Ye that are Strong - Pastor Bruce Mejia

Amen.

Okay, we're in Romans chapter 15,

Romans 15 · chapter mention

look down at your Bibles in verse number one.

It says,

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities

of the weak and not to please ourselves.

Let every one of us please this neighbor

for his good to edification.

And the title of my sermon this evening

is we that are strong.

We that are strong.

I want to preach a sermon tonight

directed towards those who are strong in the Lord

and in the power of his might,

those who are spiritually matured

and the attitude that we as mature Christians

should have towards those who are weaker in the faith.

Okay.

Now, what do I mean by weaker in the faith?

I'm talking about those who are babes in Christ.

Sometimes people hear that

and kind of take it as an insult.

But at the end of the day,

we all started off as babes in Christ, right?

What is a babe in Christ?

It's someone who's newly saved.

They've just believed on the Lord Jesus Christ

or newly saved.

There are born again Christian.

They're very much new to the faith.

They're someone who the Bible would consider

or categorize to be someone who's weak in the faith.

They're not necessarily strong in the Lord as of yet.

And, you know, obviously it's great

to have babes in Christ in the church, right?

Because this means that people are getting saved.

This means that the church is reaching a lot of people

and we want new Christians in the church.

Amen.

We want to be able to reach people with the gospel.

And obviously when we talk about babes in Christ

we're not just referring to those who are newly saved.

We're even talking about people

who have been saved for quite some time

but they never actually grew in their faith, okay?

Meaning that maybe you got saved 10 years ago.

You got saved 15 years ago, 20 years ago,

but you actually never learned the Bible.

You never got faithful to church.

You never learned doctrine.

According to the Bible, you would be considered

a babe in Christ.

A babe in Christ is someone who's newly saved.

A babe in Christ is someone who has been saved

for quite some time but never grew in their faith.

A babe in Christ is someone who hasn't necessarily,

listen to this, learned Christian virtue.

Meaning that they are emotionally unstable.

Maybe they don't necessarily have the perseverance

within them, the endurance necessary

to make it in the Christian life.

They would be considered babes in Christ.

And it's important for us as Christians

who are strong in the Lord

to have the right attitude towards babes in Christ, okay?

You say, why is that?

Well, obviously we know we're supposed to treat them well

and we're glad that there's babes in Christ.

Sometimes we can, as strong Christians,

we can have a bad attitude towards newer Christians.

Meaning that we can become overly judgmental towards them,

hold them to a certain standard

that they're not necessarily ready for, amen?

And it's for that reason that we need to make sure

that we approach new, newly saved people

in the scriptural manner

so that we don't cause people to stumble.

We don't discourage people from the way.

We don't cause people to not mature in their faith

because of our disposition towards them, okay?

Now, we're in Romans chapter 15.

Romans 15 · chapter mention

Go with me if you want to 2 Timothy chapter two.

2 Timothy chapter two, bless you.

2 Timothy chapter two.

Now, let me start off by saying that, you know,

obviously, as I mentioned,

when a person is newly saved or a babe in Christ,

but let me also say this, you know,

sometimes Christians, if they grew in their faith,

but then they stop growing,

they could actually regress

to becoming a babe in Christ once again.

Meaning that they can be the type of person

who just is kind of stable.

They stop disciplining themselves

and adding to their faith virtue to virtue knowledge,

and therefore they can kind of regress

to become a babe in Christ.

Now, if you say, like, what happens at that point though?

If I regress as a Christian to become a babe in Christ

again, what does that say?

Does that mean it's just,

it's a lot more difficult to mature in my faith again?

No, it's kind of like exercising, okay?

You know, when someone exercises,

they're lifting weights, they build new muscle,

and anybody will tell you that if you get out of the gym

for any length of time, your muscle kind of goes away,

and it's kind of discouraging.

You're like, man, I can't lift like I used to lift before.

I'm super weak, and I feel like I used to be stronger

than before, or stronger in times past,

and now I'm really weak, but here's the good news though.

That muscle still there just needs to be exercised again.

You need to eat the protein,

get back on a routine of exercise,

and you'll actually see that when you start getting

back into the gym, you'll grow that muscle again fairly quickly.

You know what, same thing with you.

If you regress in your Christian faith,

maybe you're not as committed as it used to be,

maybe you've kind of drawn back a little bit.

The good news is that you could actually hop back on

and regrow that muscle, so to speak, that spiritual muscle,

and become exactly where you were in times past

and even exceed that standard and that level that you're at.

The point being here is that everyone starts off

a babe in Christ, but the goal should be

that we don't remain babes in Christ, okay?

And we need to make sure that as strong Christians,

we actually have the right answers.

So let me give you a couple things this evening,

the type of attitude that we should have

towards those who are new in the faith.

First and foremost, babes in Christ,

let me start off by saying that they're easily deceived.

Therefore, we have to teach them.

Now that sounds basic, but you'd be surprised.

You know, sometimes Christians,

because babes in Christ are just susceptible

to false doctrine, they're very gullible,

you know, stronger Christians have a tendency

to be a little unmerciful towards people who are like that.

Oh man, they should know better.

They're coming to this type of church.

They've already heard this preaching,

but here's the problem though.

They're still young in the faith.

And if you're young in the faith,

if you're still a babe in Christ,

you may not have, they may not have

the same spiritual disciplines that you have

that you've accumulated over years of being in church.

And so you have to understand something

the Bible tells us that babes in Christ

are easily susceptible.

You know what that means?

It means they believe stupid doctrines sometimes.

They believe really retarded doctrines.

And you know what?

Obviously it's important for us to not let that pass,

to teach them, to admonish them,

but we also have to understand,

well, they're a babe in Christ.

What would I expect?

I'm not gonna expect someone who's just newly saved

to just get on board doctrinally right off the bat

and accumulate all the knowledge

that I've accumulated over a span of 20 years

to just have them get it in a week's span.

It doesn't work that way.

We need to make sure that we're patient with them

and that we teach them.

The Bible says you're in 2 Timothy,

I'm gonna read to you from Ephesians 4 in verse 11.

And obviously in order for a babe in Christ

to not be that way,

to not believe in stupid doctrines,

they have to be in church, right?

That's like baseline.

They have to be in church.

The Bible tells us that he gave some apostles

and some prophets and some evangelists

and some pastors and teachers

for the perfecting of the saints,

for the work of the ministry,

for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Later on it says that we henceforth be no more children,

tossed to and fro,

carried about with every wind of doctrine.

You know what that tells me?

Children in Christ are easily persuaded

into false doctrine, okay?

And let me just explain something to you

because I feel like this is something

that maybe sometimes our church struggles with quite a bit,

especially those who are mature in the faith.

They automatically think,

well, if someone comes to our church

believing a doctrine that is contrary to what we believe,

we need to make sure that we,

they either get on board or get the hell out, okay?

That's kind of the attitude that people have sometimes.

Why aren't they getting it?

They need to get on board.

They need to make sure that they're on par

and I agree with you, okay?

But what I don't agree with

is that we need to boot them out if they're not on par.

This is the only time that someone

who's not doctrinally sound is booted out

as if they're trying to make proselytes

and converts in the church.

If they're disseminating false doctrine in the church,

if they're going around teaching others

to believe the stupid nonsense,

then at that point

we have to excommunicate them from the church.

But you know what?

If they want to be stupid on their own

and believe a stupid doctrine

and be in our church, have at it.

And people think, yeah, but you know,

what if we just let them remain?

What do you think's gonna happen?

What do you think's gonna happen?

And let me give you an example of this, okay?

Years ago, back in, this is, you know,

BOC, before Orange County, okay?

This is in Omani.

You know, I remember, you know,

one time this guy came to visit for the weekend,

him and his wife.

And you know, he seemed like a cool guy.

You know, he came from Australia, you know,

and he came to visit

and he was part of a church out there.

And I wasn't really asking him

a whole bunch of questions,

but he seemed really nice.

He said he was a fan of the church.

He listened to the preaching.

But then he talked about where the church he was from.

And I was like, oh, this is a bad church.

The church he was from.

This is Victor Tage, Victor Tage church, okay?

Which is a oneness church.

And we are a Trinitarian church, right?

Like we believe in the Trinity

and we don't teach Pentecostal oneness,

modalist, nonsense.

Well, this guy, you know,

I was like, Victor Tage,

I was like, doesn't he like,

that's like a oneness church, I told him.

He's like, yeah, but I feel like

people are misunderstanding him.

And you know, he was just kind of

making excuses for his pastor.

And I was kind of asking him like, you know,

what do you believe?

And he claimed that he was Trinitarian,

but he kind of had some oneness views, okay?

And I was like, all right, well, you know,

if that's what he wants to believe, whatever.

So then this guy from our church

who doesn't go to our church anymore,

he comes up to me,

and he's just like, we need to fix this.

Like right now, this guy, you know,

we need to work like, we just can't let this.

And I'm thinking in my mind like, we, who's we?

What do you mean, we?

You know, he's like, we just can't let this spread.

And this is what I told him, I said,

what do you think he's gonna do

in a span of three days?

He's here over the weekend.

And I'm thinking to myself,

are you that weak in your faith?

Are you that doctrinally unstable

that you feel like someone's literally

gonna switch you over to the onus Pentecostal doctrine

in a span of three days?

I'm like, are you really threatened by someone like that?

And look, obviously I'm not a onus Pentecostal.

It's a damnable heresy, it's stupid.

But you know, if someone comes to our church

over the weekend and believes that nonsense,

we'll rebuke it, but I'm not gonna throw him out

because he's not trying to win anybody else over to that.

And you know, I'm not threatened

by someone like that either.

The only time that would pose a problem

is if this guy was going around

teaching onus Pentecostalism.

Let me give you another example.

People are allowed to come to our church

if they believe in the pre-tribulation rapture.

And the pre-tribulation rapture's stupid.

It's a retarded doctrine.

Okay, it's super retarded, it's super stupid.

But if someone came to our church

and they're just like, hey,

I just really love the preaching here,

there's just one thing I disagree with you on,

that is the pre-tribulation rapture.

I would explain to them why he's wrong

and if you choose to stay here,

I'd be like, all right, you know,

you're just gonna have to deal with me,

calling that out, shaming it,

and teaching you the biblical manner

of End Times Bible Prophecy, but he can stay.

Now, obviously, if he's going around

trying to win people to Peter Ruckman,

dispensationalism, he would get rebuked.

And if he doesn't repent,

then guess what, now at that point,

I have to throw him out.

But you know what, I'm not threatened

by someone who believes in a stupid doctrine.

If they just remain in church,

they're not threatening anybody.

And look folks, I think we have

enough people in our church that are

doctrineally sound and we don't really

have to worry about that.

What's gonna happen?

But what if we just let,

what do you think they're gonna do?

They're just gonna manipulate you or something?

Are you that weak in your faith

that you feel like someone,

hey, if someone came in here and was a Zionist,

I would let them be in here.

I don't think they'd stay here for long though.

They'd probably be like,

this guy's too anti-Semitic for me or something.

But if they came and they were a full blown Zionist,

you know, they can remain here if they want to.

Because if they're saved, they can remain here.

Okay, if they're saved.

And if they are, you know,

if they're diplomatic in their attendance,

they're not trying to make proselytes.

They're not trying to win people over.

And look folks, let me just remind you

that we have a structure in our church

whereby no one can,

no one's just not gonna get away with anything.

There's just not gonna get away with stuff here.

We're gonna find out eventually

if people are trying to draw people away

draw disciples away after them.

And you might be sitting there thinking like,

I don't know pastor, I don't know if they're,

if they believe that, well, what's gonna happen?

What is gonna happen?

Are they gonna win you over?

Yeah, but what if they start like,

talking to people, let them talk to them.

I mean, I have full confidence in our church membership

that they're not gonna be persuaded towards heresy.

And look, let's just say a Catholic comes in here.

Okay, a full blown Catholic

and he just wants to send the services.

Okay, okay.

And you say, yeah, but what if they win someone over

and they take someone,

they take someone with them to the Catholic church?

Good riddance!

Good riddance!

They're like, ah, you know how people message me

all the time, they're like, yeah,

but you know how many Protestants

we've went over to the Catholic church?

This is what I told them, good riddance.

Good.

And you know what?

If you are in our church,

entertaining, becoming a Catholic,

go!

Go worship the Queen of Heaven.

Go worship idols.

If you wanna be an ortho, go kiss an icon.

Cause you're already apostate at that point.

I'm not threatened by that.

It doesn't bother me at all.

I'm not gonna get up here and say,

oh man, I'm just really scared

that people are gonna be won over to Catholicism,

to Orthodoxy,

because if you can be won over

to those damnable heresies,

you deserve to leave.

You deserve to be carried away.

You deserve to go apostate,

because you're a fake and you're a phony!

The point being here,

people can come believing stupid doctrines.

Hey, if people believe in the Flat Earth,

it's a retarded doctrine.

You know my position on that.

It's super stupid.

It's majorly retarded.

I will hate the Flat Earth till the day that I die.

It's a stupid doctrine

and pretty much everyone agrees with me on that.

But you know what?

If people come here believing that,

they can stay.

As long as they don't try to

win people over to Flat Earth.

As long as they're not on their teams,

trying to win people over and talk about it.

And as long as they keep their mouths shut,

they can stay, amen.

Oh, I don't think that's right.

Well, that's the policy I have here, though.

So it's a balanced view.

Babes in Christ are often carried about

with every wind of doctrine, my friends.

And you can't be threatened by babes in Christ.

Don't feel threatened by babes in Christ.

Don't feel that they're somehow

just gonna destroy our church.

They could only destroy our church

if our church is just filled with absolute idiots.

But you are a smart bunch.

Okay, I believe in you.

I know that you're smart.

I believe you know doctrine.

I don't think you're carried about

with every wind of doctrine.

Therefore, we don't have to worry about it.

Yeah, but I just feel like, you know,

I just feel we just gotta do something about it.

Yeah, we do have to do something about it.

This is what we do.

We have to teach them.

Gotta be patient with them.

2 Timothy 2, 23 says,

but foolish and unlearned questions avoid

knowing that they do gender stripes.

And the servant of the Lord must not strive,

but be gentle to all men

apt to teach patient

in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves

if God prevention will give them repentance

to the acknowledging of the truth.

So obviously we as the teachers,

we as, you know, the stronger Christians,

we need to make sure

that we're patient towards these people.

They were meek towards them one on one

and say, you know what?

This is a heresy.

This is a false doctrine.

And you're not gonna convince me otherwise.

And you're just gonna have to put up with the fact

that this is the position of the church.

And that's it.

And here's the thing folks,

you strong Christians understand this.

There's a major difference

between someone who believes heresy

and someone who's trying to teach heresy.

That's the major difference there.

Listen to me again.

Listen to that again.

There's a major difference

between those who believe in heresy

and those who are trying to spread heresy.

That's a major difference.

The one who's trying to spread heresy out of the church,

the one who believes heresy,

let's be patient with them.

Hopefully they come out of that.

Hopefully they mature in their faith.

They read the Bible.

You know, we shamed that doctrine enough

to the point of just like,

you know what, I need to shed this off.

I need to just repent of this

and just get it right

and not be persuaded by nonsense.

And keep in mind folks,

you know, the Bible tells us in Galatians chapter five

that heresy is a work of the flesh.

It's a work of the flesh.

That's literally what it says.

It means that Christians are susceptible

to heresy and false doctrine, okay?

You're like, wow, man.

And let me just tell you right now,

there's a guy who comes to our church.

He's not here today.

There's a guy who comes to our church.

Listen to me, there's an atheist.

Can you believe that?

Yeah, he's an absolute,

in fact, he's been coming over the last like two years.

Now he comes to support his wife

and you know, his wife really loves our church

and he's not coming necessarily out of conviction.

He's coming in support of his spouse.

And you know, he's not, you know,

contentious about it or nothing.

He sits in the services.

He just tries to do his best to support his wife.

And obviously, you know,

that's really dangerous

because you're getting all kinds of truth.

But you know what?

I'm not gonna throw out the atheists,

especially if he's just behaving himself.

I just don't know.

What do you think is gonna happen?

Are you scared?

Are you scared of the atheists?

Are you a little,

do you think something's gonna happen to you?

Nothing's gonna happen.

And look folks, if people come to our church

unbelieving and they become reprobates,

that's not my loss.

That's not my loss.

If people come to our church just rejecting the truth,

they're an absolute atheist.

You know, hopefully that doesn't happen

with this individual.

But you know, if it ever happens with anybody else,

I'm not the one responsible for that

because guess what?

They have to respond to the truth.

That's just what it is at the end of the day.

I don't consider that failure on my end.

I don't consider that a failure on the church's end

because we do our best to witness

to every single person who comes to our church

to make sure they get the gospel presentation,

to make sure that they understand fully

what the message of salvation is

and that's all we can do on our end.

And if they reject it, they reject it, they reject it,

then you know what?

I guess we've done our job.

The point is, we need to make sure

that we have the right attitude towards babes in Christ.

That if they're not catching on to a particular doctrine,

we don't need to ostracize them.

We don't need to just absolutely rebuke them

because they're just simple in the faith

and the simple believe in every word.

Don't be threatened by them.

Recognize this person as a babe in Christ.

I need to make sure that I'm patient with this individual.

I pray for this individual and I teach this individual

but don't be threatened by the babes in Christ.

And look folks, you know,

I know a lot of people don't agree with me

but it's okay because I'm the pastor

and this is just how we're gonna do it.

But you know, the Bible says preach the word

be instant in season, out of season,

reprove, amen, rebuke, amen.

And what, reprove, rebuke and exhort

with all long suffering and doctrine.

Yeah, we all like to reprove it, I do too.

The rebuking, the reproving, amen to that.

You know, but there's one part of that statement

that says you need to be long suffering towards people.

Why, because not everyone is on the same spiritual plane.

And I know some of you, as soon as you got saved,

you jumped right in, head first into the Christian life,

you started soul winning, learning all types of doctrine.

I'm with you, I was the same way

but not everyone is that way.

Some people just take longer to grow in their faith.

And I get it, you know, sometimes people are just arrogant,

they're prideful, they're not willing to concede

to what the Bible actually says.

I get that, but you know what,

it just shows that they're babes in Christ.

And a babe in Christ is just tossed to and fro.

We need to make sure that we teach them.

Go to Hebrew chapter five,

Hebrew chapter five if you would.

Exor with all long suffering and doctrine.

And look, folks, you know, if you were to just step outside

of our church and go to just a fundamental Baptist church,

let's say you're the time you're just like,

well, I get what you're saying, Pastor Mijia,

but I just don't agree with that.

You know, I think we just need to bring the acts down.

I think we need to chop these people's heads off.

I think these babes in Christ need to get on board.

Well, go to an old IFB church

and you'll see how good we have it here.

Fact.

Go to an old IFB church and you're like,

dang, a bunch of people are not even saved here.

Like, this is like all kinds of heresy going on here.

People are winning people over to heresies,

teaching repent of your sins.

People are just leading people astray.

People are winning people over

to false versions of the Bible.

There's no conviction at these churches.

That's different.

So before you stand in judgment

of how we do things here,

just make sure you take into account

that there's other churches

that don't have any standard whatsoever in this regard, okay?

I'm trying to hold a biblical standard

of how to deal with babes in Christ.

And you know what?

I know in my flesh,

when someone just believes something's stupid,

I wanna get rid of them.

Why not?

That's in my flesh.

I'm like, hey, if you're not on board,

then it's time to hit the road, Jack.

But you know what?

That's not the right attitude to have.

That's not the right attitude to have.

And you know what?

You can have a particular standard that you want,

a certain preference that you want,

but if it's not a standard or a preference

that's found in the Bible,

we cannot impose that upon other people, okay?

And look, let me just talk about this for a second.

I hate it when women say amen in the church,

because the Bible's against it, right?

But just personally, I hate it.

Like I don't like it at all, okay?

And I think anybody who's in our,

any male in our church hates it.

My kids hate it.

They're just like, you know.

And you know, I'm not for it at all.

The Bible's completely against it.

And we actually hold to a more extreme aspect

of what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14

and 1 Timothy chapter two,

where we not only believe

that women should not preach in church,

they shouldn't just speak out in church, period.

And when we say church,

we're talking about the preaching of God's word.

Ladies, you can talk after the service,

but keep it short, not just kidding.

I'm talking about during the preaching

of God's word, right?

And during the preaching of God's word,

you know, there are fundamental Baptist churches

that permit women to say amen.

They're cool with it.

And you don't believe me, you know,

just ask brother Tim in the South,

they do that all the time.

Women rule over them in the South.

You know, the South is Isaiah chapter three.

Women just rule over them, hey man!

They're like running up and down the aisles

and everything.

It's insanity.

And it's distasteful, it's unbiblical,

it's stupid, it's hyper spiritual.

And you know what, they need to shut up

because that's what the Bible says.

And look, I'm not saying women can't agree with preaching.

Of course, women here agree with preaching,

but the biblical standard is that they don't vocalize that.

You understand what I'm saying?

But here's the thing, folks,

you're gonna have women that come to our church

that are very new.

And you know what?

They like our preaching.

And unfortunately, every once in a while

they might actually hiccup and say amen

or something like that.

I'm not for it.

But you know what, there's still babes in Christ though.

And I need to be patient with them.

And you know what?

If they hiccup every once in a while

and say something, be gracious to them.

Don't think that they're trying to do it

just to usurp authority or something like that.

There's no woman in this church

that is trying to usurp the authority of the pastor.

I don't know, I think they're trying to usurp dominance

over the pastor here by saying stuff.

Look, I'm annoyed at it too, but you know what?

I understand that when people do it,

especially if they're brand new still, guess what?

They're still babes in Christ.

They come from a background, a church

where they unfortunately allowed that.

And so, you know, old habits die hard.

You have some habits that you brought

from your old church that guess what?

I don't like sometimes.

But you know what?

I'm just gonna go ahead and be patient with people,

be long suffering towards people

because of the fact that that's what everyone deserves, right?

And look, I would have a major problem

if women in the church were just like consistently

just absolutely trying to usurp authority.

They're doing it to be a distraction.

They're doing it to just call attention to themselves.

I would have a major problem

and that person would get called out.

Literally this happened in Omani when I was preaching

and you know, brother Paul, I always bring this up.

But hey, brother Paul won this lady to the Lord.

It was great.

It was a beautiful story, you know?

And she ended up coming to church

and I was preaching the house down

and she was in agreement with a lot of the stuff.

But then she's just like,

hey man, that's right, you know?

And it pissed me off and so I was just like,

you know what, let me just change my sermon.

And I just went to 1 Corinthians 14.

I went to 1 Timothy and I just started ripping face

on that and she was so upset that she got up.

She went up to my wife and said,

is he talking about me?

And she's like, that's what the Bible says.

And she's like, no way.

She left, she took the Bible that Paul gave her

and just threw it on the floor and left.

And then she came back and she got in

and she was like, actually, I need this.

Yeah, you do.

You know, that's a different story.

And look ladies, you know, if you're brand new,

if you're watching online, if you're brand new,

keep the amens to yourself.

I'm glad you agree with the preaching.

I'm glad that when I say fag or I preach against Jews

and I say something hard, you're fully in agreement with it

and you just, you just wanna say something?

Hey, I'm glad, but you know what?

Learn to have some self-control,

learn to have some discipline to not.

But you know what?

If someone does that from time to time,

I'm not gonna blow up on them

because I'm the one who has to have the discernment.

Are they doing this intentionally

or are they actually with the preaching

and they're just struggling

because they're just still new to the faith?

You're like, well, you know, I just don't think, you know,

women are just loud in general, you know?

I mean, you know, I like when Ms. Kelly laughs.

I'm, you know, my preaching, you know what I mean?

Everyone knows Ms. Kelly online, by the way.

Great to tell you that, but it's true.

Laugh, let the, yeah, there you go, yeah.

Everyone knows, everyone's just like,

that lady cracks me up, you know?

But you know what, Ms. Kelly, I don't think she's doing it.

You better not be doing it.

You know, to usurp authority or anything like that.

I think she genuinely enjoys the preaching.

She's all for the doctrine and, you know,

I don't think she's trying

to usurp my authority at all.

Now, if you do, if you feel that way,

then sorry, we differ on opinions though.

You're not the pastor I am

and I have to make that judgment call, okay?

You know?

And so you're like, well, I just don't think women

should be loud in the church or whatever.

Well, that's your preference,

but we're not gonna impose that upon people, okay?

And I know, and look folks, I understand.

You know, we have such a feminist culture out there,

especially in fundamental Baptist churches,

especially in some of these fake new IFB churches

where you have these feminist pastors' wives

who just like to get on and gently lead people

or whatever, gently lead their husbands

and just be absolute loud mouths.

I get that.

And that causes us to have a knee-jerk reaction to that,

to that type of disposition.

You know, we want women to be,

to have a meek and quiet spirit.

This is the Bible teaches, right?

And look folks, you know, that's,

I mean, that's the kind of woman I'm married.

It's the kind of woman I want, amen.

But you know what?

Just because someone has an exuberant personality,

you know, just because they're a little more flowery,

maybe a little more excited,

you know, it's not a bad thing, my friends.

It's not a bad thing at all.

And so the point that I'm trying to make here

is that it's good to have preferences,

but don't be imposing your preferences

if the Bible, on people,

especially if the Bible doesn't teach it.

And you know what?

Don't try to overcompensate either

by instituting some sort of standard

just because you're trying to overcompensate

for how the lack of spirituality

that you have or something.

Like, oh, I need to go really hard on this

just to kind of show everyone how spiritual I am.

No, we already know how spiritual you are, okay?

You know, if you have a preference

impose it upon your family,

upon your wife, upon your children,

but don't try to impose that upon anybody else.

Hebrews chapter five verse 12 says,

for the time you ought to be teachers,

you have need that one teach you again,

which be the first principles of the oracles of God.

And it becomes such as have need of milk

and not of strong meat.

For everyone that uses milk is unskillful

in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

This is basically showing us

that babes in Christ don't know how to use the Bible.

So again, going to my first point,

because they don't know how to use the Bible,

they're often carried about with every wind of doctrine.

And look, I'm not getting on the ladies,

I really am not in our church

because I'm really proud of our ladies.

I feel like the ladies in our church online

behave themselves really well.

Okay, you don't shame me or our church online.

And that can be said of everyone out there.

Cause this is some women who just say stupid stuff online.

Just an embarrassment to their husband,

embarrassment to their church, to their pastor,

just running their mouths.

You know, I'm not for that.

And I think we do have a culture in our church

is just like women just kind of stay offline.

You know, I know you sneak around,

you check out what's going on online or whatever.

But you know, most of the time you just kind of zip it.

And I think that's great.

Instead of letting the boss babes rule over

and try to get a warrant, oh, look at you.

Look at you, look at you trying to be so controversial.

Shut up.

Delete your Facebook, no one wants to hear from you.

I'm not into Christian women podcast

or women teaching the Bible on Instagram or TikTok.

It's despicable, it's disgusting.

Go make a sandwich, clean your kitchen,

fold your laundry, teach your kids,

please your husband, and delete your account.

Go to 1st Thessalonians, chapter five, if you would.

So we obviously have to make sure

that like towards babes in Christ,

we gotta teach them, you know,

you're gonna have people that just believe weird stuff.

And they need to be corrected,

sermons need to be preached, you need to admonish them,

but we're not just gonna ostracize them

just because they are simple in the faith

and they're weak in their faith, that's just it.

You know, we that are stronger

need to bear the infirmities of the weak

and make no mistake about it.

Doctrinal error is an infirmity.

It's like, oh, this person's just

hasn't really spiritually matured.

So we just gotta treat him like a spiritual child.

That's just how they are.

They wanna believe false doctrine.

Okay, hopefully they get on board, you know,

and become a doctrinary sound person,

but if not, they remain a babe in Christ

and that's just it.

That's their curse.

Number two is that babes are ignorant

of biblical standards, so be gracious.

I can already mention this.

Look at 1st Thessalonians five verse 12.

Now we exhort your brethren, warn them that are unruly.

Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak,

be patient toward all men.

So who are the ones that need warning?

Those who become unruly, those who are disrupting,

those who are causing problems in the church,

these are the people that need a warning.

If they are spreading heresy,

just becoming a nuisance in the church,

they need to be warned.

You need to behave yourself,

or I'm gonna throw you out of the church.

And look, we don't have unruly people in our church, okay?

So don't think I'm talking about anybody in our church.

We don't have unruly people.

I guess I don't think so.

We might have one tonight, I don't know.

You know, we don't really have unruly people,

but you know, at the same time,

the Bible says here

that we need to comfort the feeble-minded, okay?

What does someone who's feeble-minded mean?

It means they're like weak in their mind.

They don't necessarily have the mental fortitude

to understand spiritual truths,

or the endurance, or the persistence needed

to accumulate the virtue in the Christian life.

They're just kind of weak in their mind.

Guess what?

The Bible tells us we need to comfort the feeble-minded.

Now this doesn't mean that you go to your favorite bro

in church and be like, hey, I'm here to comfort you, bro.

I'm trying to practice what the Bible says here.

Pastor said to comfort the feeble-minded,

so here to give you a hug, you know?

It'll be a good joke.

But when it comes to comfort the feeble-minded,

it means what?

Just be patient towards people.

And you're like, man, am I feeble-minded?

I don't know, are you?

Are you feeble-minded?

You know?

Are you a spiritually mature person in your mind?

Do you easily give into imaginations?

Are you just overly emotional?

Do people just kind of just, you know,

are people able to just push you over the edge

right away?

You're probably a feeble-minded person.

That's just it.

You know, the Bible tells us that he that have no rulers

over his own spirit is like a city without walls.

So it's important for us to recognize

that a feeble-minded person is someone

who can't control how they think or how they act.

So that means that you don't just blow up on them.

It means you need to be patient with them.

Okay, this person's a very feeble-minded individual.

They can't control their emotions.

You're like, oh, man, I think he's talking about me.

Well, if that's you, that the shoe fits, then yeah.

And look, it's important for us as Christians

to learn how to be strong in our mind

and mature in our conduct.

Not just here in church, but in public.

Don't be a bad testimony in public.

Learn how to behave yourselves in public, my friends.

Learn how to, you know, hold your temper

and be a gracious person, not just throwing fits

in public, you know, getting angry, yelling at you.

You better not be like road raging out there.

Because all that shows that you're just feeble-minded.

You're just a babe in Christ.

Because you know what babies do?

They just whine, they murmur, they complain.

Ah!

They just don't mind just wearing their emotions

on their sleeves.

And look, I'm not saying that you can't be emotional

every once in a while,

but it shouldn't be something

that's just your characterized by, though.

Or it's just like, oh, he's just throwing a fit

like he typically does.

Oh, this is just how he just gets mad all the time.

You know, be the person who's able to just withstand

and not be affected by the words of people.

Okay?

And look, people are gonna offend you.

People are going to offend you, for sure.

People are gonna say disrespectful things

towards you, for sure.

It's happened to me this week like six times.

People in church, people out of church,

just people just being super disrespectful,

just dishing out insults for no good reason.

And it's just like, these people

are just feeble-minded or something.

They just don't know how to behave themselves in public.

You know, you know who does that?

My children do that.

My children will fight in public.

They'll argue with each other.

Ah!

And they don't mind, who's looking at them either?

You know, they'll throw a fit

and then they gotta get whoop-ins or whatever,

but they don't mind just kinda wearing

their emotions on their sleeves.

You know what?

Don't be that way.

Be a person who learns how to control their tongue.

Don't be an unruly individual.

But you know what?

To those of us who are strong in the Lord,

we need to view that and say,

okay, this person is just a babe in Christ.

You're like, oh yeah, that's a good one.

I'm gonna tell him that.

Hey, you're acting like a babe in Christ.

No, no, no.

This means that when you recognize that in someone,

you respond as a mature Christian

and you concede, you agree with your adversary quickly,

you diffuse the situation,

you don't render evil for evil,

you don't try to just destroy them,

you don't get into this big debacle in public

or something like that,

because it just shows that you're both

are babes in Christ.

Point that I'm making here

is that we need to be patient toward all men, okay?

And let me say this, you know,

obviously, you know,

sometimes there's Christians in church

that they need to be corrected for sure.

They need harsh improvement,

they need to be corrected over a particular thing,

but I'll be honest with you,

I pick and choose my battles for sure.

I do pick and choose my battles.

You know, and I don't just rebuke someone

on the drop of a hat,

because of the fact that I feel like

sometimes people wanna do that.

I feel like people always look for an opportunity

to rebuke someone else

just because they wanna seem like a superior to someone,

that they're just more spiritual in that area.

But let me just remind you what the Bible says,

that a brother offended is harder to be won

than a strong city,

and his contentions are like the bars of a castle.

Let me just remind you that rebuking someone

and reproving someone

is done with the intent to make them better,

not bitter.

Remember that.

So I know you wanna put something under your belt

to just show how spiritual you are,

but you know what?

The reason why you should be rebuking a brother in Christ

is because you want them to correct their ways

and still esteem you as a person of understanding.

And you know what?

Let me just tell you this.

If you rebuke a brother in Christ

and you do it harshly,

and they know that you're just being

an absolute jerk about it,

they may not ever take advice from you ever again.

Yeah, but at least they know I was telling the truth.

True, but you'll never be able to do that ever again.

Cause you know what?

Sometimes when people are offended at that,

they're saying, you know what?

This person has a different motive.

This person is rebuking me for a different reason.

I don't respect that.

I don't wanna hear from it again.

That's just how it is.

I'm not saying that's right.

I'm just saying that's what happens sometimes.

Now obviously as the pastor,

sometimes I do have the liberty to just rebuke people

and people kinda give me that liberty

to be able to do so to them,

but even then I do try to pick and choose my battles

and not just rebuke every Tom, Dick and Harry

who's doing something dumb

cause sometimes it's just not worth it.

And sometimes I have to discern

am I rebuking someone over a legitimate offense

or is this just a preference that I have?

And so go to 1 Corinthians chapter three.

1 Corinthians chapter three.

This is the attitude you should have

towards babes in Christ.

Babes in Christ don't necessarily have that same standard.

You need to be gracious with them.

You need to be patient with them.

And if you don't, then you're basically shown

that you're also a babe in Christ, okay?

Let me also say this is that babes in Christ are carnal.

So again, be patient with them.

What does it mean that they're carnal?

It means that they just act fleshly sometimes.

They're just carnal people sometimes.

They're just not spiritual sometimes.

They're just kind of annoying sometimes

cause they're fleshly.

You guys know what I'm talking about?

Sure you do.

Ladies not.

1 Corinthians 3, one says,

and I brethren could not speak unto you as into spiritual,

but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ,

I have fed you with milk and not with meat

for hitherto you were not able to bear it.

Neither yet now are you able for ye are yet carnal.

Why?

For whereas there is among you envying

and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal

and walk as men?

The Bible says.

So what's an indication that a person is carnal

when they're just envying, they're filled with strife,

they're dividing one from another?

That's called a carnal person.

It means they're not spiritual.

You say, what if I'm dealing with a carnal person?

You just gotta kind of be patient with it

cause that's just how babes in Christ are sometimes.

You know, and you don't fight fire

with fire in that regard.

And let me just remind you, you know,

if you have a brother in Christ in church

that's just strongly rebuking you

and you feel like, oh, this person

is just kind of going overboard here

and they're just trying to disrespect me,

the answer is not reciprocate the same energy

that they're given to you.

The answer is what?

Just give a soft answer that turns away wrath.

What you gotta do?

If you wanna shut down that person who's rebuking you

with the wrong motive, just be gracious.

Like, oh, they're just getting on you for something.

You wanna just be like, okay, I'm sorry.

I didn't know I was doing that.

I apologize for that.

I'll be sure to change it next time.

And they'll change your tone real quick.

They will.

But if you fight back with fire

and just like, you just wanna get the last word in,

then obviously you're not gonna resolve anything.

Okay?

And look, folks, you know, again,

you know, people can revert,

even if you're spiritual maturity,

you can revert to this again.

It's possible.

And let me just tell you guys that you don't have to prove

to me, you don't have to prove to anybody in your church

how spiritually mature or zealous you are in the Lord.

You don't have to.

You don't have to prove to me that you're a chud

or something like that.

You don't gotta prove that to anybody.

You don't gotta like demonstrate and overcompensate

how spiritual you are

by how just how much you can rebuke someone.

It doesn't really work on people

who are actually mature in the faith.

They're just like, they're just kind of coping.

They're just kind of like overcompensating.

They're just overdoing it.

You're like, well, I feel like I have to prove myself.

Why?

Why do you feel like you have to prove it?

Let every man prove his own work.

Why do you have to feel like you just,

like everyone has to know how spiritual you are,

how well, you know, how zealous you are

for the things of God,

your standard and your preferences

and how much you hate this, that and the other.

You know, if you're here long enough,

we're gonna know.

Here's the great thing about being in the church

for long periods of time,

we end up knowing who you really are.

Like who you really are is who we're really gonna see.

You understand?

But babes in Christ are typically carnal.

And you know what?

They just need time to mature in that area.

You're like, well, how can they mature

by listening to what I just said right now?

And if you're like, dang, I did this.

I'm a babe in Christ.

Yeah, I'm talking to you.

So just grow up.

Stop being so carnal,

getting involved and strives and being one another,

trying to put people down.

It's not worth it.

Folks, we need to make sure that we grow in grace

and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

that we're long suffering towards the brethren

and we correct in a proper way.

And look, you know,

there's times when I correct my children

and you know what?

I do spank them and I do rebuke them.

But let me tell you why.

Cause they're children.

Cause that's what you do towards children.

But let me say this.

If you're a grown man talking to another grown man,

you better talk to them like a grown man would.

Don't talk to them like they're your son.

If you are a grown man,

you're a family man, you're a grown man,

and you're talking to another grown man in a church,

you better not disrespect people like that.

And nobody using this, hey bud,

listen to your buddy.

Or what's the other one that they use?

Pal.

Pal?

I don't know about that one.

Pal, what the heck?

They hate you, bro.

Listen to your pal.

Bucko?

What's the one that they use that just sounds,

it's probably buddy, right?

It's the one that just sounds super degrading,

disrespectful.

You know, don't talk to people like that.

You know, don't try to just like put people down.

You know, what's the motive you're coming at them with?

And look, I'm all forward-buke-ing, for sure.

But you know what I'm forward-buke-ing

because of what it actually produces

when it's done in the right way, okay?

And so, you know, if you have an issue

with someone in our church,

you feel like they're not behaving in a proper manner,

be the mature one to actually approach them

in the right way.

Not like a babe in Christ,

just wanting to envy and strive and have the last word.

And I know I've been talking about like,

you know, resolving conflicts,

but this is something that our church does need, though.

Okay, because sometimes there's people in our church

that just feel like they can just rebuke people all day long

and be super disrespectful towards people.

It's not right to do.

It's not right to do.

You know, the Bible tells us here,

in James chapter three, you don't have to turn there.

It says in verse 14,

but if you have bitter envying and striping your hearts,

glory not, and lie not against the truth.

This wisdom descended not from above,

but it's earthly, sensual, devilish,

for where envying and strife is,

there is confusion in every evil work the Bible says.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure.

Listen to this, then peaceable.

Listen to this, gentle.

Listen to this, easy to be entreated.

Listen to this, full of mercy and good fruits.

Without partiality, without hypocrisy, the Bible says.

So if you're really exercising wisdom,

you're gonna have these qualities, right?

You're really gonna have these qualities.

Now look, folks, I get it, going back to the first point

of just new people coming to church and acting weird,

we had some guys come a couple of weeks ago

and they're a little weird, you know?

They're really weird.

Just weird, you guys know what I'm talking about?

Girls are kind of weird, you know?

But let me say this, some of you were kind of weird

when you first came, to be honest with me.

Some of you still got some residual weirdness in you too.

Now it wasn't to that degree,

that degree was pretty bad, okay?

And you know, they were like taking photos or whatever,

taking pictures and people were thinking

they were taking pictures of them.

And you know, obviously, let me just say this,

if someone's been listening to my preaching

or knew I'd be preaching for a long period of time

and then they come here

not believing in the right gospel,

you know, having different positions,

you know, obviously we need to watch out

for people like that.

Because they've been listening for a long time.

They've been listening to Pastor Anderson

since like 2013 and they still believe

you have to repent of your sins

if you say, yeah, a little sus there,

you know what I mean?

Like I don't know about that one.

And you know, obviously when someone like that

comes to our church, my tolerance, my patience

is not as much as it would be

towards someone who's not affiliated with no idea.

Because they're held to a higher standard.

So when that person came

and they're kind of taking photos,

you know, I just kind of came up to him and I said,

hey, you're taking photos?

And he's like, well, is that like not permitted?

I'm like, not for you.

I have a new roof for you.

You can't take pictures.

I said, if you take pictures, I'm throwing you out.

All right?

All right, that's it.

Because you know, he's taking pictures of people,

making people feel uncomfortable.

You know, if Paul was taking pictures of people, it'd be weird.

But, he'd be like, well, you know, Paul,

you know, I don't know what he's doing,

but you know, he's reserved enough trust

in his bank account of trust

that we wouldn't necessarily

take anything weird of him, right?

But this is like a brand new person.

And he's taking photos.

He has some comic book Bible with him.

He believes in weird doctrines.

He's been listening to this since 2013

and he's not on par.

Okay, obviously that's sus.

Consumes are very much as given

of him should be much required.

We expect more of a person

who's been listening to a preacher for that long,

knew I'd be preaching for that long,

to kind of be on board with certain things.

And obviously they ended up not coming back.

The point that I'm making here

is that we obviously need to be patient

with people who deserve the patience.

You know people who deserve patience?

Calvary Chapel people.

So chill out on the Calvary Chapel people who are coming.

I'm trying to reach some people here, folks.

And you know what, they're not always gonna come

dressed in a shirt and tie, parted hair,

hating homos, and the reprobate doctrine.

It's not gonna be that way.

They come from Calvary Chapel.

I reeled them in with the anti-Semitic stuff.

Okay?

It's just like.

And I brought them in

and you guys are just like,

I don't know, they got long hair.

I know they got long hair.

They were going to Calvary Chapel.

Surfer Church.

Hippie Kami Church.

They were going to Jack Hipp's Church

or whatever other Calvary Chapel there is.

Greg Lowery, I know he's not Calvary.

That's all the same thing to me.

But you know what, they start coming here.

You know, be patient with those people.

We're trying to make them Baptist.

But they're not gonna be Baptist in a week though.

Okay?

They're not gonna be Baptist in a week.

You know, oh man, they got a wrong version of the Bible.

Then why don't you go talk to them about the Bible then?

Why don't you actually go show them

why that's not the Bible they should be using then?

You know, I don't know though.

Cause they, I just think,

what are, why are you so insecure

with having people from different denominations

be attracted to a new IFP church?

Isn't this what we want?

Folks, when I was in the old IFP,

the old IFP was afraid of losing their young people

to the liberal churches.

And now new IFP is actually winning liberal people

to our type of churches.

Don't let it, you know, don't become a Pharisee.

It's just like, yeah, but I need to be fundamental Baptist.

But it's God.

Yeah, I agree, but they're super liberal though.

So we just give them some time, you know?

Hey, at least I want them over

to the whole thing on the Jews.

Got my foot in the door, amen.

So let's get them saved.

You have to understand something too, folks.

Okay.

People who come from Calvary Chapel and liberal churches,

you think they go to a church

where they preach for an hour and 15?

You think they've ever heard a sermon

where that much scripture is even being used?

Folks, this is a lot for them.

They went from tofu to like ribeye.

And so like they're eating the ribeye

and their stomach can't handle it.

They're throwing up a little bit.

Oh, my stomach hurt.

You know, obviously this is a lot for them.

You know, they're eating, you know, beyond meat,

fake meat, and then we come and give them some ribs.

We give them some ribeye

and then it's just like they're just nibbling it

because they've never had it before.

They need to start soul winning.

I know, chill out.

Eventually we'll get them there.

Can you just be amazed at the fact

that anybody from Calvary Chapel

would ever come to a church like this?

Have you thought about that?

Okay.

They went from a church with all bells and whistles,

purple lights and smoke and, you know,

queer song leaders to this.

They got a little transitioning to do.

Okay.

Like, oh man, I just think that we just need to make sure

that they're, I know we need to make sure,

but you know a lot of this stuff is a lifelong process though.

We gotta be patient with them.

And you know what?

You can talk a lot of trash

because you were saved in a fundamental Baptist church.

You were saved in a new IAP church.

So sometimes you may have a standard

that it's unrealistic to have for other people.

Gotta be patient with people, my friends.

Now look, I was saved in a fundamental Baptist church.

I've never stepped foot in the liberal church.

You know, I'd probably be like a vampire if I went in there.

I'd just disintegrate as soon as I walked in

or something.

You know, I don't know what it's like.

I just know it from stories, from Cody and stuff and,

you know, other people who've gone to liberal churches

and stuff, you know?

I've only heard the horror stories.

I got saved in a King James only,

fundamental soul winning,

hard preaching, biscuit eating church.

So this is all I've ever known.

But you know what?

I've also learned that we want them

to come to this side too.

And you know what?

We might have someone come with long hair, okay?

Not might.

We did have people come with long hair.

Like, when are you gonna tell them about it?

I don't know when I feel like preaching on that subject.

Eventually they'll hear it.

Now those of you, you ain't got hair.

You're like, well, this, I'm gonna tune out

on this particular subject.

But you know what?

There's people who come with long hair

and they don't know that it's a sin to have long hair.

I'm talking about the men.

And you know what?

They came, I preached on it,

and guess what?

They haven't been back since.

But you know, there's others who heard the sermon

and they left and were like,

dang, this guy's gone.

But then he came back the next week with cut hair.

You know?

Looking fresh, looking like a fundamental Baptist

to a certain degree.

And so, you know,

don't think that the spiritual makeup of the church

is gonna change just because you have people

coming in like that.

They can look a little different than you.

They act a little different.

You know, I know you get annoyed at the kind of words

that they use.

The spiritual talk.

I get annoyed at it too

because it's liberal talk

and I don't really enjoy that stuff.

But guess what folks?

That's all they've ever known though.

That's all they've ever known.

You can't expect them to have the same standard as you

because you've been in this church hearing the right words,

the right Christianese.

We can't expect for them to just get it overnight.

It doesn't work that way.

Hey, women are gonna come to this church wearing pants.

I'm not for it.

My wife don't own pants.

My girls don't own pants.

I preach against pants on women.

I tell people what the Bible says about it.

But you know what, if we're reaching people

you're gonna have women wearing pants

because you know what?

Some women that's all they've ever worn.

And some of you are like,

well my wife still wear pants.

Or I still wear pants when I'm not here or something.

I guarantee you there's women are,

I guarantee you there's women in our church right now

who wear skirts to come to church

and they wear pants when they go home.

Promise you that.

Yup.

I guarantee you they wear skirts when they come here.

They wear their fluffy little dresses

but when they go to the gym

they put on their stupid pants.

I guarantee you that people do that.

But yeah, you wanna get on people

because they come to church in pants.

Yeah, but they just do it in public.

You do it behind the scenes.

That's the only difference, you hypocrite.

And you're like, well, it's really immodest, you know.

Yeah, but considering how tight you wear that skirt

you might as well just wear some pants.

Yeah, considering how tight that thing looks on you

it almost seems as though you should already wear pants.

Yeah, you regret coming Sunday night.

You regret it.

I'm trying to tell you right now, folks.

You better make sure you take the beam out of your eye

before you try to take the moat out of someone else's eye.

You better be up to par too

before you start getting on others

because you know what?

Let's go ahead and put the magnifying glass on you

and see all the flaws that you have

and all the biblical things that you disobey.

I'm pretty sure we can find a lot of beams there

little redwoods there to get on you about.

And again, I preach this stuff.

Look, folks, I remember we're on a missions trip.

I might not even go through these points real quick.

We're on a missions trip.

Let me just get this off my chest right now.

We're on a missions trip to Mexico.

It was a great trip.

Awesome trip.

Got a bunch of people saved.

A lot of Mexicans came to the Lord.

Okay?

El Señor Jesus was preached amongst the Mexicans.

And we had two women come to this missions trip.

One was fairly new.

One wasn't, okay?

And the one who came came in jeans.

She came in jeans, you know, because she's new.

And I wasn't like horrified.

I was like, seriously?

Jeans?

I was just like, well, she's new.

She doesn't know any better.

I'm not gonna.

You said that you were a bugger?

No.

She's going on a missions trip.

You were a skirts and you didn't go on a missions trip.

She's actually going, you know, I'm not for her.

I'm not for her when she's,

but I'm for her going on the missions trip.

And you know what?

She was partnered up with me.

It was great.

We got a bunch of people saved.

She loves the Lord.

We're having dinner.

The whole entire team's having dinner.

And then the other woman who doesn't go to our church anymore.

You know, who is known for, yeah, she wore skirts,

but she was extremely immodest, just put it that way.

You might as well just paint latex, right?

Just left nothing to the imagination,

just put it that way.

Aren't you glad you came tonight?

At the dinner table, because she's sitting next to her,

at the dinner table, she was like,

you're really bold for wearing pants

and to come on a missions trip like that.

And keep in mind, this lady who was wearing the pants,

she didn't know anything about it.

She didn't know anything, but she was like embarrassed.

Okay?

And you know, we're having a good time,

just down in coax and stuff,

and you know, Mexican coax, eating taco.

It was just a good day.

And then this lady looks across,

she's like, it's a sin to wear pants.

And you know, her face was just like,

she was just embarrassed.

And then I look at the lady, I'm just like,

she's your boyfriend, you have to bring that up right now.

She just told me that like,

she's shocked that I'd be bold enough to wear pants.

Am I doing wrong for wearing pants?

Just embarrassing in front of everyone, of course.

Just shaming her in front of everyone.

And I was like, well, obviously,

I wouldn't have brought it up that way, but yeah, it is.

And this is what the Bible says about it,

but you know, it's not a standard that you like,

we wouldn't allow you to let you come to church

if you wore pants or something like that.

But yeah, this is what the Bible says about that.

And it like, you could see the hurt in her eyes,

because she's just a really sincere person.

And the first thought that I had was like,

you know, you're criticizing this woman for wearing pants.

But quite frankly, she's actually more modest

in her pants than you are in your skirt.

Yeah.

Because when it comes to dress, you know,

wearing a dress, obviously we wear clothing

to distinguish genders.

We also do it to cover the nakedness,

but we also do it to be modest.

And this is not me giving the green light

for any woman to do this, by the way.

But let me just say this,

oh, there's women out there who wear pants,

like the suit pants or whatever,

I don't know what you call it, the business attire.

That's more modest than what some women wear

when they're wearing skirts.

You know what I'm saying?

Because it's not just gender distinction

that we're trying to accomplish here.

It's not just nakedness we're trying to cover.

You know what also it is?

Modesty.

And so, you know, we left and she was visibly hurt.

She was visibly offended.

And I'm like, that was a crappy way

to end this missions trip.

Because this is our first missions trip.

We got a bunch of people saved.

And again, I hate pants on women.

But you know what?

I'm not just gonna shame her in front of everyone

in that regard.

And in fact, I've never done that to anyone in person.

You know, the only person I would probably shame

was my wife if she ever did something like that

because she's my wife.

But I would never in person just be like,

if Kelly wore pants I'd be like, what the heck?

I don't know, maybe I would, I don't know.

I'd never say never, amen.

On the ride home though, you know, I was explaining to her

and everything and she was quiet.

She was just visibly hurt or whatever.

And you know, we're just talking in the car

about just like spiritual growth.

And she's like, yeah, I have a lot of growing to do too.

I guess I gotta throw out like a lot of my pants right now

cause I need to get some escrusel of the Bible says.

And it really kind of hurt me.

I'll just be honest with you.

Like it bothered me because I felt like

this is such a receptive person.

If we would approach this person differently,

it wouldn't have gotten so offended, you know?

And at the end of the day, unfortunately,

she was actually more modest than the other person was.

The other person was not,

I can't think of a time when that person dressed modestly.

And I think everyone who knows what I'm talking about

can tell, hey man!

You know for a fact.

But did they wear skirts?

I mean, yeah.

That's the only thing they had going for them.

Oh, that's so mean.

Well, why didn't you talk to her?

Well, yeah, I preached a ton of sermons for that woman.

I preached a ton of sermons.

Women went to go talk to her

because she was being in offense to others in our church

because we have kids in our church

and her form was just,

you could just see her form just complete, 3D.

It was just offensive.

He said, what do you remember man in church?

The one who wore pants.

What's the point here?

You know, we have to have a specific attitude

towards babes in Christ

and recognize that people aren't just gonna be

up to par right off the bat, okay?

Gotta give people a chance.

And you have to have the discernment to know

like, is this person being intentionally rebellious?

Intentionally disobedient?

Are they trying to usurp authority?

Or are they just eating or are they just babes in Christ?

If they're just babes in Christ,

we need to be patient with them.

Just recognize, well, they just need time to grow.

You know, they need more preaching.

And yeah, and you know what?

Maybe they just need me to tell them something

in a gracious manner, right?

You know, we have a lady in our church.

I'm done with the sermon.

Yeah, you guys don't need that.

You know, this lady, you know,

we have a lady who comes to church.

She's brand new.

She says amen all the time, not all the time.

But you know, when she first came,

she would say it a lot, like a lot.

And then, you know, I preached on it.

And then, you know, she came to me

and then I told her, I said, hey, you know,

have you been growing in your faith?

You know, she's like, yeah, I haven't grown.

I was like, you ready to learn some more right now?

You ready to learn some more stuff?

And then I taught her, she's like, man,

I didn't know that was,

it's just something I used to do.

I didn't know it was bad.

You know, I'm like, yeah, you know,

just something you gotta grow in, you know.

But then, you know, she like reduced

the amount of time she said amen, which is good.

But it was still slipped out from time to time, you know.

It was like a really good point.

She's just like, amen.

So then, you know, there was a guy in our church

who was sitting right in front of her

when she did it, and then he just stops the entire sermon,

turns around, opens up, it just starts preaching to her.

First Corinthians 14, and how women need to like

be silent in the church and all this stuff

and just rebuking her.

But I'll be honest with you,

she's actually more faithful to church

you know, than that person.

That's the problem.

Thank you for removing the motes,

but go ahead and remove the beam.

And you know what, let me just say this.

If you're the type to criticize people for Christian virtues,

but you can't get your rear end to church,

you shouldn't be talking, bro.

If you're the type to just get on Christian virtue

because they're not upholding some sort of Christian virtue

that you esteem, but you're not in this thing

three days a week, zip it.

Keep the mouth shut

because you're living in a spiritual glass house.

You understand what I'm saying?

And you know what, the lady still came, she still comes,

and every once in a while, it slips.

It slips.

And you know what, when it slips, you know what my kids do?

They do.

You know, and I'm for it, I'm for it, you know?

But I'm also for just her growing.

Cause she has learned a lot, and she's grown a lot.

And she has more growing to do like you do.

So you know, until she decides to just get up

and wave a hanky, and it just go all crazy,

you know, I'm just gonna let her keep growing.

What's the point here?

Have the right attitude towards babes and Christ.

You haven't arrived either.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you so much for your word.

Thank you for those who have influenced our lives, Lord.

And I pray that you would help us as your people

to be patient with babes and Christ, Lord.

I'm thankful for those who are newly saved in our church.

And those who have chosen to continue in the faith

and in church services and Bible reading,

they've integrated so many into their lives, Lord.

They're just children in the faith,

and we shouldn't despise them.

We should be thankful for them and admonish them,

exhort them to continue in the faith

and in the grace of God.

Help us, Lord, to be patient

and recognizing that there's people who are patient with us

and continue to be patient with us, Lord.

May you bless us as we go on our way.

Thank you so much for nine wonderful years.

May you give us a wonderful, successful, prosperous

and Christ honoring 10th year.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.