Abolishing Anxiety, Part 15

Proverbs 12 25 says that anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down but a good word makes it glad That's our verse that we've been looking at for, wow, a lot of weeks, ever since this whole COVID-19 thing came about And so we're looking at how a good word makes the heart of a man glad And we have given you eight different principles up to this point to help you understand how it is you are to give honor and glory to our Lord and how you can rid yourself of anxiety

We have two more points we're going to cover for you next week and the week after to make it a around ten points but it really will help you understand how it is we eradicate those emotions that make us feel so anxious and every one of us has them and they come in different shapes and sizes and they come from all different directions but everyone in the room at time faces anxious thoughts and what do you do with them well we're helping you work through how it is you deal with that by making your heart glad based on what God's Word actually does say and so we've given you these eight principles and we're looking at principle number eight and under principle number eight we've given you nine sub points all right nine sub points put them up for me would you please melody there we go we're giving you sub points because we're gonna radiate Christ in his glory that is we're going to reflect the righteous radiance of our Redeemer in everything that we do and there are certain portions of scripture that specifically speak to the fact that if you do this or you do that you give glory to God you reflect his beauty and that's what we have before you that's we have covered up to this point and last week we left off with manifestation of our identity as salt and light and I want to pick it up from there to help you understand exactly how it is we continue to give glory to God how we continue to reflect the beauty of our Lord's character in and through our lives and that is the next point which is the adoration of his majesty the adoration of his majesty whoso offereth praise Psalm 50 verse number 23 glorifies me we know the Philippians 2 says that God has given a name to a son his name is Jesus and that the at that the name of Jesus every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father it's all about the glory of the Father it's all about the honoring of our God and one day every knee will bow every tongue will confess what you and I already know that Jesus Christ is the Lord that he is a ruler of the universe that everything is subject to his control that he is the master he is the king and we bow before him out of love and adoration and that's what it means to radiate the glory of Christ we bow in subjection to the ultimate King the Lord Jesus himself over in Psalm 34 these words are recorded Psalm 34 verse number one I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul will make its boast in the Lord the humble will hear it and rejoice Oh magnify the Lord Oh glorify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together that's what the people of God do then over in Psalm 35 verse number 27 let them shout for joy and rejoice who favor my vindication and let them say continually the Lord be glorified who delights in the prosperity of his servant and then over in Psalm 69 Psalm 69 verse number 30 these words are written I will praise the name of God with song and glorify him with thanksgiving and it will please the Lord better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hoofs in other words ritual without repentance ritual without a right attitude is not worship worship is a hard attitude that seeks to glorify and magnify his beautiful name based on who he is you know at Christmas time we sing that song oh come let us adore him and we wonder what it means to adore the king what it means to adore his majesty and I wish I had time to talk to you about this because it's so important it all begins with an excitation to be with the king that that's where adoration begins and you go all the way back to the birth of the king and you realize what the what the shepherds did when they heard the great word about their Messiah who is who was born in the city of David for unto you has been born this day a Savior who is Christ the Lord and they were so excited to go in haste to see this word that was spoken to them because there was an excitation to be with the king if you're gonna adore the king you can't wait to be with the king and not only is there an excitation to be with the king there was a proclamation about that king because when they when they came to the cave or to the grotto where where Christ was was laid they begin to proclaim all the things that the angel had spoken to them to Mary and Joseph and not only is there a proclamation about the king but there's a meditation upon that king we want to meditate upon who he is and that's why Mary would ponder all these things in her heart the mother of our Lord would would ponder all these things in her heart there was a meditation upon everything that the shepherds said because it was so overwhelming to give birth to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and you can go on and and and read through the scriptures and realize that that whenever you worship the king there's always a satisfaction with the king right when you adore the king there's a satisfaction with him that was Simeon because when Simeon received the king in his arms what did he say it's over I can die now because that which I have longed for has now appeared and now I can die because Simeon was completely satisfied with the Savior and it goes on to talk about how there is a presentation to the king because that's what the Magi did when that when the king was born what do they do they presented him gifts there was a presentation to the king of gold frankincense and myrrh because when you recognize him as king you want to give him all that's due him there's also appreciation for the king thanks be unto God for his indescribable gift oh I wish I had time to preach all that for you it's so important but the adoration of his majesty that that's what it means to give glory to the king and honor his name the next point is this a unification in the assembly a unification in the assembly do you know that our unity and the ability to live in harmony gives glory to the Lord listen what it says in the book of Romans the 15th chapter the fifth verse it says now may the God who gives perseverance let's stop right there for a second isn't it good that God gives perseverance do you know the ability to endure and the ability to keep on keeping on is a gift from God that that's why the the Reformers talk about the perseverance of the Saints what makes the perseverance of the Saints so important is that it assures the fact that you know Christ why how many times have you read in Scripture that those who continue in the faith shall be saved does that mean that my continuance saves me no but my continuance in the faith proves my salvation because God grants perseverance to his own in other words those who know Christ don't quit don't give up they persevere to the end with Christ because they are so committed to him and God has granted them the ability to persevere that's why the perseverance of the Saints is such a beautiful doctrine to study because it helps you understand the beauty of what God does in the life of a believer I don't persevere because I'm stronger than you I don't persevere because I have this or that no I persevere only because it is a gift given to me by God like salvation was a gift like faith is a gift like grace is a gift perseverance is a gift so the Bible says in Romans 15 now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind to think in unison and then he says this with one another according to Christ Jesus so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ do you know that you glorify the Lord Jesus Christ when we come together in one accord with one voice with the same mind to put them on display the unification of the assembly is so crucial and we're unified in three ways okay three ways unified in doctrine unified in distinctives and unified in disposition okay three words very simply stated sometimes it takes a long time to unravel those things but we're one in doctrine how do we know we're supposed to be one in doctrine well first Corinthians chapter 1 verse number 10 says these words first Corinthians 1 verse number 10 we'll start at verse number 9 God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ our Lord now I exhort you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all agree Paul is writing to the Corinthian Church and the Corinthian Church had a lot of issues because they would tend to bring everything from the world that they had learned and done into the church so Paul would would write to them about how the how to correct those things but he wanted them to be all of the same mind he wanted them to to all agree or in other words say the same thing about what about the Christ and who he is that you all agree in other words that you speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that you may be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment that you may be mature internally the same mind and externally judgment discernment calling things as they are so Paul is exhorting the Corinthian Church to be unified in their doctrine what it is they believe see the church is not designed to be a smorgasbord of theology so that when you come to the church you have some guys say this and maybe you believe that another guy say this about the Christ and they believe that somebody else say this about the Christ and and you believe that you speak and choose what it is you you want to believe that's not the way it works Christ speaks with one voice and Christ has given to us his truth his word and his truth is true and God gives us his word we are to believe what he says so when you come to the church you come to the church because you believe in the doctrine that's held dear in scriptures because doctrine determines everything else you do doctrine always determines your duty how you live your life what you believe about God determines how it is I live each and every day right if I believe that God is King I will submit to his lordship I will follow him I will serve him if I don't believe he's the king if I don't believe he's Lord well then I don't have to necessarily do what he says he's made a lot of suggestions but made no commands but God never gives suggestions he only gives commands so we begin to understand the theology surrendered around all that we believe it's so important so so Paul is writing to the Corinthian Church and if I had time I could go into great detail about this but the fact the matter is he's talking about being one in doctrine say the same thing about the Christ everybody be unified about the Lord everybody be unified about the gospel everybody be unified about what the truth of Jesus Christ is he wants the Corinthian Church to be that way just like he wants our church to be like that as well so you're one in doctrine but you're also one in distinctives okay over in in first Peter chapter 3 Peter says this to sum up all of you be harmonious all of you be unified all you be together sympathetic brotherly kind-hearted humble and spirit not returning evil for evil or in so for in so but giving a blessing instead for you are called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing God says or Peter says that you are your call to inherit a blessing that comes when you don't return evil for evil in so for in so but in reality you return good for evil because that is the distinctive of the believer when it comes to his relationship with other people he's not vengeful no he returns good for evil not evil for evil not insult for insult and if you're gonna be harmonious if you're gonna be tender-hearted then your responses to other people is a distinctive characteristic that helps others know that Christ is your Lord so you're one in doctrine one in distinctives and then 31 in disposition that's in the book of Philippians the book of Philippians and there excuse me these words are spoken Philippians chapter 2 therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ first number one if there is any consolation of love if there is any fellowship of the Spirit if any affection and compassion make my joy complete by being of the same mind maintaining the same love united in spirit intent on one purpose doing nothing from selfishness or empty conceit both humility of mind regard one another is more important than yourselves do not merely look out for your own personal interest but also for the interest of others and then he goes on to talk about having this attitude this because this was the attitude that was in Christ when he took on the form of a servant and be and became a man and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross because that's how he ultimately was exalted as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and then he goes on and says these words in verse number 14 do all things without grumbling or disputing so you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you appear as lights in the world holding fast the word of life said in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain or toil in vain but even if I am being poured out as drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith I rejoice and share my joy with you all you too I urge you rejoice in the same way share your joy with me there's a certain disposition about the believer that makes him unique that he is he is one who who does not think selfish selfishly but thinks selflessly he truly wants to to lift others up he truly wants to minister to others Paul says make make my joy complete be of the same mind see that unification in the assembly is so important now we can talk about that and everybody could say amen to that yeah we ought to be unified in doctrine unified in distinctives unified in disposition yada yada yada but how does that really manifest itself how does it work itself out practically okay I thought a lot about this over the last several days and so I really prayed about how I'm gonna give this to you and I thought well this will give it to you the way I always give it to you and just give it to you right and let the chips fall where they may fall okay because understanding unity of doctrine Paul says these words in Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 3 that I think are extremely important he says I the prisoner of the Lord Ephesians 4 verse number 1 implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness and patience showing tolerance for one another in love being tolerant with one another have you ever noticed that we tend to be intolerant and not tolerant we're intolerant with those who don't think like I think or believe what I believe but Paul says I want you show tolerance for one another in love being diligent being zealous being eager to do what to preserve the unity the spirit in the bond of peace do you know we don't we don't develop unity in the we only display unity in the church or destroy unity in the church we can't develop unity because we're all one in Christ John 17 verse number 22 Christ prayed that we'd all be one in him as he is in the Father that's a positional unity every one of us if we're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ are one in Christ we are one in God we are one together because we're of the same body that's our positional unity but the practicality of that unity is a different story how it manifests itself so Paul says I want you to work hard I want you to be diligent I want you to be zealous to preserve that which you have positionally I want you to preserve the practicality of that as it works itself out as it manifests itself out every day I want you to be tolerant of one another I want you to be humble and I want you to deal with one another in a gentle kind of way so you can do all you can to preserve the unity the spirit and the bond of peace that's a great exhortation but how do we actually live that out okay so let me say this six weeks ago we gathered together for the first time in ten weeks remember that six weeks ago and we were so excited to be together it was just so wonderful that for the first time we're able to gather back together as a church and people came and and people didn't know whether to hug or shake hands and and and what they were supposed to do but it was just great to be together and this and to sing praises to the Lord God and we were excited the first and we were excited the second week oh man it was so great the second week was even better than the first week because more people came back and more people were excited and say wow this is great you got to come so they came third week and third week was more excited than the first two weeks but then the fifth week came the fourth week in the fifth week came and all of a sudden the excitement began to to simmer down and people began to to grumble and complain and Paul says in Philippians 2 don't do that because that's what the world does and you got to appear as lights in the world but nonetheless we began to complain complain about the parking lot parking every other space that's that became a source of tension in people's lives and then and then the whole taking of the temperature thing you know I mean do we really have to do that I mean come on seriously don't you think we know if we have a fever or not and then the questions they just keep coming and they keep coming and again that's the same questions every week I got them all memorized I can ask myself the questions why I keep asking me the questions and then sitting far apart six feet apart you guys are six feet apart by the way spread out with the Lord okay and you know I'm just joking and so why do we gotta do that why are we gonna sit six feet apart why can't we just gather together and and then the infamous mask rule what do we do about that some people wear masks others don't wear masks but it became a source of tension instead of preserving the unity the spirit the bond of peace people began to complain bellyache grumble about all things you got to do to come to church so I thought that it'd be good because I'm talking about unity to address at least one of these issues okay so I decided to address the mask issue because that seems to be paramount in the country right so I'm gonna address the mask issue with you let me say at the outset whether you wear a mask or don't wear a mask that's up to you we have always purpose to treat you as adults in the church you can make your own choice about a mask and we are not the mask police okay God has not granted us that responsibility so we're not gonna walk around say put your mask on hey don't let that thing drip below your nose put that mask on no we don't do that we're not the mask police and there are reasons why we are not that and so I want to talk to you about mask and I don't necessarily want to talk to you about them for the for the medical position okay because we can do that and you and I can debate all we want about the medical aspects of wearing one not wearing one the kind of ones you wear what the who says and some are saying who's the who and some say that's a music group back in the 80s and others say no it's a World Health Organization we don't know who who who is right but but the who says this and the CD says this and and the infamous dr

Fauci who's been wrong on almost everything except for one thing that I know of and yet he becomes the world's renowned epidemiologist that begins to tell us what to do and what not to do and all of a sudden we lock everything down because some epidemiologist says we need to do so but that's for others to debate not us right so we can debate about the the medical issues surrounding masks you know and how long you wear one and the longer you wear it the more you touch it the more you take it down the worst of more the less effective it is yada yada yada and I just keep coming back to the same old thing and that is the origin of the virus came from a country where everybody was required to wear masks just think about that for a second okay just try to wrap your mind around that one but like I said that's a topic for another discussion outside of church and then I could talk about from the political angle right and my wife always gets on me when I start talking political things because she says you know honey you're getting too political don't you want to go down that road and so you begin to talk about all the political aspects surrounding the mask right and and why is it all these rules are coming about at this time and and and and the the inconsistencies of our government are the only things that are consistent okay that's the they're inconsistent from week to week for month to month they never say the same thing and they're always changing their mind on this and that and he's thinking what is it we do and how do we do this see and you begin to think about all those things in the political nature of the masks is a topic that can be discussed and can be discussed at great length dependent upon how much you know about politics or how much you you want to know about politics all I know is that one man has said that everything that happens in an election year is all about the election began with the virus move to the lockdowns it moved then to the riots it moved then to the mandate on masks now it's moved to schools whether to open them or not open them everything that happens in an election year is all about the election but that again is political in nature and we don't necessarily want to go down that route and so you just have to always be discerning always need discernment remember we told you before that if you don't listen to the news you're uninformed if you listen to the news you will be misinformed so the only way to be informed is to be in the Word of the Lord and follow what God's Word says my time is fleeting I will probably go long today just as a warning so I want to approach it from a biblical standpoint forget about the medical forget about the political because I'm not a I'm not a doctor I'm not an epidemiologist I'm not a politician I'm not running for Congress although I should run for president I'm not so therefore I'm political issues are not my field of expertise okay but when it comes to the biblical issues there are four key components and I give them to you very quickly one is charity two is authority three is sensitivity and four is testimony okay four verses of scripture dealing with four issues in the church one deals with charity loving my brother Matthew chapter 22 on the love the Lord my God with all my heart soul and mind love my neighbor as myself and so the discussion comes that if I love my brother I will wear a mask in my brother's presence the question comes is that true because if that's true then the opposite must be true if I don't wear a mask I certainly don't love my brother but is that true just because governor Newsom wears a mask does that mean he loves you or anybody in your grocery store or on your street or where they may be or do all those people love you because they're wearing a mask you have to ask that question because if you say in order to love your brother you must wear a mask you are also saying that if you don't wear a mask you don't love your brother and that's a very dangerous route to go are we more concerned about being seen as loving or actually loving our brother think about that for a second am I the kind of person that would would wear a mask to church because I love my brother but I would argue and bicker and bellyache with my wife all the way the church not reconcile with her and walk in with a mask on and say I love my brother now see I wouldn't know you had an argument with your wife on the way to work or with your children on excuse me on the way to church or with your children the way to church I wouldn't know that right so all of a sudden what I know that you love me because you have a mask on that's a question you to ask right it doesn't mean that if I I wear one or don't wear one determines my love for you please understand that because there are so many other issues surrounding that that's what is love how is love best demonstrated how do we know we love one another as Christ loved the church how do we how is that defined how is that displayed a lot of questions need to be asked and answered about loving my brother before you just go out and say you know what you must not love your brother because you don't wear a mask in church but there's much more I could say on that but I won't that is a charity issue yeah the other one is the testimony issue okay the testimony you wear a mask as a Christian because you want to be a testimony when I wear a mask in church let me clarify everything I'm saying we're talking about in the assembly in church here okay we wear a mask in church to wear a testimony to the community do you actually think that wearing a mask in church is going to be a valid testimony to the community ask that question because you got to ask this our world is fractured our world is broken our world is divided our country is divided would it would it be better for us to come together with some people wearing masks and other not wearing masks and show how we can learn to agree to disagree agreeably live you in unity one with another still fellowship one with another and be a testimony to the world on how you can agree to disagree agreeably and still function together ask yourself that question our testimony is about proclaiming the gospel our testimony is about the cross and for proclaiming the gospel about the fear of God to a world who does not fear God but fears death what a greater testimony to be not to wear masks so you can prove to them you don't fear death because they are terribly frightened of death it doesn't mean that you don't wear a mask to prove that I'm not saying that please understand what I'm saying I'm just trying to help you ask questions about an argument that you might read about in the paper or read about in some some Christian book and say okay I'm gonna do this or I'm gonna do that but that's the testimony issue what makes your church a testimony in the community masks as we assemble together does not guarantee we have an effective testimony in West Covina and around this area but it could be beneficial so I'll give you that so you go beyond charity and you go beyond testimony to sensitivity Romans 14 the weaker brother that's always a argument that people use you got to be sensitive to the weaker brother but you have to understand the context of Romans 14 don't take something out of context to prove a point so people will wear masks in your presence please don't do that because that would say listen I'm wearing a mask so I don't offend my weaker brother well that would mean that a person who doesn't wear a mask is the weaker brother and the one who wears the mask is the stronger brother but is that necessarily always true no because the guy not wearing a mask might be the stronger one the more mature one and the one wearing the mask might be the immature one in the weaker one so you got to be careful about Romans 14 and how you apply that to the mask situation inside the church you got to be very very careful because you don't want to take scripture out of context to prove a point but those are all surface ones compared to the Romans 13 one obey those who an authority over you have you heard that one before if you don't wear a mask in church you've defied the governor you're not obeying Romans chapter 13 therefore you violated scripture and how can you worship the Lord if you violate scripture willingly because the governor said got to wear a mask that's a great question you must understand governmental authority you must understand ecclesiastical authority and you must understand familial authority because guess what your founding fathers understood all three of those they did that's why we have what is called the Constitution the Bill of Rights which by the way every governor is sworn to obey and uphold everyone is which includes the First Amendment freedom of speech the division between church and state and God has given the church this is what our founding fathers understood God has given the church to the government to hold the government at bay did you know that that's why at the rapture of the church when the church is gone government just does whatever they want to do but the church holds the government government at bay because the church says there's something of the people you cannot have and that is the will of the people you cannot have that but they want that so they will do all they can to obtain that and when they can't do it what do they say if you don't obey we will kill you see that and so the church is designed to keep the government at bay because when it comes to faith in practice listen carefully what I'm going to tell you when it comes to faith in practice the government has no authority over the church if Governor Newsom was to walk through those doors and come in here and say Don put your mask on Marilee put your mask on Lance put your mask on I would respectfully say Paul I know Jesus I know but who are you that's what I would say respectfully of course why because whenever you mandate to someone about how they worship you gotta make sure it's in line with what God's Word says that's why the elders in your church leaders your pastoral staff got together and decided that we would recommend masks but not require masks because if I require you to wear a mask when you worship I'm requiring something of you that is extra biblical not biblical and I'm putting guidelines on you that God does not put on you and if I do that woe is me I can't do that God has given guidelines what are those guidelines you worship God in spirit and in truth you come to him with a broken and contrite heart a consecrated heart a cleansed heart a committed heart a converted heart because worship is from the inside out you gotta come to him with a heart that's right before him because you can wear a mask and not have your heart right but if you don't wear a mask it doesn't mean your heart's right because it all is internal not external so we as elders say you gotta wear a mask you can't worship the Lord because if we say that I know my time is gone so bear with me if we say that we are actually saying if you don't wear a mask you are sinning okay follow this through if I if I or the elders require you to wear a mask when you worship okay and you choose not to and I say to you Don you're sinning I got to be willing to take two or three witness to him if he doesn't put a mask on next week if he comes back the third week I gotta I gotta take him before the elders to follow Matthew 18 right because he is sinning by not wearing a mask and then if he doesn't wear a mask the third week I got to bring him before the church follow church discipline and be able to say in front of you we are excommunicating Don from our church because he hasn't worn a mask therefore we are treating him as an unbeliever because he didn't wear a mask you see that you see the fallacy in that who are we to say you're not a believer because you don't wear a mask because God never requires you to wear a mask to worship so we can't do that we want you to come we want anybody to come who can come listen there's more than a hundred people in here that's against the governor's orders so what are we are we wrong you see can the governor can this state come into the church to say enough is enough you can't gather any more people in here you got a hundred one people that that one person's got to go 110 up they got to go outside we decided not to do that we started that way and we put some in the fellowship hall and streamed it in there we thought that's ridiculous this will stay home right so bring him in bring him in so we can worship the Lord together you see I'm not even sure that if the government came back to us and said you know what this this virus is as it is and so we got to lock down the churches again I'm not so sure we would do that we didn't know anything 16 weeks ago we thought it was going to be as governor Newsom said 25 million Californians will be infected in eight weeks that's what he said he's cried wolf too many times he really has 25 million will be infected in eight weeks are you kidding me that's what he said though so we thought oh wow it's a serious but you know what we realized that through all the riots that took place starting June 4th into four weeks has followed and all the governor's who made the mandates about masks were marching in the riots and the mayor's and taking out their mask and walking shoulder-to-shoulder and not physical distancing like they told us to do and not wearing a mask they told us to do and and then kneeling without mask we think wait a minute we've been played we've been played by our own government and that's when you've got to come back stick it stick a step back and say okay the governor Roma's 13 is designed to obey the laws of the land okay the laws of the land have been handed down for 244 years that have not changed right and every governor that swears that every mayor that swears that every police officer that swears to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America by law is is required to obey those laws that's the law now can the governor declare a state of emergency yes he has authority to do so a state of it which stated right declare a state of emergency therefore they can they can enact certain rules or certain regulations they're not laws because laws in our country are designed to pass through legislation and pass a certain way so they're they're they're they're they're they're requirements that they put out they're managed they may put out but they're not laws right and so you have to ask the question when does the governor or the mayor overstep their bound and abuse that law so let me ask you this question if the president United States decided to declare a national state of emergency and postpone the elections until 2021 what do you think would happen there would be so much upheaval and anarchy in our country you wouldn't be able to contain it why because he'd be abusing his power and so God has designed the government structure to keep other ones in check and the church when it comes to faith and practice is not bound by government laws so when you gather to worship there are requirements that God has ordained in his word that we follow and that we obey and that we submit ourselves to because he's the king and we are citizens in his kingdom we are not slaves to the Emperor of Rome we are citizens of America but we are better than that citizens of a of a greater kingdom the kingdom of God who is our ruler who has prescribed for us the order of worship and how we are to come together to worship he also says five times and you only got to say it once for it to be true right but it's reiterated five times ready for this greet one another with a holy kiss five times it says that it doesn't mean that we got to go up and kiss everybody that comes to the door now you can do that but that's not the requirement okay the point being is that there's a certain kind of familial intimacy that happens in the church setting in the body of Christ there's a certain kind of of intimacy there's a certain kind of respectability there's a certain kind of relationship that's a family relationship that's involved in the church that when we get together right when we get together we are worshiping the king and we are gathering together and loving one another and you know as well as I do that when you see me and you see my face and you see my whole face you understand more of what I'm trying to say and how I'm saying it that my face is covered right it doesn't mean listen it doesn't mean you should not wear a mask I'm not saying that I'm not saying that at all because there are some who have pre-existing conditions there are some who have health issues there are some who are elderly there are some who who know that they should be wearing a mask and that's great wear it and wear it proudly don't be ashamed of it but if we're gonna tolerate one another you tolerate also the ones you don't wear the mask and if you'd rather someone wear a mask in your presence say excuse me would you mind would you mind putting on a mask I have I have a health issue I would just I would appreciate if you put a mask on and out of respect we'd say sure we do that for you absolutely what a way the body of Christ should operate right being able to talk to one another on an intimate level deal with issues with one another on a very deeper level than those outside the church all that is very very important and I haven't told you half of what I wanted to say about all that but I say all that to help you understand look just because in the worship service the elders oh here's nothing would you would you obey a governmental authority over ecclesiastical authority I think about this for a minute I'm not saying we're the Pope I'm the Pope and this is the Catholic Church and you do what we say I'm not saying that listen carefully would you rather obey a governor or a mayor who spent no time in prayer does not has no concern for your soul has no concern for anything other than their political agenda or would you rather follow the leadership of your elders and your pastors who have prayed sought scripture discuss this issue over and over and over again ad nauseam and come to a conclusion conclusion you know what we're not going to require people to wear masks when they worship we want them to be adults and we want to treat them as adults and and let them worship the Lord in the way they want to worship him and we prayed about that because we're concerned about everybody and yet how quickly we are say well the government said the government said whatever happened to my elders prayed my elders care for my soul my leadership is concerned about my spiritual development they've really sought the scripture on this and sought the Lord's will on this and this is what they came up but whatever happened to that how easily we just push aside ecclesiastical authority and say and that's not important and say well the government said we had to be very careful about that because and listen if I said something to you like wear a mask I would be abusing my responsibilities your pastor that's an abuse of power and you'd have every right as a member of this church to call me on that to require you to do something outside of scripture in order for you to worship in our assembly that will go against the unification of our assembly and the opportunity for us to be together in honor of the Lord the last one I'm gonna give it to you because I can't give it to you next week the persecution for our testimony you know that glorifies the Lord remember in John 21 verse number 18 truly truly I say to you when you were younger you used to gird yourself this is Christ talking to to John or to Peter excuse me and walk wherever you wished but when you grew old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go now this Jesus said signifying by what kind of death Peter would glorify God and Jesus said to him follow me the Lord gave Peter a glimpse into the future that he was going to die so stretch forth his hands you're gonna be crucified he was gonna die Peter you follow me there's gonna be persecution for your testimony you're gonna glorify the Lord in your death that time is coming I believe that the church will be raptured out of here before things are completely haywire if my theology is wrong well I'm in trouble well I think of my theology pretty pretty accurate about the return of Christ and yet and yet those who come to faith in the tribulation revelation 26 they'll be beheaded they'll be killed for their testimony be great persecution but through that death it will glorify the Lord the depth of my heart I want our church to honor the Lord let there be glory in the church both from this generation to the next forever and ever amen may we give glory to our King let's pray father thank you for today we are grateful for a chance to be together we love you and ask that you go before us that we would live only for you and not for ourselves in Jesus name amen