Transcript for:
Romans 14:13,23 -Peace And Liberty- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2023-11-12

Romans 14, 13 through 23. Romans 14, 13 through 23. Would you please stand with me as we read God's Holy Word together. Romans chapter 14 beginning with verse 13. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself but to him that esteems anything to be unclean to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat now walketh thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine or anything whereby thy brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. Has thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself and that thing which he alloweth. He that doubts is damned if he eat because he eats not of faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Father thank you for your Holy Word. Lord we're sobered. We want to be sobered. We don't want to be tricked. We don't want to lie to ourselves. Lord we want to be awake. We want to be watching and ready for your soon return. Father we pray that you would teach us to love this morning. That we'd love. We'd be sensitive and consider of those around us and different stages of growth in the body of Christ. That food or nothing would come between us in these gray areas. Areas of liberty that would stumble one another. But Lord that we'd be long-suffering. That we'd go the extra mile. We turn the other cheek. That we'd even love our enemies. We pray that your love would permeate our being Lord. That we'd shine bright in these last days. That we'd be the epitome of hope Lord. As we point people to you. That you're a God of hope. That it's all not gloom and doom. It's not negative. It's happening all according to plan. As you're coming for us. You're coming for your bride the church. And then Lord you're going to convert Israel. Lord you're going to judge the earth dwellers. Those who are insistent upon rejecting your love. God we thank you for your justice. We thank you for holiness. We thank you for those who have served in our country. Lord we lift up Lahaina in Hawaii as the world's forgotten already. 2,000 kids missing. There's horrible things there. Horrible things around the world. The children being trafficked in Costa Rica and all over the world in Ukraine. And Lord do we pray this morning that you would humble us. And help us Lord to have ears to hear. Hearts to receive. And help us not be all confused and panicked and going crazy in these last days. But help us Lord to fix our eyes on Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Despising the shame in the seat at the right hand of his father. We worship you Lord. In Jesus name. Amen. Would you please be seated. Peace and liberty. To ensure peace use your liberty in first of all a considerate manner. You have this liberty. You have things that you can do. Things that you know you shouldn't do. So we have what we term as gray areas. Can Christians smoke? Can they smoke? Can they be vapors? Can you be a vapor and have a Christian bumper sticker on your car you know? And I drive by and this big cloud of smoke comes out. Whoa man that's a guy's going to hell. No he may not be going to hell. He just may be going to heaven a little sooner than you you know. Bad for his health. Can you as a Christian smoke the herb? Can you smoke the weed? You know well we have to analyze that. In our day of managing you know trying to manage pain. If they take the THC I think the guys call it. The part that gets you you know crazy, loopy, whatever, high. If they take that out and they use it as you know in such a way in a medicinal manner. Is it better than the oxy? The heroin? Certainly. Certainly. So as pain management maybe you've got some gummies. Pop those gummies. I don't know. Another person looks at you and oh the pastor's all you know he's all high from he does you know he does you know the pot or whatever. No I don't do the bong. I don't do any of that. I don't do any of it. But I'm not I'm certainly not going to say that my back injury is so bad that now I'm going into the business of selling you you know marijuana gummies you know. I don't I don't I don't really want to go there because that might be you know the appearance of evil. I want to stay away from that. That I'm not a pot pusher you know. A drug dealer or whatever. But for those that do produce this this sort of medicinal thing you know. People with cancers. People with back problems. It's much better than a lot of the pharmaceutical drugs. And so I got no problem with it. But you might. You might say hey man they're they're doing this that and the other. If you're getting high from it then I say we got a problem because that's not a gray area. Now you're coming under the pharmacy of the sorcery of it and it's altering your state of consciousness. So we just want to take the you know take the edge off of the pain that we're in somehow. If whatever way that is without becoming addicted to it and without it making us crazy. There's so many different ways. And so if you're in a lot of pain I don't know. Just do it secretly I guess you know. Don't let anybody know what's going on you know. Some people like to have a beer. Two beers. Three beers. Some people like to have wine with dinner. Wine in the morning. I don't know. Alcohol. You look at alcohol as a liberty you have. Jesus didn't forbid the drinking. It's what's forbidden is getting drunk. So what's your blood alcohol level? Are you under the influence thereof? Are you going to you know at what point does it become sin? How you going to analyze that? If you were able to drink it and you have small children or children or adult children. Do you have anybody in the in the group that you're in? The dinner party that's had a problem with alcohol. Is it okay for you to drink it in their presence? Will they stumble? Will they drink and go through 20 years of being a full-blown alcoholic as a result of you stumbling them? How do we exercise our liberties and maintain peace and exercise them in the way of love? So he says verse 13. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. And the Greek tense here is stop judging others. Judge yourself. Be considerate of others. Ask yourself how could my behavior stumble someone? The stumbling block means a snare or a trap. And so it might be that you hear that I watched the movie The Equalizer. I like that. I like Denzel. He's the bomb man. And this is exactly what I'd like to see happen right now. Somebody speck up. Somebody with something go after cut the head off the snake. No big wars. Don't call my grandkids or anybody to fight your wars bankers. We're sending Denzel to cut the head off of your snake and you you can't hide in Russia. He's gonna go in your palace and knock them all out and when it's all said and done you're gonna lose billions and billions and billions of dollars or the terminal list. Ten years ago I told my friend we need to make a list. Put the fear. They've never had a black eye. Catherine Austin Fitts said that. She said none of these banksters have ever had a bloody nose. They think they're gods. And so if you hear me watching a movie about Equalizer I know it's a fantasy all right but boy I'd sure like to I sure like to believe that Jesus is the equalizer right? He's gonna make everything right. Somebody's gonna stand for righteousness. Now why don't we see anybody? Because the love of money. Because everybody's been given suitcases of money to go along with the new world order. Any of the generals? Anybody that could? Anybody that could organize? So let me go to another movie. Gladiator. Maximus is offered. You're gonna do it Maximus. You're gonna go against him you know. He's betrayed right? He's betrayed. His buddy gets shot and all that. They grab him and all that. But we're looking. We're hoping. We're hoping Maximus gets the military and they get rid of those bad guys in the Senate. We're looking for somebody right? So anyway going too far with it but maybe you watch the movie and there's a scene in there. I can't believe Pastor Rick watched that. That was violent. It was so violent. It was this. It was that. The other. Well I'm sorry. Guilty. That's charged man. I'm guilty. So only thing I can do is not ever let you know what movies I watch right? That's all I can do because I don't want to stumble you. I don't I don't want to use movies in my sermon or or different little things there that that cause you to stumble. Or food you know. Different types of food that we eat. Alcohol. Smoking. Money. I think money is the biggest one. Us middle-class lower-level poor people. I've watched I've watched the church be brutal towards somebody that pulls up in a nice car and they have more wealth than we than us and all of a sudden everybody starts gossiping and talking and jabbering and what if somebody rolled in here with a Rolex on their wrist? What would you do then? Would you start making a big old thing like all the people starving and they've got a $5,000 Rolex on their arm you know? It's none of your business. It's none of your business. That's why they have to go to a church where there's other rich people so they don't have to put up with that okay? So we that are poor we can be guilty of covetousness and judging people because they got more than us and we're green with envy and we're kind of angry. Why them? Not me. You know I look at money as one of the biggest things. I mean for for me and Kathy as we came from the ground up here and then back down to the ground as we were climbing a little bit it just incited such incredible rebellion in people. He's such a loser. How can he get a new car you know? It's a 20 you know it's got 17,000 miles on it but how come he gets a new car you know? He should he should be walking. He should be taking public transit people tell me you know? And you know that guy doesn't deserve a new car you know? And and I mean people go nuts. They tap into the to the Kitsap County records and they say, Pastor Rick you know your house is worth now you know? I don't care what your guys houses are worth. I don't care what cars you drive. I got better things to do. Why are you worried about what kind of clothes my wife wears or my daughter's wear? How many people pulled my kids aside and tell them what kind of clothes they should wear and then later on my daughter sees the the woman in a restaurant changing into her clothes so she can cheat on her husband you know? I mean such hypocrites. Just mind your own business you know? If I want two pieces of pie leave me alone you know? Pastor Rick just took a second piece of pie. I'm not gonna eat any pie if that happens you know? You make it so I can't eat around you. And my wife you ever watch Kathy at the potluck? She won't eat anything because everybody's watching and we go to eat after the potluck in private because we're tired of it. We're tired of every little thing being micro-managed and criticized. That's not love. So don't do it. Don't do it. And smoking. People get really off on smoking you know? It's like you can't be you know in the upper echelon if you smoke cigarettes and oh it's really bad tobacco's bad and got nicotine in it and yeah it is bad. It's bad for your health but as I said it doesn't send you to hell. Where's it say that? It just sends you to heaven sooner. You get a heart attack and messes your body up. It's bad for your body. Charles Spurgeon smoked cigars. Big stogies. And he had to quit one day because one of the advertisers of tobacco used the phrase the type that Spurgeon smokes. And when he saw that it people he quit that day. G. Campbell Morgan smoked a pipe. Kathy to this day loves the smell of a pipe because when she'd go visit her grandpa in Columbus Ohio he had this pipe that he'd smoke and it's just it just brings these great memories into her heart. Now she doesn't smoke a pipe because God told me not to smoke or chew or run with girls that do so I didn't I don't do that you know. So we get we get we major on the minors we major on these gray areas. I hate for people that smoke to feel like to feel bad. If we're eating dinner we're somewhere you know please don't smoke in the car because I can't breathe anymore. I grew up in a home where they all smoked and the smoke level was just in that house and then my mom was always cold. In California she's cold. So the heaters up to 80 the windows are all shut and you got to try and breathe you know. So I'd open the window in the guest bedroom where we'd stay you know just get a breath of air I mean but they all did it grandma grandpa everyone all the relatives and then pretty soon they all started quitting smoking they recognized that it was that was bad for their health. They're all alcoholics and gamblers and they all quit they all had to eventually tone down their drinking you know and or quit. My grandpa I saw him one day he had the bluest eyes I'd never seen those eyes before you know and there's good drunks there's bad drunks he was a good drunk a happy drunk you know and fun to be around and so anyway that was that was the upbringing I had but when I became a Christian I had to evaluate all these different gray areas and trying to determine as for me in my house how are we gonna serve the Lord what are we gonna do you know and you have to do the same thing we have to do it in such a way that we not stumble people is the point that Paul's saying here don't be a block in 1st Corinthians 8 verse 9 it says take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak and so for me I think alcohol is one of the greatest stumbling blocks for people and I've heard of pastors drinking and pastors going out in public drinking alcohol and classic case is Mark Driscoll him and his church when the was what would Jesus do they had a phrase what would Jesus brew and and they began to brew beers like some of the churches around here micro brewing and drinking and thinking they're hip and cool cigars and pipes and no they're so hip and cool and pastors putting flasks in their long jackets at the holidays and stuff and they just think they're hipsters you're not hip you're not cool you just think you are you're an idiot really to the world they look at you it's like you better go all the way if you want to be cool in the world halfway in the middle live in the fence that's not cool okay it might be a little bit cool compared to pastor Rick you know if if drinking and getting a buzz is cool but but in any event he says something the effect of I don't know that my drinking he was confronted about stumbling some but I don't know that my drinking ever stumbled anybody well the guy that he founded the church with one to get into two DUIs and divorced I think that's stumbling somebody your number two guy okay not to mention all the kids and all the others and I had a hard time with our youth group 16 of them went down to the Bible College and the Bible College was permeated with the John Piper or whatever his name is Piper and Driscoll and all these guys the emergent guys pushing this drinking and smoking and pipes and all this stuff it was like all of a sudden they discovered all these areas of Liberty and and you know to this day many of those kids several several those kids have problems with alcohol now you know it was introduced where was it introduced in their lives not at our youth group not in my home I I stood against it and tried again hey that's a dead end I used to say stuff like hey I've got a PhD in alcohol I know alcohol now I don't you guys that went on to drink at 21 further you know what it's like I stopped at 20 when I got saved but I lived in alcoholic home my dad had hot water cold water and beer at the kitchen sink you just go to the kitchen sink and pull that thing grab a frosty mug tilt it get it there to have a little head on it they come home from work you just keep bringing it to them Friday night Saturday Saturday night Sunday they're plastered all weekend they're functional drunks Sunday morning we didn't go to church my dad would wake up hungover go to the freezer grab one of those mugs go to the refrigerator grab some tomato juice pour the tomato juice halfway beer the rest of the way someone told me that's the hair of the dog they're trying to get rid of the headache by introducing more alcohol to keep it going all day Sunday right that's the way they rolled and and they were again functional happy drunks and they all the umpires and coaches and everybody come over because it's so cool it was an anomaly in that day just for somebody to have a you know a kegger every two weeks we go the liquor store help them lift that in there in the backyard and it come through the wall on the patio and and that's the way they roll the only time I heard them you know crying out to God was one time my brother was told to go you know get a cold one for my dad and and he did it like he's supposed to and he walked away and a little while later my dad could hear this he forgot to put it back so it ran all the beer into the sink that that's bad that's bad you don't mess with the guys alcohol man that's co2 is coughing oh my dad still winces about that that was a hard one but um you learned to roll with it right so be considerate be considerate of others especially young believers especially children and in Matthew 18 verse 1 the disciples came to Jesus said who's going to be the greatest in heaven these guys are always fighting over who is going to sit on the left hand the right hand Salome the mother of James and John actually came to Jesus later and said hey could you put my son one on each side James and John when you get into your kingdom you know the disciples fighting over who's going to be the greatest Jesus asking her and them can you drink of the cup that I'm gonna drink they don't have a clue what he's talking about do they father if you're willing remove this cup from me can you drink the cup of God's wrath can be poured out on me oh yeah we can they only they don't have a clue they don't know the cost of greatness they don't know the cost of greatness is brokenness death to sell the cross of greatness is the cross no crown before the cross they didn't want the cross they don't want the cross for Jesus nor for themselves they just want to be great so in Matthew 18 1 Jesus took a little child in verse 2 and he put a child in the middle of them and he said except you be converted and become as this little child you'll know why is entered the kingdom of heaven and then he said whosoever wants to be great needs to humble themselves and become like one of these little children and he goes on to say you need to receive these little ones in my name these little children anybody rejects them rejects me you receive them in my name you need to receive them you need to receive the sheep that are broken the sheep that are hurting need to receive the little lambs and minister unto him you stumble them he said it'd be better for you to take a millstone around your neck me drown in the sea than to stumble one of these little ones now think of these bankers and these politicians these pedophiles preying upon the most innocent in society and with Edward here last week and we're going to Costa Rica to check out the human trafficking in February but it's Ukraine is just rife with children being abducted being taken from their parents to feed the the the appetite of the pedophiles in Europe all over the globe all over the world here in America all over children are being taken from their parents time to get a millstone it'd be too good for you really death by drowning be too good for you you got to be bodily resurrected the great white throne judgment answer for it all did Jeffrey Dahmer really get saved some say did he did no matter who sins but you got to come by way of the cross you got to come by way of Jesus and it's serious messing with his kids it's serious messing with children I mean when you see societies turning on the kids the way our society is we're close we're very close to judgment God's not going to take much more he hears the cries of the children of Sodom and Gomorrah he says I know I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there's nothing unclean of itself but to him that esteems anything to be unclean to him it is unclean so Paul says I've got a freedom of conscience and you know if you if your conscience is violated you know to you it's unclean and for me Paul saying I got I got no problem now me my conscience is violated with cockroaches don't try to feed me cockroaches I don't have enough faith to eat cockroaches all right or crickets or any of that and I'm not going to eat them around you I mean ain't gonna happen and if I go on a mission trip and they put food in front of me that culturally I need to eat they're telling me to eat I remember watching here we go with a movie again I think it's Raiders of the Lost Ark I'm not eating monkey monkey brain soup but it's not gonna happen it's bothered me the whole time I ever saw that it's not it's not gonna happen I I will I will be more offensive to people by projectile vomiting than by trying to keep it down so I know my limits I'll bring some beef jerky or something fasting I'll do something just drink water but not gonna happen so we get caught up with food and the Jews were caught up in they couldn't eat pork they couldn't it has strict dietary laws and the ceremony on dietary laws and and for them being around Gentiles was very grievous because the Gentiles would eat anything kind of like me and and so there's meat that's offered unto idols and in the marketplace that was the cheapest meat that was the best price meat that would go into a pagan temple and be offered as a sacrifice and then that meat would come out into the marketplace and be sold to people and it was the you know the most inexpensive meat now a lot of people Jews wouldn't even eat with Gentiles have nothing to do with Gentiles let alone eat some of that food so it was offensive to them and the other thing is Jews were offended in the processing of meat that if you didn't my buddy Eric shot a deer yesterday and I'm sure that you guys that are hunters know better than me but you're supposed to bleed it properly and you've got to put it up by the back legs and let it bleed cut the cut the neck and let it all bleed out otherwise there's problems so don't don't eat meat you know that's been strangled you know is what they're saying the Jews don't want to eat any meat that strangled because there's there's corruption there and the other thing is some of you like it really rare you like you don't even need to cook it well to the Jew you're drinking blood you're eating blood so don't don't don't eat around a Jew when that's the case and and so the fourth thing in in Acts 15 was stay away from your fornication you Gentiles you do those four things you don't need to be circumcised we can hang together we can be a part of the church but for the sake of you know you picture the Jews being the more mature believer more mature and the Gentile being the babe well the babe has to refrain from four things right from the meat offered to idols around the Jew now if the Jews not around you you can have bacon all the bacon you want right so Ivan and I went to Sherry's the other day and we had some coffee and he says hey it's lunchtime I'll buy you lunch and I'm like oh it's okay I don't I don't need lunch right now you're not gonna eat I'm not gonna eat and then the waitress I felt bad for like you know who wants to wait at table guys only eating coffee for an hour you know and so I said well I'll be the guy and so she offered me some pie no I don't want no pie oh I don't need those carbs right now and so I'll be fine and then it's not on me all right hey I'll have some bacon and some sausage who does that I do that bacon and sausage baby so that's how we roll bacon and sausage now if he'd have been offended like you can't be eating bacon it's noon is now that's bad that's from pigs you can't eat pigs you know then I would say well Ivan I I didn't know that about you all right I won't eat bacon all right buddy I won't I won't eat that around you you know I'll go for the pie or something you know so there's the dietary restrictions that greatly offend people the Jews the Jews couldn't even be around a Gentile so in Acts chapter 11 Peter had had wound up in a place actually chapter 9 let's start there Peter in chapter 9 is in an area called Joppa and when he said Joppa he heals a guy named Aeneas who was sick and then he moves to a place by Lydda where where Dorcas was making her veteran quilts to honor the vets on Veterans Day and she is making these jackets and quilts and all that and she provided these blankets and coats and everything for all the people that were poor and cold and and she drops dead and so Peter raises Dorcas from the dead and everybody's stoked and hey it's great and then he goes he goes over to an area with Simon the Tanner he's Simon he's Simon Peter and he goes to the house of Simon the Tanner again a Tanner is dealing with a lot of blood a lot of blood everywhere unclean unclean so he is a Jew I'm not sure he's even supposed to be with Simon the Tanner you know and so he's in the area of Joppa and then Cornelius a centurion and he had a disco band he was of the Italian band and he was a righteous guy and a real righteous dude and and he was praying and the Judy gets me she gets me and she can see John Travolta doing that all right so anyway I don't know where this all come from but in any event in any event so Cornelius he gives alms to the poor and he's a righteous dude he's praying and all that and his prayers come up to heaven and the Lord ministers to him sends an angel to let him know that your prayers are going to be answered and all and so the Lord is checking out Peter Peter's nearby Cornelius is a Caesarea Peter goes up on the roof he's really hungry at lunchtime and he can't go for it with a big ribeye and all that there's no food like that around there so he's he's in a trance he's praying he's in a trance and he says a sheep come down with all manner of beasts and creeping things I didn't like that part but the creeping things lobster okay okay I like that part but bugs ah all sorts of stuff and the Lord ministers to Peter and says rise Peter kill and eat and Peters not so Lord now what's wrong with that phrase that's an oxymoron if he's your Lord you can't say not so right not so Rick Kathy get away with that not so jackass you can get away with that that's what she likes to call me now but she's never calls me Lord Sarah called Abraham Lord Kathy will never do that not so Lord I've never eaten anything unclean or common been around Gentiles and that sort of thing I'm a good Jew and the Lord says don't call that common which I've cleansed so the Lord's given Peter a vision he's letting her know that I'm gonna transform and change the Gentiles how so Cornelius now three guys are gonna come and knock at the door Peter when you wake up from this trance you go with them they're gonna lead you to Caesarea to the home of Cornelius and so Peter goes that are the home of Cornelius and he begins to preach the gospel to these Gentiles and not only do they get saved the indwelling of the Holy Spirit but like acts to the AP experience the baptism the Holy Spirit comes upon Cornelius and the whole household of people that he has there and Peter's so stoked he's excited and all that and then the heavies the heavies the Judaizers in Jerusalem hear about it so in chapter 11 they come down they come down to Caesarea to check it out kind of like when when Philip was sharing with the Samaritans and the Samaritans were all getting saved they had to send the heavies down and so they come down there and all they can all they can say is they're angry at Peter because he ate with Gentiles what are you doing eating with Gentiles man so then he rehearses the whole story to them in chapter 11 of what happened and then they start rejoicing okay all right God's doing a new thing and all that we didn't know and all that and then in Galatians 2 we discover that Peter when the heavies came down he was eaten with the Gentiles at the dinner party but when he saw the Judaizers he separated himself from them because he didn't want to get in trouble a Jew eating with a Gentile what kind of food were they eating maybe had some bacon there I don't know or a ham a honey honey baked ham but he was eating some food he really loved he really liked it right and so Paul rebuked him to his face why you know are you being hypocritical that you eat this kind of food and you're around the Gentiles but when the Jews come you know you separate yourself so in Acts chapter 15 they're trying to figure out this issue of Gentiles mixing with Jews what do we do how can we get the two to come together should we circumcise all the Gentiles no Paul draws a line no circumcising you don't circumcise these guys they don't need to be circumcised circumcision is a symbolic of keeping the law no salvation is by grace through faith alone they're going to come to faith the same way we do and so the circumcision of the heart the cutting away the foreskin of the heart the surrendering unto God in that way so for the purpose of fellowship by way of review there's four things we'd like you Gentiles to be aware of don't be eating food that's been sacrificed unto idol around Jews it will stumble them don't be eating food around Jews that has been strangled it's gonna stumble them don't be eating that real bloody bloody meat it's gonna stumble them cook it and number four abstain from fornication they're stumbled by how promiscuous you are in your fornication all over the place and so we're talking about Gentiles being brand-new believers still having trouble navigating and walking with the Lord we got Jews who are real strict legalists according to the letter you know and the Spirit gives life and they're trying to bring and blend these two different groups and mindsets of people as a man thinking in his heart so is he for the purpose of fellowship for the purpose of following the same Jesus and boy isn't that what's happening today in the Middle East you got different ethnic groups and belief systems and such and Jesus saying hey come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden I'll give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me from meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest under your souls but so much prejudice so much preconceived judgmental attitudes toward different ethnic groups and Jesus said that nation shall rise against nation and he's using the Greek word ethnos ethnic group against ethnic group can you see the way the devil through the bankers through the propaganda is trying to get the world to divide to get us to divide in America on every level every level they're trying to get us to divide even ethnic group don't you love the idea we're a melting pot that's what America is when I grew up in Southern Cal you know we had everybody coming to Southern Cal you just learn I mean at the Vietnam War at the end you know all of Vietnam came to Westminster California they called little Saigon well you just got used to it I mean you see him coming if you go anywhere near Westminster Boulevard you had to be careful because they didn't know how to drive you know they're all over the place you know but but you're patient with it their children go to school and they wind up being the valedictorians they go to college they and and they don't even know the language when they first get here imagine that and we got people blaming everybody be for whatever and you have people willing to live three families in a house and they buy the house then they help buy another house and they start businesses whole strip centers with different types of businesses get your nails done get your hair done get your sushi whatever I don't know car repairs all different types of service businesses and such doctors lawyers dentists whole culture and you better learn to get along we did and then guess what I moved to Oregon to plan a church and my friend Andy and Tanya moved to Idaho you know what they call Idaho white oh they're not used to all the ethnic groups moving in weird how prejudiced we white people are in Oregon it was really weird I never saw so many women missing their front teeth I'll tell you it's weird I don't know if it's meth or what it was but it was strange man and then here's another prejudice you come to Kitsap County only thing that saves me in Kitsap County is the Navy I had no idea how small-minded Kitsap County is I had no idea how entrenched in tradition and your community and I'm an outsider from California and how much people hated Californians only thing they were wanted from this California is my beautiful daughters you know that they want but everything else fighting fighting fighting fighting no matter how good you do how hard you try if there's a prejudice here the prejudice of my daddy built that church my grandpa this and you know and there's this whole inner circle of people here that are intimidated by Californians and outsiders until the California builders come here finally and start building buying up everybody's land making everybody rich now we can tolerate to a point but you know what they don't build very well they just use a little whitewash on the wall now you're gonna cut the Californians down all made millions of dollars on property that was blighted and stood barren for 20 years since I've been here but all of a sudden now 30 years now sustainable development apartments are going up everywhere and it's not the local builders building it is it they're getting rich by selling the land and doing some of the trades but it's people from the outside coming in and doing what they do and it's so incredible to me and the churches are treated the same way Christians treat you the same way and again the only thing that saved me is I lasted long enough because of the Navy bringing people from Hawaii and San Diego who came here and kind of could relate with a Calvary Chapel we're looking for a Calvary Chapel that would teach God's Word and I you know they they shift out every three years but new ones come as the old ones go and then you get to know some of the locals here and some of them stay and you start to you start to make a little bit of headway but prejudices everywhere all through the church it's crazy what we do verse 15 but if my brother be grieved with I meet how walkest thou charitably destroy not him with I meet for whom Christ died so agreed by what he sees you doing he's destroyed you've destroyed by doing it love seeks the highest good for the others so be considerate we all want to lift people to the higher plane Galatians 5 13 you have been called unto liberty you have this freedom this liberty only use not your liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another so peace and liberty verse 16 let not then your good be evil spoken of so God be blaspheme people rejecting God because of you stumble them because of you you know smoking so Spurgeon quit smoking he didn't want to stumble a whole group of people G Campbell Morgan I don't know what he did with the smoking of his pipe I know Pastor Chuck what he did he's very wealthy home in Newport Beach very very successful but around the congregation he drive a one-year-old Buick every year he'd trade in the Buick and he didn't want to pay for a new car and he let everybody know because everybody's looking to the pastor's car everybody sees the pastor's car with the pastor's driving and the pastor's wife you can't drive a Cadillac their generation love Cadillacs but you can drive a Buick if it's one year old is real good you know and and so he he he would do that and that way he wouldn't stumble anybody if he went out to a champagne brunch after service after church he would make sure that he would as Billy Graham Billy Graham if he's invited to cocktail parties with all the presidents Billy Graham would eat out of a drink out of a coffee cup so that people wouldn't be stumbled that he's drinking cocktails you know Pastor Chuck would drink the sparkling Apple Apple cider with his grandchildren and such and make sure that people that were watching him because he's a celebrity that he wasn't drinking you know the champagne and so you got to be careful you don't want to stumble people you don't want to destroy people's faith as you exercise your liberty they may not be able to handle it Pastor Chuck had two Rolexes given to him by rich people I'm still waiting for mine and he couldn't in your guys are going you'll be waiting a long time and he couldn't wear him around the church people wouldn't wear him around there only person need wear him around is if he was going somewhere with the person that gave it to him but he knew if he wore a Rolex that it would stumble people are you stumbled by these guys saying their jets are too small I need a bigger jet I need more money always begging stumbles people people hate it I hate it and he didn't want to be a stumbling block and so if riches increase that not your heart on them I really really think that we need to be kinder and we need to rejoice and celebrate when somebody's blessed when God blesses somebody with a new car a new home or a nice cruise or a trip to Hawaii or whatever don't be bad-mouthing them celebrate celebrate be happy for them I came out of the hole and started a little Facebook thing when I met Vicki because she pointed out how you can how you can get the church information out you know people can hear the Word of God well I got addicted to it let me tell you but I like I like being private I like being isolated now when I go on a vacation and I'm filming Kathy and I riding bikes and we're showing you the food I'm eating I'm not doing it so when I come back I can hear you say I want to hear you say that looked awesome Pastor Rick so blessed you got to be there with your grandkids I don't want to hear you say how much did that cost people do that to me they do that to us Kathy wears a uniform pastors wives can have a you know the ladies ministry Fridays you know and the wife will come in pastor Chuck's wife Kay wearing a real nice dress and people say I saw that at South Coast Plaza you know how much that cost none of your business just mind your own business that's that's the one that I think is the most grievous is that we are watching real closely to people of what they buy and have and go and do and for many it stumbles them now the problem is not with them the problems with us your covetous you're jealous you're greedy so for somebody that has something like that in a loving manner they would just tone it down they drive the Buick they don't wear the Rolex they don't go out to eat with people anymore because people are stumbled at how big a ribeye he buys you know and what how much it cost so it forces the pastor to go underground again do you see what I'm saying you can't you can't you can't enjoy what God's blessing you with in many cases it's incredibly hypocritical too so abstain from all appearance of evil Billy Graham drinking out of the coffee cup for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost so the Pope says hey Fridays are for fish God told me fish Fridays Bill Gates says french fry Friday well God told me taco Tuesday's that's how I'm gonna roll carne asada tacos so around the Pope I'm gonna eat salmon on Fridays okay if he and I roll in this Pope mobile hey let's go get some salmon bro he's not my bro but you know what I mean get some salmon I'm not gonna stumble him but first Corinthians 8 verse 8 but meat commendeth us not to God for neither if we eat are we the better or neither if we eat not are we the worst so Jesus said it's not that which goes into a man that defiles a man but that which comes out it's your heart from the heart of the issues of life and so the hearts deceitfully wicked above all things desperately wicked and who can know it and so we want to the people around Jesus are all concerned about washings and what kind of food they're eating all and he's saying no it's not what goes into a man that defiles a man and we carry that over the Joel East Osteen era of what percentage of body fat do you have and eating excess amounts of food with fat on your body or bad food or whatever somehow you're a glutton and winebibber or whatever no it's not true it's not what goes into a man that defiles man is what comes out from the heart it's the heart what comes out of your lips the heart exposes you and that's what defiles you Jesus said that which comes out of your heart so be considerate for he that it for he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men and so we serve Christ by being considerate to ensure peace use your liberty in a considerate manner secondly in a constructive manner verse 19 let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another so use your liberty for peace keep the peace as best you can Romans 12 18 says it'd be possible live peaceably with all men the way it's said there you can't always live peaceably with people so it may be it's a source of contention and it may be that you just have to withdraw yourself because you're constantly being judged and so you don't want to stumble the person you don't want fight with the person I want to contend with the people so you want to maintain peace so you know what I'll just I'll just eat in private blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God the word means to build up so be constructive build people up with gifts that God's given you with your tongue with your teaching not destructive the thief comes not but to steal to kill to destroy Satan's a destroyer Jesus said but I've come that you might have life that you might have it more abundantly in Luke chapter 9 Jesus was traveling through Samaria heading over to Jerusalem he's put his face to Jerusalem he had a meeting with a cross and the Samaritans were half-breeds and they don't have relationships as you saw in John 4 the Samaritan woman at the well Jesus divine appointment to minister to her but as they're going through the area of Samaria and the people could see Jesus was fixed on on a heading to Jerusalem he told the disciples find a place you know suppress to hang out and the Samaritans didn't want him there and so James and John said Lord do you want us to call down fire the sons of thunder do you want us to call down fire from heaven as as Elijah did and Jesus told them the Son of Man has not come to destroy men's lives but to save them you don't know what spirit you're of that's not the spirit I am to destroy men's life I came to not destroy men's lives but to save men's lives verse 21 it is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine or anything whereby thy brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak so again no bugs for me no bugs don't don't don't try to force me to eat the bugs you know I really don't have a problem with anything that you eat doesn't bother me one bit but don't impose it upon me you know let me eat it's about one of the last things I got going so use constraint deny yourself so in reverse he becomes weak is offended then stumbles because of your inconsiderate behavior your liberty becomes destructive we don't want to destroy somebody Michael Rodriguez he'll tell you a friend of ours that took years for his wife to get him to come to church finally went to church and then they had a men's meeting and the men all started drinking alcohol he went another ten years of drinking alcohol pulled him back down before he could ever extricate himself that and then then the drugs came on so you don't want to be responsible for that a lot of people coming into the church are getting off the drugs off the alcohol off the stuff that used to hold them in bondage they don't need to be introduced to a men's group that that you know gets drunk it's not Christianity so use constraint deny yourself be constructive be conformed to his weakness wait for him help him to grow help her to grow eat a salad with chicken and steak on it yeah to ensure peace use your liberty in a considerate manner secondly a constructive manner thirdly and finally in a confident manner why should I be wimping out all swishy because somebody's immature doesn't have a mature understanding of how to use their liberties sure I can deny myself when I'm around them but in my private life the way that I live does it need does it mean that I need to be legalistic can I use this Liberty in such a way that can I have bacon can I take people over to the oak table and and buy rounds of bacon you know thick huge bacon can I get the sausages and then nowadays you know all the carbs are bad can I get that big old apple pancake right there in front of you you know all boiling brown sugar all over it burn your mouth like a hot pizza hey it's almost time to go to oak table they don't close till three I mean it's the bomb it's it's unbelievable their omelets go into the oven and they got all puffy and everything and everything's perfect every time they bring the coffee to you right right boom boom boom boom expensive yeah everything's expensive even junk foods expensive but I'd rather have healthy food that keeps me from the doctor keeps me from getting sick I want preventive maintenance I want to prevent sickness by eating the best food I can eat you may not like that that may not be you maybe you want Friday's you know French fry Friday Bill Gates and you don't care you want to wing it well don't expect me I don't care if you put chili on I'm still not eating that stuff I got a temple I got to take care of has now faith have it to thyself before God happy as he that condemned not himself in that thing which he allows so be confident in your Liberty God has given you a measure of faith you enjoy it be happy but use discretion notice have it to thyself before God Kathy and I eat a lot of meals alone because we know people are watching and she's very uncomfortable in public so a lot of times even if we've gone out to eat with you or gone to the potluck in a few weeks on the way home we'll go get some food seems crazy doesn't it but we've done this for 28 years we know how it works shouldn't be like that but it is when I was over to pastors conference there as my big much bigger name now a lot of people make fun of you when you're big all of a sudden you're a glutton because you're big and so I the food was there and I started go for the food and one of the pastors one of the main guys like putting in front of my like you want that you want that you like to tease you then they use words at Christmas time like oh you're jolly you're jolly really I'm jolly cuz I'm big alright so sometimes people you know they go crazy about how big you are the size how you look that is that the other and and their reaction of you when you're around food you know is insulting and they speak down to you don't do that enjoy the food Jesus love to go out and have meals with people and I don't see him criticizing people of what they ate or how much they eat you don't know that if if I go and eat two meals at some place that you're paying for that I'm I might have fasted for three days leading up to it and I and I say to you when you invite me are you sure you can afford this do you know what you're getting into I've been invited me out for coffee last week at Sunday service and I said Ivan I'm worth far more than that it's gonna cost you a ribeye buddy and he's like no Ivan I'm serious I'm worth more than a cup of coffee and then he's all nervous all right I'll do just a coffee but I got my bacon James 313 who is a wise man a dude with knowledge among you let him show out of a good conversation is works with meekness of wisdom so demonstrate wisdom knowledge puffs up but love edifies so in private you can eat me you can watch a video as long as it's not offensive to God as long as it's not immoral I've had people come up to me and say pastor you offended me because you used a certain word and he's right I mean I won't use that word but I'll tell you the word hope you don't get offended but I said the guy was pissed off well I'll never use that word he's not here today so I could use it but I don't want to use words that offend people so if he's offended by it I'm not gonna use it in a sermon or the way that I talked to you I don't want to be offensive I don't want to be potty humored or or any of that kind of stuff this this callings that there's a more dignity dignity to this calling to honor God you know with our words there's some things little slangs here and there that may be offensive but let me know I'll clean it up I don't want to be offensive a movie choosing that which God allows so be careful all things are lawful unto me but all things are not expedient that word expedient means profitable will draw me closer to Christ or further away all things are lawful for me but I won't be brought into the power of any so how would I illustrate this well you say as a Christian I'm gonna I'm gonna quit drinking tea I'm gonna quit drinking coffee or you know I'm gonna drink I'm gonna drink alcohol and I'm gonna make sure that I don't get drunk and it's okay to have wine and beer and all that well in a time of stress are you sure you can stop are you sure it won't get a hold of you are you sure that your husband your wife a family member that they might go down that road is it is it really profitable do you want to take the gamble is it safer if you refrain and not allow that in to your life if you want to exercise the liberty and you have no problem with it nobody else can judge you of it just don't do it around you know the church people that are offended by it let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall verse 23 and he that doubts is damned if he eat because he eats not a faith for whatsoever is not a faith is sin so exercise your liberty in a confident manner but not proud not flaunting it not prideful no fear no wishy-swishy kind of mentality no double-mindedness Titus 115 under the pure all things are pure but under them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled so weak-minded indecisive a lady came to church during kovat and she had a mask on in her eyes she's a real sweet lady lover they don't go here anymore but our stance on kovat and are staying open and are challenging the whole mass thing why do people that are not sick wearing masks supposedly you're loving your neighbor well it says right on the box the virus goes through that mask it's like a chain-link fence can't handle it so wait a minute so if I'm sick and I go into a hospital room certainly number one I shouldn't be there if I'm sick a lot of people aren't here today because they're sick they got us for upper respiratory from these flu shots these kovat shots they're sick so in their love for you they're staying home but you're not wearing a mask because you're afraid of getting them sick you know I mean it's if you're healthy why does the whole world have to mask up why do you have to double mask so I get it wearing a mask one that would stop it you know be healthy wash your hands do everything you can in a clean room and go visit a guy and all right I'll do it out of love I don't want to but I will because I love you and I see the doctor go in there and they don't have theirs on they take it off and I hear the doctor I hear the nurse say you don't keep that door shut and I was why because the kovats in there it'll get out well how does that work you know why do I have to be zombie ville you know so there's there's certain part of me that hates to be lied to and perpetuate and give into a lie but there's the other aspect of it the person the patient doesn't understand so I need to humble myself wear the mask pray with them lay hands with them knowing with oil whatever I got to do as a means of love but out in public you know you guys going to work if you have to wear a mask keep it wear the mask don't die on that hill but if I'm a tractor supply that kicked me out they kicked me out the oak table but they let me back now kick me out the gym hair movie theaters everywhere getting kicked out it's badge of honor challenging it but now the second time around more and more people wearing masks or people going through that what am I supposed to do is it truly loving my neighbor to wear a mask if they need me I'll wear the mask if they don't need me I'm not wearing the mask so this lady at church she was wearing the mask and she looked at me defiant like and they never came back and if you want to marry wear a mask two three master church that's fine with you if you want to sit six feet apart that's fine if you want plexiglass or anything do it be the bubble person I don't care but I'm not doing it I'm not going to give in to the lie I want to set you free so if I have confidence and I have faith and I've done my due diligence and I'm recognizing this is propaganda it's a clot shot I'm not going to perpetuate the lie by grooming you to be passive toward evil and passive toward the line go along with it but if I see you vulnerable and you need prayer and and man I'll put the mask on and I'll lay hands and I'll pray with you know you with oil I'll do what I can because your conscience is such that it's the only way I can get at you but don't impose that on everybody else in society that even when we're driving our cars that we have to double mass to appease you and call that love that's perpetuating a lie when in history of ever human beings have to run around like that because of a cold pneumonia upper respiratory out in public in a hospital that's different I think it's different I don't know without faith it's impossible to please God for they that come to him must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him behold how good now pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity Psalm 103 verse 1 verse 19 let us therefore follow after the things of which make for peace and things where with one may edify another peace and liberty maybe today you find yourself tormented and you need peace you're in bondage and you need liberty Jesus wants to give you peace Jesus wants to set you free Jesus came to set the captives free you first of all need to have peace with God your sins are separating you from God you come to him and you surrender on his terms unconditional surrender unto him and you will experience Romans 5 peace with God and then as a believer as you as he comes into your heart and life and he sets you free from the bondage of sin and death and hell as he sets your mind free your heart free your life free sin shall not have dominion over you then he empowers you to serve he empowers you to know the fruit of the Spirit which is love and you begin to experience not just peace with God but the peace of God which surpasses all understanding a quality of life the world doesn't even know so we in the church we don't want to divide over minor little issues and ruin the peace that we enjoy if need be we won't eat meat if need be we'll do what we got to do for the younger brother or sister or person struggling with various things and we'll try and negotiate in such a way that they're not stumbled if we're caught in a spot where we can't walk can't get out of there then we just refrain we eat a salad not going to get me to smoke to make you feel better not going to get me to have a beer to make you feel better you got to respect my saying no to those things but if you want to smoke if you want a beer if you want wine with your dinner and you're out with me that's fine I got no problem with it go for it I'm not judging you but don't impose that upon me I don't want to go there at the cross of Calvary Jesus conquered sin he conquered Satan he set the captives free he suffered the wrath of his father for our sins for our salvation peace with God the peace of God and that liberty he who the sun sets free is free indeed let's pray father thank you for the liberty the peace we enjoy thank you for the love Lord teach us the love Lord help us to love one another help us to not pontificate and talk down be disrespectful to one another help us not be jealous and envious and covetous and all those other things of the flesh help us to truly love Lord help us to walk through first Corinthians 13 and put our name in there put your name in there see how far we have to go see how far see how loving we are and cry out to God cry out to you God be merciful to me a sinner Lord teach me to love empower me to love help me to love like you love Lord without compromise no compromise with the world but Lord in the in the things that are non-essential the things that really don't matter Lord help us to be willing to die to self for the sake of fellowship for the sake of unity for the sake of the oneness the desire that we want to not stumble a brother to help us to be edified and built up and strength and help us all to grow in the grace and knowledge of you bless we pray Lord Jesus name anyone here this morning and you don't have a relationship with Jesus just lift your hand up we want to lead you in prayer your prayer away your repentance away you're turning from your sins you're crying out to God God be merciful to me a sinner if that's the cry of your heart this morning you're in torment you feel in bondage you need help you need to be saved we want to lead you in prayer we want to lead you to Christ anyone here this morning he's the answer father thank you again Lord as we partake of communion as we worship you as we leave here Lord just soften our hearts help us to be peacemakers help us to go the extra mile help us to not fall into the strategies and tricks of the wicked one that we divide over these tiny little things Jesus name we pray