And Such Were Some of You

Well, brethren, we all know that the Scriptures tell us that God has called the weak of the world at this time. He's called the weak that He may confound the mighty. People like me who forget things, who can't find things, He's called the weak of the world so that with His mighty power He can transform and change us eventually into one who will enter His eternal, perfect family. That is our calling. It is your calling. It's my calling. It's an exciting calling. We should be very, very enthusiastic about our calling. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and let's consider what God does say about our calling. 1 Corinthians chapter 1.

We'll start reading in verse 1. Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and saustenies our brother to the church of God, which is at Corinth. To those who are sanctified, which means set apart by the God's Spirit, they are set apart in Christ Jesus because they've accepted Christ as their Savior. They are called to be saints with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. So we are called to know Christ, to accept Christ as our Savior. In verse 18, it says, For the message of the cross is foolishness, talking about Christ crucified on the stake or the cross.

It is foolishness to those who are perishing, those who God isn't yet calling at this time, who don't have the vision, who don't understand, will die without accepting Christ as their Savior. Of course, we know that they will be resurrected later on, and they will come to know Christ.

But God is not calling everyone now, and it is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us, who are being saved at this time, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Though those who are strong in many, many ways are going to be brought low by the fact that God is not calling them at this time.

God is calling the weak and the foolish of the world, that those wise may be confounded in due time. He says, Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputor of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? There was an awful lot of emphasis put on knowledge and wisdom at this time when Paul wrote this, just as there is today. For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks, they seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Christ, the one who was in the grave three days and three nights, that was the sign, and yet they did not even recognize the sign that was given of Christ as the Messiah. We preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, you brethren at Corinth, and those of you here in Dallas today, you see your calling that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, not many noble-born or well-born are called. It doesn't say there might not be a few, but there aren't many. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. There is no salvation in the flesh. But of him who are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the Lord, let him glory in the Eternal, the Savior, the Creator of all mankind, God the Father, and Jesus Christ, who are one in essence in terms of how they look at things, how they think, their approach, two beings, basically one mind.

So, brethren, it is our calling. It is the calling of each and every one in this room. If you're here for the right reason, surely, if you're here because God has drawn you to him, God is calling you at this time. Now, by design, this introduction to this sermon is going to be a bit longer than normal. But I will eventually get to the subject and the title of this sermon today. The title is, and such were some of you.

Let's go to a few other scriptures in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 2 now. Chapter 2, verse 6.

Paul says, However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. We must not put our faith in the rulers and the people that are prominent today. The Donald Trumps of the world, the Hillary Clintons of the world.

That's not where we need to put our faith. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I is not seen nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, it searches, yes, the deep things of God.

For what man knows the things of man, except the spirit of the man which is in him, even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Reading a little further, now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And some of you have tried to convince people that God isn't calling and it doesn't work. God has to open their minds to understand the truth of God. Nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. The Spirit of God gives discernment. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one, for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him.

But we have the mind of Christ. We do have the mind of Christ. Christ's mind is to be in our mind. If we're spiritually led, then we have the mind of Christ. Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, again, I want to just show the theme that is throughout the first part of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16. If anyone, I'm sorry, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you, as one called out, the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If God has chosen you, if you've responded to the call and you've been baptized, you've received the lain on of hands, you truly repented of your sins and accepted Christ, then you receive the Spirit of God. It dwells in you. If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

He says, Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness. I don't know how many times he can say this without us hopefully understanding it. For it is written, he catches the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the eternal knows the thoughts of the wise that they are futile. Therefore, let no one boast in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Peter, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come.

All are yours, and you are Christ, and Christ is God's. So we are all part of the family of God that's being called at this time. God is a family, and we're part of that family. The Spirit of God dwells in us.

We are sanctified and set apart by God's Spirit, not by any human wisdom, not by any might of our own, but by the Spirit of God. Now, pride and arrogance were definitely a problem in the church at Corinth. They were puffed up. They were allowing sexual immorality to continue amongst them, and God and Paul were not pleased with this approach.

You remember the member who was having relations with his stepmother. Immoral, illicit relations with his stepmother. He said it's something that they don't even hear of in the Gentile world, for the most part. And they were allowing that to go on. So let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5 and pick it up in verse 9. I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people, yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

I know that many of you have to work with people who have bad lifestyles. They're not faithful, God-fearing people. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person.

Now this is a very strong verse, but it seems reasonably clear, doesn't it, that God expects us to come out of our sins. He does not expect us to condone sin among us, and we are to set a sterling example in the world.

For what have I to do with judging those who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? Speaking about those who are within the church, but those who are outside, God judges. Therefore, put away from yourselves the evil person. So evil people are not to be coming amongst us.

They really aren't. If they're evil people, that doesn't mean a sinner because we're all sinners, right? We all fall short of God's glory. None of us are perfect. We all are far from perfect. But someone who is blatantly continuing in sin to the degree that Paul is talking about here, certainly they should not be among us. So if you are such a person, I would ask that you remove yourself from our services. There's no place for you here. If you repent, you're welcome. If you don't, you're not. Plain and simple. I may not know about it, but you know about it.

So let's go to one more scripture before I give you my specific purpose statement. 1 Corinthians 6, chapter 6 now. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 6 through 11. 1 Corinthians 6.

Paul says, But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers.

Now therefore it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? Obviously, Paul's talking about an overall attitude and approach that a converted, God-fearing person should have toward each other, toward God's people, toward the brethren.

Do you yourselves do wrong and cheat and do these things to your brethren? Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? There's no hiding from God. God knows it all. I don't have to know it all. God knows it all. God is supreme. I'm a shepherd, but God knows your hearts. He knows everything about you. So don't you know that the unrighteous are not going to inherit the kingdom? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners. None of them are going to inherit the kingdom of God.

God is really serious about you have to repent. You can't practice these things and think you're going to go into God's kingdom. You have to put them out of your life. You have to be moving in the right direction. You have to be making progress against these things. They must not be tolerated. You need to be moving in the right direction, repenting, growing, overcoming, putting these things out of your life. Continuing on.

And such were some of you.

Okay, that's the title of the sermon. Such were some of you. Some of you were adulterers. Some of you were homosexuals. Some of you were sodomites, thieves. We come from all kinds of backgrounds, don't we, in God's church? You know, I've probably met all of these types of people in the church at one time or another in the 40 years I've been in God's church. So people are called out of this world, sometimes in some pretty bad circumstances, but they are expected to change. And such were some of you. In other words, you're not that way any longer. You've changed, you've put the sin out.

Now you can fellowship with us. Because God is capable and does forgive every sin that's truly repented of. So, as I said before, we are family, and every family has its challenges. If God calls a person, we as God's people, already called out and chosen by him, are obligated to receive them into the family. Now I'm going to go a different direction, probably different from where you thought I was headed in this particular sermon. So what is God's approach towards sinners who repent? And how should we receive such a one into our family? How should we receive such a one into the family? That's really what this sermon is going to be about from now on. But the introduction, I hope, helps set the tone that God really does want us to come out of sin. He wants us to be holy even as he is holy. We should be presented to him as a glorious church without spot, without wrinkle, without any such thing. Now that is a high and a holy calling.

It's not for the weak-hearted. It's not for the faint-hearted. It's for those who are willing to dig in and to do what's necessary to make changes in their lives.

So again, what is God's overall approach towards sinners who repent? Let's take a look at some verses. First, let's go to Isaiah 42.

I'm actually going to go to some verses you might not normally think of in this context because we basically know what God's overall approach toward a sinner is. God forgives sins. You know, God is a God of forgiveness. He forgives sin. But let's go to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42.

Verse 5, Thus says God the Eternal, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth. He's actually talking about God the Father here. God the Father used the one who became Christ as the Creator. That really shouldn't be confusing. They worked together as a team, so God the Father was directing things through the logos for the spokesman who spoke, and it existed.

But clearly, it's talking about the Father here because soon we'll be talking about the Son. Verse 5, Again, Thus says God the Eternal, who created the heavens and stressed them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and Spirit to those who walk on it. I the Eternal have called you. Notice, you is capitalized. You is talking about His Son. I the Eternal have called you in righteousness. Christ was perfect. Was totally righteous. He never sinned. I have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison. Okay, He's going to bring out prisoners from the prison. Now, I might say that in one sense, every single one of us was once a prisoner. Every one of us was a prisoner to some degree or another. Now, we were subject to the lust of the flesh, to the pride of life, to these things where in which we walked, we walked in the flesh. No matter what your background is, there were times, certainly before you were converted, that you walked in the flesh, and you were a prisoner. Satan, in a sense, has taken all of us captive until we make the decision to commit ourselves fully in baptism, and God washes away our sins.

Then we're no longer prisoners. We've been freed. God has freed us. We are His children. We are to walk with Him. So, in a sense, we're all prisoners. Let's read further here. I'm in verse 7 of chapter 42 of the book of Isaiah. To bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house, bringing them out of darkness. Now, I've actually had a lot of experience working in prisons. When I was in Oklahoma, we probably had the most active group of men who went into the prisons of anyone in the United Church of God or probably in the worldwide Church of God. I'm not sure about that, but we went into a lot of prisons. We didn't go in there unless we were invited to come. There were prisoners who were contacting us, and we answered the call. We went in to see them, to counsel with them. We actually had Sabbath services in a few different prisons at various times in the years that I was there. So, I've worked quite a bit with prisoners. So, I can identify to some degree, certainly, with what God is saying. These men, many of them, were in great darkness. But God, in some cases, certainly was calling some of them out. Not many! Not very many. When you look at the prison population, there aren't very many that are called out of prison into the glorious light of God's truth. And there are even fewer that answer the call.

And that was very clear to me. There were fewer. It's not easy to come out of the prisons and to embrace God's truth and be faithful to it. So, he says, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house, I am the Lord. That is my name, the Eternal. And my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I declare. Before they spring forth, I tell you of them. Now, let's drop down to verse 22 now. Verse 22, same chapter. But this is a people robbed and plundered. God's people, prior to conversion, there are people that have been robbed and plundered.

Well, let's read verse 21 first. The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will exalt the law. He will make it honorable. His son came to do that, to show the spirit of God's law and how binding it really is upon a true Christian. Even that we're supposed to bring our every thought into captivity. We're to be slaves of Christ, slaves of God the Father. We're to be his slaves, bringing every thought into captivity. But we're not to be prisoners of Satan the Devil any longer. So the Lord is well pleased. He will exalt the law. He will make it honorable. But this is a people robbed and plundered. All of them are snared in holes and they are hidden in prison houses. Again, we've all been called out of the prisons to one degree or another. And they are prey and no one delivers for plunder and no one says, restore. So God is wanting to call everyone out of the prisons, and one day he will do that. He's not doing that right now, but he is calling some out of prison. In Isaiah chapter 61, here we read that Christ was sent to proclaim liberty to the captives.

Isaiah 61 verse 1, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. This is what Christ is saying. God's Spirit is upon me. God the Father has the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, they have the Holy Spirit. It's their power. It's their divine essence. The Spirit of God is upon me because the Lord, the Eternal, obviously speaking of the Father, has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, those who are in prison, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Those who are shackled, perhaps by their own carnality, by their own flesh that they've been yielding to all these years, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise.

So it's verse 3 again, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Eternal, that he may be glorified, and they shall rebuild the old ruins. You know, God is all about restoring. That's what God is all about, and that's what we should also be about. We should be about restoring ourselves and helping others be restored. They shall rebuild the old ruins. They shall raise up the former desolations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

Many, many generations. God is eventually going to save everyone that's willing to be saved. Now, we surely don't see that today, but he has called a few out of the prisons. He has called a few out of darkness into his marvelous light. According to Psalm 146, verse 7, and you don't need to go there because I'm just going to hit this real quickly, it says, the Eternal gives freedom to the prisoners. Plain and simple. The Eternal is the one who gives freedom to the prisoners. In Psalm 68, we will go there. Psalm 68.

Psalm 68, verse 1.

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, let those who hate him flee before him.

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. See, that's how strongly God feels about wickedness. God hates wickedness. God is righteous. God is holy. He hates sin and wickedness. He hates evil.

But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly. And sing to God, sing praises to his name. Extol him who rides on the clouds by his name Yah, which is a shortened version of Yahweh. And rejoice before him, a father of the fatherless, a defender of widows. That's what God is like. That's what he's all about. He's a father to the fatherless. He is a defender of widows.

That's God in his holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families. Sometimes God calls a single person out and sets him within God's church, that he might have a true family. I've seen that happen many times. God sets the solitary in families. He brings out those who are bound into prosperity. Have you not prospered in your life? I know I was bound at one time. I was very young, but I was still bound. I was headed in the wrong direction. And God brought me out. He gave me freedom. And he's prospered me all these years. So I know God's way works. I'm a firm believer that God's way works. I've seen it work. And you've seen it work in your life. God is a deliverer.

He delivers us, and we need to have more faith in Him. We need to have more faith in God and trust Him and believe in Him and know that He's there for us. He will defend us. He will take care of us.

So we need not be afraid.

And I don't have time to go to these verses, so I'm just going to refer them to you. You can look them up later. In Psalm 102 verses 15 through 22, it talks about how God hears the groaning of the prisoners. God hears their groaning. Now, I've talked to prisoners who've been in prison sometimes for years. In fact, I know someone very, very closely who's actually a part of the family who's been in prison for 30-plus years, and he's been in God's church almost that long. This man was converted a long time ago, but it's a long story. I can't go into it. But anyway, he hears the groaning of the prisoners. He hears their cries. If they're sincere, if they're faithful, God hears their cries. God intervenes for them.

So you can look that up later, but God truly does hear the groaning of the prisoners.

And in Psalm 103, it also shows that God has not dealt with us according to our sins. We know that. You know, we've heard that many times. God is very gracious. He's very merciful. In Psalm 103, verses 6 through 19, you may want to go back and read that as well.

Now, you probably heard the expression that all prisoners get religion in prison. Have you ever heard that? There's a certain amount of truth to that, but not all of them. Trust me. But there are quite a number who do get some type of religion. Now, most of them don't get the true religion, and they are persecuted if they do. If they're in the prisons and they're trying to do it God's way, trust me, they're going to get some persecution. They're going to get more persecution than you get.

That's a very close community, and some of those guys aren't the best guys in those prisons. So, I've talked to some prisoners who have been persecuted because of their faith and because of their beliefs. So, I do feel I know of where I speak to some degree, because I have experienced quite a bit with prisoners. And those who are truly called out are truly grateful for what God is doing in their lives. But there aren't many. There aren't very many who truly are called of God and then are chosen. I've seen more that have been called, but were never chosen, because they weren't faithful. When they got out of prison, the cares of this world, other things, their weaknesses, they got off the track, and it was sad. It was so sad in some cases, but they did not toe the line. They did not stay faithful. Now, I know there are some. There are a few who are truly converted who toe the line, who are faithful, who are converted, who are among the firstfruits. But believe me, I'm not snowed by prisoners, at least for the most part. I've seen enough to know that you always have to be careful, skeptical. It's a good thing to be skeptical. If someone gets out of prison, then you need to be skeptical. It's just a good thing to be somewhat skeptical, because even though they may talk a good talk, let's see how they walk. Let's see what their walk is all about first, and it takes time to prove oneself. So, what I'd like to do now is talk about how we can receive such a one. Such a one that really applies to anybody that walks in this room, really, because you'll find that we're all such a one to a degree. It's a matter of degrees.

Some worse than others, obviously, and we have to be more careful with someone who has that kind of a background. And by the way, I don't know of anyone. This is not precipitated by anything, or you know, I've given this sermon years ago to some degree. I've changed it, I've worked it up, it's different. But it's not, I mean, I've been very grateful. I haven't had to go to a single prison. I went to a jail, but not a prison. I don't even know where the prisons are here, so I'm grateful for that. But trust me, I knew where a lot of prisons were in Oklahoma.

I just assumed not have to go into a prison again. I mean, if no one calls me from prison, I'll be very happy. And I'm not aware of anyone, and I'm not aware of any felons that we have amongst us, any convicts, escape convicts or otherwise. You know, I'm not aware of any, and he says, hey, I don't mean to scare anyone today. That's certainly not the purpose at all.

But I think it's a good message, because I think we should have our eyes opened to some degree, and know what we're dealing with. This is an interesting world that we live in. We don't know who's going to come in through these doors next week.

So it's good to be prepared. All right, let's talk about five principles. How much time have I got left? Yeah, really, I think I can go through these pretty quickly, because I don't have a lot of scriptures now. I went through the scriptures. I wanted to lay the background, because these are basic things that you know a lot about already. So how should we receive such a one? Such a one that Paul talked about. He said some of you are idolaters, some of you are drug addicts, some of you are this, some of you are that. I mean, you know where you came from. Some of you probably had a fairly rough background in the past. I mean, I was called Ernie in Life. I didn't have time to do a lot of sowing of wild oats, and I'm grateful I didn't. But some of you have had more time, and you've sowed more wild oats, and that's, you know, that's just something to repent of. We all have to repent of our past. I had to repent when I came in God's Church. I saw that I had broken every commandment one way or the other at age 18 and 19. I had broken every single one of the Ten Commandments in the spirit of the law. Not in the letter, but in the spirit. And that's probably true of every one of us who has been a part, who came into the Church. We've broken the commandments of God. We're all sinners. We do fall short of God's glory. We haven't brought every thought into captivity until the obedience of Christ. So let's talk about what we can do. Number one is we should not enable or encourage bad behavior. That's not what we should encourage in this room and within God's Church. Don't encourage bad behavior. Such a one is to show fruits of repentance. That's what the Scripture says. We're all supposed to show fruits of repentance. We're supposed to be worthy, right? We talked about what it means to be worthy. We're supposed to have fruits of God's guidance and direction in our lives. We're supposed to be walking in the Spirit, producing the fruit of God's Holy Spirit.

So don't enable or encourage bad behavior in this room. Set an example of love and righteousness yourself. Do not do anything that would possibly cause such a one to stumble.

Set a good example. For example, if someone has been an alcoholic in the past, then be very careful to drink in front of them. Get permission. There are some alcoholics who have been dry for 30 years and they don't mind and they make it clear that it's not a problem if someone drinks a little bit of wine because they realize that it is a godly principle that it's okay to drink a little wine. But someone that's just coming out of alcoholism or just an infant or a baby, it would be better not to drink in front of them, wouldn't it? You don't want them to stumble. So you have to make some wise choices. You may not know a person is an alcoholic, so sometimes that's the case. But if you certainly know or know they have a problem with alcohol, be very careful about drinking around them. You should help a person grow spiritually. That's what we should all be doing. Helping each other grow.

Having a godly attitude and having a godly balance is really the key to being successful spiritually. Do you have a godly attitude? Are you being led by God's Holy Spirit, and are you a balanced person? So number one is don't enable or encourage bad behavior. Set the right example yourself. Number two, expect such a one to sincerely grow and overcome as you are striving to grow and overcome. That's what you should expect of anyone who comes in here. I mean, we should have high expectations of each other. I expect you to grow. I expect you to overcome. I expect you to set a good example. We should expect that of one another.

We should raise the bar and expect more of each other. You should have high standards for yourself, and you certainly ought not have higher standards for someone else than you do for yourself. That's called hypocrisy.

So you should strive to have a high standard for yourself, but be careful that you're not looking down on someone who's no better than you are.

So that's principle number two. Help them sincerely grow and overcome as you are striving to grow and overcome. We're all in this together. We're all part of the family. Number three, be supportive and encouraging of such a one. Such a one who God has called out, who is changing their lives, who has made no doubt big strides already. Be supportive and be encouraging of such a one who has called of God and is also sincerely striving to change. You are to be their helpers.

Don't drag them down. Don't be a stumbling block to someone who wants to change and grow. Be careful what you say. Be very careful what you say, because we know what the Bible says about the tongue and what the tongue can do.

We don't want to discourage people. We want to encourage people.

We should welcome everyone with hospitality and friendship. You know, that's what we should be about. We should be hospitable people. We should be friendly people. And let's try to get our minds off ourselves so much. Sure, you have trials. You have problems. But everybody else does.

You're not unique. So try to get the focus off of yourself upon others, helping others, doing for others. That will help you more than anything else I could tell you. Don't be so self-centered. But look at how you might help someone else. Now, you guys remember Saul, right?

The one who became Paul? Saul murdered Christians. Saul had true Christians murdered.

I don't have time to go to Acts 8, Acts 8, verse 3. But Saul murdered true Christians. He was guilty. Acts 26, verse 10 through 11. Look it up. Saul murdered true Christians.

He felt horrible about how he had treated God's people. He felt absolutely horrible. He murdered God's people. And such were some of you. Paul was one himself. Paul was writing it to those in Corinth. And he was one himself. And such were some of you. Paul was a murderer. Now, remember the example of Barnabas. Barnabas means encourager. Barnabas paved the way for Saul so that he would have an opportunity to have an impact with God's people.

God's people accepted Saul. They accepted a murderer. If they can do that, perhaps we can have that same approach. If someone's repented. Now, Paul was certainly repentant. Paul was struck down on the road to Damascus, and he was a repentant man. He was a broken man. He was truly a converted man, and he proved it. He walked it. He sacrificed himself. He was persecuted. He was beaten. He was shipwrecked.

He gave himself for God's people after that. A murderer.

Remember the prodigal son. Don't have time to go to Luke 18, but you can go there, too, and read it in context. Luke 18 talks about a father who was very willing to accept his son back. The prodigal son. The son who went off in wasteful living. That's the kind of father that we serve. He wants us all back to him. He wants to restore every one of us. Should you not have the same attitude and approach toward each other? Brethren, we all need to repent when we mistreat others, when we're abusive. We're to be encouragers and helpers and supporters.

We're to be like the father who had the prodigal son who wasted his living on harlots, on whores.

The Bible can be pretty blunt in some cases. So that's point number three. Again, Paul made havoc of the church, it says, entering every house. Every house he could get to, he entered every house, dragging off men and women to take them before the judge, to put them in prison, and devote for their death. Number four. What can we do? We can practice genuine godly love and forgiveness.

And I know that he's overlapped to some degree, but we can practice genuine godly love and forgiveness to such a one as Paul. Many carry a lot of guilt for their former lifestyles.

A guilty conscience is certainly good to a point, but such a person should also feel forgiveness and should feel acceptance from God's people. We are forgiven in the same manner that we forgive others. And none of us are blameless in the fullest sense. You know, God might count us blameless. God might deem us worthy because of our attitude and because of our approach, but not because of our complete, faithful, perfect righteousness. I'd like to encourage you to listen to a Beyond Today telecast about the Michaela Diemer story. Michaela Diemer. If you haven't watched it, go on our website. D-I-E-M-E-R is the last name. Her first name is Michaela. Not exactly sure how to spell that, but Michaela Diemer. She was raped and murdered. And she was the daughter of a minister in the Church of God, in the United Church of God. She was raped and murdered.

Her father is on this Beyond Today telecast, and I don't know that I could do what he's been able to do in forgiving this man who raped and murdered his daughter. I don't claim that I could do it, nearly as well as he's handling it.

It's pretty thought-provoking, so I would encourage you to listen to it, to watch it. Point number four, practice genuine, godly love and forgiveness to such a one.

And the last point, realize that oftentimes such a one who is forgiven much loves much.

Oftentimes, such a one who is forgiven much loves much. If God is calling that person and he's forgiven a whole bunch, then it may be very likely, like Paul, Paul was one who had sinned greatly in persecuting the Church of God, but he also loved much.

And he gave himself freely and spent himself for the people of God. Now, in Luke chapter 7, it talks about a woman, a sinner, likely a prostitute, who washed Christ's feet. She washes Christ's feet. The Pharisee, Simon, was taken aback that Christ would allow such a woman to touch him.

Go to Luke chapter 7 and read that as well. Christ sets an example for us that we are to follow.

So, brethren, I would encourage you to become Christ-like.

Be careful how you treat one another. Be careful what you say. Be careful how you act. God is the judge. Thankfully, he's a merciful and loving God, but he's not playing games.

He's not playing games with us. We're to put sin out of our lives. We've just kept the days of 11 bread. God wants us to put sin out. He wants us to walk in the Spirit. He wants us to walk toward Pentecost. Let's walk in the Spirit, brethren. Let's stop walking in the flesh. I know it's easy to do. It's very, very easy to do. But let's not take the easy route.

Remember, with God, all things are possible. You can change. We can all change, and we can help each other change. So we as God's people must be careful, brethren, not to deny those whom God is calling at this time. If God happens to call a prisoner someday, then we'll have to deal with it. We had to deal with it in Oklahoma, and it wasn't easy for some people. Trust me.

It was difficult. I don't know if it's going to happen here or not. I would just assume it didn't, but if it does, and there are things that we require of people who have come out of prison. Trust me, I'm not going to let them come here unless I believe they'll do no harm. And I'll make them go through some steps before they'll ever walk through these doors. So I'll just tell you that I'll try to do my due diligence, in case God ever calls someone like that. For some reason, He was calling people when I was in Oklahoma.

Again, I can't say that many of them stayed the course. I don't know if anything like that's going to happen here or not. I'm not saying it is. It probably isn't. But I like to be prepared for whatever happens, and I like to also prepare the congregation. We live in interesting times. We don't know who could walk in our doors. And if they do walk in, we need to treat them in a way Christ would. Christ was no pushover. Trust me. I'm not saying we should be pushovers. I'm not saying that at all.

But we also need to be Christ-like. So we are expected to receive anyone who God calls, if they are truly converted or moving toward conversion, we should receive them as a loving Father who receives a prodigal son who has repented and returned to Him. Brethren, remember, such were some of you.