things, working with your hands out, which is good, and you might have to give to those in need and all of this. That is a unabrasive place where others have the chance to see the glory of God shining through you. And they'll be drawn to you. And that's what God desires. And here's some warning, verse 9, but avoid stupid and foolish controversies and genealogies and dissensions and wranglings about the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. Oh, so often, and I even, this is a, my pride and pretense gets me in this trouble a lot. Less lately, because God is transforming me. But my life has been spent with so many foolish controversies and dissensions and wranglings, and they've been unprofitable and futile. I can completely attest to that. And again, that brings that abrasion back, that contention back. And when there's contention and abrasion, it was like this when my kids were growing up, and I could be very loud at times, and a lot of times I got loud in anger, but sometimes I get loud in excitement too. I just have a high volume level in my voice. And when the kids would tell me that, Dad, even when, if you were like, hey, we're going to go to this amusement park, and I was excited and loud and all excited, they would still shut down, and they would shut off, because they just, they had been trained with that anger loudness, that even the positive loudness shut off their hearing. They just stopped listening. And so that's why we have to be aware that we can get into this place where it'll be unprofitable and futile. We can talk as long as we want, but they've shut it off. Because of the abrasion. Because there's something that's coming in contention with them, and the human psyche will go to the survival, flight or fight mode, right? So, either they'll come back and contend back, or they'll flee. It says, as for a man who is factious, a heretical sectarian and cause of division, do we see any divisions in the body of Christ? Is God not talking to us? I mean, come on now. Wow, just look up denominations. You want to see factions and divisions. It can go beyond that. You know, this isn't just talking about Christendom's denominational divisions. That's not in factions. That's not what it's, it's not just talking about that. It's talking about a man, actually. So, if we get, we got to get, we got to search out and test, examine our own ways. So, when I create, like yesterday, in my behavior, I created division. Well, I'm responding to God's admonition. He admonished me this morning. Okay, you got to do this right, bro. You got to get this right, man. You created a faction, just within your own home. I've told you and your wife to become one, and you created division in it. Yeah, that's right. And it's, it's heretical, heretical, heretical, because it's against what God desires. God desires us all to be one in Him. He's knit us together in the body of Christ. And He's knit me and my wife together as one in Christ. And we're knit together as one in marriage. So, when I create division, I'm coming against what God has ordained. After admonishing Him a first and second time, so when we see factious and divisive behaviors, and I, I'm going to, let me just talk about myself again. I can remember, I worked at a company that had a different denomination, and I would just battle them about this, this division, and how wrong they were, and how right I was. And it was unprofitable and futile, yes. And I see now what should have happened. I should have been rejected from even having fellowship. Because this is what it says. You admonish Him a first and second time, and then you reject Him from your fellowship. Now, this is a little less what I was in, in, in going through, not as accurately descriptive of it, because we were already divided with our denomination, see. We were already in division. And, um, so let's look at a little more intimate now. I've been involved with people of the same denomination, and with my pretentious desire to just pretentiously have more mental capacity, or to flex my mental muscles of knowledge of God's Word and Scriptures, and I would just come in and I would try to, um, create an, oh, I believe this, I'd say, nope, you're wrong, this is the way it is. And, that I should have been admonished for that, a first and second time, and then rejected from that fellowship. And it says, ask for a man who is factious, a heretical sectarian, and cause of division. After admonishing Him a first and second time, reject Him from your fellowship, and have nothing more to do with Him. Because if you, uh, you know, I do take some time sometimes. Like I said, it's usually the next morning when I really just, I catch it, I'm like, oh, I see the error of my ways, right? You know, wow, okay, I was deluded, right? We're in delusion, and this is why God gives us multiple chances to get it right. Because this increases the value of the retentancy, the more deluded we are in something we've fallen, but if our heart truly desires to be transformed, it gets to the place of repentance, right? I mean, that's a natural response. But if first and second time, there's a refusal to come back in repentance, verse 11 tells us what the situation is then. Well aware that such a person has utterly changed, is perverted and corrupted, is perverted and corrupted. He goes on sinning, though he is convicted of guilt and self-condemned. You see? This is the indicators. You don't just ostracize somebody because they've done something you don't like. And it's, this is an interesting short little passage here, because Christendom is divided right now. It is factious right now already. So, when I'm thinking about this truth, spiritually speaking, because it applies to me today. God the Spirit has given me translation in this passage today. Because the body of Christ, in a large scale, has already factioned itself and divided itself. This is why we have denominations. This is why we have whole different, what they would call religions even, as far as, you know, ones that are Bible based on Jesus. And then still there's variations. Again, it's just more factions and divisions, right? But, what God is telling me is, there's also at the same time, as God is pulling his red men out, because God is not restricted to buildings, he's not restricted to the organized religion that we see today in Christendom. That is not, he doesn't operate just in churches. In fact, there's probably a lot of churches he's not operating in, because they're just doing some traditional thing that was given to them to do from the previous people in their denomination. But, the reality is, there's been people that have been along the way, just where I'm at now. I can think of several of them now, that we've had fellowship in the Lord with, and it's just been an amazing time. Well, we're really having true fellowship, because we're fellowshipping with God, and it's about his goodness. And when one speaks about the goodness of God, and God moves in the heart of the other, then the first person is quiet, and the other person starts to speak the goodness of God. And this is how it goes. See? Just like it said in the Duke, just like it says how the church should operate, this is how I've seen this operation. I've seen it. And this is the place that he's warning me. Don't bring division in, or you're just going to end up being in a denomination like somebody else and everyone else. Don't go buying a building, so that you can be isolated and segregated from everybody. Don't do it. Everybody's already got a home that they live in. Everybody's already there. And I'm even considering maybe even Zoom, because some of them live a little further, and we could just get on Zoom and have some time together in fellowshipping with the Lord. But he says, when we do that, be cautious. This is a warning here. To not be divisive and factious. And I would even recommend, we have to maintain this level of obedience, even inside of a divisive, factious church, who is already divisive, and is already factious. But what I'm seeing here at the bottom, where it says reject them from your fellowship and have nothing to do with them, in this case, because we already have the factions and the divisions, then I guess there needs to be an admonishment first and second time. And if there is no breaking from the division, what can you do? I don't know how God will have to work that out. But I don't want to be in fellowship in the body of Christ and then have division and factions become factious and divisive behaviors from myself or others or anything. And if so, then we admonish. We admonish. We give a rebuke. And then we give the correction. And if it continues on, we have to reject that from the fellowship. See, when those, back when the denominations were being formed, that would have been the time to reject it. That would have been the time to admonish, allow the conviction of the Holy Spirit to have its work. And if they didn't respond to the conviction of the Holy Spirit one, two, three times right, then have nothing to do with them. Reject them from the fellowship and have nothing more to do with them. Well aware that such a person has utterly changed, has perverted and corrupted, he goes on sinning though he is convicted of guilt and self-condemn. That's an amazing pro tip. That's an amazing pro tip right there. And that behavior we see in Psalm 61, my behavior yesterday, was doing just this very thing. Was creating division, like I said, in the oneness God has ordained for my marriage with my wife. And we're going to move this, the other direction today. You know, I don't want to be, I don't want to be admonished three times and then rejected, and then rejected from the fellowship. Verse 12, When I send Artemis or perhaps Titus to you, lose no time, but make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your utmost to speed Zenith the lawyer and Apollos on their way. See that they want for lack of nothing. See that they want for lack of nothing. You see where, how the body of Christ operates. You see how the church operates, the church of God operates. It's a relationship. It's a relationship with God and it's a relationship with others. When we see a need, God sees a need in our life. He fills it and we see a need in others lives and we fill it. That's just how it works. Trying to get all formal and do the things we've done. We've really lost sight of this, how the body of Christ functions. We can see it right here. There's no instruction to, we'll see you Sunday, we'll see you Tuesday, we'll see you at church. You don't see that. They are the church. And let our own people really learn to apply themselves to good deeds, to honest labor and honorable employment so that they may be able to meet necessary demands whenever the occasion may require. What? What does that just say? What did that just say? Let our own people really learn to apply themselves to good deeds by honest labor and honorable employment so that they may be able to meet the necessary demands whenever the occasion may require. Just like he just said about Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way, that they have lack for nothing. This is what he's talking about. And we know we saw Paul make the donation for Jerusalem. There was a great demand and need for food and clothing and shelter in Jerusalem for the body of Christ. And so they met that need. And it's whenever the occasion may require. And it's so amazing how we've taken this so out of context to justify preaching tithe doctrines which are not biblically sound. There is no tithe doctrine. We want an understanding of tithing. There's lots of scriptures that show us what tithing was created for, what its purpose was. And the heart of God in it really is the key. And that is to make sure that the needs of His people are met at the end of the day. It's not to have building expansions and to pay big power bills for large buildings because we want to get together and meet corporately or whatever. We just don't see that in the Bible. But here it's whenever the occasion may require and not by living idle and uncultivated and unfruitful lives. See, this is where the fruitfulness in the kingdom is able to go forth. This is why He wants us to live a full and abundant life, abundant in fruitfulness so that the body of Christ, that fruit can go across the board and be a blessing to those around us and vice versa, and goes back and forth that way. And this is how we help carry one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Not help carry the burden of somebody who decided they wanted to go create this heavy financial thing right here because they just thought, oh, for sure somebody prophesied or whatever it was or it's just what the tradition has taught them. And it's definitely not so I can have my agenda back. It's whenever the occasion requires and He wants us not to be idle and uncultivated and unfruitful in our life. And all who are with me wish to be remembered to you. Greet those with love, who love us in the faith. Great in faith. I love that there's always that reference to faith because that's the operation. That's the actual action and leaning over and relying on God. Grace, God's favor and blessing be with you all. Amen. So be it. Wow, what a beautiful passage there. I know there's some heavy stuff in the Titus right there. It's going to be exciting to keep seeing as God moves me deeper. You know, I mean, He's just trying to give me snippets right now and that's why I want to be careful not to slander or be talking evil about anyone and I feel like I may have slid over there a little bit today towards, you know, Christendom, organized religion, but I confess that I may have went a little heavy into that, what do they call it up here, speaking evil, abuse or slander and that is definitely what I want to avoid so that I won't be contentious in giving unqualified courtesy toward everybody. I know that God, but it is my devotion, it is for me, it's a reminder for me because He's starting to, as He pulls the remnant out, He's starting to give us opportunity to fellowship in Him, of course, but together and He's warning me, don't be contentious, don't be factional, don't fracture us, don't have divisions, don't have wrangling and things like that, don't be involved because that just breaks it apart what God is bringing together and so it's an amazing truth and this is why God, we have to recognize that God is our source of power, He is the source of our salvation and it's His glory that's shining through us and it's a reminder for me this morning that Psalm 62 is a treasure in Christ and a treasure in heaven that God is Jehovah, Yesha, Kabbah, our Lord God who is our salvation and glory. Oh, Heavenly Father, we're just so grateful for this word today. Boy, there was a lot of rebuke in me today, Father God, I feel the rebuke, Father God, this morning, the transforming rebuke and I say that when that conviction comes today, Father God, that they'll allow that to be a transforming place, a turning place that they can come back into obedience to you in the fashion that is pleasing to you, that you can have your way of transforming because you're trying to unify, Father God, and you are the source of power and unity and whenever we go off course and go our own way, we go into factions and divisions and this is not pleasing to you. So I confess my role in this today, Father God, and I thank you for your transforming power. I thank you that I can come right here in this secret place that in this very spot, Father God, you can put to death those deeds of the flesh. So I pray that over the body of Christ today that from us all will pour forth rivers of living water that bring life, and not division, and not dispute and wrangling, and envy, and spite, and all of these backbiting, slander. Oh, I thank you for this transforming work today, Father. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.