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  RESTORING PEOPLE RIGHTLY
  by Randy Krahn
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of humility, repentance,
and understanding the fear of the Lord. It delves into the need to
examine our own hearts, avoid judgment and pride, and seek God's grace
to overcome sin. The speaker shares personal experiences and biblical
insights on restoration, bearing one another's burdens, and the
consequences of our words and actions.

Topics: "Humility", "Restoration"
Scripture References: Galatians 6:1, Galatians 6:7, James 4:6, Proverbs 9:10, James 1:19, Matthew 7:1, 1 Peter 5:6, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Proverbs 22:4, Psalm 34:18

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of humility, repentance, and
understanding the fear of the Lord. It delves into the need to examine
our own hearts, avoid judgment and pride, and seek God's grace to
overcome sin. The speaker shares personal experiences and biblical
insights on restoration, bearing one another's burdens, and the
consequences of our words and actions.

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CONTENT
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Good morning. I was thinking of reading from Galatians. Galatians
chapter 6, verse 1. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass or
sin, you who are spiritual or more mature in the Lord, restore such a
one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be
tempted.

Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if
anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives
himself. But let each one examine his own work, then he will have
rejoicing in himself alone and not in another, for each one shall bear
his own load.

You know, we deal a lot with people of addiction and we have over the
years, and we've dealt a lot with people who've fallen into sin, a lot
of times sexual sin, and it says that we ourselves have to be careful,
lest we also become tempted. Because we are nothing except we stand by
grace. And we are something because God calls us something.

He calls those things that are not as though they are. And he takes that
which is vile and he's able to make it precious because of his Jesus.
And so if we start to think that our own righteousness commends us
somehow to God, we can be prone to look down on others.

We can be prone when we deal with people to speak harshly to them, which
I have made the mistake of doing at times. You get frustrated with
people, you want to see them change. And you think if you speak to them
in a way that they would get an understanding that they can't continue
in this behavior from your own self, it doesn't bring about the
righteousness of God.

Now a word spoken under the anointing of the Spirit or spoken by the
Spirit can change people. But something of our own zeal doesn't change
anyone. And we need to be able to distinguish the difference between
righteous anger and my own anger.

Because the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. I
think a lot of times we don't see how God sees. And so possessing
righteous anger is very few and far between.

And I've had to at times meditate on my bed, on my couch, and think
about how I responded in a situation. And quite often, what we see as a
result of what we think is righteous anger is sin manifesting in our own
personal life. And quite often in the very same area where we judge
others.

And why is that? He goes on to say, let him who has taught the word, in
verse six, share in all things with him who teaches. Verse seven, do not
be deceived. This is the main point.

God is not mocked. For what a man sows that he shall reap. If he sows to
his flesh, he will of the flesh reap corruption.

But if he sows to the Spirit, he will of the Spirit reap everlasting
life. Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall
reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us
do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of the
faith.

We need to respond the way Jesus responds when he speaks to people when
he was on the earth. He spoke in a certain way with the sinners, and he
spoke in another way with the Pharisees, the religious people who
seemingly knew the word. And we need to respond that way in our dealing
with people.

So when you see somebody smoking, maybe on your deck or whatever next to
your apartment, you respond with mercy and compassion because that is
that man's nature. He's a dog. He doesn't know Christ.

He needs to know that you love Christ and that he sees the life of
Christ in you so that he would be attracted to your Jesus. And when you
see a pastor and he's screaming at his kids and his family or whatever
he's doing, as Brother Aleem shared some of, and he comes and he comes
and corrects you about your anger and about your bad attitude that he
spots or he has discernment on, Jesus spoke in a certain way to them. He
says, you blind guys, you hypocrites.

And then he says to the people, do as they say, but don't do as they do
because they say, but do not do. They don't practice what they preach.
Now, I believe that we're in progress, and I believe that we're not
perfected yet.

And I believe that God is working with us. And I believe that we all
have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, even pastors. But the
main point is, can we humble ourselves when we acknowledge that we were
wrong or that we sinned or that we fell short? And God is looking for
the spirit of humility.

And if we cannot humble ourselves, then we can expect to be judged
because what a man sows, that he shall also reap. If you're hard on
others, then God will allow others or God himself will be hard on you,
as Jesus was with the Pharisees. If you're compassionate with others and
merciful to others, then God will be merciful and compassionate with you
when you're struggling or if you sin.

Not when you sin, but if you sin. We have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he's able to sympathize with us and our
weaknesses. And he's able to help us if we come to him and we call on
his name.

Now, there's another scripture that says, judge not and you will not be
judged. Condemn not and you will not be condemned. Give and it shall be
given to you.

Press down, shaking together and running over will be poured into your
bosom. Now, I know most preachers use that certain passage about give
and it shall be given in terms of offerings, in terms of tithing. But if
we look in the passage in that context, it has to do with judging,
condemning, and giving.

How many of you sometimes just want to give somebody a piece of your
mind? Because you judge them, in your heart you've condemned them, and
in the process you want to give it to them. Now, most of us don't
physically give people beatings. Some of us maybe have.

But you know what? The measure you use will get measured back to you.
Press down, shake it together, and running over is going to be poured
into your bosom. Why? Because God loves us.

And if we're believers and we're professing his name, the measure you
use is going to get measured back to us. But it's a principle like
gravity. It happens with others as well.

Some people's judgment is down, namely us as Christians. Other people's
judgment comes down the road. Why? And we need to understand that what
every man sows, what every woman sows, there's a reaping of the things
that were sown according to the flesh.

And so if you mock people, if you make fun of people, you joke about
people, there's a time coming when you yourselves will be mocked. And if
you're not mocked by others, then God will mock you and laugh at your
calamity when it comes upon you suddenly. As the scripture says, a man
who is often rebuked by the Lord and hardens his neck, then suddenly a
torrent will come, a whirlwind will come into his life, and God will
laugh at your calamity, and he'll mock when your terror comes.

And then you'll call to him and he's not going to answer you. Because
when he called, you refused. And so now is your time to bear your
judgment, whoever you are.

And this is why we need the fear of the Lord. It's a key. You know, you
come to your house, you want to get in your house, after you've been
away, you pull out your key.

I've done it before in the dark, fidgeting through the keys, and you're
trying to find and you're putting the wrong ones in. And then finally,
you get your phone out. Ah, I got the right key, put it into the door,
you open it up.

And when you're tired, and you get groceries and whatever, it's
frustrating. And sometimes in a Christian life, we go through different
things, trying to find a way to find the answer to so that we can move
forward with the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the key to unlock wisdom,
to unlock knowledge, and to unlock understanding in your life about the
will of God.

You say, well, which way should I go? The Holy Spirit is speaking
through the word, through the fear of the Lord. Wisdom, this is wisdom.
This is the way walk in it.

And we get knowledge and understanding as we begin to take steps of
faith to walk according to the convictions of the Spirit and the word,
if we have understanding of it. It talks about Jesus. I believe it's in
Isaiah 11.

I can't be sure at this second, I haven't read it. But he talks about
the seven spirits there. Six are listed.

The one that's not listed is the Holy Spirit, which is understood. The
spirit of wisdom, knowledge, understanding, might, counsel. Holiness
obviously is in there, and the fear of the Lord.

And it says, His delight, if you had to choose one of them all, is the
fear of the Lord. It unlocks all the other things. It encapsules all the
other things.

And so we need to take heed to what in Hebrew is called Aharit. What
will it be in the final end? What will it be in the end? If I take this
decision, and I choose not the fear of the Lord, what will the outcome
be for me and for my household? Joshua said, as for me and my house, we
will serve the Lord. And all the children of Israel said what? Yes, we
will also.

And Joshua had the spirit of understanding in him. And he said, the Lord
showed me you won't. You say, but you will not do.

You will confess that you will, but your actions will prove that you
don't. You honor Him with your lips, but God showed me your hearts are
so far from God. What will it be in the final end? What will it be in
the final end for the children of Israel? Bondage? Babylon? The judges
time and time again? Amalekites? Canaanites? Hivites? Hittites? Because
of compromise and disobedience by not choosing the fear of the Lord.

My grandmother told me a story when I was 12 years old. I would go to
her house and I guess I was 11 turning 12. And we picked raspberries
this one summer.

And she taught me how to work. I was a bit of a lazy fella. And I didn't
like commitment.

I wanted to play. And I would sneak away and do my thing. And I spent
time with my grandmother and she taught me something for two weeks about
being committed, getting up at a certain time, working all day, stopping
for lunch and all that.

And she told me, what you sow you're going to reap. And if you sow
laziness, then in the end, that's how you're going to be remembered as
someone who's lazy. If you are foolish, then you'll be remembered as
someone who's foolish.

But if you purpose in your heart to become wise, like Solomon chose,
that he would rather pursue wisdom rather than wealth, then in the end,
God will honor that. So we set our course, people. And the way that you
set your course will determine where you end up.

You're a harit. My grandmother said when she was in high school, in
school, she used to mock this boy. He had large ears.

And she told me this story when I was young, and I remembered it. And
she used to call him cabbage ears. And she'd make fun of him in front of
the other kids.

And when her first son was born, his name is Jonatho. He's a pastor. He
was born with very large ears.

And she remembered how she mocked that boy. And she said, what I sowed,
I'm reaping. And every time she told me she looks at the boy, she
remembers her sin.

And the harit of how it was in the end. I think of my own life and
decisions that I've taken along the way as a firstborn child, in running
away from God, and going my own way and living for the flesh. A man who
sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.

I don't have to look too far back to remember, and it's good to
remember, things to remember, that those decisions costed me very
dearly, even to this day. But there's mercy and forgiveness with God.
And so it doesn't matter to what measure God has given us His grace, and
what measure of grace is manifested in our life through the gifts of the
Spirit and through the fruit of the Spirit.

When we deal with people, when we talk about people, when we interact in
ministry, whatever ministry that is, we all have a diversity of
ministries. We need to think about this. If a man is overtaken or a
woman in a trespass, you who are spiritual, if we understand the fear of
the Lord, if we understand the aharit of the matter, then we will deal
from a position of humility, from a position of spiritual authority,
from a bottom-up position.

We'll be able to identify with them in their weaknesses, because we also
have suffered things. We'll be able to speak to them in a right way, to
see the desired goal, which is to see people get free from those
trespasses, to see people overcome, to help them and strengthen them
along the way. It says, lest you also, or consider yourself lest you be
tempted.

There was a time when we were dealing with someone who was so-called
brother is a perpetual liar. Someone I respected, I didn't know that,
and all of a sudden I got light on it, and I went and confronted them. I
just absolutely screamed at that person, because I thought they deserved
it.

It seemed right to me at the time. Then what I did, the person was in
somewhat of a position of authority, so I figured it says, if you're an
authority, you can expose these type of people publicly, according to
scripture. I went to the front, and I didn't use the person by name, but
I exposed that person's sin about their lying, and how someone in that
kind of position could do that kind of lying is just absolutely beyond
me, and I was angry in my sharing.

I want to tell you that that week, someone asked me something, and I
lied about it, and I remembered all those words that I spoke, and all
those things that I preached about, and all those things I said, because
God is not mocked. The measure you judge, and the measure you use,
you're condemning, will get measured back to you. Press down, shaken
together, running over.

Why did I lie? Because I wanted to look better to someone else who asked
me about something than I really was. I wanted to hold to my integrity.
I wanted to hold to my righteousness.

I wanted to hold up my standard of how people viewed me, and I didn't
want to be honest about something, and I lied about it to make myself
look good, and the moment I did that, I was convicted thoroughly,
because we have to be careful. We stand by grace, not because of our own
righteousness, our own power, our own zeal. We stand because God causes
us to stand.

He says, and having done all to stand, stand therefore, for God is
opposed to who? The proud, and if you're proud, you're going to find
yourself stumbling, because pride comes before the fall, and haughtiness
before destruction, but He gives grace to the humble, so humble
yourselves under His mighty hand, so that He can lift you up. Now to Him
who is able to keep us from falling, and present us faultless before Him
in love, and He's able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we
ask, thank hope, or imagine. His grace doesn't fall short.

The reason why His word seems to not be working in your life is not
because God's a liar. It's not because His word isn't true. It's because
we're proud.

The problem is not with Him. The problem is with me, so when I stand
there and say, you're like to me, like an unfaithful stream. The problem
is not with God.

The problem is with my heart, and that's when Jeremiah had to humble
himself and repent. Even Job had to humble himself before God and
repent. When Job was clinging to his integrity, and Jeremiah seeming to
do similar things, and God was fishing something out that was deep
within.

Not that He would get light on it, but that we would get light on it, so
that we could repent and turn from it. Do you purpose in your life every
morning you get up, say, Lord please give me light on myself. You know
we got plenty of light for everybody around us.

I got plenty of light for my parents, and my mother-in-law, and father-
in-law, and all of you. I got plenty of light on that, but I lack light
on myself. Nor am I interested in getting light on myself, because that
requires something on my part.

And so if I minister, and I don't take heed to myself, lest I also be
tempted, then I will not ever become an effective minister. We'll be
dealing with an iron fist, and ruling with an authority that is not from
God. Paul said that when he was among certain groups, when those who
were of wisdom and of knowledge, he was one who could speak knowledge.

And when he was those who were without law, he was also able to be as
one without law, but not without law toward God. When we go minister up
a decree, I share as though I was one of them. I just come solo.

Those messages that that we preach up there are not fitting to be put
online here, because I share my struggles that I had in times past, and
of my weaknesses, and I share what God has done. I share the power of
God, not to glorify the devil, but I share that I can identify with
them, and if God did it for me, God can do it for them. I'm as one
without law toward God, but I'm not without law toward God.

Those who are without law, I'm able to identify with them. I'm able to
come to that level, to share with them in their struggles, and those men
line up to hug me. Why? Because of the genuineness and the sincerity
that comes from Christ.

I become of absolutely no reputation that I might gain one. Why? Because
that's what Jesus did. He came and he humbled himself, even to the point
of death, even the criminal's death on the cross, and they would just
accuse him of all kinds of things, but none of which were true, but he
allowed it to be so.

Why? For you. He bore a sinner's death, a criminal's death, so that we
wouldn't have to, and we are able to sympathize, and so is he, with
others, with the same comfort, Paul says. Why are we going through these
things? That we ourselves are comforted by God, and so we are pressed on
all sides, but not crushed.

We're perplexed, but not in despair. We get struck down, but we're not
destroyed. Caring about in this body, always death to the flesh, the
dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life of Christ might manifest in
our mortal bodies, so we'd no longer be slaves to sin, but slaves of
righteousness.

That sin would no longer have dominion over us, because we're not under
law, nor bondage. We're under grace. Let grace have its perfect work in
you, that you might become complete, lacking nothing, and so when you
see these things, you get light on yourself.

Humble yourself. When I go to the creek, when I was up at Wagner, I said
to one of the men that was sitting there, I said, all right, it's time
for me to go. Three things, and those men repeated it, because they
heard it six months ago when they were at the Joshua House.

Humble, humble, and humble. Three things. Don't look down on others.

Don't judge others. We're not judges. We might have judgments, but our
judgment has to be just.

We pray for people. We want to see people overcome. If God gives us
light, it's for the purpose of prayer, and sometimes to confront.

We don't confront everything. We confront when we see, hey, this is a
sin unto death. It's time to confront this, because I don't want to see
this person go back to the old life.

It's important to confront. We have to be willing to confront, but it's
only when there's sin unto death. The rest of it, we need to pray about.

We need to be in prayer a whole lot more than we are for ourselves and
for our others, because that is where God works. God works through
prayer. We pray believing, expecting God to bring miracles to pass, and
He's able to do it.

You don't want to have a reputation. You don't want to be defined by
choices that you took in the flesh, like my grandmother saying, you will
be known as someone who is lazy. You don't want to bear that brand.

We want to repent of these things. You know, when Jesus says, you
wicked, lazy servant, that man was defined by being lazy. He buried his
talent.

He wasn't willing to take a risk by faith. We don't want to bear those
kinds of brands. We want to overcome that, and if we get light on
ourselves, we can repent.

We can confess it, and we can turn from it, and the Lord will give us
grace to overcome it. I remember the time when I used to swear like a
sailor. I used to swear F words hundreds a day, and I said, Lord, I
don't want to be like this anymore.

I want to change. I can't change. I get so angry, and before I even have
a chance to think, these words are just coming, just boiling out of me,
this uncleanness, and you said that no unwholesome word proceed out of
my mouth, so if these things are proceeding out of my mouth, it says it
comes from the heart.

For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, so I said, Lord
Jesus, you have to give me a clean heart, clean hands, and a pure heart,
not lifting up my soul to an idol, and I said, Lord Jesus, I need you to
take away these swears out of my heart, and you know what he gave me?
One second. One second from the time that I got angry when I was first
born again in 1998 until the time that the swear came out was one one
thousand. He gave me grace for one one thousand to choose to say or not
to say, whereas before it would just boil out, and I couldn't even catch
myself.

Now I had a one one thousand. Do you want to say that word or you don't?
Oh, I choose not to. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus, for one second of grace to choose or not to say, and
you know what? After a few days, the words came less and less in my
mind, and after maybe one month, those words didn't come in my mind at
all. Since you've purified your souls through obeying the truth through
the word of God, which lives and abides forever, our souls need to be
purified, and when he gives us grace, we just think, miraculously, it's
going to be gone. He wants us to overcome in the trial.

Brother and sister count it all joy when you go through various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, perseverance.
Let patience have its perfect work, so that you might be complete,
lacking nothing. We need to overcome.

If you see these areas, I'm not going to call them character flaws. I'm
going to call it sin, what it is. We need to repent of these things.

If you see that you just like to laugh and mock at other people's
expense, you have to repent of these things, because you're putting
yourself above the other person, and God will never bless you in that
place. We need to humble ourselves and ask forgiveness and make things
right. I have in my spirit a joking nature.

I like to be funny because I like attention, and I have to be careful
that I don't allow this thing to manifest. One brother sent me a text a
sending out a foolishness, and that's scripture from Ecclesiastes. It
says foolishness is like a dead fly in a perfumer's ointment.

Someone respected for wisdom, just a little bit of folly. It will stink
to God, and other people will see it, and I've seen it, brother, and it
stinks. I start to repent of it.

That isn't who I want to be. It may be who I am apart from Christ, but
that's not who I want to be. I want to be clean.

I don't want to have a dead fly in the perfumer's ointment. I don't want
to come up here and share the scriptures and have some funnies, a few
icebreakers to get everybody laughing. I want to have the anointing of
the Holy Spirit when I share, and I want the Holy Spirit to work in
people's lives, and I want to see people change, because what God has
done for me, I want to pass on to others through the power of his grace.

May the Lord help us to get light on ourselves so that we can become
like Christ. I had one brother come to me, and he said, you know, you
preach legalism. I said, what do you mean legalism? Preaching the
gospel.

He says, no, every time you're raising the bar on me, you're always
raising the bar, and just when I attain to something, you make it higher
so that I can't attain, and he says, you know what? I give up. I can
never become perfect that you want. I said, listen, the scripture says
be holy for I'm holy.

It's not my bar. Jesus is the bar. Be perfect for I'm perfect.

I was at a meeting a couple weeks ago. First thing the minister says is
God doesn't expect you to be perfect. Okay, well, he knows that all have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

I understand the principle, but when he says it, it's worth be perfect
for I'm perfect. He set a bar and a standard for us to look unto him to
be saved, to become like Christ, and if I lower the bar, then I'll never
change. I'll never be born again.

I'll never see the sin the way God sees it. I'll just think myself a
good person, think myself a great guy. That is not who's going to
inherit the kingdom of God.

Great persons and great people and great guys do not inherit the kingdom
of God. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. I think it will magnify
the Lord with me.

Let us exalt his name together. I think of another scripture. Oh, taste
and see that the Lord is good.

Have you tasted of his goodness, of his mercy and his compassion and his
kindness in your life? Have you seen that he should have slain you? He
should have destroyed you in your wickedness, but he had compassion on
you and he spared you as a man spares his own son who serves him. That
is when you come to know your God. I've seen God show mercy and
compassion.

I've also seen his swift judgment. You know, there's a scripture that
says, vengeance is mine, I will repay, the Lord will judge his people. I
thought of times when I thought to sue people because they cheated me
and the Lord told me you don't sue.

You rather let yourself be cheated. You accept wrong. You take the low
road.

It's just money and it's never easy for me because I like to win and God
says I need to humble myself and allow myself to be cheated, to accept
wrong. We had a fellow who brought some woodwork to the property here.
We just finished our home last year and this person did it as a terrible
job in my opinion and I said, you know what, this time I'm not doing
what the word of the Lord says.

This time I'm suing. I paid that person up front, gave them half the
money. This time I cannot do what the word of the Lord says.

I have to seek justice here. This is just too much and I wrestled with
God for a few days and then I met with this person and this person says
it is what it is. You're just going to have to get happy about it and I
walked away without getting verbally angry.

I was very upset in my spirit and I said, God, your word says that I'm
not supposed to take someone to court, especially someone who's a so-
called brother. I am leaving it in your hands. You get justice for me.

I have to say this. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
living God. The weekend passed and the morning, the tradespeople didn't
come.

The next morning, the tradespeople didn't come. My wife called to find
out what happened. That man died the next morning.

They found him dead in his apartment and fear came on me. Was it my
words? Was it my words? And I said, Lord, who am I? You should have
killed me a thousand times over because I'm far more wicked. You know
what? By your words you'd be justified and by your words you'd be
condemned.

Our words have power. When Peter said to Ananias, you didn't lie to me.
You lied to God and he dropped down.

I'm not sure he knew that exactly was going to happen at that moment,
but it did happen and God gives us authority and if we are asking him to
respond for us like a prayer, he answers. I don't understand these
things. That was not my intention and every day when I get up and I see
that woodwork, I think and it puts a fear in me.

Every morning it puts a fear in me because I'm reminded of what
happened. The fear of the Lord is the key to wisdom, knowledge, and
understanding and if we understand what will it be in the final end, the
aharit, then we might make different choices before we act or react. May
the Lord help you to get light on yourself and to choose the fear of the
Lord and three things.

Humility, humility, and humility. Humble yourself under the mighty hand
of God so that he can lift you up by his grace, by his spirit, by his
power. In Jesus' name, amen.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/lzJIBZ60LnY.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/randy-krahn/restoring-people-rightly/
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