 Amen. So keep your place there in Titus chapter 1. That's what we're going to be for just a few minutes this morning. This morning is introduction. Before I even tell you what the sermon is about, we're going to talk about Titus chapter 1, these few verses, verse number 5 through verse number 9, where Paul is talking about the qualifications of a pastor. So look, if you would, in Titus chapter 1. Look down at verse number 5. So Paul is talking about ordaining elders. He's talking about going around and he's starting all these ministries and he's preaching as an evangelist in all these different places that we studied throughout the book of Acts. And he's ordaining pastors to lead these groups of people in all these different places. And Titus is one of these people that he's talking to. He says in verse 5, he says, for this cause left ID and creed, that thou shalt set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I appointed thee. So elders is interchangeable with bishop, is interchangeable with pastor in the Bible, talking about the leader of a local group of believers here. Look at verse number 6. Now he gets into this this this qualification of the elders that should be ordained. So he's saying don't ordain anybody that is not these things. And it's a long list. We're going to look at this list in detail in introduction this morning. Look down at verse number 6. It says, if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. So here we see this word used blameless. Again, this word blameless is used in verse number 7. It must be important. So what does that mean? Does that mean that the the pastor is supposed to be perfect? That he's without sin? No, that's not what that means. I'm going to explain in a little bit more detail what that means and what it doesn't mean in just a few minutes. But look at the next the next part of the verse in verse 6. The husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. So he's got he's the husband of one wife meaning he's married to one person. He doesn't have multiple wives and he's not been divorced and married again. So where he's had more than one wife. All right. So this is saying that a pastor cannot be divorced. All right. And look, people get divorced. Christians get divorced. But what this is saying is that that cannot happen to a pastor. He's no longer qualified to be a pastor. All right. Look at verse number 7. The Bible says for a bishop, I'm going to go back to the family in just a few minutes. I'm going to skip over that one until we get to 1 Timothy chapter 3. But again, we see the word blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre. So now we get more of a definition of what blameless is here. He's saying that, you know, it's not saying that, you know, all sudden, you know, the pastor becomes without sin because, you know, we would have no pastors if that was the case. So he's saying here he needs to be someone that is not out for himself. He needs to be someone that, by the way, it's a man. I mean, that's beyond the point. Okay. All right. I've already preached on that before. But you'll see this word he and his and husband and all these things come up like nine times in just a few verses here. But it's a man. But he's not given to wine. He's not a striker. I mean, look, what the Bible here is saying is that blameless means is that this man who's going to be this elder that's to be ordained is not out for himself. And if you're given to wine, look, you know, somebody that's a drunkard or that is given to wine is in it for themself. They're in life for themself. I mean, that's just a completely selfish thing to do is to just go and take drugs and alcohol just to make yourself feel good while everyone around you suffers. All right. So all these things are self-willed things that we see in verse seven. He's not a striker. Look, that's a, if somebody makes you angry and look, people, you know, in a man's life, people are going to make you angry in your life. It's not, it doesn't say don't ever get angry in this, in this list of qualifications. It just says, you know, hey, don't be self-willed when somebody makes you angry. You know, don't just go punch everybody in the face that makes you angry. Right. Because sometimes that's what you want to do. I mean, some people want to do that when they're driving, you know, to church on Sunday morning. Right. They drive to church and somebody's in front of them and they're just like, ah, I want to punch that guy in the face because he's not driving fast enough or he didn't do whatever. I mean, some people just want to get in a brawl all the time. That can't be a pastor. All right. No striker not given to filthy lucre. He's not in it for the money, but a lover of hospitality. Now we see the other side of the coin. He's a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just holy temperate. That's the good things that he is to be. All right. Holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gain-stayers. Now turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Let's look at a little bit more detailed of a list. A lot of these things are repeated in 1 Timothy chapter 3. So the main pastoral qualifications are in Titus chapter 1 and 1 Timothy chapter number 3. But let's look at 1 Timothy chapter number 3 and then we'll go into a little bit more detail about each of these qualifications. Look at verse number 1 of 1 Timothy chapter 3 where the Bible says this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop. So here we see that switch between bishop and elder. So those two are talking about pastors, the same thing, the same word there. Now we see almost exactly the same list with a couple more explanatory details here. Look at verse 2. A bishop then must be blameless. Again, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. So we see another additional thing there that an elder, a pastor, a bishop needs to have the ability to teach people. You know, you can find people out there that are really smart and they just have no ability to explain themselves. They don't have a very good ability to just explain the thoughts that are in their head. I've met engineers like this. I've met engineers that they're smart people, but they can't relate to people. They can't express themselves to people. It's better just to lock them in a closet and just let them do whatever it is that they do. But they have no ability to teach people. So that's saying that that can't be, and look, this is kind of a hard one to quantify. But basically, if I got up here, I would not be, this one would kind of work itself out. Because if I had no ability to teach, there would be no one here listening to me. I mean, this is kind of one of those things that, you know, it just, if you came here and you learned nothing every single Sunday, and maybe it was just like, I'm just so much above everyone that I just can't explain myself or blow or whatever. But the point is, a pastor that can't teach anyone isn't going to have no one to teach, because you should be here to learn, to grow. I've often thought that when there's complicated things in the Bible, and there's complicated things in the Bible, I've often prayed about that and thought about that and just like prayed the week before where I have a way to explain something. I'm like, God, just help me explain this complicated thing. A good teacher can take a complicated thing and make it simple so people can actually understand it. A bad teacher is someone that takes a complicated thing or even takes a simple thing and makes it super complicated. That's just somebody that wants you to think, you know, that they're super smart. Somebody that just gets up there and speaks in a way where people will walk away going, man, that guy's smart. What did he teach you? I have no idea, but he's smart. Jordan Peterson. So that's not a good teacher. So that is not somebody that should be a pastor because nobody would learn anything. It's not about you thinking I know the Bible. It's about the pastor being able to explain what is in the Bible, even the complicated things in the Bible, to you in a way where everyone can understand it. Everyone in the church can understand it. Look at verse number three, not given to wine again. So there's sober and not given to wine here. You can take those as meaning the same thing, but sober means serious as well. So a pastor needs to take his job seriously. He needs to have a sound mind to be able to study the deep things of God and again be able to teach those things. But again, not a drunk, no striker, not greedy or filthy looker, but now we see the good things. But patient, not a brawler. That kind of goes with striker, not covetous. One that rules well his own house. Now we're going to get into that where it talks about the pastor's family here in 1st Timothy chapter number three and I really want you to pay attention here. I kind of skipped over that in Titus 1, but we get a little more detail here on the importance of the pastor being able to rule his own house and have a family that is in order. Look at verse number four. One that rules well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity. So if I had a bunch of children that just didn't listen to me, that would disqualify me as a pastor. For if a man, and then the Bible gives us an explanation why this is important in verse number five, and I really want you to pay attention and listen closely to this. In parentheses it says, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God. So in my Bible I have the church of God and own house underlined in my Bible and I'm going to explain to you why that is in this sermon. Again, look at verse number six, not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and snare of the devil. So let's just look at this list for a minute. Let's go through the list real quick. I have summarized it for you, both in Titus and 1st Timothy chapter three. He is to be married. He is to not be a drinker or a drunkard. He is not to be greedy. He is to be someone that has patience. He is not someone to be quickly angry and start fighting with people, especially physically fighting with people. Look, it doesn't mean that a pastor can't get angry. I've gotten angry before. I remember I've even gotten upset and unfortunately had to get physical at one point in the church. Well, maybe a couple of points, but when people are actually threatening things and doing things that could harm the church, you know, it's not that you're to just go out and look for fights, but I mean, there is some times where a shepherd needs to defend the flock and the same goes for other leaders in the church, ushers, security people, things like that. That's not what this is saying. That's not just like, well, let somebody come in here and harm people. That's not what this is talking about. It's talking about just, you know, not being some crazy person that, you know, just wants to go out and fight. Like, I knew a guy like that in high school. He's like, I just want to go out and get a fight. I mean, just, he just loved to fight. Like, literally loved to fight, all right? That's not to be a pastor. And then you see one that ruled with his house well, and we're going to put that one on the shelf for just a second, but in verse number, in verse number six of First Timothy three, there's an interesting thing that's mentioned here. Not a novice. Not a novice. That means somebody that is not a beginner, somebody that's not somebody that doesn't know anything. And it's interesting because look what it says after not a novice in verse number six. It says, not a novice, lest he be lifted up with pride, he fall into condemnation of the devil. Now, isn't that interesting in saying he can't be a beginner, he can't be somebody that, I mean, a novice is somebody that doesn't know anything, somebody just starting out. A beginner is what we're talking about. This can't be a pastor. Lest he be lifted up with pride. And you look those two things like they seem kind of antithetical. It seems like kind of an oxymoron, but this is why you see people that are super prideful are generally people that don't know a lot. I mean, it's irritating. I mean, that's why people that like just are these know-it-alls, they generally don't know much. They generally don't have experience because the Bible here is literally saying about a pastor that if he doesn't know anything, he's going to become prideful because that's how people are. That's how people are. People that don't know anything, that don't have experience. Look, just look at the other side of it. Somebody that is experienced, that has knowledge, that has been through things, those are generally more humble people because they have experience. They've been there. They've done that. They've done those things. And look, quite frankly, having experience in life, having experience where you know the Bible and then you've lived and seen things in the Bible be proved to you again and again and just having that experience. Look, especially in your own life, that gives you a lot of humility. Just knowing that the truths of the Bible and seeing that experience in the world. But look at verse, look down at verse number, the last one I want to point out here is verse number seven of 1 Timothy chapter three, where it says that he must have a good report. I want to get into this one, and we're going to come back to ruling his house well in just a few minutes. But the last one I want to look at in detail, turn to Matthew chapter 10, is this idea that the pastor should have a good report. You say, what does that mean? What does that mean? I'm going to show you a few verses with Jesus talking in the Bible that kind of give a contrary view to that, or it could seem, if you're a novice in the Bible, that it's a contrary set of verses in Matthew chapter 10. And then I'm going to explain to you how it's not contrary and where that actual balance is. So the Bible says that a pastor needs to have a good report of them that are without. But look at Matthew chapter 10 in verse number 16. Look what Jesus says here in verse 16, talking to the disciples. He says, Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues. Look, it doesn't say beware of every single person, but it says beware of men, meaning there are going to be men that do these things. They will deliver you up to the councils, they will scourge you in the synagogues, and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in the same hour what you shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father would speak it in you. This is a great set of verses talking about how if you're ever persecuted and you're being persecuted to death, the Holy Spirit will give you what to say. We see an example of that in Acts chapter 6, Acts chapter 7 with Stephen being martyred. Look at verse 21. It says, Brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the Father the child, and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. Jesus constantly uses this example of your literal family when he's talking about people that are going to persecute you. He uses these examples as the most extreme example because many people have a very hard time with people that they are related to. What do you mean? What do I mean by that? I mean that people that are related to you could actually be against you for being a Bible believing Christian. That's what Jesus is explaining here. And Jesus is saying, and you will find nowhere in the Bible where it says that you are to give extra consideration or extra, you know, let extra dangerous people come near you and attack your faith and attack your children and attack your family just because they're related to you. That's what Jesus is explaining here. He's saying there's to be no, you know, special, he's trying to get people used to the fact that this is going to happen to them. Look at verse 22. He shall be hated of all men for my name's sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee into another, for verily I say unto you ye shall not have gone over to the cities of Israel till the Son of Man become. So he's talking about all of this in Matthew 10 in the context of persecution. Okay? He's talking about this in the context of when people, when men are persecuting you. And he's talking about this city that they're in, there's going to be cities that you go into where just everyone in that city is going to be against you. He's like, in that case, go to another city where what? Where they're not all against you. All right? So look, we don't really have examples of this type of persecution in our lives today, but how do we reconcile this with this idea that the pastor is supposed to be a lover of good men? And the reconciliation here is that not all men are going to be persecuting you and wanting to just just kill you for your faith. And look, we know that that's true today. We know that that's true, especially in our country, in our culture today. Yes, some people hate the Lord, but not everybody hates the Lord. Most people, the vast majority of people are just indifferent to religion. They're indifferent to God. And look, that's definitely a detriment to them, but they are not these people that are trying to hate Christians and persecute Christians. So when he says a lover of good men, he's not saying, again, he's not meaning like perfect people because there is no perfect people. He's just talking about these people that are not against Christians. Just decent, every day people is what he is getting at in 1 Timothy chapter 3. Look, there's people that are not all horrible evil people is what he's explaining. Not everyone, thank God, is our evil people. But look, there are evil people. That's another thing that we need to realize from Matthew chapter 10 is there are evil people. Look, there are people, that's why it says lover of good men in 1 Timothy. You kind of have to look at it from that angle. It's to be a lover of good men, not a lover of all men. Okay? There are people, and look, many people need to understand this in order to even get saved. There are people that exist just to hurt and harm other people. Those people exist on this planet in this community now. There are people that have no value the Bible teaches. Literally, you're like, that's a harsh thing to say. But look, to deny this is dangerous. And to be this pastor that's going to be, I mean, turn to 2 Peter chapter 2. Don't take my word for it. There are people that just exist to harm other people. Now let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question. What if there was a person on this earth to all these pastors out there that say, oh, we need to just love everyone and bring everyone in no matter what? What about these people that exist? What if there's a person that exists only to harm and hurt other people? This person has no chance of being saved. They have no chance of, they hate the Lord, they hate God, they hate the Bible, they hate Jesus, they hate even the thought of these things. They've turned against it and all they want to do is hurt people. Look, if you don't think people like that exist, it's a danger even having you around. Look at 2 Peter chapter 2 in verse number 12. The Bible says, but these, as natural, brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things that they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption. The Bible is literally saying that there's people that have been given up by God. I mean, this is Romans 1 and I'm not going to preach that right now. But there are, the point is that there are people that are not good men. There are evil people in this world. Many people will need this explained to them and you'll find this out soul winning every now and then. When you find somebody that says, how could somebody just trust in Jesus and then be saved? That means anybody could be saved. Well, yes, anybody that could trust in Jesus can be saved. But then they have somebody in their life, they know somebody that has harmed their child or harmed someone that they love in their life and this person is still alive, this person is still breathing, this person maybe is free walking around today and they're like, how could that person, how could that person end up in heaven? Because they say that, they think it's just like, oh, just professing Jesus and just saying words. But the Bible teaches that if somebody would do something unnatural like that, harm a child, you know, all this perversion that we see today, that that person has already crossed over into that rejection, reprobate mind area and that person cannot be saved. The Bible is very clear about that and many people will need to understand that doctrine to trust in a God that would not allow some evil wicked person into heaven. They need to understand that God has that justice, that God has that doctrine, that he holds, that somebody like that will not end up in heaven ever because they cannot believe. And not to preach that whole doctrine, but there are evil wicked people on this planet that exist to destroy and harm only. Look, they didn't start out that way. God didn't want that to happen to them. I'm reminded of one of my favorite books, I think I brought this up years ago, but one of my favorite books was a book called The Killer Angels and it was a book, it's kind of a historical fiction about the battle of Gettysburg, but there is a point in this book where this Union colonel and his sergeant are having this debate and it was so interesting from the perspective of somebody that didn't know the Bible when I read it when I was in my 20s, but the debate was this. There was this colonel who was very optimistic about people. He thought that all people were good and he called it that all people have a divine spark, is what he said. And this colonel or this sergeant who was underneath the colonel's command was talking about how optimistic the colonel is and he says, he gives this quote to the man and he's this old Irish soldier and he came from Ireland and he had just seen a lot of bad, wicked things in his life. He'd seen men do things to other men that were terrible, evil, wicked things and he quotes this from the book, I looked it up and went and re-looked at the book and he says this, the sergeant says to the colonel who's the optimist. The colonel thinks everyone has a divine spark within them. The sergeant says this, he says, the truth is colonel that there's no divine spark, bless you. There's many men alive with no more value than a dead dog and he goes in and he goes into this, this long narrative about how he saw men back in the old country in Ireland hang each other and murder each other and he's saying there is no divine spark and the irony of this conversation is these men weren't speaking from biblical perspective, they were speaking from their own experience and guess what they were both right and they were both wrong because this divine spark that he's talking about, you know you could just look at that as the conscience of man. Every man has a soul and every man starts with a conscience but some men unfortunately extinguished their divine spark as the wording that they used in this book and they turn against the Lord that gave them that conscience and gave them that soul and they become rejected by God and that is the men that this guy saw back in Ireland. But all that to say this, to deny that there are evil people in the world is dangerous. It is a dangerous thing for a pastor. So a pastor is to be a lover of good men, men that are not against the Lord, men that are, it doesn't say saved men, it's talking about, you know, men that are just out there doing what they want to do, their conscience is intact, they're trying to raise families, they're trying to do the right thing, they're just not saved or maybe they are saved or whatever, you know, they're not these evil set of men. That's what the Bible is talking about there. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. We're going to get back to the family of the pastor here in just a minute, but what is the point of the sermon this morning? All this is introduction and I've got to kind of hurry up here. 1 Peter chapter 5, look at verse number 1. We see more about elders here and more about, you know, pastors and bishops in 1 Peter chapter 5. Look at verse number 1 of 1 Peter chapter number 5. The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, this is Peter now, and witness and sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you. Taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, we see some of the things repeated that we just saw, not for filthy lucre, not for money, but of a ready mind, be good at it, be able to teach, but look at verse number 3 and this is kind of the point of the whole sermon right here. It says, neither is being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. So the title of the sermon this morning is this. I went through this whole qualifications of the pastor and all the details that the pastor needs to uphold and those standards need to be super high for the pastor and you're like, man, you better be, you better be good, man, because look at those high standards for the pastor, but guess what? The pastor is to be an example to you. So the question is this morning and the title of the sermon this morning is the example. So what I want to ask you this morning is, what is an example? When we have crafts for the kids, when we do a kid's craft, what do we do? We have someone or we have one that's already built, right? Like we have, we did bird houses and we have a bird house that's built already. As a matter of fact, even if you look at the instructions of the kids crafts that they do for the homeschool activities, what do you see in the instructions? It is simply an example of how to build one perfectly. It's an example. So if you go and you do, like say we're building rockets as one of the activities which we have done before and you go ahead and you look at the example and your rocket is supposed to have four fins and it's the hardest thing getting the fins on the rockets, just correct. Or it won't fly, right? And you've got to have four fins and you're like, you know what? I'm just going to put one fin on my rocket. It's not going to fly. It's going to crash and probably hurt somebody. But the idea is the example is for you to do it exactly that way yourself. See what I did there? I just flipped the entire sermon right back on you. The pastor is to be an example to the flock, meaning you are to be all these things. You are to be all the things that the pastor, look, it just simply disqualifies me from leading a church if I'm not one of those things. But those are all things that you are to be as well because all those things in Titus chapter 1 and 1st Timothy chapter 3 are simply examples to you. Now go back to 1st Timothy chapter 3 and let's look at now knowing that, now knowing that the sermon is about you today, hopefully you're paying more attention now. Look at verse number 4 of 1st Timothy chapter number 3 and let's talk about this idea of your house versus the church of God. Look at 1st Timothy chapter 3 and look at verse number 4. Look what the Bible says here for the pastor. One that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? So how I run my house is what? It is an example that I would be able to also run the church of God. That's what the Bible is saying. It's equating the house with the church of God. The ability in one equals the ability in another. I mean notice the comparison there. Turn to 1st Corinthians chapter number 5. The pastor's ability to rule his own house is comparable to his ability to run the church of God. Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 5. 1st Corinthians chapter number 5. Look at verse number 11. Let's just look at some examples here on how the church of God is supposed to be run. In 1st Corinthians chapter 5 the entire chapter is about sin being creeping into the church for an occasion in this example in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 coming into the church and how it is not supposed to be allowed. But look at verse number 11. It lists six specific things that are not to be allowed in the church. But now I have written unto you not to keep company if any man that is called a brother this means this is not about the church here. Talking about somebody that would be in the church or in fellowship with you. So it's not even talking about just coming to church. If somebody is in fornication or one of these other sins and they get put out of the church you're not to be keeping company with them even outside the church. If they're a brother there to be you know that's the church discipline way. Look at you're doing them a disservice if you're doing that. Alright look at verse the rest of the verse. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or railer or drunkard or an extortioner with such and one know not to eat. Now just think about this comparison I'm talking to you about about the church of God with your house. So how I run the church of God. Let me equate some things for you. How I run the church of God is how you as an example should run your house. That's what I'm trying to get you to see this morning. How would you like if I just allowed everything in here? How would you I mean what would you think if I was just like I just deleted this verse from my Bible and I'm just like hey anything goes here. Look it would certainly be easier for a while anyway until the whole thing fell apart and didn't become a church anymore which would be very quick I think. Yet people are constantly allowing worldly influences into their own house. Why is that? The point of the entire sermon this morning is that you need to protect your home like the pastor protects the church. This is the comparison that I'm trying to get you to see. Look up at verse number 10 of 1st Corinthians chapter 5. Verse number 10 of 1st Corinthians chapter 5. So it's talking about your brothers the church in 1st Corinthians 511 but look at verse number 10 it says get not all together with the fornicators of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or idolaters for then ye needs go out of the world must ye needs go out of the world. So saying you have to understand the context and the areas that it's talking about here. We're talking about the church your house and then we have the world. So the Bible is saying you can't apply these six things to the world. You can't apply these six things to where you go to work or who you do business with. Otherwise you couldn't leave your house it's saying. But you can apply and you need to apply and you should apply the standards of the church to your household because look is your household the world? I hope not. I hope those two things do not equal each other in your world. But your house is supposed to be protected from this word in verse number 10 the world. Your house needs to be insulated from the world in the same way with the same standards that the church is insulated from the world. I mean so while I'm not to let a bunch of drunkards in here a bunch of fornicators and just be this person just like bring them all in to be you know I'm not going to be a lover of good men I would be a lover of all men no matter what that would be the same thing as just you having no standards to protect your home. And look your house is not the building you live in just like this church is not this building. When I say that we're doing some lighting changes around here to the church I really should say the church building because the church is the people the church is you your family your house is the people that are under your protection under your God given authority. Your house is the people in your family and I house you didn't go preach the gospel to the door. He preached the gospel to the other people that were in the house all right so look you need to protect influences on your family with the same standard that the pastor protects the church and this is for moms and dads because when moms when the Bible says that women should be keepers at home this is part of that word keepers this is part of keeping the house is keeping the children from danger from influence from all these things that would come in to corrupt the home. Mom you're keeping the place while dad is away it's an important job so the pastor the church people apply these ultra standards to and they anything that can be quantifiable not a novice you better have a whole Bible memorized but I mean people quantify they hold the pastor to high standards which they should I don't disagree with that but they should also first apply those standards to themselves they should apply those standards to themselves they should be you should be married if you're you should be the husband of one wife if you're married should not have multiple wives you should not get divorced you should be sober you shouldn't be greedy you shouldn't be a striker you shouldn't be covetous you shouldn't be a novice either you should know the Bible you should read your Bible if you're leading a house like I'm leading a church it it's just as important to the people in your house that you know what the Bible says dad and mom you should how could you know not know what the Bible says and your kids come to church and listen to the preaching and then they ask you Bible questions like I don't know look you need to not be a novice because you are teaching your own children you are leading your own home like you need to have a good report of them that are without if like everybody hates you that's not a good thing something's wrong there because everybody's not a reprobate evil person that is the the vast minority of people thank God and look you should be a lover of good men too you should be a lover of good men too I mean just because people aren't saved doesn't mean you should just be like at odds with them some people some people aren't saved some people aren't going to get saved that doesn't mean I hate those people you know as long as they're not against the Lord and hate God I mean look I'm a lover of good man I can appreciate I can find things about people to appreciate and it makes me sad that some people won't get saved and we want to try to get people saved when we can but not everybody's going to get saved we're going to talk about why that is tonight but look the point is this there's two there's two points I want you to take away this morning the first one is this apply these standards to yourself first apply these standards to yourself when you read them in your Bible reading and the second one is this the second point is this and this is the big point this morning when it comes to protecting your house when it comes to protecting your home dads especially and yes moms as well when it comes to protecting your family it's all about mitigation what do I mean by that what do I mean by that let me give you an example of something that I hear about all the time you read about it in the news you read about it people talk about it I've even met people that are actually doing it everybody says everyone's leaving California everyone's leaving I don't know there's a lot of people still here but everyone's leaving California I've even met people that were in the process of leaving California so yeah some people are leaving California and they're leaving why they're leaving because of the government here they're leaving because you know the government here is liberal and you know they're going to go to a place that has a better government and then that's going to make everything better for their life let me let me explain something to you there is never going to be a fundamentalist Christian government until Jesus comes back are you aware of that I mean have you ever heard the saying democracy is two wolves and a sheep sitting down for dinner sitting down and voting what to have for dinner guess what we're the sheep we're never going to be the majority that's a proof in the Bible turn to Matthew chapter number seven see it's all about this is the key this is the big point for the sermon this morning protecting your home and protecting your family is all about mitigation it's all about how do I mitigate these threats there's there's a see Jesus and all the advice that he gives to the disciples that we just read in Matthew chapter 10 what is he doing he's talking about mitigation he's saying hey don't worry about what to say we got you covered there always spirits got you just telling them don't why does he tell us this so we're not offended so when these things happen we don't just walk away from our Christian faith oh yeah I remember Jesus told us this is going to happen that's why Jesus gives all these examples that are super extreme he gives the worst case scenario your brother turns against you like your physical brother your your your genetic brother turns against you that'd be bad like if your own sister or brother or you know father or mother turned against you but Jesus says that's the worst case and that's going to happen so you're not offended so you just feel like that happens to you and you're like yeah Jesus said that was going to happen see Christians Jesus knew that Christians are just going to be dropped into history past present and future whatever part of history is going to be they're going to be dropped into these governments and these nations and they are not going to be the majority and they're never going to be the majority and it's he's telling us how to mitigate he's telling us how to mitigate the threat is still be able to protect our families still be able to protect our house no matter what part of history that you are dropped into I mean you talk about all these people are leaving California another thing that has been talked about for 30 years ever since I can remember is like you know you have this liberal conservative debate on book burnings you know like in Florida they're banning all these books and so the liberals will say oh the their conservatives they want to ban all the books from everyone and they don't you know they're like the Nazis you know they want to burn all the books and then their conservatives are like you know we just don't want you know perverted books being taught to our children so they'll they'll send their 12 year old or their 10 year old into like a courtroom or a school board meeting and have him read like these these sick perverted things that are actually in these books that and it's to shock everyone so they can hear that the words coming out of this child I mean what you would just just like what are you doing like what are you doing I guess what though guess where this debate is happening in guess what state guess what state everyone's leaving California saying go to a better state guess what state all of them every state the public school is centralized it's the same everywhere this debate that these stupid conservatives are getting all worked up about been going on for 30 years the first amendment means all the evils allowed to you're not going to have first amendment in the millennial reign look I'm glad we have it today I'm glad we have it today but this is really where you see the enlightenment break because the first amendment means we can have blasphemy the first amendment seems says that someone can stand up in a city hall and say hail Satan and down with Jesus and it's fine that's the enlightenment that's the first amendment that's all these things look until Christ comes back we will not have a fundamentalist Christian government it's all about mitigation so if Christians would just realize that hey you know what the answer is the answer is to mitigate the answer is to homeschool and then you don't have to deal with any of it burn all the books or burn none of them I could care less mitigated my house is protected my home is protected because there is free speech again I'm glad there's free speech so we can preach the gospel you got to kind of be multi-dimensional when you're thinking you got to be able to think you know a couple stages into things and you got to know what the bible says but the answer is to mitigate so the question for the Christian today it isn't what's happening in society the question is how can I or do I have the ability to mitigate you know the homeschooling rules and regulations in California are better than they are where I came from mitigated that's what I care about can I mitigate the vast majority of these things do not affect us why but look now if we lost the ability to separate or we lost the ability you know to make these decisions like you must send your kids here but Houston we got a problem that's different but that's not the case anywhere in the United States look that was the case in Germany there was a family that was literally kicked out of Germany they're going to have their kids taken away because they were trying to what they were trying to mitigate in the government the state would not allow them to that is not the case not even close here we have the ability to mitigate here we have the ability to teach them this we have the ability you know it's not nobody's telling us we can't go to church nobody's telling us we can't go soulening and look we don't go soulening because we have the burden of changing society we go soul winning out of obligation out of command from Jesus Christ that's why we go soul winning but look if people say that we can't do that stuff anymore then we have a problem but right now like we have the right and the ability to mitigate today the problem is it's not the government stopping it it's people stopping it it's leaders of families not willing to go that far they're not willing to go where they need to go so they can take their family to a good church they're not willing to you know get to church even if they live in a place where there is a church they're not willing to separate from those systems that maybe give them a lot more money but guess what one of the examples is that you're not supposed to be greedy of filthy lucre one of the examples is that you're not supposed to be covetous one of the examples and look to mitigate means you're gonna probably give up a lot of money to mitigate means you're probably gonna have to you know have your wife you know follow what the bible says and actually raise your own children to mitigate this problem but you're not to be covetous hey we gotta live with half the stuff and we gotta you know somehow maybe you know squeak things by here you know that's what we're gonna have to do because it's not about the money it should mean nothing to you nobody is forcing you to bring smut and trash and media into your home you're doing that on your own nobody is forcing you to consume what satan is selling you today you're doing that on your own christian nobody's forcing you to follow the compromised values of today you're doing that all on your own mitigate it that is what the bible is about jesus never said well you know pretty soon until you guys get control of this government this is what you're gonna have to do jesus said no he's like this is how you mitigate he gave us all the worst cases every single time worst case scenario worst case scenario worst case scenario i'll give you what to say and then you mitigate how by what i tell you to do but see we just want to get along with the society around us we want to just become this society around us but we're not to become the world we're to protect our house from the world nobody's forcing you to fellowship with those that would attack your god and your faith you're doing that all on your own turn to matthew chapter sixteen you see now that we know now that we know the comparison between the church of god and your house and that that example will work for your household let's look at some of the promises that god gives us look at first look at verse eighteen of matthew chapter sixteen matthew chapter sixteen and verse number eighteen the bible says this it says say also unto thee thou art peter and upon this rock the rock being jesus christ and upon this rock why build my church and what you know what he's saying there he's saying who is jesus christ he's saying build the church upon the rock of jesus christ he's talking about the word of god saying build the church on the word of god and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it all it's it's pretty easy for me actually i don't have to be all stressed out about everything the only thing i need to be stressed out about is following what the bible says so you better all have uncomfortable conversations you bet i will do whatever it takes to follow exactly what the bible says to protect the house of god the church of god but you should do the same thing with your family and guess what you get this promise the gates of hell shall not prevail against it jesus is telling us if we do what he says we will prevail look you might die physically worst case scenario but you will prevail the gates of hell will not destroy the church or your house your family the pastor running a church is just an example for the family and how the house should be protected turn to matthew chapter seven we're never going to be the majority folks we're never going to be the majority jesus said this himself the disciples asked are there few that be saved the disciples asked like you know why they asked that's a good question i would ask the same thing because you go out soul wedding you're just like like one percent of people are saved maybe two percent if you're a divine spark optimist but you're like most of these people are not saved and they're not going to get saved and in you i mean the question begs itself and you go and you ask you know jesus you know are there few that be saved and he answered this way he said in verse number thirteen he said entry in at the straight gate for why does the gates and broad is the way that lead at the destruction and many there be which go in there at most people are not going to be saved i'm gonna tell you why but that's just a fact that i want you to know most people are not going to be saved we are never going to be the majority we are never going to get in control of the california government even in the seventeen eighties when james madison went to the baptist and they're like hey before they came up with the first amendment which you can thank the baptist for by the way he went to the baptist he said we're gonna sponsor five denominations protestant protestant denominations by the way nobody thought catholics were christians back then i mean that's like the last twenty years maybe forty years but the point is this the baptists were given for the first time in history a seat at the governmental table they were offered a seat at the governmental table meaning what they were going to do is they were going to sponsor five denominations allowing the baptist to be one of those denominations even though an independent baptist is not a denomination we are not a denominations but the baptist we're gonna give it get a seat at the table a seat in the government and when you fill out your taxes you could decide who you wanted your tax dollars to go to which denomination you could just check the baptist box and the baptist are like oh wow that's great no thank you because we don't want anything to do with whatever you're gonna do because the gospel is accepted by free will it is not something that can ever be imposed by a government because they knew as they believed the true gospel they knew that it is only by belief and there is nothing that anyone can push on somebody to force them or coerce them into believing something they knew it was only by belief so all this these christian crusades were gonna go take over this you know third world country and baptize everyone and force them that's not christianity it never was that's the catholic church in the orthodox church and church of england and all these different places that went and forced christianity that's not christianity christianity is free will belief and the baptist knew that they're like no thanks and they introduced this idea of you know just letting people just choose their own religion which in a pragmatic sense i guess is the best thing we could ever hope for and tell jesus comes back but they knew it's never gonna be a bible-believing fundamental government and they wanted nothing to do with it if you're this christian that thinks we're gonna go out and we gotta get everybody saved so we can you know get everyone to vote the right way and get everyone to do to believe that that you know to just be a fundamental christian country like you're gonna have a a depressing disappointing life because we're never gonna be the majority that's what jesus said all we can do the question is and has always been is can we mitigate can we separate can we be those peculiar pilgrims can we be those strangers the question is can you because there's no government in the united states i don't care what state you're in that is stopping you today from mitigating and separating and doing what you need to do to protect house so it's not a can you it's a will you and that's what i want you to think about this morning let's power heads and have a word of prayer