2024-03-17-Sunday School-Problems In The Church

The speaker discusses the importance of serving the Lord and the need for unity in the church. They mention the problems faced in the church and how they must be dealt with in a scriptural manner. The speaker also talks about the division within ourselves and the division in the home, emphasizing the need for unity in both. They mention the role of prayer and how it is often neglected in today's society. The speaker concludes by discussing the need for unity in the house of God and references a passage from Corinthians that addresses contentions within the church. serve the Lord, because a few people were out, and they were a small number to begin with. I'm thankful that he didn't say, we're two or three together in his name, plus a piano player, plus a drummer, plus a guitar, or what have you, but two or three together in his name. He'll be in the midst of them, and so I think we can get ahold of the Lord this morning. I just want to do his will. It's funner, it's easier, when there's piano players and different ones, but we can't do without the Lord. We're going to try to, and I didn't send out a text, of course, there's just a few of you here that's normally in our class, and we've been in the first Corinthians, I think, maybe my children and Sister Lily has been as well. We're staying in that. I'm moving on to lesson three, I believe, but before we get there, we'll finish up a little bit from last week, Lord willing, but we're aiming towards lesson three, Problems in the Church. I kind of skipped over lesson two, maybe we might go back to it at some point, but lesson three does say, Problems in the Church. When there are problems in the church, they must be dealt with in a scriptural manner. God will not tolerate willful disobedience to his word. The Godent text says, And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. First Thessalonians 3 and 1 through 18, I'm sorry, 2 Thessalonians 3 and 14, misprint. Last week, we discussed division, and with the thought of united we stand and divided we fall, I was attempting to look at three areas of division, we got a little bit sidetracked, but firstly, I was talking about the division within ourselves. James writes in his letter to the 12 in James 1 and 2 through 8, he says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and abreaveth not. And it shall be given him, but let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord, for a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. It's important for us to have a made-up mind, I would not be denied the song that we just sang. James warns that we will fall into divers temptations throughout this life, but there's only one cure for that temptation, there's only one worthy to call upon. Acts 4 and 12 says, Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, brother Quentin. A strong prayer life is what is missing in most homes today. I've often thought why so many have turned away from prayer, brother Tim. Why people in this world don't seem to have a need for a church or a prayer closet. And as humans, once we give up something, we tend to substitute it for something else. And I was thinking, I wonder if things like Facebook, Instagram, texting, or TikTok, they all provide some source of interaction. And there's no waiting when you post something on there. I used to have a lot of those things myself. You can get mad about something and put your business out there and within seconds you'll get friends or family or perfect strangers giving you advice on what you should do or how you should handle it. You can even get the answer that you're actually looking for. So why go in your prayer closet and talk to a man named Jesus that you can't even see when there's people like Kyle in Savannah, Georgia, that can give you the answer that you want. Prayers are old fashioned. That's what mom does. That's what mom used to do. But it still works and it's only the place you need to turn to. For one, somebody like that has ulterior motives for his advice that he gives. It may be that he likes you or wants something in return. It may simply inflate his ego to give advice. Even your mom or friends or a cousin may have their own motives to give you certain advice. Jeremiah 29, 11 says, For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. God knows exactly what you need and he can provide it. Another problem with going anywhere else for advice is that God knows your heart. Romans 8 and 27 says, And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Many times in the New Testament, someone would pose a question to Jesus and he would seemingly maybe give them an answer that was kind of off the wall or something that didn't even pertain to what they asked. But he knew exactly what they needed to hear. He knew what was in their heart and why they was maybe even asking a certain question. And he told them exactly what they needed to hear. Not really. He took advantage of every interaction and and made the most of it. Have you ever met someone that is always the hero in their story? I know people like that. Every time they tell you something that happened to them at work, they was always, you know, the hero or there's there's people that are always the victim in a story. They're wanting sympathy from you. It's human nature to tell people your side of the story, to maneuver the facts and to get the reaction that you want. But God can see through those things. When you take something, God, he has no problem deciphering what you say because your heart has already spoken to him. He sees the heart of man. The second area of division that we talked about was the division in the home. If we have strong Bible believing families, we will have a strong Bible believing church. Nothing will keep you bound in the house of God like problems at home. It's hardly it's hard to freely testify of the goodness of God when you've been fussing at your wife all the way to church or you had a big blowout as you was getting ready or you've been acting a certain way all week long. You can I've been there, to be honest with you. And you stand up and your children or your family just kind of fill their eyes on you like, you know, they don't believe a word you say and they don't think that you believe a word that you say. So you come to church bound by those things. So we need to have unity in the home. What I didn't get to last Sunday is where I was trying to get to was the need for unity in the church. I'd like to expand upon that for just a little bit and then we'll transition to lesson three. So lastly, the need for unity in the house of God. I thought I've always I don't know if you are like me, but I always hated division, even in math class when I was a kid, I had division. I hated it worse than anything. Multiplication just seemed like a positive thing. And division seemed very negative, especially when you was dividing something. And then there was a remainder over here and maybe a remainder of one or remainder of three. And that's the same thing in the house of God. Sometimes when there's a division, there's somebody left out and they may never come back. It seems left out and undone. And division is never a good thing. And especially in the house of God, if we have a made up mind in ourselves and we have a strong family Christian unit, as in my first one and two points, we will be a unified church. Let's turn to first Corinthians one and eleven this morning. First Corinthians one and eleven says this is kind of where we left off last week, for it has been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now, this I say to every one of you, sayeth I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ is Christ divided. Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name and I baptized also the household of Stephanus. Besides, I know not whether I baptize any other for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. So as a side note here, Paul's talking in that it's not really his point, but he kind of puts baptism in its place. There's nothing wrong with baptism. It's great. We should be doing it. And it's a symbol of our our willingness to live for Christ. But it doesn't save us. Paul wasn't sent to baptize to go around baptizing everybody. He was sent to tell them about Jesus Christ and him crucified. And that was the important thing that Paul was doing. Now, baptism is a great thing, and he wasn't downgrading that by no means. But we can see where baptism has its place from that. So a brother, a sister in the Lord named Chloe has told Paul that there are contentions in the church, of course. This is partly the reason for Paul's letter. Actually, the Corinthians will have their own concerns and pose their own questions for Paul. But this is a main reason why he wrote this letter. Because Chloe had come to him and told him about these contentions. We don't know anything about Chloe. We don't know a whole lot. We don't even know if they're male or female. I tend to think it's a female just because it sounds like she was a busybody. But no, I'm just kidding about that. But she actually Paul must have really took this information to heart. You know, he wrote a letter back to the Corinthians. So it wasn't doesn't sound like she maybe she was a tattletale. But she was concerned or he was concerned, what have you. But they must have actually came to Paul in the right spirit because Paul did take this serious. First Corinthians 1 and 12 says, Now this I say that every one of you says I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ is Christ divided. Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius. Does it really matter who baptized you or even who in the ministry you got saved under? I first got saved under when Brother Ray Asher was preaching and my son did, too. And I always have a place in my heart for for Brother Ray Asher. He officiated our wedding and. But it really doesn't matter. It doesn't amount to a whole lot who was preaching. I can't even remember what was preached. I can't remember what song was being played. Nothing like that. But here there there there's a division over who baptized them. If you were a Gentile at the time, you'd probably probably proclaim that you were saved under or baptized under Paul's ministry. Some claimed Apollos, if you remember him in Acts, he was an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures. I thought I love Shad MacDonald. The Snow Brothers are very popular in the wholeness movement right now. And rightfully so. There's nothing wrong with saying, oh, there's some of my favorite preachers or they are my favorite preacher. I asked Camden the other day who his favorite preacher was, and I'll let him tell you if he wants to tell you. But to be honest with you, my favorite preacher is Camden. And I just have a reason for that. Nobody else. I'm not trying to downgrade him, but nobody else will probably say, oh, Brother Camden is my favorite preacher. They might not, but he is. He happens to be my favorite preacher. But there's nothing wrong with saying so and so is my favorite preacher, but it really doesn't amount to a whole lot. What amounts to is what Jesus has done for you and the price it was paid and the reason that you are saved. Some claim Cephas, also known as Peter, quite possibly we can tell from this that he might have made it to Corinth, but according to the scripture, we really don't have much evidence of that. And some claim Christ on the surface. This seems like the right side to be on. The whole heritage makes the point that it is not wrong to claim that you belong to Christ. But what is wrong is an attitude claiming that Christ belong to them. And I want to take it just a little bit further and say what I got, what I get out of that. There's a condition that people will get in where they don't need anybody. I've heard so many people say that they are a spiritual person, but they don't go to church. They don't need an organized religion or a man to tell them what to do. There are people I thought that Brother Quentin are crazy about. Like Spider-Man, Marvel, I don't know which, but they're crazy about Spider-Man or Wolverine or something like that, and they'll go see every movie and they'll talk about the movies between the next one coming out. They'll talk about looking forward to the next one. They'll wear shirts with, say, Spider-Man's image on it. They'll read comic books about Spider-Man. They'll rewatch his movies over and over and over and they'll read about his origin stories. They'll go to events called Comic Con and they'll dress like him and they'll try to get autographs of people that play him or wear his costume. They'll even put stickers of him on their cars. You'll go down the road and you'll see stickers of different characters on people's cars. And I thought that's crazy. To me, that's crazy. But you know what would be even crazier? If they liked him that much but never went to the movie house to see his movies, if they never read his books, if they never talked about him, that would be even crazier. It'd be an odd thing. You like Spider-Man? Oh, yeah, he's my favorite. Did you see his last movie? Oh, no, I don't watch his movies. Also, you just read his books. No, I don't read any of the books, but I have my own relationship with Spider-Man. I've got a picture of him on my wall and I look at it and I think about him every once in a while. And, you know, that's enough. You know, I'm crazy about him, you know, but that's enough for me. I think that's even dumber than being crazy enough to go watch all of his movies. But why, when it comes to the Lord, did that make sense to people? I sure love the Lord. Oh, so you go to church? Oh, no, I don't. I don't go to church. So you just read the Bible? Oh, no, I don't read the Bible. But I've got a cross on my wall and every once in a while I'll go past it and I'll look at it and I'll think about him. And that's enough. You know, I've got my own relationship with God. That makes sense to people for whatever reason. They don't make time for church, but they believe in God. They frown on holiness standards because they claim it's legalism or a cult. And I'd like to say that I live the way I live because the Bible tells me to. I go to church because the Bible tells me to. And I'm also happy and I enjoy doing it. I'm here this morning because Gospel Light Holiness Church is my church. I wanted to be here. I got up excited about teaching Sunday school and seeing my brethren that God has placed with me to worship with. I enjoy worshiping with you guys. I would not want to worship with anybody else. That's why I'm here this morning. That's why I got up excited, because it was the Lord's Day. It was Sunday. This is the day that we go to Gospel Light Holiness Church. I thought if I ever get shipwrecked on an island, Camden, and I'm by myself, I'm still going to try to to do my best to serve the Lord. I'm still going to try to maybe go get some leaves and try to fashion something that would be that would honor my Lord, something modest. I might not. I might be the only one on the island, but I'm still going to try to dress accordingly. There may be some challenges in that, but I'll try. I'm still going to pray every day. I'm still going to watch what I say and the things that I ponder upon. But I don't have to do that. I can go to Gospel Light Holiness Church three times a week where a man of God is going to expound upon the Word of God. I'm going to be encouraged by that. I'm going to be encouraged by like-minded individuals that love the Lord and want to keep his commandments also. I'm not going to sit at home and have my own relationship with God. People that tell you that are just too honored to go to the house of God and they want to do their own thing. Like our pastor said, there are churches out there that don't see it exactly how we do. And I believe with all my heart that we are getting it right or I wouldn't be living this way. And as soon as God shows me something different, you know, if I find it in his Word, then I'll make some changes. But I do believe we are trying our best to live as close to the Lord as we can. No, we haven't apprehended yet. But I believe I'm living as closely as I know how to. And when I come to the knowledge that I'm not, then I will make those changes. My goal is to make it to heaven. But there are those that have left Holiness for a looser lifestyle, claiming that this is a man's religion. Some know better and just want to live a compromised lifestyle and not be bothered with the truth on a weekly basis. Does Gospel Light Holiness Church have a monopoly on heaven? No, I don't think I don't think that. And I thank God for that. I don't think this is a number that no man can number right here. I could probably number y'all pretty quick. But as long as sound doctrine is being preached from this pulpit and as long as those those that are come here that are lost are being compelled to come to this altar through the message of Jesus Christ and him crucified. This is where I want to be. This is where I'll be. And this is where I'll encourage my lost loved ones to come. Honestly, I've attended churches and I'm not talking to I'll just go ahead and say I'm not talking about highway in particular. But I've been to church services where I was where I thank God that my lost loved ones didn't take my invitation to come to church. Things happen that I wouldn't even want them to be a part of. And that has not happened here. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful for that. And I want that to remain the same. I appreciate God joining us together. Let's go ahead and turn to lesson three in your homeless heritage problems in the church. I think this will seamlessly kind of go together. We'll read the introduction together. Since Paul had heard of some problems in the Corinthian church that needed to be corrected. He is an apostle of God exercises authority to give direction and command to these believers in our church world. The authority of the man of God has been largely denied and ignored. We all know that not every man who calls himself a minister has actually been called and equipped by God. But there are men who obviously are God called spirit led and holy ghost anointed. It is time for the true men of God in our churches to rise up and boldly proclaim the living and powerful word of God while denouncing sin and evil. It is also time for sincere believers to heed the ministry of the man of God and instead of fighting against the truth to submit to it and obey it. We may visit lesson two like I said on carnality at a later date. But let's turn to first Corinthians chapter five one and six and while thinking about I don't think it's in my notes. I get up here and talk about 45 minutes every Sunday and Lord willing I'll be doing that for the next foreseeable future maybe 30 years or something I don't know till the Lord comes back or he takes calls me home that I will never purposely get up here and try to throw anything at anybody. That's a lot of talking for somebody and I pray over my Sunday school messages. But if I ever offend you I'm sorry and that's not my intentions. I'm not trying to throw anything at anybody. I don't I don't think about trying to figure out what people are into and then try to teach on it or preach on it. That's not my intentions. And if you ever have a problem with something I say please come to me because I won't know what that situation will be. But I know my heart and I know that I would never purposely try to hurt anybody. So just come and talk to me if you ever feel like I am. I just remember an instance of a Sunday school teacher approaching a subject that was in the Bible and somebody out there got offended and quit going to church and he had to go to him and talk to him about it. And he was like I wasn't throwing it. It's just Bible. You know there was a time that I was a yo-yo Christian. Sometimes I would go to church sometimes I wouldn't. I could not go to church and then somebody would talk about being faithful and for me to get upset and think he was throwing it at me. It was he had every right to be talking about that. It would be silly for me to say well they're just talking about being faithful because I'm there. I mean that's just if it's in the Bible I'm going to talk about it. First Corinthians chapter 5 and 1 through 6 verse 1 says it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned. That he that has done this deed might be taken away from among you far barely as absent in body but present spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that has so done this deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you are gathered together and in my spirit and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glory is not good. No you not that a little 11 11 the whole lump. Now this is a tough subject and I'm not talking about the immorality that is a very tough subject in itself but rather the action that Paul tells them to take because of this one. So let's break this down a little bit and verse 1 against it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife. There is seeing in the church and when I was doing this Sunday school lesson I was very aware that there would be some of the youth in here and we'll try to purchase gingerly but it is the Bible. But in Paul says that he has not even heard of such seeing even among the non-believers someone among them has committed fornication with his father's wife. We're not told if it was just worded this way or if it was his actual mother but either way it's we can agree that that's offensive. I won't stay on this topic but. Incest was not just a problem during biblical times it's a problem that America faces today. According to a popular Christian website incest pornography is in the top 10 search categories with 40 million plus Americans being regular visitors of adult websites. Like I said I'll leave that topic for another time we won't go too much further in that but I will say that we need to be very careful how we run our households. The Corinthian people as a whole had a problem with fornication and it's infiltrated the church. Romans 12 and 1 says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. God we are not to act like the world and we're not to conform and the church we're not to conform the church standards to this world standard. God is and always will be the standard there are church denominations that allow drinking alcohol now that's been going on for quite some time. Pastors that have been divorced and remarried many times are pastors of many churches now. There are churches that don't teach tithing anymore. There's a megachurch in E-town that treats tithe like a bank account. I heard this and I'm not even talking about Southeast Christian another church but I went to I worked with a fellow that went to this church and he said that he pays his 10 percent and they encourage you to pay your 10 percent or even more if you want to. But if you ever need that money you can go to the office and get it back out as long as it's in there and then you can pay it back if you want to. It's just basically a bank account but tithing is to the Lord it's not a bank account. We can't go to Brother Quentin and say hey I'd like to have my last year's tithes back you know my roof needs some need some work or something like that. It is the Lord's money. There's no vote amongst men that changes God's standard. There's churches that have recently voted that homosexuality is OK. If you have to allow sin in the church to keep church membership then you haven't gained anything. Jesus says in Matthew 24 and 35 heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. And the writer of Hebrews reminds us in 13 and 8 that Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. He's the same as he always was. His blood will never lose its power. His words will never pass away and his standard will not change. We may vote on carpet color. He didn't specify on that but he was pretty specific when he said in Genesis 2 and 24 therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh. Should we go with three and a half inch trim or seven inch trim. We can have a vote on it but we don't have to vote on whether or not we can have a few drinks on a Friday night. Galatians 5 and 21 says envions murders drunkenness revelings and such like the witch. I tell you before as I have also told you in time past that day which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. We'll move on to 1st Corinthians 5 and 2 says and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. These are the same people that were fighting about who baptized them. But here we have a very serious problem in the church and they're not even bothered by it. The devil would love nothing more to have us divided over frivolous silly things while there's real problems that need to be addressed. It's kind of like they talk about the government and the media kind of they'll put out a diversion tactic or you know we might be fighting over gas prices when there's something serious going on that they'll do stuff like that. The devil will do the same thing in the house of God if we let him in here he will distract us over these little bitty things when we need to be focused on something else. Let's read the first two paragraphs in the holiness heritage under a actual case described. The first two paragraphs is a problem in the church was not a secret or hidden one. It was known by many in the church and have even been talked about outside the church. This case had become common knowledge around the church and local community. Paul had not even been there recently and he had also heard about it. It is interesting and sadly so to see how we Christians react when there's some problem in our church. It is often talked about all around the membership and even around the fellowship but never dealt with spiritually. The sin of gossip and slander has been added many times to an already existing sin and only further complicated the whole matter. We can become an accomplice to sin by our actions. Read this real quick Romans 1 and 18 if you want to follow along you can. Romans 1 and 18 starts out for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. 19 says because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shoot it under them for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise. They became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to a corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen for this cause God gave them up on the vile affections for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature and likewise also the man leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one to another man with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their era which was meet and even if they did not like to retain God and their knowledge God gave them over to reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient being filled with all in righteousness. Fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignity whispers back by the haters of God spiteful proud bolsters inventors of evil things disobedient to parents without understanding covenant breakers without natural affection implacable unmerciful who know in the judgment of God they which commit such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them. We often quote that scripture and point to those that encourage this type of behavior. But if you are quick to spread gossip of people that have fallen to these things you are taking pleasure in them that do them and the Bible says that you are also worthy of death. Remember that Paul heard about this from someone named Chloe and wrote this letter from Ephesus. So the news has spread. That's why handling the situation of a fallen brother sister needs to be handled carefully and biblically. First Corinthians five and three says for I barely is absent in body but present spirit have judged already as though our present concerning him that has so done this deed. Paul is laying the know I'm not there but this letter should make it clear how I as in verse one Paul says called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ to the will of God stands on this matter. I've heard a parent once say I don't have to be home to straighten my child out. I can ground them from a cell phone. Paul is not judging this person unrighteously. We need to think about that. This is a matter of proven conduct not perception of someone's character. There is a difference. We are not to be judgmental but if someone has proven themselves to be ungodly and unrepentant it is what it is. First Corinthians five and four in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one under Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glory is not good. No you not that a little living living the whole lump. And I'll be honest right here. For me this is a difficult portion of scripture for me to expound upon. Y'all know that I don't normally do this in large portions but I'd like to lean heavily on the wholeness heritage. They explain it very well. Let's read together. See action commanded. We're going to read all this and just try to follow along here. It's very well written better than I started to try to pick it apart and make my own points. But it's very good here. It's very good here. It says when Paul concluded his rebuke of their attitude he gave commands concerning the proper action that needs to be taken in this matter. Paul makes it clear that he has already judged what needs to be done in this matter and expects the believers to carry out his commands. The first command is that they put him out of their local church. They cannot allow this man to continue as a member of good standing in the church. He had committed fornication and yet claimed to be a Christian. Church discipline has become extinct in most churches in our day including wholeness churches. There is a wrong way and a right way to handle these things. These believers were going to one extreme by allowing him to continue in the church in spite of his open sin. Some believers go to the other extreme with a hateful self-righteous spirit. They start a campaign among other members against the one they view at fault. Let me interject here that many of our attacks are not directed at people who are undoubtedly guilty of sin but at someone we do not agree with or are suspicious of. However, when there is obvious open sin it should not be allowed to continue without the church taking action. Jesus gave the basic principles of dealing with a person who is sinning in Matthew 18, 15 through 18. Deliver him to Satan. This statement has presented some difficulty for Bible students. It seems that Paul is reminding the Corinthian church that they have the authority and the duty to deal with this sin. God has granted his body of believers the authority to stand for unrighteousness and holiness in the local church. They are instructed to have a meeting in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are then to take official action concerning this case. What they are to do is to publicly state the charges against this man and state plainly that he is no longer a member of this church. He is now no longer able to hide behind his church membership and affiliation as justification of his sin. He is declared to be a servant of the devil which in reality has already been for some time. Now they are removing their cloak of respectability from this gross sin and they are removing any spiritual protection he has benefited from being part of their church. He is now given over to Satan's power which may bring suffering and even death that he might learn to repent of his sin and find forgiveness and pardon through the blood of Jesus Christ. Remember, it is not the intention of church discipline to condemn any so to hell but rather to cause them to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin and turn from evil to Christ. If the sin is allowed to continue unchallenged, the sinner will feel safe and go right on sinning and claim to be a Christian. Then when he dies and goes to hell, it is too late for repentance. If the sin is dealt with by the church, the sinner may repent and be saved. He may refuse to repent and will have to suffer the consequences of his own decision but he will not be able to blame the church for his eternal punishment. Do not accompany with him. Paul does not mince words in this matter. Believers are not to have close association with anyone who calls himself a brother but is living in sin. We are not to avoid someone and refuse to speak to him just because he is not saved. We will never reach the lost without some contact with him. But there is a difference between casual acquaintance with common courtesy and being yoked in friendship and association with sinners. Here the instruction is not specifically about our association with the lost in the world but our association with someone in the church who claims the name of Christ but has sin in his life. I know that is a lot of reading but I thought that was really well put. Some places are just tough scripture. I would like to add a little bit of my own commentary. I have not discussed this with the leadership of the church. Before I say that, this is a tough subject. It is hard to say you are not welcome here anymore. That is not our end goal. We do not want to do that. Some instances that really worry me is sometimes you will see a young man in the church that has fallen to sin. It seems like he is picking out one young female after another and dating them and carrying on. That to me needs to be addressed. It is not in this church, thank the Lord, but I have seen it. In instances like that, you have to protect your sheep. You have to. Like I said, I have not discussed this with the leadership of the church. But in my own personal opinion, there are certain sins that happen to also be atrocious crimes. If committed, I feel an obligation to go further than letting the church handle it. I take no pleasure in what happened with the Catholic church. I know men that have laughed about it and said they had it coming. Finally, they got their name tarnished. But a lot of people in this world do not differentiate between Pentecostals, Methodists, Lutherans, Jehovah's Witnesses, as Brother Tim talked about the other day, Baptists, and even Catholics. For one, it is awful for the victims, and two, it hurt Christianity whether we admit it or not. There are some that will never step foot into any type of church because of the Catholic, the thing that happened with the Catholic church. I truly believe if someone is found committing a crime of that nature, it needs to go to the authorities. We are not to tolerate that behavior nor cover it up. It will become a stain on the Holiness movement. There is a scriptural method to handling sin in the church, however, and once again, the Holiness Heritage has laid out. I don't think you guys have this, but they do a good job laying this out, and I'll read this real quick. We've got just a little bit here. What is the scriptural method for dealing with a brother's sin? First, the believer who first becomes aware of the sin should go to the one personally and privately. Two, if he refuses to confess and repent, the believer should take one or two or more brothers, including the pastor as one, with him and confront the transgressor again. If he still refuses to confess and repent, the matter should be made public to the entire church body. If he still refuses after the church meeting, he is to be officially put out of the church and no longer considered a member. These instructions come to us from Jesus Christ himself, who would be better qualified to speak this than he who is the head of the church. Matthew 18 and 15 through 17 says, Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more. That, in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. And now that's pretty harsh, and hopefully it never comes to that point. And we'll do everything we can that it won't, but we will go by the Bible. We should be longsuffering. With that being said, we should be longsuffering with our brethren. The subject of being longsuffering is dear to my heart. And y'all know why. Not just the Lord, but I have been blessed with brothers and sisters that have shown me much mercy. And I'm very thankful for that. Very grateful. Not tolerant, but longsuffering. Paul writes to the Ephesians in Ephesians 4 and 1, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. With that being said, there are some sins that simply can't be tolerated. But if you have sin in your life, something that you just can't get past right now, don't stop coming to church. Just because you don't have control over one thing, or you don't feel the liberty from something, they don't mean, the devil told me for a long time, and I may have told this before, you're a hypocrite. You might as well just stay home. You're being a hypocrite. And in my heart, and God knows our heart, I wasn't meaning to be a hypocrite. I did not have control over a certain situation in my life. I tried to be a good dad. I tried to be a good husband. I tried to be a good Christian. I tried to be a good worker. But there was this one thing that I just didn't have liberty over. But by the grace of God, I kept coming to church as much as I was able to. But the devil would tell me all the time, just quit. Just quit. You're being a hypocrite. You're making the church look bad. But if you are really trying, and there's just things that you just haven't got liberty over, keep coming to church. Keep coming to the altar. And tell your pastor about it. He mentioned it the other day. If you're a female, go to your pastor's wife. If you're a male and you have something that you don't have control over, speak it to your pastor. There's something about, and I know by experience, there's something about just airing stuff and getting it out and open. It takes the power out of it. The devil has intentions to keep us isolated and not to approach these things and tell us that we're the only ones that ever went through this type of stuff. I can guarantee you that you are not. If you're going through something today, there's somebody in this church house that has gone through it before, and Jesus Christ has victory over that very thing that you might have in your life. This is your lifeline. I want to make the invitation that you can come to me. I will not go spread it to anybody else. If there's something that you think that I might be able to help you with, I know by experience that God can free a man from anything. With that, I'll go ahead and close this morning. Let's close with a verse here. Romans 6 and 18 says, Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.