Love Defined | Week 6

had this interesting thing in that I had one dog that I had my entire childhood.

We got it when I was four years old and we had to put it down when it was like 22 years old. And it was the same age as me. So this dog lived for it and then we finally had to put it down because it's too much pain, but it just wouldn't die. So my entire childhood, I have memories of this dog.

And it was an interesting dog because it was a street dog. Friends were firemen and they showed up and been hanging out. Could tell it lived on the streets probably its whole life because it was a little bit different. It was... So it was street smarts.

And it was actually a pretty intelligent dog anyways because you don't usually think of a poodle as a street dog,

but this poodle had lived on on the streets. And poodles are known to be a very smart breed of dog, which it was. And they're known to be very loyal and brave. And and and I know you think of poodles and cut and looking funny, a full standard. This one is a standard, not as big. But those those standard sized poodles are actually a pretty armory dog. The British in Africa used to use them to hunt lions

because you take 20 of them, they will go run a male lion down and run them up a tree and circle them and not let them get away till the hunter comes. So they're... They can be a formidable dog.

And and... But this one... And that one did look formidable. When we had to pick it up, it was like it never had its haircut, so it looked huge.

Like, you're old enough, the Shaggy DA kind of that movie thing, the Disney thing, it was like... It just looks... So I thought, wow, that's an amazing dog. And then we got home, and my mom took it to the the the dog beauty parlor, and it came back looking like the traditional view of how you see a poodle, The half shaved in the middle and all the... Like all cute and with bows in its hair. And I'm like, what have you done? And then my sister and her decided to name the dog Buffy.

So I grew up with a poodle named Buffy, but the dog was smart and awesome and brave and it was like a good companion. My mom actually felt safe when we're outside. It would hang out with us and it wouldn't run away and it would keep an eye on things.

And when I was 17, my family was all out. They were gone and I was at home watching a baseball game. It was summer. It was monsoony out. You know, I don't know if that's a word. I just made it up. But it was like lightning and windy. It hadn't rained yet, it was just really windy and lightning and all around.

And I was sitting there watching this baseball game in our family room, which had a big Arcadia sliding glass door. So every time the lightning went in, it kinda lit up the room. And Buffy was with me, just laying there on the ground next to me. And all a sudden, the lightning would go a little bit, and all of sudden, she just started going...

And look at me and go... And like, what what are growling at me for? And then I realized she'd stop, and the lightning would go in, and I go, what? She's growling at the lightning? And then finally one big burst that stayed lit up for a long time, she jumped up, ran to the door, was like,

like, telling me, get over here and let me out. And I'm like, alright. You're a dumb dog. You've finally gone senile. You're old. I go, good. If you wanna go do the Benjamin Franklin lightning, fly a kite out there and kill yourself, I don't care. I open the door, takes off. She runs around the corner. I mean, I go, wow. She is moving fast. I didn't even know it was possible for this dog to move that fast anymore.

Runs around the corner,

and and towards where our fence is that goes into the alley. We had alleys behind our house where I grew up. Don't know if know there's a white spot where you put your trash cans out there. But but all of a sudden, I hear... As she rounds the corner, I go, what is she doing? I hear this, and I hear someone go, oh, good. Good. Get her. Good. Like, there... There's a struggle.

And I hear this guy... Someone's like actually acting like they're hurt,

and then I hear this noise of... And I... As I rounded the corner as he was going, I saw this sketch looking dude just like like trying to jump over with my dog attached to its exposed ankle, and there's blood. And then he just flops over, and I run to the edge. I watch, and as he's going down the alley, every time the lightning strikes, I could see him. He was hobbling like trying

to get out of there. And and I think he had one of my dog's three teeth that it had left in his ankle. And so that this... So then I'm done like, oh my gosh. I turn. I'm like, good job, Buffy. And I didn't need to tell her that because she's street smart and she knew I was stupid.

Talk about a smart dog, I kid you not. This dog wasn't... She was old and would walk kinda like, She looked at me and she was like...

Yeah. That's how we do it on the streets. And and it's like... And she looked into my soul like, you're stupid. And and and you didn't pay any attention. I share this because second John, this short little 13 verse letter,

John is a barking dog. He is barking and growling, not at us, but for us, just like my dog was. My dog wasn't barking at me. It was trying to warn me and protect me. And that's really what Second John is. It's a letter from, if you don't realize you're not... Know the Bible. John who wrote this was

John who wrote the Gospel of John, and he was one of Jesus' original 12 disciples. He is the last one left alive. And he's about 90 years old. And he's writing first, second, and third John as letters that he is writing to these churches that he helped start, that he has pastored and shepherded.

And first John went to a... To to several of them. Second John, in the first couple of verses says, to the lady and her children. That's just a poetic way. He's talking to an individual church now. And what he's been covering in all these churches is there's basically been these so called Christians that were in one of the churches

that really just decided that they had deeper knowledge. Meaning they had progressed past the teachings of the gospel and believed that Jesus wasn't really a man because they believed that anything material was evil and so was non redeemable. But that took apart the whole gospel story of how we're redeemed.

So they didn't believe in that. And then they believed they didn't have to listen to the scriptures and the bible teaching about how you live your life because it doesn't matter what I do with my body in this life. It's all bad. All you need to do is believe these right things. These right deeper truths they called it.

And so... And that made him very unloving.

And so he's been talking about what love is. And he says the answer is love. It starts with you gotta you gotta see Jesus right. You gotta have that love of Christ right. That's what he's been taking apart the whole time. And then that's what we've been talking about. Love is defined as Jesus is love. Jesus is Jesus,

love is obedient. Love is a family resemblance. Love overcomes. That's what we've been looking at in all these passages because it really comes from that love of God that allows us... This is what it means to love God back and know know real love and and be able to live out real love. Well, John writes this little short 13

verse, more of a text message. Because at the end he says, Hey, got more to say, but I'll tell you when I get there. So this is like the original text message.

I'm gonna say something important. Here's what we need to talk about. Here's what I need you to know before I get there. But we'll talk about it more when I get there. And what he's really saying is the big idea for today is love

guards the truth. Real love guards the truth. And we look at what does that mean. And we gotta guard this truth in our life. And like he said, he starts off in the first three verses. He says, I love you in truth. Because what he's trying to say is love cannot be separated from truth.

And we in our culture, like we've been defining what real love is, we think love is is being kind, being not... Yeah, that involves love. But love isn't a feeling. Love is an action. It's a choice. And and and and love without truth ain't love.

So sometimes you need to say something hard. So what he's saying is, I gotta warn you, I gotta bark at something. But understand, I'm not barking at you. I'm not trying to bite you. I am loving you in the truth. And what he challenges, which here's funny is I told you this whole...

The whole context of what these false teachers doesn't sound like today for us. And the context he has to warn him is, he says, But now they're traveling, these teachers.

And in this context, when a Christian traveled, they would go to a town, they would find other Christians, say, We're Christians, and then you would host them. They would... And a good Christian thought, I'll welcome you into my home to take care of this itinerant teachers. And then what you're doing is not that you were being kind and going to place. When you let them in your home, you usually brought them into the assembly and let them teach because they, hey, they're a traveling teacher. They're gonna come teach us. You're endorsing them. You're backing them. You're supporting them. So it means more than just having dinner with them.

And he's saying what you're doing because you think you're being kind is you're inviting non truth in, and it's gonna take you down a road that you don't need to go. What we're about to look at is actually more applicable to us today than it was two thousand years ago. We have more of this problem

because you don't have to actually invite someone into your home to be doing exactly what he's warning against.

We can go into other people. We invite people in all the time without them physically coming in. And so that's what he's warning. He says, So you need to guard the truth. And what he means is, the truth, first of all, is not my truth or something that I think is common sense. The truth is, Who is Jesus?

Jesus is the truth. Jesus himself said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is love. Jesus is truth. Jesus is the way.

And so he's saying they're taking that apart. And the reason this is such a big deal and so repetitive, and you think, I've heard this, I've heard this, I've heard this. I'm about to unpack it in a very practical way of where this takes us is. When we see Jesus incorrectly, we see ourself incorrectly,

and we interpret everything else incorrectly.

So without getting back to the truth, that that'll set everything. That's why the truth sets you free. It sets us free to see what life really is. It sets us free to live from the love that God has for us. It sets us free, and then we trust God and obey Him like he repeats. He repeats that in four through six is, so if you really get this, you're gonna trust me. You're gonna obey me. Not because you obey me for my love, it's because you're gonna realize I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and trusting me is the best way to live.

So that's where he goes. But then in verse seven through that, we already read seven through 11, that's where he gives the actual brunt of the teaching. Here's what he's trying to say. He's saying, If love guards the truth, it means I'm gonna watch my walk and I'm gonna guard my welcome. Simple. Two points.

And I just wanna unpack that and see what does that mean for us and look like. So verse seven. Say this because many deceivers

have gone out into the world. That word for deceiver there, it says, they deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. And such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. So twice it says deceiver. And you hear that they've gone in the world. When we hear the word deceiver, think what he's setting us up to guard the truth is, there are people that know

they they they have a lie. They're shysters. They're they're they're they're trying to trick us. They're just trying to get something from us. They're trying to to to take from us. But they actually know what they believe and and so we're supposed to guard against them and fight them. That's not what he's saying right there. That word for deceivers is the word in in... There's three words I gotta bring up in in Greek here, which I don't normally do because what we say in English,

it means something deeper and almost different in from the original Greek. We just don't explain it. And that word for deceiver there literally is the Greek word planoi, which where we get the word planet. Planet is a English version of planoi. And I go, so he's calling them planets? Well, that's because in Greek,

plenoi means wanderer. And the reason we called it planet is because the ancients called planets plenoi because they didn't know. They just knew there's two types of lights in the sky. Ones that don't move, which we call stars. And ones that do move, wander, Planoi, the wanderers.

So when he says deceiver, we hear that as, Oh, they're coming at me on purpose and trying to... They are trying to deceive, but they don't see themselves that way. They're wanderers. They've wandered from this truth.

And he says, They're actually an antichrist. They're taking away from Christ. They're the opposite. They're they're they're trying to take us away from who Christ really is. And he says, watch out. So if you think deceiver means they're purposely doing this, and then watch out means I gotta look out there and find them and go fight them. That Greek word there for watch out

literally means look to yourself. It's not worry about them. It's watch where you're going. Watch where you're heading. Because he says, Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve.

So then it sounds like, okay, so I have to watch myself and make sure I don't lose my salvation by believing no. When he says, Lewd, the heart we need to achieve is the life, the freedom, the forgiveness, the love, the joy, the contentment, the peace that you find when you don't just believe in Jesus, you believe Jesus.

He's saying you will lose that. You'll walk right away from it. Watch your heading. And so he says, because, he says, be diligent so that you receive your full reward. The reward of that life that God died to give us. Because he says in verse nine, Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God.

So that's like, so if I wander, I'm like, no, that wanders away is a different word in the Greek. It's this word proago, which means to advance beyond. So he's not saying if you wander enough, God doesn't love you anymore. He's saying wander away. You can wander,

but wander away means you've got to the point that you've advanced beyond. Meaning, I know better, like these false teachers. We have a deeper truth. We don't have to listen to this old school stuff. And we... So now it's starting to sound like today.

That's what most people do. We could sit in church and sit there and be wandering,

and sometimes if you get to that point like, hey, I'm gonna judge the Bible. I'm gonna pick and choose. I believe this part but not that. You change who Jesus is because you're uncomfortable with something and you're not living by the truth. When you've wandered away, you've actually felt like I've progressed beyond

all these old doctrines. And you've decided that you're putting judgment on it, and you can still say I believe in you. They would go, and these false teachers say, We're Christians. They just had a very different idea of it.

That because they'd wandered away. They didn't think they were deceiving in what we think. They were wandering, and they'd wandered so far away that they really believe that we've progressed beyond. And And that's what you gotta watch out for because you don't wanna be that. Because he goes, if you truly do live

that way the rest of your life, if you end up getting there... What he's saying is you never were a believer. You never were a Christian. Those guys were in that church the whole time and never really really embraced the love of Christ. They were just in the room. And that's why he says this third thing.

That anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both Father and the Son. That remain doesn't mean you stay. It goes deeper than that.

Because you say, I remain, I stay. And sometimes they remain, so they didn't leave. Like, you can be sitting in this room and coming to church and you never left the church. That doesn't mean you remained. That word literally means to keep in the walk of truth, staying in the truth,

embracing a relationship. It's not just sitting in the room and then deciding,

I'm gonna believe this and not believe that because that's not the way it works. Any more than you sitting there in a marriage and it's rough and you're talking to your spouse about how they're just not really committed to loving you, and they're like, Well, I haven't left you, have I?

And you're like, No, but just staying doesn't mean you've remained. That's what it's saying. Just being here doesn't mean you've remained. He's saying anyone who genuinely knows Christ, remaining means you grow

in overcoming. You grow in understanding. It doesn't mean we don't wander at times, but we realize it, we repent, and we walk back. But if you you say, Nope, I got my own belief system. Yeah, it says to do that. It's like dumb things. We'll say it about dumb things. Like tithing's an old testament issue. That's not true.

That's not true. You know why we wanna believe it? It's because I don't wanna feel bad about what God's asked me to do with my money, but I still wanna do what I wanna do with my money. It's things like that. If we if we get that far, we still keep going down that road, we'll eventually change who Jesus is too.

And then Jesus just becomes not our Lord and Savior and the God who knows life. He's more of that good teacher that gives me some good moral lessons. He'll be about that. He might even be about just an example. Or in today's words, might, for these young people say, He's just a good vibe. But that's not what he is.

So he's saying... In other words, if you were to boil this whole part about watch your walk, what he's really saying, and you're gonna think this is stupid, you're like, and I haven't thought everything else you've said is stupid, so at least I'm consistent.

But I'm not kidding. John's the first one to... Basically what he's saying is the first person to say this, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself. That's what he's literally saying. It actually fits. And he's saying, I'm warning, I'm barking. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Because that's what these other false teachers did. And so... And the thing you do is that's what it means to watch your walk. In other words, do I feel like Jesus is bigger or smaller in my life? Where am I when it comes to the truth of God? Like, I could be coming to church, but Jesus can be getting smaller.

If you start to say, I'm gonna trust this, not that. And then if you look at the way you live your life, is Jesus bigger in your everyday life? Or Jesus just the guy you hang out and hear about on the weekend? Or is he getting smaller? If he's not getting bigger, you're wandering.

We need to be wondering, sitting in the wonder of who he is instead of questioning things and wandering. Because here's what the scary thing is that wanders away to advance beyond, if you get into that mode and you buy into this stuff, what that says is it doesn't feel like leaving. It feels like progress.

And that's why you can sit in church and say, Oh, I hear Bill saying that, but you know what? I've grown past that. He's just I don't need it. I don't need to trust It's because it feels like that. And why does that work? Is it because we're dumb? No. No, it's because basically

what we notice happens is when we hear a teaching that's contrary, but it actually tickles our ears as the Bible says it's something we kind of want to believe in or we're interested in, when you hear something you already have a bias towards presented in a convincing way, you actually start believing that's truth.

And that's been around. He has what he's warning about. Don't get that way. Don't get that arrogant way. Don't start thinking you've progressed past doctrines. Find out what the truth really is. Matter of fact, this has been around a long time. In 1917,

I think we have one of the first versions of an AI deepfake. And that is these two twins, the Cottingley twins. They they decided to go take pictures. Their dad... One dad, uncle, the other had a camera. And back then that was a big deal. And they took it out into the woods by their house in England. And they

took pictures, but they they took... Like, I got a picture. It's got a couple pictures. Let me show you the first one. The fairies. See those fairies? What they really were was,

well, I have another one too. So then the second one picture, there's another bigger one. And they took these, and they thought it was amazing, and they showed the dad. And he looked at it and says, those are cardboard cutouts that you stuck to something with a pin.

And that's what they were. He saw that right away. You know why? Because he knew his he knew his daughter, he knew his his niece, and he knew they took his camera, and he knew that they had cardboard cut. He's not stupid.

So he didn't fall for it. But these started to get spread, and these are really convincing photos for the day. And and and so people started to believe it worldwide. These went throughout the world, and and people started to believe it. And one person in particular really bought in, started writing about it, got a news, and and became a big deal, defended it. Matter of fact, he took this picture. If you look closely,

right near where we call belly button, there's one of those black spots, and you can't see it's clear, but that's where the pin was put. He saw that and even wrote articles calling it, that's the belly button, proving that the fairies have babies just like we do. And you know who that man was? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The inventor of Sherlock Holmes. A brilliant writer, and he really understood crime and logic and all that. That's why he wrote Sherlock. Because to write someone that brilliant, you have to think that brilliantly. And yet he bought in and would not deny it. And matter of fact the girls,

all of them, they wouldn't admit it was fake until the nineteen eighties. They were like as old as John the apostle was by then. But tons of people believed it, including this very intelligent guy. And why? Why? I wrote down one the things. He he he really... It wasn't stupidity.

He actually thought... I wrote it here. What did he say? He thought that he... Of himself as moving forward past narrow skepticism.

See, he'd always believed there was more. Like, he always kinda had a thought that, hey, maybe there are fairies and gnomes and and and all that. And he thought that maybe that could be real, and then he saw this and it can... And it was convincing argument, so he bought into it. So in other words, he wasn't dumb.

It was that he had a longing plus a convincing presentation, which is what John's talking about. You get this longing, convincing presentation. And so then you buy it. You're like, I'm sold. You know what we call that today? Social media.

I mean, you know how many discussions I've had with people that wanna talk to me about something that they're like, you know, it's this way, and you say this. I go, that's not really the truth. That's not even the truth in actual facts,

but it's also not the truth of what the Bible says. And they're like, no, no, no, no, man. I've done my research. And then you ask them what the research was. They go, they saw a lot of stuff on Instagram

and a lot of stories and a lot of people that are saying the same thing that they already think. And then, wow, they presented that pretty well. It seems to make sense. And so then they hit the link and they go into that and they go, well, this is all over the place on here. Don't you see it? Everyone out there knows it. And they go,

how are you... You know there's analytics that they do. What's that called? The word for it? There's algorithms that feed you more of what you're interested in.

And you get it on one end. Someone's, No, no, no. I did the research. It's like, No, you didn't. The the the algorithm fed you more of the same, and it fed you very convincing looking argument because we can make pretty convincing looking arguments. You're in an echo chamber. No, I'm not. It's everywhere. Everyone sees it. I go, okay.

Why do you think when you talk about, I I I want a different kinda toilet paper because this one's hurting my rumpus, that your phone starts showing you toilet paper ads? Yeah, that's stupid. It's listening to me. And then it's giving me what I was talking about. That's the same thing with all the feed you're getting.

And I get it all the time. It's not a... That's a bigger deal to us now than it even was to them. This actually had to involve people walking around your neighborhood, coming to your house, and giving you a pretty convincing sounding argument.

But now we believe it. We buy into this. We call it research. We think that we've done this, and it's not true. And in the end, we end up turning Jesus into something that's not who Jesus is. And we feel like we've progressed beyond. I see this happening with a lot of people in church, especially younger people,

because the world has actually attacked and talked about things and then attacked the church and done a pretty good presentation of how they make the church look old school and just out of touch and mean and jerky. And how they've done it is two reasons. One,

they've actually changed the meaning of what the scripture actually says, but their presentation is they've showed so many examples of Christians and churches that have bought into the wrong meaning of it too. So now they can see. Look at how these people act.

Therefore it's wrong. Therefore you shouldn't believe this. And then it goes into their idea of how the world should run. And it makes it look convincing. I'll give you just one. The Bible says men are to lead.

Not in everything. See, that's where there was like, so many Christians believe women can never lead at all. So you have a problem with women's. That's not true. I could show you lots of... I've... Women have been all kinds... There's been women judges that bossed men around. It's that you can't never lead a man. That's not what it's saying. And it talks mainly about leadership in the idea of the home

and like a dad, like as being the father. And in a church, women can be a leader. We have women all over leadership. There's one position that says I don't want you to be a leader in in church. It's the elder.

That's it. Every other area you can lead. And then when you define what leadership is, everyone... The world likes to point at us and say, and then we buy into this false identity of of what a leader is. We hear leader and it says, so you're right. The church is misogynistic. It's the patriarchy.

The men are controlling. They're saying that they basically own the women. They're the bosses of everything. No. The Bible never said that to begin with. It's Christians and men that got this extreme. Oh, it says I get to be in charge. And and and so this idea of toxic masculinity,

everything it says is toxic and tries to say the church is toxic. First of all, you shouldn't even include masculinity because anything it describes has nothing to do with me. It's not masculinity gone bad. That's not even masculinity at all.

And so then you hear men are to leave. And now you know, I probably need to continue. This is not supposed to be a point of my sermon, but now women are like, alright, said men to leave. What does that mean? And and and and and it means go first.

Go first. Not be first. Not be the boss. Go first. And the primary passage that really talks about men leading, especially in the home, is in Ephesians chapter five. And it says, Wives, submit to your husbands. And most men and organizations and everybody that wants to rip on that only looks at that part.

You need to read the verse before. Let us each submit to one another. Submission is not a women thing, and then leadership is the male thing. And you think of leadership. So it sounds like submission is for women. Domination is for men. That's not what it says.

We both submit. And what he then goes on to ask us to do is he asks both of us to be Jesus to each other, you know. But he knows that men and women are wired different, which the world can't even decide what a man and a woman is. And they can't even decide if there is a man and woman, how are they different? One argument says we're so different, then at the same time they say, but we're also the same.

How can we trust what the world is trying to say when they don't even agree with themselves? And so it's all this political correct hooey. All you have to do is be a man or woman and you know that we're wired different. We just are. And God wired us different so how he asked us to submit is different.

And so he says, how a man submits is you love your wife like Christ loves the church. That's what he said. That's what leadership is. Well, did Christ do? Christ went first. He died on the cross. He he sacrificed himself for people that wouldn't even love Him back. They killed Him. He loved them and they crucified Him.

So that means that guys, how you lead is you have to lead the way in that. You gotta go first. You need to...

When you're trying to make decisions together, first of all, work it out together. It's not I go up on the mountaintop and come back, thus saith the Lord, this is what my family's doing. You talk about stuff. But it says if you really can't come to an agreement, you might have to say, hey, here's what I really think we should do. And yes, and then it says for the wife submit. It's like respond to that, respect that. But here's the precursor for guys, for you to even make that decision is you gotta look at it and here's your two qualifying things to say, here's what I think we should do. That then it's asking the wife to submit to.

And that is, a, is this really biblical? And if we go this direction, does it take us away from anything biblical? If it takes us away from anything, no. If it takes us towards it does... And if it doesn't contradict it, then okay. It could be okay. Then you just work it out. The second is, what's best for my wife?

What's best for you is not in the equation. That's how you get to be the leader. Is because you have to do the plan that says I sacrificed. Because that's what he said. That's how Christ loved us.

And you're like, there is no way I can do that. My wife is crucifying me. How can I try to get her? Why would I still like like like love her that way? Uh-huh. Christ got crucified. We're supposed to be Jesus on the cross. And then ladies, yes, it's asking you, let him do that. Encourage him. Let him do it.

And why it says guys go first is I guarantee, men, if you did that and really led first, your family would follow you. And if you do it consistent enough...

Because I know, ladies, I I I can ask you, vote. You always say yes to this. If you knew that the man you were with and married to, that when he's thinking about, hey, let's talk about this, he is always just going, what's best for you? What's best for you? What's best for you? That even if it came to one of those moments that he's saying, Hey, think scripturally, I think this is where we really need to go.

God's really calling us to go this, and you're uncomfortable with it, you would give him the benefit of the doubt and say, I will submit. Because submit is not lack. It doesn't make you less than. It's actually the strongest position. You are the strongest when you do that.

Because he's asking you to be Jesus in the Garden Of Gethsemane. When Jesus said, I would prefer not to go to the cross, but I know this is the only way. And then he says, But not my will, thy will be done. That's what he meant. He submitted to the father's will because it was the right thing and the only thing to do.

Did that make him less of God than God the father? Was God, like, suppressing him? No. And I guarantee this is more of a throw punch to guys because to go first means you go first. And when you go first and you do that consistently, you're not gonna have a problem with a wife submitting and respecting you.

You're not. And even if they are, you just... You're Jesus on the cross, man. And I can prove this to you. There's a stat that's been around since Jesus was a youth pastor. And that is they studied when families start coming to church, what happens when it's the wife and the mom that becomes a Christian first? 17%

of the time, the rest of the family ends up becoming a Christian. When it's the husband and the father that goes first, 93% of the time the entire family ends up knowing the Lord. God wired us differently, and all that means is not one's better. It's just that for some reason, guys, when we step up and go first,

people follow us. That's all he's saying. That's it. But the world's made a good presentation because so many churches and so many men have done exactly what he said the problem was gonna be in Genesis.

The desire will be for your husband. That desire was not sexual. Sorry, guys. It was the desire to control because the guy's gonna be selfish and wanna do his own thing. And he says, but he will dominate his wife. Meaning he'll use his physical strength, his intimidation to say, you know what you're talking about. Life's hard. Leave me alone.

And the way you fix it is through leadership, not boss. A man leads. That's a man. You go first. You lead in guarding the truth in your life and showing that to your family and your coworkers. That's what we're called to do. And it makes sense.

Now, how many women that I would probably... I would submit and respect a man like that? Be honest. Now, if if your wife just raised her hand next to you and you're having a hard time, you know what you need to do now. There you go. And so it's really... That's one of those things. It's one of those... We're

drifting and we don't even get it. And I feel sad for for for young men because you have no idea what this means. So we go from either following idiots like Andrew Tate with this manosphere, whatever that stupid type of the world is called. You guys think he's all manly. What a loser is that?

Or we go the other way where men have to be like women. Like you gotta be like effeminate and all that. That's not what we're called to either.

We're called to go first. That's what it means to lead. And and and and that's what he's saying. And so that's a whole side. There, I give you a mini sermon within a sermon, but I felt like I got... If I'm gonna use the example, gotta go all the way in and explain it. And so, yeah, that's for free.

Next time I'm charging you. So ask yourself, where are you actually walking and thinking you're progressing, but you might actually be drifting? Is Jesus getting bigger or smaller?

So what do we actually do? That's the second point. How do we watch our walk? We need to guard our welcome. In other words, we need to be sifting, not drifting.

It's like we gotta be Tokyo sifting, not Tokyo drifting out there, all right? We gotta gotta sift through, and that's by guarding your welcome. Look what he says in verse, ten and eleven. He says, If anyone comes to your meeting and does not teach the truth, so now you've invited somebody's come in about Christ,

Don't now invite that person to your home. Don't endorse them. Don't bring them in and and give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourage such people becomes a partner in their evil work. That word for encourage and invite in is not lack of kindness.

It's what I said. It's you are listening to. You're opening the door. You're endorsing it. You're bringing it in. You're getting distracted by it. You're starting to wander towards it. You gotta guard. You gotta guard that. You have to guard against that.

Guard your welcome. What are you inviting in? So let me give you three doors that we need to guard. There's probably more, but these are the easiest ones to explain and probably the best ones to go after right away. And that's these three. First is what he's saying is what your attention.

What do you give most of your attention to? Because every time we let something in, we're probably keeping something out. That's what I talk about with obedience and overcoming. Every time we pay attention to something we shouldn't and go down this road too much, it means we're not paying attention to the right thing.

And that's why a lot of people go, I don't have time to read the Bible. Or I don't have time to do this. Well, you have time to do something. And I guarantee you this, God will give every one of us enough time to do what he's asked us to do. So if we can't do what he asked us to do, it's us

spending time and attention on something we don't need to be. It's the same thing with money. It's the same thing all the way around. It's if if God gives us enough time to do what He asks us to do, and if we think we can't, it's because we're spending it on something else.

And we do this lot with with our attention. What do we let in? I mean, have phones. We don't need someone to come to our door. We open our phone, and we invite things in all the time. All the time.

And sometimes that's where we get caught up. You hear something in church. Well, that's not what I'm paying attention to. That's not what I'm seeing out there all the time. That's not what I'm inviting and stuck in all the time. So then you have to think, oh, that's the problem with what he said.

And and so we wrestle with that. And and and we and we lose a lot. And here's the here's the insidious part of this. Sometimes we pay attention to things that aren't bad or wrong, but they just suck our attention. We get into it so much that we start confusing,

battling that, or knowing about that, or wanting to be taught about that with actually being a disciple. We actually... We catch like that's critical to our discipleship. That's critical. And almost we can get to the point that that's critical to the church's mission.

Let me give you an example. Like, I hear it from this point of view. I'll get emails about what people think I should be talking about. And sometimes it's crazy. Two weeks ago, a couple weeks ago, got an email and and and and and

it was... Don't write me a lot of emails because I don't even read these ones. People filter. I just ask for an example because I knew that this happened. And so they let me know. And it was... Someone said, we're leaving the church

because we don't think that Bill's being a good spiritual leader. I can't believe he has not talked about that Clancy case. The mom that killed her kids.

And and it says because it is super evil. And then it went on to explain their point of view. You know, people have actually different understandings of what happened and they call it evil.

You know, they... It's like like like... So she just said like, I can't believe whoever this was says, I can't believe. So we're leaving. We're taking our money with us when they say that's always funny to me.

And and and and and and here we go. And we're gonna leave because you're not gonna talk about that. And it's... And and basically was inferring that any good spiritual leader would have to confront this and talk about it from a biblical perspective to tell people what's right and what's wrong here. Like, I'm supposed to be the judge of everything that's right and wrong. And all I can tell you is this, guys,

I seriously don't get it. I don't understand what they're saying. I'm not on a point enough I don't get why someone would do that.

I don't understand what they think I should be talking about. What am I supposed to do? You're supposed to talk about...

What they really mean is they have a point of view of what that really is saying, and then we wanna set everyone straight and tell them, you know, if you think about it this way, you're wrong. You need to see it this way.

And it's usually... If you look, my wife was like, she thinks it's crazy. Just look at it all. She doesn't get like that, but she's like, should you see how crazy this is. And you look at it, it's like, yeah. When you say that, you know what she might have meant? She might have meant she's definitely guilty, and she should have the death penalty because she wasn't crazy.

It could be, you know, I can't believe they're trying to put a woman to death that has mental problems that has been proven that no one cares about women's health. No one cares about this stuff. She didn't do it. And then there's even extreme crazy says, yeah. Not only is it that, the husband did it.

There's no evidence of that. Some of y'all believe like, you know what? You're listen... You've listened to everybody who makes these good arguments. They put these non thing that what you don't do in law, putting it all together says, oh, it adds up. He did. Why aren't they going... It's like, you don't know that. We don't know anything.

But I researched it. Yeah. You listen to everybody else on social media giving you their ideas. So which one am I supposed to talk about? What am I supposed to do? You know what think? They probably shouldn't have left because here I talked about it now. Probably not the way they wanted me to.

But it might not be that. It might be like, well, if something happens political, I can't believe Bill's not gonna talk. Somebody says, do you realize every one of us, if we get really distracted out there, we will have a soapbox thing that we think must be addressed in front of everybody. Why?

Because they need to know the truth. What do you think I'm preaching right now? We need the answers. Not point that's a problem. That's a if you know this, you know what the problem is.

If I did that, if I preached what everyone thought, I can't believe you didn't address this issue, I should prob... I would have to just bring a newspaper up here every week and go, everybody turn to first obituaries. And I'm gonna let you know the truth of why Calvin really died. What's happening when we get that way

is you started paying so much attention to something, even a good thing, that you've made it the thing. That's not the thing. The love of Christ is the thing. The mission Christ gave us is the thing. Worshipping the God who loves us and gave us that mission is the thing. It's not all this other stuff.

This is what we go out there with. We don't need to bring all that into here all the time. Otherwise, what's different? What are you paying attention to so much that you're making it the thing? And it's subtle. It can be subtle. It can get you that way. The second one is kids. Don't

pay so much attention to your kids. You gotta... They're the little antichrist he's talking about. No. Jonesy brought that up. He says, well, when you put kids next, it sounds like you're saying, bad attention. Your kids are the problem. No. There are so many things that can get it. When I grew up,

all I had to do was be inside and I was safe. That's it. Not anymore. A lot of times, if they're inside, that might be the unsafest place they are. Because at least with us, I'm playing with friends. They're not like on the Internet or watching stuff and

Tik Toking or whatever it is that y'all do these days. I don't know. I got off of all of that. I couldn't take it anymore because I'm much older than I look. No, you look old, so... Yeah, your kids. Guard the microphones. Be a buffy at the door. Sometimes you gotta growl and bark at something for them.

And then the last one is your platform. What do you endorse? If you look at how you're living your life and what you're into and out there, it's like it doesn't matter if you come here and love Jesus with all your heart, mind, and soul, and strength for the hour or so we're here.

If you walk out there and everything in your life, it looks like it's endorsing something else. It reminds me of athletes that say, I give all the glory to the Lord

for helping me win this game. And then they do biography there on one of those shows where they follow them around. And you're like, there is no way on earth they've showed one sign of being a Christian in anything else they've said or done the rest of the week. And then we go, that's so fake. Well, ask yourself,

are you that too? You just don't have a reality show that's following you around with it? That's what I gotta ask myself. When I get up here and preach, have I let this message preach to me first? Because if I don't, I shouldn't be standing here giving it.

So we gotta look at that. What doors? What are we... We got to guard those doors. You might have a different door that you realize. What is it? And don't open it. And like I said, you replace, you don't just remove. You got to remove that. You close that door, it means you probably have a door you need to open.

The obedience one, the family resemblance one, the overcoming one, the trusting Christ one.

But if we're too busy opening that door, we don't open the other one. And this is real. In other words, two things I would challenge you to do, and take this serious. This is a pastor pleading. Go, I'm doing my job. You know who I am? I'm Billy the Bible barker. Not Buffy the vampire slayer, but

my job right now is to do what my dog did for me. I'm not barking at you. I'm barking for you. You need to see how serious this is. How serious it is to make Jesus smaller in your life and not trust him in your everyday decisions.

He's saying don't try to live in two worlds. And so he's saying, go for it. And so here's the questions to ask yourself. First one I've already said, is Jesus bigger or smaller in my life? Get alone and actually look at your life.

And then if you say, seems to be smaller, then you need to hit the welcome question is, Well, whose voice has my ears and my yes? Or, What voices has my endorsement?

And then you gotta do something about it.

And if you're angry to say, I just do not wanna trust what the Bible says on that, then you have a problem with who Jesus is. And you gotta deal with that and his love for you. See, because sometimes we just think we have deeper truth or we long for deeper truth. And in the Bible, deep... You understand, in reality,

deep does not have to be confusing. Some of the deepest things ever are the most simple. Here is the deepest thing that the Bible says. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. If you need deeper than that, you're wandering. Because for some reason that isn't enough for you.

But you understand that what I just said, that is everything for us. Everything.

And other than that, you're wandering away. You're wandering away. And it reminds me of this. It's like we can be walking with Jesus but not looking directly at him because we're distracted. Literally with our phones. We can be partnering with evil by that.

And I had this like, and then we can be so distracted that we may be walking with Jesus, but we're not looking at Jesus. We're kinda walking with Him in our peripheral. It's kinda like this. Two weeks ago, was at Home Depot with my wife. We walked in. She was wearing a white t shirt, blue jeans,

and and and I'm walking next to her. And as we were walking to go actually look at something, I always have this thing I call store amnesia, like, especially with Home Depot. Every time there, I was like, man, there was, like, three things last time I was here. After I left, I said, I need to remember this next time.

And then you go in and you forget again. Well, then I think, oh, no. Wait. I think I was smart enough last time when I walked out and remembered. I actually... When I got home, I wrote it down in my notes on my phone. So I pulled my phone out. So I'm looking for the note of what else we needed to get while I'm walking this way. And I could see her, right? My peripheral, she's there. So I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm walking, and she's still there. And then I'm walking and then you know, she's still there, white shirt, blue t shirt. I finally get to this point, I stop. And I go, I found it. And I tapped her on the shoulder to say I found it. And as she turned, I'm like,

you're not my wife. And I was so embarrassed like, you're not my wife. And I'm touching her. So I was like, where'd she go? And I just walked away really quick. You know, I was like, I'm out of here. This woman's weird. You know, she's probably gonna, you know, spray me with pepper spray. I don't know.

And what I realized happened is somewhere along the way, because I found my wife, she goes, I turned on Aisle 10. I was like in Aisle 20 by the... When I did that. And apparently what had happened was I'm walking, she turns, but a woman was standing like right here looking at something. And as I kept walking, she had turned and started walking too. So I picked up a different wife.

And she was wearing a white t shirt and blue jeans. So it looked exactly like my wife in my peripheral vision. All I had to do was look directly, and then I knew that's not Carrie.

And I say, so sometimes that's what we could be doing. You actually are sitting here, and we need to take this serious. I'm pleading with you because some of the stuff you you're fine. I'm still with Jesus, but you're not paying attention to what you're doing here. You're walking with Jesus in the peripheral, and you stopped walking with him. He turned back up there, and you're walking with something that kind of is dressed like Jesus.

But that's not who Jesus is, And that's what we need.

Watching your walk means taking the time to look directly at him. Look at his love, knowing from his word, choosing that when he turns up Aisle 10, that you go up Aisle 10 with him instead of walking to Aisle 20

and freaking out some other person in the in the in the Home Depot.

And it means you're gonna have to guard that.

You need to listen to the barks and the growls because you can't separate love from truth. So when I challenge us to actually look at some of the things we're doing and get uncomfortable to really do what God says, I am not talking about do this or God doesn't love you. I'm saying do this because he does

and because we need this. And if I don't challenge us with what we do with our time, our money, our lives, our thoughts, I don't love you because love guards the truth. Love barks, but not at, but for. Because Jesus loves us. This we know, for the Bible tells us so. Father God, I thank you, Lord.

I thank you that you love us even more than we can love ourselves. So my prayer is simple. Pray for each one of us, including myself and anyone watching online. Could we really embrace that you do love us so we will look straight at you and walk with you? And we will guard that truth of who you are with you

because of your love. I thank you, and I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Hey. Love you guys. Thanks for joining us online this weekend. You can stay connected with us through rockwind.io or our social media.