Turn to our theme passage that was read this morning, if you would, please. I want to look at verses 19 through verse 22, and I'm going to be using a couple of other passages as we look at this. And this pastor asked me to speak on the theme passage this morning. As I began to look at it, I began to see some things that I really hadn't seen before in what God expects of us as believers, using the Apostle Paul as an example. We've set Paul up on a pedestal. And in a sense, that's okay in the fact that we need to follow him as a role model. But yet, Paul was a man. Paul was, in all points, tempted like as we are. Paul was a murderer. Paul stood and consented to the death of Stephen as we saw in the Book of Acts. Paul thought he was doing the right thing. He was religious. But he was not saved. And we find him here in 1 Corinthians now, dealing with the Corinthian people. And in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 19, look there if you would with me. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law, as without law being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. Does not the Bible tell us in another passage, when I am weak, then I am strong? I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Partaker, I think, of the harvest. For truly it is plenteous. I want us to think about that this morning. How many of you this morning, I'm gonna ask several questions. You can raise your hands if you want to. You don't have to, but it's kind of interesting to see just what we're doing here. You'll see, you'll understand why here in a minute. How many of you, and I know we've gone through COVID and we're still going through the variants and different things of that nature, but how many of you shook someone's hand this morning when you came in? Shaking hands is customary, isn't it? When this thing first started, it was like we're so used to shaking hands. Now I try to not put my hand out unless the other person desires to shake, and then I'll shake their hands. I don't have a problem with it. But shaking hands is customary here in the States, isn't it? But don't get too close, because now if you get too close, you're getting into my space. You know, I'll shake your hand. In America, I mean, we haven't eaten yet. This will probably take place in a little bit. But in America, burping after meals, or any time for that matter, is considered impolite, isn't it? You know, we don't belch. Some countries, it's a compliment to the cook, but not here. Waving is a common way to say hello, isn't it? Or goodbye with your hand extended up and your fingers spread apart and moving your hand right to left, you know. Yeah, it's common. As Americans, we're very hygiene conscious, aren't we? And we find natural body odors offensive. That's why we use deodorants. That's why we use perfumes to cover up the natural scent. That's why we wash our clothes. You say, where in the world are you going with this? Now, to all of us, this seems obvious, doesn't it? But the fact is, folks, if we behaved in these ways in some other countries, we would be looked upon as weird, or worse, as impolite, or even offensive. Listen, we expect others to abide by our customs when they come to the stage, don't we? And they expect us to try to abide by their customs, their culture, when we go to their country. Now here's a couple of other things for us as well, for us to think about. When you go to someone's house, you don't have to raise your hand, but when you go to someone's house and you take off your shoes at the door, If the host doesn't tell you not to, then you might want to take your shoes off, especially if you see a row of shoes, you know, starting at dad going all the way down to the youngest child, a row of shoes there, it might be right to take your shoes off as you enter the home. If the host has their shoes off or hostess, you might inquire, would you like for us to take our shoes off? Nothing wrong with that, right? So you can either ask or just take them off. How many of us pray before we eat? How many of you pray before you eat? I'm not trying to put you on the spot. How many of you pray before you eat? You normally pray before you eat, sure. How many of you have ever prayed after you eat for the meal? Ah, okay, one, two, three. Yeah, we've been in places where they pray after the meal. Is there anything wrong with that? Of course not. You can pray while you eat too, you know? And think about it a little bit. Here's one for us Baptists. What seats are okay to sit in when you go into church? Now, we chuckled at that. We were in a conference. It was in the state of North Carolina, Pastor. We saw that happen. You know, independent, fundamental, Bible-believing Baptist church. We were in a conference. A representative was sitting in a chair. A couple comes in in the back and they stop and look at the fella and, you're sitting in my seat. It was an older man that was sitting. I thought, oh my goodness, here we go. Well, he calmly got up and moved and so on. You think about those. Whose seats are those? They're God's. And who are we to block somebody from sitting in God's house? Church starts at specified times. If you go to Africa, they say church starts at 7 o'clock. No. That's when you start at home to get ready to go to church, is at 7 o'clock. And then people begin to mingle in. And it'll last for hours. We live, folks, yeah. I said, I'm prefacing that because there's food, so hang with me. It's not going to be hours, though, let me tell you. We live in the end times, do we not? We know, you better be sure that you're saved, because we know that our redemption is drawing nigh. And it's very short, a short period of time, and it's getting shorter and shorter before Christ returns. However, having said that, there is still a lot of work for us to do for the cause of Christ. That's where Brother Jim's question comes in again. We can't escape this in this conference. This has been a great conference. And that question is, is are we willing to go and to do and to be what God has called us to be? As believers, we live in a time when the gospel must be preached. Christianity is no longer famous. Christianity is no longer favorable in our country. If you've read your Baptist history, and you go back far enough in Baptist history, you're going to find persecution that took place in the Baptist denomination, if you will, among us Baptists. That may very well come full circle. I don't know. But we are living in a time when the gospel must be preached. We must hold high the word of God. We must be willing to give the gospel to the lost. The text that we read is not about adapting the gospel to the perspective of those that are hearing the gospel. It has to do with how we live or how we are going to behave among those that we are trying to evangelize. We can either, listen, 24 hours a day, I believe that we are either drawing people to Christ or we are pushing them away from Christ. No matter where we are. Brother Jim said he got irritated at the gas pump. I get that way too. Listen, we're all human. Aren't you glad that God is long-suffering? Aren't you glad that he's merciful? Aren't you glad that he loves us? Paul says, I became as. as the weak, as this person, as much as possible, I became like them, so as not to violate God's principles. Hudson Taylor was not accepted in China until he became as one of them. He was there for several years, but they would not accept him. go back with me if you would hold your finger here because we're gonna be coming back and forth to romans chapter fourteen and look with me there at verse one Romans chapter 14 and verse 1. And the Bible says, here again it's Paul, Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. Don't cause doubt, don't argue. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth, or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord. He that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not to the Lord, he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. So whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." We are God's. And Scripture, we find there, in meshing together with our passage in 1 Corinthians. Now flip back there and look at verse 16. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16. Here's the message. I am free. And you're going to see what I mean. I am free, but it's not about me. I am free. Look at verse 16. But it's not about me. Paul says, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me, if I don't preach the word of God. You say, I'm not a preacher. It means proclaim. But I don't know how to witness. Give them your testimony of what Christ has done for you. Hand out a tract. Use your phone. Whatever. We've got the avenue and the facets before us where it's made so easy, as easy as we can, as I said, to give out the gospel. We've just got to do it. We all get nervous. Because we don't know what's on the other side of the door. But we've got to do it anyway. First of all, we have the freedom to speak in verse 16, the Word of God. Philippians chapter 3 and verses 4 through 8. I have my verses marked. You may turn, but I have them marked and you can write them down for later if you wish. But Philippians 3 and verse 4 says, Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if many other men thinking that he hath thereof might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is the law, blameless above what things were gained to me. All of my pedigree that was gained to me, that I counted lost for Christ. And yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I'm free, Paul said, but it's not about me. It's about Him. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, but refuse. Why? Why all of that? That I may win Christ. It's not who we are. Paul was an educated man, wasn't he? And we see that in his writings of Scripture where we just read. However, he didn't flaunt that when he was speaking with others. Nor should we flaunt our intellect, nor should we flaunt our education. We go into churches and people just have to use titles. Of course, pastor used that a few minutes ago, but that's the only time I've heard it here. Thank you, I appreciate that. And because they have to use titles. Listen, the only thing, I'm from West Virginia, okay? And the only thing that that piece of paper is good for is to cover the holes in the wall. The education's great, but listen folks, we're not called to flaunt our education or our intellect when we're speaking with others the gospel of Christ. Make it as simple as you have to. We don't need to flaunt it. Keep it simple so that they will understand. Use the vernacular of their culture. We don't want to talk over their heads. We want to talk to them. We don't want them to not hear the gospel. We want them to get it and to come to Christ, don't we? Number two, we have the freedom to be unhindered in the culture. If you look at our text in verse 18 now, what is my reward then, Paul says, verily that when I preach the gospel, I might make the gospel without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. Paul says, I have this education, but that's not really what I am. You're going to find in a little bit as we go further that Paul was something other than an educated man, if you will. He was a servant. And what is his reward? His reward is seeing the harvest come in. It's seeing the souls that are coming to Christ. And so he has the freedom, yes, from what Scripture is telling us to be unhindered. And we need to understand that people need to hear the Gospel. Not just to hear it, but they need to hear and understand the content of the Word of God. We want them to understand who Christ is and what Christ can do. What Paul is telling us here, I think, is that we've got to be able to remove all the cultural barriers that would needlessly distract Or offend, as I pointed out a little bit in the very beginning, those that we're trying to reach. If I'm trying to reach somebody, why am I going to want to offend them? Many years ago, I was in the home of some friends from Malaysia for a meal. To this day, I don't remember what all they had for the meal except for one green leafy vegetable. And I have no idea what it was. But I knew that I needed to take a small amount, and I would put that word small in all caps, a small serving of it. And so I did. Because if you don't like something, to them, if you don't eat it, it's an offense, okay? And I took it. Well, and I took it. And immediately it was so bitter. I was just kind of stunned me, you know, and you're sitting and you're trying to keep the right kind of face, not giving anything away. And you kind of just move it around in your mouth. And I knew I had to chew it. And if I chewed it, it was gonna become more bitter and had to swallow it. But by the grace of God, I was able to do all of that. I got it down. I didn't take any more. But I didn't want to put up a wall between us. In some countries, dog is a delicacy. In other countries, belug is a delicacy. How many of you know what belug is? Yeah, it's the small duck in the shell that's cooked and you eat it. They're delicacies. Do I want it? No, I've never had it either. And I've never had dog that I know of. But you don't know, you don't know. Paul said, I don't have to. But he said, it's not about me. It's about him. Number three, we have the freedom to be a servant, Paul says. I say that, but then I have to put this in. We are free to be a servant, but yet at the same time the words that we see used is the word doulos, which is a bond servant. We are bound to Christ, but yet at the same time we are free in Christ. chapter 9 and verse 19 there he says for though I be free from all men yet have I made myself I've taken upon myself to make myself a servant so that I might gain the more for himself no for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ it's not about me And we should be that bond servant. In Galatians chapter 5 and verse 13, Paul tells us there, he says, Liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve one another the greatest servant of all was the Lord Jesus Christ who came and took the towel in his arm and the football in his hands and washed his disciples feet My dear friend can I say this that's the highest call of us as his child is that of a servant We don't need to be anything more. And we can serve Him by serving others. Paul had the right to be free from social customs of others in non-moral areas. But he says he laid aside that right, and he enslaved himself, in verse 22, enslaved himself to be free, but enslaved himself to all, and the Bible says they're becoming all things to all men that by all means he might save some. We need to be that, listen, when God saved us, he called us to serve when he saved us. He didn't save us to sit. He saved us to serve. And, you know, people say, well, we're all missionaries. Yes, we are all missionaries. And we should all look at ourselves as missionaries. And we should all be going and proclaiming, yes, here in East Flat Rock, yes, we are missionaries. Right in your local church, you are missionaries. In what county are you in? Henderson County. Okay. Anyway, you're close enough to Greenville. I always get Greenville when I'm this far south. But anyway, Henderson County, North Carolina, the world. Who's going to tell them if we aren't? We need to lay aside our rights and enslave ourselves that we might become all things to all men in order that they might come to Christ. It's awful quiet. Are we willing to do it? Number four, we have the freedom to be weak. The freedom to be weak to maximize the gospel. In chapter 9 verse 19 there again, Paul was talking about accommodating the Jews and the Gentiles. And you can see the back and forth in these scripture passages that we're looking at this morning. The freedom to be weak. In Romans chapter 15, if you want to look there again very quickly, Romans 15 in verse 1, he says, We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good edification, for building up that believer in Christ. For even Christ pleased not himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of them that are reproached, that reproach thee fell on me." Listen, wasn't the Lord Jesus Christ, when his mom and dad, earthly mom and dad, lost him there in Jerusalem, wasn't it the Lord that said, I must be about my father's business? Wasn't it the Lord who said, in the Garden of Gethsemane, even before he went to the cross, Father, not my will, but thine? Indeed so. Is that ours? Do we have enough gumption to say that as our spiritual life, that which we could say that, that I may win Christ, that I may be like-minded? In Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8, as we read there a little earlier, 8, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. We are free indeed, yes, but we are bound by Christ. that I may win Christ, that I may be like-minded. If we know someone has a weakness, we're not going to flaunt our freedom in front of them. Paul didn't do that. In the eating of meats, we notice that. If they're offered to idols, and there was a weaker brother sitting there, and he did not partake, Paul would not partake. If Paul was serving the meal, and a weaker brother was sitting there, and he knew that he would not eat the meat because it had been sacrificed to idols, Paul wouldn't serve the meat. We're not going to flaunt our freedom in front of them. That I may win Christ. And then what else do we do? Are we to do? If you're in Romans 15 there still, look at verse six and seven. We're to glorify God together. Glorify God, that's what it's about. Winning Christ and then glorifying God in Romans 15 and verse six. that ye may be with one mind and one mouth. Glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, ye receive one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. To God's glory. We sing that, don't we? To God be the glory, great things He hath done. How much do we believe in? Paul was with the weak, those that weren't sure what was permissible or not. Remember, he didn't do those things that would cause them to sin. Some would have gotten bent out of shape, so he didn't, and that's why he didn't do it. He set that freedom aside that he had, so as not to offend the weaker brother. He sought to accommodate them as much as he could. He did not have an obligation to, but he sought to as much as he could, but not going to the point of where he was going to violate God's principles. and he ministers to the Gentiles. He placed limits on his own freedoms as an act of love so he could minister to them for the cause of Christ. Remember, Christ didn't come to please or serve himself. He came to minister and to serve and to seek and to save those that are lost. We've got to be willing, folks, yes, to stand up and stand firm and stand out for the Lord Jesus Christ. But we've got to be able to do it with compassion. Matthew 9 that was given to us, those last verses, but he was moved with compassion. It was compassion that moved him to action. And it's got to be the same thing in our Christian lives. It's got to be a compassion that moves us to action. and love and the help of the Holy Spirit of God. Matthew 5, 16 says, let your light, let your life, let your testimony so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify you because you're the one who did them. Doesn't say that, does it? But glorify who? Your Father, which is in heaven. The only one who deserves the glory. Listen, we are not first century missionaries. We are 21st century missionaries. And before Christ left the earth, He commanded us to go into all the world, didn't He? To proclaim the gospel. That doesn't mean we necessarily have to go to a foreign field. We've given you an opportunity to bring the foreign field to you. The digital age that we're now in, Source of Light and many other good missions that are out there and where we can serve Christ right here and serve in missions because we love missions and we want to serve and that ought to be what we're doing. That doesn't mean we have to go to a foreign field. We can start right here and we should. Listen folks, you live among various cultures and different cultures right here in this area. We've got them here. People are griping and complaining about the southern border. Yes, I understand all the ins and outs of that. Yes, I understand it, but can I say this? They're here! What are we going to do about it now? They need Christ! And if we turn them off, and if we hate their guts, and if we're not going to talk about them, then how in the world do we think they're going to come to Christ if we proclaim to be a Christian? And they look at us and they say, I don't want any part of you because I know about you Christians. And you know what? The sad thing is, is they're right sometimes. I'm a better person than you are. I've heard that statement. And morally, they may be. It's not about us. We sing the song, bring them in, right? They're coming in, bring them to Christ. They're right here where they are. We need to go where they are and get them. This is a convicting passage of scripture. And my dear friends, I believe that if we're honest with ourselves, we all lack, I think, the all-consuming passion of Paul. who says, I do all things for the sake of the gospel. Because there's some of me that's stuck in there. I believe one of the main problems with us as believers, not sharing the gospel, may very well be that we don't view certain people valuable enough for us to make that much effort to give them the gospel. How are they less valuable than me? Well, you look at their past. Forget their past. Their past was just as wretched as our past. I didn't do what... That doesn't matter. Sin is sin in the eyes of God. Man categorizes it. God doesn't. I think we're too isolated sometimes from lost people to reach them. Or maybe perhaps it's just that we are too much like worldly people to win any of them to Christ. Let's get down to where the rubber meets the road, if we will, and think about this. Let's not think about the people that are beside us, in front or behind us. But I really believe in this conference, we need to take, and man, it's been laid out, but we need to take time and inventory our own lives. We've got to wrestle with this and allow the Lord to speak to our hearts and ask God to change us. You say, I'm serving in missions. That's great. And I praise the Lord for that. I love your missions board and the fact how excited you are about missions. But I still believe we can do more. And when I say it in that respect, I kind of mean more of us. More of including others in our church or even in our gospel witness that aren't doing as much as we ought to be, if you can put it that way. Allow the Lord to speak to our hearts. May He use each of us, and may He use this church to win many more to Christ. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Let's pray. Father, bless the time. Bless the Word. Speak to our hearts as only the Spirit of God can. Move amongst us, Lord, I pray, and make Your Word alive to us. For it is the living word, in Jesus' name, amen.