Church Discipline

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Lord's Day message from May 12th, 2024 -Biblical Text: Matthew 18:15-20

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Let's once again turn to the gospel of Matthew chapter 18
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Matthew chapter 18 and the title of this morning's message is church discipline
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Yeah, you heard it right church discipline I I know this is what you were hoping for you woke up this morning and you said, you know
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I just it's really hope the pastor preaches on church discipline
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You need to be here Now this is a very helpful
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Topic believe it or not It's true few churches want to preach on it
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But from a positive standpoint because that sounds negative rights church discipline or you know, the final step which would be
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Excommunication that's kind of the same thing sounds very negative. But from a positive standpoint, it's really about resolving problems
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It's about preserving peace and unity Within the fellowship so before we read from Matthew chapter 18,
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I just want to read a brief definition of church discipline church discipline is the process of correcting sinful behavior
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Among the members of a local church body for the purpose of protecting the church restoring the sinner to a right walk with God and renewing fellowship among the church members
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Some of you probably can think back to a time where you attended a church where there was no
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Discipline and there were maybe one or two people who just made the whole experience Well, not joyful Why we say that so in some cases it says church discipline can proceed all the way to excommunication, which is the formal removal of an individual from church membership and the informal separation from that individual
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We have all and here's the illustration We have all likely witnessed the behavior of a youngster who is always allowed to do as he pleases with no
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Consistent discipline. Can you think of any situations like that? Well, it's not a pretty sight
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Nor is the overly permissive parent loving for a lack of guidance
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Dooms the child to a dismal future Undisciplined out -of -control behavior will keep the child from forming meaningful
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Relationships and performing well in any kind of setting in a similar way
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Discipline in the church while never enjoyable or easy is Necessary at times.
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In fact, it is loving and it is Commanded by God and we will see that it is in fact commanded by Jesus Christ Himself.
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So with that said let's read Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 through 20
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And if you have a red -letter Bible, you will notice These are the words of Christ Jesus says moreover if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone
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If he hears you you have gained your brother But if he will not hear take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three
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Witnesses every word may be established and if he refuses to hear them tell it to the church but if he refuses even to hear the church let him be to you like a
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Heathen and a tax collector in other words have no dealings with this person
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Jesus says in verse 18 assuredly I say to you whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven again.
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I say to you that if two of You agree on earth concerning anything that they ask it will be done for them by my
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Father in heaven For where two or three are gathered together in my name I am there in the midst of them and may the
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Lord at his blessing to the reading of his Word Okay, we're gonna spend most of our time.
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I think in verses 15 through 18, but let's work backwards for a moment The statement of verse 20 where two or three are gathered together
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You've heard this quoted and some people think this is Jesus teaching on the definition of a local church matter of fact
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I have a study Bible at home that has the superscription above verse 20 that says the definition of a local church
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I've never seen a local church. That is two people in it though. It's not really a church So that's not actually what
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Jesus is saying the word church in Greek ecclesia means an assembly a called -out
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Assembly, so two or three people this doesn't make an assembly. So that's not the point two or three is not a church
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So what is the point? Well, the two or three is a reference to the witnesses mentioned in verse 16
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If you want to establish the truth of the matter, you know, sometimes it's a he said she said
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How do you know who's telling the truth? Well, if you have two or three witnesses That's how you establish
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What is true and what isn't so that's what the two or three is in reference to it's an
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Old Testament Concept you can just make a note of this Deuteronomy 19 verse 15 says one witness shall not rise against a man
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Concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter
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Shall be established. This is something we know a lot about today within the political world
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And I'm not gonna get too deep into that. But you know, there's always that one Anonymous source who says something makes an accusation and then it gets leaked in the news and spread around and then you know
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A man is slandered because one person who you don't even know who they are said something Well, that should be just tossed out ignored.
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You need at least two or three witnesses to even listen to the thing So we live in a time where truth is not really valued
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But in the Old Testament God sets forth his law you need at least two or three
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Witnesses and you could make the argument that church discipline is a practice that's based on Old Testament Practice, I mean someone in Israel if they were breaking the
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Ten Commandments violating the commandments Living an unruly life. They could be cut off From the people since the same type of idea
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So this idea where two or three are gathered together. Jesus says there I am in the midst
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In other words for the Lord to be in it for the Lord to approve of The ruling it must be in line with his word.
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It must be in line with truth. You need two or three witnesses Now, what about this other statement look at verse 19?
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He says and again I say to you that if two or three agree on anything or agree on earth
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Concerning anything that they ask that is as long as it's done in a biblical manner
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It will be done for them by my Father in heaven So that's basically what I just explained in order for Jesus to approve of it in order for God to approve of it in order
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To be biblical. You need to do it God's way, which which we read verse 18
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Jesus says so again moving backwards. He says assuredly I say to you Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loose in heaven so we want to figure out what is this binding and Loosening.
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Let's go back to chapter 16 Matthew chapter 16 Because who's
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Jesus talking to here? He's he's talking to his apostles who were the leaders of the church
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So once Jesus ascended to heaven the Apostles were in charge of the
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New Testament Church The Apostles are gone today. But today we have leaders We have bishops pastors elders depending on the church that you attend.
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So really this is Jesus speaking to Church leaders that the local church has the authority to bind and loose look at Matthew 16
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Verses 18 and 19 Jesus says so he's speaking to Peter here He says
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I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail
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Against it and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be
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Bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven So what is this power to bind and loose?
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Well here it's given to Peter in Chapter 18. It's given to the rest of the
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Apostles and today it resides in The the leadership of a local church basically it's to make binding
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Decisions. Okay. So when church leadership is acting in line with the
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Word of God following the teachings of Jesus the church has authority to bind and Loose so making decisions.
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I talked about this last week how Jesus is not here physically, right? We would all agree every
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Christian would agree. Jesus is Lord. He He is the head of the church. He has authority in the church, but Jesus isn't here, right?
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Have any of you seen him? No, but we are collectively his body.
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The church is the body of Christ So what is Jesus doing on the earth today?
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Well, whatever the church whatever his church is doing that is what Jesus is doing
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He has delegated authority to his church to make decisions To bind and loose one commentator explains it this way any church acting in accord with God's Word has the authority to declare if someone is forgiven or Unforgiven now someone's gonna balk at that and say wait a minute, you know
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We're not like the Catholic Church where the priest can say, you know You're forgiven my son or you're not forgiven like the church only
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God can forgive sins, right? So I would add this this is not like a priest absolving people of sin only
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God can do that But basically this is again if we're following the teachings of Jesus Have you ever told another believer who's struggling with something that hey?
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You're forgiven. God loves you. God forgives you Have you ever said that if you can see that there's genuine repentance and they share with you
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What they've gone through how they're feeling and the church has the authority to say what Jesus says, right?
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So as long as we're acting in accord with what the Lord says in his Word we can Tell a person they are forgiven.
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You're you're you're saved. You're a believer. You have been forgiven of your sin So that's what it's talking about The commentator continues the church's authority is not to determine these things in and of themselves
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But rather to declare the judgment of heaven based on the principles found in the
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Word of God They can be sure heaven is in accord In other words, whatever they bind or loose on earth is already bound or loosed in heaven
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So again, we're just telling people what the Lord says in the Bible So when a church says the unrepentant person is bound in sin the church is saying what
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God says about that person and when the church acknowledges that a Repentant person has been loosed from sin
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God agrees. So again, this is a delegated Authority. All right.
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So what's the title of the message? We're talking about church Discipline, let's see what the Bible says about this.
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Let's go back to Matthew 18. And again, I stress these are the words of Christ I mean if I say, you know, you could disagree with a man
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You can disagree with me if I give my opinion, you know Sometimes we and we have to admit that sometimes churches have got things wrong
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That's true. There are churches with maybe an abusive leadership that exists.
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So Man is fallible. The God is infallible.
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But again, as long as everything is in line with the Bible As long as this is what
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Jesus said it is it is true and it is Binding. So here's what the Lord says
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Matthew 18 verse 15. Look at it. And again, this is conflict resolution
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Maybe from a positive viewpoint He says moreover if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone
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If he hears you you have gained your brother So what's the context here?
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We already looked at some of the verses following and Jesus will go on to speak of forgiveness
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But last week I covered Matthew 18 1 through 14 and the overall theme of the verses prior
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Was living a humble life treating one another well, so we want to be humble
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We want to treat people well, but let's face it. Sometimes people do you wrong? Sometimes other
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Christians will do you wrong Sometimes you have a church setting and one person says something unkind or does something wrong towards another sometimes it's just you know a
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Misunderstanding or somebody misinterprets what somebody says either way if somebody sins against you
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What should you do? Should you go home and stew over it and tell other people
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I can you believe what this person did and is that the right? Way to handle it. You know, that's what probably we're tempted to do at times.
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But what does Jesus say? Go and tell the person directly Isn't that what he says?
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Moreover, if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him
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Alone, so don't broadcast it So the right thing to do to help resolve a conflict or a potential conflict is just just go to the person and Talk to them
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It's pretty simple in some ways it's it's common sense. Jesus says go and tell him his fault
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So let's let's make this real simple for a moment. Let's say somebody stole something from you.
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It's it's cut -and -dry You know, they know they did it, you know, they did it.
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It's a clear violation of one one of the Ten Commandments So what should you do?
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You go to the person and you are direct, you know Bring up what they did try to resolve the problem.
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Obviously wisdom would tell us that you don't go Yelling and shouting don't throw fuel on the fire because the what's the goal here?
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Your church discipline is not the goal Resolving conflict and preserving peace and unity is the goal
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So you go to the person and you call upon them if they've done something wrong you call upon them to make it, right?
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So if they apologize and you're happy with the apology Great problem solved or better yet.
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They should make restitution, but this is the right way to handle things according to Jesus because again, this is his church.
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He gets to Decide what's the best way because the alternative again people stew over it?
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They complain to others a root of bitterness kind of grows up after a while and something that might be small
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Just turns into this huge Conflict like the Hatfields and the McCoys and you know started over something little right and that can happen
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In a local fellowship. We don't want that So Jesus says go to the person pretty pretty simple, but let's say there's a situation.
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It's not cut and dry Maybe somebody said something that it came out wrong.
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They they offended you but they They weren't trying to do it or you don't really know if they were trying to do it, but there's something there
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There's some issue or you feel like there's an issue between you and this other person
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Well go to them. Maybe don't tell them their fault. Just kind of bring it up and just say hey, you know
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I feel like there's an issue between the two of us. Am I off base here? Just you know, don't accuse anyone
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Just bring it up in Conversation. I'll tell you this sometimes. This is how friendships
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Grow, you know something you go to church and you see somebody and you're you're an acquaintance Maybe with some people you you say hi to them and but you're not really close sometimes this can actually bring people closer together if you actually just go to them and sit down and have a
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Conversation but Jesus knows what he's doing and this can actually Bring people together.
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So when we follow the Bible, you know good things happen It's no surprise but sometimes
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And maybe you've gone through this. Sometimes you will go to a person and you will talk to them
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You did what Jesus said, but it didn't really go all that. Well, who's been there? Okay.
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Well, you know that takes place and that's where you go to step number two So basically what three steps go to the person you and him alone
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Step number two bring two or three and then the final step is bring it before the whole church
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Hopefully doesn't doesn't get to that. So if you go to the person and things are not resolved
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That's where you need witnesses. Okay, once you're at step number two, you need witnesses
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So if the person says one thing and you say another I mean How do you know or how are other people supposed to know?
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What's what look at verse 16? So you go to them he says but if he will not hear
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Take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be
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Established so going back to the analogy of maybe the thief, you know
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He says hey, listen, I didn't I didn't steal anything, you know, you're wrong. You you got it wrong
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Well, if you can find two people who say I saw you steal it Okay, then you you've settled the matter or hey
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I know that that object, you know, it's here. It was there You know, if you the two witnesses should be people who actually know what's going on So it's not just grab two random people or grab the pastor and a deacon
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It should be two people who actually, you know witnessed The the event but sometimes that is impossible again
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It might be a personal dispute and there were no witnesses and that's where maybe you do want to get church
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Leadership involved so and because here's the thing no pastor wants conflict among the sheep
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So getting a pastor involved getting deacons involved. I mean ever trust me do talking to the deacons for a moment
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Do we want unity and harmony in the fellowship? Yeah, because if any one of us wants strife or we want to like pick fights
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Like you got no business being in leadership and the church would be better off with people like that You know not around nobody wants this.
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So we all want to resolve the issue So bring two or three and that's that's the right way to handle it.
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Okay, let's turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 5 And we're gonna get a real -life example of Church discipline in the
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Bible because it's always better to read read about biblical examples
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While you're turning there just a few other verses on this 2nd
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Thessalonians 3 14 the Apostle Paul says if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle
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Note that person and do not keep company with him that he may be ashamed
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If you see what Paul is driving for there The purpose is that they they will see the error of their ways.
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And of course that's After you've got to step number three Galatians 6 1 says brethren if a man is overtaken in any trespass
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You who are spiritual restore such one in a spirit of gentleness
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Considering yourself lest you also be tempted So in trying to resolve conflict you want to go to the part you want to be gentle you want to be kind Again, don't throw fuel on the fire, but this situation here in 1st
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Corinthians This is this is a situation that had been going on a long time And it had kind of gotten out of hand and now
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Paul has to deal with it And he does it in this letter and before I read just my common observation most
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Cases of church discipline are the result of some sort of extra marital relationship
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You know nine times out of ten that's usually what it is and that's what we're dealing with here 1st
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Corinthians 5 starting in verse 1 Paul says to the church it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and such
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Sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles He's like this is so bad even the unbelievers in town are doing stuff like this and what what was what were they doing that a man has
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His father's wife. I mean this that would be scandalous today unless you're a Kardashian. That would be
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You know in LA this is normal behavior, but No, this this is scandalous even now verse 2 and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be
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Taken away from you and notice Paul says that the church is acting
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Prideful they are they are puffed up. Why are they acting prideful? Here's the thing if a church if a pastor church leadership if a church
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Practices discipline today. I can almost guarantee you somebody isn't gonna like it naturally and They will accuse the pastor or the church leaders.
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You're being prideful How dare you who do you think you are if you actually follow Jesus's teachings?
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You will be accused of being prideful. It's the total opposite Paul says no because you're not doing anything you are acting
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Prideful, why is that? Because you think you know better than Jesus Christ told you how to respond and you're not doing it
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You're actually rebelling against Jesus. Now. That's the most prideful thing of all
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He continues in verse 3 for I indeed as absent in body But present in spirit have already judged as though I were present him who has done this deed
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I mean Paul is saying this is such a clear -cut case It's obvious what needs to happen verse 4 in the name of our
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Lord Jesus Christ when you are gathered together Along with my spirit with the power of our
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Lord Jesus Christ He says deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh
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That his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus So when a person is put out of a local church
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Paul describes that as turning them over to Satan a
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Lot of people have speculated. What does that mean? Let's just think back in the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve lived in a perfect environment they had fellowship with God and everything was great until Adam sinned and That in a sense he was handed over to the devil now he was
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He was living a life where he is facing Temptation he was gonna die
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All sorts of bad things started to happen and really when a person is put out of the fellowship Oftentimes and I've seen this
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I've seen this many times a person will leave church They'll stop going sometimes they leave themselves
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Other times they're removed and their life enters in to a downward spiral and it ends in tragedy
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But the purpose is that they would wake up and that their spirit would be saved in the day of the
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Lord Jesus, but there is a spiritual protection as long as you are following Christ and you're a member in good standing in a local fellowship
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There is a sense of spiritual protection that a person has So when a person is put out this is basically we call it church discipline, but it's actually being disciplined by God Hebrews 12 verse 6 says for whom the
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Lord loves he does what he chastens Going back to that analogy of the the child a little kid who has no discipline
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Grows up to be a rotten person. They grow up to be a criminal because they have no discipline
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They didn't learn how to live in this in this world Well, God loves his children and he disciplines us so that we won't go down that road
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All right Look at verse 9 for the conclusion here Paul says I wrote to you in my epistle Like you guys know better than this.
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I wrote to you in my epistle do not keep company with sexually immoral people yet I did not mean with these sexually immoral people of this world or with the covetous or extortioners or Idolaters since that you would need to go out of the world like you can have a meal with a co -worker
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Who's living with their girlfriend? You can have Fellowship or not fellowship, but you can have a relationship with somebody who is living ungodly life
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Why because you want to try to reach that person? But if it's somebody in the local church who says
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I'm a I'm a Christian and they're living a debauched Lifestyle then you were to have according to the
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Word of God. You're to have nothing to do with that person That's what Paul says again. Is this Paul making stuff up as he goes along or what is
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Paul basing this off of? He's basing this off of the teachings of Jesus. Okay, so verse 11, but now
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I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral or covetous or an
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Idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner not even to eat
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With such a person now to people do most Christians obey this to most
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Christians follow this today Absolutely, not matter of fact I would say nine out of ten churches if you tried to implement this you're gonna have a fight on your hands and a lot
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Of pastors have been run out of town because you know they They actually follow the
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Bible Someone in the church Is put out they have a lot of friends or family a coalition and it just ends in disaster
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So unfortunately most churches don't follow this and you say well, that's that's horrible.
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I can't believe it. Well, you can believe it but Think that think of this going back to the
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Corinthian was the Corinthian Church a true church Right, it was founded by an apostle was this stuff going on back then
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Yeah, so there's there's nothing new under the Sun, but that's why there's problems because people don't follow the
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Bible All right, verse 12 For what have I to do with judging those who are on the outside?
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Do you not judge those who are on the inside but those who are outside God judges?
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So don't worry about what you know people in town are doing just worry about The local fellowship and then he says put away from yourself the evil
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Person. Okay, so the church doesn't discipline non -members, you know, the heathen act like the heathen
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This is the way the world is but a believer is to live a life in accord with God's Word now
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We're almost done. But there's a different type of discipline that we need to talk about. So let's turn to Romans chapter 16
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Like I said most of the time it's Most of the time it's adultery
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I mean that that's just the bottom line nine times out of ten when there's a case of church discipline
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It's adultery and most of the time it doesn't even get to step number three because that step number two the person just leaves and they stop going to church or They'll go to a church with a certain flag out front that celebrates all sexual lifestyles and hey
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You can do whatever you want here and they can just go to church there Well, is that a true fellowship if they're not obeying?
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The Lord I would say no But unfortunately, this is just the way it is.
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But again first Corinthians it was some sort of extra marital Affair that was the problem, but sometimes it's not a matter of sin
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Sometimes it's not a matter of one person offending someone else Sometimes it's a matter of heresy and false doctrine and the man hear me say this the
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Matthew 18 Process does not apply to those who teach heresy and now we're getting into pastors
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Okay for for most of the time we've talked about like church members But our pastors immune from discipline no matter of fact pastors you can argue have a higher standard
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They need to live up to so here's the thing who's gonna be teaching false doctrine It's probably gonna be probably gonna be the pastor.
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So you're in Romans 16 Before I read that let me just read Titus 3 10
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It says a man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition.
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He is to be rejected So let's just say for example, I started teaching next
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Sunday I got up behind the pulpit and I said, you know guys I've been thinking and this book is so strict
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I just I just can't believe this anymore this idea that people are going to hell who don't believe
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I just I don't believe that Everyone's going to heaven new doctrine at Morris Corner Church.
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Everybody is saved No matter what you can be a Hindu a Muslim a Buddhist you can be a unbeliever, but it doesn't matter
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You're saved and you're still going to heaven Well if I did that here's the process
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Larry or Mark said, you know Someone's gonna come and talk to me and say, you know, are you on some medication or like you lose your mind?
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Like what's going on here? But if I really say no, this is what I believe I'm out of here
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Right and that needs to happen So look at Romans 16 verses 17 through 18
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Paul says now I urge you brethren Note those or as the
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King James Version puts it mark those who cause divisions and offenses Contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and what are you supposed to do?
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Mark them and avoid them for those who are such
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You know who those who cause division by teaching false doctrine They do not serve our
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Lord Jesus Christ, but their own Belly basically they're in it for the money
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They're in it for what they can get out of it and by smooth words and flattering speech
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They deceive the hearts of the simple I mean, they're just so smooth and eloquent and they're telling people what they want to hear
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Which you know newsflash this describes probably 80 % of televangelists and that's a conservative estimate
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But they're scratching itching ears telling people what they want to hear Well again,
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Matthew 18 doesn't apply a pastor who's doing that denying the Bible.
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He can do far more damage just in one Sermon then, you know a sinning brother can do so they have to be dealt with swiftly so the the discipline process is basically streamlined and they need to be
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Removed from ministry. All right, let's go back to Matthew 18. We're almost done But going back to the sinning brethren if they don't listen to step number one if they don't listen to step number two with the two or three witnesses
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Then the matter is to be brought before the entire Church assembly and again, even this doesn't happen
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Usually it's brought before the elder board and they make the decision wrong It's supposed to be brought before the entire membership
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Everybody is supposed to be involved not just the Board of Elders Because the
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Board of Elders can't implement what needs to be implemented look at verse 17
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Jesus says but if he refuses even to hear the church Let him be to you like a heathen in a tax collector again.
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This is ex - communication they are to be put out of Communication, I mean
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I would use the word shunning but you know shunning has a lot of negative thing that we're not really
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You know the Amish shun people when they don't even do anything wrong, you know, that's not what we're talking about.
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But really if I'll close with this if a church member. Let's say somebody commits adultery and They're not willing to change.
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I watched it. I still want to be a member in good standing But I still want to sleep with who
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I want to sleep with they need to be removed from membership and They're to be put out of the church.
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You say well you you can't tell somebody told me this once about church discipline Well, you can't tell someone they can't go to church.
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Oh Yeah, we can Yeah, we can and that needs to happen but obviously if it's just the pastor or it's just the pastor and two deacons who are saying that and the rest of the
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Congregation is defending the person that's not gonna work. Is it it's gonna be the pastor and the two deacons who are put out of the fellowship, so Unfortunately when that does happen and again, this is the last resort
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If you think about it, you say well, this is just Terrible this turns me off to Christianity.
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I don't like any of this. Okay. Well consider your job Where you work, there's some sort of code of ethics, right?
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There's some sort of Code of conduct right in schools kids get expelled or suspended if they do the wrong thing
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The church is no different in that sense We need some process to kind of you know, protect the peace protect the innocent really
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So but if somebody does not listen and they are put out of the fellowship Then really every church member is to have nothing to do with them
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Don't have them over for dinner if they call you on the phone don't pick up like it's excommunication again 95 % of people don't listen to this and they're not gonna do it.
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I realized that it's been my experience but Think about this if nobody has anything to do with you
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What is that? What message does that send? Hey, I'm actually the one who's wrong here
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Where if half of the church supports me and half doesn't then you feel justified in your sin
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And then you continue to then you then you split a church So in conclusion if we just listen to Jesus matter of fact if we just do the right thing to begin with We won't have these problems and let's say somebody does sin.
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Hey, we all sin. We all make mistakes We all say things that we shouldn't and if somebody comes to me and says hey you offended me.
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What should I do? Dig in my heels. I should say listen. I'm sorry, please forgive me
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And if we have that spirit then we'll never have to get to step number two and God forbid step number three
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Amen. All right, let's pray Heavenly Father. I just thank you for those people that Have corrected us
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None of us like rebuke none of us like correction none of us like being told when we're wrong
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But Lord if we are humble sometimes we admit that we make mistakes Lord help this to be a church where we all recognize that We're fallen.
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We need forgiveness. We need your forgiveness every day And if we can just have that spirit, we're not going to have the problems that we talked about today like in 1st
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Corinthians But still your church sometimes even the the best Christian can fall and stumble into serious
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Transgression and Lord, this is help everyone to understand This is a process to restore them to fellowship to protect them spiritually and Lord We want your blessing upon each one
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So I pray everyone would understand that and that we would be able to take something from the message and apply it to our lives
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Protect this fellowship from the attacks of the enemy and we ask it all in Jesus name