 Hey man, so keep your place there in first Corinthians and we'll get there in a few minutes But first of all, let me give you a little bit of an introduction on what we're going to talk about This morning, so we're going to talk about something this morning that I've been thinking about for the last Several weeks, you know, I don't know. I was looking into some social media things Which is kind of what kind of brought this idea up in my mind But that's not where it's the idea of the sermon is really much bigger than that So this idea that I want to talk about this morning Maybe you're not familiar with its name, but I know that you've been affected by it before I know it's something that affects us every day And you know that we're dealing with in our world that you're probably dealing with in your life But it's this I it's an idea that is something that we can fall into and it's something that we should stay far away from So that's why I think it's deserving of a sermon and the idea that I want to talk to you about this morning Is this idea of something called groupthink Okay, so I want to talk to you about groupthink this morning So I mean basically let me just find it for you before we even get into the sermon But just think about this that you know the idea of even the word groupthink, you know is thinking in groups better You know is thinking as a group better. So what is groupthink? It's an actual thing. It's a definition The definition of groupthink was come up with I think in the early 70s But basically let me just read for you a couple definitions of groupthink and then we'll talk about it And then we'll talk about what the Bible has to say about it. So groupthink What is it? Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus within a group in many cases People will set aside their own personal beliefs or adopt the opinion of the rest of the group The term was first used in 1972 by a social psychologist Irvin Janus another definition from psychology today on groupthink says this groupthink is a is a phenomenon So a phenomenon meaning it's something that just happens when there's a certain basically when there's a certain condition when there's certain Characteristics or there's certain conditions that are in place and there's a number of people that are under these conditions This is something that that happens it comes about this idea of groupthink It's a phenomenon that occurs when a group of now listen to this part here when a group of well-intentioned people makes Irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conform or the belief that Descent is impossible does this sound like something that's good something that we would want the problematic or premature Consensus that a characteristic of groupthink may be fueled the problematic or premature consensus that is characteristic of groupthink may be fueled by a particular agenda or It may be due to a due to group members valuing now listen to this valuing harmony and coherence Above critical thought Okay, so it's a bunch of people that maybe they may have an agenda They may have an agenda they're trying to push on people and so they're trying to you know achieve harmony and Coherence above what was above what above critical thought now. What is critical thought so basically groupthink is kind of Antithetical to this thing called critical thought so basically critical thought is where you analyze facts To form a judgment on something a great example of the lack of critical thought was yesterday out soul winning I was soul winning with brother Francisco and brother Frank yesterday and the first three houses that we knocked on It was it was this type of person and if you've been soul winning you know these type of people you ask them Hey, how do you know? You know if you died today, you know, do you are you a hundred percent sure that you would go to heaven? They say oh, yes, I'm sure well what gives you that assurance and they say well You know, what do you think it takes to get to heaven? Well, you have to be a good person You have to go to church you have to do all these things you have to be you know do good works in your life Follow the Bible I mean name whatever you've heard it all a million times and then you say then you say to them Actually, you know the Bible says something a little bit different. The Bible says that salvation is a gift The Bible says that it you know while those are good things to do to go to church to ask for forgiveness Whatever they said, you know The Bible says that actually has nothing to do with salvation that it's a free gift that you don't it's not of works Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah exactly See that is a person who's not capable of Critical thought or maybe they're not it's not that they're not capable if they're not they're not exercising critical thought in their life Because they hold they hold a belief that is that they're contradicting themselves in their own statements and in their own beliefs So they are unable to have you know this they're they're not good at critical thinking Okay, so look group think is important group think is affecting people This is somebody who's likely fallen into group think and they're it's not that they're not capable of critical thought It's kind of like a muscle that you you know, you just haven't exercised in a long time. They're just they're not critically thinking Because they have an irrational they have an illogical Belief system where they believe things they they just told you they believe two things that cannot be believed at the same time So they're not able to critically think so look social media, which is why kind of what brought this up in my mind It tends towards group think Social media tends towards group think why? Why does it because the platforms themselves first of all are pushing for group think the social media platforms are Pushing for it and not only are they pushing for it, but they're engineering it They're engineering group think group think gets people to set aside what remember those those statements that I just read you It gets people to set aside their own personal beliefs You know social media platforms today look they're they're not only getting you to set aside your own personal beliefs They're setting those aside for you They're filtering the message that you see when you're on these social media sites, so they're creating it They're creating what you see they're engineering what you see for you the platform itself is engineered group think Many of these social engineering platforms. They're they're getting people you know They're they're filtering personal beliefs out is what they're doing. Okay, you know free speech is going away by the way I don't know if you noticed Okay, censorship is here front and center, but it's not just censorship is what I'm trying to get across to you It's a framing It's a framing, you know framing the world by the way, that's a brilliant name That framing the world is is I mean, it's a brilliant name You know, so for that's what everyone's trying to do. That's what social media is doing today. They are framing a World view for you. They're showing it. They're they're engineering what they want you to see turn to first Corinthians chapter 11 And verse number eight Look, it's also what we're trying to do We are trying to frame a worldview We are trying to frame a worldview. I think I have the wrong chapter here I'm sorry. Hang on one second first Corinthians chapter No, this is not correct I'm just going to read the verses for you I'm not sure what I labeled wrong here, but the Bible says here It says we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him But we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body According to that he had done whether it be good or bad knowing therefore We're trying to frame a worldview here as well. How do I know because this verse right here knowing therefore the terror of the Lord? We persuade men We persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciousness Look, we are trying to do the same thing We are trying to persuade people of our worldview. We are trying to frame a worldview Look, we are trying to persuade people of the Bible. That's what the Bible says. We're doing We're trying to persuade people of the truth and other people are doing the same thing They're trying to persuade people of their view and stop the persuasion of the truth So look group think is a part of this. It's a method that they're using for this. Okay now look Let me just say this note before we get into the sermon, but this is all just for purpose of introduction This is not to be confused with collaborative thinking Okay, collaborative thinking look Collaborative thinking under you know collaborative thinking is where I'm a leader and then I take the opinions of those in my group And I you know, I choose the good ones and I I don't choose the bad ones Okay, now collaborative thinking if done under proper leadership if done under wise leadership is extremely powerful Okay, it's extremely powerful as a leader. You should use collaborative leadership. However Collaborative lead collaborative think collaborative the idea of collaboration under poor leadership can lead to group think Under dictatorial Leadership can lead to group think look. I mean when you're in are you saying, you know, I lead my family man You're saying I should collaborate with my family. Yes, you should collaborate with your wife You should listen to your wife and look you are in charge But you should take, you know, the opinions of people in your family You should collaborate with the people in your family and be a wise leader to be able to choose The good and maybe not take the advice in the in the bad directions. Okay, but look it's it's not group think So that's not what I'm talking about But poor leadership can lead to group think even in collaborative environments. Okay, so now You know, I mean think about this in a work environment think about This is an example of poor leadership turning Collaboration into group think okay, think about a boss who's just a dictator and everyone's afraid of him And he just he makes these goals and they're impossible goals They're just it can't be done But everyone's so afraid to say hey, you know We're not gonna be able to meet that goal or whatever and you just end up with all these people who are just yes Men who just tell the boss whatever he wants to hear and you end up with an entire Organization moving in a direction. That's an impossible direction. I mean this is how like Enron happened I mean they've studied Enron and like, you know horrible foreign policy decisions in the 60s and 70s And they're like it was because of group think it was because everybody was a bunch of yes men and they were just Following, you know, there's group mentality. Nobody wanted to offend anybody. Nobody wanted to say that wasn't gonna work Nobody said, you know, hey, that's a bad idea. Nobody wanted they all wanted harmony they all wanted peace and So we end up in you know stupid situations horrible situations I mean it's it can destroy organizations that can destroy nations this idea. Okay, so what is the Bible saying? What does this have to do with the Bible? Okay, now we have the idea of group think right? It's this idea that you're just gonna set aside your personal beliefs You're gonna set aside anything that might be divisive anything that could offend anything like this And we're just gonna go with with peace and harmony Nobody has any independent ideas that might go against the group and we're gonna just all gonna get along that's group thing What does the Bible say it turned to Luke chapter 12 enter Jesus? Enter Jesus. Here's the opposite of group think like I said, it's not just a little bit different. It's completely often opposite Look at Luke chapter 12 and verse number 51 Luke chapter 12 and verse number 51 the Bible says suppose you that I am come to give peace on earth I tell you nay, but rather division. Well, that doesn't sound very group-thinky For from henceforth there should be five in one house divided three against two and two against three the father should Be divided against the son the son against the father the mother against the daughter the daughter against the mother the mother-in-law Against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law So let's go back to our definition of group think group think is a psychological phenomenon in which people strive for consensus Within a group Jesus here is saying that he brings division to a group So group think is trying to get consensus amongst a group now What's the tightest group you could think of it would be a family unit a father and a son a Daughter, I mean they're they're married. I mean they're they're they're son-in-law their daughter-in-law I mean this is a tight group and Jesus is saying we're gonna divide that group This is the opposite of group think folks group think is trying to bring these groups together it's trying to get these groups together for harmony and coherence Above critical thought these are people striving for peace People I mean I mean the fight here's the funny thing turn to Daniel chapter 9 you say peace. Well, I mean who could argue against peace I mean why in the world? I mean peace is good no matter what Peace peace is I mean peace is good No matter what I mean you say peace I mean look I get up today and I say peace and Whatever I say after that is must be true That's where people are at today. I mean it's I'm talking about hey peace Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and I must be true whatever I just said But what turned to Matthew or Daniel chapter 9? Here's somebody that's going to be striving for peace. Here's somebody that's going to be claiming peace Here's somebody that's going to be bringing peace Look at Daniel chapter 9 of verse 26 And after three score and two weeks show Messiah be cut off But not for himself and the people of the prince shall come to destroy the city in the sanctuary and the end Thereof should be a flood and unto the end the war the war Desolations are determined. He says he's talking about a prophecy of Daniel's 70th week Daniel's 70 weeks We've gone through that in detail not going to preach that again this morning But this is talking about the antichrist right here and the Bible says in verse 27 and he shall confirm the covenant With many for one week This is the 70th week and in the midst of the week Shall he cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease and for the overspreading of abominations? He shall make it desolate even unto the consummation that determined shall be poured up poured upon the desolate This is talking about how the antichrist is going to bring peace He's going to bring peace. It's going to be this guy that's going to be like He's going to solve all these problems and bring all this peace right before he kills everybody by the way Okay, so I mean be careful about this word peace being thrown around because Jesus never claimed to bring peace Jesus never claimed that that was his you know back in you know Daniel chapter 8 You know was talking about empires, you know, it's talking about empires in these prophecies. They destroyed through peace They destroyed through peace Turn to Matthew chapter 10 Matthew chapter 10 Look at Matthew chapter 10 in verse number 34 Here's Jesus talking about peace Jesus Jesus came to earth and Jesus the loving Jesus that loves everybody no matter what and just loves everything And loves everybody's thoughts and loves all this stuff. What Bible are you reading? The Jesus that's got you know the sheep and all this stuff, you know, look at Daniel Matthew chapter 10 in verse 34 It says think that I am come to send peace on earth You think Jesus came and said I everybody's going to get along now Now look what he said I came not to send peace but a sword kind of sounds like the opposite of peace to me Jesus said I came not to Bring peace but a sword So how does this apply? So we see that you know, there's a lot of opposites from group think to what Jesus actually said Let's look at this idea of the church itself look at go to Matthew chapter 16 You're already in Matthew go to Matthew chapter 16 in verse 18 Let's look at this idea of group think as it as it applies to our church here Let's look at that Because I mean look I mean Jesus said Jesus said in Matthew 16 verse 18 He said this it means it's interesting how far away this mentality of group think is From those structure that the church is actually supposed to be Run under look at Matthew 16 18 Jesus said and I say also into the thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and The gates but then he gives a promise and he says and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it So this verse what this verse tells me what this verse tells me is that if we follow the biblical model for a church Nothing can stop us That's what this verse says that's if you're if you're gonna take away something from this verse That's what the takeaway is the takeaway is hey If it's my church if it's Jesus's church if there's a candlestick here and we run this like the Bible says that we're supposed to Run this church Nothing can stop us. That's what this says the gates of hell the the demons the Satan himself Cannot stop what's going to happen here what we're going to do here if If we follow what we're supposed to do if we follow the model turn to revelation chapter 4 That's why that's why you will never see anything even close to hinting about denominations in the Bible There's no mention of it There's no mention of it look at revelation chapter 4 and verse number 4 So what is the model of the church of? Church as I mean that's well that's I just gave it away first of all I mean it's church as you never hear anything about the universal church You know the church on earth any of this type of thing you hear the church as when Jesus is writing in Revelation chapter 1 in verse number 4 when he's talking to the church. He's not talking to the church He's talking to the specific churches look at look at verse 4 John to the seven churches Which are in Asia grace be unto you and peace from what from him which is and which was which is to come and from the seven Spirit which are before his throne. He doesn't mention you know to the church in Asia He doesn't say you know in any kind of universal Language okay, there's no universal church in the Bible. It is individual churches. There's no denominations There's no mention of it see the problem is you know There's no mention of these presidents or vice presidents or cardinals or popes or CEOs there's no mention of that type of structure when it comes to my church Jesus says There's no mention of that Now of course every denomination claims to be the true church But there's no mention of denominations in in the first place You know so what is the point of what is the doctrine of a denomination? What are they trying to do? What are they trying to do what they're trying to do is they're trying to put people into a group That's what they're doing and that's why it's not According to the biblical model. They're trying to put you in a group. Why so they could control the way that you think That's why They're gonna put you in a group so you think like a group group think denominations are an example of Group think pastors in a denomination. They must tow the line Or they can't be part of the denomination. They must follow the rules. They must set aside those personal convictions The problem with this is not only is it you know, it's not the biblical model We see that but we see that you know the problematic or the pragmatic problem is that corruption spreads faster farther and It's more thorough To corrupt and of course the denomination will say we follow a Bible doctrine You know some some don't even claim that by the way I think there's a lot of denominations today that don't even claim to follow the Bible They have gotten away from even saying that the Bible is the infallible word of God They don't even believe the Bible anymore, but if a denomination goes bad Many churches follow it. That's the problem. It's it's spiritualized Group think is what the denomination system is and here's another thing it creates and so basically The denomination is group think spiritualized That's what it is and that's why we see every you know all these denominations and they're all corrupt Every single one of them But the second thing is this it actually creates an unbiblical structure of power Outside the individual church it creates this structure of power outside the biblical model for the individual church So I mean you have the individual church and then you have this power structure above it And here's the problem with ladders folks People will climb them. I Mean wherever you put in place ladders People are going to be striving to climb those ladders That's where you get your CEO's your CFO's your COO's your VPs. I'm not talking about business organizations. I'm talking about churches Talking about church denominations. Look, it's all fine for secular organizations, but it's not to be found in the biblical church It's not it's not in here. So what is the structure inside the church turn to Ephesians chapter 5? Turn to Ephesians chapter 5 What is the structure inside the biblical church? Look at Ephesians chapter 5 look at verse number 22 The Bible says this it says wives submit yourself under your own husbands as unto the Lord For the husband is the head of the wife Even as Christ is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body therefore and again as The church is subject unto Christ. I mean it pretty much bypasses Every single rung and all these ladders now. I mean the church is subject to Christ There is no Pope CEO President vice president none of that the church is subject to Christ That's it. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ Let also the wise be subject unto their own husbands in everything look down at verse number 30 for we are members of His body of his flesh of his bones for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined under his wife And they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning again Christ and the church So we see he's comparing the church and Christ to the same model for a family I mean it'd be like, you know, it'd be like there was a bunch of it It'd be like there was a bunch of levels in between husband and his wife It was it would be like if you know a husband Yeah, he was in charge of his family, but there's a whole bunch of like vice presidents and you know CEOs and you know all these did not you know before you know his wife came into the picture I mean it's stupid when you think about it that way, but that's the model. That's the model It's it's the church is subject to Christ That's it pretty complicated Let's pray. No, we're not done turn to 1st Peter chapter 5 That's the structure for the church. That's who the church is subject to now. Let's look inside the church So we see the church we see the church I need a whiteboard we see the church and it's subject to Christ But now let's look inside the church itself now we're in an individual church. We're not in a denomination It's just the church to Christ. That's it. That's the model But now let's look inside the church. What is that model? Say this is getting complicated. It's really not that complicated It's pretty simple. Look at 1st Peter chapter 5 Look at verse number one The Bible says the elders which are among you I exhort the Bible uses elders pastors and bishops interchangeably So he's talking about pastors which are among you I exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ And also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed And then it tells so it's basically saying that there's this position inside the church Okay, it's this position of an elder or a pastor or it also calls it a bishop In verse number two it tells you the job of this person Peter is exhorting these leaders exhorting these these church leaders these pastors and he says here's your job In verse two he says feed the flock of God which is among you Taking the oversight thereof it's like you are in charge lead that flock of God Not by constraint but willingly whoa That's where you know there we just lost a bunch of pastors right there Not by constraint but willingly not for filthy looker but of a ready mind Neither as being again lords over God's heritage but being examples to the flock And when the chief shepherd shall appear so you're kind of like this shepherd pastor You're a shepherd but there's a chief shepherd coming You shall receive a crown of glory that fade if not away But look so there's these there's these guys and we I'm not going to get into the qualifications of these men But I mean the Bible is very specific on who can be one of these elders pastors or bishops same thing And who's qualified and who's not and what their job is their job is right here It's to feed the flock of God not by but it can't be by force or threat Most problems that you see within a church leadership is a lot of them that comes from the pastor anyways because of this It's the pastor he feels like he's losing grip so I'm going to threaten to take away your salvation today Listen to me if you don't come to church I'm going to take away your salvation You know these people that sat in church for 20 years they sat in church for 20 years And they they stood up in church one day and they're like oh I don't even think I was saved They sat in a Baptist church for 20 years they had the right gospel and they stand up and they say oh I just got saved five seconds ago they're in a church where their pastors threatening their salvation constantly That's the answer to that you're like how could that happen how could somebody it didn't happen They're just threatened they're threatened they're trained to doubt their own salvation So it's a it's a pastor that can't control or you know is losing control of his you know or thinks he has to control or whatever It's a control tactic that's it okay look you don't come to church here yeah that's that you know I hope you come to church But if you don't you know I don't have to chastise you I don't have to chastise you I don't want to I don't have to because God's going to work that out with you With you that's where the you know it can't be a force of threat it can't be what it can't be For filthy lucre it can't be for money anybody who'd do this for money is insane, but I don't know But that's another thing okay, but look it can't be for money and it can't be for force or threat So what I mean look what what are like look at these these huge religions started by men that these false religions What are they after the Mormons all these guys we're they're after money and power They're after money and power so Jesus is basically saying hey look the shepherds The shepherds that are going to sit in my place until I come back he's like it can't be for money or power And if you're going into it for money or power he's like no it can't be for that turn to acts chapter 6 So there's more there's there's more than just the pastor look at acts chapter 6 in acts chapter 6 We see another office that is that is put into the church look at acts chapter 6 and verse number one And we see the purpose of this office in acts chapter 6 look at verse number one So we see that somebody has the oversight of the church a pastor has the oversight of the church He's there to feed the flock of God. He's there to you know willingly Okay, if you don't want to be here, why would you be here? That's why I've said so many times these people that just complain about their church constantly It's the dumbest thing in the world I mean why in the world would you go to a church where you just complain about it You just you know no one's forcing you to be here No one's forcing you to come here I'm not forcing you to come here and I'm never going to force you to come here Look I'm trying to feed the flock of God here Look at acts chapter 6 and verse number one What's the next office and in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied There arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews Because their widows were neglected in the daily administration So here we have somebody in the church people aren't being taken care of And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables Wherefore brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report Full the ghost, holy ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business But we will give ourselves continually to prayer into the ministry of the word And the same pleased the whole multitude and they chose Stephen A man full of faith and the holy ghost And Philip and Procurus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenes And Nicholas a proselyte of Antioch So here they picked these men to become the first deacons of the church And they're there to help because Peter is basically saying He's saying hey you know should we just leave Should we leave preaching the gospel and go and just make sure all these people are taken care of He's like no we're going to delegate that out So the deacon is there to handle the day to day things So the pastor or the main shepherd can be preaching the word Can be doing the main thing of the church So look that's the whole structure pretty complicated It's pastor led deacons for support that's it That's the biblical model for the church And the church is subject to who? It's not subject to a president or a CEO or somebody somewhere else It's subject to Christ that's it It's very simple Then there's all kinds of qualifications for the pastor Qualifications for the deacons I mean there's all these things that must be met But the pastor is subject to Christ That's who he's subject to Jeremiah chapter 23 Now look he's not subject to a president a pope a CEO or whatever You're saying okay he's subject to nobody No he's subject to Christ He's subject to Christ So will every pastor be good Will every pastor do his job well No So what's going to happen then What's going to happen if you get this pastor Who's in charge of a church And he just starts doing all the wrong things He just starts you know Preaching wrong stuff Add people in whatever Turn to Jeremiah chapter 23 Turn to Jeremiah chapter 23 Look at verse number one This is something that you know if you're going to go into the ministry You probably should memorize this one Jeremiah 23 look at verse number one The Bible says will be under the pastors That destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor Sayeth the Lord Therefore thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel Against the pastors that feed my people You have scattered my flock And driven them away And have not visited them Behold I will visit upon you the evil Of your doings sayeth the Lord So first of all there's two things here Okay the first thing is If a pastor doesn't do what he's supposed to do This is a warning That God is going to just visit evil God's going to hurt them That's what that means When God says I'm going to do evil That doesn't mean God is like on Satan's side That means you know God's going to hurt them That's not doing what he's doing Well he's scattered the flock of God Well here's the thing How did he scatter the flock Well here's the thing We're not for group think here Every man The head of every man is Christ Guess who the head of you is Christ So you should know the Word of God You should know the Bible And guess what If you end up in a church You end up in a church It's going to be really fast But you get a bunch of group think A bunch of people are just Whatever you say And they don't know the Bible The head of them is a man and not Christ That's how you end up With massive groups of people Heading in the wrong direction Because they're not independent thinkers They're just following This group think mentality Okay so Look that's how the church should be scattered It's another And the leaders of the church Are another protection for the church That you knowing the Word of God Is a protection for the church Because if you sit in many of this I mean many times this has happened To many of you I know it Where you sat in a church And the wrong things were being preached You sat in a church And you know false doctrine Was being preached And what did you do You're not there anymore To think mentality You don't have a group think mentality But even if that does happen Even if that does happen A pastor goes bad Into false doctrine And a bunch of people stay with him And go bad And you know the candlestick is removed As Jesus said that he will do Look then it's just one church That goes down That's another beauty of the model Of the independent church It's just one church Multiple different churches If one man loses his mind Or is a wolf And ends up convincing people To let him whatever Take over a church And all this type of thing It's just one church And then the individual thinkers In that church Can think with their feet Basically So look in conclusion What I'm trying to get you to Understand and this kind of Independent thought must thrive For the gospel to succeed Think about that Independent thought must thrive For the gospel to succeed And I want to explain this to you Why? You say look at all these false religions Out there today You know all these terrible philosophies All these wicked ideas Look I'm telling you When you see all this You're sitting here and you're like All the churches And you're like 95%, 95% of all churches Are false gospel It's so depressing It must exist It must exist Why? Don't be discouraged They have to exist Because if only one is chosen If only one religion Or idea or philosophy Is chosen It will never be the truth That's why they must exist Turn to Luke chapter 13 You say that's interesting You just made that up I'll show you from the Bible Look at Luke chapter 13 In verse number 23 Look when Jesus comes back He's going to fix it all But during this time It all must exist Don't let that discourage you It must exist For the truth to be able to have Is why look at Luke 13 verse 23 Then said one unto him Lord are there few that be saved And he said unto them Strive to enter in at the straight gate For many I say unto you Will seek to enter in And shall not be able In Matthew 7 He says straight is the gate And narrow is the way That leadeth unto life Broad is the way That leadeth unto destruction He said yes We are always going to be The minority out here Always The gospel The true word of God Is never going to be The majority opinion Why turn to Acts 7 Let's look at one of the deacons One of my favorite chapters In the entire Bible Acts chapter 7 I mean think about this The sermon He basically recaps The entire Bible In his sermon And then preaches the gospel Right after that I mean he's filled With the Holy Ghost The Bible says His face was like an angel Can you imagine the speech Can you imagine what it sounded like And what it looked like And people Can you imagine somebody Can you believe it And people must have just got down On their knees crying And getting saved Look what happened Look at verse 54 When they heard these things They were cut to the heart And they gnashed on him With their feet With their teeth But he being full of the Holy Ghost Looked up steadfastly Into heaven And saw the glory of God And filled him for it Look the gospel is never going to be The popular opinion It cuts to the heart It's no different for us Than it is in Jesus' day It's the same thing The best we can hope for Until Jesus comes back Is for independent thinking To thrive Because it protects the church And it protects the gospel Look folks I'm fine with competing In a free market of ideas I'm fine Because we've got the best idea I mean it's like we're out there Selling Ferraris In everybody else's pitching bicycles I mean but the thing is If we go into group think It's never going to be the Ferrari That's chosen It's going to be one of the bikes It's going to be a used rusted bike It doesn't even work It's fine Being out there I mean how many times you've been so winning And you're out there And you're talking to one of these people That they're all wrapped up And mixed up And you're giving them the gospel And they're like that just makes so much sense Like that's so simple Like wow I've never heard anyone I've never heard it explained like this before What are we doing? Do we make up some weird thing? No we're just reading the Bible to them That's it There's a million different false religions There's only two religions in the whole world There's workspace salvation And there's the Bible That's it So I'm fine Because we got the best idea We have the idea Look there's only one idea Where you can believe it And the entire Bible will make sense If you believe these other bicycles Or these other ideas You can't even read the Bible Because you're like oh that sounds weird That doesn't sound like it goes with my idea Not of works I mean that's complicated right That's a complicated phrase Not of works I mean can you imagine believing works And then reading Ephesians too I mean what would you even think? You're like oh man I better just stop reading the Bible And just listen to Padre or whatever You know But that's why they don't read the Bible Because it doesn't make any sense Because if they critically think The Bible doesn't make sense to what they believe So we have the best idea It will never be the idea that's chosen though So until Jesus comes back Just be happy That we have independent thinkers out there Because we have I mean we have the best thing And look Jesus knew this When he said That we persuade men He's like you're going to persuade men Meaning you're going to go out there I'm giving you Look he's like I'm giving you the Ferrari I'm giving you the Ferrari It's shiny It's new People are going to love it It makes sense It's simple It's perfect It makes sense of everything It makes sense of everything in the world It unwraps all people's You know conflicting beliefs That they hold within themselves But he's like It's going to be easy to persuade men But you have to persuade them Because it's never going to be the one That the government of Russia picks Or the government of the United States picks Or the government These governments that picked a state religion You know not that we picked a state religion But it's good that we didn't It's what I'm saying Because we never would have picked the right one We never would have picked the right one So look I just want to help you make sense Of why these outside ideas exist And it's you know We won't And here's another thing Here's another thing You're not going to persuade everyone You know I mean that's why it says You know narrow Straight Straight meaning Like the straight of Hormuz Like it's a narrow pathway Like straight Straight meaning Not many people are going to get through it The opposite of broad You're not going to persuade everybody Look don't let that destroy you I mean Belief I mean look Or look If you let that destroy you You know what you're pushing You're pushing group think If you're like Everybody must believe just like me No They're not going to believe just like you It's not going to happen I wish it would But it's not You know why Because belief is a personal thing Because belief is the only thing That that person Or that other person It's totally theirs You can't force it You can't force it So just remember You know don't let It's the narrow way It's the straight way And look we're out there We're trying to get every single We're trying to ram Every single soul Through that straight gate I mean We're trying to just Just ram as many through As we possibly can But not everybody's going to believe Not everybody is going to accept The truth That's it You know and look It's I used to get When I was in my like mid 20's When I was in my 20's Probably My wife probably Maybe it's longer I don't know I used to get really upset When people didn't agree with me I want to fight a guy Over abortion one time We're at dinner With a bunch of people And I'm arguing this guy's pro choice And I'm like how about we Just go out in the back And work it out Everybody in there Everybody at the dinner table And I wasn't joking But I used to get really upset When people didn't see things my way I'm like you murderer I'm going to take you out back And show you a few things Look that's not Christian Okay It's not Christian Not everyone's going to see it our way We have the best idea Let's push those ideas But just remember If group think thrives The gospel will not Because the gospel will be Remember it's talking about Getting people to compromise their ideas To compromise their personal beliefs The gospel itself will be the idea The first idea that is compromised It will be the first thing That is thrown to the side Why? Because it defies It offends It cuts to the heart You can't have a group think environment Just looking for everyone to be in harmony And have somebody preaching the gospel It's not going to work Because it cuts to the heart They killed Stephen for it They killed Stephen for it It divides people That's what it does Social media The thing that popped this into my head It is a tool for putting people in boxes Is what it is Don't be put in a box Don't be labeled Your independent thinking It will protect you It will protect this church It will serve you in your life This independent thinking will serve you in your life In your family life In your work life It will protect your church Today there are powerful forces At work folks In social media In the media itself They are trying to shut down Individual independent thought In the name of peace In the name of peace In the name of peace They cause violence Open your eyes on what's actually happening In the name of peace they cause violence That's what the antichrist will do In the name of peace He will cause violence In the name of inclusion They exclude In the name of tolerance They're intolerant In the name of harmony They oppress the truth They don't want to hear the truth They are framing the world that you want to see That they want you to see Don't be put in a box Because where group think thrives The gospel dies Let's power heads and have a word of prayer