New Life Baptist Church - Part 2 — Paul Washer

Well, it's really good to be here with all of you, with all you young people and everything. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I pray that you would help us, strengthen us, guide us for your sake, for the edification of your people.

In Jesus' name, give us wisdom, Lord. Amen. Now, before we get started, I'd like to ask the young people some questions. Is there any particular question or subject that you'd like to talk about? No one ever asked you that, did they?

Anybody? Anything particular? If not, I'm going to preach at you very hard. Yes?

Testimonies of Conversion and God’s Preserving Grace

It's very hard for me to see the life change in my own life from living in a very moral home and then becoming a Christian myself. I am a Christian, but there wasn't a drastic... You know, you hear these drastic testimonies of someone who's totally on the other side of the fence.

I was lost, but now I am saved. But it's not drastic. Is that... Can you talk about that?

Well, first of all, so many people think that people like me and others that were very, very worldly and wayward prior to our conversion, that we have a stronger, better testimony. There's two ways in which God gets glory for himself in a testimony.

When we hear how God has saved someone from a terrible lifestyle, it demonstrates his power. But a greater demonstration of God's power is how he kept someone from a horrible lifestyle all the days of their life.

Now, there are some pitfalls. First of all, you use the word moral a few times in your question. The one thing that you've got to realize is that morals can be as damning as immorality because there are many, many moral homes, in a sense, very moral, that are not Christian.

And so what you want to be looking for in your life, although that may be the outward morals, there wasn't a drastic change, but there should have been just as drastic a change in your heart with regard to appreciation and passion for Jesus Christ.

And that's a good thing for homeschoolers to take note of and anyone who is just taking seriously raising their children for Christ, is that I hear people say, I lived in a moral home. What we're really looking for is I lived in a home that was passionate about the person of Jesus Christ.

And that always will. If, for example, someone is raised in a very, very moral home, they still will not be passionate for Jesus Christ. But that conversion should bring about a passion. Another thing that you need to realize and be very, very careful of is I know how bad the filth of this world is.

I know how bad it is. You don't. The devil is always, ever since the beginning with Adam and Eve, God told Adam and Eve that if they did certain things, they would experience certain things. Now, God's Word should have been enough.

But the play of the devil was what? Experience it first to see if it's really true. Okay? And so, maybe you'll never be pulled out of a drunk or have your life ruined and everything else. Maybe you haven't tasted of many of the horrible things in this immoral fallen world.

And the devil may come to you at times and say, well, it's really not that bad. You've been sold a bill of goods. Try it. You might see that you can still be Christian and do all these things. You have to be very, very careful.

Very careful. You have to accept God at His Word. At His Word. A very popular statement in modern humanism is, you know, live and learn. Live and learn. You've probably heard people tell you that. Live and learn.

That is a demonic statement. Okay? Birthed out of the bowels of hell. It's wrong. The Bible never says live and learn. The Bible says learn and live. God told Adam and Eve, learn and live. Satan told them, live and learn.

Experience it and then you'll really know it. There's some things you shouldn't know. There's some things that you should be innocent to. Really. That's why people will tell me about my two boys. Well, you can't protect them from everything.

And I say, no, but I can protect them from a lot more than what most people think. You know? And even wanted to say, but I can protect them from you, can't I? So, there is a sense of protection. You know, we hear this idea and it's very, very common that, you know, here's this...

You're sort of backwoodsy and ignorant and as we say in Peru, inocentón. You're just a little boy who doesn't know anything. I want to tell you something. It's good to be a little boy in some areas of life.

A little girl. Because if experiencing filth is growing up, it's better to stay innocent. The Bible commands us to be innocent with regard to certain things. So, what you have, young man, if indeed you have been saved...

And if indeed you have been protected from these things, it is a great blessing. The greatest of blessings. The greatest. Is there another question? Yes. Well, first of all, the power of God in the life of every believer can manifest itself in different ways.

Spiritual Gifts, Callings, and the Power of God

And we see this in 1 Corinthians 11 -14. There were some... All the true Christians in Corinth were gifted. But it seemed that some had gifts that were more exciting and that were more noticeable. For example, we...

I was the most noticeable person here this week. Well, there's... After me would be the music director. Because we were the only ones who really exercised their gifts. See, the way church is set up today...

And it's wrong. Where's your opportunity to exercise your gifts? You see what I'm saying? So, when only a few handful of people ever exercise their gifts publicly, you're going to think that they have more power.

But at the same time, there are also callings. It's not just regard to the way in which power is manifested, but there are also callings. You cannot deny, if you go through Christian history, that there were some men and women that seemed to have just absolutely something special on their life.

It's undeniable. You cannot explain Charles Spurgeon. I mean, it wouldn't matter if I studied from the time I was born until right now, 24 hours a day, I would never be able to do, to know, and to preach what Charles Spurgeon preached.

He read a thousand pages a day. And if you asked him three months later where he read a certain thing, he could tell you off the top of his head the book, the volume, the page number, and what side of the page it was on.

Now, it doesn't matter how much I fast or pray, I'm never going to do that. Alright, so look at what we've looked at so far. Every believer, in a sense, the power of God is manifested. In some, it seems to be manifested more because there's more opportunity.

In some, it seems to be manifested more because of their gifts. In some, it seems to be manifested more just because you have to realize God has done something very special with a very special person.

And He does not do it to every person. He doesn't. Now, some people would have a problem with that, but if you understand election, you won't have a problem with it. God can do anything He wants with anybody, at any time.

Charismatic Gifts and the Believer’s Supernatural Heritage

Now, there is another thing which is very controversial only because of the people who claim it, who don't have it, and who have very bad doctrine. I'm referring to the charismatic movement. Okay, I am a, I don't know what you would call me, kind of a cross between, I'm a Calvinistic, Baptist, sort of Mennonite and a Baptist kind of person.

It's really kind of strange. I don't really know. I call myself a historical Baptist. Alright, one of the, a dinosaur, a theological dinosaur. Okay, but in that context, you've got to realize something.

We have allowed many of the false teachers and false movements to rob our heritage from us. We don't talk much about the fullness of the Holy Spirit because we're afraid that they'll identify us with the people who do talk about it and who have false doctrine.

We don't talk much about gifts. We don't talk much about the power of God. We don't talk much about miracles. We don't talk much about the presence of God and so many different things. And it's not because they're not biblical.

Everyone would recognize that terminology as biblical. It's that we're afraid that someone's going to think we're as kooky as the people who do talk about this stuff. I am not going to allow anyone to rob me of my heritage.

I was telling the pastor this afternoon, if Jehovah Witnesses knock on my door and I open the door and they go, we're Jehovah Witnesses, I go, well, come on in, so am I. And then after I let them talk for a while, I look at them and go, you lied to me.

You said you were Jehovah's Witnesses, but you're not witnessing for Jehovah. You're telling lies about him. Now sit down. I'm a real Jehovah's Witness and I'm going to tell you what Jehovah has said.

He sent His Son and His Son is God and His Son died on that tree. And it's okay to call it a cross. You know, the point being, if someone says they're charismatic, I go, well, praise God, so am I. Because I am.

Charismatic just means gifted. I'm gifted. Everyone who's a Christian is gifted. Now, in Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 1, and we see it played out in Acts chapter 2, the disciples are told to tarry in Jerusalem.

Aren't they? And for what reason? To receive power. Now, theologically, I hold a very historical position with regard to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and receiving the Holy Spirit at conversion and things such as that.

But you have to understand that men like Charles Spurgeon, the Puritans, Ian Murray, Martin Lloyd-Jones, many, many others, believed that God can work supernaturally in the life of a believer collectively with other believers and alone.

And that there could be many, many experiences and many, many manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. And that the believer is to be constantly seeking the fullness of the Holy Spirit in whatever manifestation that might mean.

Because if you look in Acts chapter 4, when the church was under persecution and they cried out to God, they were once again filled with the Holy Spirit. It was a physical manifestation, and the house shook.

So you can't just say, God did something supernatural at Pentecost and He's never going to do it again. You can't say that, I'm sorry. Well, you can say it, but you're wrong. What you need to realize is this, Christianity is supernatural.

Christianity has no life and no power apart from the Holy Spirit. Jesus commanded us to pray for the Holy Spirit. Now here's another thing, because of the charismatic movement and our fear of being identified with them, whenever someone comes to the text where Jesus commanded to pray and that the Father would give you the Holy Spirit and He'd give it to you, we take that as... we don't even talk about that.

But what He's talking about, according to Charles Spurgeon, according to the Puritans, was that we were to be constantly praying for greater and greater manifestations of the Spirit's life and power in our life.

Do you do that? And there is a sense of tarrying before God that His power and His life might rest upon you in a special way. When I was saved, like the very next day, I got in a debate with a guy out on the street like a street preacher.

That's where my career began the next day. And then I started going out to 6th Street in Austin, which is one of the most ungodly places you could ever imagine. It's like Austin's version of Bourbon Street.

And I started going out there preaching. Just a few months after I was saved. I was terrified of men. I had no power. I was scared. And every night I would come home, I would be so depressed because even though I tried, I knew there was nothing.

And one night I came home, I just tossed my Bible on the bed, and I said, either that book is not true, which I knew that wasn't true, or something's wrong with my life. And it just so happens an old believer in the church there in Austin came up to me and he said, you need to read some of these books.

And he just handed them to me. It was the autobiography of George Mueller. It was Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret. It was a few books by Leonard Ravenhill. Why Revival Terry's Meet for Men. Things like that.

Some of the old guys. Andrew Murray, E .M. Bounds. And I started reading them. And I noticed that the only common denominator among these men, and I've noticed this throughout all my Christian studies, is that there were certain men in history who actually believed that God would meet with them.

There are certain men in history that actually believed that if they sought God's presence and God's face, that God would show Himself to them. That if they cried out for His life and His power, that He would give it.

Something happened to me in this sense. I was given an ability to pray. I have to say was given because I've never been able to replicate it. I've never been able to duplicate it. But after I read those books, I began to pray.

I was a full-time student at the University of Texas. I'd come home from the library at like 10 .30 or 11 at night. I would go into the closet, literal closet, and I would cry out to God until 1 .30 or 2 in the morning and get up and then work the breakfast shift as a waiter at a place, a dormitory there.

And it went on for weeks, and weeks turned into months. Almost insane. I didn't care. I didn't pray for missions. I didn't pray for... The only thing, I would sit there. My roommates actually asked me to stop and leave.

They said, we can't even sleep anymore. I would literally be before God for hours and hours a night going, You promised if I cried out to You, if I sought You, You would show Yourself to me. You would make Yourself known.

You would fill me with Your life and Your power. I have been here now for four months, six days, and You have not come. And crying out to God and crying out to God. And then, I'm just giving you a true testimony.

I'd be a liar if I told you any other thing. And then it was just about spring break. I'll never forget. And all the Christian students were going to go on a ski trip to Colorado and have little Bible studies.

And I felt like God was just no. And I went out to West Texas and I climbed up on a hill as though I was absolutely out of my mind. And for days, got to the point where I literally was grabbing rocks and throwing them up at the sky, saying, Either kill me or show me Your presence.

I don't know why. Because the prayer life I had then, I've tried with all my might and I can't duplicate it. It was the work of God. That's all I can say. And one night, when I was back in Austin, I'll never forget, I cried out to God.

And God came. And I was thrown down on the floor with such fear. I curled up in a fetal position. I covered my head and I whimpered like a baby. And I thought that God had had enough of me and come to kill me.

And it went on for hours. And then all of a sudden, all the fear was taken away and my heart was filled with joy and my mouth shot open wide. And for over an hour and a half, it was like the book of Psalms came out of my mouth.

Just saying glorious things. Yes, in the English language. Saying glorious things about God. And from that moment on, my life was different. That does not mean I don't struggle with sin. I struggle terribly with sin.

But my life was different. Totally different. And that the life of a Christian is a supernatural life. It is wrought by supernatural means. And the more you cut yourself off from the arm of the flesh, the more you will see God move.

God could sweep through here right now, and I've seen Him do it, and cast everybody in this room on the ground. Not like those silly TV things, but down trembling and weeping over their sin. God can save 300 people with a five minute sermon.

I've seen it with my own eyes. The thing about it is, is Christianity is not just being proper and rule orientated and moral. It is a wild, uncivilized hunger for God. And I always say it's the difference between a boy and a man of God.

Some of you will learn a lot of theology, but you'll never really know the one you talk so correctly about. It's all second hand. It's all something you read in a book. And you could go back and you could talk to Spurgeon, and you could talk to the Puritans, you could talk to Edwards, you could talk to Tozer, and they'd all tell you the same thing.

You talk to Dwight L. Moody. God came upon his life one time in the middle of the street, so strong when he was not expecting. He had to be put in a hotel room for two days. That's one of the reasons.

Now some people probably will not like what I've said, but it's true. Christianity is not just about dressing right, saying right things, looking right, and being nice and neat and proper. Where are the wild men?

Where are the ones who are just stinking fed up with everything and can't stand it anymore and go out on a hill and scream up to heaven until God shows up? That's the difference. And that's why some people have power of God on their life to carry out their ministries, and others just seem too kind to mope.

I'm not trying to set anything up about myself. I'm just telling you and answering your question. Old men have told me these things. I remember one time when I was a brand new preacher. There's this store in Paducah, Kentucky where they basically...

It's not there anymore I don't think, but they would give discounts to preachers to buy a suit. I was going to buy my first suit. And I was in there and all of a sudden, this old man walked in. Old man.

I don't listen to young men very much. They really don't have much to say. Old man. And he looked at me and he said, Boy, you've been called to preach. I said, Yes, sir. He began to tell me. He said, You know, boy, you'll probably be asked to go to churches and preach for three or four days.

He said, It won't amount to a hill of beans. He says, No one really wants revival nowadays. They want a three, four day meeting. You're not going to see revival that way. He said, Boy, I was preaching in a tent over here back in the 50's.

He pointed over to kind of a place where I guess used to be an abandoned lot. He said, I preached there and like all the other preachers, I preached for two, three weeks. I wouldn't even think about giving an invitation.

And I said, Well, when would you give an invitation? He said, When the power of God fell down on the place. That's when I'd give an invitation. And I said, Well, how did you know when that happened? He said, Well, once I was preaching over there, preaching for about two weeks and it was dry as a bone.

The ceiling was like brass. There was no God in it at all. And some man walked up to me and handed me some money to get a suit. And I walked over in this store. And when I came through this door, there was a young clerk on the other side of the room over there.

And he turned around and the moment his eyes fixed on mine, he fell to the ground and screamed out, Who can save me from my sin? He said, I knew the power of God was about to fall. The old Baptist preachers, the old Presbyterian, the old Congregational, they were men of God.

Now we've got little professionals with diplomas. They're really nice. That's about it. I'm very, very fortunate that in my life, I have been around a lot of those old men. The Duncan Campbells of the great Hebrides revival.

You'd do well to hear one of the last sermons he ever preached on what happened in Louisville in Wales and the great revivals that occurred there. Leonard Ravenhill, even though I don't agree with him theologically in some things, he had more of the power of God on his life than 10 ,000 Calvinists with a diploma.

And so that's a very important thing. For some of you young men thinking about going into the ministry, I think it was Reedhead that said, All you'll learn in school is one fallen head teaching another fallen head.

The point that he was making is you need more than knowledge. You need to know Him. You need to know Him. Not just know about Him. You see, the doctor, any doctor in this entire city here knows more about my wife than I do.

They know about how our blood works and how our bones grow. They know so much more about my wife, but they don't know my wife. A lot of theologians. They can tell you everything you want to know about God.

They don't really know God. There's a super naturalness to the Christian life that few people have even begun to discover. Do you know that God could tell you right now to get up and get in your car and drive three houses down and witness to the person that's there?

Do you know God can speak that clearly? And sure, you say, Well, now hold on. There's a lot of bad things. There's a lot of people who teach bad things on the Trinity. So are you going to deny the Trinity?

Just because people take doctrines like that, people who don't even know God or know the Bible, people that act foolish and everything else, do silly things, does it mean that we're just going to totally shut God out of our lives?

The only place where you're going to have absolute order is a cemetery. And the greatest needs, if you're called into the ministry as a young man, young woman, go find God. Go chase Him down. Such boldness God likes.

When a young man can't live with just words and propositions, but wants to know the living God, God will show Himself. Is there another question? I want to talk for a moment about several things, if we get a chance to.

Building a Biblical Wall of Protection

First of all, I'd like to talk about how to build a fence around yourself. How to build a biblical wall of protection around yourself. We're going to dig some post holes and put some posts in. People are always asking me, what's the will of God?

Young people, what's the will of God? What's the will of God? And I always tell them, stop worrying about the decretive will of God. Stop worrying about who you're going to marry, where you're going to live, what kind of job you're going to have, and begin to concentrate all your energy on the perceptive will of God, His commands, what He's commanded you to do in Scripture.

If you follow His commands and follow His statutes and seek out His wisdom, He'll lead you. Sometimes telling you He'll lead you and sometimes His invisible hand will lead you and you won't even know it's Him until you look back later on in your life and see that He's written all over every page.

But anything that comes up in your life, whether it's a book you want to read or music you want to listen to or a relationship or a job, there are certain things that if you will just use them as a filter, they will save you from a lot of harm.

Glorifying God in Every Decision

Now, the first one is found, the first fence post that we're going to drill is found in 1 Corinthians 10 .31. Is it the will of God? Well, let's look in 1 Corinthians 10 .31. Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So the first question regarding absolutely anything in your life is does this glorify God? Does it bring honor, glory, pleasure to God? So here's a book that you think that you want to read, but it's rather risque in some parts.

It could bring a cause for something like does this glorify God? What this person is saying, does it glorify God? No, then I don't need it. The clothing that you put on, does it glorify God? That's the only thing you have to...

Would someone look at you and glorify God, worship God, honor God? Does it bring God pleasure? And listen to me, folks. When I talk about clothing, it's very, very important. I am not simply talking about whether the clothing is decent.

You see, we think that as long as our clothing doesn't cause someone to stumble, it's okay. No, that's not the question. Would someone look at our clothing and would it have a sense of bringing honor and glory to God the way we look?

So it's not just that the clothing be decent, but that it be somewhat exceptional. Not exceptional in luxury or in elegance, but exceptional in fitness, in appropriateness, in demonstrating excellence, in communicating something about what God has done to us.

You see, just everything. The music you want to listen to, ask yourself the question, does it glorify God? Parents, if you have problems with the music that your children listen to, sit down with the music, listen to it, and ask the child to explain to you how that music glorifies God.

Explain to me, teach me, show me how this glorifies God. A relationship, does it glorify God? Does it bring honor to Him? Is it an act of worship towards Him? So that's the first thing. Everything that you're going to do, you ask yourself this question, does it glorify God?

Because even if you do the most menial task of eating and drinking, the purpose of it is to do what? Glorify God. Okay? Glorify God. Now, here's a few more fence posts we're going to put in there. Go to Romans chapter 12, verse 2.

Testing the Will of God by What Is Good and Acceptable

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is. Now, He's going to tell us what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Okay? So if it's the will of God, first of all, it's going to glorify God. Correct? It's going to glorify God. Then the next thing is, it's going to be good. This word in the Greek particularly refers to something healthy, sound.

It has a quality and substance of good, of healing, of soundness. It's not rotten. It won't cause rot or decay. It is a sound, healthy thing. So you ask yourself, whatever this thing is in your life that you're wanting to do or the relationship you want to be in, or whatever it is, you ask yourself, is it good?

Does it promote my spiritual well-being? Does it promote that? You've got to ask yourself that question. Does it promote my spiritual well-being? Will I walk away from this more Christ-like, more holy, possibly more rested, more confident in Christ, more willing to serve, more given to the things of heaven rather than the things of earth?

Does this thing prosper me spiritually? If it doesn't, I really shouldn't participate in it. And I have to stop here for a moment because someone might say, well, you know, right now I'm in a calculus class and it really isn't helping me grow in Christ.

That's because you have a secular mind. It's not calculus's fault. It's yours. You have a secular, carnal mind. What do I mean by that? You know what calculus is. Along with every true science, it's an exploration into the glory of God.

It is. I mean, you realize that's the only reason mathematics works is because there's a God? The only reason there's physics? The only reason you can send a rocket anywhere is because there's a God? And the whole thing that you've got to also see is you've got to be very, very careful that you don't have a secular, sacred mindset.

Everything you do. I love to work out in my wood shop. No one has ever gotten saved out there. But I don't get much time alone between my family, my wife, my children, traveling. But if I can get out there for an hour or two, once every two weeks, and just be out there for a little while and make a bow or work on a piece of furniture.

And just commune with God and marvel at the grain of the wood. Watch an arrow fly and realize the only reason the arrow flies is because of God. So you see, when I say that it ought to glorify God, I don't mean that you're going to spend the rest of your life on a church pew with a hymn book in front of you.

You've got to drop this idea that some things are sacred and some things are secular. If you're a Christian, everything is sacred, even the pots and pans in your house. Because you ought to be cooking to the glory of God.

So you ask yourself, does it glorify God? Second question, does it prosper me spiritually? Does it prosper me? Does it prosper me spiritually? Is it good? Now, the next question is this, is it acceptable?

Is it acceptable? Did you ever think about that? Acceptable to whom? To your culture? To your flesh? No, is it acceptable to God? You see, it's like what you decide to do in a church. You know, people always say, well, we've never done it that way before.

It really doesn't matter. The only question is, is it acceptable to God? Is it what God commands in Scripture? So you look at a relationship, you look at music, you look at video, you look at this or that, everything in your life, and you ask yourself this question, is this acceptable to God?

I mean, is this really what God approves of and what He desires? Okay? Then, we go on to another, and it is this, perfect. Perfect. Now, what does this mean? It means complete. And let me give you a perfect example of this.

Following God’s Will Without Compromise

If it's the will of God, it's going to be perfect. And primarily, I think this is referring to this. You do not... If it is the will of God, in one area of your life, you will not have to violate another aspect of the will of God to do it.

Let me give you an example. A pastor who says, I was doing the will of God and carrying out the ministry and doing the work of the ministry, and in order to do the work of the ministry, I had to sacrifice my family.

You want to see a problem there? Because God also has a will for your behavior among your family. And if you're saying, I can't carry out God's will in my family because I have to carry out God's will in the ministry, there's some serious problems going on here.

One of them is, either God is wrong, really messed up, or you're not in the middle of God's will. Or it's like the girl who decides she wants to do missionary dating. I know he's lost, but I care so much about him.

Or I know he's an immature Christian, but I care so much about him that I want to get involved in his life so that he will become the godly man. That's like saying, I want to rob a bank because I need to build a church in Peru.

And it needs money. It doesn't work. You can't ever carry out one aspect of God's will by violating another aspect of God's will. And when you do do that, like Abraham, God promised Abraham what? His descendants would be like the stars of the heavens.

Well, God was a little bit slow in delivering on that promise, so Abraham just thought he would give him some help. And the curse of that still goes on today. Today. I was just reading about more conflict between the Palestinians and Israel and everything else on the radio when I was coming here.

That was a direct result of Abraham helping out God with regard to His will. So see, you can't. Or I hear churches will say, well, we need to drop the bar a little bit on this holiness stuff in order to bring more people into the church so that they can get saved.

No. No. We need to become a little bit less religious so that seekers will be drawn to us. No. Be seeker-friendly. Well, you need to be seeker-friendly. You just need to realize that the Bible says there's only one seeker and it's God.

And if you want to be friendly to somebody, I suggest you be friendly to Him. Men don't seek God. Men seek to make their own. So see, you never can carry out the will of God in one area by violating it in another.

So let's look at so far how we're protecting ourselves. Nothing's going to come through into our life through the fence we've built so far. If it doesn't glorify God, it's not going to come into our life.

If it doesn't prosper me spiritually, help me to grow in Christlikeness, it's not coming into my life. Okay? If it's not acceptable to God, it's not coming into my life. And if it's kind of off-colored, not perfect, it's not coming into my life.

Okay? Now, let's look at one more thing. Go to the book of Philippians. Chapter 4, verse 8. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8 and the Discipline of the Mind

Now, young people, this applies to every aspect of your life, but particularly to your mind. Here's what needs to go into your mind. This is the qualifications it has to have for you to listen to it, look at it, think about it.

It has to be this. First of all, is it true? Is it true? Is what you're watching, looking at, hearing, believing, is it true? Because if it's not true, don't set it before you. If it's not true, don't do it.

Is it honorable? Will God honor it on the day of judgment? Will God reward it on the day of judgment? Because if He will not, then don't do it. Whatever is right, not according to the world's standards, but according to God's standard.

Whatever is pure, that means not off-colored or mixed. You know when it says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, the word in Greek is literally referring to unalloyed, without mixture.

There are so many things that we do and so many things that are put before us that are kind of, well, it's not really that bad. One of the most amazing things I ever hear Christians say is, you need to go see that film because it doesn't have much cussing in it.