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Righteousness versus Self-Righteousness

Grace Covenant Church March 24, 2024 5:47 pm

Evangelist Synthia Washington                       

Summary

The group led by Pastor and Evangelist Synthia discussed the concept of righteousness, the source of human knowledge of right and wrong, and the danger of self-righteousness. They emphasized the importance of personal integrity, moral courage, and humility, and the role of the Holy Spirit in guiding interpretation of Scripture. Lastly, they discussed the significance of promoting the church’s activities on social media, the importance of wisdom, knowledge, and love, and the value of continual learning and personal growth.

Well, good afternoon, Grace family. Welcome to another powerful Bible study, where we dive into the word of God. I pray that you all have been having a wonderful week and that the rest of your week is going to be just as awesome. 

We have someone who’s going to come in today, and she’s going to give us a very mighty study on the word of God. Have your paper, pencils, and all of your study materials ready. I believe she’s coming. 

Look, I got all my study materials. I’m ready for you. All right, she’s been studying it hard and she’s ready to bring forth the word of God. 

So, with that being said, I want to turn it over to Evangelist Synthia. She leads us in Bible study tonight. And I pray you all look. Part of Bible study is when she brings it over to discussion. 

Let us get to talking. Iron sharpens iron. So, let us get to talking. 

Let us not be old silent Nancy’s in the back. And then when it’s over, y’all start texting each other, talking about, well, I had a question. Now, this is the time to ask, you know, like the Bible study, but it isn’t the time to start texting. 

The evangelists or the pastor and each other were talking about, you know, I should have said, come on, speak up here. We are all family, and we’re ready to talk to one another. 

All right. This is to you, Synthia. 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (1:40 – 2:55) 

Hi, blessings, everybody. So I really wanted to dive into righteousness. That is what the Lord placed on my heart. 

As soon as I knew that I was going to be teaching, it was righteousness and some things about self-righteousness as well. And I’m going to read this Bible verse that sanctifies the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you with a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. First Peter 315 New King James Version. 

Paul shared that. And I just wanted to read it real quick. It’s in the chat. 

So, amen. Sorry for getting sidetracked. So my first question, and I want you guys to be able to answer this. 

It’s kind of simple. What is what is righteousness? And that’s OK if nobody comes forth with an answer. 

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (2:58 – 3:54) 

So the Webster, the Webster Dictionary or Oxford Dictionary definition of righteousness is the quality of being more right or justifiable. The deeper spiritual meaning of righteousness is the quality of being right in the eyes of God, including one’s character or nature, one’s conscience or attitude, and so forth. One’s conduct or action. 

And lastly, one’s command and word. So righteousness, biblically, spiritually, just like righteousness from the. Dictionary is based on a standard, and so the righteousness that we are looking for is based on God’s standard, according to the according to him, because ultimately he is the lawgiver. 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (3:58 – 5:31)

Yes, you even went into the spiritual part of it. Amen. Thank you. 

So on and. That in itself, I had to do some research to even figure out what morally meant, because to me, moral, I always think of like, you know, when I think of human morals, I never thought that moral, I don’t know. I don’t know if I ever really knew the meaning of moral. 

And it was, you know, the definition of morality is a reference to the principles of right and wrong behavior. I’m sorry. Oh, okay. 

Y’all are trying to figure out. Okay, my bad. And the definition of justifiable is able to be shown the right or reasonable defensible. 

So I myself had to go look into the definitions of the word because I like to be as right as possible as I can and not just go out on a whim and explaining some things. So we know that morally, you know, being righteous is the quality of being morally right or justifiable. And so that’s right and wrong behavior. 

And my next question is, can humans really know right from wrong and find justification without God? 

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (5:35 – 9:04) 

That can be a matter of sees things because we all know, we know that we can, we can see from just children being born that take lying, for instance, no one has to teach a 

child to lie, but the child knows how to lie born, you know. Therefore, if the child knows that they’re not telling the truth, then they also know that not telling the truth is inherently wrong. So this is kind of loose. 

There is a premise that right and wrong behavior is known to a degree if there isn’t God in one’s life. We can look at biblical examples before God gave the law. They knew it was wrong, they knew that what they were doing was wrong, but it wasn’t, they didn’t really act on it. 

They, and then in the same token, they could not perceive also that what they were doing was wrong. And so, of course, I’m not using no biblical context to give my answer. I’m saying yes and no, because on one hand, you can’t know that something’s wrong unless you’ve been told. 

But we, because we all come from God, there is aspect of right and wrong. You don’t have to tell a child that something that they did is wrong when they did it, and then they realize what they did was wrong because of the consequences of action. So that person may not know God. 

However, because of the consequence of what they did, the very effect of their actions, they know that it was wrong, whether it be moral or not. So I do think that there is areas of moral latitude that is placed in us again by God to recognize right and wrong, even if we don’t know God. But I don’t think that’s the question he was asking, because if there was no God, then there would be no us. 

So the answer to that question is, well, no, because we wouldn’t have to worry about doing right or wrong if there was no God, because there would be no us. But if we did not know God, it does not mean that there is not God. And there is still the understanding of right and wrong, just because we don’t know there is a sun in the center of the solar system does not mean that the warmth of the sun still does not hit us if we walk outside, even if we don’t recognize it. 

So that’s why I say it’s kind of like yes and no. 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (9:08 – 17:15) 

Yeah, I understand that. And you, the funny thing is, is you went a little bit further in some things that I was going to talk about. And it was, it was awesome to hear your perspective of how I asked that question, because when I asked that question, I had a different perspective on how people might answer. 

And it was more so like, and I love your answer. You’re right. It’s yes and no. 

It really is a yes and no. Because if we for a moment take out the equation of God, and, and sit here for a moment and think there are people who out there have good morals, 

even though they do not have a relationship with Christ. And, and it sounds nice. 

We’ve seen the compliment, like accomplishments that they have made. And they, they, and that’s what you were saying that, that, that we, we inherently know some things from God because, you know, we were made by him. It was like, they themselves know these things based off of scripture. 

There are some teachings in the world that we can see that go hand in hand with how we can look at it and say, but that reminds me of a Bible verse. And they’re living by that, you know, so we can look at them and say, they have good morals, but where does that good moral come from? And that good moral can come from something that could have trinkled down from a Bible verse and got shifted into another way to where they don’t think that it even has anything to do with the Bible, because again, they haven’t studied the Bible. 

And so here they are living by this principle or by this, by this thing that they, that they think is good and not understanding that it was of God to begin with. And sometimes I think that’s the goodness of God, because then you can go, if they, if they were to ever interact with somebody, they’d be like, you know, that’s a Bible verse, right? And I’m like, really, you know, so I, I, I agree with you. 

It’s a yes and no, because we have this idea of what it is to do good and what it is to do bad because of how people respond to what we do and say, but there are, there is a corrupt view of what’s good and bad, because we know that God lays down a foundation and a law and we can’t, we can’t forget those things that he said, because he is just, and he knows what’s right and wrong because he created us. So I’m going to give an example. 

Hold on. Paul said something. Just because you don’t know and love God doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you. 

Amen. Amen. Amen. 

Amen. Sorry, I’m one that’s seeking. So an example of how humans have attempted to move and do something that is reasonable or maybe even morally right in their eyes, you know, is Sodom and Gomorrah. 

They, they thought it was fine. It was hunky-dory. They could do whatever they wanted to. 

It was good to them. And that’s the different thing too, is we have to understand what’s good for our flesh is different from what’s good for, from God. And they chose to go into the flesh and do all those things that they were doing. 

And it was good to them. It was good in their eyes. They had their own set of rules and 

they had their own justifications. 

And unfortunately, we all know what happened there. God went ahead and said, no, this is detestable. I’m destroying it. 

And I’m paraphrasing that. And one of my highlight examples tonight would be the Tower of Babel. In Genesis 11, three through nine, it reads, they said to, they said one to another, come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly in a kiln to harden and strengthen them. 

So they use brick for stone as building material and they use tar, vitamin asphalt for mortar. They said, come, let us build a city for ourselves and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens and let us make a famous name for ourselves so that we will not be scattered into separate groups and be dispersed over the surface of the entire earth as the Lord instructed. So we could see just right there, it’s, they had this wonderful idea. 

They said, come, let us make bricks. They themselves thought it was a good idea. They even moved forward with the plan. 

It was a group of people of a whole thing that came together. They thought it was a good idea. So can we really know what’s good and what’s not good? 

And I feel like at some point they had to have known that it wasn’t going to be good. You know, cause it says in verse four that they didn’t want to be scattered and dispersed over the earth, the whole entire earth as the Lord had instructed. So the Lord at some point had instructed them to scatter and they didn’t want that. 

So they’re choosing to go against the Lord. And that just kind of reads into what you were saying, pastor, kind of about that. Yes and no thing. 

We all, you know, God has introduced himself to us at some point, everybody. I mean, everybody has a chance. He knocks, you know, and so they thought it was a reasonable thing to do. 

And sometimes we run into that problem where we know what the Lord has said. And we think that another way is better because we, in our own eyes are starting to try to look and see what’s good, what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s bad, because we’re looking with our eyes. And we think that, okay, Lord, what you’re saying is a little bit crazy, or we just don’t want to do that at all. 

And we don’t like that, but I’m not going to focus too much on that. And we’re going to continue forward. So knowing that righteousness means the quality of morally right or justifiable, we can understand that God holds that place. 

He is morally right or justifiable. From Luke 18, 18, it says, a certain ruler asked him, 

good teacher, you who are essentially and morally good, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? That is eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom. 

Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is essentially and morally good except God alone. And it puzzled me when I read this verse, because I was like, Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? 

I’m just like, can we, you know, we, okay, amen, you know, because to me, I would want to call him a good teacher, I wouldn’t want to call him, you know, this great, magnificent, wonderful thing. And here he is, he even disregarded in that particular moment, when he responded the whole entire question. And he is like, no one is essentially and morally good except God alone. 

Thank you, Jesus. I want to ask this question, but I feel like it goes very closely with the question that I asked in the beginning. The question is, is there good and bad if there is no God to point out what is good and what is bad? 

[Minister Paul Washington] (17:31 – 17:43) 

So I think that the real quick answer to that is, I think the lines become really blurred. If we don’t have a God to put our faith in and to learn from. 

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (17:55 – 24:19) 

You’re looking at, you’re looking towards that true and perfect answer. And unfortunately, that is not possible for man outside of Christ Jesus to obtain on his own. It is simply too high of a standard. 

When we look at the very simplest basis of righteousness being accounted to someone, you can look at the first and earliest example of righteousness being accounted to someone and that was Abram’s first encounter with God in Genesis 15. And the reason righteousness was accounted to him is because when God spoke, he obeyed. That is the good news about the nature of righteousness that come from God that’s available to mankind. 

And through the person of Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we’re able to know. So that leads back to the answer, the second part of the answer to the second question that no, without God, it is impossible to be righteous. To have a moral compass is going to depend on what your definition or your terms of morality is. 

And you can look at examples throughout history and time to where certain things were justifiable and morally right. And today they’re not. So, you know, will there be morals? 

Yes, there will be by the definition, the Oxford definition of morality, there will be a level of morality that has been set aside in society, even in a godless nation or in a godless 

place, there will be a standard. Again, righteousness is simply a standard. So whose standard are we talking about? 

So if you’re talking about righteousness, you’re talking about a standard, that standard of living is going to be depending on who you’re following. The standard at Apple is not going to be the standard at Windows. The standard at Texaco is not the standard at the mobile. 

They have different standards that you would have to adhere to. So can there be morality? But there is no God. 

Well, yes, it can be. However, there is a different standard. One outweighs the other. 

Yes, there is. So true righteousness under who, I guess, would be a better question. You can’t have righteousness or morality under God without him. 

That’s why they did not know when they sing. That’s why they in Genesis, you see before law was given. They did not know that what they were doing was wrong. 

They were right in their own eyes. They had their moral compass about them. Well, their magnetic north was off, you know, it was only until God revealed his words that they come to know the way that God wanted them to go. 

So again, it is can you have morals? We yes, you can have more. There can there in a godless nation, certain things that line up with the word of God or is still true, you know. 

But it does not mean. That they’re justifiable, but we’re not just all righteous in that in that way. So it goes back to. 

Yes, you can have. There can be a level of righteousness in a godless place. But the standard is different. 

Whose standard are you better to? Because I mean, you think about it, I posted in Telegram under your mother’s question about why they why they censored the passage of the Bible. Jesus makes it very clear. 

And this is where you can where I say yes and no. Well, violence is bad. We don’t want to see violence on our screens. 

We don’t want to promote violence to our children. But the world standard of what is going to be violent and what our standard is, they are saying that that scripture depicts violence and we’re saying it depicts grace. So whose standard of morality are we going to stand by? 

And so we come to realize, like Jesus said, we’re in this world and not of it. If he was of this world, the world would love us. But we are we are of the kingdom of God and the 

world hates that kingdom because that kingdom is coming to destroy this kingdom. So I’m going to be quiet. This is your Bible study.

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (24:21 – 24:41)

I mean, no, it’s fine. I like I like hearing pastor. I like hearing everything he has to say. Amen. Amen. Yes, it is. 

That’s what Paul and I were talking about. We were talking about how. Oh. 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (24:50 – 30:21) 

I’m so we were talking about how basically, you know, people who were following Hitler even thought that it was right, you know, and I mean, you had an outside point of view of other people saying, what are you doing? But he still gained people who to follow him. So morality without God is subjective. 

Pretty much, you know, and like you were saying, and you’re and what you were saying. So sorry, there’s nothing really to add to what you said. So I’m like ravaging my brain. 

I’m like, what can I say? I’m like, he did said it all. So, you know, with that being said. 

No one is essentially or morally good except God alone. And I mean, no wonder because God did create us. He is the one who established right from wrong, and he knows right from wrong. 

And we cannot let our flesh or Satan get in the way, attempting to teach us right from wrong when only God truly has the answers. And I like what Kenneth has said in the comments. He said, until Adam and Eve are the fruit of knowledge, they knew not about clothing. 

So without knowledge of what is right and wrong, we have to be taught. Eight, did I say R? Oh, I automatically said eight. 

Okay, he had a typo. And I was like, oh, where’s the typo? Did I just read it all? 

So it’s like, and that goes to what you were saying, Pastor. We kind of just we ended up knowing what’s right from wrong. And God can further teach us because there are some things in this world that gets in the way of biblical teaching and biblical morals and what God truly has for us. 

So we’re born into a world of sin. And as we’re being raised up, sometimes those things, they just most times I’m going to say near dare I say all the times those things creep in. And then we have to go back and we have to filter out between the lies, what’s the truth and what’s not the truth. 

Because the enemy wants to try to deceive us on like I was saying, what’s right and what’s wrong. I’m saying a lot. So and we can continue on and see how scripture say says that God is just and a just definition, according to the dictionary is based on or behaving according to what is morally right and fair. 

So he knows what is morally right and fair. Psalms 89 and 14 reads righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne, loving kindness and truth go before you. Deuteronomy 32 and four says the rock, his work is perfect for all his ways are just and a God of faithfulness without inequity, injustice, just and upright is he. 

And so we need somebody who is just above us, because we could see the examples in the world of some people who are living by other good morals and good standards of what’s good in their eyes. And unfortunately, we see in the Bible, he contradicts that. And we know what can happen to those and I don’t like saying this, we know what can happen to those who unfortunately, fall under disobedience to God and what his word actually says, you know, so I don’t I don’t like saying that. 

But it’s the truth, unfortunately. So the Bible tells us we can practice living righteously, right. And this was a hard thing for me to understand when I first came to Christ, because I was like, we can’t be righteous. 

You know, how can we be? How can we be righteous? And how does that even make sense? 

Because God is righteous, right. But it’s more so of the fact that we that we practice living righteously, we aren’t righteous. So in 1 John 2 and 29, it reads, if you know that he is absolutely righteous, you know, for certain that everyone who practices righteousness, doing what is right and conforming to God’s will has been born of him. 

So here again, we we see where God takes his place of being the righteousness. And we are conforming to his will and doing what’s right according to him. We’ve already established, you know, the beforehand of what’s moral, if we can have morals without him or not. 

Unfortunately, worldly morals can go, but they’re not going to go well in the end. Because we do have a God. 

Those questions were, can we do it without God? Now, we have God in the picture. 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (30:27 – 32:26) 

Oh, okay. I was like, I was trying to figure out who had that on. I was about to ask to mute. 

So the question, there was a question that popped up in my head that I didn’t write down that I wanted to ask. But it’s gone now. So that’s okay. 

So as the Lord reveals right and wrong to us, we can choose to practice living righteously. And it is a choice. We can choose whether to live righteously or not live righteously according to his will. 

And so I’m going to go ahead and read Proverbs 2121. He who earnestly seeks righteousness finds life, righteousness, and honor. Proverbs 15 and nine says the way of life of the wicked and hateful and exceedingly offensive to the Lord. 

But he who he loves one who pursues righteousness, personal integrity, moral courage and honorable character. We are told to turn from our wicked ways. So we can that dives into that right and wrong. 

We have to know what wrong is, right? I’m going to keep reading from what I have wrote down here because I’m getting through some Bible verses before I get more into the talky portion of it. Bible states in Isaiah 32 and eight, the way of life of the wicked is hateful and exceedingly offensive to the Lord. 

But he who loves, he loves one who pursues righteousness, personal integrity, moral courage and honorable character. And so my question from this verse would be, what are ways that we pursue righteousness, personal integrity, moral courage, and honorable character? 

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (33:02 – 33:18) 

Sorry, I was doing something asked. Could you ask that question one more time? 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (32:41 – 32:50) 

No, you’re fine. The question is, what are ways we pursue righteousness, personal integrity, moral courage and honorable character? 

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (33:02 – 33:18) 

Come on, y’all. This isn’t a discussion between me and Synthia. I can answer all the questions. 

Go ahead. Go ahead. 

Yes, please. 

[Kristina Newman] (33:20 – 34:23) 

Okay. In order to like those, I can’t say the question exactly how she said it, but the only way that we know that we can possibly live in the righteous way that he would want us to live is to keep our face in the word, have the word in your heart, know the word before you open your mouth and don’t put yourself on a pedestal if you think you know a little bit more than the others. I mean, because that would question your integrity, too. 

Okay, well, you’re seeing me as I’m a little bit below you because I just may not know. So you have to watch even when you’re talking to somebody that is not as knowledgeable with the Bible, not to belittle them just because you know a little bit more. You lead them. 

You guide them. The only way you can know your integrity and if you’re following the righteous way is if your face is in that word and you are learning that word because that word is a living word. So anyway, that’s my thought. 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (34:23 – 36:05) 

Amen, and that’s where you kind of mentioned that whole kind of a negative side to it about how people can approach things. And I believe that that can go a little bit into how people can have a self-righteousness about them and walk about with pride when presenting the word, you know, because some people who and this isn’t all people, you know, some people who have, you know, maybe went to school for it or maybe have really studied out something they know that they know they’ve been self, you know, they’ve been approved of and everything because the things that they say is right and their knowledge is very well-rounded and they can come off as arrogant, showing that pride, you know, and that’s one thing that we don’t want to do because we want to show love when we go into teaching the word or explaining or expounding on something of the word and you definitely don’t want to get to a point where you end up being quarrelsome either because sometimes somebody who who comes that way you can end up being very quarrelsome about it and it just it doesn’t clash very well together when you have somebody with that attitude who is unteachable most people with pride can end up being unteachable we’re supposed to humble ourselves and be humble before the Lord and show that humbleness to other people and yes mom you had your hand up well the 

[Kristina Newman] (36:05 – 38:51) 

The reason I said that about the knowledgeable and you know we have to watch how it’s being said it believe it or not it this has only happened in probably the past five years I noticed, I actually think I was talking to Paul Washington, and I was bringing out scripture and I was trying to get it not really to see it my way kind of thing, but I was trying to it’s like well no it says it right here and I even brought out the Bible and then Lord did Lord ever slap me with that Bible because I in turn the next day end up apologizing to Paul because I told him I didn’t mean to seem to you like I knew more than you you know I don’t know if you remember that Paul but I remember it and like I said this happened within the last five years because I had to step back and be like why did you say it that way you know I mean the Lord literally took the Bible and like banged me upside the head with it you know because I didn’t mean it arrogantly I didn’t mean it like I knew more than him I was just like no dude this is what I’m talking about but I didn’t watch my wording so you really have to keep yourself in check as well you know just like Christ himself you know when Satan was sitting there attempting him in the in the desert or in the wilderness it could have been a simple whatever I’ll just throw every scripture at you and this is how it is but he didn’t you know Christ didn’t show any arrogance like you said he showed love and compassion so I got convicted but what I did to Paul and I had to in turn turn around and hey man dude sorry about that you know so that’s what I meant by that is you because the scripture I know very well for the life of me I can’t think of it right now so just because I knew it didn’t mean I had the right to bring it out the way I did to make Paul feel like he was ignorant in it you know what I mean so I’m sitting here in front of all of y’all telling y’all my fault that I did because it can happen in a blink of an eye you know just boom snap of your finger and I truly did not mean to do that to you so that’s why I’ve learned just to kind of approach it differently I don’t know if y’all remember that but there’s probably about five years back 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (38:51 – 39:06) 

I was all sitting here in my kitchen I don’t remember that far back sorry you lost me no and honestly I think that we’ve oh pastor were you going to say something. 

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (39:09 – 39:13)

no I’m listening I just mute my mic oh okay 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (39:17 – 44:25) 

I think that we’ve all sort of fallen victim to that maybe at some point just a little bit you know maybe not to assert maybe other people could have done it in a higher degree or a lower degree but I know I myself have even gotten to a point where I read a bible verse and I was convinced that I knew what it meant and nobody could really tell me otherwise or maybe I thought I’m like well this person’s wrong and come find out later it was me who was incorrect or you know and that’s why it’s very important and like how I used to treat you mom I would just shove the bible verse in your face out of crudeness almost just trying to like just I had gotten a little in my width in there but there’s a way that the lord you know has told us to deliver his word and I think that that’s why it’s very important to be in tune with the holy spirit and the timing and how each time we should give it with love and we should let the lord guide us and show us how to do those things 

with love because you know a message or sharing the bible verse or our understanding of the bible verse can can be heavy with somebody and we have to be willing to discuss it on both ends and be open on both ends but most importantly place god’s center of it all that way when we come together we can come together in the fullness of god’s word and his understanding and so thank you for sharing that and I I understand it happens and that’s just just how things work you know and I know the bible scripture where it talks about iron sharpening iron and to do that you have to be walking in love and showing that loving-kindness toward one another and like I stated most importantly putting god first and center of it all without having the understanding of being holier than thou and I’m not saying that’s what you were doing by any means I’m just expounding a little bit deeper in some scenarios that could happen where somebody could end up being presented in that manner and not really able to let iron sharpen iron but instead clash and dull out the other person so to go back to the question um hold on there was a oh there’s a bible verse posted okay so I’m going to go back to the question in which I had asked what are the ways we pursue righteousness personal integrity moral courage and honorable character does anybody else want to give an answer I know mom you had mentioned being right in the word being in the word I just want to give an open opportunity for anybody else to speak if they wanted to and since nobody is going to unmute I’m going to go ahead and continue and yes what you were saying about being in the word is very true we have to be in the word we have to choose to believe his word how are we going to know how to pursue righteousness or live righteously without knowing God’s truth without knowing what’s right versus wrong he he has it all out for us in the bible we can go in there and we can learn these things and there’s going to be a lot of tests on the way I know that’s for sure and another thing that I’d like to highlight is that we should truly walk by faith um and I had this listed down here a little bit sooner I’m going to go ahead and read this bible verse here it says it’s in Habakkuk that name y’all two and four look at the proud one his soul is not right within him but the righteous will live by his faith and one true God so I I want to put that in there that we live by his faith and so if we’re living by his faith then we’re also going to be righteously and the bible verse came to my mind walk by faith and not by sight and I know this is a very common question but I want to ask you guys from your perspective how do we walk by faith and not by sight

[Minister Paul Washington] (44:25 – 45:48) 

I think a lot of that is leaning on the principles that God has promised and taught through his teachings it comes with knowing the word and trusting in Christ in what he has said because if we were to were to look at it step by step and we were to genuinely know that God’s love for us is what it is as he says it is then we could truly lean on faith in all our circumstances for the fact that we know that the God who has led us to where we’re at currently is out of love and concern and unknowing and understanding that love to the extent that as humans we’re capable of because we know 

his love is greater than we can even understand fully that if we just know that about who he is because he has shown us countless times then leaning on faith and not sight it’s not as impossible as people who do not know God would make it out to be 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (45:55 – 46:01)

amen pastor are we gonna say something well

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (46:04 – 46:32) 

um by faith and not by sight um really Paul Minister Paul gave a very good discussion good good example. Sorry, my voice is in and out, um, so I’m not gonna add to what he said. I’m gonna leave it there. I had something, but Paul. 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (46:33 – 51:01) 

i’m not gonna add to amen amen yes what he said was very thorough and very true and as i noticed as i had grown closer to the lord it was easier as he was growing my faith in him because he kept showing me um how what he said would come to pass and his promises are real and he is alive in our life and so as my faith grew it became easier and easier to walk by faith and not by sight because things we could see things here in this natural and it’s not really what is going on what god has planned he’s like i have something planned to worry about it just have faith in me you know um apparently i had jumped a little bit ahead of my self so i’m going to back up a little bit of that question of um ways to pursue uh righteousness and you know i want to continue to read that uh he he had commanded us and explained to us in his word what it is to live a righteous life and i just wanted to highlight you know proverbs is filled with wisdom there’s a whole lot of yeses and nos in there too uh i also wanted to say that we should pay attention to jesus’s walk here on earth none of us can be perfect or blameless as he was but we can try and that’s where god’s grace mercy and love comes in he wants to save us and separate us from the things of this world and we should let jesus be an example for us knowing who we are in him and here is a bible verse to kind of back up trying to strive to be like jesus but we are jesus you know we try to live righteously we try to do good um in philippians 2 5 it reads have the same attitude in yourselves which was in christ jesus look to him as your example in selfless humility and i think that ties in too with what we had touched just a tiny bit on the self-righteousness and self self-righteousness is the opposite of that is humility so if we have humility we’re not really going to fall into that character um and just to dig a little bit deeper into self-righteousness because so we see the self-righteousness of god and how it’s good it’s morally right it’s morally correct and he is just he knows right from wrong self-righteousness is having uh defined as having or characterized by a certainty especially an unfounded one that one is totally correct or morally superior and so we can come across people who you know might think that they are they’re like i what i think and knowing is good and it’s better than god’s and i think i’ve ran across some people like that before who may think that they’re totally correct 

there’s there’s no way to give them any reproof there’s no way to um for them to truly receive a rebuke unless the lord had ordained it and softened their heart to to read so let ken has said personal integrity is to act oops it’s to act if someone is watching to learn even when no one is there amen yes sorry i want to make sure that i’m keeping up with the comments because i could very much so easily just look away from those and just not even notice them especially if i don’t have my glasses on um so i wanted to kind of you know what are some characteristics of self-righteousness um if anybody wants to go ahead and give an answer out there of what are some of the characteristics maybe of self-righteousness self-righteousness um 

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (51:02 – 55:23) 

you can look at it as being right in one’s own eyes that’s the simplest answer i can give being right in one’s own eyes it is it is any form of righteousness therefore outside of christ jesus why because no one is righteous we don’t have righteousness we are gifted righteousness through christ jesus so any form of righteousness that we then say that we have acquired um is then self-righteousness because like i said earlier this is some bad news but the truth is right perfect righteousness is not possible for us to maintain or gain on our own there is simply too high of a standard the good news is that that righteousness is made available for mankind but it’s through the personhood the cleansing of christ jesus so that all being said it goes back to the simple answer self- righteousness is being wise in one’s own eyes um and like my sister said it is shown an example where you put yourself above another um instead of showing instead of giving so an example as she gave though she was right in what she was saying the truth not given in love although it’s truth it can’t it’s generally not received a lot of self-righteous people are not received um i was joking with ivy i’m gonna cut my camera on them do this she’s gonna be like why i was joking with ivy i was online and i came across someone prophesying and they said something and the way they said it and then their expectation of reaction was it felt like self-righteousness to me and so i went in the room to my wife and i’m gonna turn the camera on me for a second to get this example and i said i can’t i i hate this i hate it when when they come in and they and they be like see like that it’s gonna be my microphone you know one plus one equals two i didn’t write in my now one plus one is two we all know that but how i came about it was one that i didn’t tell you anything or if you get a prophecy you gotta walk it out you you said wow and so you’re right in your own eyes and you’ve made yourself more than you ought is that’s the best example of self-righteousness that that i could give and i use that little parable and example in a funny sort because you know of course i was stomping around the room doing the whole theatrics but that was it it was it was self-righteousness it was i was right in my own eyes they are right in their own eyes and it’s outside of god it is righteousness that we input on ourselves not that god inputs on us amen amen 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (55:25 – 1:05:37) 

yeah that’s what i had i’ve thought about how um we can see in the church how there are a lot of people who can unfortunately operate in self-righteousness and they unfortunately have um gained some people and that’s sometimes people and that’s that’s the people that unfortunately have found a way to idolize a person and say i want i want to be like them or i’m striving after them and they gain that audience that they were looking for and they just continue to operate not unfortunately and that’s where i think it’s very important to have a self-discernment or not self-discernment sorry uh discernment and a lot of these things you know test the spirit by the spirit to be able to understand it because sometimes these things can be masked very well and when there’s a lot of hype around specific somebody who could be coming to speak or somebody who’s speaking then we can get hyped and sometimes oftentimes overlook the trueness of their nature of what’s really going on in their heart and it’s a touchy subject sometimes and very important to see and you know i’ve seen uh self- righteousness and in the world and so i’m gonna i’m gonna go ahead and move on from that one without getting too deep in that you know it’s and it’s like i can see the game you know and to continue on with more examples it would be the holier-than-thou attitude their intolerant smug you know overly confident about their righteousness or moral superiority they attempt to lord it over people you know unjust unjustifiably putting them down as weak dependent and indiscriminately placing collective faith over individualized non-religious experience so you have that kind of view of how it can operate in that manner um so i want to highlight an example um in the different between the difference of righteousness and self-righteousness in luke 18 9 through 14 um and this is a parable so i’m going to go ahead and read he also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves who were confident that they were righteous posing outwardly as upright and in right standing with god and who viewed others with contempt two men went into the temple enclosure to pray one a pharisee and the other a tax collector the pharisee stood ostentatiously and began praying to himself in a self- righteous way saying god i thank you that i am not like the rest of men swindlers unjust dishonest adulterers or even like this tax collector i fast twice a week i pay tithes of all that i get of all that i get but the tax collector standing in a distance would not even raise his eyes towards heaven but he was striking his chest in humility and repentance saying god be merciful and gracious to me the especially wicked sinner that i am i tell you this man went to his home justified forgiven of the guilt of sin and placed in right standing with god rather than the other man for everyone who exalts himself will be humble but he who humbles himself forsaking self-righteous pride will be exalted and so i i read this and i thought that it was one of the best examples that i could uh find for myself to give um because you really see that that uh that talk coming out of that person uh how he was he was leaning in more towards pride and hey look at what i’m doing look at my my selfless acts or look at my son he was he was too focused on self in that manner and um so the pharisee probably saw fit to address his doings to god saying look at all the good things i am doing especially compared to those around me as he mentioned that he was not like the rest of men this is an example of self-righteousness while we can see the 

good things we’re doing for christ how he transformed our lives we can do it without becoming self-righteous we have to be careful because the enemy would love for us to think that we are doing these things and turn it into boasting and the things we do so that’s why i said we have to we have to be careful where our heart is because the lord knows whether we’re humble or not humble is is like the exact opposite of self- righteousness and um honestly i i’d say that that’s what would really overcome you know the bible talks about us being humble we need to humble ourselves so i know what time it is i have a little bit more on here i don’t know if i’m gonna might say i’m sorry i wrote a lot of stuff and the lord switched things up on me really quickly so i’m only a little disorganized but not totally and i don’t want to keep you guys here um too long so i’m gonna ask the question what is ghost okay so boast from the dictionary means talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements possessions or abilities now people with self-righteousness tend to have a lot of pride we should run away from pride in oneself in ourselves as it can cause destruction and chaos the bible speaks about pride i’m going to give a few primarily in proverbs so proverbs 8 13 says the reverent fear and worship full all of the lord includes the hatred of evil pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth i hate proverbs 11 2 when pride comes boiling up with arrogant attitude of self-importance then come dishonor and shame but with the humble the teachable who have been chiseled by trial and who have learned to walk humbly with god there is wisdom and soundness of mind proverbs 16 5 everyone who is proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting and exceedingly offensive to the lord be assured he will not go unpunished and finally proverbs 16 18 pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall and so i want to give a definition of haughty because even i had to look it up um and it means blatantly and disdainfully proud having or showing an attitude of superiority and contempt for people or things perceived to be inferior and that kind of goes along with self-righteousness so we can obviously say that the lord doesn’t really like people to have pride in themselves in themselves um it’s essentially like self-worship almost in uh if you look at it if you want to look at it from that perspective too um pride also has a friend conceited which conceited means having or showing an excessively high opinion of oneself and there we are with that self-righteousness coming in that point of view um there’s also many more words that fall under pride like cockiness seeking your own pleasure looking out for number one smugness hypocrisy dignity etc so we’re i i’d like to see are you guys seeing the connection between self-righteousness and pride we see that they really they’re they’re almost like right here you know um pride puffs us up makes it hard for us to be corrected taught or to receive anything other than what we know pride in itself can lead to self-righteousness and can hurt other people sometimes unintentionally with pride in ourselves in our way we won’t even be able to see or hear clearly from the lord especially if he sends someone to rebuke us or send reproof why do i say we well because we all can come can come across dealing with self-pride especially when we accomplish things i mean and that’s just that’s how that’s how we we we can work that’s how we can function we can we could be tempted to be given into pride because self- 

pride i should say so continuing forward um boast is a synonym synonym of pride for me this is seriously a hard thing to look at and study out i i’m being honest with you guys the the whole pride and saying it wasn’t hard because um because maybe oh go ahead mom i see you have your hand up i’ll 

[Kristina Newman] (1:05:37 – 1:05:53) 

finish what i was saying here in a moment i got a weird question it just popped in my head how can you be truly old if you’re so prideful how can you be truly humbled if you’re so prideful 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (1:05:54 – 1:21:09) 

yeah that goes up to that bible verse and i’m pretty sure there’s more bible verses i’ll have to look into it but um i read in uh previously in proverbs 16 5 everyone who is proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting and exceedingly offensive to the lord be assured he will not go unpunished so in this we can kind of see that maybe there’s a punishment involved in and i in my own personal experiences um the lord will humble you at some point um it would be in his will and his timing um when he chooses and how he chooses to humble someone i have seen someone have everything stripped away from them so that they have nothing more to boast about or to be proud about in themselves so that they will come to a place when they get to the end of themselves there is god and then they go to god humbly and say everything that i was doing was wrong you know and it doesn’t always turn out that way but that was an example of some things that i have experienced in my personal life and what i have heard testimonies from other people telling uh telling me i know no that’s fine it’s fine to ask a question i don’t think there’s anything wrong with you coming on here to ask a question especially since i had an answer now if you asked a question and i didn’t have an answer well ma’am i’ll just see myself out of this call it’s good to have conversation it’s really nice um i scrolled up okay so i’m going to continue with what i was saying um i was talking about boasts as a sentiment synonym of pride and for me it was a really hard thing to look out and study out i’m thinking okay somewhere someone done did messed up the bible i can’t even continue to study this because it seems to contradict itself too badly and i’ll explain the part of what i’m talking about here but upon further research if it is god or the commendable qualities of others then boasting can be described as proper if it is wrongly applied to oneself then it is improper now notice how i said if it’s wrongly applied to oneself then it is improper so you know the world has a corrupted view of pride you know so let’s not lean on that um god gets the glory in it all i mean things we do or even what others do there should be no room to be prideful when all credit is given to god i do have to disclose that being pleased with someone for something is different and great to acknowledge other people’s accomplishments even stating that you could be proud of someone else is okay as long as it wasn’t with the intention to boost ego and pride to have a malicious plan in accordance with gaining 

favor with someone and then we ourselves receive those compliments and when we do receive those compliments or when somebody says i’m proud of you for us to not get um puffed up and and prideful and and end up sinning in that way um in regard to saying uh as long as it isn’t with the intention to boost ego and pride to have a malicious plan in accordance with gaining favor of someone else here’s a bible verse for that in 2 4 through 5 and every it’s i think i meant 3 through 5 i’m sorry do nothing from self selfishness or empty conceit through factional motives or strife but with an attitude of humility there we see that humbling again humility being neither arrogant nor self- righteous self-righteous regarding others as more important than yourselves so we see how we should regard others in this scenario do not merely look out for your own personal interest but also for the interest of others have the same attitude in yourselves which would think christ jesus look to him as an example in selfless humility that goes into how we should try to um live our lives like christ did although we obviously can’t be perfect but we can see examples that are set out for us proverbs 27 i think i actually have that one listed down here i had that one listed somewhere actually it’s the next verse that i’m gonna read lady ivy yes you got it getting ahead of me how dare you and so and i’m gonna read and this is why i got so confused at first because i read this verse uh my husband actually sent me this verse because i was studying it out around him and stuff like that so it says even paul said in second corinthians 7 and 14 for if i have boasted to him at all concerning you for i have boasted and boasted is a synonym of pride what is going on here i had a moment okay i was like what somebody messed up the bible i’m just playing y’all so for if i have boasted to him at all concerning you i was not disappointed but just as everything we ever said to you was true so our boasting about you to titus has proved true also and so and we know the definition of boast is talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements possessions or abilities we then can look at the verse and say i’m sorry what exactly what i did right but digging deeper we can also see that praise is a synonym of both right and the bible states in proverbs 27 2 just like you said lady ivy let another praise you and not your own mouth a stranger and not your own lips we can see it’s okay to let another boast or praise you the important part is if it’s in accordance with god not out of line and that we do not get prideful in ourselves recognize still that it is all god it is all glory to god god got me here god got me where i am today god got you here but we’re still going to acknowledge the good work because there there had to have been some sort of work at some point to be put in you know we have to also acknowledge that so when we’re saying i’m proud of you it’s hey look from where you’ve come and that is a good thing to oftentimes reflect on sorry i was reading what paul put in the comments and i’m going to read it out loud for reading out loud sakes says some common synonyms of boasts are brag crow and while all these words mean to express pride in oneself or one’s accomplishment most often suggest ostentation ostentation and exaggeration but it may imply a claiming with proper and just justifiable pride okay amen sorry i didn’t know that word y’all i i don’t even think i know the definition of that word and as he said in the comments as well just as paul did so it was justifiable in the lord christ jesus so now to 

further study you know i didn’t i think i’m going to come to a conclusion because of how late it is but you know i wanted to get some more into humility but i think there was a lot of bible verses that really struck out you can see how where there was self- righteousness or where there was pride mentioned usually humility was mentioned there and you know what is humility and the definition from the dictionary is a modest or low view of one’s own importance or humbleness meaning we aren’t going to and this is my separate thing now meaning we aren’t going to look at ourselves as righteous in our own eyes like we know it all we humble ourselves before the lord we acknowledge that we need a god we acknowledge that he is the righteous one we acknowledge that he knows what’s right and wrong and lady ivy said revelation 12 11 let me pull that up real quick oh i’m using two different computers because that’s just how apparently my electronic thing is going for me right now so revelation 12 11 just so you guys know i’ve been reading out of the amplified uh version this entire time so just so you guys have a reference of hey that doesn’t look like new king james version because it’s not um so revelation 12 11 it says and they came and conquered him because of the blood of the lamb and because the word of their testimony for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when they faced death even when faced with death you put a comment before it oh okay okay so that was in reference we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony so we should still share our testimonies give god the glory without being boastful yes that’s true too we now i understand i was like why did she share that amen yes and that’s another thing it all boils down to where we’re coming from out of our hearts and um being in that humble state we’re knowing what to share when to share it when not to and how we come off with it you know mom like you were you were mentioning we have to be careful about how we come how we come out with it because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and sometimes that’s why that’s why i keep saying it depends on where our heart is on if we’re looking at this as like a self thing or we really want to we want people to look at us and say oh wow like are we looking for that praise from man are we really looking for that we’re not intentionally going out there seeking that because that does i mean it does help us sometimes but honestly that’s not something we should be out there purposely looking for we should be looking for whatever we say then that person will turn around and praise the lord because we want all the attention to go to god and god gets the glory out of all of it and so with that bible verse you know sharing our intent it’s like we talked about on monday god sees all yes our intentions he knows our intentions behind us and when we share our testimony we know how good that can how good that can actually be for somebody so we’re not going out of the way saying that hey look at what god did for me he didn’t do it for you no that’s definitely not something we want to do right but with that i think that i’m going to come to a close with it i was a little um shaky in the beginning because the lord had honestly he shook me up if i’m gonna be honest with you i had written a whole bunch of things out i was just going to focus on one thing and then he told me to switch it up so the beginning you can really tell i was a little shaky on it and if i’m gonna be quite frank with you i was a little nervous because i’m like i don’t 

want to be wrong about any of this and there’s where you know i just had to open up really and uh get into it so i thank you guys for really bearing with me but i do want to um ask if there are any questions or comments closing things maybe experiences that you have had that you would like to share with us um in regards to righteousness self- righteousness pride um a moment maybe where the lord had humbled you and those things are really difficult things to share so i would not expect somebody to hop in here and just go hey pick me um if you don’t want to share it that’s okay too i’m just opening up the mics or if anybody had anything to say i should say i’m opening up the comments more too some people don’t talk yes pastor i just laughed with you when you said that okay amen and it was a hard topic for me like i said whenever i was going into that that whole boast thing i was like and then i also remember that wow pastor has taught about this before but it was a long time ago like about the boasting part and stuff like that and pride and i was like that was years ago so i had to go in and and study again it’s crazy how sometimes these things can uh can slip from us even though we might know it just being able to put it into words to explain to people you know what i’m saying and you said a topic many seem to not talk or teach about you know it it can be it can be uh difficult to talk about and difficult to teach um especially everything that you have to go forth and unfortunately for some people it would be exposing them so there are some people that are like that that don’t want to teach these things and then you have others who um maybe it just wasn’t the right season in their church to share it or something you know 

[Pastor Carlton Howell] (1:21:10 – 1:49:02) 

but it is the same thing as me it is it is going against one’s own self-interest when you teach about this in this in this fashion let him who boasts the bible says let him who boasts boasts in the lord the bible says that let him who boasts boasts in the lord it’s not that we have the audacity to put ourselves in the same class or compare ourselves with someone who supplies testimony to commend themselves let them um when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves by themselves they lack wisdom and behave like fools the bible tells us we on the other hand will not boast beyond proper limits there is in every aspect the the idea of boasting very mentioned of me standing upon a pulpit and declaring the word of god to you with with authority and with confidence is a form of boasting however on the other hand like the apostle paul was saying here uh there’s there is a proper limit he goes on he says but we’ll keep within the limits of our commission that is the authority the territory that god has granted us as a measure which reaches and includes even you those who we are speaking to so we’re not overstepping the limits of our providence as if we did not legitimately reach you for we were the very first ones to come to give you the good news of christ if you do not go if we do not if i’m sorry we do not go beyond our proper limit boasting in the work of other men but we have the hope that as your faith in christ and his divine power continues to grow our field among you may be greatly expanded but 

within the limits of our commission so that we may preach the gospel even in the lands beyond you but not to boast in work already accomplished in another one’s field of activity however paul says here in verse 17 let him who boasts boasting the lord verse 18 and this is second corinthians chapter 10 for it is not he who commends and praises himself who is approved by god but it is the one whom the lord commends and praises there is a aspect of boasting and paul talks about it he says if i am to boast it will be in my infirmities it would be in those things that that that that are not that basically he says if i must boast i will boast in the things that reveal my weaknesses and the things by which i am made weak in the eyes of my opponents the god and father of the lord jesus christ who is blessed and to be praised forevermore knows i am not lying there is proper boasting that is not prideful even in oneself as the apostle paul mentions but it does not glorify oneself that boasting that type of boasting glorifies god why does teaching on this not really happen is because it goes against one’s self-interest because it shows the frailty of a person if i’m going to teach about the the aspects and the wrongfulness of self-righteousness in boasting in oneself i am going to expose my weakness that there are times that i even i think highly of myself than i ought my example would be my testimony and many are not comfortable doing that you taught a very wonderful class very great discussion thank you i am going to challenge you to continue it one more week i want you to go one more week with this however god leads you we’ll talk after the class after we get done with the zoom so expect a phone call nothing everything good great great great but i want you to go one more week because i really enjoy hearing you speak and seeing i love how everyone brings the word of god the way god bring has them to bring it not as i bring it not as anyone else brings it but in their own fashion it is so beautiful to sit and listen to be challenged and thought and to have even some of your own teachers come back and and you have to go and say i know like paul said uh uh not the apostle the minister uh the pastor preached this he taught this i’m like yeah i did i just don’t know when i gotta go find i’m more here looking through my own notes to find my notes but when i studied this so that i may teach it like these sound like questions i asked um i challenge you to bring it on one more week i am really enjoying having others teach bible study that i may get back sit back and listen to you all it is you all are definitely definitely you have a lot to offer one another and um so keep it up and others who are on here who’s on here no i may ask you you can always say no i want to hear what you have to say everyone’s god speaks to each and every one of you we have to learn how to hear god and then how to articulate what god is saying then also we need to know that it is god who’s speaking because you know um pastor told me one time and there’s three people who talk to you your flesh someone else and then the spirit and you need to know if it’s you the flesh or the spirit talking and two of them sound the same two of them sound very familiar one of them you’re supposed to know their voice and go when they call but the other two are very deceiving because one sounds like you um but everyone can hear the voice of god if we tune our ears right that’s not the challenge i believe after we learn to hear god how do we then articulate in love what god is telling us and how do we know when it is the right time bible study is very good at helping us to know when to say what we need to say and how we need to say it in order to captivate the minds of those who are on and keep a conversation going so um i’m gonna give it back to Synthia to close out i pray everyone got something but if you didn’t get something then uh paul’s gonna help you i guess i think he transcribes these i don’t know how he does it but um i think he’s gonna get these all wrapped up so you go back and review keep the discussion going through telegram and through text through calls to one another don’t let the bible study end when we get off the zoom call keep the study going because i’m challenging her to come back and give you on the next bible study another the second portion of this a little bit more i’m challenging each one of us to keep the conversation going that we build up to the next class if we can do that watch how much we will grow in our understanding and study challenge one another lift the word not fight challenge there’s there’s a there there’s there’s there’s principle behind i’m not saying arguing the word but challenging one another asking hard questions and not not taking offense to hard questions i ask hard questions all the time questions that are literally meant to stomp you and make you think what so challenge one another in the word push one another and in in in and in all the boasting make sure it’s in the word and let’s have this conversation going up until next week that we may grow in the lord Synthia is yours you can close it out i just want to thank everybody for coming on the website allows comments if you have something to add later as well so there you go shameless plug shameless plug shameless plug go to mo grace.org okay go to mo grace.org if you haven’t been to mo grace.org go to mo grace.org tonight look it up look these these two have put a lot of work into it go to the website mo grace.org even on your cell phones hit it up look through it make some comments there’s a lot going on there events and things like that that we’re putting in um the the it’s steadily and growing and the more engagement the more it will continue to grow look someone found our church during family fun day because of the site so let’s push this site let’s push our site let’s be excited for what god has given us in this family so let people know on your social media platforms that you had an awesome bible study shout out to church shout out the bible study we had an awesome time on bible study tonight wish you was there on your on facebook on twitter on all of these social media platforms let’s start spreading who we are and what we’re doing look i challenge everybody on sunday take a picture and i’m gonna ask Synthia put this in your notes sunday have them take a picture and post it on take a snapshot where are you i’m at grace covenant right at at 15 blah blah um on this bridge man you should be here you know no hey start putting it out there what do we want in the church start promoting your ministry um bible study we all know what’s going on bible study hey we getting ready y’all know we are when we go to study the bible we keep it real and on point be on there here’s the link sharing and sharing and sharing it the link don’t change it’s this i’m not changing the link no more this is it throw it out there throw it throw it throw it i’m not changing it no more okay just throw it out there let’s stop being hidden it’s time to come out from being hidden god demoted us i say it’s time to charge out let’s go out and tell people who we are it’s blessed you now it’s time to let it bless someone else so if i’m telling you i’m ready let’s do it get out there post it you don’t use you don’t like it you don’t like social media then text three people in your phone who say they love god but don’t go don’t have a place to don’t have friends to to worship god with you know uh um no no it no it’s for everybody our men’s thing is not for just nothing we do nothing let’s so everyone hear this here it is this is from me as as as pastors is of grace covenant nothing we do is just for the church okay wait everything we do is just for the church but it ain’t for just those who in covenant with us because the church ain’t just the building church the people is for public consumption you know we are for everyone we don’t we’re not a secret saint secret squirrel society if we’re having something they can come on send the zoom links out yes we will monitor and and and and and and and keep in in in good order and decency and conduct those who come in go and spread the word oh tell them we doing these things no it was never was just for to to hide no no no um sorry i wish i apologize if i made it myself my wife or any way that we’ve done it made it seem like this was hidden it’s not no no no no no no no no so here from my mouth this is open to everybody bible our men’s study is open to all men and if if the ladies come in i’m not gonna kick them out because some of them got sons but just know you’re gonna hear some topic about men and how we think and it’s gonna be centered towards that just uh um i love sending the ladies things why i get to peer in and learn something about my own wife after coming up on 24 years and i didn’t know so um yes go out and spread the word look we are here we’re doing these things we are you don’t know enough i dare to say you know more than you think i dare to say you know more than you think i have listened to you speak you have godly wisdom you’re thinking i don’t know as far as like where to go in here there are so many people who know this from this cover to that cover and none of this right here none of it bible tells us to have the word written on our hearts you can have all the book knowledge in the world there’s i’m gonna give this and i’m sorry Synthia um bible tells us um you know i don’t know what the order if you have your bibles actually i’m gonna i’m gonna take some liberty if you don’t mind can i have 10 minutes just 10 it’s 10 minutes okay no no i can’t have 10 minutes can i have 10 minutes i’m taking a poll can i have 10 minutes can i have one preaching minute which is 10 minutes one preaching minute 10 minutes okay i got one preaching minute i want to encourage janice real quick is that the standard yeah well for every minute of preaching that’s actually 10 normal minutes so oh okay i thought it was 30 minutes my bad no no no that’s so if i was to ask for five preaching minutes then it would be 30 minutes one preaching minute is 10 minutes don’t ask me how that math adds up it don’t it’s not meant to add up it means that when i ask for some time it just ivy seriously it would be the preacher’s own wife anyway i’m gonna matter of fact i wasn’t gonna share my screen i’m not go to if you have your bibles go to first corinthians chapter 13 i’m just gonna do some reading here and and i want to encourage janice so it’s it’s wrapped it up bishop you know what i have a scenario how there is a lot of people have a lot of knowledge and the wisdom of god eludes them wisdom of god eludes them the apostle paul in here in first corinthians 13 he’s he’s talking about the excellency of love and if you know how to operate in the things of love and the godly way of love and you speak in such a manner you actually have more wisdom than a lot of people who are scholars inside of the book he says if i speak with the tongues of men and of angels but i have not loved for others without others growing out of god’s love for me i have become only a noisy gonging or clanging symbol just an annoying distraction i’m gonna let that so so i can speak with all elegance i can have all the knowledge i can exergy and exergy the the gospels and the word of god and in such wonderful ways i can break it down i have gone into the highest and most prestigious school and i can i can give you references from genesis the revelations but i do not know the word of love it’s not the word of god is not written upon my heart in the way of love i am nothing more than just someone who is so annoying and in the same manner he goes on in verse two and says if i have the gift of prophecy and speak a new message from god to the people and understand all the mysteries who and possess all knowledge and i have all sufficient faith that i can move mountains but do not have love reaching out to others i am nothing if i give all my possessions to feed the poor if i surrender my body to be burned but do not have love it does me no good at all what am i saying janice you have more knowledge more wisdom than you didn’t you know it’s not about knowing the actual letter in very great detail it works it helps gets you better but without understanding god’s love and imitating and showing god’s love all that is useless fruit sour fruit i now here’s here’s a perfect example boasting i have witnessed yes you may say pastor you don’t know my past i don’t you don’t know mine either but i know you’re present and i’ve seen what you have been walking towards i’ve seen the love for your grandchildren in your eyes and for the betterment of your children in your eyes i’ve seen the words you i’ve heard the words you’ve spoken to me you have in words you’ve spoken to others i’ve witnessed you in your interactions with others in the short time that i’ve known you in the church um you know more than you then you know you know you know more yeah yeah that’s proper you know more than you know you know it’s not because you have the ability to speak with the tongues of men and of angels and that you have the gift of prophecy and you know all things and you’ve read the bible from genesis to revelations and you know the words of the prophet isaiah and the prophet jeremiah and you can exegete the words of jesus and relate the words all the way back to the commandments and all of the 618 laws that were given in the levitical laws and the levitical priesthood no because you know the sacraments and what every color means and what every number means because three is the number of this and every hebrew word aramaic word no that does not make you close to god that just gives you knowledge i dare to say you know more than you know because of actions indeed so stop saying you don’t know say you’re ever gaining knowledge some you know people are destroyed because of a lack of knowledge the bible does tell us that but you have knowledge of our lord and savior jesus christ you have knowledge of the of the father and his love for you and you act it out and you show it see sadly enough i don’t know enough either neither Synthia paul or my wife or christina who else is on here or any of the bishops or apostles who walk upon this earth even though they may act like it none of the scholars none of them know none of them they don’t know they’re learning we’re all learning we’re all at 

different levels of learning but we’re all learning forever we’ll be learning never stop learning never give up the hunger and the thirst for righteousness for the sake of righteousness for the knowledge of righteousness for the understanding of it no never give it up never give it up okay i know more than i know yes you do as i speak this to you janice i also speak it to everyone else but i love it that same hunger that you have lord let it continue to be within me and those who come after me that we always have that deep burning desire to know you to grow ever close that we realize that we just don’t know it all and sometimes the lord makes me he makes me understand that i know nothing at all it is beautiful when you come to the realization that compared to you father i know nothing forgive me so jenny’s like look stop it you’re messing with me yeah i’m pastor that’s what i do once i get hooked on i can’t i can’t let go i love people too much to let them just love people too much so if i fight for you like that then you know i love you anyway i said i was gonna give it back to Synthia that was 10 minutes right roundabout yeah thanks i’m keeping track yep so that was my one preaching minute there you go bye 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (1:49:09 – 1:51:22) 

amen amen um amen that’s uh that’s a hard one to follow up on but you know i uh want to add a little bit to that you know there’s you have the knowledge that everybody needs jesus christ is the lord and savior you know what he can do for you you know the mercy and the love that he shows you’ve heard of the peace that he has to offer and so um it’s one of those things whenever i first started coming to church i i at some point felt that way too like i don’t know nothing but as you further your walk and you continue going to church and you continue you know having some self-studies that you can look into yourself and you go into the word yourself uh more and more things god will reveal to you and it’ll be written on your heart like some things i can blurt it out but i still have to go and look at the verse up like i know what the word says i can paraphrase it i can do you know say certain things but i literally have to go and look up the bible verse and not just some of them i can kind of remember but i’m not going to lie most of them i have to go on google and say okay i know this verse but which verse is it exactly so i can blurt it out to everybody because you know people are going to look and say well where’s that on the bible well i just said it to you okay but where in the bible and so now you know you got to think about how you’re you’re trying to present yourself so sometimes i could see how that could be you know what i mean but you know a lot more about christ like pastor was saying it about god than you’re giving yourself credit for and i’ve seen it in you i know you know a lot about god so i almost said pastor ivy lady ivy said i’m not a bible scholar like some people are but pastor bishop 

[Evangelist Synthia Washington] (1:51:38 – 1:53:16) 

okay good for you and see that’s another thing about both i am proud of you for doing that that is a gift from god praise the lord so um nobody else has any more uh closing comments and everything i thank you guys again for being on here and bearing with me with this study uh like i said in the beginning i was a little and then further into it i believe i finally out you know i gotta love my words no hold on my airpod died okay having i think another thing is my uh my technology was failing me right before i got on here so it was like ah and thank you guys thank you but um well praise the lord praise the lord we’re gonna go ahead and pray out thank you pastor also for coming on here and speaking even though i know you’re not feeling well.