Transformed | Grace in the Gray Areas

Welcome to Reach KC everybody, it's so great to have you with us, I just want you all to stand up and join in. There was no way until you made me one, grace upon grace, hallelujah, even though I don't deserve it, you did it, even though I'm caught in the middle, you did it. Who am I that you keep me on your mind, God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side, God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you. In the morning, there's only you, I give you glory because of you, even though I don't deserve it, you did it, even though I'm caught in the middle, you did it. Who am I that you keep me on your mind, God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you. Oh my love, you've been right here by my side, God, I'm just grateful for you, God, I'm just grateful for you, yeah. For you've been here all my life, every step. God, I've lifted both of my hands, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I've lifted both of my hands, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, God, I'm just grateful for you. you gave me chance after chance, after chance, and I, I'm giving all that I am, you gave me Woo! Woo! Woo!

Dearest Vinny, dearest little ones Woo! Shores that spread beautiful stars Woo! Love what I want, want what I see Woo! Change for my world, yeah I want it forever For you are too heavenly Just give me your best, Lord And stop messing up for me You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all Long ago we called for peace Woo! Woo! More than we ask, they have no fear Woo! Woo! Spirit of God, move on, I pray Woo! Living in her, not in your name I'm calling surrender Oh, do what you will in me Just give me your best, Lord

And stop messing up for me I'm calling surrender Oh, do what you will in me Just give me your best, Lord And stop messing up for me You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all You can have it all You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all, God You can have it all You can have it all You can have it all Pour out your spirit on our praise Call the revival, fill this place Serve our faith for greater things Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray For all that's fallen, stop and proclaim Jesus Christ, the highest name Tell us your power is like nothing Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray Pour out your spirit on our praise

Call the revival, fill this place Serve our faith for greater things Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray For all that's fallen, stop and proclaim Jesus Christ, the highest name Tell us your power is like nothing Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray, Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray. You can have it all, God, You can have it all. You can have it all, God, You can have it all. Lord, Your Spirit on our praise Come to revive or fill this place Serve our faith for greater things For we ask, we seek, we pray For the strength of men proclaimed Jesus Christ, our highest gain Send us Your power like nothing Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray Lord, Your Spirit on our praise Come to revive or fill this place Serve our faith for greater things For we ask, we seek, we pray For the strength of men proclaimed Jesus Christ, our highest gain Send us Your power like nothing Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray Lord, we ask, we seek, we pray All my words flow short I got nothing new How could I express All my gratitude I could sing these songs As I often do But every song must end And you never do So I throw up my hands And praise you again and again All that I have is the hallelujah

Hallelujah And I know it's not much I've nothing else before a key Except for a heart singing Hallelujah Hallelujah I've got one response I've got just one move With my arms stretched wide I will worship you So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know not much, not nothing else fit for a king. Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. So come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me without your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of the slums. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me without your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of the slums. Get up and praise the Lord. Come on my soul, oh don't you get shy on me without your song. Cause you've got a lion inside of the slums. Get up and praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord. So I throw up my hands and praise you again and again. Cause all that I have is a hallelujah, hallelujah. And I know not much, not nothing else fit for a king. Except for a heart singing hallelujah, hallelujah. When we say hallelujah because hallelujah is the greatest form of praise.

There is no higher form of praise than hallelujah. And as we worship I am reminded of a story in the gospel. Where Jesus is traveling between Samaria and Galilee and he sees ten men with leprosy. And he heals these ten men. He tells them to go to the priest to see what they, their condition for after they were healed. And the portion of this story is that there was only one man that returns to give God glory. Out of the nine men and Jesus says to the one that returns give God glory. Were the other nine not healed? And I think so often we come and we lay an altar down of everything that we want God to do in our life. But we forget about the healing that he has already given us. We forget about what we prayed last week when that text came through. We forget about that we got to move and use our feet to get out of bed this morning. We forget about these things and Jesus is asking right now would you come back and praise me. Would you come back and honor me and give God glory for the healing that he has already done. Lord God we love you. God we thank you. God we give you glory. We give you honor. We give you praise. Can we give him some praise in the house tonight? Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Have a seat. Holler at your neighbor and say, welcome home. Hey, how many of us are excited to be at church this morning? I am. Tap your neighbor and say, welcome home. We say welcome home because why? You are really welcome home. We believe that God is looking for unlikely people from overlooked places to do extraordinary things. If you are a first-time guest, we say welcome home.

Because you are in a place where you belong. It is not by happenstance of why you are here. Know that you have been prayed for diligently, not only by people in the church that are up here, but people that are right next to you, the members of the church, the body connected. And if you are an unbeliever that is in the room, we pray that at some point in time that this would not just be an experience for you. It would not be a show. We pray that at some point in time through the worship, through the proclamation of the word, that something would happen in your spirit. That there would be a shift in your spirit. And you would respond to that spirit. You would accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. Because I have great news for you. That today is a very special day. Because today is what? Today is the day of salvation. Man, I said today is the day of salvation. And I'm excited about that. And if you are a returning guest, we say welcome home. You are loved and you are celebrated and you are cared for. I start to think about this. Our pastor, he posted a stat. I couldn't help but look at. He posted a stat that brings God so much glory because it is analytics of what the Pando app has done over the last two years. And there was a stat for the number of views, which was important. And there was a stat for the number of subscribers, which is cool. But there was a very special stat in that analytics, man. And that stat was that there was over 5,000 people to accept Christ through Reed's church. Now, correct me if I'm wrong. I believe that on the app, you are only allowed to click the accept Christ button once. Because once you click it, bam, you are a Christian. You have accepted the Lord. So what that means is that over 5,000 people were on a tablet.

And that same spirit of the Lord that I was just talking about to the unbeliever that's in the room was tugging on them. And they responded to it at the end by saying, I choose to follow you, God. I declare you as Lord over my life. And that happened over 5,000 times because the work of God is so powerful. And the work of God is so powerful, it's so powerful. And the work of God is so powerful, it's so powerful. And the work of God is so powerful, it's so powerful. There are people that are willing to give their life to a cause. That is what is called kingdom builders. That is literally building the kingdom. Because although you may not be there in presence, but you use what God has given you. And you bless the ministry to go ahead and provide that to something, amen. We're going to take up an offering. I can get some ushers up. There's plenty of ways to give. I pray that it weighs on your heart to use the kingdom builders to give above and beyond what is the tithe. To further the gospel. To further the gospel. So, Lord Jesus, we thank you. We thank you for who you are, God. We thank you for the mighty work that you have done in our life, God. We thank you for the healing that you have given us, Lord. Because if we are here today and we have breath in our lungs, then we are thankful for what you are doing, God. The condition of your faithfulness is not going to wait. her how we love you lord so jesus we thank you god we ask that you continue to bless the gift and bless the giver in jesus mighty name amen go and try to help people through hugs and whatever you can do and come home and i'm like i got it it's my gratitude level is just off the charts god uses brokenness it's only the only other way that you can go to the lord is through brokenness and what i experienced over there got broken through that brokenness he was able to open my eyes and see that he can now i

can use you just urge people to try to humble themselves and smile because africa smiles that's all you see is smiles and they don't have anything there it's a broken world so just love people and help people the most you can he definitely taught me humility a lot of forgiveness and being with 60 other people who came to worship and work is unbelievable the families they're working together to just stay healthy and trying their best with what they can do and trying to feed their families and so hopefully coming back home i you know don't take things for granted going to the refugee camp so many people that didn't have nothing to be happy about just getting up leaving their homes going across the congo there without any of their belongings we're just able to bring a peace to them and a joy and just bring them hope just showed me important how hope is in somebody's life people that live here need to be grateful for the things that we have especially going and seeing what little they have and how they still have faith and trust well i would say the most impactful thing would be having my heart broken for broken people and how i can use that here at home i used to be a people pleaser and i used to feel like i needed to fix all the problems but really that's god's work was we had a situation little girl needed prayer and in that moment i learned that sometimes god just wants you to show up to pray for them just trust that he's going to do the work and that's all that he needs you to do he doesn't need us to fix our problems he just needs us to show up and pray so good morning reach how are y'all doing this morning good well we wanted to just share a little bit of our testimony and what god did for uh through in us and through us while we were in burundi first i want to just recognize the missions team that took two weeks out of their life to just travel across the world right and be the hands and feet of god it was very powerful to see what he did with us in burundi but what he did through our missions team also whenever we came back we all brought something back with us so it's a life-changing moment uh on the ground there and it's something that we bring back with us and so i wanted to share my god-changing moment my big moment while i was there um we went to a refugee camp go ahead and throw that up there we went to oh this is me scared because i'm dancing like a dad right here right like am i doing it right right okay so when we got there we were welcomed by them wholeheartedly this this um refugee camp was built for 3 000 people there were 8 000 people there so they were packed in right packed in there but we were greeted with joy they had like this big song and dance for us

this girl right here grabbed me and started dancing with me we had a blast right so we had prepared some kids ministry when we went up there and i was asked to give that word and we i gave a word called the greatest gift it was a salvation message and i want to ask you guys a question have you ever received a gift will you raise your hand if you've ever received a gift just any gift right okay that's a lot of hands right so when i asked that question to these kids they all looked at me like it was something foreign they had never received a gift like just a simple gift right we take that for granted when somebody gives us something that is like something physical you know and so i was like well i've got a gift for you i've got the greatest gift right i don't have it in my pocket i don't have it's not it's something that that's eternal right and so i gave them i talked to them about the greatest gift that went on for eternity and they were excited right they were super excited and so show them that other picture there it is right there look at all these hands raised we were surrounded by people there was i mean 360 degrees around me right i counted 40 to 60 hands just right off the bat right these are all kids that wanted this great gift that god was was was wants to give to us freely right and so that was my big moment right there i've prayed with individuals for salvation but i've never had that much of a response right it was overwhelming and it's hard to when you're on the grounds there these people are hungry for hope they're hungry for something big right they're hungry for something in their bellies as well but it's overwhelming and it's hard to hold back the tears a lot of the time right here this is me like holding back you know we were super hot too so you could easily blame it on the sweat right but we were holding back I was holding back in this moment because all these people they wanted this gift they wanted this eternal gift and so this was my big moment right here this is life-changing to see all these people that were in this refugee camp they're cheerful they're full of joy they're ready to receive and we were there to be able to give them what God has for them so that was my moment that was my moment I'm so proud of you babe I love watching him when he's working and the children's ministry and serving kids and preaching the gospel kids like I got to stand in the background and just hold a baby and watch him while he shared the message with them and it's just I love getting to do ministry by my husband so for me

one of my favorite moments honestly was that like for the past three years and Forrest and I have gone to Burundi and over those past three years I have had the opportunity to pray with and pour into and build relationships with a lot of the women that are there and each year I've gotten an opportunity to also go and speak at a pastors conference and share with the women about just how to empower them how to encourage them how they can walk in their gifting and they're calling you know in Burundi women are not really allowed to do ministry they're not allowed to be on the stage all the time they're not they're still homemakers and all of those things which we see here too but in there it's much more oppressive and there's also a spirit of division and jealousy within different tribes and different people there in Burundi and so this year whenever I went to speak with the women I got to share with them about how everyone is a part of the body of Christ and every person's role is necessary and important and I got to tell those women that you are valuable in the body of Christ like we need you to stand up and be bold for the gospel to be able to preach truth to be able to know what the Word of God says and to empower other women around you and so my favorite moment was at the end I asked them all to just stand up and to speak words of affirmation and pray over all the women so I've got like a really short little clip of a video where I was watching all these women gather together at all these tables and they're just holding hands and they're praying over one another and that's a pretty big moment because these women they don't know each other they're not necessarily from the same area or the same churches or the same tribes but they stood up together in belief and they preached and they spoke words of life over one another and they prayed for one another and that was powerful and then at the end we saw our team get up and they were looking for someone to pray for and they saw a woman in the back that was just standing back there nursing her baby and so they walked back there they surrounded her and they just got to pray over her and that was such a special moment to see not only the women they're gathering together but our women

gathering together and saying hey let's go pray for the one that's in the back she needs encouragement too she needs empowerment too and so it's just a special moment that we get to share and it's such an honor and a privilege honestly that we get to go and do this you know and that that is why we go we go so that we can go in and find the lost so that we can go and preach to them we can share the gospel them and we go to make disciples and so it's an honor that we get to do it with you guys come on can we give it up for them Pastor Jesse and Forrest thank you guys so much thank you for leading the the team and the tribe there and just doing everything that God is doing you know if you've never been on a missions trip I would encourage you to go to one of the next ones it's life-changing it really is and so well hey we are just so glad to be here today how many of us are excited for church this morning hey man well hey we are in a series that is titled transformed right and and we've been looking at the book of Romans and we're actually coming to a close on the book of Romans and it's crazy cuz it's like man we've been preaching in this thing for like 53 weeks and and I'm finally coming to an end it's weird it's like almost severing a relationship is what it feels like and it's like man that's just kind of crazy how that is working, but we're gonna be in Romans 14 today. And so if you have a Bible, I would encourage you to go ahead and get over to there. But I just wanna welcome everybody home and hey, just let you know that we love you. We are just glad that you are a part of REACH and everything that God is doing in your life and through your life. And so we are just so glad that you are here. Today, I've actually titled my sermon, Grace in the Gray Areas. I almost, I had it titled when Christians disagree,

but then I was like, eh, it's kind of too straightforward. I don't wanna lose them. And so we'll just go with grace in the gray areas. Imagine holding your hands in two different positions, right? You have one hand that is closed and it's a tight fist, and then you have one hand that is open. And the closed fist, the closed hand, it represents truths that we'll never let go of, right? Things like Jesus is Lord, right? Salvation is by grace through faith, right? The authority of scripture, the resurrection of Christ. These are not preferences, these are foundations. These are non-negotiables. We hold these things with a closed hand. We don't compromise them, right? We don't negotiate them. We won't even loosen our grip on them. They are just non-negotiables, they're foundations, but then there are other issues, right? Worship style, certain traditions, secondary convictions, eschatology beliefs, right? Politics, denominational preferences, personal preferences. These are the things you actually hold in an open hand, right, because you can have convictions about them, but you don't divide families over them, right? You can feel a personal conviction. And Romans 14 is Paul literally telling the church how to tell the difference, right? And the problem in the church wasn't that people had convictions.

The problems was they was closing their fist around the wrong things, right? They were closing their hands around the wrong things and they were treating preferences like gospel truth, right? They were treating preferences. And honestly, isn't this the same case today even in the American church? We will disagree over secondary issues and act like they're doctrinal truths. We will disagree over things. We will stand and fight on sacred hills that were never established to die on. And we will stand as if this is positional, this is doctrinal, this is what it is. And accountability nowadays feels like a wound because freedom in an equality-driven society provides false insecurity or false security in an unbiblical lifestyle. See, freedom in an inequality-driven society, it does, it provides this false hope, this false security in an unbiblical lifestyle. And it tells you, hey, you can do whatever you wanna do. You can believe whatever you wanna believe and whatever you think is truth is truth and don't let anybody else tell you anything different. So how do we provide grace in the gray areas, especially when Christians don't disagree, especially when you've got people that are in the church that don't believe the same way, not just reach, but in the body of Christ,

when they don't agree on what that looks like, when they don't agree with how you are presenting yourself, with how you are believing the rapture is gonna happen, how you believe speaking in tongues is gonna happen, how you believe in secondary issues of what that looks like, what does that mean? Well, today, I wanna look at four principles, if you're taking notes, I wanna look at four principles to help us provide grace in some gray areas, amen? And the first principle is this, not every difference is a division. Not every difference is a division. Romans 14, one through three says this, accept other believers who are weak in faith and don't argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. Point blank, the Bible says what the Bible says, and that is exactly what it, and he goes on and he says, for instance, one person believes it's all right to eat anything, but another person believes with a sensitive conscience. will only eat vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don't and those who don't eat certain foods must not condemn those who do for God has accepted them. Now I want you to imagine a family with me that is at a funeral right because they're all standing together in the same room right there they have the same last name many of them they have the same memories many of them could even be standing over the casket of the of the same father or mother that is represented but instead of comforting one another they start arguing. Come on somebody how many families is that? Jesus Lord that might be part of my hopefully not at my funeral but you know

why because one is upset over the flower arrangements one's upset over the temperature in the room one's upset over the style of music that they was playing one's offended because of the seating arrangement that they got put in and now things that happened years ago are all the sudden are starting to come up and voices start rising tension starts building and suddenly the room meant for remembering what matters most becomes filled with conflict over things that don't even matter at all and now imagine being in that room stepping back and seeing it from an aerial view and you're watching this whole scene and a family standing over the same casket arguing over details wouldn't that feel tragic to you because the moment itself is supposed to remind them hey we belong to each other like we are a part of a family we are connected and that is the kind of moment that Paul is trying to create in Romans 14 believers in Rome were arguing about food they were arguing about special days and feast and different things that you were supposed to do they were arguing about personal convictions and important things but not ultimate things right not not foundational things and Paul essentially says hey remember whose family that you're a part of remember whose family that you are in you belong to the same Lord you were saved by the same grace you're heading towards the same eternity so don't let secondary differences divide primary relationships don't let secondary differences provide or divide primary relationships because the church is not a collection of people who should agree on everything it's a family that is united by Christ it's like a marriage it's two people coming with baggage from separate situations broken trying to figure out how to do life together trying to figure out how can we create something that is different than what we had to go through and provide them to where they don't have to come through this now let me just say this accepting is not affirming accepting is not affirming Jesus was selective with people and so you can be too many have actually been taught if you're loving you give everyone the same access but Jesus did not do that you do not see that in the life of of Jesus you don't drift towards Christ by staying immersed in relationships that pull you away from

him you cannot subtly drift like a buoy towards Christ when you are hanging on formation is relational that's why first Corinthians Paul says this he says do not be deceived evil company corrupts good habits you can't hang around bad people expecting good results and thinking that something good is coming who you walk with shapes who you become discernment isn't rejection not everybody is your enemy right not everyone is but not everyone is also your inner circle not everyone deserves the same access some people are meant to be loved at a different at a distance some people you can just hey man I love you but I gotta love you from back here because I know when I'm around you you corrupt something that is inside of me and I can't be who God has called me to be and others are meant to walk closely with you you're not called to give access to everyone you're called to become like Christ that's what the mission is and that means choosing relationships that move you toward him not away from him you've got to get into some relationships this isn't about judging people it's about discernment right fruit is the outcome it's what grows over time fruit will always grow it's the emotional residue that a relationship leaves behind because fruit don't lie patterns always tell the truth there's a problem in the pattern and some of us need to be able to identify the pattern rotten fruit doesn't just sit there you want to know what happens it spreads go buy some strawberries and let them sit in your refrigerator and watch one goes rotten what happens the rest of them get what it's got rotten fruit doesn't just sit there it spreads but when harmful people is excused the fruit multiplies when we excuse people's behavior that's just who it is you know how they be you know how you know how they act that's just how they are and then all of the sudden you start contracting the same disease that they've got the same sin that they've got you don't have to keep healthy trees produce healthy fruit it's it's it's simple mathematics you don't have to keep eating what is making you sick because when you do all of the sudden listen you can't continue to rebuke out of you the things that you continue to keep eating we are casting things out of

us that we continue to participate in and then acting like the Holy Spirit is going to come in and just boom and just change everything but sometimes we've got to actually quit eating what is making us sick and get rid of some of the the the suicidal things that we are doing grace does not require staying in cycles that never change it doesn't allow a change it doesn't ask you to stay in something and then believe that God is just going grace can be present even when access is gone you can forgive and still walk away sometimes separation isn't division it's discernment because that's just what we need endless chances without repentance is not loving it's enabling and is what happens is it actually trains people to stay the same while you keep absorbing the damage that's why Matthew 7 says this that you can identify them by their fruit that is the way they act well why are you judging me because the Bible told me I could well you can't judge me bet we always say that and is what happens is we often attribute this to people that aren't saved but what about the people that are acting holier than everybody else what about the people that are trying to hold on to traditions and preferences and secondary issues and worship styles and all of that and then they come in to a church even though it's the 12th church that they've attended in the last four years and then they want to come in and make that church try to adapt to their format well this ain't but this ain't how churches oh well how is supposed to church supposed to be how are you supposed to be acting just that we don't want to talk about that though right because this is this is something and it is what happens is those that that slander the body to protect their image or gossip to cover their facade or starting arguments to justify their persuasion that's why second Timothy Paul stated to his pastor friend and he said this he said again I say as if I've told you this before and again I say don't get involved in foolish ignorant arguments only starts fights you want to know what unity requires wisdom to separate essentials from preferences in other words don't allow yourself to cause division simply because of your opinion unless it's doctrinal truth and and and and we have to discern what that even is

because many of us will have our own persuasion of scripture and then cause division over a persuasion that wasn't even contextually correct we didn't even use proper hermeneutical principles with textual criticism to actually find out what the real meaning of the word is see what I'm saying I paid like $26,000 to learn those words still paying it off but not every difference has to be division accountability doesn't hurt when mold ability is our virtue second principle drop the gavel what a gavel is yeah many of us know they're like bro read the room I Romans Romans 14 verse 4 it says this who are you to condemn someone else's servants let's let's contextualize that who were you to look at other churches and belittle those people because they do something different than you who are you to look at somebody else's servants and and believe that they are different their own master will judge whether they stand or fall and with the Lord's help they stand and receive his approval so why do you condemn another believer I know it's hard it's hard it's hard to hear I know trust me as I was preparing I was like Lord give me strength I'm down here on the at the altar about to pray in deepness just because I knew it's heavy why do you look down on another believer why do you look down on somebody else there's actually another scripture that says why don't you worry about the plank in your own eye because you got a telephone pole in your eye you walking around like this with a telephone pole and you talking about what other people are doing don't worry about what everybody else is doing worry about what you're doing get get right with the Lord do what why why do you condemn another believer but remember we will all stand before the judgment seat of God he said man he said don't don't worry about what everybody else is doing because why you judging everybody else you gonna stand at the same judgment place that they are and and at that point they aren't going to be held by the judgment of you they're gonna be held by the judgment of God which is the same judgment that you're gonna be held by and I would be afraid to walk into that moment living my entire life judging everybody else in a condemning way see there's difference from judging people in a condemning way

and belittling them and condemning them as opposed to judging the fruit of the tree so I can determine who I need to be around and grow with see we've got to be able to have discernment we got to drop the gavel it says as surely as I live says the Lord every knee will bow to me this is verse 11 and every tongue will declare allegiance to God whether you like it or not yes each of us will give a personal account how many of us got a personal bank account man yeah I love it when I ask questions people's like where's this going he's setting me up it's intense no I don't have access to your account I wish I did to some of y'all because I would make transactions on my account just kidding I really wouldn't but edit that out later we're gonna cut that out so y'all don't cut it out you know then but he says hey give give everybody is going to give a personal account to God remembering who we answer to changes how we treat other people don't mistake conviction for conflict because that's what happens a lot of time see truth uncovers what pride tries to protect and we get in these moments and it breaks the illusion that people actually build to hide behind as we'll put up some facades and when the conviction hits being blind feel safer than repentance acting like we don't see what is in us when we're gonna give a personal account that's why you have to stay grounded you have to stay in your lane you have to be you don't internalize someone else's warfare and take that on you're not responsible for how they react to truth you're responsible for how we release it how we let go of some of the things you can't carry false guilt for someone else's conviction that's why we give in a personal account truth-tellers will always upset the comfort Paul says this in Galatians he said have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth don't hate me don't don't don't hate me you want to know what I've noticed when it comes to some of this stuff pessimistic people pose as truth-tellers and in 2026 I don't know about you but but me you got to get away from pessimistic people because if you stay in relationship with a pessimistic spirit you will move you won't move at the pace of God you'll move at the pace of your circumstance and pessimism is literally a negative spirit that

comments on everything from the worst-case scenario that's why I can't be around people that are condemning on everything because pessimism will always find the possibility of it not happening well this sure is nice outside just wait till three o'clock it's gonna be 19 degrees that fell perfect it is the truth man man man you know I just wish I was doing this well you know you know there's gonna be would you just shut up for a minute right could you because I don't have time for pessimistic people I don't have time for pessimistic perspectives let me ask you this church why would you lead somebody to a million dollar building that is empty that you're believing God to provide for when you don't even have the money for the first payment when you are taking people that don't even have influence to change anything and yet they want to speak against something I don't know I don't know how to say this this is great and all but but maybe you should try something smaller I've been living small my entire life I'm time it's time for me to dream it's time for me to live big it's time for me to ask God for something great I want to try I want to dream I want to jump and if it causes me to fail I'm gonna do it in faith I don't have time to do this it's time to get around some people that believe in you not people that condemn you and hold you down and stop you down because they can't allow you to succeed because if you succeed it amplifies their insufficiencies I ain't got time to be around a bunch of flunky friends I got time to be around people that's gonna lift me up people that's gonna encourage me people that's gonna say go get everything that God has assigned to you go get everything that the Lord has placed on you because when the Lord anointed you he called you he equipped you and he said go therefore and reach the nations why are you gonna let some other small-minded person that ain't got no vision they ain't got no purpose they ain't got nothing and you gonna take advice from somebody that can't even co-sign a loan let alone a call you ain't co-signing my call God assigned that call and I don't need a co-signer my credit score 850 in the kingdom some people said does credit scores even go that high yes I'm at 805 in this

physical world I don't co-sign bullcrap no I'm just kidding I don't know who said that so don't be offended she said I need you to co-sign praise God but the thing is is you need some people that ain't afraid of you succeeding you need some people that aren't afraid to see something great in you when you hang around insecure people insecure people pull you down I don't need that I need somebody that can see something in me and it may be better than what they can do and they elevate me because they know what I got in me is maybe better than what they got in them and then I can elevate them push them I want to be the kind of leader that will get down on my knees so you can stand on my shoulders and I can lift you up to where God called you to be and if it means that you get to take my place I'm gonna humbly submit like Moses did and I'm gonna lift Joshua up and I'm gonna say take him to the promised land here's the vision that the Lord gave take him on to it or you can hang around people it's like I don't know I sure wouldn't plant a church at 29th and Oakley I don't know there ain't no money there I just I don't have I don't know if you know this but it's the ghetto didn't know that when I was walking the neighborhood praying for the building I couldn't tell just cuz you're scared don't mean I'm scared see God done let me go through the trenches got to let me go through the prison God doesn't let me serve dope in the hood. God doesn't let me be around some people so that when I felt called to the inner city, I'm not scared of 29th and Oakley at one o'clock in the morning. Well, you need a gun to be there. No, I don't. I got these. And I'm Pentecostal. That means I can lay hands on people. No, I'm just kidding.

I better go to the third principle. I've been to the principle a lot. Third principle is this, decide to be disciplined. Decide to be disciplined. Romans 14, starting in verse 13. Again, here's another hermeneutical principle for you. It's called repetition. When something is repeated multiple times in scripture, that means pay attention. So stop condemning each other. Paul was making a point. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food in and of itself is wrong to eat, but someone believes it is wrong, then for that person, it is wrong. And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you continue to eat it. Now, don't let your eating ruin someone from whom Christ died. Don't let the way you act trip up somebody that has been saved by the same God. Verse 19 says, so then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up. Don't tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble,

and it is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble. I love that part. I didn't even mean to preach this part, but I love that part simply because people say, well, I just don't see that it's a sin. Oh, really? Because I know a lot of addicts that if you was to start drinking some wine around them, it would cause them to fail. You wanna know what? All of a sudden, it's a sin now. So justify that. You know, I think about when we was pouring the sidewalks out here. Imagine a crew that pours fresh concrete for a sidewalk, right? Man, when they do it, it's smooth. It looks perfect. I mean, it's nice, and it's like dark gray because it's still wet, and so the workers, they put up do not walk wet cement. Now, imagine somebody walks right through it anyways. Deep set footprints, marks everywhere. Now, technically, they didn't ruin the whole sidewalk, but they definitely damaged it, right? Now, here's the interesting part. If you walk over that same sidewalk after it's hardened, nothing happens.

Why? Because it's solid, but when it's still forming, even a small step leaves a permanent mark. That's what Paul was getting at in this passage. Some believers are stronger in their understanding of freedom because their freedom is solid, but others are still forming. Their conscious is still tender. Their convictions are still developing, and when mature believers carelessly exercise their freedom in front of someone whose faith is still wet, it can leave a permanent mark. So just because one of us can do it doesn't mean that somebody else can do it, and Paul says, decide never to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of another brother. Hear me, church, stronger believers don't test the limits of their freedom. They protect the formation of others. The goal isn't proving how mature we are. The goal is building up people while their faith is still setting. That's the goal. Paul says, pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding. In other words, love limits itself for the sake of other people. Love limits our capacity. People matter more than preferences. Love would say, hey, I'm gonna hold back here for a moment

because I know that that could hurt somebody right there, and so I'm gonna withdraw for just a moment, and then maybe over here I can give more and do this and do that, but because I know this person is still growing. Church grows when believers protect each other. Strong believers build bridges, not barriers. We've got to remove some of the barriers. We can't get caught leaving footprints in someone else's forming faith. And sadly, a lot of folks maneuver from a place of hurt. Hear me, hell is afraid of what the healed Jew is capable of. I'm gonna say that again. Hell is afraid of what the healed Jew is capable of. Growth requires discomfort. Some people would rather sacrifice relationships than actually face themselves. But you can't teach accountability to someone who's built their identity around avoiding it. See, people is what we do is we rewrite events to remain the victim. We intellectualize behavior instead of changing it. We distance ourselves from the impact that they've had on others, the circumstances that they've had on others because facing it would unravel the person that we've always claimed that we really were. So instead of facing it, and then when we try to hold them accountable,

their defenses activate. This is why it's critical to choose your circle wisely. Because honestly, a wolf in sheep's clothing rarely looks like a threat. It often looks safe. They sound right. Honestly, oftentimes they quote scripture, but fruit never lies. Wounded people control the narrative to get others to worship their problem without ever taking accountability for them. But discernment is not betrayal. It will feel like it sometimes because you have to hold somebody accountable in certain areas, but we need to discern who we are in collaboration with. If the people that we're facing are placing ourselves around is always tearing down a church, guess what will happen? Their hatred or bitterness will transform into poison in your own spirit. A wolf in sheep's clothes doesn't show up as a villain. They often show up as concerned. Loving, kind, spiritual. Just here to help, just here to serve. They use the right words, but the wrong spirit. They do things, they don't protect you. They position themselves over you. They don't invite accountability.

They actually demand access. And then when you finally speak up, they don't lean in. They punish you for telling them the truth. But when disagreements get uncomfortable, Paul doesn't give us another rule. He gives us a savior, which leads to my fourth and final point. Do what Christ did. Do what Christ did. Romans 15 says this. We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not please ourselves. We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. For even Christ didn't live to please himself. As the scriptures say, the insults of those who insult you of God have fallen on me. And such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us. And the scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled. May God who gives this patience and encouragement help you live in complete harmony with each other as it is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice giving praise and glory to God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept each other.

He said it again. Just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. Now imagine a family that decides to become adoptive parents. And all of the sudden, one day a child shows up at the door with the social worker. And the child doesn't arrive with a perfect record, right? They may come with fear. They come with anger, with broken habits, with painful past. They don't know how the house rules work yet. They don't know where the dishes go. They don't know the rhythms and functions of the home. But when the child walks in, the family doesn't say, hey, once you act like us, once you get everything right, then you can belong here and be a member of the family. No, they say, hey, welcome home. Hey, welcome home. We're so glad that you're here. They give them a seat at the table, not because the child earned it, but because the family chose them. And that's what Paul is saying in Romans 15 7 when he says hey welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you Because this is about how Christ welcomes you You didn't come to him cleaned up You didn't come to him

Spiritually impressive you don't have everything figured out. You didn't have everything figured out you came broken You came carrying sin. You came needing mercy and Jesus didn't stand at the door and say hey fix yourself No, he opened the door and He pulled up a seat, and he said hey you can sit by me Hey, you can sit right here because you got this you you got this figured out You got all of this I got all of this figured out for you hear me church The church should be the easiest place in the world to be welcomed Because we were welcomed by Christ first It Should be the easiest place to come in but sadly the church has gotten to a place where we would ask Jesus to go take a shower on the third floor Before we let him sit in a congregation beside us No one else in this room has actually earned their seat at the table Why because the cross is ground the ground at the cross is even its level There is nothing grace received what grace should extend You receive from grace Which you should actually give out to people and it's just loving on people and some people say okay Well, how do I become more like Jesus? Well, let me tell you the traits of God Hear me the traits of God are formed in the presence of God The traits of God are formed time with Jesus is how we become like Jesus Unity isn't built by winning arguments. It's preserved by Christ like love That's that's what that's what it really looks like. That's what it really sounds like That's what it really appears to be is when we get to sit in the presence of Jesus and say God. I Don't need anything else But you all I want is you God all I need is you God you can have it all God You can have everything in me You can have everything that I have God have my judgments have my presuppositions

Have my preconceived ideas because God I want to just honor you in the house of the Lord I want to honor you in my house. I want to honor you at my job I want to honor you in my Relationships because God I want to be an image that is drawing people closer to you not pushing people away because of petty differences But God let me be moved in your spirit if I could have everybody stand with me for just a moment