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[0:00] You can head out of here and find Mrs. Wolf's feedback there somewhere. And everybody else, let's get our Bibles out. I don't know if I have a place to turn you right away.

[0:15] I guess you could go to Acts 26 if you want to get there. We'll be there in a little while. Acts chapter 26. Acts 26.

[0:52] We're placing our convictions, our beliefs, and what we choose to live our lives by. We're placing them into categories because they don't all come from the Bible like sometimes you feel like they do.

[1:06] And the first category was natural convictions. The second was scriptural convictions, things that are in the Bible and you follow because there they are. And then the third category, which we've covered in the last couple of weeks, was spiritual convictions.

[1:21] And I gave five different details about those, mainly that they are personal. They're from God. They're to you individually for a purpose as he seeks to deal with your heart. I gave several thoughts and even some examples of that.

[1:34] And then we concluded that by showing you that I believe that your spiritual convictions can be intimidated or can be counterfeited by the devil, by the one who seeks to deceive you.

[1:46] And why not do it in the area of your convictions and putting more pressure on you than God puts on you and trying to move you in a way to get you to burn out, to just go all in so hard that why would I waste another second of my life?

[2:02] It's not going to matter. It's not going to matter. And you can even do it with scripture. And I even gave you a point about how he talked to Jesus Christ and tempting him. Now, the fourth category, and this is one that's, to me, kind of the most maybe interesting or intriguing, is that of psychological convictions.

[2:22] And what I mean by that is that these are convictions that are simply in your head. They're upstairs. It's the way you see it. And it's not specifically found in the Bible, although you probably think it is or think it should be or just you feel so strongly about it this way that it's got to be of the Lord.

[2:40] You probably imagine it's a spiritual conviction that the Lord's dealing with you about it. But it's not necessarily something developed by the Holy Spirit and the way he enlightens you to the will of God.

[2:54] And again, it feels like it is maybe. So this stuff here I'll show you goes into a separate category. And I think if you get these laid out and broken up, it'll help you.

[3:06] It'll help everybody around you as well. So this is a conviction that's kind of just in your head. And as I said, it's simply the way that you see it. Now, there's this phrase here.

[3:16] I'll probably say it several times. You might be right. You might be wrong. And then it might not matter at all. To you, it does. But in the bigger picture, in the truth of it all, it might not matter as much as you think it does.

[3:30] And so let me give you some of these thoughts here. I picked out a necktie and put it on this morning. And somebody might sit here and say, oh, no. Somebody else might say, that's a terrible choice.

[3:43] My wife might say, why would you ever pick that one? That doesn't go with what I'm wearing. Those kind of things. But I picked it. It was my choice. And I like it. I'm fine with it. I don't have a problem with it. Take my picture and you can cut my face out of it.

[3:55] But I don't care about the tie. But somebody might say no. Somebody might say yes. And you know what? It just probably doesn't matter at all. Now, that's not a spiritual circumstance or anything related to Christianity and life.

[4:08] But how about something that comes in, that's fell into your lap over the last few years about taking a vaccine? There's been people, if you've been staying up to date with the movements over that whole thing over the last couple years, there's a, I'm talking within Christians and in the church, not just what they're pumping out there on the news media.

[4:30] But Christian believers, some have taken such a strong stand against it. And they want to come up with some Bible on it or try to apply a principle and say this is what you should and shouldn't do.

[4:40] And then there's others that say, what are you talking about? Or I have to take it for my job. Or others say, I'm not taking it and I'll lose my job. And it's like a hill they're going to die on.

[4:51] Then there's missionaries that don't want to take it. But to go fulfill the will and calling of God in their life and to get to the field, they're going to stay on the field. They have to take it. And they're going to decide, is this something that God's doing to move me off the field?

[5:03] Or keep the door closed? Or do I trust God and go forward and go with this? It could be against their intuition on the thing, but to serve God or they just surrender to it.

[5:16] Now, you all, the Bible says, let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. And you all made a decision about that specific thing, right? You've all made that decision already to one degree or another about whether you are or aren't going to get vaccinated.

[5:31] Now, I'm not here to talk about it. I could care less about it. I'm not here to promote it or tear it down. I don't, nothing of that. I'll just stay completely neutral. But you've made up your mind already.

[5:42] And some of you were persuaded. Some of you were pushed. Some of you gave in, you know, to something that you originally said no to. Then you did or just whatever. That was a choice you made, a conviction that you hold now, whether it's right or wrong or it doesn't matter.

[5:57] But be careful trying to make it a biblical principle or a Bible truth or bringing what you feel into this. I know some families that have resisted any kind at all, like totally resisted vaccinations for their children from the beginning.

[6:16] And it was a personal decision. They made that decision and that's the way they led their home. Now, they don't push that and these are, you know, pretty wise people.

[6:28] They don't push that and go around to everybody else's family and meet them for breakfast and preach to them about vaccines the whole time. But there are people that get that way. They get so bent that direction that that's all they can talk about.

[6:39] They're consumed with it. And they want everybody else to see their point of view and to justify themselves through, you know, all of that. But that might be just something that's just up there in your head, whether it's right or whether it's wrong.

[6:53] Because I don't think you're going to give me a verse of scripture and you're not going to be able to convince me. And if you're going to prove to me that it's wrong, well, then there's people in here that need to repent. And if you're going to prove to me that it's right, then there's other people in here that need to repent.

[7:08] Myself being one of them. So, anyway, that's one area that we can see just with our up-to-date lives here that it comes into play. Let me say this about your psychological convictions.

[7:20] They are, this isn't 100%, but they are likely based upon the way you were raised or reared is the correct term. The where, perhaps even, that you were brought up.

[7:33] Your mind, whether you want to give in to this or not, your mind was molded by your parents or by some influential person, a leader, a teacher, a pastor, a youth pastor, someone in your school or church or whatever.

[7:51] Somebody you looked up to somewhere along the lines in some way, whether it's big or small, you were influenced. The way you see things and the way you think, you were molded. And that makes every one of us different because we've all had different inputs into our lives.

[8:08] And, again, you could be right, you could be wrong, or it may not matter at all because it's something that we're dealing with that's in your head. Now, you're in Acts chapter 26. Let me show you an example of the apostle Paul recalling his life before he met Jesus Christ and the way he lived, what he thought to do.

[8:27] Look at verse number 9. He's before Agrippa. He's speaking for himself about his life.

[8:38] And he says in verse 9, I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. So, Saul, where did you get the idea to do this?

[8:54] Why did you go forward and persecute the church? This guy was a terror to the church. And he went after them. The Bible, he shows going door to door.

[9:06] He even describes it in verse number 10. Putting them in prison and putting them to death, giving his voice against them. Punished them in verse 11. Compelled them to blaspheme.

[9:17] I mean, he pushed and pushed with a heavy hand against these believers, running them out of their homes, running them out of the cities. They fled for their lives. And they took off and headed north.

[9:28] And that persecution was one way of God's hand moving the message of Jesus Christ and getting it going. But what's up with Saul here?

[9:40] Saul's got a conviction. And you might say it's a scriptural conviction in the sense that he was zealous for the law and for Moses and the traditions of the elders and his fathers and the Jewish nation.

[9:51] You might say that he describes himself of being very zealous for the Jews' religion. But it's definitely misplaced scripture. It's incorrect.

[10:03] It's not the Holy Spirit leading him in that sense to persecute the church as far as an individual thing of him walking with God. But he said, I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus.

[10:19] This is a psychological. This is in his head. Now, we know this is wrong. He's a lost man persecuting Christians. But he got this in his head.

[10:30] He's the kind of guy that had that zeal. He says, Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. The apostle Paul was zealous for this. He was not like the rest of them that hated Christians, that wanted to retain this Jews' religion and presence and the prominence of this.

[10:47] He was the guy that said, I just can't sit here and let these people violate our law or violate our God of the Old Testament. He did something about it. He put, what did I say there?

[11:00] He put his money where his mouth was or he put feet to his words. The others just sat there and complained and were bitter and bickered about it and fussed about it. Somebody should do something.

[11:10] And Saul's like, Yeah, somebody should do something and I'm going to do it. And he went to the high priest to get letters to chase them everywhere to get permission. And off he went. Now the question is, he persecuted the church, but what kind of, this is a conviction he had.

[11:26] And he says, It's in my head. I thought with myself that I ought to do this. It's not from God. All right, look at Romans chapter 14. Romans 14.

[11:38] These are psychological convictions. And you could say that that was directly attributed to the way he was raised.

[11:49] He was raised to hold up the Jews' traditions. He was raised to revere the high priest and all of that. Even after Christ had died, he's going after these Christians because they're against the way he was raised.

[12:03] Romans chapter 14. And remember this, we looked at this weeks ago to start. Verse number two. For one believeth that he may eat all things. Another who is weak eateth herbs.

[12:16] So here's a conviction by a man or woman that's weak in the faith. And they're a vegetarian. Where are they getting this conviction from? Is it from God?

[12:27] Is it from the scripture? Is it from the spirit of God? Is this a natural conviction? It doesn't work with any of those. It's in their head. It's in their head that eating meat is wrong. It's an animal.

[12:38] God created the animals. They're influenced probably from somebody. Or some organization. PETA. But they're not getting it from the word of God.

[12:48] If they got it from their Bible, they would understand God gave permission to eat meat. And animals specifically. So there's a conviction there.

[12:59] And it's a psychological. It's in their head. There are people that hold that conviction today. And if they're Christian and they have a Bible and they read it, well, shame on them for stepping out of the scripture.

[13:13] And I don't care what you eat. I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't say shame on them. But at any rate, don't try to push it and tell me that it's God's conviction or God's telling you or God's will when it doesn't match with the word of God.

[13:27] Okay, Job chapter 1. Let me give you one more. Job. So there's another case of somebody in their head has a conviction. And they live by it.

[13:40] And they believe it's right. And it's based on something. But we can't say it's based on the word of God. Psychological conviction.

[13:53] Here's a third example. This is Job. And before anything happens to him with his substance and with his camels and asses and his children and his wife and his health, before any of that happens, we're just introduced to this man as being a perfect, upright man.

[14:07] He feared God. He astute evil. And it describes then all of his substance. Now look at verse number 4. The Bible says, And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

[14:25] So they're putting on a big party, a big feast. And Job's not invited. Or he didn't go. But his children are out there in one of their homes having a celebration. What does Job do?

[14:36] Verse 5. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.

[14:50] For Job said, Look at Job, the way he's thinking in his head. It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

[15:03] Isn't that interesting? That dad is sacrificing to God on behalf of his children, on the thought, on the it may be, that they've sinned, that they've cursed God, and that they're not right with God, that they're backslidden.

[15:22] But is there evidence of this? Not necessarily in a passage. Now, I think that dad probably has a handle on the spirituality of his children. But the statement Job says is, It may be.

[15:33] Where is that? That's up here. That's in his head. It's possible that my kids are feasting and celebrating, and that they've cursed God in their hearts. Not outwardly with their mouths, but inside they're not right with God.

[15:48] And so he's going to try to do something about it. This is not the New Testament. This is even before the giving of the law. And this is Job sacrificing to cleanse or sanctify his children on the chance that they've sinned.

[16:02] It's in his head. It's in his head. He might be right. He might be wrong. It may not matter. It sounds like he's playing it safe. Erring on the side of caution with his kids and God's relationship to them.

[16:17] Job, at the end of the book, sacrifices and prays for his three friends that God wouldn't even hear from. He said, Job, you do this. And so Job has a way with God there.

[16:28] And he's using it on the chance that his kids are not right with God. So, again, there's another example, a psychological conviction. Now, these go beyond just a few examples I'm showing you.

[16:40] They'll show up in a lot of different areas in your life. And as far as church goes, let me give you just a semi-hypothetical here. It's not exactly. It's pretty accurate.

[16:52] But just imagine this, and you tell me if this is something that would suit you or it's right with you. And I've grown up in a missions-minded church where I saw all the time videos on the screen, like from missionaries going to these other countries and the work that they start and the people that get saved.

[17:10] And inevitably, and this kind of, I'll go to the extreme here for us just to show this case. In Africa, there'll be this kind of dirt floor and some walls up.

[17:22] And inside, these believers dressed not in a suit and tie necessarily, but I'm picturing some more in a robe-style garb and maybe some head things on. But they get singing.

[17:34] And they'll show this clip, you know, and Zoom the church, this area of them singing. And there's no, it's not some witchcraft dancing and drums beating and any of that.

[17:44] It's just maybe not even any music at all. But I can, in my mind, I can still see several times through the course of my life witnessing these African Christians singing in their service, and they just start bouncing.

[17:57] They just start jumping up and down, just bouncing right where they're standing. And it's not just one, it's 10, it's 15 of them. And then they start clapping.

[18:08] And if that took place this morning, if Russ got up here and said, turn to 274, and Greg and David and Randy and Andrew in the back and everybody in between start jumping and just bouncing and starts clapping, and somebody spills out in the aisle, you would be thinking there is some Pentecostal thing going on here, some unclean spirit in here stirring up the people in the flesh.

[18:36] You'd get all, this is not right, this doesn't feel right, something's wrong in this place. But over there, what's the difference? Is it a devil stirring them to, it's a culture, it's a different people.

[18:51] It's completely different. It's acceptable there. It's acceptable to God. You know what the missionary doesn't do? Whoa, hey, hey, we don't do that.

[19:03] He doesn't stop that. Now, I'm sure he exercises discernment. And if he sees something that is getting into the flesh, he'll take care of it. He wants it to be done right.

[19:15] But a song service, just as an example, in an African church in Africa in the field, I am certain of it would not even match anything that goes on here.

[19:30] And God can accept it and allow it. It wouldn't feel right to you, though. Why wouldn't it feel right for you to have it going on in here? Because of the way you were raised?

[19:43] Because of the other things you've been exposed to that you associate with that kind of stuff? You would feel wrong. I remember the first time I was in the South in a meeting.

[19:54] It was kind of like a camp meeting. And it was the Shouting Baptist. I mean, it got on. And some folks started shouting. And I was like, whoa, what's this? So people started shouting out during the song service.

[20:07] And some guy just stands up. He's like, glory to God. And I was like, whoo, what's that? I'd never been around it before. My church I was from, pretty stoic. They're Pennsylvania Dutch up there, just pretty quiet people.

[20:22] You might get a little head nod. Amen, preacher. Yep, that's about it. Down there, those guys are saying all these weird things like, kick them, preacher.

[20:33] Get them. Yeah, they're just, they're just, they're wide open. And it was strange to me to be around that. I saw a guy throw a song book during a song service. And it was a paperback, a skinny thing.

[20:44] But there was a lady singing on the platform. And it hit her. It hit her. And she just kept singing. She didn't even flinch. And it was like, whoa, this is something else.

[20:55] Then somebody starts running up and running around and taking off. And they're just, I mean, their shirt and tie and suit and just saying, I thank the Lord. Hallelujah. They're just, it was weird to me.

[21:07] I honestly, the first time I felt like, what is this? I've never been around this before in my life. And I don't understand it fully. I mean, I understand they're saying the right words.

[21:21] It's out, you know, they're saying praise to the Lord. They're excited when somebody's singing about Calvary or about being forgiven of their sins. They're not shouting about some weirdness or something awkward.

[21:32] It's not misplaced at all, you know, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. It seemed like it was getting weird. But the more I was around it, oh, it was a blessing.

[21:44] I wasn't, I'm not much for that outwardness. I don't have a whole lot of that in me. But I enjoy being around it. I enjoy being around people that are alive and that are happy in the Lord.

[21:55] Now, I've seen it, I've been in some places, and I'm thinking of one specifically where it just feels like, y'all need to settle down. You're acting up just because you want to act up.

[22:06] And you just want to have fun, and you think this is the Holy Spirit moving. And I've seen little, like, six-year-old boys standing up on a pew, waving their Bible and slapping it, and then taking off running.

[22:20] And I look and think, I don't want to judge too hard here, but how long have you been saved? And do you really understand, or are you just imitating the crowd and the men around you?

[22:35] That's surely what it feels like. Now, I don't want to go too far with this, but do you understand? I felt a little uneasy when I first was exposed to that because it wasn't the way I was raised.

[22:46] But you go down south and get around it where it's normal to be in that livelier atmosphere, you'll probably actually enjoy it after a while and say, like, man, Christians are happy here.

[22:58] And they're not dead and just stuck in a pew, and you don't know if they're excited. You don't know if they're thankful. You know, there's a balance, I'm sure. Now, here's a guy in North Dakota.

[23:09] He's pastoring in Bismarck, North Dakota, and he describes the people there being similar to what I'm familiar with, just a farm people, a quiet people, a stoic people.

[23:21] They're not lively. They're not going to get excited, not going to be vocal in the church, but they're saved. They love God. They're faithful. They read their Bible. They do right. And he said that inevitably, over time, there'll be other guys coming to town to try to start a work.

[23:36] And he said one time this fellow came from North Carolina, and he decided he's going to start a church here in town, and he got going. He got a church going. And he met with the man, and he talked to him, and what the guy said was he just was pretty open with it.

[23:52] His vision, his goal was to get one of these, you know, shouting Baptist kind of church going. He goes, we got to get him fired up for the Lord, not just sitting around stuff.

[24:02] And so this North Carolina fellow came up, and he tried it. He got the song service going with just, you know, some amen and shouting and liveliness.

[24:14] He led the way with all of that. He brought in the music groups that would help that. And I'm not talking about some contemporary light show with the drums and the guitar. I'm talking about just some group singing, some of those, if you're familiar, some of those camp meeting songs or some of those youth choir songs that just kind of, they get you.

[24:30] Yeah, they should. And so he said the guy got it going. He tried to get it going. He tried so hard, and he said within two years, he was gone. He gave up, left town because it wouldn't happen.

[24:42] Why wouldn't it happen? The preacher said to me, he's like, it's because he tried to change the people to being what he wanted them to be from where he was from. And it was never going to happen.

[24:53] You can't take North Carolina and plug it into North Dakota and expect it to be the same. It's not going to happen. The same thing's true for Africa to Los Angeles to anywhere else.

[25:06] There's a cultural difference. There's a way you were raised and doesn't feel right to you to imitate or to be that. And now these, I'm telling you, these are psychological things.

[25:18] I want to give you now some of mine. And these are not, I'm not preaching here. I'm not putting anything on you to say if you don't agree with me, you're wrong. I'm just going to tell you there's a few things that I have convictions about that are mine only.

[25:31] They don't go beyond this pulpit. So please understand that disclaimer. If it sounds good to you and you say, yeah, I agree with that, then help yourself. But don't do it because I'm saying God told me to tell you.

[25:44] So here's one about that I have. When I was at a pastor's conference in Toledo, Ohio, after the men's sessions was over, they had a meal.

[25:56] And then all the ladies and kids from their sessions came in into this gymnasium, chairs, tables everywhere. And we went through the line, got our food. And now from the tables that were just where the men were seated, now all the families were trying to plug themselves in.

[26:11] And it was kind of like not enough room. And so some guys from pastors that were seated with other friends of theirs had to move and so forth. And there's Bibles everywhere. There's just notebooks everywhere. And I had my food in my hands.

[26:23] And at the time, the whole family was with me. And my brother-in-law was there with me. And we were together. And we were going to sit together. My sister and their kids were there. So it was a bunch of kids. And I think I probably may have had a plate for one of my kids as well.

[26:37] It was that stage of life. Or maybe I had one in my arm at the time. I don't remember exactly. But I know I didn't have any hands. And I put my plate down. There was no room on the table. I put it down on top of my Bible.

[26:49] Because it was mine. And because there was really no other place or space to put it. And I thought, I just set it down. And when I set it down, it was like something inside of me just felt like, Don't do that.

[27:01] It was weird. And I never heard it before in my life. Never. But it said, and immediately when I did that, I pulled my hand away. My brother-in-law was like, Don't put that on the Bible.

[27:11] That's the word of God. And I was like, It is. I know. Why did I do that? And at that moment, that sunk into me.

[27:23] And it stuck with me. And it's just personal. I don't put anything, anything at all, on top of my Bible. If I carry my notes out here, my Bible's on top. I don't like it sometimes because this is bigger usually than everything else.

[27:35] If I'm carrying other things, it's awkward. But I don't care. It's just a practice. And as far as I know, I haven't done it since. And I don't really keep a tab on this. But that's just a personal conviction.

[27:46] This book is precious to me. It means a whole lot to me. It's done a whole lot for me. And I have a relationship with my God through this book. I'm not putting food on top of it.

[27:58] I'm not even putting my announcements on top of it. That's just a conviction, okay? That's just me. I regard this as probably the most precious possession that I own in this world, this book.

[28:10] And maybe if this book falls apart, it'll have to be a different one. But it's the King James Bible. I love it. And so that's maybe stupid to you. Maybe it's insignificant.

[28:21] Maybe it means nothing. That's fine. I don't want you to have that conviction. I don't want you to get it from me. But it's one that I developed because in that moment, it was like some clarity of like, that book is the most important thing.

[28:37] I don't want anything to be on it. I want to revere it. I want to show where I'm not going to toss it into my car or throw it over on the pew when I'm done with it. I don't put it in the box and lock it up at night.

[28:50] But it is very precious to me. And that's a conviction. And so there's one. But it's not from the Bible. I don't even know it's from the Lord. But it's something that I feel in my heart.

[29:03] And so it's a personal, psychological conviction. I might be right. But I might be wrong. And it may not matter one bit. But to me, that's what I'm going to stick with.

[29:15] Don't let me see you putting stuff on my Bible. You're trying to mess with me. I might go psycho on my psychological. All right.

[29:25] Here's another one. There's a list I could give you here. Here's one. This is something my wife and I came up with.

[29:36] This is kind of off the track here a little bit. But when our kids were young and coming up, like at five, six, seven, eight years old, they were just, they were, you know, with friends, with church friends, groups, and things like that.

[29:48] And inevitably, they'd get invited over to a friend's house to spend the night. And something that my wife and I discussed and decided was that we don't want our kids spending the night at other people's houses.

[30:00] And there was multiple reasons for it. But one that I held was because as a kid, I was allowed to go to people's houses, people that my parents knew or were from the church or kids I was friends with at school or youth group.

[30:12] But I know why I wanted to go to their house. And my parents didn't know. But there was things that I was exposed to or permitted to do because they were permitted to do that was never allowed in my house.

[30:26] And I never told them that. But I got invited to go over or I'd even invite myself over because I wanted to get away from my house and I could do what I wanted to do or get involved in things that were allowed or the parents didn't check up on or just those kind of things.

[30:40] And there's sins in my life that were committed and my mind explored and was open to because I spent the night unchaperoned or away from the guardians that God put in my life.

[30:56] And I thought, I can't control everything about my kids and their hearts and their decisions, but I'm not going to let them get exposed or be put in a situation at this stage if I can help it.

[31:08] And I said, you can go to their house during the day. You can go play with them. You can do things. But when it comes to spending the night, you're coming home at a good hour. And that was a conviction her and I held together.

[31:18] I didn't enforce it on her. She didn't enforce her thoughts on me. We had different thoughts. And they were united in that decision. It was a conviction that we as parents held. We didn't get it from the Bible. I don't even know that I got it from the Lord saying, these are your children coming to me in a vision at night.

[31:33] But it's just something in my head that said, I don't want that to happen to them. I don't want them to fall into these things. And so that's one we stuck by. People have psychological convictions about a variety of things.

[31:51] Some people will not write notes in their Bibles. They think this book, it's a holy book. It's the words of God. And they will never put their words on the same page as God's words.

[32:03] I've heard multiple people say that to me. And I have notes all over my Bible. I purposely do that. I need that. I love it. And my notes are not the words of man like my interpretation or what I say.

[32:19] It should say this. I'm not C.I. Schofield and his editors. I believe these words are right. But I try to learn them. And I try to cross-reference them. And I try to give myself some help and understanding.

[32:30] I put notes all through my Bible from things I've learned. And most of it's cross-referencing the scriptures. And that's the way you study that book. Here a little, there a little. But I've heard people say, and they have a conviction.

[32:42] I won't do that. It's not because they saw it in the word of God. And again, it's not necessarily a natural or it's not even a spiritual. I can't fathom how that could be the Holy Spirit of God telling them, do not make notes in this page.

[32:57] So I believe that's a psychological conviction. That's something that's in their head. They might be right. They might be wrong. It may not matter at all. But it'd be foolish of them to push their thoughts on me and me to push my thoughts on them.

[33:09] Let them be fully persuaded in their own mind. Some people have convictions about working on Sunday. If you try to apply the Sabbath teaching to that, you're off base.

[33:23] Billy Sunday, the preacher, the old preacher, the baseball player turned preacher, and he was a preacher. That man preached against riding your bike on Sunday back in the day.

[33:34] He also preached that women should not wear short sleeves. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, you wicked women.

[33:46] That's what he would preach from the pulpit, that it's a sin, that it's against the word of God or the will of God. It's this exposing flesh or whatever. He would push that. Now, could he do it with the Bible?

[33:57] Maybe we could kind of twist a biblical principle. But to say, again, that's going back into his day. As standards slip and slip and slip further and further away from those days, it sounds absurd to say that.

[34:10] In that day, it probably didn't sound so absurd. It probably even made sense to keep the line way over here, to keep purity and sanctification, keep it high. But anyway, it's not necessarily a scriptural or a natural conviction.

[34:25] I think it's a psychological one. Some people have convictions about holidays, about certain holidays, about Halloween, or about Christmas, or about Easter. Some people even have them about Fourth of July, about this nation, about war.

[34:40] They have convictions about these things. And to say they're getting them from the Bible or straight from a text, oftentimes, at least the way they enforce their conviction doesn't really match up with what the text says.

[34:52] So they may be taking a principle and then applying it personally. But in some cases, it's just up here. For some, it's just the way they were raised. It's where they were raised.

[35:04] It's what they were exposed to. And they develop their own heart convictions about how they're going to live their lives. And that's fine. They might be right. They might be wrong. And it may not matter.

[35:17] It's their choice to make. Musical instruments in church. Having a guitar. Having a stringed instrument that is not a piano.

[35:28] Having an organ that plugs into the wall. There's churches that throw fits about some stuff. There's people that have beliefs about it. Convictions. Strong convictions about these things.

[35:41] About bringing a drink inside of the church. About how you dress when you attend church. I mean, you can preach on this stuff to a degree.

[35:52] But there comes a point where you can't pronounce it to be scriptural. And somewhere in there comes this psychological conviction. I can say this much.

[36:04] From what I've witnessed and experienced in my life. Parents that are loose in their standards. Loose in their faithfulness. It shows up in their children. It just...

[36:14] Unless God does something serious. What shows up in their children is a looseness toward church. Toward how they appear. How they dress. How faithful they are.

[36:26] It just shows... It carries on. Why is that? It's because how they were raised. What they were taught to put a priority upon. And if they weren't taught to put a priority upon showing up to church.

[36:37] Or about how they dress in church. Then most likely they don't put much of a priority on it. I'm not going to tell you what is acceptable and unacceptable. Because I'm not God.

[36:48] For one thing. I can say there's certain things that definitely are not acceptable. That wouldn't be hard to do if we saw it. But you understand the idea where... Where's the line drawn? Well, this stuff...

[36:59] If some people believe firmly certain things. It's because it's in their head. And it's because of the way they were raised. Or who influenced them. Now, we always want to say that it's right or wrong.

[37:10] We want to say that it's God. It's spiritual. I'm right. And we've got to be careful with that. The Pharisees thought they were right. And they didn't have a Bible to show it.

[37:20] But they had tradition of the elders. They had the way they were brought up. And they felt their convictions were right. And the rest were wrong. And so, again, you might be right. You might be wrong. It may not matter at all.

[37:32] So that's the fourth category. I hope I conveyed it to you. In a way that it makes sense to you. You understand that's different from the other three. And next week, what we'll do is conclude all of this with some statements about convictions.

[37:45] And try to just reinforce that you have convictions. And that you live by them. And that where you're getting them from. And then even some ways to maybe... To help you if you're not sure about something.

[37:58] Whether it's right or wrong. Or where should I stand on it. And I'll give you some thoughts. Some maybe advice about that. To help you ease your conscience over it. Whether you're doing right or wrong.

[38:08] Or where the pressure is coming from. That kind of thing. So we'll conclude next week, Lord willing, with this. And let's take a break for the next ten minutes. Thank you. Thank you.