Stand on Your Own Two Feet?

Beautiful flowers, by the way. A variety of them up here. It's always beautiful to have some embellishment for the services. Appreciate all the work that goes into that. Well, you know, we're at the time of the year when many of our young adults are beginning to graduate.

You know, they're ready to embark on another chapter, you know, in their lives. And it's always so amazing to look at the hopefulness and the eyes of the graduate and hope that they never lose that. You know, the zeal for the future, the zeal for what is ahead of them. You know, when somebody enters into high school or when they enter into college, there's an expectation that a student will finish their course of study and graduate. You know, that's the plan, isn't it? You know, when they start out.

And there's a beginning, in other words, to an education program. There's an end to it. And I know when I went to college, I thought it would never end. You know, of course, high school is the same way. You think it never will end. But yes, you know, you enter your freshman year and you exit when you're a senior.

Hopefully you can do that if you've paid attention enough in class. You know, you enter into the first year of college and then you finish your education and graduate from college. So again, education has a beginning and it has an end. Have you ever thought about it from the standpoint of the spiritual, brethren? You know, every education process has a beginning and it has an end. Now, of course, we understand when we go to get an education, whether it's a high school education or a college education, we don't stop learning.

It's just the end of a formal way of teaching, in other words, of going to college and that sort of thing. You never stop learning. But brethren, from a spiritual standpoint, have you ever wondered and thought, you know, I've often thought about this, how close are we to the end of our course of training?

Because every one of us are going through a course of training, whether we realize it or not. We don't just come to church. No, we are not just called. We have a course of training. And when the Apostle Paul neared the end of his life, what did he tell Timothy? He said, I have fought a good fight. I finished my course. I finished my course and I've kept the faith. And he believed that there was a crown of life that was laid up for him. You know, one goal my parents had, and I come from a very large family, one goal my mother and father had, and it was very clear to me that they had this goal, was to rear their children who were able then to go on to be good citizens.

They would be able to take care of themselves. They would not be on the dole, in other words. They would work to take care of themselves, and they could take care of their families, and they could stand on their own two feet. And there were nine children, by the way, in our family. And as my mother's health failed, and she had cancer, I told you about that, and she ended up dying when she was 65 years of age because of cancer.

But as my mother's health failed, one thing that was always very comforting to her brethren before her death was that all of her children had grown up. She'd been able to see that. She'd been able to be a part of that. And they had matured.

None of her children were, you know, kind of the Playboy type. You know, none of them were the kind that, in other words, were kind of trying to get it together, never getting it together. I don't believe any of the children had any dealings with drugs whatsoever, by the way. And basically lived, you know, lives that were, I think, the lives of fairly good citizens.

They cared for themselves, and by the time she died, you know, they all had families that they were taken care of. And, you know, when my mother died, she had a peace of mind. And one of the things that she wanted to do before she died is she wanted to see everyone. And then, one by one, all of the children came and saw her before she died. Now, of course, brethren, when I'm talking about the course of study, the course of study, there never will be a time when we do not need to continue to learn.

Never be a time. There will never be a time when we don't need God. You know, there will never be a time when we don't need our parents, in fact, even when they're gone, you know, physically. They're dead, because you always draw on them. You never stop drawing on them, I think, no matter how old you may get.

At least, that's my experience with it. And certainly, it's true with the Father in Heaven. There will never be a time when we don't need our Father, and we don't need Jesus Christ. But certainly, the Father and Jesus Christ want us to mature spiritually so that we can stand on our own two feet. That we can take care of ourselves, and not only take care of ourselves, brethren, but help others as well. Take care of our families, and watch over others within the family, because the Church of God is the family of God. And we're always going to have little brothers and little sisters to take care of, to watch after, at least in this physical life.

And maybe it's going to go on for a long time in the Millennium, and pass the Millennium, certainly.

You know, the Apostle Paul had certain expectations of the brethren. That is, he expected them to grow to the point where they could stand on their own two feet, spiritually speaking. And that's what I want to talk to you about, the remainder of the sermon, brethren, today. Is, are you standing on your own two feet?

You don't need anybody else to hold you up, or it's other than what God does for you. Are you standing on your own two feet? Now, in Romans 15, verse 1, you know, Paul makes this statement. He says, then we who are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. You know, we all should be coming to the point of strength so that we can help the weak, brethren, and not to please ourselves. In other words, we're not just in this, brethren, to take care of ourselves, but to take care of others as well. You know, God has not called you and me to remain babes for the rest of our lives.

But to grow to the measure and the stature of Jesus Christ, we ought to be, in other words, stable enough, brethren, to aid and help other people. Let's go to Galatians 6. Galatians 6. And again, are you at that point, brethren, in your life where you can help other people? Are you taking care of yourself sufficiently so that you've got the strength to help other people?

In Galatians 6, he says, brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespasses, you who are spiritual restore such as one in the spirit of gentleness. Consider yourselves lest you also be tempted. And Paul here says, in verse 2, he says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. In other words, we want to fulfill what the purpose of God's law is, brethren, is when we can, to the extent that we can, help other people and show love toward our brothers. So within the church, and certainly first and foremost, but even those outside if we have opportunity to do so. But our primary, again, is to show that love because charity begins at home to God's people. That we as God's people should have that as a goal to stand on our own two feet so that we can take care of ourselves, you know, ably enough. That we don't need anybody holding us up, but we can actually help hold somebody else up in the process of time. But in verse 4, notice this, but let each one examine his own work. So, by the look at your work over the years, have you come to that point in your life where you've been able to help other people, or are you one that is still being helped more than you're helping others? And I don't want to, again, cause you to be modeling and to discourage you if you feel like that you've been helped a lot. We shouldn't feel that way. As God's people, here, apologies, say and examine our work. But I do ask, brethren, for us, you know, to always ask the question, what can I do better? That I can be a help to other people, and I'm not being so helped so much. And it says, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another.

And it says, for each one shall bear his own load. That's the message, brethren, right here in the Scripture. Each person has to bear their own load, because that's the goal for every human being to bear their own load, to take care of those things in our lives that arise, hopefully to the point where they can get strong enough they can help someone else. So all of us should be able to stand on our own two feet spiritually and mature, brethren, in strength enough to be of aid to other people when the need arises. And all of us, you know, have got to give an account of our actions in our lives, what we did and what we did not do. Romans 12, Romans 12 over here, Romans 12 and down in verse 12, it says that we ought, verse 11, not be lagging in diligence, so we all ought to have a ferrancy of spirit in serving God. But notice verse 12, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer, but distributing to the needs of the saints and given to hospitality. I know when I told you that when I first came to the church, I had people that just reached out to me. And I spent a lot of time at people's homes. Back in those days, I remember there was one family that, you know, invited us over, and usually a lot of young adults that were in the church there, went over there, and I got to know some of the people better. And this, of course, was an elderly couple, at least they were old to me back then. You know, they might have been 25, I don't know. But I don't think so. I think they were probably in their 50s or 55 or something like that. But very cordial, and it, you know, it half is over, and we'd be with the fetus, winas and dinas, and had a really enjoyable time together. But, you know, there is the expectation that time comes when you do that for other people. You know, that you reach out to other people, and you spend time with other people. And not just here, by the way, but at your home, and where you live. But, you know, here we see, brethren, as God's people, that we need to be distributing to the needs of the saints, as God's people. No, there are two kinds of sins, brethren, that people commit. Number one, sins of commission. In other words, sins that people commit. You know those kinds of sins. Break the Sabbath. You, you know, perhaps do something, you know, withhold tithes, or you, you do something that is contrary to God's law. It's in the letter of the law, it's in the spirit of the law, and you know it. Sends of commission. Then there are sins, brethren, that are not necessarily sins that you commit, but things that you do not do, that you know you should do. You know, in other words, maybe giving a hand to somebody in need, when you should have. You see your brother, you know, that needs help, and you should reach out to them. You shouldn't turn around and walk away, pat him on the head and say, The Lord be good to you, and go your merry way, but you take care of yourself, and you reach out and help others as well. So there are sins of commission and sins of omission. And quite frankly, brethren, I think we're going to be judged a whole lot more for the things which we omit doing in this life than the things we committed. Because the Bible says, what sort of is not a faith is sin.

We know if we should do something, we should, of course, go ahead and do it, or it becomes sin to us. So we as God's people, again, need to grow to the point where we can reach out and help other people.

And hopefully that is your goal. That's the goal of your Father in heaven, our Father in heaven, and Jesus Christ who is the head of the church. That every solitary one of us here, brethren, starting with us when we're just young children, is to be on our feet, our own two feet, taking care of ourselves, physically, spiritually, to the point where we're stable enough that we can help somebody else. We can reach out to someone else. That we should be able to pick ourselves up, as it were, when we're down. We don't need somebody else to pick us up. We can do that ourselves. I've told you before, let's go to Hebrews 12. I've been through periods, brethren, when I've been discouraged. I don't think anybody's not ever been in the church, hasn't been through that.

But, brethren, I don't rely upon other people to encourage me.

I think I've mentioned this to you. Sometimes it's going, I talk to God about it. I feel like I'm discouraged, I'm depressed, or whatever it is. Maybe I've got a cloud over my head, so to speak. You just feel like, blah! You think that things are just not going well. And you just get really down. You've been there, right? You know, what I do, I don't ask anybody else to encourage me. I go to God, and I say, God, I need your encouragement. And I don't know how He does it, brethren, but always He encourages me. I don't have to do really much of anything. He doesn't. He takes care of it. Of course, one thing I choose not to do is, I'm not going to sit in my house, and mop all day until I get this beatific vision from Heaven. Or some lightning bolt that recharges me. Like my doctor told me when I was getting therapy after my problem with my health. I told him, I was sort of joking with him, I said, you know, doctor, I just feel like I've lost my mojo. Have you ever heard the term mojo? I mean that in a good way, by the way. But I feel like I've lost my mojo. I don't have any energy. I don't have any reason. I don't really want to do much of anything. The only answer to me was, I said, what do I do? And he said, all you've got to do is just keep doing things. And I took his advice. And, you know, I've come out of it. I don't mope around.

You know, I've got my mojo back. Whatever that is. I had no idea what it is. But I've got, it's like the vigorous back, in other words. And my wife, of course, sometimes wish I didn't have so much mojo. Because we probably go too much. We do too much. But, you know, God didn't put us upon the earth to sit back, you know, and do nothing. I think he's given us a job to do. And I want to get out there and do my part of it. Because I found out one thing, by the way, when you lay in the hospital bed for five weeks or so, I know one thing is I don't want to lay around, first of all. Last thing I want to do is ever be bedridden again in my life. I'm never sick again. I just hope I conk out. Because that was difficult, very difficult. Hardest thing I ever did. But I learned when I was in the hospital bed, brethren, and I was sick all that time. I learned I've got a job to do. I've got a mission in life. And if I'm going to, I'm going to have to die with my boots on, I guess.

So don't tie me down, you know.

My rifle, my pony, and me. Remember that old song?

The sun is setting in the west.

And however it goes, I'm not going to sing it for you, but... Oh, Dean Martin. I like that song, by the way. My rifle, by the way, is this.

My pony is my car. And I have a job to do.

And all of you have a job to do. You've got to get out, you've got to get out and do it, even if you don't feel good. Because if you do, you'll get your mojo back. If you lost it, you'll get it back. And you'll encourage yourself, brethren, that we should be able to get to the point. I don't do it perfectly, I know that, brethren, to pick ourselves up when we're down. The way to do it is go to God. And then you do the things that are going to lead to your being encouraged. Hebrews 12, verse 12, it says, And therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, And make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. And so here he tells us what to do. Strengthen the hands that hang down, and you know, what you do, you have to go around and try to help that which is lame, to be, you know, not dislocated, but to be healed, to the point where it can stand on its own two feet, and if it's you, or if it's someone else. But sadly, some just don't seem to progress, but they need support from others much of the time. I think, brethren, that is a choice sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes it's a choice. It's like in our society, brethren, we have some people that have made a choice, you know, to remain on the government dole all their lives. And you have governments, I mean, you have families, whole generations, one after another, brethren, are on the dole, and not trying to better themselves. Now, I know that God's people are not that way, at least I certainly hope that they would not be that way, but sometimes we can be that way spiritually, too. We like other people's helpiness. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? When other people come to our aid. And it is necessary for us to be helped sometimes. You can sometimes be so proud that you won't help, except any help from anybody, and that's wrong. Because that gets into your own personal vanity. If you need help getting up, look upon it as a prime of your pump so you can help other people. But we should never, brethren, get used to being helped by other people, to the point where we expect it to be there. But unfortunately, we have had some that have been in that case, a few. They become too dependent on the others, and not only that, they have to be constantly encouraged because they languish, and they grow tired so easily.

And it seems always on the verge of giving up. That's bad, brethren. That's not what God's called us to. He's called us, brethren, again, to stand our own two feet, eventually. Now, early in one's conversion, this certainly is understandable, that people need help. They need support. When I was first called, I needed that support. I really did. I need people helping me, encouraging me, hopefully provoking good works in me to make choices. And it did help. It really did help. It showed me, again, what it was like to be converted. I didn't know. I didn't have a clue as to what it was like to be converted. You get that example, you see, of what it is, and you learn from that. But, brethren, they couldn't be there with me all the time because there were others that were coming. Back in those years, by the way, in the 60s and the 70s, people were coming to the church right and left. Every Sabbath, you'd have five or six new people walking through the door. You just try to help one, and you go to another to help them.

But we, as God's people, again, need to come to that point where we can help other people. Let's go to Hebrews 5. Now, by the way, always when I talk about this kind of subject, there's someone that is sitting in the audience and saying, he's talking about me.

Now, I would ask you all to raise your hand if you think I'm talking about you. But I want to hope that all of you raise your hand, first of all. But no, I'm not talking about you. I don't even have any of you in mind, by the way. I'm just trying to read this, you know, look at my notes here with these glasses that are hanging on the end of my notes. But I'm not specifically talking about anybody.

So unless you have that paranoia about it, let me nip that in the bud. I hope that at least it's nipped in the bud. But in Hebrews 5 and verse 12, Paul says, For though by this time, speaking again, really of many in the church that was scattered abroad, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you ought to be able to stand up and teach somebody else, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. And you have come to eat milk and not solid food. How would your mothers think if a mother came into the mother's room and a 10-year-old boy came up and had to nurse his mother? What would you think about that? Well, brethren, what would you think about it? What does God think of a 20-year-old member? I'm talking about 20-year-old from the standpoint of being in the church for 20 years, still having the nurse, still needing baby's milk. You see the analogy there? It ought not be so. It ought not be so. Of course, these days in this world that we live in, we might see most anything in this world. Amazing. Some of the women have some strange ideas of this world I'm talking about. They're nursing kids that are five, six years of age. I don't know if you've ever seen anything like that, but there's some bizarre kind of minded people that have some of these odd ideas.

But, brethren, of course, you understand it's not very sensible. What's sensible in the world very often, by the way, makes no sense in God's realm.

So some have to be taught, brethren, the very seminal, elementary things over and over and over again. And it seemed to never get it. Never mature. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

1 Corinthians chapter 3 over here. Corinth, by the way, was such a church, as I'm talking about here. But in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, 1 to 3, it says, I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to carnal, as to babes and Christ.

You know, can you imagine what this means?

You ever seen parents talk to their babies? Sometimes when they talk to them, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. You know, I used to say when our kids were growing up, I could make them laugh every time. Poop, poop, doo. Now, you may not try that, but every time we get our sons to laugh, I don't know, maybe they were anal-retentive, you know? But poop, poop, doo did it. I don't know why. But, you know, imagine having to talk to people as babes. And of course, that's an exaggeration, obviously. But it says, moreover, it's required in stewards that one be found faithful. But with me is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. And so here Paul, you know, apparently was being judged by babes in Christ. Think about it. He's being judged by babes in Christ.

Now, you know, children can be very exacting, that's for sure. You know, they're quite exacting sometimes. But wouldn't you say, brethren, that the church there in Corinth was a church that took a lot of time for Paul to deal with? It took a lot of time for Paul.

Now, one of the goals, by the way, when you have a car that you buy, you don't want to be in the garage every day, do you? You don't want to be, you know, out under the hood trying to tinker with it every time you start the engine up on that car. You know, I had the bright idea, by the way, back, it was back in the, I believe, the 80s, because we, you know, the church did away with the lease program. And I thought, well, you know, here's an opportunity. I could buy a white Cadillac, you know, and it had, at the time, not that many miles on it. And, but, you know, I love the Cadillac, by the way. Just love it. It is amazing how it just glides along. That's, you know, of course, that was a new, new, uh, fangled back in with all the high tech. Tell you what, the temperature was out there, 115.

Reminded you where you were. But, uh, but the Cadillac was great.

But as I had to make more miles on the Cadillac, you know, I found, by the way, this is one thing I found. Is that after 50,000 miles, a Cadillac becomes a Chevy. I didn't realize that when I bought those, uh, the Cadillac, by the way. And you know what? That car cost me $400 a month. If it wasn't one thing that broke down, it was another. That thing had so many things that went wrong with it, and it was always $400 a month. As the radiator go on it, went into the radiator shop, and I said, what's it gonna cost? I said, $400. You know, you go in and you replace something else, and I said, is it gonna cost $400? Yeah, actually, you're right. $400. But it even happened to me so many times, I thought, you know, I told Joan, I said, we need to move out of the Cadillac business. Get away from our Cadillac. So we got, we sold the Cadillac. But that Cadillac started taking too much time for me. A lot to maintain the thing, cost-wise. Well, in a similar way, brethren, Corinth was a Cadillac for Paul. Think about it. You know, Corinth was a, you know, one of these cities, probably a wealthy city.

Probably a beautiful city. I've been to Corinth before. Of course, it ruins, or the ruins of Corinth. Seeing a lot of the, you know, the columns and so forth that they dug out of the ground and reconstructed bath areas and temples and things like that. And it was an affluent city. You might say a Cadillac of cities, you know. But the unfortunate thing is, like that old Cadillac I had, Paul had to spend a lot of time with Corinth.

And he had to spend a lot of time helping them with their spiritual problems. They had some deeply serious spiritual problems. Let's go to Philippians 1. Philippians chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. Not so, by the way, with Philippi. Philippi was a different story altogether.

You ever notice sometimes people, it's like they get things like that? Apparently Philippi was that way. They understood.

Not exactly sure why. They were this way, and the Corinthian people were not. But in Philippians chapter 1, in verse 3, it says, here Paul says to them, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Maybe he wrote this from Corinth. I don't know.

Always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you, it says, all with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now. In other words, just an unbroken beat, a progression that he could see in them. Being confident of this very thing that he which has begun, a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. And as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, in as much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, you all are protectors with me of grace. I want you to think about what Paul is saying here. He thought of how wonderful the brethren were at Philippi.

See, Paul, in dealing with the Corinthian brethren, had to talk to them one way, and then he could talk to the Philippi people in another way. Now, I know we all think we're the same, don't we? Every church is the same, pretty much. Not so, brethren. I've got a few church areas under my belt, and I remember areas I could give you an example. I could tell a joke in one area, you know, get some humor in one area, and then people practically roll in the aisles. I found myself laughing at how people responded to it. Then I can go over to another church area, and I can say the same thing. And it's like a lead balloon. Look, no impact.

If there is, you can't tell it. You might see this.

You know, you wonder, what was the difference? What was the difference? And, of course, I'm just using humor, but there are other things I will not share with you. But Philippi was a different story. With Philippi, Paul felt confident, brethren, as he was battling through preaching the gospel, which was not an easy thing, I mean, for the Apostle Paul. But he couldn't ever get past Corinth's problems. He couldn't tell him about the problems he had. Because, why? Corinth had problems with Paul!

They spoke against Paul. Paul couldn't say, Look, guys, I need your prayers. I'm going through this battle in preaching the gospel. And it's hard. I need your support. Maybe they need the financial support. You get the implication, by the way, from Corinth, that you had a lot of people that had money on the brain. And they would not give help, financially, to Paul. Whereas other places would, like Galatia and probably Philippi. Maybe they had far less in terms of wealth. But you see the point, brethren? Paul couldn't deal with the Corinthian brethren on a higher level. Like, let's move on, because a whole big world out here to preach the gospel.

But Paul was taking care of the Corinthian brethren. Making sure that nobody got upset. Making sure that nobody, you know, was... No fire started. You've got a fire raging through the congregation. Some churches, though, Paul felt perfectly comfortable about being gone from there. Philippi was probably one of those places. Because he knew the brethren were stable. They could stand on their own two feet. And, you know, they didn't make erratic changes in how they thought, and how they believed, and what they practiced.

Now, please understand, brethren. As I've mentioned before, and I want to keep mentioning this, if help is needed, the ministry is there to help. You know, no matter the reason.

You know, the job of the ministry is to buoy up God's people who are swallowed up in sorrow. No, the job of the ministry is to help those who are weak in the faith. That's Biblical, again, for all of us, brethren, to do that. You know, the job description of the ministry is to help those who are having sickness and injury, or dealing, certainly, with serious sins within the congregation, the need to be addressed, or helping people that are going through heavy trials.

So, never again think that the ministry doesn't care. That's what we're here for. You know, that's our job. That's our responsibility. You know, of course, over in Corinth, you know, I can't imagine that Paul did not leave somebody in charge of that congregation. But you get the implication from this that they weren't taking care of the responsibility they had. And in all probability, whoever was there besides Paul taking care of the congregation, in all probability, the people didn't respect him anyway. I mean, the evidence of that is they didn't even respect Paul. But here, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we see here a situation in the church where a man was committing adultery, with his own stepmother, as we see here. And Paul got on to them because the people were not doing anything about it. Apparently, not even the elder was doing anything about it. The elders were not doing anything about it.

He said they were puffed up because this was during, of course, the days of Unleavened Bread. But verse 3, let's notice here, For I indeed, 1 Corinthians 5 verse 3, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have already judged as though I were present him who has so done this deed.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such in one to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. He told them, Your glory is not good. What you've been doing is not good. So Paul had to get tough in this situation. You know, a pastor only gets as tough about something as he needs to get. And in this case, Paul had to be tough with the Corinthian people. This was a make-or-break situation, anyway, by the way. Because if he hadn't done anything about this, it wouldn't have been the Corinthian Church, period. Sometimes you have those watershed times where something has to be done. Well, you know, interestingly, though the Corinthian Church was a church that had to take a lot of time to take care of, and they had a multitude of problems, you know, they, in this case, you know, Paul gave them the direction they needed to go in. Of course, 1 Corinthians is a blistering letter, really, from Paul, correcting the church. And lo and behold, the congregation has a repentant attitude. But as people want to do, very often they go from one ditch to another ditch. Not only did they put the man out of the church, they wanted to keep him out. And Paul had to write to him, and he said, This punishment which was inflicted by the majority, because everybody cooperated, he said, is sufficient for such a man, so that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him now. Let perhaps one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. Again, they went from one ditch to the other.

But hopefully they got it right. And Paul's lesson for Corinth, by the way, is written down for us to read for time immemorial, frankly. A church that righted itself, that did the right thing, that responded. It's always very encouraging. Let's go to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5.

In 1 Thessalonians 5, over here, again, we ought to get to the point, brethren, where we can stand on our own two feet. That's the goal that God the Father has, brethren, for all of us as God's people.

But chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, down in verse 8, here, he says, But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and in helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, shall live together in Him. Therefore, it says, comfort one another and edify one another just as you're doing also. Just as you're doing also. You know, so he said, our job is to comfort one another, to help each other as God's people in a time of need. Now, again, the problem appears to be, in Corinth, that they were not respecting the elders. And, uh, carnal nature, by the way, has that effect on us. You know, Romans 8-7 tells us carnal mind is imminent against God. It's not... It won't submit to God's law, neither indeed can. But where the carnal nature is, brethren, no wonder sometimes people have a hard time submitting to what an elder is teaching. Corinthian people appeared to have that problem. But, brethren, you know, hopefully people in Corinth learned to listen. First of what Paul said, and then, of course, what the elders were telling them and instructing them. You know, all of us, brethren, have a role to care for each other, to provoke one another to love and good works. Because if we don't, like sin was spreading in Corinth, it will spread among us, like leavening. You know, sometimes there is a sin that is committed by someone, and maybe we are involved, we know that person, that they're doing this. Well, brethren, we have a responsibility with that knowledge, with that understanding, to go to our brother. If it's serious enough, sin, you know, if it's minor, if it's insignificant, obviously, you know, sometimes people have a judge of what is major. But if you wonder about it, you should, again, counsel with a minister about it. But, you know, somebody in Smiley Mountain, sure, it's just not a sin. You know, but I say that sometimes people, again, have a strange set of judgment values. You know, we can strain on that and swallow a camel, if we're not careful. In other words, in the process of thinking we're getting down to the nitty-gritty, we're breaking all kinds of laws ourselves. I'm talking about the person would go and help. Matthew 18, though, over there, you know, in verses 15 through 18, we're told that, you know, we ought to go to our brother. If there's a matter that arises between us and another brother, we should go to our brother. You know, we shouldn't, you know, beat a path to the minister right away. If there's a difference, we should go to our brother. It says, moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you've gained your brother. But he will not hear, take with you one or two more. Again, make sure we're talking about a significant situation here, matters of eternal life and death here. That by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be you, like a heathen and a tax collector. See if it goes nuclear and it comes to the church, and it should be something very serious, brother. And if the church makes a decision on it, we all should back it. We should all support it, like the Corinthian church apparently did with a man who committed adultery. They supported it, and consequently it bettered the church. It helped not only the church, but it helped the man.

Sometimes, unfortunately, we egg people on by being supportive of them, even in their sin. And we simply should not do that. It doesn't mean we hate anybody, or speak negatively about them, brethren, but we're praying for them. And if, you know, it's our part, we encourage them to see their error of what they are doing and repent. You know, frankly, when it comes to problems in a local congregation, brethren, very few things should ever come to the elders in terms of problems. Very few things. You know how God set it up in the time of Moses? You know, there were people who dealt with things, you know, on a lower level. You know, you'd have captains of ten, you'd have captains of a hundred, you'd have captains of this, and so forth. Now, we don't have that situation. But then, of course, you got up to the elders, and most of the elders took care of the problems, but sometimes there were problems that were so hard, they had to come to Paul. Or they had to come to Moses in the Old Testament. And hopefully that one, very many. It's like in our house, you know, my wife, they spoke most of the small decisions.

And I'm happy to report there has not been a big decision in our 40 years of marriage. She made all the decisions. No, I'm just kidding with you. I mean that facetiously. Don't I? I don't think so.

But most problems, brethren, should be resolved among the congregation, handled quietly, discreetly, godly, in a godly manner. If we can do that, brethren, and come to the ministry as a last resort, then the ministry knows that this is a pretty serious problem. You know, then, of course, we can begin to act if it's necessary to do so. There might be a choice not to do certain things at a particular time, but that, of course, is the discretion of the pastor and the elders. Well, let me talk about, brethren, how do we stand on our own two feet? How do we do that? Let me give you some pointers, brethren, to do that.

1 Thessalonians 5, 21.

King James, prove.

New King James, test all things, hold fast that which is good. Make sure you prove the truth. When you prove them the truth, and you're living by the truth, then, brethren, you're not going to give up on it easily. I trust in 95, that's why you didn't give up on the Sabbath, because you proved it to yourself. You tested it, and you proved it. It's in the Bible.

Secondly, brethren, go on to perfection. Hebrews 6, verses 1-3. Don't lay again the foundation you've already laid. It's certainly not wrong to review those foundational doctrines, but go on to perfection. Build something on what the foundation has laid in your life. When Peter was being called and converted, as it were, Peter had some pretty rotten attitudes. He was always defensive of Christ, but unfortunately, a lot of times Peter was more boastful, probably, than in his words of support for Christ, than he had courage to fulfill. In the Garden of Gethsemane is an example of that. Not only Peter, but all the apostles ran in that whole situation.

Christ told Peter that Satan desired to sift him like wheat.

But you remember what Christ said to Peter? He said, when you were converted, when you were converted. He wasn't about to do this before his conversion, but when you're converted, strengthen the brethren.

And brethren, it could be said to all of us, when you're converted, when you're really converted, strengthen the brethren. That's what your role is. My role is, brethren. So go on to perfection so you can strengthen the brethren. Next, brethren, next, take less and give more.

Very simple phrase, take less and give more. In the context of supporting the weak, the apostle Paul, in the book of Acts, chapter 20, verse 35, referred to what Jesus Christ said. It is more blessed to give than to receive. But that phrase, brethren, that quote from Christ is given in the context of strengthening the weak, of helping the weak. As God's people, that is our role, that is our goal, brethren, in this whole education process, to stand our own two feet and to strengthen the brethren. To give more and to take less as God's people. Then finally, brethren, learn more to ride your strength from God.

You draw on the power of God, the Holy Spirit, for your strength. Again, nothing we don't need each other because we do. You know, you need the person sitting ahead of you and behind you and to your side. For their encouragement, for iron sharpening iron, and all those reasons. But learn to derive your strength from God and through His Holy Spirit. You know, we're all like plants, brethren, which are planted to bear fruit. You know, it's like you, this time of year, you start putting those tomato plants in and all those things. Maybe you already got them in. But, you know, you plant the seeds, whatever it is. But the expectation when you plant that little seed is you put it in the ground, you fertilize it, you do whatever you do. And ultimately, the reason you did it is not just so for decoration, as you're doing a flower, I guess. But even that, the purpose is to bear fruit, right?

Always! Do you ever know a farmer that ever planted all these seeds out here just to grow plants?

I mean, who needs that? Well, God did not plant the seed that became our calling in us, brethren, just to have plants.

But it has to be fertilized, it has to be cared for, and then it produces fruit. It's a law, brethren, of give and take. That's the reason that a farmer plants his crop to give. He gives first, fertilizes, he tries to water the way it should be. He gives, in other words, and then later he takes the fruit. So it's give and take, brethren. Learn to take less and give more as God's people. The Father's goal, Jesus Christ's goal as our Elder Brother and High Priest, brethren, is so that we can stand on our own two feet and be examples both now and, more importantly, brethren, in the world tomorrow. Although being an example now is a goal, too, that God has for all of us in the world tomorrow, we're going to teach others God's way of life. This is why, brethren, we build character now and why it's so important to us. Passing tests, overcoming and changing. No, what do you think we're going to teach in the world tomorrow? Have you thought about that? What are we going to teach? Well, the Bible says the law is going to go out of Zion. And we're going to be teaching the Sabbath. We'll be teaching the Holy Days. And how it pictures God's plan, because we have a thousand years, eleven hundred years ahead of us, of the plan of God to unfold yet. We'll teach food laws, and boy, some area is going to really need that more than others. We will teach tithing in the world tomorrow. Boy, that would be a wonderful thing, wouldn't it? That you can see the end of this whole mess called the tax system as it is, and God will begin to deal with it in a different way. But we'll have tithing that will be taught. And you just go on and on. Whatever it is you learn when you came into the church, brethren, over the years you will be teaching that very same thing. You'll be teaching what I'm saying right now. Somehow or other, you know, God will jog that in your mind and say, well, I heard a sermon about that one time. Now, here I am in Burundi, and I've got a sermon tomorrow. And you'll have it. You'll have it. Because your mind will be a lot better than it is now. And you'll be able to draw on those things that is in your mind that you've allowed to be there.

Well, brethren, the question is, how could we teach the Sabbath in the world tomorrow if we have not learned how to keep it now? How can we teach the Holy Days and, you know, the Feast of Tabernacles and going up to Jerusalem for the Feast, for the Egyptians, and we're not doing it now ourselves as God's people? And the other laws of God. How could we teach tithing if we've not gone through the trials of tithing? And other laws of God that are in the Bible, statutes and laws. You know, the Bible tells us, and though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity, you know, things may not always be wonderful in the world tomorrow, by the way. Or the bread of affliction, because sometimes that can be good for a physical human being to go without, to do without. Yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner anymore, but your eyes will see your teachers.

Your eyes are going to see your teachers, and your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, This is the way. Walk you in it. That's going to be you, brethren. This is the way. Walk you in it. When you turn to the right hand or when you turn to the left. You know, Paul's spiritual journey spells out the goals we as Christians should have spiritually ourselves.

You know, Paul says this in Philippians 4, verses 11 through 13, and you don't need to turn there, but if you want to write it down, fine. But it says, Not that I speak in regard to need. Again, this is the goal that we all should have, to stand our own two feet as God's people. If I have learned in whatever state I am to be content, I know how to be a based, and I know how to abound. Paul had been up, and he had been down. Probably been sideways in every other direction, for that matter. He says, everywhere, in all things, I've learned both to be full and be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. He said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

That's the goal, brother. Paul could stand on his own two feet, and not only that, he could prop other people up and help them. And, brethren, there's a lot of needs that are coming in the future that we have no idea. I think it's going to get much, much worse than we possibly can imagine. I'm not going to go to it, but other scriptures say, brethren, that the comfort that we have received, the consolation that you and I have received from others, and from Jesus Christ, and from God the Father, has led to helping others within the Church, and by that, God is glorified. So, brethren, we ought to bear one another's burdens in the infirmities of the weak and the faith. However, none of us should remain weak like a babe in Christ. We must grow to stand on our own two feet spiritually, rely on God for the most part for our strength during a time of trial, and to be sure, brethren, God's people should be there always to help other people who are really in need. But all of us must grow to maturity enough so that we can stand on our own two feet and help buoy up other people, as God calls them, as they need help within the Church.