Hello, this is Brother Denny.
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Turn with me in your Bibles to Romans
chapter 15.
To Romans chapter 15.
Just look at one verse here for a
moment as a beginning text.
Then I have a few other words of
introduction for the message today.
Romans chapter 15, verse 14.
Paul writes here, And I myself also am
persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also
are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge,
able also to admonish one another.
Able also to admonish one another.
The title of the message this morning is,
Able to Admonish.
Now this message is somewhat three different things
at once.
It is a teaching this morning on this
subject of admonishing one another.
And notice that it does say here, one
another.
This is one of those 38 one another
verses in the New Testament.
So it is a teaching on that, but
it is also an appeal to you this
morning to consider your own heart, your own
life in the church here.
But may I say, the message this morning
is also a bit of an admonishment from
me to you.
And I am allowed to do that.
I am commanded to do that actually.
Just look at a verse.
There are many verses we could look at,
but I just want to show you this
one.
From me to you, that is part of
this message.
Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5.
This does a little side verse here.
Because this is part of the message.
It is an admonishment to you.
Look what it says here in verse 12
of chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians.
And it says, And we beseech you brethren,
so this is to you, to know them
which labor among you.
It is speaking as you look at your
ministers.
And are over you in the Lord, your
ministers.
Look at the last part.
And admonish you.
And so, Paul gives it here that this
is a duty, this is a commandment of
ministers.
But, go back now over to Romans chapter
15 again in verse 14.
And we see here this phrase, able to
admonish.
Now, the word admonish here is used quite
a bit in the New Testament.
And it is given to us in three
or four different words.
The word warn or warning is the same
word.
The word admonish, the word correct, the word
reprove, and the word rebuke.
In the New Testament are essentially the same
word.
You can look it up in the Greek
or in different ways in vines.
And they are all in the same family
of words and meanings.
And basically they mean to reprove, to rebuke,
to correct, to enlighten, to bring to light
something in someone else's life.
And teach them and warn them and bring
correction.
Bring them back to the place where they
need to be.
And there is an inference there that the
way that you are going is not going
to come out right.
It is not going to come out right.
So that is part of this.
And the word able here is, may I
say, a little bit surprising what it means,
but it is also very wonderful too if
we understand it.
It is one of those words that has
its root in that word dudamos, which means
power.
It is dudamehi I think in the Greek.
And it basically means to have in you
the power to get something done.
It is kind of like that.
Like there is something in you that is
able to get this job done.
And so he is saying, I am persuaded
that in you there is this power, this
ability to be able to admonish one another.
So he is operating in faith, isn't he?
He is having faith in the brethren that
you can do this because in our own
selves we would be tempted to doubt.
Well, I can't do anything like that.
That is a big thing to do.
I am going to leave that for the
ministry.
I don't want to touch that.
And all these other things.
And so he is writing them here to
say, I am persuaded you are able to
admonish.
And so that is the title of the
message.
And this is one of those messages that
I would have to say that I have
had a burden to teach on this subject
for over a year now.
And I have been waiting for a time
when I felt free in the Lord to
share this.
Today is that day.
And as we pick up this, one of
the things I want you to keep in
the back of your mind, one of the
foundations I want you to keep laid in
your heart, is that as you can see
here in Paul's context of one anothering, that
this is an important part of our relationship
with the church and with one another.
It's not just some separate little thing we
tuck over here.
It is part of the flow of our
relationship.
And so therefore we must see that part
of my relationship with God involves my relationship
with you.
And to fail in one is to fail
in the other.
You know, in this New Testament church age,
we cannot separate those two.
We would like to, wouldn't we?
At times it's very convenient to segregate those
things in our mind, in our spiritual life
we think.
But you read the New Testament through and
you're not able to do that.
I'm sorry.
I don't have time to do a whole
teaching on that today.
I did that about a year and a
half ago.
But if you understand that, you'll understand why
this thing can flow the way it is.
The other thing I'd like to say is
as I was preparing this message, I thought
of many reasons for sharing this message.
Obviously it's in the Word of God.
It's on the heart of God.
But there's something I thought of which is
perhaps a bit unique to us.
Not totally, but perhaps a bit unique to
us in our church, in our church circles,
and in our church here as well.
And as you know, in our circles, in
our church here, we believe in a holy
life.
We believe in a godly life.
We believe in having godly convictions, godly standards,
godly beliefs, and ways of not just reading
the Word of God, but actually incorporating them
into our life and trying to walk in
a way that is pleasing to our God.
Not to get salvation, but after we are
born again, because we love God, and we
love the things of God, and we love
what He loves, we want to do things
that are pleasing to Him.
Right?
That's part of what we believe.
But what is unique about us compared to
other Anabaptist groups is most Anabaptist groups have
written standards.
They've taken this same thought, this same spiritual
truth, and put it into written standards.
And I can stand here and say I
have nothing against that.
I respect those.
I have brothers in the Lord I know
in those churches.
And I am thankful for them taking a
stand and for the heart in which they
do it.
However, we have chosen not to do that.
We have chosen to have some of the
same beliefs, some of the same thoughts, but
thinking, no, we don't want to reduce those
to a written standard.
We want things written on the tables of
our heart.
And we want to go what we think,
what we hope, and what we pray is
a better way where we have self-examination
rather than a list to refer to.
Where we have the Spirit of God alive
and working, we hope, in the breast, in
the heart, in the life of each man
and sister, each brother and sister in the
church.
And I am not at fault with us
for choosing this way.
I am at peace.
I am blessed.
Yet, we must also admit that just because
we have chosen that way, doesn't mean we
don't have potential for some problems.
Isn't that right?
We have problems too.
We don't have all the answers.
And as I was thinking about this a
little bit, you know, you have a group
of churches, basically, usually Anabaptists, that have written
standards.
And then you have, way over here, the
rest of what we might call evangelical Protestantism
of today, which for the most part, and
I am generalizing here, and I cannot balance
everything, but I've been in many of those
churches, so I know somewhat of which I
speak.
For the most part, it's not that they
just don't have written standards.
They basically don't have standards.
Divorce from your marriage?
It's fine.
Whatever you want to wear to church?
It's fine.
I mean, you just go down the list.
Basically, every man is his own master.
What does it say in Judges?
And every man did what was right in
his own sight.
You know?
That is basically, for the most part, and
again, please allow me to generalize here.
So, I would just say over here, no
standards.
That is a generalization.
And that is basically, you know, these two.
So, if I would say to you, do
you want to live here?
Most of you would say, no.
If I would say, do you want to
live in this kind of church?
Most of you would say, no.
That's why I'm here.
So, if you don't want to live here,
and you don't want to live there, I
would say to you that one of the
requirements, one of the conditions of being in
a church where we don't have this, and
we don't want to go here, but we
want to live in a church that does
have beliefs, that does have practices, that does
have standards, that does have teaching from the
Bible, you must be willing.
You must have, in effect, in our midst,
admonishing, rebuking, correcting.
You must be open to going to one
another, and you must go to one another,
or you will not make it.
We will not make it.
We will have serious consequences if we are
not open to this concept.
And though we do not have, again, written
standards, we do have beliefs, practices, may I
say general understandings of the heartbeat of the
brotherhood that have evolved out of the teachings,
and brothers' meetings, and everything else over the
last, whatever it's been, 22 years now, I
guess almost, of how we're going to walk
some biblical truths out in the Bible.
But, what do we do if someone drifts,
or someone is not with us, or someone
is beginning to sin, or beginning to move
away from these beliefs and practices?
What if someone chooses to go toward the
world and you notice it?
What if someone chooses to start wearing clothing
that you know is immodest and is not
in keeping with our beliefs?
What do you do?
What if a young man chooses a car
that is, frankly, carnal, and you know why
he chose it?
What do you do?
What do you say?
You just mumble it home?
What do you do?
What if someone begins watching videos?
What if they're not faithful in their devotional
life and you know it?
What if they begin wearing a covering that's
a fashion statement, with lace and all these
other things, instead of a modest symbol of
submission that it is?
What do you say?
What do you say when someone is divisive?
What do you say when someone is covetous?
What do you say?
What do you do when they have a
flat spot there in their life and they
begin to drift?
What do you say when a young man
begins to wear country western cowboy clothes?
You know, what do you say?
Nothing?
Do you run and tell five people?
What do you do?
What should you do?
And the list could go on.
The point is, what do we do as
a church to bring correction when we don't
want this, but we don't want to live
here either?
Well, we need to help someone in that
situation I just described to see they're going
the wrong way.
A way that will lead to serious consequences
in their life and, may I say, to
very serious consequences in the life of the
church.
Because what one does affects us all.
We understand that concept, don't we, in the
New Testament age that we live in?
Things that pull one brother in the brotherhood
down begin to have an effect on the
rest of us.
And I believe that you would agree with
me that if we look through our sermons
and doctrine and teaching of the last 22
years, there has been very good messages on
everything I just mentioned and 50 other things
I didn't even mention, haven't there?
There's very good messages on all those subjects.
And you could say, well, I hope they'll
just go listen to a tape.
I'll just give them a tape.
Well, that's not a bad thing.
But is that all?
Is that all?
I would say, despite all the wonderful teaching
that we have had here, and I've heard
much of it myself, I don't want to
say I've listened to all of it, but
I've heard a lot of teaching before I
came here and since I have, that one
area that there's been a very serious lack
is this area of personal one-on-one
among the brethren, admonishing, warning, correcting and reproving
among us.
And so that is part of my admonishment
and my appeal to you today.
So what do we do?
I believe that, again, this way of approaching
church life is a bit unique among us.
But if we fail to admonish one another
and we do not have written standards, it's
not going to work.
Our church life is just going to drift
and drift and drift.
It's not going to work.
So, one of the beauties of not having
written standards, if I may say it this
way, is to recognize and understand that I
love my brother and I am responsible for
him and he for me.
We are connected.
We are members fitly joined.
And the key word is joined.
There is something in him of me and
in me of him.
And I must see that.
And I am responsible to have input into
his life, not to just give him a
list.
I'm responsible to love him enough to speak
to him concerning his or her life.
I have noticed here, and I know you
have too, that many of us here, when
we testify for sometimes just for salvation's sake,
a testimony or for baptism or for membership
especially, many of us here say things like,
I would really appreciate and I really desire
to have input and correction and admonishment into
my life.
How many have ever said anything like that
up in front of the congregation or maybe
even in a prayer group or something?
Okay, over half the group.
Yet, I wonder how often this really happens.
How do we do it?
How do you receive it if it does
happen?
Who should do it?
You know, there's questions that come.
And today my prayer is that God, through
the preaching of His Word and through His
Spirit, would speak to your heart and my
heart today.
Well, now a moment ago I did mention,
I just want to show you one thing
here.
The preaching and teaching, the bank of tapes
we have here on all of these subjects
of our beliefs and practices.
But, you know, there's something we need to
see even in that.
I want to turn over to 2 Timothy
for just a moment.
2 Timothy 4.
2 Timothy 4, let's see, verse 2, it
says here, Paul is writing to Timothy about
his job.
He says, preach the Word.
Well, that's been done.
Be instant in season, out of season.
Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and
doctrine.
So, it seems here that Paul recognized that
just preaching the Word, may I say, this
was written to the church, is not enough.
That after preaching and teaching, there naturally the
pattern follows what?
Reprove and rebuke.
And it's not said here, but we know
it is.
It is part of the Christian life.
After reproof and rebuke happens, and it's brought
to the light, what happens?
Hopefully, repentance, and then grace, and forgiveness, and
restoration, all those things.
So, if you can see this, it's not
just, we can't just say, well, we have
the teaching, we have the preaching, and amen
for that.
But after that, by definition of preaching, there
needs follow, if the pattern is right here,
and it is, reproof and rebuke.
And then with that, when we see that
we have erred or we're off, repentance, and
then of course, grace and forgiveness, and those
things follow.
Turn over, since we're close to there, to
Titus 2.15. I'm just giving you a
couple of New Testament verses here to just
add a little weight to your thoughts here
this morning.
And there's dozens and dozens of verses we
could go to, but for sake of time,
I won't.
Titus 2.15 Titus 2.15 says, These
things speak and exhort and rebuke with all
authority.
Let no man despise thee.
This is strong medicine, isn't it?
These aren't willy-nilly words, are they?
You know, this isn't like, maybe should I
do this or whatever.
I mean, this is like rebuke with all
authority.
I mean, this is strong medicine.
Turn back over to 1 Thessalonians.
We looked at this a minute ago, but
now I want you to see something else
there in chapter 5.
You know, the preacher is supposed to admonish,
but look down in verse 14.
Remembering that the word warn and rebuke and
reprove and admonish are the same words here,
same meanings.
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that
are unruly.
Comfort the feeble-minded and so on.
And so here's a New Testament, and this
is only one of many, commandment telling you,
brethren, which includes the sisters, to admonish.
To warn them.
And what does unruly mean?
Those that are out of order.
Those that are not going the right way.
Those that are drifting.
Those that are off.
Warn them.
Which means to admonish or rebuke or reprove.
And I could go on and on with
a lot of other verses in the New
Testament, but I won't do that right now
for sake of time.
I would like to look in Proverbs where
many of these verses are found, but I
wanted to set a New Testament foundation in
your thinking.
But there is something here that is very
easy to look at.
I don't think I'll have you look.
I think I'll just read from my list
to go a little bit quicker.
But you just listen and make a note
of this list.
I'm going to give you five things, five
biblical reasons why you must embrace, not just
receive, but you must embrace rebuke or reproof
in your life.
Five biblical reasons.
You write these down and you write down
these verses quickly.
Number one, these are five biblical reasons why
you need to embrace rebuke.
Number one, it will keep you out of
ignorance.
And I'm speaking of these things in a
spiritual sense today.
There's a physical side to this which we
could talk about, but I won't today for
sake of time.
But you make the applications.
But I'm talking about spiritual issues.
It will keep you out of ignorance.
And I could ask you the question today,
brothers and sisters, and I know your theology
is right, but I'll ask you anyway.
Spiritually speaking, do you want to remain ignorant?
I mean, really, in your heart, do you
want to remain ignorant?
I don't think so.
Proverbs 12 says, Whoso loveth instruction, loveth knowledge.
But he that hateth reproof is brutish.
And brutish means ignorant, dull.
So if you don't like it, if you
cringe, you know, if you start sweating when
somebody comes to you, I'm sorry, the Bible
says you're brutish.
God says that.
Those are strong words, aren't they?
Number two, well, there's another verse here.
Proverbs 15, 31 and 32.
Write that down.
I'm just going to read 32.
He that refuseth instruction, despiseth his own soul.
But he that heareth reproof, getteth understanding.
You following?
So that's number one.
It will keep you out of ignorance.
Number two, it will prosper your way spiritually.
It will prosper your way spiritually.
Proverbs 13, 18.
And again, do you want to grow?
It's the same sort of question.
Do you want to grow spiritually?
You want to stay where you're at or
do you want to grow?
Proverbs 13, 18 says, Poverty and shame shall
be to him that refuseth instruction.
But he that regardeth reproof shall be honored.
And the word honored there means it'll be
multiplied unto him.
There will be gain and increase.
And make this spiritual application.
To regard means to want it, to desire
it, to look for it, actually.
I wonder how many of us look for
reproof.
Three, and again, I'm making a spiritual application.
It will keep you alive.
Reproof will keep you alive.
Do you want to be spiritually alive?
Or do you want to be dead?
Proverbs 15, 10 says, Correction is grievous unto
him that forsaketh the way.
And he that hateth reproof shall die.
Again, strong words, aren't they?
Strong words.
Four, it will keep you in God's will
for your life.
Talking about reproof and rebuke.
It will keep you in God's will for
your life.
I know your theology.
Again, if I were to ask you, Do
you want to be in God's will today?
Everybody would raise their hand, wouldn't you?
Well, the Bible says in Proverbs 10, 17,
He is in the way of life that
keepeth instruction.
But he that refuseth reproof erreth.
Meaning, you will not find the way of
life, the will of God, if you refuse.
Reproof.
You won't.
You know, it's a Bible truth.
Five, desiring to embrace rebuke and reproof.
It is a proof of your maturity.
It is a sign of your growth and
your maturity.
Proverbs 17, A reproof entereth more into a
wise man than a hundred stripes unto a
fool.
Proverbs 15, 12, A scorner, and a scorner
is one who doesn't want reproof.
A scorner loveth not the one that reproofeth
him.
Neither will he go unto the wise.
Many verses.
So many verses.
So much of the heart of God in
these things.
Now, I do want to go back to
the New Testament and show you a verse
in Revelation so that we can again undergird
ourselves and our thinking.
On this side of the cross to make
sure that we're seeing the heart of God
and what God is trying to accomplish.
Revelation 3, 19.
Revelation chapter 3, verse 19.
And here, if you know anything about the
first three or four or five verses of
the book of Revelation, it's written to the
church and to things the church either should
be doing or should not be doing.
And Jesus speaks here in Revelation 3, 19
and He says, As many as I love,
and notice the word love, okay?
This is where we are on this side
of the cross and we're understanding how God
deals with us and the reason and the
motivation behind why He does things.
As many as I love, I rebuke and
chasten.
Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
And as I understand what Jesus is saying
here, He means that most of this rebuking
that is done in the New Testament age,
and if you read all these information He
gives about the church, is done by who?
Directly by Jesus?
Some is done that way.
The Holy Spirit can rebuke us, can't He?
But you know, it doesn't always work that
way.
Often it comes from the church.
Often from other people in the church.
Yes, from a sermon sometimes, but also from
one another.
And Jesus is saying, As many as I
love, I rebuke.
Who is His mouthpiece?
Who are His hands?
Who are His feet?
Who does He use to rebuke and reprove?
He uses you and I.
He uses vessels fit for the Master's use.
Think of this scene.
Don't turn there.
Think of this scene and just make an
application here in John 13 there, where Jesus
just finished washing the disciples' feet, and He
says, Now you go and do likewise.
You go and do likewise.
And the application I want you to make
is, one way in which disciples wash one
another's disciples' feet is reproving and rebuking and
warning and admonishing.
Just as in physically, just as in the
physical, when I wash a brother's feet, I
don't want to get the water too hot
and scald him, do I?
But neither do I want to make it
so cool and cold, it doesn't do the
job and remove the dirt and the grime
that's there.
The point is, I need to humble myself
and go to them and serve them and
wash their feet and help them remove those
things out of their lives.
We must do that.
So for a few minutes now, I want
to look at the one who goes.
I'm going to talk today about the one
who goes a little bit, and I'm also
going to talk about when it's our turn
to receive.
Because in the church, there should be both
of those things happening in our life, right?
Going and also then receiving.
First, I'll talk about going.
Talk about the one who sees the sin
in his brother or sister's life.
The one who sees the flat spot, sees
the straying, sees the drifting, sees that there's
an area in the life and practice of
this brother or sister in the church that
is not right.
And first, I think we need to admit,
in our flesh, in our flesh, in our
human tendency or weakness, none of us like
to go, do we?
You know, that's not the job we would
sign up for.
Or I hope it's not in your flesh.
I mean, you know, in your weakness.
That, you know, I don't want to do
that.
But I think if we will look at
our own heart, we will have to admit
that the root of that is fear of
man.
That's one of the problems, isn't it?
We don't like to rock the boat.
We want people to like us.
And beyond that, if we pull the veil
back really deep on our own heart, the
real truth is that you may not realize,
but I'm hoping you'll hear it today and
get on the other side of it, is
the real problem is too often we love
ourselves more than our brother and sister.
We do.
We love ourselves more than our brother and
sister.
Because Jesus says, those that I love, I
rebuke.
Or as many as I loved.
How many do you love here?
Just one?
How many do you say you love?
I remember, let me illustrate it this way.
I remember back a number of years ago,
I was living in Florida and I had
a friend.
And he and his wife had children later
in life and for various reasons and had
a little girl.
Her name was Mandy.
And oh my, he was quote unquote proud
of that little girl.
And she got older and like little girls
do, she suddenly wasn't the little angel she
was when she was two months old.
And she got to be two and three
and she was getting worse and worse.
And you know, finally, I was talking to
him and you know, just about children and
all this.
And he just kind of admitted.
He said, well, you know, the problem is
really, I just can't.
And you got to understand he's Southern.
So he said, I just can't whoop her.
I mean, that was his way he talked.
So I just can't whoop her.
I just can't do it, Rick.
And I said, why?
And he goes, I just love her too
much.
But you know, he didn't.
He loved himself.
And she grew up a spoiled little girl.
He just wouldn't do it.
Why wouldn't he do it?
Well, the problem was he didn't love her
too much.
He loved himself.
And he didn't want to do it.
He didn't want to do, because we know
what does the Bible say about that?
If you love them, you will chase them
for their sake.
But he didn't do it for his own
sake, you know.
And so, we need to see this tendency
in all of us.
We need to see that as Christians, we
are actually disobeying God when we do not
go to our brother or sister.
We actually have a responsibility to go.
And when we don't go, admonish.
We're disobeying God.
In Ezekiel 33.7, God says, So thou,
O son of man, I have set thee
a watchman over the house of Israel.
And we can make the spiritual application.
God's house today is the church, right?
Therefore, thou shalt hear the word at my
mouth.
And what?
Warn them.
And if you look it up, it means
admonish and rebuke.
Warn them from me.
And the next verse goes on to say,
And if you don't, and they perish, their
blood is on your hands.
Now those are strong words again from the
Old Testament.
But we're allowed to look back at the
Old Testament as examples, the New Testament says,
and see the spiritual principle here that God,
that there is a responsibility and an accountability
that comes in the house of God, that
comes in the church.
And we see that we have a responsibility
to do this.
Now, I can think of, I just have
to confess, I can think of failures of
my own, and I can think of failures
of our own as a church here at
Ephrata and both when we were all back
at charity, of individuals.
You know, if you think of the watchman,
what is he supposed to do?
He's on the walls and he's watching.
He's alert.
He's attentive.
He's focused.
He's going to warn them for the sake
of the whole village.
It's not just for his sake.
He's watching for dangers.
But what if he doesn't warn because, well,
he either fell asleep or maybe he just
thought, you know, this doesn't look like that
big of a danger coming.
They'll laugh at me.
They'll think I'm being foolish.
They'll misunderstand me.
I think this time I'm going to let
it go.
But then the danger comes in and several
people perish because of those thoughts and that
attitude he had.
What do you think they would think of
that watchman after that?
They'd say, shame on you.
Why didn't you come?
And what I was starting to say a
minute ago, I would have to say, I've
seen examples here in our church and when
we were all together at charity where that
very thing happened where some of us saw
something that was off in someone's life.
They were strained, you know.
And usually, we give ourselves away in outward
things.
I can't see your heart, can I?
But I can because the Bible says that
what's in your heart is going to come
out.
And you notice a different attitude, a difference
in dress, starting to listen to other music,
the car changes, start missing church.
Just things just start happening and you start
going, something is wrong.
But what if you don't go to that
person?
Well, I have seen situations in our own
churches here where they end up falling into
terrible sin.
And yes, shame on them for the sin,
but you know what?
The Bible would say, God would say, shame
on you, church.
You failed.
We join in some of that failure.
And we need to see this as a
serious thing.
And just let me help you here.
I don't have time to balance everything in
what I need to say today, so you
just give me some grace and pray that
the Spirit of God would fill in the
gaps in your minds.
But we should see ourselves not in this
role as a watchman, we should see ourselves
not as accusers, but counselors.
Okay?
And there's a difference.
We're not lawyers.
We're counselors.
Counselors that rely on the Word of God
to take it to somebody and try to
bring light and understanding because obviously, they're not
seeing something here.
There's something wrong happening here.
There's some sin happening here that's causing them
to go in this way.
And so we need to see ourselves as
counselors.
That we are not to present ourselves as
a prosecuting attorney with a case to win,
but rather we are coming to restore in
love for the right reason.
And the way that we urge them to
repent and to see this sin is very
important.
Our response to the sin in their life
should be carried out on the basis of
Revelation 3.19. Jesus said, as many as
I love.
In other words, if that cannot be part
of the motivation in your heart, warning, danger,
there's something wrong with your heart.
Because we're not an attorney.
Think of it this way for a minute.
God wants us to be...
You can either be a lifeguard or you
can be a judge.
Both deal with somebody that's doing something wrong.
One pronounces a sentence and puts them away.
The other sees them in trouble, goes out
and rescues them to bring them back to
shore, but tells them, don't ever do that
again.
But there's that first attempt to rescue them.
Think of Jesus and the Pharisees with the
woman caught in adultery.
Many people read that story and they miss
the whole point of the story.
Did you realize that both Jesus and the
Pharisees were after the exact same thing?
They both wanted the same thing.
They wanted her to sin no more.
Jesus even finishes the whole thing there with
the woman caught in adultery by saying, go
and sin no more.
And what does no more mean?
He wasn't being soft milk toast.
He was saying no more.
But He was being more of a lifeguard.
He was rescuing her.
He says, I don't condemn you.
He offered her forgiveness.
He offered her grace.
He offered her life.
A lifeguard deals in life.
A judge deals in putting people away.
The Pharisees wanted her to sin no more,
so they used the law, which was okay.
This is sin.
And the law demanded death.
We'll put her away.
We know how to deal with sin.
We'll just put them away.
Jesus also said, no more sin.
But He wanted to rescue.
So, you know, you need to see yourself
as a lifeguard rather than a judge.
May we see these things rightly.
That's in John 8, if you want to
look at it sometime.
Verses 10 and 11, I think.
Now, I want to go on here and
I want to get very practical, I'll call
it, very real, and just give you...
Don't already have your pen and paper out.
Get it out, okay?
Get it out.
Don't come to listen to one of Brother
Rick's sermons without pen and paper.
How's that?
You know you're going to get a list
sooner or later, right?
So, get your pen and paper out.
Now, I've already mentioned some of the things
I'm going to go over on this list,
but take some notes on these things about
the, may I say, the loving, biblical, proper
way to go to someone who is straying,
who is sinning, who is blind, who does
have a flat spot, who is drifting, however
you want to say it, away from the
heart of the brotherhood and from the way
that God wants them to go in their
life.
Now, if this sermon...
I just want to give a warning to
you because I know somebody's sitting here like
this.
If this sermon is scaring you, thinking, oh
no, Brother Rick is going to pave the
way for people to start coming to my
life, you're already thinking wrong.
You should be thinking, great!
This means I can be more like Christ.
This means I'm going to be in the
way.
This means I'm going to grow.
Remember those five things?
Why you need to embrace rebuke?
Keep those back there.
Don't forget that, okay?
Don't forget that.
Praise God.
We get to be more like Jesus.
Okay, here's the list.
Number one, pray, pray, pray.
Pray.
Go to God.
Seek God.
Pray, first of all, that God would help
you to remove the beam from your own
eye, right?
That you would cleanse your own heart.
God needs to use pure vessels.
Not perfect.
Not meaning that you and I are sinless.
But we do need to clean our own
heart up.
Make sure that your heart is pure and
your motive is pure.
And you can only do that, I think,
if you start by praying.
Number two, seek biblical confirmation.
Trust the Word of God.
Ask God to show you in the Bible.
When you see somebody straying or in sin
or drifting and you're just thinking, what's wrong
here?
Go to the Word of God.
Seek confirmation.
Seek affirmation in the Word of God.
The power of the Word of God to
restore the wayward should never be underestimated.
Number three, do not discuss with others.
Do not discuss with others.
You're still not hearing me.
Do not discuss with others.
Okay?
Even with me.
Don't come tell me until you've gone to
them.
Don't come and tell the ministry.
Go to them.
You don't need my approval.
You don't.
Go to them.
You need God.
You need to pray.
And if you're clear, go.
Now, the only exception I'll make for this
is husbands and wives.
Now, realizing that husbands and wives are one,
sometimes you do need to make sure your
heart is clear.
And you know, with spouses, I understand those
things.
We're one and all that.
But to go tell other people in the
church, even the ministry, may I say, please
don't do that.
It doesn't bear any good fruit.
It really doesn't.
Four, get a burden for the person.
Number four, get a burden for the person.
Remember the lifeguard example.
When the lifeguard sees the person beyond the
ropes where they're supposed to be, they've broken
the rules, does he sit there and write
up a report about the person breaking the
rule?
Or does his heart go, oh no, they're
in trouble and there's an immediate burden, right?
He doesn't have to get a burden.
It just comes upon him.
Sometimes you and I aren't that good.
We need to get a burden.
Well, I don't know how you do it,
but you can get a burden from God.
God can help you get the right burden
for somebody's heart.
Weep for their sin.
You're not a judge.
Feel the weight of the issue in light
of eternity in the Kingdom of God.
Feel your love for them.
Do not go as a judge in a
critical manner.
Get a burden.
Five, do not be reactionary.
Do not just react, in other words.
In other words, sometimes you see something and
you just sort of have a knee-jerk
reaction.
You just run and go do something.
And I've found often that it just doesn't
work out that way.
It's just maybe, that's why you need to
go back to number one and pray.
You know, sometimes people see something and they
just kind of react and you don't know
what's going on.
You haven't seen the whole picture yet.
And I know none of us can ever
see the whole picture, so I'm not using
this one to get out of going.
But I'm just saying, you know, can you
just pause long enough to make sure you've
prayed and you have a burden?
You know, just take your time.
Six, and this one goes along, seek appropriate
timing.
You know, don't go up in the middle
of a bunch of other people and, you
know, boom, boom, boom, hit somebody with something.
You know, seek appropriate timing and place.
And by timing, I don't just mean take
too much time.
I also mean don't wait too long.
Because sometimes people see something in somebody's life
and they wait and they wait and they
wait.
And you know one of the problems with
waiting, besides the person's getting further away, is
the more you wait, you get actually, I've
seen in some people's hearts, and even in
my own heart, you almost develop a critical
spirit the longer you wait.
Isn't that sad?
I don't know why that is.
Human beings are strange creatures, some of the
things we do.
But in the flesh, those things can happen.
Don't let it...
In other words, it festers.
You know what I mean by festering?
You ever let a sore fester?
Don't take too long.
You need to find your balance in this
thing.
Okay, seven, now you've gone to see them,
pray with the person first.
Before you talk to them, if at all
possible, pause for prayer together.
You need somebody else there besides the two
of you.
You need God there.
You need Christ there.
And you need to invite Him to come
for His wisdom and His grace and His
mercy and His love.
Number eight, affirm your love for them.
And I don't know how you do this,
but your spirit and your words need to
affirm that you care for them, that you're
concerned for them.
You care about them as a person.
You're not just there to boom, boom, boom,
lay down this issue, but you're there because
you care about them as a person.
Number nine, be humble.
You know, there's a spiritual principle in the
Bible in James where it says, God resisteth
the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
You know, that's true between people.
You know, it's hard to resist a humble
man, isn't it?
If somebody comes to you and they're humble,
it's almost like you can't help it.
You're going to hear what they have to
say because their spirit is humble and it's
like you just give them grace, don't you?
We're that way too.
There's a spiritual dynamic that happens even between
you and I.
So be humble.
Realize as you go, and in the back
of your mind, I know you know this,
but do you know when you go, you
have some flat spots too?
You know?
And you're not there to talk about yours,
but I'm just saying, know who you are
as you go too.
You know?
And if you know that, that'll help you
be humble.
Number 10.
I'm not sure how to make this one
a short one.
This sort of goes along with something I
already said about affirming love, but show that
you're interested in their life.
Maybe this is something you do before you
go.
Make sure that you go in your mind
with specific things that you actually appreciate about
that person's life and even respect them about
their life.
Because nobody, even if they're doing one part
of their life is off, does that mean
that they're all bad?
No.
And sometimes we get so focused on the
negative thing, and it is wrong, and it
does need admonishing that we don't open our
eyes to see the whole person.
And I find that it helps me get
out of this tunnel vision thing if I
can go, well, you know, actually, I really
appreciate this person and, you know, you can
make a list very easily.
I've learned from this person like that.
And somehow that just sort of gives you
a balance in your heart and allows you
to go with more freedom and grace in
your heart.
Number 11.
Try to be specific when you go.
Try to give examples.
Try not to generalize.
You know, it's pretty rough when you go
to someone and say, well, I've just noticed
things aren't right in your life.
And they'll say, what are you talking about?
Well, just things aren't right, you know.
And that happens sometimes, but it doesn't work.
Now, you don't go with 20 examples because
you're going to overwhelm them.
Okay, I can't balance everything I'm saying today,
but, you know, use some, not just common
sense, but be sensitive in your heart.
But you need to be specific enough that
they understand because see, think of it this
way.
It's a blind spot because if they're a
spiritual person and they're walking with God and
they saw it, you don't have to go
to them.
The problem with a blind spot, if it's
back here, guess what?
I can't see it.
And so when you go, don't be surprised
if they don't see it at first because
they're blind or they're making themselves.
If it's really a serious root of sin,
they're purposefully not seeing it, but they're still
not seeing it.
Okay, number 12.
Encourage and exhort as you share.
Did you notice when he was talking to
Timothy there and he said preach on it,
but the word exhort was in there and
I think in another verse we read.
And the word exhort and encourage means at
the same time that there's rebuking and reproofing,
there's also some encouragement given there, you know,
about their life and about who they are
and how they're needed in the body of
Christ.
And, you know, there's words of exhortation and
come on, yeah, you know, given with that
because they need to hear all those things
as well.
13, and this one goes together, go in
faith.
Go in faith.
Don't go with a defeated attitude.
They can read you like a book.
You know, go in faith.
Believing better things of them.
Being persuaded in faith that they will see
what God needs them to see.
Brother Dean, that they'll see it.
Go in faith that they'll see it.
Not just hear, but that they'll see it.
Have some faith.
Be persuaded of better things of them.
Don't go thinking, you know what?
They're not going to see this.
You know, if you're like that, I'm sorry.
There's something wrong with your heart.
Go in faith.
14, do not exaggerate to try to make
a point.
Don't use broad, sweeping statements like, well, I've
noticed that you always...
fill in the blank.
Or you never...
because first of all, nobody always does anything,
do they?
You know, so once you start doing that,
they're going to shut you off and think
this person doesn't know me.
Because I don't always...
whatever it is that they're coming to rebuke
you about.
You know, don't exaggerate.
Now, sometimes as humans, we're so tempted to
try to make our point, we want to
drive it home, we think we have to
add some juice to it, you know.
We have the Holy Spirit.
Right?
We have the Bible.
You don't need to do that.
Let God do that.
Because if God doesn't come, and the Spirit
of God isn't at work anyway, it doesn't
matter what you say, you know.
Number 15, pray.
Pray with them at the end if you
can, and afterwards, you pray.
That God will finish the work.
Because you want God to do the work,
don't you?
You may be God's mouthpiece.
You may be the one God is using
to do this, but pray that God will
do the work.
That God will finish the work.
For that person's sake, but also for the
sake of the church, right?
Amen?
Okay.
Alright, now, throw the switch with me.
Can we leave that for...
just leave that list.
Let's just throw the switch now.
Get on the other side.
Now, receiving.
Receiving admonishment, correction, rebuke.
Someone comes to you and you hear that
phrase, I have something to share with you.
I would like to talk with you sometime.
Unfortunately, most of us in our flesh, our
heart begins to flutter.
Our neck muscles tighten.
Breathing becomes a little difficult for a few
minutes.
Because most of us in our flesh, we
don't like to be shown in an unfavorable
light, do we?
It's uncomfortable.
It doesn't feel good.
We want people to think the best of
us.
We want to be shown in a favorable
light.
The truth is, in our old man, we
have a distaste for correction.
How many people really like to be told
that they're wrong in the flesh or in
the old man?
It's just not there.
We do not always appreciate someone telling us
that we have erred.
But there's a very important principle you need
to get, beloved, here.
This doesn't work.
There's a very important principle you need to
get here.
Constructive correction, I'll call it, admonishment, but I'll
use the phrase constructive correction, is going to
do one of two things.
It's going to devastate or develop.
It depends...
Now here's the key.
It depends totally on you.
Not on the person that comes.
I'm sorry, you can't put it off on
them.
It depends on you, on how you choose
to receive it.
Whether it will devastate you or develop you.
But it is your choice.
It is not the choice of the person.
It is not the way they delivered it.
It is not everything they said or didn't
say.
The choice of whether constructive criticism or correction
devastates you or develops you is up to
you.
How you choose.
You know, I know your theology is right.
Most of us would say we're open to
correction, but again, the sad truth is too
many of you and me, we are too
easily bruised.
We're too easily bruised.
You know, I can think of my own
life.
Sometimes after I preach a message, someone can
say to me, oh, you know, our emotions
that are part of the old man anyway
are tricky things.
Someone can say to me, oh, your message
was good.
It really changed my life.
Well, spiritually I'm blessed, but sometimes my emotions
get involved and I go, oh, good.
You know, three minutes later though, I've had
somebody come up to me on the same
message and say, I didn't agree with the
thing you've said.
You're wrong.
And my emotions want to go, boom, right
down.
Emotions are, they're not stable.
You cannot trust those things.
And if you do, you will find yourself
too easily bruised.
It happens.
But we're spiritual.
We want to walk in the new man.
We want to make the right choices by
the Spirit of God and by the power
of God.
Remember, you're not able to admonish, but may
I say, you are able to receive it.
God would not give you something you couldn't
handle.
There wouldn't be all these commandments to give
it if God knew it was just going
to crush and devastate everybody.
You ever think about it that way?
God knows you not only need it, you
can handle it.
If you choose to develop rather than devastate.
We need to see these things right.
Turn to Proverbs 3.
Proverbs 3.
Verse 11 and 12.
Proverbs 3, 11 and 12.
Why don't we stand?
Why don't you stand with me?
Proverbs 3, 11 and 12.
And let's read these two verses together.
Proverbs 3, 11 and 12.
My son, despise not the chastening of the
Lord, neither be weary of His correction.
For whom the Lord loveth, He correcteth, even
as a father the son in whom He
delighteth.
Isn't that wonderful?
Okay, you may be seated.
Now, the word despise here means put it
off or throw it away.
So He's saying, My son, don't throw this
stuff away.
Don't throw it away, the chastening and the
correction of the Lord.
Because when He brings it your way, He's
doing it because He delighteth in you.
Our thinking with our emotions are all wrong.
We're thinking, Oh no, woe is me, poor
me.
I'm getting picked on.
And God is saying, No, I'm delighting in
you.
Don't put it away.
Don't let your emotions rule you.
God is saying you need in your Christian
life Proverbs 3, 11 moments.
I've had them.
Have you had any Proverbs 3, 11 moments
in your Christian life which have defined and
changed and put a juncture, a change in
the direction of your Christian life?
I have.
And I can say that I'm different because
God has delighted in me with some Proverbs
3, 11 moments when I've seen it as
the hand of God reaching down, delighting in
me.
And it's changed.
Even since I've been in the ministry, I
remember I've made some mistakes.
The first sermon I ever preached, I made
a mistake on.
It was a bad mistake.
And poor brother Aaron had to come to
me.
Sweet brother Aaron.
And rebuke me.
You know, how'd you like that for you
to be your first sermon at charity?
And he had to rebuke me.
And I made a mistake.
And you know, at first I was like,
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
But then I went, okay, wait a minute.
And it was a Proverbs 3, 11.
I saw it as the hand of God.
And I needed it.
And I thank God for that moment in
my life, that Proverbs 3, 11 moment.
I've had others in the ministry.
I've had others in my life.
And I'm thankful for those moments.
Even in my job, in my work life,
I've had it.
Okay, well, I need to move on here.
But remember this whole thing.
You need these Proverbs 3, 11 moments in
your life.
You should be very worried if you don't
have very many.
If you can think back over the last
five years and you've only had one or
two, there's something wrong with you, but there's
something wrong with our church too.
And that's why I'm preaching this message.
There's something wrong with our church.
That's the admonishment.
There's something wrong.
Now again, I want to try to make
this as practical as I can with this
list.
So keep your pen and paper out.
Now I'm going to try as I do
this.
I spoke to my wife a couple of
days ago.
I think it was two or three days
ago because I felt that there's a tendency
in how we receive things that sometimes I've
noted over the years.
And I checked it with her and she
said I was right.
That women and men have certain tendencies when
they receive rebuke.
Many of them are the same, but there's
some that are a bit more unique.
Although again, a lot of them cross over.
So I'm going to divide these up at
times a little bit between the men and
the women.
But if it applies to you anyway, don't
let that exclude you because some cross over.
And so remember, this is not just a
list.
This one especially more than the other list
is a searching.
It is a searching from the heart of
God to your heart.
It is a searching.
And there's going to be people in this
room I know that need to repent.
You know, I just tell you, I know
some of you need to as you hear
this list, you need to allow the Spirit
of God to search your heart and you
need to repent.
Because you want, you need, I beg of
you, to let God delight in you so
that you can have a Proverbs 311 moment.
You do.
Okay, number one.
Having an unapproachable attitude.
Did you know that people can tell whether
or not you're approachable?
People can tell whether or not you're touchable?
People can tell.
You don't have to say a word and
people can tell by the Spirit you give
off.
I'm satisfied with my life.
Do not speak into my...
It's like you're wearing a sign.
Do not touch me.
We give off those vibrations.
We can't.
Isn't that sad that we can do that?
Shame on us.
But you know, and I'm not generalizing here
or out there.
I'm saying in our church, in our churches,
in our circles, in this church, there are
people that have this attitude.
Do not touch me.
Now, they've never said that.
Their theology would be perfect.
They would never dare to say that.
But they give off that attitude.
Do not touch me.
Oh, you need to repent.
You know, I'm just going to stick my
neck out and just tell you, please, beg
you, you need to repent.
Because you think nobody knows, but you'd be
surprised how many people know.
And you've never said a word.
But they read you.
They read your spirit.
Do you need to repent?
Can you truly say you want correction?
As you're sitting here, can you say you
are touchable?
Can you say that before God honestly?
Number two, crying out of hurt.
And this one tends to be a tendency
of the sisters a bit more.
Crying out of hurt.
They shed tears immediately upon the rebuke coming,
not of repentance, not of sorrow over sin,
but of bruised feelings and hurt.
And when somebody starts doing that, it's hard
to finish.
May I say?
Because what they're really saying is, don't touch
me.
Because their feelings are bruised.
I've watched Helen train our girls in the
home, our older girls, not to do this
as she goes to them or I go
to them, because she says, girls, someday, Lord
willing, you'll have a husband.
And can you imagine you have this wonderful,
tenderhearted husband, and every time he tries to
come to you, you start crying because your
feelings are hurt.
You know, after two or three times, you
know what he's going to do?
He's going to stop coming.
And then your life is really going to
be a mess because you've just blocked the
person closest to you from coming to you.
Because he's tenderhearted.
I mean, he's not going to make you
cry.
What husband wants to make his wife cry?
You know?
It's not right.
God can help you overcome that, sisters.
God can.
Number three.
I'll just call this one being personally offended.
Being personally offended.
And I'll explain it here.
I think the root of this is somewhat
pride.
But you're offended at the person for even
coming to you.
This one, men tend to, I think, have
a little bit more.
And you can tell they're offended just that
you came even before you're halfway done.
And they stop hearing you.
They might even cut you off or cut
you short and say things like, I'm offended.
I'm offended.
And you know, as you hear what God
wants for rebuke, there is no room in
there for offense.
I'm sorry.
Because once you do that, you've just cut
off the flow of God admonishing and speaking
into your life.
You've chosen to be devastated instead of to
be developed.
You've made a choice.
You know, you can choose whether you're offended
or not.
It doesn't just fall on your head and
hit you.
You've made a choice.
Don't be offended.
You need a Proverbs 311 moment.
You need to see God wants to delight
in you.
Number four.
Now, this is probably, this number four, these
are not necessarily in order.
This one is probably one of the big,
I don't know how to rate these things.
I don't think I can, but I will
rate this one at the top of the
heap.
Finding fault in the person who comes.
Finding fault in the person that comes.
You know, we fault their attitude for the
way they come.
We fault that they don't have all the
stories straight.
We even begin to see flat spots in
their life and before they're done rebuking us,
we start telling them things that aren't really
right about their life.
And we do it very subtly.
You know, people do that.
They just kind of drop little hints.
Well, I don't know, you know.
And they make comments about your life or
they make comments about the ministry or about
the church.
Well, this church doesn't, you know.
And then they bring out their list.
This is not a debate, okay?
This is not a time to play lawyer,
okay?
This is a time for a Proverbs 3
.11 moment where you sit and you listen
and you receive and you get really quiet
before God.
Because as long as you're firing shots back
out, you're not receiving what you need to
hear.
This is a big one.
I can just say personally, I've had this
happen to me many times.
Many times.
And I've talked to others and they have
the same problem.
This is a problem that we people have.
Someone comes and immediately something rises up and
we want to see fault in them.
Well, you don't do and you've not done.
And please don't do that.
These are common mistakes that people make.
Number five, explaining or justifying action or situation.
Explaining or justifying action or situation.
You know, somebody comes and suddenly you have
a list of all the reasons of why
you're behaving a certain way or doing a
certain thing.
Again, it's time to listen.
Don't talk too much.
Listen.
You know, maybe ask a few questions so
that you can understand, because you probably don't
see it.
Pray.
Ask God to help you hear and see
it.
Because again, if you probably already saw it,
they wouldn't have had to come.
But if you start giving a list of
reasons why you're doing this or why, well,
my music isn't that bad.
Let me tell you all the good things
about it.
Or, well, I wore that, I know.
And I know the church doesn't approve, but
it isn't going to work.
You're not going to receive that love and
that delight that He wants to bring in
your life.
Number six, doubting that it's true.
Doubting that it's true.
You know, immediately somebody comes and you think,
well, this isn't true.
Again, I talked about it already.
This is the blind spot problem.
If you saw it, you wouldn't need them
to come.
People think, well, I don't see that about
my life.
Well, of course you don't see that.
That's why somebody else has to come.
And so you doubt it's not true.
And the minute you doubt it's not true,
you think, well, thoughts like, well, they don't
really understand me.
They don't really understand my situation.
They're being too hard on me.
And what you're really doing, may I say,
is you're having sort of a little bit
of a pity party on the inside.
This is not the time for a pity
party.
You know, you may not see it.
And I acknowledge that.
And sometimes you may just need to go
away and pray and fast for a day
or two.
I don't know.
It doesn't always work out that you go
to somebody and they see it the minute
you say it.
It just doesn't always work that way.
But don't doubt that it's not true just
because you don't immediately see it.
Number seven, no right to come.
No right to come.
Sometimes thoughts come to people like, well, they
don't really have any right to come to
me.
You know, and you're a little bit indignant.
You're thinking they're not qualified.
And they don't really have a right to
do that.
They're not in the ministry and all these
other things.
And again, hopefully after today's message, you won't
have that thought anymore.
They do have a right to come.
In fact, they have an obligation to come.
In fact, they're commanded of God to come.
So you don't want to get between them
and a commandment of God, I hope.
Number eight, it works this way too.
Telling others.
Talking to others.
After they come to you, do you immediately
run and tell three or four or five
of your best friends?
And how do you tell the story when
you tell it?
Do you tell it in such a way
as to draw pity?
Do you tell what happened like it really
happened?
Do you say things like to your friends,
am I really that bad?
I mean, how can they answer that question?
You put them in a corner.
Don't go running to your friends and tell
three or four friends.
Take it to your Father in Heaven.
He's the One bringing this in your life.
He's the One you need to be talking
to.
Number nine, this one again is a little
bit more, may I say, on the sister's
side, but not entirely.
I'm not going to put it all on
your side.
It's hopeless.
Somebody comes and then you find yourself saying
things like, I can't ever live up to
the standards of the church.
I can't ever please anybody.
Nothing I do pleases the church.
And just big exclamations of hopelessness.
Well, first of all, it's not true.
It's a lie, you know.
The devil is whispering condemnation into your ear
and you're agreeing with the wrong guy.
You're agreeing with the devil.
That's the devil.
And you're agreeing with him.
You don't want to agree with the devil,
do you?
But that's just an emotional response that sometimes,
oh, it's hopeless.
I can never do anything right, you know.
And all those emotions and things start coming.
It's the devil.
Don't fall prey to his condemnation.
Number ten, this is similar.
Making yourself a victim.
Making yourself look like the victim.
Again, afterwards when you retell the story, do
you use words like, they really hurt me
with the things they said.
They made me feel so bad.
As you're telling all your friends.
Men sometimes say things like, oh, he really
plowed into me.
He raked me over the coals.
Well, you know, immediately when you start talking
like that, you're making yourself the victim.
And we all feel sorry for victims, don't
we?
I mean, somebody's in a car wreck.
They're a victim of getting hit.
I mean, poor thing.
But see, you're not a victim here.
Somebody's trying to restore you where you need
to be in the church and with God.
Number eleven, this is one that is definitely
on the men's side, although I think some
women do it too, but it's definitely on
the brother's side.
Since some is incorrect, all is incorrect.
Men are great lawyers.
For example, somebody comes to you and 80
% of what they have to say is
either not true or it's really there's something
wrong with it.
But 20% of it is accurate.
And men are good at this.
We weigh it in the balance of our
mind.
Let's see, 80% off, 20% sort
of true.
Probably the whole thing is wrong.
And we just pitch it in the trash.
That's bad theology.
That's bad Christian life.
Because that 20% may be the most
important thing in your life that you ever
see.
And it may be this is your chance
to see it.
And you've just pitched the whole thing out.
Number twelve, pushing it off.
Pushing it off.
We let time pass.
We decide to put it all on the
back burner and say, well, someday I'll see
it, maybe.
And time goes by.
Weeks, months, months, months.
And during that time, we find ourselves doing
things like avoiding the person.
Who came to us.
When we walk down the hall, our eyes
go down the other way.
You know, things like that.
And we actually, strangely enough, begin to accumulate
a little bit of a list in our
mind of their faults.
You know, rather than dealing with what God
is trying to teach us.
Don't let time go by.
If you need to take off a couple
of days from work and pray and fast.
If you need to, you know, seek the
Lord.
You need to search the Bible.
This is serious.
You need to take it as a warning.
As an admonishment.
As a rebuke from God.
Fourteen, rejecting the delivery.
Rejecting the delivery.
You judge the one that comes, not by
what they say, but by the delivery.
Maybe they didn't hear the first part of
the message today.
And maybe they don't come and say everything
just right.
Maybe they don't affirm their love for you.
Maybe they even say it in the wrong
spirit.
I don't know.
People make mistakes, don't they?
And so you say, well, you know what?
Their attitude was wrong.
I can tell that there's something wrong with
the way they're thinking about me.
And you just pitch the whole thing away.
Danger.
That's very dangerous.
You know, human vessels make mistakes.
And just because the delivery isn't picture perfect,
I don't think gives you or I the
right to pitch the whole thing out.
And I've heard this one so many times.
Well, if you could have heard their attitude,
Brother Rick, you'd know why I didn't hear
that one.
Well, you know, maybe their attitude was wrong.
I can't defend that.
I don't know.
But I do know that God does use
imperfect vessels.
And sometimes we don't say things the right
way.
Sometimes we don't have the right attitude.
But I don't believe it gives you the
right to pitch it all out.
I believe you're doing yourself and your church
a grave injustice.
Well, I know the time is moving on
here.
I got started a little bit late this
morning.
With the service, I've just got a little
bit here and I'm going to close.
I know some of these overlap.
And I know more could be said on
some of these things.
But I hope you get a little bit
of an idea of some things.
And I hope God has stirred your heart
this morning, some of you here, to repentance.
That you can see there's something wrong in
my heart in this whole area.
And that you can see that God is
waiting to delight in you and give you
these, again, Proverbs 3.11 moments in your
life.
But you've been dodging them.
You've been dodging them.
You've been avoiding them.
You've been shoving them under the rug or
doing whatever it is with them.
And it's not going well with you.
You know, it is not going well with
you.
My dear beloved, we must not let the
devil have the advantage over us in this
area.
This is an area the devil, I think,
has a joyride among us.
You know, of all the misunderstanding of the
heart of God in this and the misunderstanding
both how to give and receive warnings and
corrections and admonishments in the church.
Go over these things and study them for
yourself.
And I believe you'll see that this is
part of loving the brethren.
This is part of one anothering.
And again, we must see that this is
part of my relationship with God and my
relationship with you.
And again, if I fail in one part,
in effect, I fail in the other.
These things will and do strike at your
true attitude towards the church.
They do.
They strike at your real attitude towards the
church and your maturity and your willingness to
submit yourself to God's ways.
You know, are we willing to do that?
Let me just in closing, read a final
verse here.
Turn to Psalm 141.
Psalm 141.
And here is verse 5.
Turn to Psalm 141, verse 5.
And look at this verse here with me
for just a moment.
This is a wonderful verse that I hope
will open your heart as the Spirit of
God will speak it to you.
It says, Let the righteous smite me.
Isn't that an interesting verse?
Sometimes people feel like they've been hit.
Well, this says, Let the righteous smite me.
It shall be a kindness.
Yeah, their delivery may not be just right.
But you know what?
It's a kindness to you.
And let him reprove me.
It shall be, watch, an excellent oil.
Do you think of that?
When you think of somebody coming to admonish
you, do you think of it as an
excellent oil?
Or do you get all tense and nervous?
Look at the last of it.
Which shall not break my head.
Them reproving you will not break you.
It will not cause you damage.
If you don't hear it, if you don't
hear it, that is damage.
Because constructive correction is either going to devastate
you or develop you.
And if you allow it to devastate you,
there will be destruction.
There will be problems in your life.
I can say, brothers and sisters, this morning
with all my heart, I love you.
I do very much.
I love you.
And I love God's ways.
This is God's way.
Can we not combine our love for each
other with God's ways and open this area
up in our lives between each other in
love for each other?
I think we can.
I'm persuaded of better things, just like Paul
said in Romans 15-14, that you are
able to admonish.
Amen.
May God add His blessings and applications in
your life and in mine.
Thank you.
Excuse me, please.
I had some announcement about Africa to deal
with.
Well, amen.
I have to think this morning that there
are probably some of you sitting in your
seats this morning like Rick said that need
to repent.
And as I was sitting here listening, I
think there's a qualification that God gives for
the perfect man when He's talking about elders.
It's called easily entreated.
Ever been challenged by that word?
Easily entreated.
A person that's easy to go to.
Oh, I know he'll respond right.
I know he just doesn't see it, but
when I come to him, I'm sure that
it'll be a blessing.
We'll both get a blessing out of it.
Do you know of very many people like
that?
Easily entreated?
Are you a person like that?
How is it with you this morning?
Can we just ask that question right off?
How is it with you?
I almost hesitate to just go on and
not do something with a message like that.
Because like Rick said, this is the command
of God.
This is a problem that we have in
the church.
Maybe I could just ask, how many of
you would raise your hand and have been
admonished this last year?
Have been admonished?
Personally, someone's come to you and admonished you
about something in your life?
More than I expected.
Maybe a quarter of us.
Well, praise God.
How many of you have admonished someone else
about an area in their life?
Maybe you could raise your hand.
About the same.
Do you feel the need that we should
do anything?
Or should we just take it home, brother?
Alright, well, maybe the thing that we could
do here is let's just open it up.
And if God has spoken to your life
this morning and you feel like you would
like to stand to your feet and give
testimony, either something to add to this message,
but especially if you have a failure in
your life in this area and you see
it this morning, and you'd like to repent
publicly, just stand to your feet and repent.
Let's do that.
And be healed.
And bring a health to this congregation.
Can we do that this morning?
Just raise your hand and we'll get a
microphone to you and stand to your feet.
Anyone?
I have built a wall around my life
and I have tried to keep people at
bay so they wouldn't share with me things
that they see in my life.
And I want to, with the Lord's grace
this week, to work in that and deal
with that in my life.
Amen.
Thank you.
For the grace of God be upon you.
Alex?
First of all, I'd like to really thank
brother Rick for sharing that message, a very,
very needful message.
And I give a hearty amen to it.
I've certainly been guilty of having a harsh
spirit sometimes and using words like always and
never.
I've done that too.
I appreciate the admonishment in that area.
And I do repent.
Amen.
Thank you, brother.
Go ahead and stand up if you would.
Yeah, I too appreciate brother Rick's message.
I want to thank him and pray that
God would just bless him for sharing these
things.
I'm sure it's just as hard to do
that as it is for us to go
to someone else and entreat them.
I know in my own heart, it seems
like it's very hard for me to...
Well, I just appreciate the first point he
gave us.
Pray, pray, pray.
And I've been doing that in the last
little while here is praying for a lot
of you.
And I bless God for the burdens He
gives me, but I also see that many
times when He gives me a burden, I
go and share it with someone else instead
of talking to the person about the burden
that comes upon my heart.
And I want to repent of that this
morning.
And my wife and others in my family
have been reminding me for a long time
that I talk too much.
And so I would like for you all
to pray for me that when I do
talk, it would be from God, from the
will of God instead of just out of
the frustration of my own heart.
I know I have a need for that
verse that says, set a watch, O Lord,
before my mouth and keep the door of
my lips.
And so I'd just like to repent of
that this morning.
I need a mind that's purified and a
heart that's set on the things that God
would have me to speak to others.
Thank you.
Amen.
I'd encourage us all to take those two
lists to our prayer closet tomorrow morning.
I intend to do that myself.
Just look over that list in prayer before
God.
Brother Roy.
Amen.
I just want to express my appreciation for
the message this morning.
I was blessed.
I feel like I was admonished.
Doing what we heard this morning is not
something that comes naturally to the man, natural
man.
And I believe it's an area that we
all need to grow in if we're really
honest with ourselves.
What we heard this morning was wisdom.
The writer in Galatians said, Brethren, if a
man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such in one in the
spirit of meekness.
And who of us this morning would like
to acknowledge we're carnal?
I think we would all like to admit
we're spiritual.
Well then, we have a command, do we
not?
And I just feel like I need to
repent.
You know, it's something that at times I've
seen.
Maybe a brother needs some direction, but it's
too easy to look the other way.
And well, maybe somebody else will take care
of that.
No.
We have a responsibility.
And I appreciate those that have shared with
me needs in my life.
And maybe it didn't always come in the
right way.
But I am so grateful that God had
given me grace at times to accept it
anyway and see and hear and listen and
amen.
What we heard this morning was right.
And if we do that and listen with
our hearts and hear, God will show us
those blind spots.
They are blind spots.
And we all have them.
I just pray.
I want to have an open heart to
hear what God has for me as we
walk together here in this congregation.
I want to have an open heart.
Whether admonition comes in a right way or
a wrong way.
Oh, I just want to, by God's grace,
be able to listen and to allow that
to develop me and not devastate me.
Go ahead, Steve.
Down here in the front.
Brother Lawrence.
Danny.
Okay, Steve, go ahead.
I feel I need to confess in this
area of giving admonition that I have grown
weary in well-doing.
And for a while I've noticed, and I
know I've shared it with a few of
the brethren, that I've become dull.
And I think that the Lord is answering
why I've become dull.
Because there's no reason to show me anything
if I'm not going to do anything about
it.
So, may the Lord give us grace and
restore us to continue to walk with Him.
Daniel.
Yes, I need to share.
I don't know how much.
This was a very, very timely message for
me just Friday evening, and yesterday I failed
the test.
First of all, I want to repent of
every brother and sister here that I've said
any derogatory, harsh statements of the church that
were left a couple of years ago.
I'm very sorry.
I know that I don't feel that I
have that much of a problem accepting admonition
of things that are truth in my life.
But just to clarify what I failed in,
Friday night I had a brother come to
me and said that he's hearing that in
a doctor's office this past summer that I
was to another old grandma from...
Well, it's just not a dad.
It was a grandma that I really railed
against the church.
Is that true?
And I said, I'll search my heart.
They were trying to get...
It had to do with their granddaughter and
a bunch of stuff.
I said, we had already left when these
things happened.
I said, I choose...
I know very, very little about it, and
I choose not to know anything about it.
And that's how I thought I had responded.
Now, the brother that came to me Friday
said that it's all over, how terrible I
talked about the church to this lady.
And she was trying and trying to get
out of me why we left, why we
did this, why we did that.
I said, we're not talking about it.
That wasn't so bad.
But I should have let it at that.
Last night I had to call my friend
up and tell him all this, what they're
doing to me.
I'm very, very sorry.
I repent of it.
Please forgive me.
Thank you for opening up there.
Anyone else?
Have one right up here in the front.
Anyone else, get your hand up if you'd
like.
Yeah, I was really blessed by the message
this morning.
One thing, one word of testimony for me
is growing up, I never had that admonishment.
And being in the home that I am
now, that God has placed me in, I'm
really blessed by having it.
And one attitude that I found in coming
into it when mom and dad come and
say they have something to talk to me
about, just having a thankful attitude.
I don't quite see it right now, but
thank you for telling me.
I look into it, I search my heart.
And just having that thankful attitude, I think
God just really pours a blessing upon you
and gives you strength to overcome.
Praise God.
Thank you, Brother Billy.
Yeah, that's a testimony to all our homes.
This is a perfect topic to take home
and talk as a family.
Take it home and talk with your family
about it.
Anyone else?
Lingering?
Feel like you should say something, but there's
not enough time?
Right up here.
Go ahead, Gordon.
I just felt like maybe I should share.
I was here during Bible school, was not
a student, but sorry for the attitude I
ran around with here.
It was just the attitude that I had
everything under control.
And I was at peace inside, but I
was not displaying an attitude that I probably
could have been approached if there was something
wrong.
So I ask your forgiveness.
Amen.