So we'll go to Philippians, the book of Philippians and finish this thought that I've begun some just a couple of weeks ago. And this matter of our tongue and sowing discord and how to operate and things like that. We looked at the negative side of that before. And then now we kind of looked at what we should be doing on the positive side. It's not enough just not to use it in a bad way. You need to use it in the right way, your tongue. And there's some things you can do in these situations that we looked at. We looked at how to cut it off quickly and not let it go too far. Hear the whole story before judging a matter. Speaking with purpose. We try to speak with the intent and the purpose in our heart to edify one another, right? To build up and aid in Christian progress. We've got to keep that on our heart. I've asked God to keep that on my mind. And as I mature and grow in the Lord, I want my speech to be able to be on my heart at least when I'm talking, that I talk with purpose. not just giving out information to hurt people, but it's not causing trouble just to tell the truth, to tell people things that they need to know. But if you're not speaking with any purpose and you're just getting information out to hurt people, that is damaging and that is wrong. But if you'll speak to the edification, and that is always in your intent, in your heart, is to build up and aid in Christian progress. I've run that about as far as I can in my mind, and the best I can tell I've not hit a stopping point yet. So, just keep that in your heart and mind as you're speaking. Try to remember to aid in the Christian progress in somebody, or just be quiet, like Brother Sammy said, study to be quiet. could use that. Proverbs 16 we looked at the pleasant words in speaking to the edification. We looked in Ephesians at that same thought of keeping our speech seasoned with salt and grace. And then Romans we ended with seeking to honor others. not getting honor. So seeking to show honor and not seeking to get honor. Honoring and honor preferring one another. So here in Philippians chapter 2 we'll look at chapter 2 we've got just a few more verses to go and we'll be in chapter 1 and go to some other verses. But we'll look at quite a few verses here and we'll start in verse number 1. I'll have that outlined for you I just want to work down through the verses and look at them the best that I can. and the best that I can read my notes here, but we're gonna look in chapter two of Philippians in verse one, if there be any consolation in Christ, if any, if therefore, excuse me, any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the saints, if any bowels and mercies. Fulfill ye my joy that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind," and He's going to give us that lowly mind, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. And so this is saying here, if we look at verse number three, it says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Let nothing be accomplished through those kind of means. I've seen pastors often when they propose something in a church situation, if it upsets some people, they'll generally just back off of it. because they don't want to accomplish something through strife. And that's a lot of wisdom in our homes, in our churches, that we just don't, nothing should be accomplished to the, that word vainglory, I think I mentioned it some earlier, but this is empty or vain, worthless pride. Some people want things done just to show that they were right in it. That's not a good idea to do anything just because of your pride. So that's vainglory. And then obviously strife and contention. You try not to accomplish anything through strife and vainglory. And he said, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. So this is, if we'll think about this mind, now it will be seen in our actions and he proves it on down through there with the Lord. But this is the attitude that you go into situations with, right? And so if you have a lowly mind, and let's see if I have, esteem is to deem, to consider, to suppose, to think, judge, to estimate, or to set value. So if I set your value at better than me, that will avoid a lot of strife. That handles the vainglory because I'm humbled myself, right? But then the strive, it'd be hard to have a whole lot of strive unless you are battling over who gets to go. I've seen people do that, they kind of almost, each one of them wants to show honor and humility. Me and Brother Reed did it. He was gonna walk behind me and I said, no, I want you to go first. And he kept going back and I kept going back. And that kind of thing that you do, who's gonna hold the door and who gets to go through first. We ought to have that kind of spirit, you know? And so anyhow, so in the loneliness of mind, if this is a mindset that we have to get in our mind, and this is very difficult, because when you get into contentious situations and you get things that have gone wrong and things that someone has wronged you about or things somebody's wronged someone you love, you get that stuff will start building in your mind. That's where it's almost worse than the situation itself. And you'll get that thing in your mind where you're so bitter at that person and you're so angry and so mad at that person that you have to really guard and take care of your mind. And so you have to, in lowliness of mind, each esteem other better than themselves. And you say, well, What if they did so wrong that's not really true, that they're really not better than me? Well, they may be terribly wrong in what they've done. I'm not saying that the Bible says have a lowly mind and just forget they ever did anything and act like they didn't do nothing. I didn't say that. But what we can have the mind of is say, you know what, I probably would have done a lot worse in that situation if the truth be known. You know, I'm just as bad as anybody to be able to let my mouth run and say things I shouldn't say. So God forbid that I should get mad at somebody else when they get upset. You see, that kind of thought, just a lowliness of mind, esteem others better than yourself. And if you'll go into these situations that you get in and be more concerned about others than you are yourself in the situation, you'll get some help. What always happens is we want our own retribution. We wanna be justified that we're right and they're wrong. And we want everybody to know it too. Now don't look at me like that. You teenagers even know what I'm talking about. You get these little situations and these little spats and I'm gonna say this, I didn't realize how bad it was in you ladies, but don't think, and young teenage girls, I never seen lots of such in all my life. But grown men pastoring churches aren't a whole lot better. And so we all have this tendency to want to be right and want to be proven right. And so what we have to do is get in our mind and just have a, what's the Bible say? That we should be renewed in our mind, you know? And so let's just step back and pause for a minute. And in lowliness of mind, let's try to esteem everybody else better than ourselves. And it causes a lot of problems when you think you and yours is better than anybody. I know people that they'll go around and they've said this to me personally and said things like, well, I'm not gonna join that church because they've got such and such going on over there. I'm not gonna go, like I'm too good for that somehow. And you gotta be careful about that kind of thing. And I've heard preachers stand up, be careful what you say. I've heard preachers get up and stand up and say, my kids will never do that. And what do their kids do? Boy, we gotta be careful. Is that right, Brother John? Be careful. I'll never let my kids do that. Wait till you're fighting two or three 16-year-olds. Nobody's got the answers like a young couple that ain't never had a kid. They got all the answers how you're supposed to raise yours. Amen. And then you get on the other side of it, and you forget what it's like to have five of them running around, and you can't keep nothing straight. And you think to yourself, as you get on the other side, you get beyond that, you think, why can't they get them kids under control? Well, how about you come stay with me for a week and help? Unless I kick one of them, I don't know how I'm gonna help any of them, you know. And so we should just, we should be understanding of people's situations. I used to get fairly upset at times when people would be late to church and that would upset me a little bit, you know, just in my own thought life and think that. And then I started to remember what it's like trying to get four or five kids ready in the morning. And I'm not making excuses, we ought to stride to our bed on times probably late. if it's the truth. And I'm guilty as anybody in here sometimes because if I come in here too early and get to talking, I'll forget everything I've studied. So I cannot get in here. I'll stay with you till 12 o'clock if you want to stay. But before the service, I just can't do it. And so we need to be careful. about how we, you know, judge other people for things. Try to see it from their position, what they've been through. You know, a man been working hard all day, and the wife been doing things all day, and trying to get five kids ready, and trying to get six, seven kids ready, and get them to church on time. And you know, let's just try to be understanding with people. You know, that kind of thought. Now, I don't know of anything like that that goes on. I'm just throwing out things that come up to my mind here. But just little situations that you think about in people's lives, and just think about how you can, how you probably wouldn't do much better if you were in their shoes and, you know, trying to be understanding and low. This is the mind that he's wanting here is in lowliness of mind, I've got to esteem you in my mind better than me. And that will help me not to mistreat you. And that will help me to go into situations thinking, you know, this is not about me getting a resolution. I need to protect my brother. I need to help my brother. Always thinking about others is the mind he's wanting in us. And us to be humble in ourselves. We're not nearly as spiritual as we think we are. Right? Because the problem is a lot of times we've just not been put to the test in a matter. I've seen people think they're, man you would have thought they were the next John Wesley, they're the next Charles Spurgeon and they face just a little opposition as far as I know today, they're not even going to a fundamental church and not even preaching anymore. But they spent five or six years telling everybody how bad they were doing and how well they were raising their kids wrong. We just need to be careful about how we do things, don't we? And just try to be careful. And lowliness of mind, esteem each other, bettering ourselves, and trying to think about others in situations. And that's what he's saying here, to set their value. I don't understand this kind of idea, and I'm going to go into this as quick as I can. What I want to get to, I don't understand this idea that other people don't matter. I don't know how that got into a lot of fundamentalism somewhere. I've heard even people say that, say things like, well, if I do something wrong, it's nobody else's business. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. Sure, it's our business. We love you. It's your family's business. It's your mom and dad's business. It's your wife's business. It's your children's business. It's the deacon's business. It's my business, right? Because I'm supposed to be not looking upon only my own things, but on the things of others. Right? Now, it's not my business to meddle in it and judge you and make your life harder for you. That's true. But to a degree, it is our business, isn't it? We're supposed to be caring for each other. I don't understand this idea that nobody else's opinion, nobody else's feelings matter. You know, if you think about, you get in these situations like that, you know, everybody else, nobody in here is more valuable than anybody else. I don't care what their title is. You're just as valuable in this church as anybody else. You were bought with the same blood. It didn't take any more blood to redeem anybody else. We were all worth the same. About that much. Right? God didn't get no prize when he got you, by what you might think about it. So we all were worth about the same, and that ain't nothing. When a man thinks of himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. So we all just need to come with this mind, I'm nothing, but I'm more nothing than you're nothing. And I might be a little better than him. I don't know about the pastor's kids, but no, right? I'm no better than you. You're no better than me, right? And we are supposed to humble ourselves under each other. And that's the way he's laying this out first. Okay, so fulfill you my joy. I want you to be like-minded in that. So if everybody has that idea that we are esteeming each other better than ourselves, and that's not necessarily something you have to say, well, you're better than me. I heard people say that, and I understand what they're saying. And I've said it before, he's a better man than I am. But that ought to be in our mind, not just something we say. We ought to really believe that. And then in honor, what we show in the expression of that mind is in honor, seeking to honor you before I get honor to myself. And that's the first part of this. So let nothing be done through strife or vainglory and loneliness of mind. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And I know this doesn't usually go as well, but I want to read this because I think this is important in our day. We are seeing people really lose their care for God's church. And I've mentioned it here, and you all know it. We've mentioned ourselves. There's a lot of me, self, and I that goes on in the average Christian life. And there's little concern or care for the church, right? It used to matter if you offended the church. It used to be something you could say. That don't even exist much anymore. I'm an island to myself, and I do what I want to, and everybody else can get over it. Well, I don't know where you got that, but you didn't get it out of the Bible. Right? No man's an island to himself and no Christian has the right to live unto themselves. You're supposed to be looking on people's, on the other things of others. You're supposed to be watching out for me, not just for yourself, but you ought to be considering me. Thinking about, well, Brother Clint, and so let me read this to you. I wrote this part of it, but no one is at liberty to live for themselves. We should evidence a tender interest for the happiness of the whole and let the welfare of others lie near our hearts. Now, this is, I think Barnes, I'm not sure, I didn't write down who did it, because I did it a little bit ago, but I want to read this to you, okay? So just bear with me. We are to feel the spiritual interest of everyone in the church is to a degree our own interest. I'll say it again. We are to feel the spiritual interest of everyone in the church is to a degree our own interest. Right? Each of us are entrusted with a portion of the honor of the whole. We okay with that? So everybody ought to feel that it's their responsibility to a degree to have a spiritual interest in every other person in the church. Now I believe that with everything in me. And then at the same time it said we're all trusted with a portion of the honor of the whole. Does that make sense? What he's saying there is the name of Harriman Baptist Tabernacle, we're all entrusted, not just me, the preacher, we're all entrusted with a portion of the name and the honor of this church when it's looked upon and by the world. We're all entrusted with that. And nobody ought to come into our church and be shocked that, oh, they go to church here? That's not good, right? They shouldn't be shocked at all that you come here. You see what I'm saying? So we all are entrusted and when we go out there to live in a manner, and I'm gonna tell you this, I'm gonna put this above this and I'm telling you, I am for dressing as right as you can dress, but goodness gracious, please don't go out here and be mistreating people and tell them you go here. Right? Let's put that number one. Let's make sure we evidence a spirit of Christian character and love towards other people. Please make that the forefront. When somebody thinks about this church, I want them to know that we try to strive to perfect holiness. I'm not ashamed of that here. Are y'all ashamed of that? I'm not ashamed that I've got standards in my life. I'm not pushing them off on nobody else, but I'm not ashamed that I'm trying my best to live up to the expectations of Jesus Christ. And I don't have a problem expecting you to live that way if you claim to be saved. and join the church. And remember here, there's a certain expectation you have to have good Christian character, and have the interest of others, and have love, and care, and compassion in your heart for other people. So if you're gonna fail somewhere from your pastor, please don't fail in loving other people, or tell them you go somewhere else. I'm just kidding, please don't. Just don't say anything and it'll all be better. Is that okay? That's okay, I believe, here. I think Brother Jones has been that way, as far as I know, and I think we agree about it. Any man that I know of a preacher I agree with, and how he believes and thinks on something, we're like-minded in a lot of these ways. And I can tell you, I'd much rather somebody say, oh, you mean you got somebody down there that wears breeches? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we do. And if that's our worst problem, woo! Hallelujah. But you mean to tell me you got those really wicked people? You mean you've got people down there? Yeah, we do. But I'll tell you one thing, boy, they love people. They care about people. They're not trying to hurt anybody. They're trying to aid your Christian progress. They're trying to see sinners saved. Hallelujah. I'll say you better believe they belong here and I'm proud to have them. Now, that don't mean I'm promoting, does anybody in here not know how my family believes when it comes to dress? I think everybody in here probably knows where my family, I hope you do, I hope I've evidenced that in my life. I mean, my wife so has it in her heart, and this does not make her a better person at all. Since I've been saved, I couldn't tell you, I couldn't tell you but one time, and I won't tell you the situation, it'd be too funny, we'll get off track. Not one time does she even sleep in a pair of pants. We don't sleep in them. Does that make her better than you? No, it doesn't. That's how we believe, and that's what works for us. Everybody okay with that? Does that make anybody mad? And you know what I find out? Have I come to any one of you all and gave you a dress code to make sure you live and talk and walk a certain way out there, or I'm gonna punish you somehow? I'd be pretty sure Brother Jones hadn't done you that way. Now, Brother Reed's gonna have to dress right. He's a deacon here, and Brother Nathan's a preacher. Hey, I'm for it, folks. I want you to have the highest standards you can possibly set. I'm for it. Just don't mistreat everybody else that don't meet up where you think they ought to be. That's the only problem that I have. I am not going to adjust one single standard about what this church has always stood for and what I've stood for. But just don't mistreat others. I think that's where the problem is. It's not that people can't handle the standards. We've seen the Mennonites and the Church of God. I mean, there's a church in Maryville about every one of them apostolic women dressed like that. And you know, I mean, I don't think it's that much. I think what gets us sometimes is how we look down upon and mistreat others that don't meet up to some standard that we've set. That's where I have a problem. See, I can deal, and I think Jesus bore this out in his own earthly ministry. I can deal much more with somebody that's struggling with something. Let's say a man is dealing with, can I use men for a while? The ladies get so tense and they're used to it by now. And I've left y'all alone for a while, so get over it. But let's say a man's struggling with smoking. You don't think a Christian smokes cigarettes, do you? Sure they do. Would it trouble you to know Ray Bearden smoked cigarettes for years and he was preaching the Word of God? Sure it can happen. It don't put you in hell, just make you get there. I mean, what did that man say? Make you smell like you've been there. That's what he said. And so let's take a man like that is dealing with things like that. Hey, I can deal with that a lot easier than I can deal with somebody and how you operate and how it affects others. And I think the Lord looks at things that way too. It's one thing for you to have a problem and you're dealing with that in your heart and you're struggling with that and you're praying, God help me with this and God help me. It's quite another thing when you start hurting other people, right? Don't get into that situation. And y'all know how this church believes on things. And if you don't, you can come see me and I'll be happy to tell you. But I tell you what will hurt me and grieve me more and cause me to deal with something a whole lot quicker is how you treat other people. It's one thing you come and say, Pastor, I wish you'd pray for me. I'm struggling with this thing. I'm dealing with lust, or I'm dealing with some kind of this or that, and I want God to help me, and I'm broken about this thing, and I'm trying to get help. I'll go 10,000 miles with you. But when you start beating down other people, and you start mistreating God's people, and you act like they're nothing, and you misuse them, and you mistreat them, and you bash them for how they're not meeting up to some standards you've set in your life, and you make them feel belittled, and you make them feel lower or lesser important or you make them feel not as spiritual as you are, or however it is that you treat them, that makes me a whole lot wanna deal with something a whole lot quicker than somebody just dealing with some sin in their life. See, that's where that lowliness of mind esteeming others better than ourselves. That doesn't mean what they're doing's right. And I'm gonna say it, because I think, everybody in here, I think it's wrong for a lady to expose her thighs or expose her breasts. Now, I'm shoulder to shoulder, neck to knee. That's how I believe it ought to be covered up, just cover it up. And I just think it's just right. I'm not going down to the ankle. I mean, I don't really, you know, but I'm for all of that. Please believe me, I am for that. And my family's gonna be for that. And I'm not gonna change that position. But I refuse to mistreat other people who don't have the exact same standards as I do. I'm not gonna mistreat them. Right. And we can't do that either. I don't want people to feel like they can't come in here and be comfortable and try to get right with the Lord and try to get help from the preaching and people look at them and, oh, can you, I can't believe how they're, hey, listen, why don't you just take that home and pray about it? Please don't let somebody hear you talking about that. I'll throw you out for I would them. Woo! Right, be good to people, love them. That doesn't mean I'm for a bunch of ungodliness. I'm not for it. But I sure don't want to hurt anybody. I want to aid in their Christian progress. And you know what I find out? When you love them, I know of a young man right now who I heard people smart off and say, well, he'll never last over there because he's got long hair. I've heard him say that. And you know what I found out? I found out they had a whole lot more love in his heart than they had in their heart. And you know what he did? He just cut his hair. Far as I know, nobody made him. He just loved people and loved God and just wanted to do right. When I got saved, you know what I wanted to do? I just wanted to do right. If you preach against colored shirts, I didn't want to wear them. Everybody okay? I know some people, they don't have the exact same standards, but I tell you this much, they'd never offend you if you do. Boy, I like that kind of spirit. Let's have that kind of spirit. Now, understand me. I don't care if you wear a veil over your face down to your tippy toes. Praise the Lord for it. I'm serious. If I get any uglier, I'm gonna put a veil on my face. Right? But let's love people. It's all right to have a high standard. Don't let nobody tear you down and say, well, you know, make you belittle you and make you feel lesser. I know some people right now who have a, I just have this in my heart. My pastor never one time made me wear a suit to get in the pulpit. Never, never. I just wanted to do it. I got that in my heart. God put that in my conviction, that conviction in my heart, like he put dresses and skirts on my wife's heart. Nobody made me, I don't even know that I ever heard it preached that a preacher had to wear, you know, his priestly garments in the pulpit. I never heard it. But I've seen these men of God do it. And I was following their standard so I wanted to do that. And hey, you know what it is now? Now, they accuse me and you of putting these high standards on people, and I ain't never done that one time in my life. In fact, my pastor, when I got off work, would tell me to get up there and preach, and I couldn't hardly do it, because I wasn't in a suit. I told him no. My brother Jeff didn't care. I mean, I didn't do it on purpose. I had to work late. He said, get up there and preach. Why won't you? That doesn't matter, Brother Clanton. I said, Brother Jeff, that's just my heart. I just can't do it. I couldn't bring myself to do it. That didn't make me no better than anybody else. In fact, maybe worse. I ought to be able to preach the Word of God in anything nearly, you know. But I just had that conviction. Why would you want to hurt me over that conviction? And why in the world would I want to tear your convictions out of your heart to try to... And so here's what they do, and I've talked to this with some of our young people. Here's what they do. And so they'll attack me and you and say, well, they got all these real high standards and they make you dress like this. And I can't believe you go down there and how they treat. Give me one instance, number one, where that's happened. That's a bunch of junk that people talk about. That ain't never happened as far as I know. But they'll say all that stuff because they don't want to do it. And they just like to blame it on somebody else. And so they just throw all that stuff out there. And they say all that. And as far as I know, I ain't never one time made any preacher wear anything when he gets to the pulpit. I ain't never done that. But then you know what they do? They turn around and they're the ones that have the dress code. You know what they tell you? You need to look more like the world so people will hear you better. They're not gonna hear you. I don't know how many times in my ministry I've heard people tell me that they will not hear me if I go out dressed like this. They won't receive me because I'm in a suit. So you need to look like them. Oh, so you need me to put on your dress code. should attack them for it. Make no mistake about it, every church in this county has a dress code. Every one of them. Who's uncomfortable, real uncomfortable? Anybody? you know what? How about we do this? Since everybody's got their own opinion, why don't we just turn to the Bible and just read the Bible and let the Bible tell us what to do. And you go to God and ask God and Him put it in your heart. I know people right now that are praying at God about what to do in matters of dress. We ought to pray for them. Pray for them. You know, I mean hey, there's some clear lines that are drawn in the Scripture, but then there's a whole lot of other areas in people's lives that we're not supposed to be judging scruples and matters that are not so. So, you know, if you follow the clear direction of the Bible and you don't get your convictions from anybody else, get it from the Bible. It'll stick with you if you do it that way. See, if you try to dress a certain way to impress me or a certain way to fit into the church, I'm okay with that to a degree. I mean, I appreciate that humility of wanting not to hurt anybody and all that, but it won't last long, because once you get mad at me, you'll quit doing it. You see, young people, same thing. Your parents have that expectation for you. If you don't get it in your heart and see it in this Bible, young men, do you want a wife? Do you believe that? Do you want a wife to dress this way? Don't do it just because your daddy believes it. You need to get in the Word of God and get that in your heart. you're going to face some things that are going to shake all this stuff, and you need to have it purely founded upon the Word of God. You say, why do you dress that way? Well, let me tell you what God did in my heart based on this verse. That'll work. You say, well, my preacher said it at some point. I remember hearing him say that. That ain't going to help you. Get in the Word of God and get grounded on these convictions in the Word of God, and then you don't have to apologize to anybody for anything. See, if I got Scripture for it, I don't got to apologize for nothing. I can say, look, it ain't my standard, it's what I found in the Word of God said. Right? Now who's mad? Raise your hand. I tried hard. Nathan, don't look around. Oh, Brother Jones' man. Hey, it's all right. These matters, you gotta deal with them. You gotta talk about it. I mean, just pretending like ain't nothing to it, it is important, isn't it? It's important how you dress. And so my exhortation to you is just get in the Word of God and find out how to please the Lord. And I promise you, we'll come to pretty similar conclusions. differ here and there. Some people see in there various things that I may not see in smaller matters. But at the end of the day if we'll both get in the Word and earnestly open our heart and seek to get answers from the Bible I think we'll arrive at closely to the same answer when it comes to these matters. had nothing to do with anything now. But I guess the Lord, you know we just got to talk about this stuff. And so, let this mind be in you, it was also in Christ Jesus, who being the form of God, thought it not right to be equal to God, but made himself of no reputation upon the form of a servant, was made likeness of men, and Being found as the fashion of a man, he humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name. Philippians 2, chapter 2, verse 10. In the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. Let me move on through this since we've been, I think I got down to verse number 16 is where I'm wanting to go. Let's start in verse 14. Do all things without murmurings and disputings. may be blameless and harmless. So, it's good for us preachers, it's good for deacons, it's good for those that want to be involved and have an office in the Church. If you want to be blameless, you cannot be blameless in verse 15 with murmurings and disputings in verse 14. Do you see the two connected? Has anybody read those verses that talk about a man of God first must be blameless? And I've always wondered what that was. You know Paul said, as to touching the law, what did he say? Blameless. And I've always kind of wondered what that means. Well here's a verse that it's not just how you've treated God, it's not just in the commandments of you sinning against God, it's you sinning against your brother. In murmurings and disputings, it means you're not blameless. So if you want to be blameless, you can't have murmurings and disputings. That's what the Bible said, now, not me. That you may be harmless as well, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I may not have run in vain, neither labored in vain. Look at verse 17. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. He's showing that same mind, isn't he? So now, let me finish this and we'll go home tonight, I got off on that other stuff and didn't get to where I wanted to go, but let me finish reading this. So remember, he said, we all have a special interest to everyone, spiritual interest to everyone in the church. Each of us are entrusted with a portion of the honor of the whole, and we therefore are to promote in every way possible the welfare of every other member. To some degree, as you've seen things transpire in our day, this is almost laughable. But churches used to believe this. We still believe this, don't we? I promise you I'm done. But I take this thing serious. I'm done, I know you're tired. I promise I'm done with this right here. Listen here. We therefore are to promote in every way possible the welfare of every other member. If you, see I don't think, I don't think you just come to church to get what you can get out of it and go home. I don't believe that. I believe when you, and this is why it's important, you know, we talked about church membership there a while back. It's a very important decision. It's not something you think flippantly. That's why you, me and you talk about, and you take it serious. It's a serious thing. You know why? Because when you, it's like almost like a marriage, in my opinion. I believe God marries you to that thing. And you're taking upon yourself the responsibility to promote in every way possible the welfare of everybody else. You're becoming part of that body. Y'all believe that? Everybody okay? If they go astray, we admonish and entreat. If they are in error, we instruct them. If they are in trouble, we are to aid them. Every member of the church has a claim on the sympathy of his brethren and should be certain of always finding it when his circumstances are such as to demand it. Now that helps me. We'll come back, I had to pick back up here because I've gone too long tonight. And we'll pick back this thing back up, because I got several more verses I want to look at. But I think some people in our day, we have forgotten the importance of the community. Can I say that? The church. When you're involved in a church, don't get this mindset of me, my full, we're all responsible for each other. I'm responsible for your well-being as a pastor, obviously, but you're responsible to watch out for him. Young people, I'm done with this right here. You see one of them going down a road they shouldn't go, you're responsible to get in front of them and say, don't do that. Y'all rebuke them. Paul got up in front of Peter and rebuked him to the face, because he was to be blamed for how he's treating people. He hurt people. That's what his problem was. He hurt them Gentiles. your responsibility, Keely, watch out for her, don't let her get to Keely. You watch out for Taylor and don't let her do things she shouldn't do. And we ought to all watch out for each other like that. Now what happens to us when we get so cold and so indifferent, and this argument, and that argument, and this group, and that clique, and we all group up. And when we do that and we forget that we are, and it's okay certain ones group up together, I'm not talking about that. But I'm saying don't do that at the expense of everybody else. because we got an interest, not just in the ones you like in here, you've got an interest to the ones that you're bound to love by the love of God. All of us have preferences. See, my personality is so great, everybody in here loves me. It's probably to a stretch true in here. It would have been funnier if I'd have said everybody loves me, I guess it would have been funnier. I'm just kidding. There's all kinds of preferences and personalities and people get along good. But here's what I'm saying, if you're not careful, when you get in your little group, you'll forget and that'll be at the expense of everybody else. And it's hurtful when people come in and they wanna find a place where they can feel that sense of togetherness and unity. People want that, they want that in a church. And when they come in and they feel like they're on the outside and they can't never get in. That's hurtful in people, isn't it? And I don't see any of that. I'm just warning, okay? Because that's good. And so what we gotta do is open up to everybody and try to involve anybody and try to invite everybody and try to, hey, this is all about, we're no big eyes and little yous. It's all of us working together to try to aid each other in that. I want to see the best for you, and you want to see the best for me, and we can't do that. That's quite the opposite of what was going on in Proverbs. And that is sowing unity. That discord that's unraveling that cord, this is sowing it up. This is shoring it up. This is reaching out to others. You know when he said, I'm done, we're done, stand to your feet. But you know that verse, Brother Reed, come on, we'll do one. But he said, look not on the things, just a man of his own things, but things on others. Here's sometimes what has to happen. Sometimes you have to be the one to go to them. I have found a lot of people they're too embarrassed or they don't want to bother you or they don't want to and we ought to notice in them that they need us and we ought to be looking upon them and say, you know what, are you okay? You look like something's wrong with you. Anybody ever done that? And sometimes you're wrong and they're, oh no, I'm tired. But that's good that you care enough to be interested enough in other people. Look on their thing. Sometimes you got to be the one to go to them. They may not come to you. So this thing is, This thing is a unit, a corporate, this is all of us coming together, that thing. It's not just one man, right? So Lord, help us to not get so selfish. It's so easy to do, Lord, any of us. We get in our own little world and our own little problems and our own little, and we forget often. that we are responsible for our brothers and sisters to love them, care for them, to aid in their progress. So help us to do that. Help us never to do anything that would cause them to stumble. Nothing that would cause another brother, that we would cause them their Christian progress, that we would stunt that growth. Help me to get over my little things that I have in my mind and all of us to where we can look at each other in love and care, wanting to see all of us progress and grow in Christ. We love you. Help us tonight to be in here lost especially. Pray for them that they would, Lord, hear from heaven and come and respond to the Holy Spirit. We love you in Jesus' name, amen. We have one verse if you need to come.