 Hey man, all right, keep your place there in Romans 14 and go ahead and turn your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 11. We're gonna talk about food tonight, which is funny because I'm hungry. So we're gonna talk about eating and not eating and let's see what the Bible has to say. Let's see if we can't make some sense out of Romans 14 here. First of all, Romans 14 is talking a lot about, you know, eating and not eating certain things. I want to lay a little bit of a foundation and let's go to Leviticus 11 because in this time we need to look at some of the rules that the Jews of this time were under as far as things that they could eat and things that they couldn't eat. So if you go ahead and turn your Bibles to Leviticus chapter 11, let's just look at a few of these things before we get into Romans 14. Kind of lay a foundation. It'll make some sense out of what Paul is saying here in Romans. If you look at Leviticus chapter number 11 and start reading, let's start reading in verse number two. We're not gonna read the whole chapter. We could read the whole chapter because it's basically all about, you know, what's clean and what's not clean. And it gets very detailed about what, you know, the rules that they were under as far as what, you know, the Jews or the Israelites could eat and what they couldn't eat. So God was pretty specific here. In verse number two, the Bible says, speak unto the children of Israel saying, these are the beasts which ye shall eat among the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof and is cloven footed and cheweth the cud among the beast that shall ye eat. Never the less these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud or of them that divide the hoof as the camel because he cheweth the cud but divideeth not the hoof. He is unclean unto you and the Coney because he cheweth the cud but divideeth not the hoof he is unclean unto you and the hare because he cheweth the cud but divideeth not the hoof. Obviously the hare or rabbit does not have a hoof. So there's these two specific rules that they have to, you know, they have to chew the cud and they have to divide the hoof and the swine though he divide the hoof and be cloven footed yet he cheweth not the cud. I mean, we almost made it on bacon right there but he didn't chew the cud, right? So basically, you know, as far as the beasts of the field, this is the basic rules that God is laying out. You know, this whole dividing the hoof and chewing the cud, chewing the cud, of course, meaning, you know, like a cow, you know, having the four stomachs and not to get gross about it. But, you know, they basically, you know, regurgitate their food and re-eat it, you know, several times. I don't know how many times it is but that's what chewing the cud means. And the Bible says that if an animal chews the cud and has a divided hoof, then it's clean. So it's a very specific rule. So that's why it's okay for the Israelites to eat cows and it's not okay for them to eat pigs. So even Jews today, you'll hear, you know, that they're, they don't eat bacon. They don't eat pork for this reason. Okay. Now, the Bible in Leviticus 11, it goes into several other, you know, in verses eight through like 12, it talks about fish that you should eat, you know, they have to have scales to eat. So basically a bass is okay to eat, but a shark is not because it has no fins. So, or because it has no scales, sorry. And then it also talks about certain things like eels that don't have fins. I mean, it gets very specific in the Bible. In verses 14 through verses 21, it talks about birds, birds that you are not supposed to eat. And you know, the funny thing about these verses here is not only is it, is it very specific and what they're not supposed to eat, but many of these practices are still followed today because of the fact that there's health reasons associated with this. In the, in the birds section, it talks about not eating, you know, vultures basically, or birds of prey of all kinds, eagles and things like that. You know, you don't want to eat things and basically people still follow these rules today that, you know, you don't want to eat animals that feed off of dead things, that eat, you know, carcasses of dead animals. It's, it's not healthy, it's not clean, it's not considered, you know, a healthy thing to do for good reason. You know, we would, we would, when we would duck hunt, we would be kind of the same way. You know, we would hate to, we didn't like eating, you know, shooting the ducks that would dive down and eat off the bottom. You know, we call these mud ducks. They would eat off the bottom and we wouldn't want to eat those types of ducks because they didn't taste as good, first of all, but it was, it was disgusting because what they ate became, you know, the meat of, of their body, right? So the Bible is talking some very specific, the Bible has some very specific, not recipes, but very specific diet regulations for the Jews, okay? And you have to understand that in Paul's time, all these people, I mean, what have we learned throughout the book of Romans? You know, you have all these people, you know, getting saved through faith in Christ and all these people are coming together in a common church. They're coming together as brothers and sisters in Christ. So you have some issues here. You have some issues with people that have different cultural things going on in their life and this is what Paul is addressing in the book of, in the book of Romans in chapter number 14. So we see that there's some very specific dietary guidelines for the Jews. That's our foundation here, okay? Now look at Romans 14 and verse number one. The Bible reads it says, him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter number eight. 1 Corinthians chapter number eight. And we can just get some backup on this verse and verse number one. So it says that there's going to be people that are weak in the faith that we need to receive. And if you look at 1 Corinthians chapter eight, look at verse number nine. The Bible says, but take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are what? That are weak, okay? So there are people that are weak and we have complete liberty in Christ. We know that, okay? So first thing is we have to understand that people that come into this church will have some application at the end. But I just want to point out here that people that come into this church as visitors or whatever, you know there, it's possible that they're weak in the faith. So we don't need to just constantly just like hit them with all the heavy things of doctrine the first five minutes they're here. That's why we have a very certain way that we approach people and we do things, you know, it's for this reason because people could be weak in the faith, all right? And of course, you know, how do you get strong faith? We know this, James 2 22, the Bible says, seeing now how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect. So by going to church, by reading the Bible, by doing all these different things, by living the Christian life according to what the Bible says, your faith will get stronger. So people will grow in their faith, but in Romans 14 1 the Bible says there are people that are weak in the faith, okay? So, verse number two, Romans 14 verse number two, for one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak, Edith Herbs. So here's someone who's weak in the faith and they are under dietary restrictions of some kind. In this case, you know, they are vegetarian, right? Now, these rules changed in the New Testament. So we're going to do a short little Bible study on the changing of these rules in the New Testament and then we'll continue with Romans 14. See, Paul knew that these rules had changed. And, but he's telling people that knew that the rules had changed how to deal with people who didn't know. That's what this chapter is about, not to give the whole thing away, but turn to Acts chapter 10. We'll start with Peter. We'll start with Peter in the book of Acts. And Peter, of course, had a vision. He had a vision and this is when God told Peter that there is no unclean animal for you. If you look at Acts chapter 10, look at verse number 13. And the Bible says, and there came a voice to him, rise Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, not so, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, what God hath cleansed, thou call, that call, not thou common. So basically, God gives Peter this vision. You know, they're now going out, the gospel is going out to the Gentiles. God gives Peter this vision. He doesn't want this division. He doesn't want this separation. He doesn't want people, you know, you're saved now, but you know, go over there unclean people. So God gives Peter this vision. He tells Peter that, hey, these things are not, they don't apply anymore. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. So again, we'll see that, you know, these ordinances, these carnal, like dietary ordinances, have been done away with in the New Testament. In Hebrews chapter 9, look at verse number 8. The Bible says, the Holy Ghost is signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation. Of course, the time of Reformation is the coming of Jesus Christ, the coming of the Messiah. Turn to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. Look, so the Gentiles were being brought into the church. There were people from different backgrounds, they were fellowshiping, you know, that had never been brought together before. I mean, isn't that true about the Christian faith even today? I mean, people are brought together from different backgrounds that they never would ever fellowship together if it wasn't for this whole, you know, getting saved through faith in Jesus' thing, right? I mean, we're going to meet all sorts of different people from different cultures in this church. Now, in Acts chapter 15, this gets really interesting because here we have, in Acts chapter 15, we have a bunch of Jews and Pharisees who are like, hey, these Gentiles are coming in and, you know, we're all, you know, they're believing in Jesus, but now they want to impose all these rules on them, like the rules that, you know, the Jews had already, like the carnal ordinances that we've been talking about. And there was a big argument. There was a big debate and Paul and Barnabas come in and Paul and Barnabas set everybody straight, and this, by the way, is one of the reasons that you can understand who James, the brother of Jesus, you know, at the church in Jerusalem, this, he was top dog at this church because at the end of the whole debate, who gives, who gives is the final answer? It's James, okay? So, James, in Acts chapter 15 and verse number 19, he hears the arguments from both these Pharisees and then Paul and Barnabas and James says this. He says, wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God. So, basically, that's it right there. We trouble not them. It was like, should we get, they have to be circumcised and follow the law of Moses is what the big debate, the big argument was. And the law of Moses meaning, you know, everything, all these carnal ordinances, the whole thing. And basically, James says we trouble not them. That's what we're going to do. But, verse number 20, that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood. Now, it's interesting, the cardinal ordinances are gone. However, James says for the Gentiles to do these few things. So, he's basically saying to them, hey, we're not going to just burden them with the whole law of Moses, which, you know, doesn't apply anymore. I mean, not the law, but I mean, he's basically saying that we're not going to trouble them with all these cardinal ordinances that the Pharisees are talking about. But what we're going to do, we're just going to give them advice as, you know, to live the Christian life, do these few things at least. Right? And these few things are for their protection. You know, you think about, you know, abstaining from fornication and then from things strangled and from blood. I mean, what's that all about? Well, what that, that's all about is this. Let's do a little Bible study on blood for a minute. A lot of these ordinances in the Bible were there for a reason. They were there for people to protect people from health problems. All right? Now, when we would go deer hunting in North Dakota and we would shoot a deer, the first thing you would do, you walk up to that deer is you cut his throat right away. And the reason is, is to get the blood out of that animal's body as fast as possible. I mean, it's disgusting for many people probably. I mean, this is how I grew up, I'm sorry. But you basically, when you slaughter an animal, they cut the throat as well. Because they want the blood out of that animal as quick as possible. Why is that? Because when the blood stays in the animal, one of the biggest mediums for bacteria is the blood. So if you get the blood out of the animal, this is why slaughterhouses to this day. They'll stun the animal with a some sort of shot to the head or something and they'll cut the throat right away and bleed out that animal. This is where your stakes come from, I'm sorry to let you know. But basically, the reason for that is to stop the growth of bacteria in that meat. That meat can be preserved longer, it's safer, it's a it's a health issue. Now if you look at the world today, people will say that bacteria was first observed by the Dutch microscopist Antoine van Leeuwenhoek in 1676. But the bible actually talks about it in Leviticus 11 and Leviticus chapter, I mean the bible talks about it. The reason for this and the reason for James is you know telling these people to abstain from blood and things strangled because if you strangle something to death, what stays in it? The blood. You're not bleeding that animal out, it's not safe, it's not healthy for those people. All right? Look, bacteria was discovered in the bible. I mean the bible talks about it turned to Leviticus 15. Leviticus chapter 15. If you look at secular history and you look at like hand washing to get rid of bacteria on your hands, you know that up until the 1800s they didn't even really wash their hands and if they did they would wash them in a common basin and then they couldn't figure out why everybody in these hospitals were constantly dying and then even the people that worked in the hospitals were getting sick. But the bible knew it already. Look at Leviticus 15 in verse number 11. And whomsoever he touches that hath the issue, the issue meaning a sickness or a disease, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the even. And the vessel of earth that he toucheth which hath the issue shall be broken and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water. And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue, it gets even more specific here, he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing and wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in what? Running water and he shall be clean. So not only he's supposed to separate himself from everybody but when he washes himself he's supposed to wash in running water. This is the bible teaching you how to not die from a bacterial infection basically. Okay. So I mean the bible never gets credit for all these different things. In Leviticus chapter 11 the bible talks everywhere about like touching dead animals as well. You know not touching the carcass of a dead animal because that's unclean. Of course dead animals will just be quickly covered in bacteria and you know all sorts of things that are bad for you. You know so I mean the bible knew all these things. Okay. So there was a reason for these cardinal ordinances but it's interesting that when James gives command to the Gentiles he at least still tries to protect their health is what he's doing with the keeping them from things strangled and from blood and fornication is also protecting their health as well. Okay. So that's just a little side trail. There let's get back to Romans 14. Look at verse number three. We're only three verses in. Uh-oh. Romans 14 verse number three. Let him not let not him that Edith despise him that Edith not and let not him which Edith judge him that Edith for God hath received him. Who art thou that judges another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Ye he shall be holding up for God is able to make him stand. Look. So the bible is saying he's describing that there's these people that know that they're free in Christ that know that these cardinal ordinances don't exist on don't apply to them anymore. And then there's people that are saved because these are all about it's all talking about brothers and sisters here. There's people that are saved that don't know this. Okay. So basically he's saying in verses three and four mind your own business on these things. He's like don't pound on these people for this. Him that Edith not it's don't judge them for these things. Verse number five. One man is and now he talks about days talking about he switches subjects here. Now one man is seemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. So there's different people from different cultures that have different days and different things that they respect and different things that maybe they celebrate on different days of the week or whatever he's saying. Hey let every man be fully persuaded on these things. Okay. Verse number six. He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord. And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that Edith Edith to the Lord for he giveth God thanks. So if you eat everything just give God thanks. God said there you know there is nothing that's unclean anymore to Peter. And he that Edith not to the Lord Edith not and giveth God thanks. So the guy that's not eating is also not eating because of the Lord in his own mind. Okay. Now turn to Colossians chapter 2 and let's just wrap up this whole eating and regarding days thing right here. Here's the conclusion in the Bible. Colossians chapter 2 and verse number 11 has a really nice you know packaged conclusion to the whole thing as far as eating and regarding days. Verse number 11 of Colossians 2 the Bible reads in whom you also were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands talking about being saved and putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who had raised him from the dead talking about the picture of baptism here and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to the cross and having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink or in respect of in holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days I mean is that unclear I mean it's let no man judge you in these things it's done away with it was nailed to the cross which are a shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ those things were a shadow of things to come all those things so let me ask you a question is everyone that comes in here as a visitor going to know this no right and we may not have like the same problems that they had because we're obviously not you know Jews in Jesus's time but keep that in mind we'll talk about it at the end of the sermon but basically what he's saying is that these things don't matter okay look at Romans 14 in verse number seven for none of us liveth to himself in no man dyeth to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord's we are all saved living for the same purpose is what he's saying verse number nine for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be the Lord both of the living and the dead but why dots thou judge thy brother see he's talking about brothers and sisters here okay so keep that in mind or why does thou set at not thy brother for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ for as it is written as I live say at the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God worry about yourself is what he's saying the last thing that they need to be doing in this church Paul is saying is nitpicking each other about these things that don't matter you see now we kind of switch gears a little bit in verse number 13 and Paul starts talking about this stumbling block and he says let us not therefore judge one another anymore but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way let's continue reading but then I'll come back and I'll explain what this is talking about verse number 14 I know Paul says he says I know and I'm persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him it is unclean you see Paul says I know but there's people that don't know is what he's saying okay verse number 15 but if thy brother be grieved with thy meat now walkest thou not charitably destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died Christ died for him too let not then your good be evil spoken of for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost so if you're if you know that you have complete liberty in Christ and somebody else doesn't know and they're trying to do the right things in their own mind and you're shoving that in their face and trying to tempt them with things that they think are wrong the Bible says that you know that's wrong for you to do that okay because righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost is what is should come out of you so don't go out of your way to offend people that you know have these different views on certain things that don't matter is what he's saying okay eventually people will come to the conclusion that these things don't matter as they grow okay look at verse number 18 for he that in these things serve with Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace you see that and things wherewith one may edify another so we should focus on the things that edify each other right not on the things that don't matter if we're gonna go around here we're just gonna offend each other on stupid silly things that's not edifying right we should we should focus on the things follow after the things that make for peace focus on the things that matter verse number 20 for meat destroyeth meat destroy not the work of God all things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense it is neither it is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine or anything whereby thy brother stumble stumbleeth or as offended or as made weak I'm just gonna finish the chapter here and then I'm gonna go back and just rehash this verse number 22 hast thou faith have it to thyself before God happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing with he alloweth and he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith for whatsoever is not of faith is sin now let me explain this what he is saying is let's give let's use an example let's say brother Johannes thinks that he can't eat pork he thinks he's saved he's just as saved as all of us he's believed on the Lord Jesus Christ but he believes it's a commandment of God for him to live the Christian life to not eat pork and that is what he is convinced in his own mind to do okay so he doesn't have that that knowledge that he's free in Christ from these carnal ordinances now if I go up to him now first of all in verse number 23 it talks about if Johannes says you know what I believe that but I really want some ribs right now and he's like nobody's looking and he goes and he eat ribs he's just he's he's sinning against his own conscience the bible says that he's sinning because he doesn't know that he's free you see that's what verse 23 is talking about all right now the verses before that are talking about now if he gets free if I explain to him hey look at Colossians 2 right here it says that you don't have to worry about pork anymore we can go out and we can go to famous daves right now and just like eat it up buddy and he's like oh I didn't know that different story now he's not sinning anymore because now he's he's free in Christ he's he has that faith it's of faith now you see but if he doesn't know and he does it anyway it's sin the bible says okay when it says damned it doesn't mean damned to hell it just means that he's he's sinning against his own conscience is what he's saying now the verses before that are talking about me and and Johannes just interacting with each other right he thinks he can't eat pork I know that he can so I'm just like constantly every time he comes to church I'm just eating ribs right in front of him and I'm like who these are really good buddy and he's offended that's what it's talking about now I mean we don't have the problem with pork today right this is basically the whole the whole crux of Romans 14 is just people are going to come in and they came into this church and they had different cardinal ordinances that each one of them was following and they were they were all saved they were brothers and sisters but he was telling them hey don't don't offend all these people certain people are weak in the faith don't don't be a stumbling block to them don't go eat ribs why are you eating sausage all the time in front of brother Johannes it's not appropriate right and brother Johannes is eventually going to grow and he's actually going to you know then we're going to read him Colossians 2 and then he's going to not care about those things and then we can all eat sausage together right but the Bible is just saying that as all these people come together to not cause them a fence because if brother Johannes actually eats pork when he thinks it's against God's will to eat pork he's sinning it says in verse number 23 okay so look just be patient with people basically all right now look there there's some there's some things that now I'm going to give some application that is is more applicable to us today because maybe we don't have you know I mean there is some application here maybe not on the pork and not pork type of issue but there look here's the application for this whole sermon there are things that don't matter that's the bottom line if the sermon had a title it would be things that don't matter Romans 14 things that don't matter Paul here's using an example of things that they were dealing with right now you're going to find people that abstain from certain foods today you're going to find all kinds of different people that have all kinds of different opinions on things that you should eat and things that you shouldn't eat right I mean look at these people they're like all these organic and GMO and against all these different things and look great but the point is don't get all prideful and you know push that on somebody else and start saying look if you don't eat you know GMO only you're sitting against God don't be like that in church that's ramen noodles it's fine there is nothing unclean all right it's not saying you know be unhealthy but the point is you can you can take things that don't matter and shove them in people's face and it's not it's not right observing days we'll have that I'm sure we will have that issue as well at some point you will find people that are against you know Christmas or Easter or Christmas trees or whatever it's a pagan holiday or you'll find people like that hey let every man be persuaded in his own mind on those things okay you know we could talk about how you know the people will say Jesus wasn't really born on December 25th and be against Christmas I've heard that and you know it doesn't mean that celebrating Christmas is bad right I mean let every man be persuaded in his own mind we should not divide each from each other over these over these things right look so in those cases Paul is saying look just just belong suffering don't offend you know aim to offend people don't start huge arguments over it just let every man be persuaded in his own mind that's it I mean you think about you but we're gonna find people I mean conspiracy theories I mean let me tell you about conspiracy theories I'll give you an example the moon landing okay now it gets fun the moon landing here's the thing it happened I'm a hundred percent on that it happened there's there's proof from the Russians there's proof from the Chinese there's proof from all kinds of different third parties out there there's evidence from rocks that other countries have brought back from the moon that match the rocks that we've got there's pictures from satellites that were orbiting the the moon itself that have seen the Apollo landing sites you know what the Apollo missions are like one of the great I mean proof that Americans have the best engineers in my opinion I mean but look it happened I'm sure of it but here's the thing I have friends who are good friends of mine that think that it didn't and guess what it doesn't matter it's something that that doesn't matter you know I mean things like that and guess what here's another thing if I knew that talking about it offended them I would not bring it up around them you see I mean we can talk about conspiracies all you guys want there's a lot that I'm sure about there's some that I'm not there's a lot that I'm not you can ask my opinion on anything when we're talking and fellowshiping around here but if you have a different opinion on some conspiracy theory good for you you know it's fine because I mean look on the moon landing here's the beauty of that because the the whole crux of why people think that the moon landing is fake is because nobody trusts the government because the government has lied to people for I don't know ever since it was formed and people are tired of getting so how can we believe anything that the government says right but I mean when you have to have like all these other countries that aren't even our friends involved I mean I'm sorry I'll get off the moon landing here in a second I mean it's just not it's just not logical that it's everyone's in on it right everyone in the whole world the russians the chinese the japanese everybody's in on it but here's the thing it doesn't matter so we can talk about these things and have fun and and all this different thing but if you find somebody that's like really offended by some thing that they think is true don't just smack them in the face with it every time you see it every time you see them that's what Paul's talking about I mean political hobby horses you're gonna find people that have political hobby horses especially new people that come into the church that are just they're just hung up on silly political things that guess what don't matter because when you realize that the whole democrat republican thing is just you know it's it's just it's manufactured opposition for your viewing pleasure once you realize that you've reached a higher level of consciousness and but guess what people are gonna be hung up on things when they come in here so don't throw people under the bus for things that don't matter once again let every man be persuaded in his own mind that's what the bible says silly things like you know how much makeup this is another one I've heard how much makeup should a woman wear I mean the bible has over 600 individual commandments in it do we need to make up more you know what I mean it's just let every man be persuaded in his own mind if you know I don't think that you know my wife should spray paint her face with like 10 spray cans before she comes to church but you know that's just my that's my view on it you know I have no authority over somebody else's wife right I mean the bible says certain things we don't need to just make up all these detail commandments that don't exist it's things that don't matter look as people grow and mature as believers you know you will see that they focus less on things that don't matter and they will focus more on things that do that's what you're gonna see and look here's here's really the whole thing if you're one of these people and I know that I know these people I've met these people if you're somebody that has to have people agree with you on every single issue on everything you are gonna lead a lonely life you are never gonna have any friends you certainly won't be able to be part of a church if you just like every tiny thing everybody has to agree with you on I mean these people are out there there's a lot of them they're gonna come in here we're gonna meet them we're gonna try but they're just gonna get offended if you don't agree with them on every little thing well guess what have fun spending your life alone I mean how sad if you're saved and that's your situation look you know it's just that's why Paul gave us Romans 14 he's trying to he's trying to look I got a I got a friend in Sacramento and we talk about this to this day like man how are you and I friends like where you grew up versus like where I grew up how would you and I ever be friends and and get along as well as we do we've worked side by side together on church projects we're like brothers but we probably have different opinions on certain things I don't know you know but they don't those things don't matter that's the beauty of brothers and sisters in Christ is it's going to bring all these people from everywhere you know as we go into all the world and preach the gospel all these people are going to come from all different backgrounds and that's what Paul's talking about so you know here's another thing obsessing over things that don't matter will basically guarantee that your life doesn't matter because if you're going to break fellowship from a church and you're not going to be friends with people because of these stupid things that don't matter you're never going to do anything for God in your life ever so you want to do something I mean who wants to do something with their life that matters I mean raise your hand I mean who would answer no to that so keep keep focused on what the Bible actually says we don't need to make up extra stuff we don't need to offend people over things that don't matter you know look because guess what there are a lot of things that actually do matter I mean there's enough things that matter we don't have to worry about the things that don't turn to 1st Peter chapter 2 so Romans 14 is just a great a great chapter on on how to just be at peace with your brothers and sisters in Christ but guess what there's certain things that matter and for in uh so I'm sorry 2nd Peter chapter 2 I fooled you that matters 2nd Peter not 1st Peter turn to 2nd Peter chapter 2 look at verse number 1 and the Bible says but there were false prophets also among the people even as though there should be false teachers among you you hear you hear that there will be there will be false teachers amongst us I mean that will happen guaranteed I mean don't listen to me the Bible just said it okay there will be false teachers among you who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction look when false teachers come in here and start talking about false doctrines and start spreading things around this church that are against what the Bible says that matters that's not the moon landing that's something that actually matters and we have to watch for that we know what will happen the Bible says it I mean we've seen it happen at other churches at my church in Sacramento we saw we saw it it happens this is why we're spending time going through the the American heresy series know thine enemy that's not in the Bible but you know art of war know that we need to know what these false teachers are teaching we need to know what these people believe so when we hear it we recognize it and we know how to counter it from the word of God right these are things that matter some social issues matter not everything political and every social issue is just nothing abortion matters that's an issue that matters we're not gonna you know somebody comes in here and they're they're pro-choice or whatever hey we'll explain it to them nicely once and then as far as I'm concerned you know that's one thing where it's like you know you're basically going against thou shalt not kill thou shalt not murder in the Bible when you're when you're believe something that directly contradicts a commandment from the Bible that's not that's not something that doesn't matter and if the the King James Bible that matters I mean how many how many sermons do we have to preach that are disproving false doctrine we're sitting here and we're using the King James Bible and we're using and we're just seeing see those two words there it destroys everything see that one word these words are pure words and they have to be pure because they're used to disprove all this false doctrine so the King James Bible we get somebody that comes in here and says we don't need to be King James get out because it matters so don't get me wrong when I'm sitting here hey there's there's things that don't matter you know all this look there are things that don't matter but there are things that really really matter and we will hold those lines firm here but look just to wrap it up for the things that don't just have some have some grace and some long suffering with people it might be annoying if we get somebody that comes in here and has political hobby horses or whatever and has things that that they're just really hooked on you know I just have some grace with people I mean people just get saved you don't know where they came from you don't know what kind of culture they grew up in you know imagine not eating something your whole life thinking it's disgusting and all of a sudden hey you can eat that now you know it might take some time to get past that in your life so with those things just have some grace and people will grow and then they'll get to where we are where they see the Bible and they understand the things that do matter okay that's Romans 14 let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Dear Heavenly Father we thank you for this chapter in Romans we thank you for you know just drawn these lines for us Lord that we can not cause each other offence that we can have good relationships with our brothers and sisters Lord we thank you for just all the detail of the Bible that you give us as far as what does matter what doesn't matter Lord how to act how to treat each other that we may just have peace in this church Lord we love you and we thank you in Jesus name Amen