How To Disagree To The Glory Of God

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Yeah, yeah.

Amen, Lord.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, we've just come today to say that you are our priority.

Thou and thou only, first in my heart.

If there's anything else in first place, a Holy Spirit come in displace and dispose of that, Lord.

Every time we open the Bible, it realigns our priorities.

It affects our intellect and our affection.

And so, Lord, arrest our attention today.

Let your word go out and accomplish the purpose for which you sent it.

Is that great hymn says, You are our soul shelter and our high tower.

You exist confidently and securely above everything that vexes us, that concerns us, that worries us.

And so, Lord, what we need now, Holy Spirit, is for you to illuminate the Bible.

And it's more than words on a page.

It is the breathed out word of God.

It is the voice of God.

And so when we open it up, we want to see you there, God.

And so turn up the volume on your voice such that we can hear it today.

This is our prayer.

We ask it in Jesus' name when everyone said.

Amen.

You could have a seat.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Romans chapter 15.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row.

Uh, I'm on page 949.

I want to talk to you today about how to disagree to the glory of God.

How to disagree to the glory of God.

I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a lot of disagreement in our culture these days.

Uh matter of fact, it's almost impossible for people nowadays to agree.

And so what happens, let me just say this.

Uh, what if you don't know how to disagree?

There's a way to disagree that glorifies God, and there's a way to disagree that just leads to division.

And so there's a way to disagree, and by the way, the goal of disagreement is not to agree.

Some of y'all are like, I just explained my marriage right there.

You're welcome.

Stand for the benediction.

We'll go home.

Uh, let me say it again.

The goal of disagreement is not to agree, the goal of disagreement is to understand, okay?

I'll give you an example from a company called Amazon, you may have heard of.

Amazon, the CEO of Amazon is a man named Jeff Bezos.

He's the richest man in the world, past Bill Gates and Warren Buffett recently.

And one of the things they had, it's called the Amazon Way.

The 14th principle of the Amazon Way says this: it says, have a backbone, disagree, and stand your ground.

Oh man, I told my wife I should work for Amazon.

My wife's like, I couldn't work for Amazon.

I would be sick, nauseous the whole time.

Uh, because what they do at Amazon, you get 15 managers in a room and they all got to have an opinion.

You got to have a backbone, you gotta speak up.

You could agree or disagree with what's being discussed, but you can't just sit there.

Jeff Bezos says he hates what he calls social cohesion, where everyone just gets in a room and they see it as their task to all get along.

He says, if I got 15 people in the room and they're all just the first person speaks up and everyone just says, I agree with that, I got 14 people that I don't need to be paying anymore, they don't need to work for me, because if 15 people can only come up with one idea, they're not very good.

I want 15 people coming up with 15 ideas, and I want 15 people fighting for and defending those ideas.

I'll be starting at an Amazon tomorrow, by the way.

Yes, I love that.

Now, see, here's the deal.

We live in a culture right now that is so in conflict, so in strife, so much protest, so much sit-in, so much all this kind of craziness.

All it does is redound to the simple fact that we do not know how to disagree, and we sure do not know how to disagree to the glory of God.

So I want us to read in the Bible.

I'm gonna read seven verses.

By the way, after Don's 13-point sermon last week, I have one point.

It's just a joke.

I love Don Minton.

Anyway, uh uh, but let me give you the context of what we're gonna read about, or else it won't make sense.

In the Bible, there was people that they worship these false gods, and they would offer meat to these false gods, these idols.

And and the idols never would eat the meat, okay?

It's like if you go to somebody, it's a Buddhist, they have oranges and stuff out in front of the Buddha, and I'm just walking by and going, hey, you're gonna waste it, you're gonna eat that?

Can I have that?

Oh, it's for the Buddha.

He ain't coming.

That thing's gonna just rot right here.

That was going on back in the Bible.

They have meat, they'd offer it to these idols, and then after the little worship service they had to their false God, they would take the meat down to Kroger to the market, and they would sell the meat, but they put it on like 50% off.

Strong Christians came along and said, Hey, that doesn't bother me at all.

I don't believe that stuff you believe.

And so, if this meat was$10, this meat that had been offered up to these idols was$5.

Some Christians were like, hey man, I got a strong conscience, that doesn't bother me.

They would buy this, and and and these Christians that were like coming out of that pagan background were like, no, wait a minute.

They use that at the temple where I used to worship, and and you're buying that, and they're like, Yeah, what's the problem?

They had disagreement.

It became so intense in the church at Rome.

They were kind of separating into camps, and they were kind of saying, Hey, you shouldn't do that.

And the guys over here were like, Mmm, this is tasty.

Thank you so much.

We're saving money on the grocery budget.

Now, when I was in college, it wasn't meat sacrificed to idols, it was secular music that was the big deal.

I had friends that were like, I can't listen to any secular music.

And I was like, What is wrong with you?

Now, I did not handle that properly back then.

Like I had a friend that came into my dorm room.

I was listening to this is back when I had albums, which we're returning to, by the way, and it's about time.

I was listening to Bruce Springsteen, born in the USA album, and a friend of mine walked in and he said, Can you turn that off?

I'm like, why?

You a communist?

What's wrong with you?

I don't listen to anything but Christian music.

And I was like, I'm sorry.

And I got up and lifted the needle off, and I said, What's that about?

He goes, I just want to fill my mind with pleasant things.

I don't think all Christian music is pleasant, but anyway, but Christian music, I will say, has come a long way since 1988.

Amen?

Some of you were not even born in 1988, so I don't want to hear you run your mouth, all right?

That's church talk for shut up.

But anyway, so this is what's going on, and he's talking about these people that were, he talks about the strong and the weak.

And that's that doesn't mean some people are physically strong and some people are wimps.

He's saying some people weren't bothered by this kind of stuff.

Uh, and some people, it was like, oh my gosh, how can you be a Christian and eat that?

Translation, they disagreed.

And Paul's writing to them, trying to teach them here here's how you disagree in a way that gives God glory.

Romans chapter 15, verse 1.

Romans 15:1

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

Now, let me just lay my cards on the table right up front when I say how to disagree to the glory of God.

I'm not gonna give you five steps.

Here's how you uh here's how you can learn to disagree.

I am gonna point to four things in the Bible and kind of say, Hey, remember this.

And then I'm gonna trust you to exercise your priesthood and your gifts, which is what you saw earlier.

If you're visiting today, by the way, that's a picture of me and my wife when we first got married.

I had hair.

But anyway, uh, what you saw earlier uh was a mom in our church.

In our church, we believed that, hey, we tell dads, hey, you're the spiritual leader of your family.

Uh we ask people when they come to faith, who do you want to baptize you?

She said, Hey, I have a special relationship with my mom.

Last week it just so happens, we have a 21-year-old young lady that was baptized.

She said, I have a special relationship with my mom.

So if you're visiting today, be kind of like, why don't the pastors baptize?

Because we believe the home is the center of family worship.

And the parents are the spiritual leaders of that home.

Okay?

And so that that's what you saw taking place back here.

Uh, but when I talk about how to disagree, I'm not going to tell you, hey, here's four or five things.

I'm going to point to these four things in the text and say, now, exercise your priesthood.

Think about what this looks like with your life wrapped around it in the disagreements that you're in.

Because here's the reality: not everyone is going to agree with you.

I know that's shocking to some of you.

It shocks me every time when people say, Well, I disagree.

Well, you've obligated yourself to a life of wrongness, but that's your choice.

And she says, dinner will be ready in 30 minutes.

And I'm like, Okay, I'll be there.

Uh uh four things you see in the text that kind of guide us in how to disagree to the glory of God.

Number one, it's an obligation.

It's an obligation.

He says in verse 1 and 2, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Ooh, hear that again.

And not to please ourselves.

Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.

Now, what do I mean in obligation?

The obligation is to not please yourself.

And this means that we don't relish our intellect or the opportunity to triumph over the other person, but instead we use our strength to build up those who are weak, as the Bible says.

Not inferior.

They just don't have the spiritual confidence that we have in some areas.

Uh now, I love what Martin Lloyd Jones says.

He says edification is a constructive alternative to demolition.

Let me say that again.

Edification is the constructive alternative to demolition because that's what we do now.

We demolish other people.

You disagree with somebody, somebody uses the wrong gender pronoun or whatever, and all of a sudden they're misogynistic, homophobic, Islamophobic, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Long listing litany of things that they get called.

And I just want to say, hey, this has got nothing to do.

If you would start by embracing our obligation, what does that mean?

It means we should engage in the dialogue in an effort to educate and enlarge our mutual understanding.

Because the goal of disagreement is not agreement, it's understanding.

You should at least have thought through our position enough that our words are thought-provoking.

Let me give you an example from my own life.

A couple weeks ago, I got an email from the regional director of the Boy Scouts.

Nice guy.

Said, hey, like talking about having a Boy Scout troop at your church.

I wrote back, I'm not interested.

Because I had this conversation a year ago with a guy.

I thought it was the same guy.

So I'm like, I'm still not interested.

You guys do not live, uh, you guys live in violation of your own oath.

It says, on my honor, I'll do my best, blah, blah, blah.

And one of the phrases is, to keep myself morally pure.

You guys accept homosexual uh scout leaders and you embrace that.

It's normative.

And I don't, how can you do that and call yourself keeping yourself morally straight?

He wrote back and said, Well, you know, there's a misunderstanding.

I said, There's no misunderstanding.

You guys are hemorrhaging people, and now you've dropped boys from Boy Scouts, and now it's just the scouts because you're gonna you're you're going to accept girls.

Nothing against girls.

I have two daughters, I highly value women, girls, whatever, but it's it's just desperate.

And now you're coming to the church.

I'm writing all this in an email.

Now you're coming to the church and you want to enlist us in helping you accomplish your desires.

I don't want to partner with an organization like you.

Nothing against what scouts used to be, but it's not today what it was back then.

The guy wrote back, I said, You guys are just hemorrhaging people and you're just trying to increase your numbers.

You should probably find another job because this thing's not gonna go well.

He wrote back and said, Oh, really?

That's funny you say that.

The Baptists have lost a million people in the past three years.

And I was like, Oh no, you didn't.

And then this thought went through my mind.

I was like, no, wait a minute.

I gotta practice what I preach before I preach it.

So I wrote back because, you know, when the Bible says right here, it's why I groaned when he says, Hey, uh, we're to bear with the failings of the weekend not to please ourselves.

About 14 responses just came up in my mind.

I was on the debate team in college, did I tell you that?

I'm building a prima facie case on this cat in about four minutes, and then something just kind of said, Hey, what would please him?

And so I wrote back and said, Hey, why don't you come by for coffee sometime?

You'll find out I'm a really nice guy.

I thought, man, he would, there's no way he wrote back.

I would love that.

And I said, Okay, what does next week look like?

He came by on a Thursday at 9:30.

We had coffee, walked in.

I walked out and I thought it was gonna be the same guy, different guy.

And in my mind, I thought, yep, see, that last guy didn't last a year.

You better get another job.

I'm not hating, I'm just loving you enough to tell you what's coming.

This is the future coming down the road.

But instead, I said, Come on, the coffee's hot.

We walked in, sat down, and he said, Well, I mean, don't you don't you want more people to hear the message?

And I said, Well, I got plenty of people hearing the message right now.

I would love to have more people, but frankly, I've never prayed and asked God to bring more people to my church.

And he's like, What kind of a loser are you?

If these people don't do their job and invite their friends and invite people they meet, that's not on me.

Walmart's always hiring and they got dental insurance down there.

And he's like, uh.

And he kept saying, Well, don't you this, well, don't you this?

Well, don't you want more people here the message?

And I said, I don't think having a scout troop here, yeah.

I said, We're reaching people and we're trying to do it in a way that we feel like God's called us to do.

I said, I don't dislike the scouts.

I just don't want to respect you as an organization.

And he said, Well, you know, are you saying the church is perfect?

Absolutely not.

If it was, my wife couldn't go here, okay?

Of course it's not perfect.

And he would just back up, go two degrees this way, and he'd come at me again.

And then he said, you know, because homosexuals have a place, or gay people have to have a place to go as well.

I said, Oh, every gay person in Houston is welcome in my church.

I said, But you need to understand, now again, the goal of disagreement is not to agree, it's to understand.

I said, I don't refer to them that way, as you say, gay.

I I don't like that language.

And I said, I prefer to say this is the way that sin is manifesting itself in their life at this time.

Because if you just say, Oh, this person's gay, therefore this explains all their behavior that follows, you've obligated them to a life of no hope.

It's the same thing if you said to the drunkard, well, the drunkard, he's just gonna be a drunkard the rest of his life.

No, he's not.

This is the way.

Way back in Genesis, God said to a man, hey, by the way, sin is crouching at your door and it seeks to have its way with you.

And I said, This is the only sin that we've kind of, it's become identity politics.

We we they identify as, oh, this is who I am, therefore, this is how you have to treat me.

And we've all swallowed the line, hook, line, and sinker.

And we've damned those people to no hope of repentance because what are they repenting of?

Because nothing's a sin in America anymore.

And he looked at me and he's like, Well, because see, he he was expecting a fight.

And I was just trying to explain, hey, this is kind of where we are, because he said, Well, you don't have to accept those people into your scout troop.

I said, We don't have to because we ain't gonna have a scout troop here.

Well, I mean, don't you want more people?

I said, Have you realized how many times you've started the sentence with don't you want more people to hear the message?

I want everyone to hear the message.

I want every jacked up, I said, I want to get a knee up.

Remember those big signs that had the arrow on top of them that flashed like that?

I want to get one of those and put out here in front of the church.

Sinners, reprobates, broken down drunks, alcoholics, gays, lesbians, all welcome inside.

But it got voted down into elder meeting.

So I bring it up again next month.

Now, why do I say that?

Look at me.

I'm not being flippant, okay?

Because the Bible talks about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul says, Do you not know that the drunkard, the immoral, the fornicator, the adulterer, the homosexual, the effeminate will not inherit the kingdom of God?

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

And then he says this, and such were some of you.

But you were washed, you were sanctified.

In other words, these people all engaged, sin, hear me, sin manifested itself in their lives in all these various ways.

And God forgave them.

And they became part of the church.

And I said to the guy, I said, That's why I don't refer to them as, oh, just the person's okay.

Therefore, oh, oh, King's X can't say anything because they're that's identity politics.

You're not doing those people a favor.

You should graciously say, you know, this is just the way sin is manifesting itself in your life these days.

And I'm praying that it doesn't continue to have dominion over you.

He's like, Well, I mean, I just I I guess we're just not going to agree.

I said, We're not.

So come on, let me walk you out.

And he's like, We're done?

I said, Yeah, it's an hour and 20 minutes.

These people here don't stop sinning.

I got more sinners coming.

He said, What do you do all day?

I said, I counsel people.

I love my people, I love them.

I don't just preach to them and disappear.

I'm over here with the Lord, don't bother me.

Oh, well, well, you know, I'm Methodist, and we're fixing to vote to accept homosexual priests, and it will damn your denomination just to become a declining denomination of senior adults who just say, Hey, I'm Methodist and I'm sticking with it.

I don't dislike the Methodists.

Just look at the Episcopal Church.

Look what happens.

Well, well, clearly we're gonna disagree.

Yes, we're going to disagree.

I think I'm right, and I love you.

You said you're a former Marine.

Thanks for your service.

Well, thanks.

Well, you're actually a nice guy.

Yes, yes, I am, just like I told you in the email.

You want some more coffee?

No, I I gotta go.

And I walked a bewildered, confused man down the hallway and out the door.

And he kind of got to the door.

He's like, thanks.

You know, sometimes you ever have anybody thank you, like, and what they're really saying is, thanks.

I think uh, I don't know, like I bugged him or something.

Here, why why'd I tell you all that?

Because once you embrace your obligation, like the Bible says, you're capable of more than you you're capable of by nature.

Because some of you know what you're like by nature when put somebody pushes you and you're like, oh, you really want to know?

You really want to know?

And they make you mad and your inner redneck comes out.

You start name calling this, that, and the other.

No, the Bible says, hey, there's an obligation.

Secondly, there's an example.

It's verse 3 and 4.

He says, For Christ did not please himself, but is his real and by the way, let me just stop and say this.

I sense in my spirit that some of you are like, uh, I have a nephew that's gay.

That's what he describes himself.

And I say, No.

This is how sin is manifesting itself in your life these days.

Oh, Uncle Leo, you say that because you're a preacher.

No, I say that because I understand how sin tries to destroy all of us.

I'm never going to refer to you as that way.

So if you're visiting today, don't leave and kind of go, that guy doesn't like it.

I have family members that that's the way sin is manifesting itself in their life.

I have family members that are adulterers.

They got no sense of faithfulness to their wedding vow.

I mean, anything that comes along, any opportunity they seize upon it.

Anyone pray for me.

Yeah, I do.

I do.

Because the Bible says that you won't inherit the kingdom of God if you can if you persist in this lifestyle.

Oh, you got any people in your church have done this before?

Oh, I got plenty.

And they've been forgiven.

I just didn't want you to skip by and kind of go, oh, that guy's just kind of upset.

No, not at all.

I have to, I embrace my obligation to bear with the feelings of the way.

And really, my obligation is not to please myself.

Because it's easier just to say a few things, put the pistols back in the holster and move on.

And all you've done is pleased yourself.

So you have to start with this obligation.

Secondly, you have an example.

In verse 3, he says, For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

For whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

Now, what do you mean when you say an example?

Our example is Jesus Christ, who did not please himself.

And then Paul quotes Psalm 69, verse 9.

Psalms 69:9

That's that part.

Anytime you see something where somebody's writing the New Testament, and then there's something in quotes, he's typically referencing the Old Testament.

That's where he very he's referencing Psalm 69, 9 when he says, The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

Now, why do I tell you that?

Because Psalm 69 is what's known as a messianic psalm.

Uh, there's about seven different places in the New Testament that it's quoted, and they typically reference one of five or six places uh in Psalm 69 where they think was a reference to Jesus.

I'll just list him for you here.

Like in verse 4 of Psalm 69, they said, He was hated and lied about by his enemies.

And there's a reason I'm telling you this, so just listen.

He was hated and lied about by his enemies.

Verse 8, he was estranged from his family.

Some of you are like, is that about Jesus or about me?

He was estranged from his family.

Verse 11 of Psalm 69 says he was shunned by the people.

Verse 12 says he was talked about by the rulers.

The latter part of verse 12 says he was sung about by drunkards.

That's my favorite one.

You know you've really hacked people off when the drunks make up songs about you.

Now, why am I telling you this?

Here's why.

Because in John 15, verses 18 to 21, Jesus says this to his followers.

John 15:18–21

He says, If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own.

But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you?

A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

Now Jesus is saying, Hey, shake yourself, folks.

Don't believe that a servant, that would be us, is greater than his master.

And Jesus is just shooting them straight and telling them, Hey, if they treated me this way, they're going to treat you that way.

It doesn't mean that.

That every day of your life is going to be miserable, but listen to me, it does mean that to follow Christ is going to cost you something in this politically correct, man-centered culture we live in.

You just have to realize that.

It's going to cost you some things.

It's going to cost me some things.

It already has and it always will.

Now ask yourself this question.

If you're here in the room and you think, well, I don't even believe the Bible.

I just think the Bible is like a history book.

It's a bunch of books and people sit down and wrote about.

And I think Jesus is like the tooth fairy, not really a real person.

It's just kind of something that people just came up with.

If you think that, ask yourself this question.

If you were just going to make something up, wouldn't you leave something like this out of the book?

I mean, what how do you enlist a following if you say to people, hey, by the way, they mistreated your God and they're going to mistreat you?

He suffered, you're going to suffer.

The world hated me, therefore the world is going to hate you.

The world persecuted me, they're going to persecute you.

How do you get a following saying crazy things like that?

Turn on your TV and watch some TV preacher and see if he references any of that.

No.

But see, the Bible's so honest, it lays it out and kind of says, hey, this is what you can expect.

So in the Messianic Psalm that Paul quotes, it's going, hey, this kind of, he's our example.

He so aligned himself with God that the reproaches that were intended for God fell upon him, and he said, I gladly received that.

And by the way, the apostle Paul that wrote the recorded, it was inspired by the Holy Spirit, but recorded by the Apostle Paul, who recorded the book of Romans in another book of the Bible that he wrote, he says this, he says, I fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.

And in a subtle way, what he's saying is, hey, the reproaches that were intended for God fell upon Jesus because he so aligned himself with God.

And Paul comes along after that and says, By the way, and I so aligned myself with Jesus that the reproaches that fell on him fell on me, so much so that I fill up what is lacking in his sufferings.

The Bible is that honest with us about our lives.

Verse 4, he says, for whatever is written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

Now, what is he saying there?

Now keep in mind, we said two things so far.

Number one, we just simply said that uh we have an obligation, and now we're saying we have an example, that Jesus Christ, his life and his death, and everything he said is our example.

So what do you mean?

Why is that a big deal?

Don't look for the example uh always around you, your friends, your bunkho group, your thirsty, thirsty Thursday wine fellowship, or whatever you got going on.

That's not always your example because you can get around those people and kind of say, Hey, we've been married 26 years and it's kind of fizzling out, and I'm kind of bored.

What do you think I should do?

And you'll get 14 opinions from six different people.

Your example is in the pages of Scripture.

He said, What do you mean?

Paul lists there in verse 5, verse 4, four things that we get from the Bible.

Hear it again what he says in verse 4.

For whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction.

That's a reference to the Old Testament, by the way.

Don't sleep on the Old Testament.

He says, What was written there was written for our instruction.

That through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope.

Here's the four things we find in the pages of the Bible.

Number one, instruction.

Instruction.

If you don't know what to do, get familiar with your Bible.

If you don't know how to read the Bible, where to start, come to one of us.

We gladly help you.

Second thing is endurance.

Endurance.

You've been outside lately the past couple of days?

At about two o'clock in the afternoon?

I mean, after about 10 minutes, it feels like your heart's beating in your head.

You've got to have endurance when we're in some kind of heat stroke like this.

And in life, you've got to have endurance.

Third thing you get from the Bible is encouragement.

Ask yourself this question: How is the Bible encouraging you these days?

How is the Bible encouraging you these days?

Fourth thing you get from the Bible is hope.

Is hope.

For whatever was written in the former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

One of the reasons the Bible was inspired by God is so his people could always live in the midst of this deep sense of hope.

Third thing we see in the text is how to deal with, how to disagree to the glory of God.

You've got to see the prayer that's right here in this passage in verse 5 and 6.

Paul says this, he says, May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is a blessing of prayer that Paul speaks over these people.

Hear it again.

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another and in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, by the way, before I get to the prayer, don't miss this connection.

Notice in verse 5 that what was attributed to the Bible to Scripture in verse 4 is now being attributed to God.

This means that it's God Himself who is encouraging us through the living voice of Scripture.

When you read the Bible, it's God speaking.

It's not the voice of man, it's not the voice of history, it is the recorded, breathed out word of God.

And so God continues to speak through what he's already spoken.

A lot of people in our day and age, they want to get a word from the Lord, so they go to the beach and stare out at the horizon.

You want a word from the Lord?

Just open your Bible.

There's thousands of them in here.

I remember I was in Kona, Hawaii, preaching the Bible for a week.

Somebody's got to go over there and preach the Bible for a week.

How about me?

I mean when they got called and said, hey man, can you come to Kona and teach the Bible for a week?

He said, my friend told me that you got you like to pray about speaking opportunities.

I said, Hang on a second, let me pray.

Lord, if you don't want me to go to Hawaii and teach the Bible, make my wife's head explode.

Her head didn't explode.

I think I can make it.

I got up one morning, I'm walking.

He said, By the way, while you're here, you can drink.

This is 100% pure cone of coffee in our coffee shop here on our campus.

You can drink all the coffee you want.

You don't know who you're talking to, sir.

So I'm walking one morning to the coffee thing, and there's a lady sitting out cross-legged.

I would do that, but I can't.

I would never get up.

She's sitting with her ankles on her knees, and she's sitting there looking out the ocean on this little grassy hill.

And there's a Bible laying in the grass closed beside her.

And I just walked by, I just stood there, just staring.

I just couldn't help it.

It's not polite.

I was just like, hello.

And I said, uh, what are you doing?

And she opened her eyes and goes, Oh, I'm just waiting on a word from the Lord.

My head almost exploded.

And I just walked over and pointed at the Bible and I said, There's probably hundreds of thousands of them in that book right there.

Yeah, but I need a ram, I need a fresh word.

This is the living, breathed-out word of God.

It says of itself, if you ever read it in Hebrews chapter 4 by verse 12, it says it's quick and powerful, sharpening, two-edged sword, and it's able to pierce down to the divine asunder of joints and marrow and become a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

Maybe if you read that, you'd realize that what you're doing now is new age, it's not biblical.

Your little yoga pose where you get in touch with yoga Jesus.

There's no yoga Jesus.

Well, you're our speaker for the week.

I enjoyed you yesterday.

I'm not sure I'll enjoy you today.

That threat doesn't change the fact that you're kooky, okay?

Don't be kooky.

We're not here to worship the ocean.

The ocean's great.

Open your Bible.

Ah, I'm just gonna wait on a word.

You ain't gonna get one.

All right.

Walked off.

When got my coffee.

Now, again, if you're visiting, I'm a nice man.

I love everybody.

If you want a word, it's right here.

It's right here.

He says in verse 4, what was said of the Bible.

Now in verse 5, it's said uh uh about God, this God of encouragement.

This is who the Bible proves him to be.

And Paul prays two things, okay?

Number one, he says, I pray that you guys would live in such harmony with one another.

You live in such harmony with one another.

By the way, harmony means that everybody doesn't sing the same note.

If you've ever heard four-part harmony, it is a beautiful thing.

Until I start singing.

Here's the beauty of my house.

I am tone-deaf.

I never went to choir as a kid.

We were, we just weren't into that.

We didn't go to church or anything, okay?

One of my kids is pitch perfect.

I mean, has that voice.

And she's like, Dad, please stop.

And I'm like, what?

You don't like it?

You don't like me singing?

Dad, stop singing.

It's not good.

I'm like, Oh?

I ain't gonna sing like you.

But it would be better if you if you just at least knew what a note was.

I don't know what a note is, I don't feel responsible.

I'm walking through Costco this week and I walked up on one of our ladies.

I was like, oh, and she goes, I heard you come and I thought that's my pastor singing.

Don't encourage me because my first thought was maybe I should cut an album.

I'm walking through Costco thinking, she thinks I still care by George Jones.

I wasn't planning on it, it just kind of comes out, and she's like, Yeah, I I heard you coming.

It's like, sorry about that, didn't mean to ruin your day.

Uh but the Bible says to live in such harmony with one another.

Look at me.

Don't worry about what note your neighbor's singing.

Worry about your little note.

That's how you live in harmony with them.

Is that you sing one note, they sing another, you believe one thing, they believe another.

You don't try to change their mind, you just represent your own mind.

And then he says this second prayer, in accord with Christ Jesus.

That means in keeping with how Jesus did it.

So, two things in harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus.

If you want to see that, watch a good marching band.

I never saw a band.

I played football in high school, never saw the band.

Until after I graduated, me and a friend went, he was dating the drum major.

You know, the lady that walks out front.

I remember I had my only thought when we went to the football game and I saw the band, I thought, them majorettes is wearing swimsuits.

I'm sorry, I missed this.

And they're out there with metal rods marching around and everything.

And I mean, the band was huge, like 165 people.

I mean, and they were great.

They won sweepstakes, which I was like, what is that?

And I go, Oh, we got a one sight reading and a one at marching.

We're the best band in our division.

Great.

And they were doing their thing, and I thought, this is pretty, I mean, they'd be they'd be marching, and all of a sudden the guy with a trombone would put it down and turn and then snap it back up.

And I prayed to Jesus he would cripple somebody with that thing.

But he never did.

They just were doing until at the very end, they're getting ready for the big march off deal, and the drum major forgot to blow the whistle.

And so some of them turned by habit when they hit the 20-yard line.

They turned, and the other half of the band just kept going.

And so what happened was half the band was in the end zone, half the band turned out of habit, was marching back this way, and the drum major was blowing the whistle, and then she ran out in front of the band and just like stop, stop.

And I was thinking, just hit them with that metal rod to stop.

She got them to stop, and then she tooted the whistle and got everybody, and half the band ran and caught up and got into place, and she got them all lined up, and then they started playing again, and they marched off, and we gave them a standing ovation.

I thought I stood in the stands at the football game and I thought, I'm so glad I was born and got to see this.

This was great organized chaos.

I turned to my friend, he goes, Oh, dude, I gotta go to another meeting because the band always got the third quarter off.

Uh, and they'd all take their hats off, they use plume feathers and all this kind of stuff.

I was like, man, all I got was shoulder pads and and we're being cheated out here.

And I looked at my buddy and I said, Hey man, you want me to get another ride home?

He goes, Yeah, I may be a while.

And I did.

Now, why do I tell you that?

Because when you see a band that functions the way a band is supposed to function, it is a thing of precision and beauty.

I mean, it's a miracle.

They don't like the guy with the big drum, whoop boom! Never hits anybody.

I'm just like, that.

That's what it means.

That's a picture of what it looks like to live in harmony with one another and in accord with Christ Jesus.

Last thing we see in the text is simply this verse seven, therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

Now, I've told you this before, but when you hear the word, therefore, see the word therefore in the Bible, what he's saying is what I'm fixing to say is predicated on all that I've just said.

So all six verses kind of reach their apex in verse seven when he says, Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

That word welcome in the Greek literally means accept.

Accept.

Accept one another.

As God, as Christ has welcomed and accepted you for the glory of God.

See, that's the goal for the glory of God.

You welcome, you accept people, not for your own sake, but for the glory of God.

So I said to my friend as he's walking out the day, I said, Hey, if you ever want to come to church, you're more than welcome.

Oh, well, thanks.

I I appreciate it.

Nice guy, good guy, radically, fundamentally disagree with him.

I'm having lunch tomorrow with a friend of mine who was born in California.

I met some people earlier from California.

I love California, by the way.

But I tell my friend, hey, you people that were born near an ocean, west coast, east coast, you think you're better than everybody else and smarter than everybody else.

And I told him one day God's gonna solve California and set it adrift in the ocean.

And my friend said, and I hope I'm there when he does it.

Me too.

I hope you're there too.

I asked him the other day, I said, Is Maxine Waters your congresswoman?

He's like, Oh, real funny, real funny.

I said, Could you get more wacky?

He said, Well, they're thinking about dividing California into three states.

I said, That's just so the Democrats can get more representatives because you want to take over the world with your governor moonbeam Jerry Brown.

Just stop, just stop.

He goes, and we fundamentally disagree on so many things.

He said something the last time we had lunch, and in the middle of it, I said, as soon as you're done, I'm gonna tell you three reasons why that's the dumbest thing I've heard today.

And the waitress was walking by and she stopped, and I said, Yes, I just said that.

Right here.

And by the way, I love this man, and he loves me.

He's like, every once in a while I want to hug you.

I said, Don't hug me, I'm not a hugger.

I hug about five people, you're not on the list.

Now, why do I keep having lunch with him?

Because I accept him, I welcome him.

I see him tomorrow, I look forward to it.

And I promise you, he'll say something that's just out of left field, and I'll have to look at him and go, How do you get so dumb?

And I go, Well, I mean, uh-uh, and he's a brilliant man.

He's brilliant.

And there are things that we fundamentally disagree on.

I tell him you're wrong, and he goes, Well, your problem is you're wrong.

I said, No, I'm right about the fact that you're wrong.

And then we ended by saying, When you want to have lunch again.

Why?

Because when you're welcomed, look at me.

You know you're safe.

Only in welcoming somebody and accepting somebody the way Christ accepted you, look at me.

We're almost done.

You ready for the sermon to be done?

Then, oh.

Sermon number two.

Don got y'all spoiled last year, my twelfth point.

I was in the first service, and he was on his third point, and he goes, it was like an hour into it.

He goes, I better hurry.

I got 13 more.

I thought, I gotta go check something.

I pulled a hamstring.

Look at me.

No.

He says, Welcome one another.

Therefore, welcome one another.

It's Christ who's welcomed you.

Think about this, and we're done.

Look at me.

Who is more different?

Who has more basis for disagreement than you and God?

And yet the Bible says that God welcomed you.

God accepted you.

And that is the experience you've had.

If you've had that experience, he says you have to give that experience to other people.

You don't have to agree with them.

Notice the Bible doesn't say agree.

He says accept.

Welcome.

This, beloved, is how you disagree to the glory of God.

Let's pray together.

Take a moment, ask yourself what you heard today.

What stood out to you?

What made your brain tingle?

The Bible says consequential that way.

It does that to us.

It sets up and invites us to think about things we normally wouldn't think about.

And it does that so we can become somebody by nature we can never be.

The big church word for that is sanctification.

It's a gradual change where I look less and less like my natural self and more and more like Jesus.

Just take a moment and think about what you've heard today.

Oh, that's our prayer.

We want to so disagree to the glory of God that people find the like.

Lord, we're tired of our disagreement leading to division.

We don't talk to people.

We should be talking to and doing life with because we just can't be okay with disagreeing.

So, Holy Spirit, mend what needs mending.

Fix what needs fixing.

Do what only you can do.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

If you're a guest today, let me say thanks for being part of our service.

If you don't have a church that you call home, uh, I would love the opportunity to be your pastor.

The best part of this church is the people you're sitting around right now.

They are beautiful, generous, kind, fallen, redeemed people who love God and each other, and you're welcome and wanted to come and be a part of us.

Uh on the back of your a couple chairs in your row, there's a little guest card.

If you're a guest today, hopefully you pulled one of those out and just filled it out on your way out here in a minute.

Just drop one of these wooden boxes by the doors.

Uh, that's also where we receive our offering.

So if today's the day you worship God through obedience or generosity, that's where you do that as well.

Let me make you aware of two things by way of announcement.

First of all, we have a mission team in Costa Rica on a medical mission trip right now.

They are there set up, doing uh uh a medical clinic for our friends, the Guami Indians, they're on the reservation.

So keep them in your prayers if you would.

We have 16 people there.

Uh, it's our third mission trip.

We've a team we've sent out this summer.

It's a very missional church.

We love the gospel, we love God, and we want people who have not heard the gospel.

They're not just doing medicine, they're doing medicine in Jesus' name this week.

And so keep them in your prayers.

Second thing I want to remind you that next Sunday night is our uh women's ministry, the end of summer backyard barbecue.

It's gonna be in the warehouse, which is our student ministry building at the back of our property back here.

It's from 5:30 to 9, and the meal is Rudy's barbecue and a snow cone truck.

And so they are registering for that in the lobby.

If you have any questions, you can see any of the people out there or see Marcy, our women's pastor.

She would love to give you all the information, okay?

They need you to register so they can plan accordingly with ordering the food and everything.

All right?

Stand to your feet.

Let me speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

Because you were once God's enemies.

Born disagreeing with God.

And because he sent his mediator, you now know how to disagree to the glory of God.

So depart and don't settle for division.

Disagreement is okay.

Division is not.

In the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.