SocialExclusion

00:13Why do people discriminate?

Why do we constantly see people discriminating against others? Is it possible that our advanced society has increasingly become a collective that judges people according to certain standards? Even within companies, within families, within churches?

00:35What does the Bible say about this?

What does the Bible say about this?

01:05“You are not like us”

Discrimination is when someone says, "You are not like us." Do you feel that way? Have you ever feel that way like some people feel? And they say, "Well, you are not like me. We don't want you with us all the time." Some of those groups, they

01:25“If we accept you, it's just temporary”

say, "If we accept you, it's just temporary." For short moments because we have to. But we don't see you as part of our group. You are an outsider and you always will be.

01:40How do cliques begin?

How do these cliques begin? Well, everything started with a couple of individuals who say, "I like the way that you are." And they create an inner mind, something that we call stereotype.

01:54A stereotype is a profile

So it's not what you are thinking. Is a type of a stereo like this or this? No, it's not like that. It's a profile, pretty much. It's like a list, you know? They say, "These are the things that we like and these are the things that we don't

02:14Cliques everywhere

like." And those cliques are part of families, even. Obviously, in companies, they form those type of cliques. They form them also in churches. They form it in the neighborhood, even in the schools.

02:30“We like each other very much”

They are the result of two or more people that say, "We like each other very much." As you can imagine, there are some people that they say, "I want to be part of your group." Like in a school, for example, in a neighborhood. Other people, on the other hand, they say, "I don't want to be part of that group at all." And there are some that they despise those cliques.

03:00Power and money

Leaders are aware of the existence of those groups, and they are usually controlled by interests like power and money.

03:10“Come as you are”

They even put signs out there, "Join us." "Come as you are," companies say, "We are hiring." But to what degree those leaders are willing to let the people really be part of their group? From time to time, you might go to a get together with some friends and their families, and they seem to be nice people, even in neighborhoods. They say, "Come, celebrate with us. Be part of our community." And of course, they are willing as long as you pay the fees.

03:44The lack of honesty

The worst part about those cliques is the lack of honesty. Will anyone really be accepted by the clique? I don't think so. Everyone stays inside the clique, my friend. As long as they keep the status quo, you must have money. If you pay the fees and you have money, the cliques are going to be okay with you.

04:09The Lord Jesus is against cliques

You know that our Lord Jesus is totally against cliques. When you read the Gospels, when you study the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, the teachings that He shared with His disciples, and actually in the book of Acts, you will see stories that are totally the opposite of these ideas of cliques. It's about being open, reaching

04:34Reaching out

out. And speaking about reaching out, this is one of the things that we do in our ministry. We reach out to different people through different platforms, even smart TV apps, our website, everywhere we are, just trying to let people know that the Lord God loves them, that He is willing to receive anybody. It doesn't matter what is the color of skin, their nationality, their country, size, education level, anything.

05:05No limits to be accepted by God

There are no limits to be accepted by the Lord God.

05:10People are religious; God is loving

You know, people are religious. The Lord God is not religious. He is very loving. I want you to understand that. The Lord God is very loving.

05:21Software licenses

One day, one of my friends said to me, "You know, religious people remind me somehow those individuals using software license." And I said, "Why is that?" Well, because nobody actually reads them. They just go to the bottom and they click "Agree."

05:41No discrimination

The message of God in the Bible is clear, no discrimination, but complete openness to all people whose hearts are in the right place.

05:52The chosen ones

And that is why there is a dilemma about multitude and chosen ones. You probably heard the expression chosen ones. And the question is, is it God really creating discrimination, creating a clique? It's not like you can imagine.

06:14There are conditions

But there are conditions, of course, to be selected by the Lord God for specific purposes. And in particular, when it's about the spiritual work, you must be willing to submit to the Lord God, number one, and number two, to pay the price. Because if you just want to be part of the kingdom of God, it's okay. The Lord is not going to stop you as long as you want to do things

06:42To serve, pay the price

right. But if you want to serve the Lord, certainly you will need to pay a price. Serving the Lord God is something that everybody can do, but particularly when it's about fulfilling the Great

06:55The Great Commission

Commission. Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20, talk about that. It's about preaching. It's about baptizing. It's about teaching and multiplying. That is what we call the discipleship process.

07:10“I will be with you”

You know what is beautiful about this discipleship process, my friend? The Lord Jesus said that if we do what He said, He will be with us until the end. That is beautiful.

07:24Train more leaders

Precisely for that reason is that we must train more leaders. And we need to teach them to repeat the model. It's about being open. It's not about creating cliques, you know?

07:38Controlling people

In fact, part of the Antichrist movement is about controlling people. Rather than controlling people, leaders must promote the development of individuals so the church

07:53Grace and order

will grow. However, there must be a balance between being gracious and keeping order. Because not because we are open to receive everybody. That means that everybody is going to be doing the right thing. The grace of God is that we will accept Him being gracious while we are searching for purity.

08:18Becoming more pure

Encouraging people to stop doing what is wrong. To become more and more pure in their actions, in their words, in everything the Lord

08:30The voice of the Holy Spirit

says. You know the Holy Spirit will move you. And you know in your heart very well. There are some things that you should stop doing, and that is the voice of the Holy Spirit talking to you.

08:42When people leave

However, you will find that some people say, "It's just too much for me because I am enjoying doing what is wrong." In that case, you just see them leaving the church. But eventually they can come back, and hopefully they

09:00Love them with the Lord's love

will. Still, your job is to love them. To love them with the Lord's love. That makes things even easier for you because you say, "You know, God is in me. I am going to put up with this relative of mine and love them with the Lord's

09:20Cliques at work

love." Now, what do you do in the workplace? You know, in the workplace, supposedly you are there to do a perform a task. There are cliques, and sometimes they just want to control things there. Well, what is your job? Your job is to work diligently and honestly. Imagine you are hired to do a job and you are wasting the time. It's not the right thing. Or you are stealing from the company. That is not the right thing.

09:51Neighborhoods

What can I tell you about neighborhoods? Well, in neighborhoods, you will find people of different kinds. And sometimes you don't like very much certain individuals for different reasons. Your job is to respect

10:08School

everybody. If you are in the school, what is the right thing to do? Well, stick with your education. You say, "But I don't like those cliques." Well, nobody likes the cliques, but they exist.

10:19Clubs

It's the same thing I will tell you about clubs. Imagine a sport club or any type of club that you are part of, and suddenly you see the cliques. Well, what do you do? You stick with the purpose of the club. In your school, why are you there? Well, to get your education. That is what you should be doing.

10:40Cliques in a church

However, if you are in a church and you see the cliques, that is a bad indication that unhealthy leadership, you need to consider if you are in a church that you see cliques, which is different than small

10:58Small groups are not cliques

groups. Small groups and cliques are very different because of the purpose, the intention. The intention of a small group is to develop people inside of the group that eventually through training, this person might become assistant of someone else being the leader of another small group, or even that person become a leader for his own small group, with the intention of multiplying.

11:27Cliques control people

Cliques are different. Cliques are not intended to see people growing, but controlling

11:34Look for other pastors

people. If you are, by any chance, in a church that is formed with different cliques, you need to consider probably looking for other pastors.

11:46The apostle Paul

There is a leader in the Bible, in the New Testament is the Apostle Paul. He found a very beautiful experience with God. The book of Acts chapter nine tells us the story, how a light came to him, and he ended up on the ground blind for three days.

12:06Ananias and Barnabas

With the help of Ananias and then Barnabas and the rest of the disciples' apostles, eventually he started his training. The Holy Spirit was talking to him greatly, and the Lord had a purpose for Paul. Paul understood the purpose of being a Christian, training people, developing

12:28Evangelism, writing, leaders

people. So his areas of expertise were into evangelism, gaining people for the Lord God. Also, writing, he was a phenomenal writer. He wrote most part of the New Testament. And of course, developing leaders

12:452 Timothy 3:1-5

himself. One of those leaders is Timothy. And in one of his letters to Timothy, in the second letter, chapter three, verses one through five, he says that in the last days, people will be lovers of themselves and lovers of money. More than anything, they don't want to love God. And that is a clear indication of something that is not right in certain people. Paul said to Timothy,

13:141 Corinthians 6

later he wrote to the Corinthians. In chapter six, verse 10, he says that drunkers will not be part of the kingdom of God. And this verse emphasizes that those who engage in drunkness are excluded from God's kingdom.

13:32Is God creating another clique?

So here is the question in our minds. Is really God open or he is creating another clique? Well, there are conditions. This is what I told you earlier. We must be gracious and at the same time keep order. Because many people have done the wrong thing in the past.

13:54“I am one of those”

I am one of those. Who doesn't? And we failed, but then we changed. But there are ones that they don't want

14:04Don't be fooled

to change. So the rest of this reading says that actually Paul writes, don't be fooled. These are the people who will not get to be part of God's kingdom. Those who sin sexually, those who worship idols, those who commit adultery, homosexuals, those who steal, those who are greedy, those who drink all the time, those who abuse others with insults, and those who cheat.

14:34Sanctification

It is obvious that the Lord God is gracious. He is very merciful. He is not into creating cliques. However, he wants the church. He wants you to get purer and purer, purification of your life. Sanctification, getting better. And it's not because the Lord God doesn't want to accept you as you are. He just expects you that you will change. You see?

15:05God sees everything: Proverbs 5:21

Probably one of the things that scares people the most is when they realize eventually what Proverbs chapter 5 verse 21 says. Literally says that God sees everything you do. Everything. Your actions, your words, your behavior. More importantly, your heart, your thoughts. The Lord God sees everything.

15:31If He finds you discriminating

So imagine he finds you being so discriminating toward people. You put them down for whatever reason. Because the way that they look, because their background, because their ethnicity, or whatever. That is a sin. Today we are reflecting about how bad it is for people to discriminate.

15:58Do you discriminate?

But is it possible that from time to time you discriminate others, my friend?

16:05Repentance

It's very important that you don't make that mistake. If you did it, it's normal to fail to sin. That is what we call the repentance action of a believer. Like any other thing that might be wrong in our behavior. You just ask God for forgiveness. But the important thing is that you say, "I don't want to do this ever again."

16:30John 1:12

So the chapter number one, the Gospel of John, verse 12 says that everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God is going to be a child

16:43The gift of salvation

of God. I hope you open your heart today and receive the forgiveness of your sins, my friend. It's the greatest gift. The gift of salvation. And I hope to see you here for the next program.

16:59A little humor

Speaking with some students in college, one then asked me, "Excuse me, sir, what is a stereotype?" And then he says, "Is it a type of a stereo like this or this or this?" I introduced my keyboard to my mouse and my computer today. It was awkward at first, but then they just clicked. For five years, I struggled how to use the seatbelt. Then it clicked. If you are wondering what is the difference between an original joke in a repost, the answer is I don't know. I just click submit.

17:46Three teachings to watch

I hope you enjoy our program of today. I will suggest you to watch these three teachings, The Killing Nap, Build Your World, and Build Your Future. The QR code to the YouTube is right there. If you are interested in supporting our ministry, here's the URL where you can give. Thank you. Have a beautiful day.

Transcribed from the video and lightly corrected. Spoken words are kept as Dr. Gian said them.