February 5, 2023 - Accept one another

I'm going to start by reading a fairly large. Section of scripture. Because I didn't know what to get rid of. That's all good stuff. I want to talk about all of it. And secondly, I'm reading it in the more, it's in the New Living Translation and I have studied this in other translations and I like how some translations do it. But this one, puts it in a different light for me. And so, it brings it alive again for me. So we're going to read Romans. 14 12, Romans 15:13. Here we go.

Accept other believers who are weak in the face? Don't argue with them about what they think is, right? Or wrong for instance, one person believes that. It's all right to eat anything but another believe a Believer, with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything but not look down on those who don't. And those who don't eat, certain foods must not condemn those who do forgot has accepted them. Who are you to condemn them? Who are you to condemn someone else's servants? Their own Master will judge that whether they stand or fall and with the Lord's help, they will stand and receive his approval. In the same way, don't something one day is more holy than another While. Others think everyday is the same. You should each be fully convinced in whichever day, you choose is acceptable. Those who Worship the Lord on a special day, do it to honor him and those who eat any kind of food, do it to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating and those who refuse to eat certain foods. Also want to please, the Lord and give thanks to God for. We don't live for ourselves or die for ourselves.

If we live, it's to honor the Lord, and if we die, it's the honor the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. We we, we belong to the Lord Christ died and rose. Again for this very purpose to be Lord of both the living and the dead. So, why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember will all stand before? The Judgment seat of God. For scripture says, as surely as I live says, the Lord, every knee will bend to me. And every tongue will declare allegiance to God. Yes, each of us will give it a personal account to god. So, let's stop condemning each other decide to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. I know. And I am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food in and of itself is wrong to eat, but if someone believes it wrong then too, for that person, it is wrong. And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you're not acting in love, if you eat it. Don't let your eating ruin someone or someone for whom Christ died, then you, then you will not be criticized for doing something. You believe is good. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink but of living life of Life of goodness and a peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve price with his attitude, you will please God and others will approve of you too. So then let's aim for Harmony in the church and to 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 you have a person stumble, it's better not to eat meat, or drink wine, or do anything else, that might cause another believer, to stumble, you may believe, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing, but keep that between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don't feel guilty for doing something they've decided is, right? But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something or you are sinning, If you go ahead and do it for you or not following your convictions. If you do anything, you believe is not right. You're sinning. And ID, says, anything I've done in faith is sin.

Chapter 15, Wii U, stand who are strong must consider those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. We should help others do what is right to build them up in the Lord or even Christ. Didn't live to please himself as scripture says the insults of those who insulted you a god of falling on me. Such things are written in the scriptures long ago to teach us. In all scripture is it gives us is Hope and encouragement that as we wait patiently for God's promise to be fulfilled. Big God who gives this patient's and encouragement. Help you to live in complete harmony with each other as is fitting for followers of Christ, then you can join together with one voice giving free using glory to God. This is the father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore accept each other. Just as Christ has accepted you So that God will be given the glory. Remember, the Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises. He made to their ancestors. He also came to the Gentiles so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his Mercy. Mercy said that, this is what the song is meant. When he wrote for this I will praise you among the Gentiles. I will sing praises to your name and then the other place is written Rejoice with his people. You Gentiles and another praise the Lord. All you Gentiles presume you. People of the earth and another Isaiah said they are of David's Throne. Will, he will rule over the Gentiles and they will place their hope in him. I pray to God the source of all, hope will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him and then you'll overflow with a confident through the power of Holy Spirit. Can I pray?

Heavenly father, I want to thank you so much for your Grace & Mercy to us. I want to thank you, God. That you have accepted us. And holy spirit, you Empower us to do every good work from to buy our faith. So Lord, whatever you prompting us to do today. I pray, Faith would arise for us to do it. And Lord, we would be the light in this world that we need to be. In your precious name we pray. Amen.

In my first church. We had something incredible happen, time and time and time. Again, it wasn't a one-time thing, it would happen regularly.

What consistently happened is it a young couple would come and start attending the church and then three or six months they would start getting involved in something and then somewhere along the way they would decide that they need to get their baby baptized And so they come and see me to get their baby. Baptized and I would never pick up on these things too soon. Anyway. Just so, you know, and I'll let you know. We don't baptize babies, we dedicate them baptism is for believers. When you put your face in your hope, in Jesus as Lord, It's the outward sign of what's already happened. In word, it's a spiritual sign of update. The physical sign of a spiritual thing that it is already happened. And they would think that that was good. But with baby dedication, will baby, dedication, is actually three parts. That's how we practiced it. First part is a dedication of the parents that they will raise the child to know Jesus, as Lord. The second part is everyone who's gathered. So the whole congregation and anyone you want to bring along, they will agree that they're going to help you raise this child. And it didn't know Jesus is Lord. And third, it's a blessing of the children wild, we know that, like, when Jesus took his the children in his arms and blessed them, they were blessed and so we can ask Jesus to do that as well, if you're not comfortable. So to put them in order to dedicate yourself to know Jesus, that's fine. We'll just do the baby bus and we can just do the baby blessing. In almost all of them, one of the whole meal deal, right? Like it or not, we could do that. That's great. And it's like, oh great. And then one of them would pipe up and say, but we haven't been baptized well, that's no. Problem was baptized you the same time? It's okay. We're going to baptize you. And then I get the forms cuz we need forms. When you get back. Really forms is just so that you can get a nice certificate afterwards. So I get this things down and I know and ask their names and I realized they didn't have the same last name. Could happen. I don't know, but I have to ask. Are you married? No, we're not married. How great.

And we go over. What does it mean? That Jesus is Lord in your life and so what's keeping you from being married? Well, the cost we can do it Sunday morning, it doesn't really cost anything. No, you don't need a fatty if you want to buy a fancy dress, great. But we can do it Sunday morning. You know, I remember one guy was like, oh, I don't know if I can commit to this woman. I'm like, dude, you have a baby with her. You are committed to her man up. And so we, we basically in the weekend usually, on the Sunday, but sometimes we do the wedding on Saturday. We would have them baptized, and then we have the married. And then we do the baby dedication. And this happened 7 or 8 times, right? And it was just, it was awesome. It was absolutely awesome. That church. When I went there, they told people, people told me they are at their old. They are. They had, they're set in their ways. They are not welcoming.

8 x + 7 years. Like, give me a break like these people pay a lot of people at that time. It was awesome. We would have people coming to church. Higher. Drunk and they were just allowed to sit. However, they wanted in the Pew and You know, we had a big policeman guy who just sit next to him and just make sure that they're happy. And if they were to You know, if it if if you thought it would be too disruptive to have them in there, they would just wait at my office and we have a meeting afterwards. Like, it was, it was, it was really awesome. I don't think it was anything I did. Except at the time, I remember I really like the idea that people leave it so long before they believe I'm at that resonated with so many of them. They knew what it was like to belong to a family. And a family welcomes more people into their family, whether it's through babies or whether it's through marriage, or whether it's through strangers, you have over a Christmas, a family welcomes more people into their family. And end. That's really, I think, what a church needs to be.

We're not in the same world as we were 20 years ago, but I'll get into that in a bit.

We?

The church in the early years.

Say the first four hundred years of the church, we've always got it wrong and we always have letters written to people. Say, this is how you can do it, right, it started first thing. It started with all the New Testament, almost all the New Testament is written. All the letters are written to correct. Something that was wrong in the church. And I'm so glad because we still haven't got it right in the church. So we have these letters to see how they get it, right? Issues. We have aren't the issues they had.

when, when In Rome. They worshiped all kinds of gods and you just had to give allegiance to the god emperor in order to to be okay. They welcome to all kinds of faith. Japanese Christians. Didn't agree that you should welcome, all these kinds of face and that's where the friction started. Not well commission, see it? It's it's I don't want to say that what the church did was they met house to house regularly and then the Temple of her as long as the temple was around. And is a met house to house. People would welcome to join them at first, it was just Jewish people that were allowed to join them but then Peter had the vision and it it it open it up to the Gentiles and Paul start administering to the Gentiles. And so it was Gentiles that would probably work where were started out as as sympathetic to Judaism, like they came to the synagogue and to listen to the old Stories, the ancient ways and then that's where Paul connected with them. And that's when they found out that they could be part of this whole thing. And so,

There's all kinds of messes in the New Testament. Paul had never gone to the church in Rome. He wanted to go to Rome but he was writing to them because he heard about their problems.

because, some people who, Used to offer sacrifices to the gods, offer their meat to Gods as a sacrifice. They didn't think it was right to eat that meat. That was sacrificed to the gods that were sold. The sacrifice to the gods, who was sold in the market, you could buy the meat from the market and that we just all meet with sacrifice the Gods. And so, some thought it would be great to be vegetarian. So I'm just going to eat stuff that I don't need to. I'm not just, just whatever.

and others were like, but these Gods, they're just statues. They're nothing. So what? I can eat meat so I can eat bacon. I'm not even Jewish. It's awesome. And you can, you can you can see how in that group. There's there's division just because One said, this is the way to do it once that, that's the way to do it.

Just as kind of an inside. The first Schism in the church didn't happen until 10:54. Yes. The guy who became Santa Claus. Did strike a radius across the face during a meeting that I was just friendly B but 1054 was this was when the patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated. The Pope in Rome in the Pope in Rome excommunicated the patriarch of Constantinople.

The Eastern Church was the Orthodox Church, Orthodox means right thinking, how is that? Not a slam. Catholic means Universal. We are the universal truth Church. How is that? Not a slam?

500 years later in the West, the Protestant movement happen but protesting protest we protested everything they need the there was all kinds of bad stuff happening in the Church of people got upset and so they weren't they were eight, they revolted against that they revolted against you having to pay money so that people could visit my family member who died to get to heaven and out of purgatory. They they resented the fact that that the Bible was written in Latin and it was all the servants were in Latin. And how am I supposed to understand that they revolted? Or the fact these great Cathedrals were being built on the backs of people who are poor and slavery. Basically be served and they were revolting against that. And an Us. In the Protestant movement, we have been dividing since then. We are over everything from from just silly things to some very serious things. So, what I think I want to try to say is, we haven't got it right yet.

We haven't got it right yet. Now, I think holy spirit is getting it right.

because, In a lot of churches, you could come in and get the same thing, the same songs. You might not hear the same message but the message behind how we preach it is. Like my uncle Gordon told me this. He when he was a bastard up in Grand Prairie and he would get together with all of these different church leaders. So it didn't matter if Like a Lutheran, Pastor preach through a Litany of four-year whatever they knew what they were preaching. Every three years it would just go through it, right? and it didn't matter for him, or the hyper-sensitive God gives it to me in the moment, Pastor, they all preach the same thing, every Sunday and it was basically the same sermon Because God speaks to his church in that town.

I do. God is bringing his church together and he doesn't so much better than we do. And, and that's not on us, that's on him. He builds his church.

What's on us is, how do we accept each other? How do we accept? Anyone who comes in the doors? Anyone who comes into our home anyone? How do we do that? That's a great question. I'm so glad you asked really use what we read the show you how to do that, okay? Leave the acronym. And if you want to look these up more, there's a little sheets at the on the way in that you can check all these versus out. We need, we need to accept. And that means a abandoned judging see you care more about people than you care about being right? The next see is you choose what's best for choose to do that? What's best for everyone? Empower them to do what's right at peep receive and receive God's help. If he'd trust that God Christ has accepted you. Let's unpack that for a bit. Abandoned judging we Reddit. Romans 14 4. We're using condemn someone else's servant their their own master and will be judge whether they stand or fall out with the Lord's help, they will stand and receive his approval.

Have you ever felt judged and accepted at the same time?

I got to say one, one moment in my life when I heard an audible. The audible voice of God. Speak to me. I, I felt so insignificant and so, Highly valued that I think maybe I was feeling judged and accepted at the same time.

What we can't do that.

You know, I know what we are afraid of. We're afraid of accepting sin.

And end.

Anyway, we'll get to that in a bit.

When we judge, we need to judge rightly. We can't condemn. I need to allow others to be difference.

Accepting others includes making others feel like they belong at. Yeah, we do date. People need to be long before they believe.

we don't really know who said this by, It's a Greek quote in Essentials unity in non-essentials, Liberty and in all things charity. So what does that mean in Essentials unity? And I can tell you, we're all fighting about what's the essentials, but that's okay and non-essentials, unity. We can all get along. And in all things, charity love has to rule over everything.

Question, we can ask ourselves is Emma, judging rightly.

First seeing except help sister, remember we need to care more about people than we care about being, right? Need to give room for differences of opinion, especially about it. This beautiful matters. Romans 14, 5 and 6 is in the same way. Something one day is more holy than the others with other things. Everyday is I like you should each be fully convinced that whatever day you choose is acceptable. You understand? They met every day in the house to house. So why did they have to have a big special day Sunday to bring the potluck? You know, like how about we just eat all the time when we just gather and eat and then Sunday comes? Am I here. I didn't know if that was my hearing aids or what but what it like are we that's basically what the issue there is that do we say Sunday is the day or Saturday is the day? Or is every day. Holy and unto the Lord, we're always Gathering we're always meeting. We're always loving, we're always accepting. It doesn't really matter.

46, those who Worship the Lord on a special, they do it to honor him and those who eat any kind of food, do it to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating and those who refuse to eat certain foods. Also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

We need each other more than we need to agree on just about anything.

It's not our job to konvicts, that's holy, spirit's job to connect.

Our job is to love. And we do that with holy spirit's help. We can't do that on our own.

Question we can ask ourselves is, can I care more about others than I do about being right.

Ouch, the next C is used to do. What is best for everyone and there's a bunch of horses here that tell us how to do that verse 13. So, let's stop condemning each other decide to live in such a way that will not cause another believer to stumble or fall. Verse 19 says. So then let's aim for Harmony in the church and try to build each other up. Don't tear apart the works of God, for what you eat, remember. All foods are acceptable, but it's wrong to eat something that makes a person stumble. It's better not to eat meat, or drink wine, or anything else because it might cause a Believer to stumble In 15 1, those who are strong, must be considerate, considerate of those skirts. Sensitive about such things. Just, I want to point this out or Paul the strong ones, were the ones who could do anything drink, anything. They needed to Bear the ones who said? No, don't drink, don't dance. Don't you or go with girls who do Anyway, yeah, time to grow up people.

Some call it adulting or being an adult. Don't make too many adults who only look at vote for their own interests. It's, it's maturity to look out for the interests of others.

Most of you here will know you want to grow up half kids, having kids makes you grow up. You just have to be responsible. You need to look out for others.

And really the same is true in the spiritual sense. You want a mature work with a brand new baby Christian and see how much you would sure. See how much challenges your faith? Just to love someone who doesn't know enough that it's wrong. Oh yeah, I got that. We got to have that to the course. That's good. Question, do I look out for others interests or just my own?

The E. Remind us to empower them to do. What's right? We got to help them to do. What's right Romans 15:2? We should help others to do what is right and build them up in the Lord. Now

I've learned in my life it's best. I can't help people more than they want to be helped. Reading this. I can't tell them what to do, what's, right? And do they ask me if it's right that I do this.

It really is a Reliance on holy spirit that he is doing the work in them. It's a Reliance that he will finish the good work. He started in them. Yeah, be ready when they say you should I be doing this or watching this or going there, or coming here? It's like Maybe the question is, it doesn't make me more like Jesus or does it make me less like Jesus? Maybe that's a better way to look at all these things.

When they ask you to help them do what's right? That's when you help them to do, what's right? And don't lay them down with rules. Ask them the questions.

Am I helping others to do? What's right?

Another key reminds us to perceive and receive God's help. Romans 15, 5000. May God, who gives help you live in complete harmony with each other as is fitting for followers of Christ. Paul is asking God to bless them with this unity and really, it's only Holy Spirit. You seen it. And it, I've seen it in my lifetime just how how churches that were just like this are now. We, we are connected with each other. We're loving each other. it helps like I I went to the Baptist Seminary at a time when most people told me don't go to the Baptist Seminary They teach bad things there and really they talk Pentecostal history. So, It was, but with a Pentecostal person, they brought in a special but I got some speaker. It was kind of fun. Anyway.

If not five steps to be a more accepting person, it's one step that we need and that's to keep in step with Holy Spirit.

So be led by your compassion. When you feel compassion for someone to invite them into your home or to invite them to church or do it to invite them to do an activity, you're doing like follow through. Let Holy Spirit, be your guide in that. And remember he empowers you to accomplish every good work? Prompted by faith. It's him doing the work, you don't have to feel busy or anxious about doing that. It's all on God. I am growing and greater awareness of this, that that it's, if we can get that in every area of our life that it's on God, Boy, face Rises up.

Yeah, that's good. It isn't our own power or ability. It's his power in us and in his power in ice is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

So you can do it.

Am I relying on God's help?

And finally, this is probably where we should have started. We need to trust. The Christ has accepted you. 15/7 is therefore accept each other. Just as Christ has accepted you, that God will be given Glory.

This word for accepted all uses again in Philemon 1 17 where he says. So if you consider me your partner, welcome him. As you would welcome me, the word welcome is processed lament battle, which is the exact same word right here. So basically, when your welcoming someone it, when you're accepting someone your welcoming them as you would welcome Jesus. All says welcome by Lehman. As you would welcome me.

so, when we welcome someone,

We we we eat, we can welcome them as if if they are Jesus. So we are serving Jesus that where were what we were working as unto the Lord is in accepting them.

Accepting one another is to receive another person with a special concerning care accepting others as welcoming welcoming them into your life. As you would treat someone who is important in your life.

You didn't have to change before Christ, accepted you. So why do they have to change before you're going to accept them? Or me I guess cuz I'm part of one another.

Do I accept others? Like Christ has accepted me.

And I guess the 20 can we say 25 years? And 25 years, since I started as a pastor, the world has changed considerably.

I don't see a lot of people wanting to raise their kids in a church when they weren't raised as in the church like 20 years ago. It happened all the time. They have kids and thought Oh this is a respectable thing. Nothing come to church. Have you ever been to visit church? And I would never, okay, awesome. I had a grandparent Frank for them. Now, we don't have that, we don't have that memory, the people who aren't here. A lot of them aren't here.

It's it. It's moved from

What was the word that we said before?

Irrelevant. We used to be irrelevant to the world. And now a lot of people in the world have just that they don't they don't even realize like they don't know why anyone would go spend their Sunday morning getting up and going to church.

They might not even know that churches do anything. What's that? Building there? Why is there only cars there on Sunday?

We may not feel comfortable with what they believe or what they practice.

You may not even know what pronouns they're comfortable with.

Why? I love the early church. Is that it when it's messy, cuz cuz accepting other people. It's messy. It's not. It's not cutting dry, it's messy.

And the second thing I love about the early church is that it's relational. That we met in house to house.

Play knew each other intimately. And that's when things started to work for the church.

I don't think the first move is to invite anyone to church. It's to invite them to your home or coffee 40. Or whatever you may want to be served. Whatever meal, you're willing to provide.

I think our role here as the church is that we are comfortable. We want to welcome anyone, you're want to welcome here, whatever we want, we want to to accept anyone that you're willing to accept.

Because we know they're not coming to our door knocking.

They're not going to come if we do more Facebook ads, Facebook wants us to advertise all the famous.

Google gives us $10,000 to spend every week on Google every month on Google ads. And so we've got this technique that we're spending almost $10,000 a week on Google ads, ten thousand a month on Google ads. And and I've I'm guaranteed, it's it's pastors coming to our site to get their next sermon, that's who goes it comes here. cuz I see where you're coming from, and I know who they are, and it's like, oh yeah, they're just Every week I put up a new, like I've got a list of all the verses on accepting others and so that would go up today and then we really will hit by every pasture what he looks for. How do I, how do I get my people to accept others? There we go. All my study is already started. It doesn't work to bring people in, it's not working. But with always worked is when we accept people in our workplace and bring them in and invite them into our home or invite them into some service, or the service you're doing, that might be part of the church or it might be somewhere else.

There is there is nothing stopping God. It's Jesus from building his church. Oh yeah, it is the fastest growing church. I'll tell you, it's in a rent right now and it's it is expanding it raise either.

If anyone has a memory of the church, it's a memory of them being judged in the church.

And I don't know where we're at. Some of our kids don't attend church anymore because they feel judged in the church or the church would judge their friends.

That's okay. They can bring their friends to our place.

Will album.

Accepting each other is. Like I said, it's messy. It's not comfortable.

It's at its exact opposite of being comfortable.

But one of the biggest problems in the world today is rejection.

Most kids growing up don't have a father in the home.

Or the guy in the home isn't the father.

So, they're responding, they're feeling that rejection.

How the world tries to solve the problem of rejection? That is that in when you get to school, everybody's a winner.

But when you're the tenth place winner, you know you're the loser.

And there's rejection there. It doesn't that doesn't solve it.

The only thing that heals rejection is acceptance.

and the only way people can know there except his hitting relationship,

it's sitting across the table. It's breaking bread, it's sharing experiences, it's crying with them. It's the laughing with them. It's bringing them into your family.

Some of you are doing it and that's awesome. I'm trying to do it and I need to do it more.

Who would kind of took a hit with that cuz we used to have people in her home all the time and then prove it happened and it's just sort of

we didn't intend to not to invite people over we moved and we have my most, my Ain't never been to my place. My sister, Sean, and his family haven't been to her place.

It's not that we don't have an open door. Policy is just record is basically locked, but

Oh, okay. What I'm trying to say now is that You may have thought of people that you. Have you been rejected? Or been rejected by.

You may be thinking of someone that that. Has accepted you. And you know what it feels like to be accepted and not judged.

Maybe there's someone. The holy spirit is prompting you. 2.

Show love and acceptance to.

We're going to have a time of reflection now at time of soaking where we're just going to play some music and just just reflect on that.

The question I want you to think about is what is God asking you to do to show that you accept others? Just as Christ has accepted you

Play some music, please. Can we start that up? As a music, please.

Still out. Holy Spirit to speak to you too, too. Bring anyone to your mind that God wants you to love on or bring anyone.