the following program is sponsored by seattle open door church yet all up and your church is committed to loving god loving people and loving life our doors are open to whomever you know mass required seattle open door church around lesson two of sexual harassment a biblical approach for those have not been in the class before the reason we have this topic is because if you know something our society is a big issue today and interesting enough and we're going to have a one lesson that's just on interest enough our culture at one time the sexual revolution was anything goes and then when everything went then people started saying hall on that you're going too far and then i called her said now everybody and his brother has be charged with sexual harassment or have accusations and yet that behavior was accepted for a long long long time now is it because it was accepted for a long time was it ever right it was never right rather society said was right or not should we sexual harass anybody so we sexually abuse anybody ok so that was always has been wrong in god's eyes it's always been wrong but what we're trying to do is say what's the biblical perspective when it comes to sexual harassment how can a a person and most people  raster women but it isn't always women but how can a person protect themselves from sexual harassment can you it's a trick question if you know me can you there are certain days you can do right but can you stop somebody else from doing something no unless you have a gun and everything else ok so out of it there are certain things that no matter what you do you can't stop somebody from certain behavior but you can lessen the chances of it and how many know that if you go to the bible it will give us principles that probably will help in that area and then when it comes to being a perpetrator of sexual harassment or abuse i can guarantee you if you follow the principles in the bible that will not be a behavior that comes from your life can everybody agree on that and if you don't agree maybe we'll help you out to be able to see it so we're going to talk about the parents of evil it's a concept that's in the bible and we're going bring a balance to it because some don't like that concept because of legalism that comes with that we'll talk about that but if you look in your lesson first paragraph there's a principle found the bible that a followed will help lessen a person being in an environment where sexual harassment or sexual abuse can occur will lessen the potential being accused of sexual harassment and will stop behavior that is sexual harassment or sexual abuse in nature notice they said that there if you follow this principle to be less of a chance of you being accused of sexual harassment how do you know that that right now and in everything in the news there could be people there accused of certain things that they're not guilty of how many know if they probably would have followed this principle they probably would have been able to have those accusations against them so we're going to talk about that too so the press we're talking about is the concept of  bible says a little bit differently give you two different versions to kind of get the concept well verse twenty one but examine everything carefully hold fast to that which is good and abstain from every form of evil if you notice verse twenty two in both translations is it clear when it says all in every form it's inclusive so what it says abstain from all appearance of evil all means all says abstain from every form once every form all it says examine in other words look at what's going on and make sure when you look at what's going on you're making right judgment on it and then you should look at and say should i participate in this or not because there has been legalism we're going talk about in a moment because there's been legalism that people want to throw this person out because somebody says well dancing is evil and so you got to stay from dancing go into the movie theater is evil and so there's a danger when you normally swings to the other side then we're going to talk about that in just a moment here we need to acknowledge the person do all that they can do to prevent themselves from being a victim of sexual harassment or sexual abuse but that does not guarantee that they do not become a victim do we understand that what i want to emphasize that because as i share principles that can make it so you have less of a chance of having sexual abuse i don't want to ever give the message that a victim of sexual abuse of sexual harassment is guilty is a victim guilty the nature of being a victim is you're a victim that means you're not guilty so if something happens to somebody that somebody does evil to them they're never guilty of the evil that's done to them now they ma made some bad choices that brought them to a place of danger but they they are not guilty so this make it clear as i share how you can avoid some of the things that happened our society i'm never saying that you're guilty of something happens you can avoid cancer by eating certain ways but does that mean you won't get cancer so some has cancer is it their fault that was actually a trick question because if you smoke cigarettes for fifty years if you drink alcohol for fifty years you may get liver disease or lung cancer ok but can you abstain from alcohol abstain from every bad food they say which by the way changes all the time don't eat soy eat soy ok eggs back and forth and so all those things but if you eat healthy the best you can and you get sick is that your fault no you've done what you can do so it's the same principle that's here the person holds fast that which is good in abstains from of evil think they certainly will refuse to be in compromising situations that can broke provoke sexual harassment in other words if you'd apply certain principles in the bible you're not going to be around an environment that provokes harassment should also be clear that if a christian holds fast to that which is good in abstains from all appearance of evil they will not be making sexual innuendo comments and not have behavior that gives the appearance of sexual harassment is that true christian be accused of sexual harassment no can a christian be accused of sexual harassment yes could they be accused and not be guilty yes but if they have a certain behavior they're less likely to get accused but that makes sense so if i'm a pastor and i drive around single women in my car all day long could there be an accusation does that mean i'm guilty doesn't mean i was stupid yes  the way it is that would be foolish to do that and so that's what we're talking about we share these principles so now we go to the next the paragraph says before we explore this verse and in scriptural context in detail we should mention that because of the legal from all evil is that a direct statement does that sound kind of black and white ok now because it sounds black and white and because of its directness and because some may be sincere christian turns around and rees that verse and says no appearance of evil and then they get to interpret what they call evil and then they want interpret that for everybody else and we know i'm talking about what may be sin to me does it mean a sin to you what makes a center or not is what the bible teaches and there are certain things the bible does not address and there are certain things the bible gives principals of so does the bible anywhere say don't watch a movie why doesn't it why doesn't it one reason is because there is no movies ok that's the reality one reason is no movies but would there be a principle when it comes to watching movies  k so some people say christians shouldn't watch r rated movies i don't know if that's true or not because if you turn around and watch passion of christ that could be considered an r rated movie because of the violence that is in it so the issue becomes when it comes to those kind of areas that's where we need to allow the holy spirit to work in individuals lives and not come up with a legal istic rule because the danger of a legal risk rule is invariably if you swing the pendulum too far there to be people swing the pendulum to bring balance but they go too far the other way and that gets into the sloppy a ga p the greasy grace the concept of it doesn't really matter i'm in jesus and i can do whatever i want because he's a loving god a forgiving god and you know what he winks at my sin winks at my sin you know lifestyle in such a way that there's appearance of evil and then they turn around say but you're not to judge anybody know what i'm talking about so if you're a christian and you happen to love alcohol tremendously then you say the bible doesn't say that i can't drink alcohol because the bible doesn't say you can't drink alcohol if anybody says the bible says you can't drink alcohol does not scripture because it even tells the elders to drink in moderation ok so now somebody hears that all hollow lujah elders can drink in moderation alcohol i can drink in moderation well first off of soon as you start saying that you probably don't drink in moderation ok because as soon as you find a reason to drink in moderation you just found a xscape to do it you want to do and if you get alcohol in you if anybody's ever drank any bit of alcohol it starts to do something and you and the next thing you know you find out you're not drinking in moderation in this church but ok but out of it is is that anybody can look at and say somebody is maybe swing that pendulum around a little too far another way ok and you're not to judge me that's always used is the thing is don't judge me ok by the way bible to look at fruit yeah and that's a whole nother subject so anyways there's this legal list position that takes place and then people want to avoid what is being said but if you look at second timothy three sixteen to seventeen is this all scripture is inspired by god and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training righteousness so that the man of god may be adequate equipped for every good work maybe this pos without vs there to equips to do good work maybe that verse is there to help bring correction we need correction maybe that verse about the parents of evil god actually put in the bible do you think did he put it in the bible did he have a reason for it was there a purpose for it absolutely we're going to look at some of the so let's  first take a look at the words of the passage first thing we see here is you look at verse twenty one it says but examine everything carefully to examine carefully means this isn't it let's take a look at what we're doing where  examine what's taking place right now if we examine what's taking place right now we're less likely to find ourselves participating in something we shouldn't be participating in is that accurate so if all we did as christian is before we did anything before we went out the door before we go to where we're going to go and if we would look and say i need to examine what i am doing would there be less appearance of evil if i turn around and say what is there i need to do differently to maybe  done in the past because what i've done the past gives the appearance of evil what if i look at it say is this a good spot for me to be at is a good person for me to be around if we did those days ahead of time there probably would be very little appearance of evil we want to deal with the periods of evil we haven't dealt with the first part which is to examine ourselves examine what's going on around us examine what we're doing the next day it says hold fast to a fast means to stick it out right  holding faster stick it out is to be in for the long haul don't give up if we as christians don't give up fighting the fight of faith of readers christians don't give up of reflecting the character of christ but we have the appearance of evil it won't take place if we are fighting the good fight if we're holding fast and doing what is right that no matter what we're doing is right will there be appearance of evil no no somebody else may look at us because again they may say well i don't think you should do this or that but our concern is what people doing do you know that our concern really isn't what people think our concern is what god thinks because if you live your life a chord with people think you're going to be messed up like our society is because look at our society right now it's all messed up people had no problem with a producer doing certain things as long as they got positions to be in a movie this don't forget that they participated in certain behavior because they knew that they had a chance to get into a movie then all of a sum becomes popular celebrity comes out and says they're a victim i would argue they're still victim because they're taking advantage of many were young ladies that were taken advantage of and so they're still victim but why was it ok is laws admit your modem's as long as i'm at your goals and you know us the same with us as christians as laws that if it goes the way we want to it's ok so if i want to if i want to hang as a christian i afterwards oh no i didn't really mean to be at the where they really so out of it we should be that's holding fast to stick and strong to what we need to do and then there's not the parents of evil in then listen to what is says doctrine dignified sound and speech which is beyond reproach so that the point will be put to shame the nothing to bad to say about you what if we lived like that as christians was a say purity of doctrine make sure that we have right speech beyond reproach does this debt your should be sound in speech beyond reproach if i look to denise and i say denise your hair looks nice most people would think that's wrong but our culture says that that if you're an employee in a company that it can be used as sexual harassment if you say your hair looks nice because you must have some ulterior motive to say that you see that's what happens when a culture does  it goes from one extreme to the other extreme and everything in between but i say denise your hair looks nice is there anything wrong with that at all no appearance of evil sound in speech but if i say to her denise you look sexy with that hairstyle your hair looks nice year period of period ok now is says so you do that you use a speech you do all those things so your opponent will put shame on you in other words if we watch what we say how we live and how we walk as christians we will not have people make an accusation against us and if they do guess what will it stick it can't stick so i don't let ninety nine percent of time there  no single woman in my car that's a rule that i have and the only time would be if the ladies are eighty or more ok mrs irish mrs irish i have taken she raised her i did take i have taken her because it probably is no appearance of evil ok that's going on all right so out of it is that if i turn around and the accused you know what you did this and this and this to this person when they are in the car with you something appears evil of course not i said appears the but in say was evil is it ok to participate in something that isn't evil but looks like evil now all because  look at the next one all appearance all parents would mean all parents i mean anything that appears evil it appears evil may not be  so i am a sinner just like everybody else i am going to send at times so if people are going to make accusations against me they can make accusations against me because i'm a do something sinful because i'm a simple human being this try to walk with jesus christ the best i can but i fall short so there's going to be enough accusations against me that are true that i shouldn't do they is that creates an atmosphere for people to start making accusations that are untrue and i call that cover your basis so if you cover your bases you're going to be at a place where if somebody makes an accusation that isn't true people know it there's a pastor it's now you say pastor which did this i believe you but if you say did this no i don't believe you and that's what this whole passage is talking about is that we should live our life in such a way that does not give the parents of evil to not be a stumbling block for others to be a cause for christian not christian to question relationship with christ if you walk in the parents of evil people question if you know jesus and christians hate this all the time they have all those lost people they judge more than christians do they tell they say everything is ok but then they expect me to live like jesus yes they may say it's ok to do certain things because they're lost but then they expect you as a christian that do those things an idol as a christian it shouldn't bother you guess why you don't believe in the i also be go to uganda we go to foreign countries they turn around and they have some food that they they turn around and they kill that animal and then they turn around and they do or ceremony and then they put it up on the rack to sell it so maybe they were committing that piece of meat to an idol does it matter to me if i'm going to eat the meat doesn't matter to me it's just a piece of meat and there that idols of false idol is not a god or anything else but if i feel guilty to eat that meat should i eat it no because at that point i'm living against my convictions that i have k and so the whole concept here is if you fill like something that you do as it appear that you're involved in if it looks like and feels like  appearance of evil you should abstain from it stay away from it with that in the spirit yell yell there's a conviction in you this is how i shouldn't do this and i think all of us have been at that place at some point in time and maybe it's a different times god tells me not to i don't because he had a reason for me not to is that make sense ok so we need to close this close here and what we're going to do next week voice and opens the door i will come in robust intervenes as recalls upon the name of the lord will be saved john one seven says you must be born again x sixteen they're the ones that believe in the lord jesus dot org that is there is hope t v dot org also let you know if you would like to talk to me person you can always give me a call toll free anytime one eight six six one g spotlight with me today is richard over the director of third even house i think the expression falling off the wagon is becoming more and more prominent referencing when people return to addictive behaviors after making initial attempts to get free sobriety always a struggle to maintain for former addicts whereas it is possible to overcome the state of for jodi lives possible overcome but to be honest most of us will take the do the work take the time be humble enough be submitted in the open enough enough to be able to walk in that victory and one of our goals that there have houses to help individuals to get to them place what we see is the more structure there is for the individual the more the willing to take life open door church located in theory and committed to loving god loving people and loving life church wants you to know that regardless of where you've been or what you've done god loves their doors are open to anyone and everyone services are sunday mornings at eleven seattle open door church is located at six twenty five south west one hundred forty ninth street in period next to the southwest courthouse