In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of people turning away from their faith and the dangers of being influenced by the world. He uses the example of Demis, a trusted minister who abandoned Paul and the teachings of Christ. The preacher emphasizes the importance of staying focused on Jesus and not being distracted by the actions of others. He encourages the audience to be the true representatives of Christianity through their attitudes and interactions with others. The sermon concludes with a reminder that each individual is responsible for their own salvation and should not be swayed by the actions of others.

Last week, I spoke about avoiding the highs, the lows of life, and just maintaining a good joy in the Lord, but especially not living in the lows, depressed, discouraged, despondent. We talked about that, and I was gratified by all the people who walked up to me and emails I got who said, that might've been the most important message from my life that I've heard in a long time. I thank God for his word. We're the only advertisements that Jesus Christ has on planet Earth, we're the only billboards. Whatever people are gonna judge about Christianity, they're gonna get it from meeting you all on the job, and that's what Christianity is, no more, no less. Can't refer them to Bibles, you can't refer them to verses, they're not reading it, they're not reading the Bible. Your attitude, the way you talk to them, the way all of us here respond and interact with people, that's it, we are the light of the world, we're the salt of the Earth, not the White House, not the Congress, not the Supreme Court. The answers don't come from them, the answers come from the Christians who represent Jesus Christ. How many believe that, say amen. Now one of the things that tend to get us down in life, the name of this message is, do people get you down? Someone just nodded their head like, oh boy. That's one of the things in life, it's not just the bottom falling out, getting laid off from a job, or car gets back-ended or something, or carjacked, it's people, people get us down. Let's be honest, you meet all kinds of people, some people are very helpful, in fact, there's a tremendous relationship to the people you hang around with and walk with, and then your own spiritual life. For example, the Bible says, bad company corrupts morals. You run with the wrong people, you're gonna act wrong, because they're gonna rub off on you. So you have to choose your friends carefully. He that walks with the wise will be wise. It's what you read, who you hang with, who you interact with, who you fellowship with, they're gonna have a tremendous influence on your life. Am I correct? And then there are the people who disappoint us, there are the people who then oppose us, and then there are other circumstances when there are no people. So I wanna talk about do people get you down? Because I once heard someone say a long time ago, I love God and I love to go to church and I love to worship him, I just don't wanna be around any people. You ever feel like that? I wanna get all along with the Lord, but you can't get along with the Lord, we're all members of the body, we're all functioning, you can't isolate yourself, you have to live with people. And some people are good in the Bible, they're good in worship, they're good in prayer, they can be used in the gifts of the Spirit, the only trouble is they can't figure out how to cope with people. They have no social skills, no spiritual social skills. So I wanna talk about disappointing people, I wanna talk about opposition from people, and I wanna talk about times in life when you got no folks around you and everybody deserts you. This is one of the inconvenient truths that the Bible gives us, that real life stuff happens to real life Christians. That being a Christian is not a walk in the park, it's not easy to be a Christian, takes the grace of God every day. And I'm gonna give you three situations that have already happened to you and that will happen to you. And you can speak words of faith, you can do anything you want and say, no, I don't receive that, it will happen to you. Because it happened to the greatest Christian that we ever have learned about, which is the Apostle Paul. At the end of the last letter that he ever wrote, he's in prison in Rome, he knows that his life is gonna end soon, he writes the letter what we call Second Timothy, Paul's second letter to Timothy, a younger minister, and then at the end of the letter, he starts talking about people. It's one of the proofs of the veracity of Scripture, it's one of the proofs that Paul wrote it, because what he does is he just starts talking casually like anyone would. Nobody making a bogus letter would put these things in it. This is proof that Paul wrote it. And then it's also proof that Christians don't have some special privilege in life where you never get hurt, you never get disappointed. And if you think that, I want that to get out of your mind today, because I meet all kinds of people, and we counsel folks all the time, who because someone disappoints them, or because somebody opposes them, they throw their hands up in the air, and they go, well, no, what's wrong? The devil is against me, and maybe I'm not a Christian, or they blow up, they go flying off the handle, because stuff is happening to them that the Bible says is gonna happen to all of us. So this is gonna happen to us. It's already happened when I explain it, and it's gonna happen again. But we have to be mature and handle it. Let's read the last kind of few sentences Paul writes toward the end of this letter. For I am already being poured out like a drink offering. He's in prison in Rome. And the time has come for my departure. What's he speaking there? His death. He knows. Shows you that God can give you warnings when you're gonna die. I once knew about a woman who led a Bible school up in Rhode Island. God healed her, brought her through all kinds of problems. She was elderly. Lord kept helping her. She really walked with God and was used marvelously by the Lord. And then one time she got sick, and the people came and said, let us pray for you. And she said, don't pray for me. God's not gonna heal me. This is it, I'm going home. God can show you when you're gonna go home. Don't you know that, amen? Of course God can show you. So he knew. Peter also had the same premonition. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there's in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, not just Paul, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Do your best to come to me quickly. For Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia and Titus to Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark, that's John Mark, and bring him with you because he's helpful to me in my ministry. Oh, I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas and my scrolls, especially the parchments. He's still reading and studying even though he's at the end of his life in a prison. Alexander the metal worker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him. Literally, in the Greek, that means stay away from him because he has strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to my support but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and he gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it and I was delivered from the lion's mouth. Let's go back to that first verse. Let's look, verse 10. Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Look at verse 11. Only Luke, that's Dr. Luke who wrote Acts and Luke is with me. Alexander, verse 14. Alexander the metal worker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done. You too should be on your guard against him because he strongly opposed our message. And then finally, at my first defense, no one came to my support. Totally abandoned by all his gumbares, all his friends, his amigos, his posse, all gone. Everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength. So I wanna talk about three situations among all these names. I wanna talk about Demas. You're all gonna have a Demas. Number two, I wanna talk about Alexander the metal worker. And number three, I wanna talk about Paul's trial where everyone forsook him. Paul's writing this last letter, as I said, from Rome. And he's writing to Timothy and he's encouraging Timothy. And even though he's in prison, there's no self-pity, there's no victim mentality at all. He's giving orders, sending people for ministry. He's charging Timothy what to do. He's still full of life. He's gonna go out fighting. I have fought the good. You gotta keep running and fighting as long as we have breath. And then he talks about a huge, huge body blow that he took, a blow to his heart. And that was one of his faithful ministers, Demas, took off on him and forsook him. Here's Paul's in prison, dungeon, nasty place. He's got his ministers and friends around him still thinking ministry. How can we spread the gospel in Rome? And now Demas, who's mentioned in two other places in the New Testament as one of Paul's most trusted fellow ministers. Maybe one to the Lord by Paul, we don't know. But he could have been a disciple, a spiritual son like Timothy and Titus of Paul. And this was a trusted minister. And now when Paul is under the most intense pressure, what in the world gets into this guy's head? He takes off, leaves him flat. Paul's still in prison and instead of doing, discharging his duties as a minister, Demas is in left field. And he left, it seems like he apostatized. There's debates about all of this, but the general opinion is it wasn't a good thing because the word that he uses for Demas has deserted me is the same word that Jesus used on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou? That's how Demas forsook Paul. It wasn't that there was a family illness, he had to go. No, he deserted him. Maybe he deserted the faith. Maybe he apostatized. Maybe the pressure of maybe going to prison like Paul, he said, no thanks, I'm all for Jesus, but I'm not going in a slammer. He was a fair weather Christian. Maybe that got to him. Something got to him. But Paul says it was this. Demas has forsaken me having loved this present world. And the word that's used there for world is not the word that's used for material things like the world, it's the word that's used for the time that we live in here. Time, temporary, transitional things. He couldn't live for eternal things anymore. The grab and the hold of the invisible on his heart wore off and the things of this world and this time and good life and pleasure and my comfort zone, that grabbed him. And he said, adios, muchacho. He left Paul. He deserted him. And that hurt Paul. Because when you got a trusted minister, a trusted friend, and they leave you and maybe apostatize, that's a disappointment. You ever been disappointed by anybody? Is this not amazing, the Bible tells it like it is, that you could travel with Paul and still turn back? You could travel with Paul, the guy who wrote most of the New Testament, see all the miracles that God did through him, see the strength of character, see the strong, courageous stand for Christ that he always made, and seeing all of that, the world could still get you. I don't wanna receive that. Listen, stop faith talking. Talk real, talk real, it happened. It could happen again. That's why the Bible says, work out your salvation with what? Fear and trembling, for it's God who works in you both to will and to do according to his good pleasure. That's why the Bible says all of us gotta be cautious how we live what's going on in our heart and life because demons travel with Paul and still turn back. But that shouldn't be surprising if you know your Old Testament because Israel saw the 10 plagues come on Egypt and then they saw the Red Sea open and they weren't in the wilderness one month and said, where's God? Let's go back to Egypt. I mean, people can be crazy. We folks can really go off, can't we? So that's an interesting thing to think about. Someone said, no, if I just saw God do this, that would just seal the deal for my life. It would not. It would last about a week. Every day we need to keep getting close to Jesus Christ. Can we say amen to that? Every day. There is no miracle. There's no anything you'll see. You gotta day by day walk with him. Number two, as you think about demons, you realize that not only had he walked with Paul and seen so much and still turned back, you notice that Paul doesn't take his eye off the prize. This is where we struggle. There will be people who disappoint you. There will be people who turn back on the faith. There will be ministers who will flop. So what has that got to do with you and me? As Jesus said to Peter, who was bothered by what might happen to the Apostle John, what is that to you, Peter? You follow me. If you put your eyes on people, you're gonna get distracted. If you put your eyes on people, the enemy will use it to give you license to act like that yourself. We must not put our eyes on people. We must keep our eyes focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. All in favor, say amen. That happens all the time to people. I can't believe that happened to that guy. Listen, it is what it is. Now what are you gonna do? What does it matter what some minister did to me, what this one did or that one did? I gotta work out my salvation with fear and trembling. And Demas is of that company of people who serve for a while and then turn back. Now the Bible says anyone who loves this world can't have the love of the Father in him. We don't know enough about Demas to know all the details. We just know it was a body blow to Paul. People who are close to you can hurt you. I wanna go further. People who are close to us right now could very well in the next year, five years, 10 years, they could hurt you. That should not make us like throw up our hands and say where's God? God loved the Apostle Paul, but it happens. Now what are you gonna do when someone falls? You're gonna get distracted and feel sorry or get all upset? No, you're gonna keep on trucking for Jesus. You and I are gonna keep on. How many have decided to follow him, no turning back, no matter what? I don't care what anyone else does. It was brought to my attention, someone who used to come to this church is often never, never land with some teaching and something. Look, I feel bad, but I gotta keep my eyes focused right on what God wants me to do. How many are with me today? I can't be distracted. And I'm not gonna take it like, oh no, look what's happening. Look, it is, it is what it is. It's gonna happen. Perilous days will come in the last times, Paul says. I wanna say one other thing. God laid this on my heart at 2.30 in the morning for somebody, for me to say this today. So whether it's a parent or someone, listen closely. You could, if you believe some of the thinking that we have today, say, Paul, what's up? You're the pastor of this group? You're the pastor of Demas? Demas turned back, having loved this present world? Yo, Paul, where's your discipleship? How strong is your ministry? Who's one of your trusted ministers? He's no longer fighting the good fight. I wanna tell you something now, listen. No one is responsible for another person. If you don't tell them the truth, if you don't love them and tell them the truth, now you're gonna have to stand before God and give an answer. But if you love people and you tell them the truth, there's a mystery of free will. There's a mystery called the mystery of iniquity, that people make decisions, including your own children, that a day can come when they make those decisions. You pray, the Holy Spirit helps you, you groan, you labor, you intercede, you do. But you're not responsible. Everyone is responsible for their own decisions. Paul didn't say, I'm ashamed to tell you this, Timothy. I really blew it, man, Demas left. Where did I go wrong? I went wrong nowhere. Demas decided to cut bait and leave. That's on Demas, that's on you. If you hear the truth in this church from this pulpit and you wanna turn and follow the enemy, it's not on me, it's on you. Now, if I didn't preach the truth, if the pastors don't preach the truth, then it's on us, partially, because we didn't warn you and tell you the truth. But if a choir member turns back, it's not on Carol. How would it be on Carol? We're all mature, we're adults, we make decisions. That's why the Bible says in the Old Testament, the parents are never to be punished for the sins of the children. The parents are never to be punished for the sins of the children. And I went through that when I first went in the ministry. I took everything personal, like anyone who stopped serving the Lord, it killed me. And God had to deal with me and say, tell the truth and love them and pray and do your best. But in the end, it's on them. Because when they stand at the day of judgment, you think you're gonna drop my name and that's gonna get you off? Pastor Cimbala was such a mediocre pastor. That's why I messed up. Do we live in the blame game society? Everybody's copying a plea that somebody did. Listen, it's all on us. If I'm gonna serve the Lord, it's because I wanna serve the Lord and he'll keep me. If I don't wanna serve the Lord, I can turn aside. I can go off the path. Oh no, you couldn't do that? Oh yes, I could. I'm not a robot, I have free will. You have free will every day. What are you gonna make of your life? You'll decide that, not me. I'm supposed to help you, I'm supposed to shepherd you. But I'm not you, you're you. You're not me, I'm me. Does that make any sense, all those words? So if you're here today and the enemy is laying one on you like, where did you go wrong? Listen, you let God search your heart. If you made a mistake, you repent. But remember this, when the prodigal son took off, the prodigal son's father is a picture of God, right? He's a picture of the father, ran, hugged him, kissed him, showed mercy. Well, where is that? That it's on the father that the prodigal son took off. What's wrong with you, dad? What kind of son did you raise? Samuel's one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament. Both his sons were losers. That's not on Samuel, that's on his sons. You train, you do your best, you love them, you pray. But there's a mystery in all of this. It's like the mystery in this meeting. You know, some of us were so moved by the Holy Spirit when the choir was just singing. Were you moved, were you touched by the Holy Spirit, anyone like I was? And then the person next to you doesn't even get it. They're gonna walk out and live like nothing ever happened here. Am I right or wrong? That's the mystery of free will. That's the mystery of this thing God doesn't violate, which is me. If God has a gun at my head and makes me serve him, what would that mean to him? When your wife comes home and if you're the husband, if you gotta pull out your marriage license and the decree and get a 45 and say, make dinner for me, you know? You're in a bad place. And even if she makes dinner, what does it mean? You had to hold a gun to her. Worship, love, service only means something when you do it of a free will. Lawyers tell you that in a court, if there's coercion, there's no longer responsibility. Person has to be responsible, make a free choice. That's the mystery of life. That's why we should love each other and cherish each other and encourage each other. Keep making the right choices, keep trusting Jesus. So Demas had left him. People disappointed him. And you and I are gonna have people disappoint us. So Jesus will never disappoint you. Come on, do I get an amen? Jesus will never disappoint you. Your family will disappoint you. And don't be a victim about it. So my dad started drinking when I was 11 and 12 and he drank for 20 some years and he lost his job and he didn't make it to my wedding. So what does that give me license to do? Nothing, I gotta make up my decision. And I was over there in Italy and all the pastors at this meal were drinking wine after our meeting together because they drink wine over there, the ministers, very strict about a lot of outward rules and regulations among the group I was with. And but after the meeting, they're putting wine down like it's water. And they all ordered wine and I was paying for the meal and I don't drink wine. They said, are we offending you? Because they noticed I was just drinking my club soda. And I said, no, my dad was an alcoholic. I don't know what's in me. Maybe one drink will put me over. My dad just took one drink. He went to one office party, they gave him one drink, he became an alcoholic. Who knows what's in me? Don't we all have predispositions to certain things? Come on, how many know you have weaknesses in a certain area of your life? Those who didn't lift their hand, you have a weakness toward lying. We all have weaknesses, so I gotta make that choice. You get disappointments, but only Luke is with me. Luke stuck with Paul through the thick and the thin. Oh, thank God for a Luke in your life. Do you have a Luke? Do you have a friend, a relative? My mom, when my dad started drinking, what did that give her the right to do? She kept serving Jesus. She kept trusting the Lord. She could have thrown up her hands and said, what did I ever do to get an alcoholic husband? No, she'd been responsible for her life. She can't judge my dad. My dad was my dad. I'm me. If anybody here is carrying that burden that you're responsible for somebody else's mess up, get it off of you now. Throw it off of you right now in Christ's name. Let it go. Only Luke is with me. Do you have a Luke? Oh, I thought, you know what? When you're younger, you appreciate sensational things. The longer you walk with the Lord, the more you appreciate things that other people don't even notice, and one of them is a good spiritual friend like Luke. Do you have a female Luke or a male Luke in your life? Do you have someone that sticks with you, knows you? I have a Luke in my life who knows me, knows my faults, knows where I'm off in my head, knows everything, and still loves me, still encourages me. And when I get a little bent out of shape, he can just like, yeah, he's bent out of shape in that area. Do you have anyone like that in your life? Or do you just have friends, when the sun is out, they're your friends, then when the clouds come, they're nowhere, no. You know what we should do today? Why don't you do this today? Think about people who have influenced you for good, who have been a Luke, been loyal. Number one, thank God for them, and before they die, why don't you tell them thank you? Why don't you tell them thank you today? Why don't you call to Trinidad or Jamaica or Brooklyn or Bronx or Puerto Rico or wherever, or wherever they might be, or tell them right in the meeting today, you've been a strength in my life. You have stuck with me. I appreciate you. Good friends are hard to find. Someone says you get a lot of acquaintances in life. If you make two or three friends in your whole life, you're like one of the rare people on the earth. Most people don't have two or three friends in their whole life, who really know them that they can open up with. So even if a demis will disappoint you, thank God for the Lukes. Alexander the metal worker, he did me a great deal of harm. What? He did you a great deal of harm? Why didn't God kill him? You're the anointed apostle. No, you can be a Christian and have people run over you with a truck. Alexander the metal worker is an interesting person because there's no certainty exactly who this is, but it seems like, I think the best informed opinions are this, that he is a man who's referenced in Acts 21 in Ephesus as a believer who was asked to give testimony, but then something went south with this guy. And at the beginning of 1 Timothy, Paul says, there are people who cause a lot of trouble. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, who I have handed over to Satan, the utmost church discipline that you could give in a public meeting to hand someone over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit might be saved. There's another sermon for another time, but it's early church practice discipline. And it seems like this is the Alexander. And this Alexander who might've been in the church at one time, whether he was a fake believer or real believer, whatever, was now disciplined, which seems that he was a real believer at one time, was disciplined, and now to take it out on Paul, he was gonna slander, hurt, go against Paul's teaching, try to turn people away from the Lord. The word that's used there, he did me a great deal of harm, is not a word that's used for physical harm. It's a word that's used for emotional harm. You have anybody who's given you a lot of emotional harm in your life? The whole choir's nodding, yes, how about you? That happens in life. You not only have demises who disappoint you, you have folks who go for the juggler. They wanna hurt you for whatever reason. So if it happens to you and me, it's happened to all of us. How many have had somebody hurt you emotionally and they did it on purpose? Come on, lift up your hand high. Sometimes it's from our own families or in-laws or whatever. So Paul says, Alexander's one nasty character and he warns Timothy, be careful of him, which goes to show us that we can warn other Christians of people who are up to no good. You see, some folks are up to no good. Oh, Pastor Semble, you shouldn't judge that way. I didn't judge whether they're going to heaven or hell. That we're not allowed to do, but some folks are up to no good. Oh, I don't receive that about Alexander. Yeah, receive it because Paul just said it. He did me a great deal of harm. Timothy, be careful. Now, here's the thing you have to remember, the danger of that. The danger of Demas is you get distracted and don't keep serving the Lord and you use it as some kind of excuse. You hear that when preachers go off or something. People then justify they're not serving the Lord by, you know, you never can trust anyone and these preachers and this and that. It's about Jesus, not about a preacher. Number two, when it comes to Alexander, here's what you have to be careful of. Paul says, he did me a great deal of harm. He hurt me on purpose. He withstood my teaching. He went against my words. Here I'm giving my life to make converts. He's trying to unconvert my converts. That is very hurtful. And then he says, the Lord will take care of him according to what he's done. Not Paul, the Lord. I leave him with the Lord. He did a great deal of harm. I'm not gonna get back at him. The Lord will judge him. Brothers and sisters, do you have somebody hurt you? If you hold onto it, they'll hurt you twice. They'll hurt you because they hurt you. Now they're gonna hurt you because you got that resentment and you're holding onto it. This is why people, a lot of people don't sleep at night. They're playing old videos of everyone who ever hurt them. They're replaying it. What good will that do you and me? Did they hurt us? They hurt us. They hurt Paul. From what I read in the Bible, they didn't exactly not hurt Jesus. From what I read in the book, they put him on a cross and they put nails in his hands. So you think you and I are gonna get a free ride through life? Come on, anyone who lives a godly life is gonna suffer persecution. If you and I are gonna serve Jesus, there's gonna be folks who go after the juggler. It is what it is. Grow up. We're in spiritual warfare. The thing that we have to be careful of is we don't get bitter and resent back, but we give them to the Lord. Because guess what? The Lord will take care of business for us. We got Demas who disappoints. Don't let it distract you. We're gonna keep serving Jesus. There will be people who fall by the wayside. Nothing is new about that. There will be people who apostatize. Somewhere in my travels two years ago and turned on TV in a hotel room and it was some small religious channel. And here's back from 10 years ago one of the well-known Bible preachers and musicians from Oklahoma area. And now he's totally apostatized. And he says, nobody's not gonna be saved. Everyone's gonna be saved. That Jesus didn't mean there's a place of punishment. That God loves so much, nobody's not gonna make it. By the way, that is the prevalent view in America among people who go to church. That it really doesn't matter what religion you are. Everyone's gonna end up with God. That's how unbiblical the thinking is. So he's doing that. I said, I can't believe this. About 200 people in this storefront church has denied everything he stood for for decades. Denied it all, denied Jesus. Didn't the Bible tell us there would be people who would do that? What's that to me? I just gotta keep myself on the right road and you gotta keep yourself on the right road. And when people hurt us, like Alexander, we can't let them have the enemy use that to keep us bitter. If you're here today, let it go. Give them to God. Who do you think will handle them better, you or God? God will. And then it'll free you up because when you hold resentment on a person, you don't hold them in prison, you're in prison. I'm in prison when I'm holding that. If you're here today, you heard I said before the first time, if you're here holding responsibility for someone who made their own decisions, let it go. You're not responsible. They're responsible. We're all responsible. How in the world will God judge us if we're not responsible? And number two, if you're here, let it go. If someone has just dug a thing in the back, God's gonna take care of it. You know what that reminds me? Did you know that every choir member is gonna have to give an answer for every word they've ever spoken against anybody behind their back? And by your words, you'll be justified, and by your words, you'll be condemned. Did you know that Jesus said there's coming a day when every word's ever spoken, you're gonna have to give an account, every word. I tell you, I read that verse, I just say, God, is there some tape I could just put over my mouth for the next five years? Just tape up that little sucker and keep it closed. Jesus said you'll have to give an account for every word spoken, every word, every email, every tweet, every blog, everything, every phone call, every whisper, every little thing said, every little word said about anybody. You're gonna have to give an account before Almighty God in the universe. We're gonna have to give an account of every word. So you know what? Let's let people, let God handle them. Just focus on your words, my words. And then at my first trial, everyone deserted me, and that'll happen too. Your wife won't understand you. Your husband won't understand you. Your mother, your father won't be there to help you. Your friends won't understand. In other words, I'm not saying you're gonna be on trial, but just like we're all disappointed by people and we all have people in our life who try to do us a great deal of harm, so it is sometimes in life, you go through things that nobody can walk you through. You're all alone. And notice, people fail you. Ever been let down by anybody? Ever have anybody say, you're the man, I'm with you, and then you're not the man? You get in a spot and they're nowhere to be found. Has that ever happened to you? You ever felt all alone with nobody there? It's gonna happen. Happened to the greatest Christian who ever lived. So now, what do we gotta remember? Oh, I love this verse. Thank you, Jesus, for this verse. Paul says, may the Lord not lay it to their charge. Look at the sweet mercy and love that Paul has in his life. He says, yeah, they all let me down. In other words, when you're standing in front of, possibly he stood in front of Caesar because Paul got kind of famous as a prisoner. When you're in front of like Caesar, who would have been Nero at that time, Nero as in the one who burnt down Rome and played the fiddle and blamed it on the Jews. Nero, cross-dresser, that Nero, with guards all around. And if someone says, let's go to the court today and stand with Paul. They're planning to kill him, but let's go there and say, we're with Paul. No, I'm busy today. You know, I'm gonna be, got some other things to do. Maybe it got too hot. You know, haven't we all failed God? Am I the only one here who's failed God a whole bunch of times? Haven't you ever backed down? Hello, haven't you ever backed down? So you know what Paul does? He says, may the Lord not hold them responsible. He didn't say, Timothy, at my first trial, guess what? Nobody was around. May they get high fever in the middle of the night. No. May God not lay it to their charge. When your friends do let you down, don't take yourself so serious. Remember what Jesus prayed on the cross. Father, forgive them. Oh, they know what they're doing. They're hanging them on a cross. They know what they're doing. But he said in another sense, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. But the Lord stood by me. It's better to have the Lord with you than a posse around you. He said, I was all there, and guess what? He not only stood by me, he gave me strength. So Paul defended himself in such a way that Caesar and the court said, no execution, you're free. You go back to your remanded. That's the word, remanded, right? You're remanded back to yourself. So when people let you down, know this. The Lord will never let you down. When people are not there, the Lord will be there. Imagine to stand before Caesar and the trial and know, although you can't be seen, the Lord is with me. I'm not alone. No, there's nobody with you. No, I am not alone. The Lord is with me, and he's given me strength. Instead of being bitter and feeling bad that his friends let him down, he's no. May God forgive them. We all have weak moments. But the Lord was with me. Now, how Satan tries to use that, just like with disappointment and people trying to do harm to us, is he tries to make you give up because you feel nobody cares and no one understands. Then you become an isolationist. You wanna break my heart? My heart's been broken many times in life. Just come up and be prayed for. And then when I talk to you and ask you about who you are and where you live, I'm asking you how long you've been coming to the church. Oh, nine years. Who's your best friend? I don't have any. See, that's the enemy working. How could you come here nine years and not have a best friend? Because the enemy has put in your head that no one cares about you, and that's a lie. God cares about you. I care about you. In the name of Christ, I tell you that I care about you. Well, you don't even know my name, Pastor. You're right. Do we love people? Do we pray for them? Do we talk about them? So remember this. When people let you down, ask God to forgive them and show mercy to them because he's shown mercy to you. But know this, you're never alone. That's one thing. You're never alone. Pastor, but I feel. I'm not asking how you feel. I'm asking the fact. The fact is you cannot be alone because Jesus said I will never leave you nor forsake you. Now recognize his presence, say it, the Lord is with me, and then count on him to give you strength. That's the spirit of faith, not going by how you feel. So we learned something today, didn't we? How many learned some good things today? Lift up your hand. We learned that there will be demons who disappoint us, but what's that to you and me? Keep your eyes on the goal. Keep your eyes on Christ. There will be Alexanders who go for the juggler. Let the Lord handle them. Don't get bitter. Don't take vengeance. Vengeance is mine, say it, the Lord. Don't buy those little dolls and be sticking pins in and all that other stuff. That's not a Christian thing to do. Leave them with the Lord. Oh, hallelujah. How many love that? Come on, put your hands together. Leave them with the Lord. Lord, you take care of them. In those moments where you feel alone and people have let you down and you feel really isolated, don't hold it against them. Ask God to forgive them, but always recognize this. Jesus stood with my mom when my dad left her alone. My dad never left the house, but my mother was never alone even though he was unconscious a good part of the time because Jesus sticks closer than any brother, friend, but you gotta remember it and recognize his presence when you feel alone. Thank you, Jesus, you are with me today. Thank you, you're gonna help me today. No, I'm not gonna think about who abandoned me because that's a dead end. Lord, have mercy on anyone who failed me, but you will never fail me, and you permitted this so that I could see how strong you are all by yourself in my life. Let's close our eyes. If you're here today and you feel like, at my first trial, no one stood by me. I'm all alone, Pastor. I feel like what I'm going through, you've encouraged me that Jesus is there, and I needed to hear that today, but I feel so isolated and alone going through the job searching, unemployment, trouble with my kids, this, that. I feel so alone. If you want someone to just stand with you, if you're a man, there'll be a man just stand and put his arm on your shoulder. If you're a woman, there'll be a woman. I'm telling you, there will be one who will care for you, and we pastors are not even gonna move. It's gonna be some folks behind me that are gonna help you. Just get out of your seat and say, Pastor, as you dismiss, say a prayer over me. Say a prayer over me. Lord, thank you for your word today. All scripture is inspired by you, and it's profitable to encourage us, correct us, sometimes even rebuke us, but you have been so precious to us, God. When disappointments come and people disappoint us, and even jump ship and apostatize, we're gonna pray and we're gonna feel bad naturally, but Lord, we're keeping our eyes on you. We're not using that as an excuse, and if there's anyone here, Lord, who is burdened by a sense that the enemy's using a sense of it's your fault, free them from that, Lord. Free them from that in Jesus' name. When people go to do harm to us, help us not to be so surprised. Dry the tears from our eyes, but Lord, we leave those people with you. The Lord will judge these people. The Lord will take care of it. We're not gonna get vengeance. We're not gonna fight back. We're not gonna try to destroy them. We're gonna give it to you, God, and like you fought for Moses, fight for your people here, Lord, and Lord, in those moments when we feel totally alone, and people have let us down, even good friends, give us the grace to be able to pray. Lord, don't hold it against them, because I have failed you myself, Lord, but I recognize your presence with me, Jesus. You are with me, and you're gonna help me through whatever I'm going through, like you helped Paul at the trial. I pray that we'll all love each other more, hug each other more, say good things to each other, and Lord, thank you for all the Lukes in our life, all the people who have helped us, and stuck with us, and encouraged us, and they don't fluctuate up and down. They're like a rock in our life. Oh, we thank you for them, Lord. They're from you. They're gifts from you. Help us to express our appreciation to them, and not be ungrateful, and Lord, as we hug each other now, men with men, and women with women, let the hug be specially tender and good for us. Help us to say something that will edify another person. We thank you for all of this. We pray this in Christ's name, and everyone said.