Mary, what's your praise today? My praise is that my foot is getting a little bit better every time. A little bit better. Amen to that. Just Lord certainly praying for me. Every little bit helps. Oh yes. Amen. Who else? Well, my praise is my hip is not hurting as bad as it was yesterday because I couldn't even hardly walk yesterday. Good, amen. It's a good day. It's a good day. I walked. It's good. It warmed up a little bit. Yeah, there's praise. It warmed up a little bit. Very little, but it warmed up a little bit. Alvin? So, me and Evan did the BBT-1 yesterday and it was awesome. It was awesome. Thank you, Jesus. Good. Amen. Amen. It was good. Good day we had together. Good. All right. OK. Who else? Vicki? Taylor found a job. He's going to be the restaurant and bar manager at The Spot in Galveston. OK. He's full-time and he's very excited. Thanks, Craig. Tell him I said hello. He can't hear me talking. All right. Sure. Tell him I said hello. He can't hear me talking. Turn around. Tell him I'm glad he's here today. OK. All right. Joshua. I have a business related praise. We're wrapping up my first big remodeling job. So far, so good. And I just got awarded another big remodeling job. It's big for me. And I'll praise the Lord for allowing me to do so. All right. Sherry. I have another one too. He's been having to go through some tests on his heart. And so far, all the tests have come back great. That's his quick praise. Okay. Well, you know, it's hard. That's good. That's good. Yes. Well, I guess I need to praise the Lord that I'm not sick because Lisa is and she's not here today because of that. Always something. I think it's that virus, like maybe what you guys had. We don't know what it is, but it's one of something. Yeah. I don't have no pictures on it. You can't read it anyways. Okay. Who else? Anybody? What's your name, Christine? I lost my husband. Yeah. He's sitting over there. But we all feel good and Mason is healthy. Yeah, he is. I'm glad to be a second child of feeding him when he gets older. Yeah. Yeah. And your hair looks good, Christy. Brenda, why don't you pray? I just want to praise the Lord that my son-in-law, that's a police officer. He is starting a new job tomorrow. He gets to be able to actually be home after over two years of having to you know, be working away from home for, you know, a few days off and on. And, you know, it'd be just nice for my daughter to have him home every night now. That's cool. All right. Amen. That's good praise. Yeah. That's the one with the grandbabies. Yeah. All right. Anybody else? All right. We're in Galatians chapter 6. We were there last week. We're going to talk about some of this stuff some more today. Well, yeah, I want to go back and review 5 a little bit. Talking about the fruits of the Spirit. I'm looking here. The word is singular. Fruit of the Spirit. The works of the flesh are, they're pretty common. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. Lasciviousness, that's a $2 word. Anybody know what that means? No, that's not what it means. Jerry? I cheated. I looked it up. Unbridled lust. Unbridled lust. Yeah, or inordinate affection. Right. There's a lot of ways for your affections to be misdirected and misapplied. Idolatry. Is that a common work of the flesh today? Yes, but not to... I don't think that they're man-made idols, but they like worship American idols, and movie stars, and celebrities, and TV shows, and money. Money, yeah. Yeah, money. Money's a big one. Change to commercials. Yeah, all of it. They're not like, you know, stone idols or wood idols, but they're still idols. Anything can be an idol. TV, video games. How can you tell what your idols are? Just put it before God. Open your checkbook. Open your checkbook. Review your credit card statement. Yeah, that would be, that could be one. Idols are, almost anything can become an idol. The next one here is witchcraft. It's good sometimes to look up words and figure out where they come from. This is not about an ugly lady with a pointed hat riding a broom. What is it about? What is that word? Anybody know? Pharmacia. This is talking about drugs. Is that an idol for a lot of people? Is that a problem? Work of the flesh? Hatred. Variance. emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. There's your biggest category in that list. That they which practice this thing shall not inherit the kingdom of God. When you get saved, You have the Spirit of God come to dwell within you. And God's Spirit produces fruit. That fruit looks, well, it's listed right here. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. Josh? I heard something yesterday that said, talking about this, that the fruit that our life bears is not for us to eat, but for those around us. Well, I guess that would be a good representation of the application of that. This is a whole list of things, but it's singular. Fruit, not fruits. What we're saying is The fruit or fruits of the spirit that we think about is a list of things. And we look at when we're trying to figure out the responsibility for making sure this happens in our lives, kind of look in the mirror, but this doesn't say this is the fruit of someone who has a spirit. It says this is the fruit of the spirit. This is what the spirit of God produces in you. For God's Spirit to replace all of those works of the flesh with these good things is quite an accomplishment. Do you have it in you to practice love and joy and peace and long-suffering and gentleness and goodness and faith, meekness and temperance? If you're saved, you do. And if all you have is the flesh, then that's It's kind of a sad statement. Our challenge here that we see in this passage is that we walk in the Spirit. It says if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. His admonition, he says, let us not be desirous of vain glory. What is that? The glory of the flesh. Oh, in a couple more verses, we're going to find out that if a man thinks he's something when he is nothing. You've got a problem out. It's bragging about saying to that you not get glory to our Lord. We're all guilty of it. Glory. Glory over nothing. We're talking about things that do not give glory to our Lord. That's vain glory. Guarantee it. What about taking glory that you don't deserve? That too. Is that common? That's probably more common than the others in some cases. someone who's successful in business and claiming about how they work so hard and everything and doesn't give God any glory for the blessings and for the customers and for the ability and for the money and everything. There's a line between being glory and letting it be known that you're capable. It's a line that gets crossed a lot. Jerry? How does that fit in with the phrase, it's not bragging if you can do it? I did not read that phrase in the King James Version. You know, we are all guilty of vainglory at one time or another, some more than others, some ongoing, some not. An example would be, and this is like not exactly working. Okay, so everybody knows May 14th, 1948, Israel became a nation in a day. Prophecy, you name it. We know in Genesis, those who bless Israel, I will bless. Those who curse, I will curse. And I'm telling you, besides kicking rear in World War II, It's the reason that we're so, one of the reasons we're so fat and sassy now, because we blessed Israel. And depending on who the president is, I mean, that's just how it is. We act like it's such a long span of time from 1948 to now. You know, it's nothing. That's like, clean bites for God. And I truly, and the Lord already had this all set up, but people don't understand. 112 nations voted against Israel becoming a nation. We had so much power in 48, we're like, we don't care what we're talking about, we're gonna sign them up. That's all under God's hand, not our hand. And so when we, and I know people don't see it like that, but I see it like that. I see it like that. We blessed Israel and already, boom, well we started prospering, you know, the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, and it's still rolling and now we're, if you know what I mean. So that's part of it right there. We act like we're doing something, but it's under the hand of God. It's more than it is. This verse that we're looking at says, let us not be desirous of vainglory, comma, provoking one another, comma, envying one another. Jealousy is what other people have or what they can do is a common thing. But the fact that this is in the same context, you realize that there were no chapter or verse notations when Paul wrote this. And the verses coming in chapter six are part of this context. He says, if a man be overtaken in a fall, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. As we're reviewing this, I want you to take a look at the last verse. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. That is an unusual ending to a book. You would normally say, God's grace be with you, amen, you know, instead of with your spirit. Jerry, you can probably tell us this. What's he talking about in verse number seven, which he says, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Oh, that's good. He got grabbed, kicked out of him everywhere he went. Yeah. He got beat severely. He was discouraged over and over. And everything else. Yeah. He got beat to death once or twice at least. Yeah, he did. I think it's pretty normal for people to fear dying. But to have to do it more than once, that's got to be pretty rough. Particularly the way that Paul experienced it. How many times was he stoned? Twice? I think three times. That's what thrice means, is three times. Verses 8 and 9 of this chapter we didn't spend a lot of time on, but those are pretty important verses for us. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." Fainting in the work of the Lord is like a fad that's catching on or something. Every time we turn around, somebody faints. It's almost like I come to church and I look around and I say, who's going to be the one today? It's very discouraging. Yeah, it is. It's very discouraging. The only thing that relieves some of this discouragement that I've ever found is winning people to Christ, seeing new people come to the Lord. That helps a lot. He says, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Who are those people? Household of faith. Well, first you said church, but everybody in church should be of the household of faith. Are they? No, not really. You've got visitors that are coming and may not be saved, and you've got family members that come and may not be saved. The household of faith, who is that actually talking about? It's talking about saved people. Love your neighbor as yourself, but then you go back to forgive my brother. My interpretation is your neighbor is your neighbor, but your brother is another saved person in your church. Like right here, it says do good unto all men. That's that's the question. I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of entertainment. 70 times seven. It says your brother. So I take that to mean this guy, this guy, her, me, you know what I'm saying? I know it's a little off topic, but off topic, but um, there. So I guess the question is there a difference between neighbor and brother? Yeah, there is a definite difference between the two, but the Bible doesn't tell you not to forgive unless it's your brother, certainly. One thing you need to understand about forgiveness, God says, and this is only to us, this isn't to the world, this is to save people, his family. God says, unless you forgive, those who trespass against you, and we would think, well, that shouldn't ever be my brother, but often it is. Neither will the Lord forgive you your trespasses. Forgiveness is something that a lot of religious leaders, religious teachers, teach the idea that when You forgive if someone asks for your forgiveness. Most people that you need to forgive aren't going to ask for your forgiveness. And is it forgiveness for you, not them? No, it's for both of you, but it's sad that there's so many people too stupid to ask for forgiveness when they should. One of the things that you need to understand is that you do not need their permission to forgive somebody. I learned a long time ago that forgiving and forgetting is not the same thing, but they're closely related. But I'm not going to allow someone who sins against me or offends me, I'm not going to allow them to keep me out of fellowship with the Lord. by holding unforgiveness over their head. I'm not going to do that. Amen. That's right. That's Grace and Mercy right there. So, you know, I used to think it was improper, but it's not exactly stated. It says that bitterness consumes the vessel that holds it. So if you have bitterness consumes the vessel that holds it, so if you have unforgiveness, that's bitterness also, against someone, it's probably going to do you more harm than them. Well, certainly it will keep you out of fellowship of the Lord. That's the biggest harms you let anybody do to you. Talk about all this forgiveness. How does that square with the revenge of blood? Well, the revenge of blood was, he was a, an instrument of the, under the Old Testament law. You're not under the law. I'm not under the law. I don't need revenge. I might feel like I do, but I don't. I need to walk in fellowship with the Lord. That's what I need. Not just want, that's what I need. And with bitterness in my heart towards someone, that can't happen. And I realize that there are some things that have happened to many of you in your life that you would say it's hard to forgive. I actually think it's easier to forgive than to sit there and be content to hold a grudge over somebody. Because once you forgive the situation, you're never going to forget it. But once you come to peace with it and you forgive them, all of that hostility, anger, resentment is gone. And there's like this whole piece lifted from you. It took me a whole hot minute to figure that out a couple years ago. But once I figured that out, You don't know the feeling until you get it. You know what I mean? It's something that's more of a necessity than it is a... Most people think that forgiveness requires you have to feel a certain way towards someone to do that. You actually don't. Forgiveness is... I suggest that when you've got an issue with someone... I mean, let's say you were sexually assaulted as a child. That's happened to a lot more people than you think. And so, how do you forgive something like that? It's hard. It is. Very hard. Especially if it's a family member. Even more so. Is it hard? It was. But I had to, what helped me learn was I was talking to one of the people in our church and telling them I pray all the time, I read my Bible, I go to church. I just don't feel that closeness like I should. And she said, well, you know, she said, you must be having some kind of iniquity somewhere. And I was towards two people, my parents, both my parents. And she says, well, iniquity is sin and unforgiveness is sin. And if you can't forgive, you don't have to put yourself back in that spot, but you still have to forgive them. I'm gonna use the word that you spoke to me on Wednesday night when here at a Bible study one time, because it took a tremendous burden off of me. You said it, you said it, if somebody catches your wife out in the field and rapes her, you can go kill them. That's what you said to me. And that took a tremendous burden off of me. I was like, if somebody does that to Ronnie, I'm gonna go kill them. Forgiveness, whatever, I'm gonna go kill them. That's what's gonna happen. That's what's gonna happen. Right where I'm gonna go, that's how it's gonna go. So, you know. Well, that's a, It creates problems, yeah. Maybe you should ask Ronnie if she wants him killed. I don't care what she wants. You're gonna get stoned for sure. Let me finish. So, I see pedophilia as a little different, but I'm not God. So, in other words, to me it's a worse crime, but I'm not a God. Of course. You know, vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. And so when we, when our, I was going to say it, when our pride takes vengeance, it's, listen, the good news is you can be forgiven if you kill them. That's all I can tell you. Repent and don't, you know, turn to God, ask forgiveness. But there's a, you know, there's a difference between kill and murder. And, um, I don't know. I'm going to stop right there. That's all I'm going to say. Well, you can rest assured, the Lord is going to kill him. Yeah, vengeance is not unsealed. And then after that... And they may even go to heaven. Who knows? If they believe, then they're a believer. They'll be in heaven with me. Oh, now, wait a minute. I just ask you not to tell them not to predict their future. Just switching gears a little bit, getting back to the forgiveness. Talking about forgiving other people that may not have assets to forgive them. It's a lot like loving people. You don't have to like someone, you're not required to like someone to love them. I can forgive you. I can let it go. I can love you and I like you. You can forgive someone don't mean you want to hang out with. I can love you and not go hang out with you. I know it's hard to forget. But I think I feel that we are supposed to try to forget it too. Because God throws it away as far as the east, the west or sins. Well, I think to a certain extent though, you put it to the back of your mind, but if the situation was to arise again or something similar to it, that thought process comes back and you go, uh-uh, you're not doing that to me again. If something arrives at me, I'm not going to forget that they robbed me, because in a sense, I'm not going to invite them back over and say, hey, come rob me again. I forgive you, but I'm not going to bring you back. Well, that's why I was saying, you don't have to put yourself back in that position. I mean, just like when we sin, we're not supposed to put ourselves back in that position to do it again. but I mean we're supposed to try and try not to. Are you fixing to throw that at me? I had a question and it sparked off him talking about killing his wife's rapist. Hebrews 10 26 right? Or if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Am I interpreting that the way I think I am? No. I don't know, how are you interpreting it? You should have been here Wednesday because it was on that passage. There's a couple different ways to talk about that. It's talking about if you could lose your salvation. that it's impossible to be renewed again. For if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge of the truth, Jesus is not going to die again, because that's what it'll take to save you. If you could lose it, which you can't, but if you could, that's what that's all about. There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. There's another way to look at that verse in kind of a stand-alone way. First of all, there is no such thing as if we sin willfully, although that's what it says. It's when we sin willfully. How do you sin if it's not willful? When you go out and kill somebody? That's willful. Jerry's very intent to bury willful. But there's no sacrifice that you're going to be able to give to make that okay. Well, that's what we were talking about a few minutes ago when we mentioned that Paul said, The grace of our Lord Jesus be with your spirit. Amen. The part I wanted to get to on this, when you forgive somebody, you don't have to like it. You just have to do it. You need to get on your knees, get someplace quiet, and you need to do it out loud. I'll tell you why in a minute. And you need to tell the Lord, Lord, I forgive Jerry for what he, for killing me. They can, that's fine. I tell you, I never felt more peace. I even called my mom and told her I forgave her. She didn't like that. Well, it's good when you can feel like it, but it doesn't mean it didn't happen. Why do you need to do it out loud? I can't hear you. Yeah. You can't look at your heart and read your thoughts, although most of you pretty like reading. That's the same reason why the Lord knows what character to use. That's the same reason Satan knows what character to use to use at church. We say it out loud all the time. Same reason what? That's the same reason why we need to forgive out loud is the same reason why Satan knows what character you use to get us out of church. We say it out loud. We say what we want out loud and he uses it. Paul was an awesome Christian leader. What he went through in his testimony for the Lord, was a lot. I mean, it's just, how do you even understand what he went through? The only person that went through more than him was Jesus when he died for our sins. Yeah, Glenn? Yeah, I mean, what he went through, and he still managed to trace all around the Mediterranean. That he did. That he did, yes. He didn't have any It only took Paul about 30 years to acquire the same beating Jesus took in 12 or whatever. Those are guesstimates of time. If you read 2 Corinthians 11, that's a lot of what he went through. I'm sure it's not all of it. But that's probably the same amount of physical distortion that Christ went through in a matter of hours.