Latest / The Rhett Palmer Show / Sermon on the Mountain Part 6

Transcript

Sermon on the Mountain Part 6 · The Rhett Palmer Show

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Where they're storing up treasure and not getting paid.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, we do have this new coffee company, so hopefully we'll start.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: Forget the coffee, right?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's forget the coffee.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_02: If they want to order coffee, you're gonna really enjoy it.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: I'm the roaster at our Cafe Real Coco Cafe Roaster at Vrove.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be good coffee.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: Enjoy it.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: But but the point is at this point, I thought, wow, what an unusual situation to get to a point where you're doing something because you really want others to uh, you know, I uh we I don't you both of you and I, you were a fighter pilot, and I was uh a musician singing in nightclubs where people are smoking cigarettes and drinking booze.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: And we both got gloriously born again.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: And and when you truly get born again, you want to talk about that which you love.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: What do we love talking about?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: We love talking about this exciting adventure that you and I are on, where God leads us, he uh gives us opportunity, we take risk, we step out in faith, and then by golly, resources appear, uh, things happen.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: I never ever imagined that I would be going to Central America.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I I grew up in living in Germany and Turkey.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I uh my dad was in the military, then I lived out in the uh Philippines and Indian Ocean on aircraft carriers.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: I was a traveler, but I never thought I would go to Central America.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: And the idea of working with refugees and then starting a school project, I never uh I never had any training in that.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but the same thing with me.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: I went to Haiti and now on little food trips, uh missionary food trips.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: I tell you what, when I meet a Haitian now, come and say voice, you know, Jazire Mieu, Jazire Miewan.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus loves you, Jesus loves me.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I we immediately have a connection and a love.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really, it's it's it's a bond that's really wonderful.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the reality is this there's a lot of people that haven't really embraced what Jesus is teaching here about not worrying because God will take care of us.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: But when we uh just pass through this plandemic of COVID, 2000, 2001, 2002, anxiety gripped the world.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: And people were forced to stay inside.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh my friends that uh their parents live in Santiago, Chile, uh military are patrolling the streets.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: They're allowed out of their apartment once a week to go to the grocery store.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: It was incredible the lockdowns around the world and and the anxiousness.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: And right now, one in four people in the United States are suffering from anxiety or depression.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: And say that again, one in four?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: One in four, okay?
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: And Jesus says, don't be anxious about anything.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: And why should you be depressed?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: Your heavenly father knows your needs before you even ask.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: So as I read these passages that we just read, the solution for anxiety is remember God and his promises.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: Remember how he's provided for you in the past.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I think here's what here's the challenge for us, Rhett.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_02: Position ourselves to experience his presence, okay?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_02: And then begin to function as a member of the kingdom.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Seek his righteousness, he says.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: Serve those around you instead of envying their status and possessions, which often causes us to look unfavorably toward others and ourselves and criticize and judge them.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I think if we look out and remember what God has done for us, we remember his promises, and then we look for opportunities to be loyal, unoffendable friends to the people around us, and opportunities to actually serve them.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the great services we give is listening to people, is hearing their heart, okay?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you, okay?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and I think one of the secrets, and I'm sure you would agree, would be to be thankful for what you have.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: If you're having a pe a crust of bread and you're thankful for it, it's better than having such abundance that you're having steak and lobster and complaining, oh, yeah, I'm a very wealthy individual.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Here comes steak and lobster another night.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas the person who has an appetite and is hungry is much more appreciative.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: So whatever situation we find ourselves in, in want or in great abundance, to be thankful adds joy to the heart.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, one of the pictures that I, in fact, I used this uh photograph in our newsletter for the Seek the Lamb Ministry just a few days ago, is me sitting on the bank of the Cocoa River.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: It was 1986.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: I'm on the Honduran side of the river.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's been it was a rainy day.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: We had just traveled uh through the swamp from Torelaya, Alligator Springs.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: We walked the seven miles through the mud.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_02: We got over to uh Utlamata, and my friend Trano's wife walked up to me, and I'm sitting down, I'm exhausted and I'm wet.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: And she she hands me this bowl of white rice, and it was hot and it was steaming.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I looked at this rice and she gave me a spoon, and I put that first bite in my mouth.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: I had never tasted anything better.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm digging into this, and somebody came up and took a picture of me, and I'm looking this way.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: But it was one of the most tastiest meals I had in my entire life.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: White rice.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, listen, you and I have had parallel lives.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we were talking about our wives the other day?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Listen to this.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I was poor, dirt poor with my older brother.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: I was like 15.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: It was the year of Woodstock.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's 19.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're in Baltimore helping an old friend get out of his apartment.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: He lost his job.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: We had no money.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're literally starving.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: And this lady downstairs and her boyfriend invite us into their apartment.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And what did they give us?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: A bowl, a little bowl of hot white rice with mushrooms on top.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: To this day, I go into a Chinese restaurant, I get white rice with mushrooms, and it tastes better than steak and lobster because of the Thanksgiving.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'd never forget being hungry.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: So uh is that something we have parallel situations, both with white rice?
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh just you know, I left Maui in 1984 in November.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: I had$200 in my Bank of Hawaii account.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: I was running a photography business.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: We had closed our one location in Lahaina.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: We were going to sign a lease in December for the new tropical plantation in Waikapoo.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: I went on a two-week trip because I had about a month off.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I got stuck there for a year and a half uh because we were delivering relief supplies to this remote corner of uh Honduras, the Coca River, uh, where 60,000 refugees had uh fled uh from Nicaragua.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: The Santinistas burned 104 villages there in 19 uh 81 and 82.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: So it was a horrible refugee situation.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: People were just living out in the swamps.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they were uh skinny people.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there was a high infant mortality rate.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: It was it was kids that did not have school.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: It was uh it was a dastardly situation.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: We uh brought a container of uh food, clothing, medicine, shoes, and but it took us six months to get our cargo actually out to this remote area because there's no roads out there.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_02: So we had to fly, uh fly everything out.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: The Lord provided.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: A friend uh flew his twin-engine Seneca down and and for uh six uh months made flights.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: He was an Eastern Airline pilot, uh, and he paid for the gas.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: It was incredible what God was doing.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: But I made it back to uh to Maui in May of 86.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: I had$700 in my Bank of Hawaii account.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: People had just randomly donated money to me through our church.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: And since then, Rhett, I have not had a job that has paid me a salary.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: I've been a missionary supported by friends, family, and uh I don't really ask people for things, but God has been just so good to provide for me.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I I I just want to encourage anybody who's listening who finds themselves in some sort of financial strait right now.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, God knows what you need and he will provide for you.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: Seek him, uh, walk with him, experience his presence.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_02: He might give you opportunities for uh uh economic uh opportunities that you never thought about.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um I encourage you to look around and see uh God is a great provider, and that's my testimony.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I will mention this while we're on the air.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: You're also listening, people are listening to this on WCNO.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: Please, once in a while, we we I we benefit not a penny from this, but if you if you support WCNO, uh a wonderful small group of people run it, uh and they're not paid in abundance, believe me.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so to keep it on the air, and uh it takes uh engineers and different people.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: So if you listen to WCNO 89.9 on your FM dial, uh which is 100,000 watts and goes up and down the coast, maybe you might consider uh being a sponsor of them.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Mike and I benefit not at all from that, uh, but uh do something good for them if you would.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: So now we're coming uh to uh chapter seven.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: And the first line in chapter seven is do not judge so that you will not be judged.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: Now, that word judge is the word uh crino.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: It means to judge in an absolute sense, uh here in ch in chapter seven, verse one.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: But some have understood this verse to mean that we're never to evaluate another's behavior or words.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh honestly, this ignores the entire context uh of the Bible because there's many passages uh that uh tell us that those disciples, especially that God has given us, we are to be their friends, we are to evaluate their walk, and we are to be their counselors and their helpers.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, in Matthew 8, uh Jesus said, if another believer sins against you, go privately, point out the offense.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: And if the person listens and confesses, you've won him back, but if you're unsuccessful, take one or two others, go back again.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: So everything will be confirmed by two or three witnesses.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_02: If the person refuses to listen, take your case to the church.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: If he won't accept the church's decision, treat him as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: So there's uh f those disciples, uh the people that were in a relationship, when there are offenses and things happen, when they have stepped off the path, uh, who else is going to help them get back on the path but those that they have relationship with and and uh have confidence in?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: So according to Jesus, we're to evaluate the behavior of those given to our care, and he instructs us how we're to confront them and those uh who have strayed off the path, and how we're to do our best to bring them back in.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: So this is the principle that we should be discerning regarding the attitudes and actions of the people around us.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: So here's this passage, it's twelve verses, and they are joined together because verse twelve says pretty much the same thing as verse one.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: Do not judge, so you will not be judged.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_02: For in the way that you judge, you will be judged.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: Why do you look at that speck in your brother's eye and do not notice the log in your own eye?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_02: How can you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye?
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: And behold, the log is in your own eye.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: So the focus now seems to be not on the other person, Rhett, but what Jesus is talking about is about us, about the logs in our eye.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_02: You hypocrite, verse 5, take the first take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly and take the speck out of your brother's eye.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: But be careful, verse six do not give what is holy to dogs, do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: Ask and it will be given to you.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: Seek and you will find.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: Knock, it will be open for you.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: For every one who re asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be open.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: What man is there among you who, when a son ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone, or ask for a fish, he'll give him a snake, will he?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask him?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the law and the prophet.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: So, as we see the context here and verse 12, basically repeating verse one, we understand that this is one topic.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's not to be taken and broken up as often it has been.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: But what is this about?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's how we are to judge others and to work out our own issues ourselves, okay?
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Now, here's the reality, Rhett.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: We all have issues and we all have trigger points that God is working on.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: Would you agree with that?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, for certain.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have issues?
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_02: I got issues, okay?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: I got issues.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: I got issues.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: I got trigger points, okay?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: There are things that happen that suddenly emotions rise up in me, and it causes me to step out of my godly, Christ-like character and return to my old normal Mike-like character.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: Would you agree with that, brother?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't I will not judge you, but I judge myself the same way, yes.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: So we are to be aware that we have issues and trigger points that God's working on.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, we have to remember that when we notice and react to the issues of those close to us.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: Because we're act we are to actively deal with our own issues first, and as we do that, we are going to gain understanding as so that we can help others through theirs.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: Now, Jesus gives us a caveat.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: He says, Be careful to offer unsolicited advice to those who are not ready or willing to receive it, as not only will they reject your counsel, but sometimes they will turn and attack you.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Now, has that ever happened to you?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: It it's happened to me where I've noticed something going on in a brother, I've pointed it out to him, but he wasn't ready to receive that.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: He took offense, he became defensive, and then he started pointing out all of my character flaws, which uh I had to agree with him, and I do.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: But God wants us to ask him for insight.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Ask and it will be given to you.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: He wants us to ask him for insight on our own issues.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, keeping our own side of the street clean.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: I had a conflict with somebody recently, a businessman, and uh, I'd gotten a little uh I took on bridge and I my tone had changed a wee bit.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: So anyway, I ended up sending him a text apologizing for my tone.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, anger is usually hurt or fear talking.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: And and whether he accepts that or not is not my business.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: I have taken care of my side of the street by asking for gives, I'm sorry.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I've done my job.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: But I have no animosity towards this person anymore.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: And if he doesn't forgive me, that's that's on him.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've taken care of my side of the street.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're not responsible for others.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: And matter of fact, unsolicited advice is is often really arrogance.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: If it's unsolicited, you know, I mean, Jesus waited until somebody spoke with him, you know.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh I'm I've gotten uh in this phase of my life, I'm asking questions.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm hoping uh that asking questions opens up a flow of back and forth information where things can be discussed.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um But see, God wants to give us insight into our own issues, and James says this if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: Who gives to all generously and without reproach, it will be given to him.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_02: But he must ask in faith without doubting, for one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: For that man ought not to expect he'll receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in his ways.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I thought that's the one.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's why Jesus said, Let your yea be and your nay be nay.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now I've been quoting that for 40 years.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: Let your yea be ye and your nay be nay.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I saw for the first time about two weeks ago?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: He said, He says, Let your yea be ye and your nay be nay, and anything other than that comes from the wicked one.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: I never saw that before.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Anything other than that.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, in other words, don't agree to something unless you're gonna do it.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Do say what you're gonna do and do what you said you're gonna do, or don't commit to it, you know.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: Or don't try to deceive others by indicating that you might do it.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or you might not do it, okay?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: I have to chew on that.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: I do have not concluded yet.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: So so I think above all, in all of this dealing with our own issues, is to realize other people are dealing with theirs.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: So we're to be patient and have empathy with them as we process our own, you know.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: So uh this is a a real humility moment that uh Jesus is calling us to.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, he knows that we're gonna be working out our issues, and sometimes the counsel of a brother, I mean, Proverbs is full of these uh thoughts that it's only a brother or a person of understanding that's gonna bring out the thoughts of your heart.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a brother that sticks closer than a friend.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh these are the relationships, is often where I get insight as to my own actions.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh, I have a wife who is uh has a uh Bachelor of Science degree in social work, graduating Magna cum laude from the University of Hawaii.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: She's a very insightful woman.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh when I married her, I was living in a refugee community uh in eastern Honduras, where only one of the persons spoke English.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_02: So guess what, Rhett?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: After about a year, I recognized that I was my wife's only client.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: And she was doing her best to make me a better human.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: And if she if she was sitting in the room, she would say, Yes, and you really needed some help then.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, it she was right.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: It does say in the scripture, it says, faithful are the wounds of a friend.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: Better than the kisses of an enemy.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, an enemy uh won't tell you that you have bad breath, an enemy won't tell you that you're doing things wrong.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: So faithful are the wounds of a friend.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm really glad you brought that one up because uh this no, this is the uh the way that it should be in the kingdom of God.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that we should have relationships with people, we should make ourselves accountable to people, we should be transparent with people, because we're all in the same boat dealing with the same issues, you know, and it's uh the encouragement of a brother or sister that often really helps me to make a right decision in the world.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: And God will work in circumstances and people, whether a faith or not, the uh hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to Cup of Friendship with Rhett and Mike.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to order your own cup of friendship, visit us at cupofriendship.com.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: The Sermon on the Mountain series will continue in the next episode.