Scripture referenced 6 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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1 Corinthians 16 The entire chapter, paraphrased as a personalized letter to Winbrook church, covering travel plans, personal greetings, and final exhortations
1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise.
2 On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.
3 When I arrive, I will send whoever you approve with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem.
4 If it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me.
5 But I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia.
6 But with you it may be that I will stay, or even winter, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go.
7 For I do not wish to see you now in passing, but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits.
8 But I will stay at Ephesus until Pentecost,
9 for a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he is with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do.
11 Therefore let no one despise him. But set him forward on his journey in peace, that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brothers.
12 Now concerning Apollos, the brother, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers; and it was not at all his desire to come now; but he will come when he has an opportunity.
13 Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!
14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now I beg you, brothers (you know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have set themselves to serve the saints),
16 that you also be in subjection to such, and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.
17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus; for that which was lacking on your part, they supplied.
18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge those who are like that.
19 The assemblies of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you much in the Lord, together with the assembly that is in their house.
20 All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 This greeting is by me, Paul, with my own hand.
22 If any man doesn’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Come, Lord!
23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
24 My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
The exhortation to watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong, and let all be done in love, used as the sermon's central text
13 Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!
14 Let all that you do be done in love.
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1 Corinthians 15:57-58
Referenced briefly when discussing the command to be immovable and stand fast
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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Matthew 18:6
Jesus warning that anyone who leads a child astray would be better off with a millstone around his neck thrown into the sea
6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.
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Ephesians 4:32
Forgive one another just as God in Christ forgave you, cited in the closing appeal to let go of unforgiveness
32 And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
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John 14:5-6
Thomas asking the way, and Jesus answering I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me, read at the close of the service
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Carl opened 1 Corinthians 16 by reading it as a personal letter to his own sending church, Winbrook in Columbus, Georgia, placing the text inside a real situation most people in the room could follow. He then worked through Paul's final exhortations to show how deeply personal Paul's closing words actually were, and why that matters for the way First B lives out its faith right now.
What was said
Paul's sixteenth chapter is not a cold appendix tacked onto a theological letter. He knows the people he is writing to. He knows how they greet one another, who has been faithful for years, who has been quietly pushed to the margins, and who is likely to cause more damage if given power. Carl made that texture visible by paraphrasing the chapter as a letter from a missionary to his own home church, full of real names, real wounds, and real affection, before stepping back and reading what Paul actually wrote.
The solemn line that closes Paul's greetings, "if anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed," is not rhetorical heat. It is a boundary marker. Carl connected it to what the church had already studied weeks earlier, when someone in Corinth was standing up and declaring Jesus a curse. Paul's point is plain: do not put those people in leadership, do not give them a following, and do not let smooth talk or credentials substitute for genuine love of Christ.
The four commands in verse 13 and 14, watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong, followed immediately by "let all that you do be done with love," form the spine of the sermon. Carl walked through each word carefully. "Watch" is a nudge, a heads-up, an instruction to be fully aware of what is happening around you. "Stand fast in the faith" means holding to what God has clearly revealed in Scripture, not trimming the church's sails to the winds of culture. "Be brave" translates a Greek word rooted in the word for man, but Carl was clear it means grow up, be mature, not a command aimed only at men.
Carl used two historical examples to show what happens when someone stops standing fast. He argued that if Muhammad had held to the gospel of Christ and not begun adding layers of religious requirement on top of it, there would be no Islam. If Joseph Smith had stood firm in Christian faith, there would be no Mormonism. The point is not a history lecture. It is that drift happens fast, it happens to real people, and First B is not immune.
The four commands only hold together because of the fifth, doing everything in love. Without it, Carl said, the first four can start to look like the posture of a religion that has no trouble cutting off heads. He told the story of his professor David G. Cashin, a missionary to Bangladesh who was dragged through the streets, beaten, and left blind in one eye, and who stayed anyway. That man, Carl said, is what it looks like to be watchful, firm, brave, and strong all at once, and to do it inside a love that does not flinch.
He closed by quoting G.K. Chesterton: "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and then not tried." Forgiving someone who has hurt you, loving an enemy, letting go of a grudge, these are not peripheral suggestions. They are the hard center of what Jesus actually called His people to do. Carl said he woke up at 2:30 that morning thinking about it, because the command is simple in concept and genuinely costly in practice, and accepting the strength God offers is the only way through it.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor read through 1 Corinthians 16 as a personal letter to his home church in Columbus. What did hearing it that way do for how you understood Paul's relationship with the Corinthians, and what does it tell you about what Paul thought the church should look like?
- The pastor talked about churches and individuals who were hurt by church splits, and about people like Jerry Booker and Dale getting pushed to the margins after years of faithful service. Have you seen that kind of thing happen, and what does standing firm in the faith require of ordinary church members when it does?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,647 words
1:09
Speaker 3Hey. Good morning, everybody. It's really good to see you, and welcome to First Bee on this beautiful morning. What do you say we stand up together and we lift our voices to the living God?
1:25
Speaker 2Children of the living God, children of the living God. Come and sing and sing out loud. Of the living God, sing to the living God and sing of the wonders. Sing of the wonders she has made. Hurting flight, falling rain.
1:46
Sing the wonders she has made. Sing to the living God. How he loves and how he loves us with great love. He who sits and prongs above for our lives. He's sweetest blood.
2:07
The living the living God. Sing of his gentle healing hands. Sing of his gentle healing hands. How they found the lorliest man. Sing of the gentle healing hands.
2:26
Sing to the living God.
2:29
Speaker 3Sing of the mercy. Sing at
2:31
Speaker 2the mercy that he gives. Though we sin, he forgave. Sing at the mercy that he gives. Sing to the living God. And how he loves let's sing it.
2:43
How he loves us with great love. He who sits in front of the for our lives. He spilled his blood. Send a spirit like a blood. Children of the God, sing to the living God.
3:39
One more children. And children of the living God. Sing to the living God.
3:48
Speaker 3Let's pray together, shall we? God, we thank you for another gorgeous morning. I pray once again that you tune our hearts to sing your praise, to meet with you because you are ready and you are here to meet with us. Amen. You can be seated.
4:03
Speaker 1Announcements and upcoming events. Survey alert. We're putting this one back up here again because because you might not have heard about it yet or might not have gotten the Email yet. If you would like to have any input whatsoever, then, the survey is out there for you about time of service, especially why you come to the service that you come to. That's what we're kinda trying to ascertain and figure out and so, thank you.
4:30
Speaker 3It's good. A 100 a 100 of them came back just to let you know the top three at the nine, connections with people. We know that you love each other and you love to meet. Second was worship. You love to worship in song and the third one was children's church downstairs.
4:44
So, it's good to know that and thank you. Invite anybody who is not yet turned in that surveys. Let us know so we know what's really important to you here.
4:52
Speaker 1Thank you very much and next Sunday, there will be water in the baptismal pool. Mike Nelson's gonna be baptized and there are couple of kids that are gonna be baptized in the second service. So, first or second service does not matter where you attend. There'll be water in the pool and if you would like to be baptized, please let us know this week. We'd love to have you follow-up your profession of faith in Christ with an obedient step of baptism.
5:16
So, that's next Sunday. Let us know if you would like to be a part of that. Easter celebration. I'm gonna skip that one right now. Hey, there's a Monday night slide.
5:27
Monday nights at first B. Carl's still going through Matthew and it's been great. So, y'all come join at 06:15 on Monday nights. Awana, is Awana happening this week? Yes.
5:41
We promise. We sound checked for like an hour and a half. Everything's fine. It'll be alright. Next week is Palm Sunday.
5:49
So, we're gonna have the kids kinda proceed in palm branches while the band plays Hosanna. Just a warning ahead of time for that. If you are gonna be here and there's not gonna be any children's church for the next two Sundays. We'll be cognizant that kids will be in the room and we will go for it for the next two Sundays. Palm Sunday and Easter, no children's church.
6:12
That's a big pancake. Man, it's an enormous pancake. Next Sunday or the the fifth, I'm sorry, April 5, there will be sourdough pancakes, bacon and sausage too. I only heard about sausage but I'm pleading right now for bacon. So, it'll be served from eight and nine and and from ten to eleven.
6:31
Thank you, Renzi. Please bring your friends and relations and we would love to celebrate with you. If you're gonna be in Jackson, we know it's during the middle of spring break but come on. If you're in town, come on and enjoy Easter right here. I've got one more thing to announce here or couple more things but one of em, this is an unusual maybe for some of you.
6:49
If you can see the name of that book, it's the cross and the shadow of the crescent. We're going to do a kind of a short term small group. Anybody who's interested in learning more from a pretty even handed assessment of Islam by Erwin Lutzer, pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago. If you want to know about that, talk to me afterwards and I'll get you a book this week. We're going to read the books over spring break and then after spring break, we're going to have three Wednesday night meetings where we'll get together on Wednesday evening and discuss the book and discuss Islam and Christianity and our response to the current circumstances, I guess, between the two.
7:30
So, book club meeting next for the three Wednesdays after spring break. Ah, yes. We're getting close to this time of year. So, VBS is gonna be June 22 to the twenty sixth. Christa Clemmer, would you stand up if they don't know who you are?
7:43
This is Christa right over here. If you would be interested in volunteering for VBS, would you please speak to Christa after the service today? Thank you, and it's awesome. We have a ball here for VBS. It's a crazy time.
7:57
We also are starting a Spanish service on the April 12 at 01:00 in the afternoon. That'll be right here. We're probably gonna start out on this side of the room and just have service in Spanish. Fully in Spanish, all the music, all of the announcements, all of everything. Okay, very good.
8:14
And I think that's it. Would y'all stand up? First B. Back together.
14:08
Speaker 3God, we've come here to gather to to worship you, to make much of you, your perfect sacrifice, your perfect life, your perfect death, your perfect sacrifice, your wonderful grace that gives us life. We thank you for this wonderful, undeserved gift that you have just lavishly poured out on us and I pray that in response, we would continue to make much of you. Amen.
15:05
Speaker 2Walked down, feel no shade outside of your great Every field has no place at the time of your great name. Yet me has to leave without the sound of your great name. Let's sing it, Jesus. Worthy is the lamb that was laid for us. Son of God and man, you are high and lifted up.
16:41
The sick here and the dead are raised. Got the sound of your great name. It out, Jesus. Jesus. Worthy is the lamb that was staying for us.
17:04
Son of God and man, you are high and lifted up. In all the world, my praise is your great name. One more time. Let's sing it out. Jesus.
17:21
Worthy is
17:51
Speaker 3God, we once again thank you that you became man and you came to Earth to fulfill your mission to give your perfect life for our imperfect ones and I thank you God as this as we lead up to to Easter. We we lead up to this this incredible message that we should be living every day of our lives but that we're we're truly going to emphasize on Easter this resurrection that we would live as people of the resurrection, that we would live as people who truly have your spirit within us and we are walking by that spirit and living by that spirit and obeying that spirit and that you would continue to do a good work that you plan in advance for us to do and that we wouldn't give up, that we would stand firm in this faith. This faith that you have given us, that comes from you in the first place and continue to live it out. God, we thank you for every every gift and and I pray that as we participate here in this worship of of giving, it would be a way. Once again, I'm just saying, I love you.
18:58
I trust you. Thank you. Thanks for meeting all of our needs and God, we we want the gospel to to not only reach people here in Jackson but to the ends of the earth and so we pray that you would do this. We know that it's not by our power but it is by yours and the power that raised Christ from the dead. We thank you.
19:17
In Jesus name, amen.
19:19
Speaker 1Alright, the children are released to go to children's church. While they're heading down, I'm gonna start off today probably a little differently. I I am I've been thinking about this lately. We've, Tanya and I have been in ministry for going on sixteen years and as we have been, we've been in lots of different places, context but the same church that sent us out is always the church that sent us out, right? Every people, I mean, every missionary needs a send in church that will pray for em and send them out and everything.
19:52
So, Winbrook is our church like that. Winbrook is in Columbus, Georgia and Winbrook has been supportive of our time whether it was financially supportive in the beginning or prayer support now but churches change over time. I mean, this place changes big time. This valley here. Y'all had people that you get to know and then they lead and that happens and we all know that and Aaron's back with us today.
20:15
If y'all didn't see him up here. Yeah, that's cool. As we're as we're contemplating now who's the next one to go or who's going to show up next? That's kind of the way it is and and other, you know, regular towns in the world, they don't leave as often or come back quite as often the same way but Winbrook is our home church. So, I stay in contact with people from there.
20:39
I stay in contact with just a few, not many and they let me know when something's going on. Now, when Tanya and I first got married, we were in the little church I grew up in where the town is only 500 people. The church would be 50. It would gain up to about 100 and then we'd collapse and go back down to 50. I've mentioned that before.
20:56
That's just kind of the life cycle of that church. That's way it went. And Tanya and I got married and when we got back from our, you know, honeymoon, we were in this little town in Shiloh, Georgia and going to this church. She had inclinations, missionary inclinations, I did not. I didn't never think about that really except for when the pastor was preaching on either.
21:19
Some, one of you might be a pastor one day or a missionary. I always thought, yeah, me, probably, when I'm old and gray. Is that picture up there? That picture. So, that's Tanya and me, 16, almost sixteen years ago and no gray in the beard at all, right?
21:36
That's when we were leaving to go on to the mission field and so we were raising support. That was a picture on our first prayer card and Winbrook were the ones who got behind us and sent us out. The church said, we'll cover 30% of your support. Individuals within the church covered about 50% more and then other folks covered the other 20% and when we got on the field, we never lacked for anything. I stayed in touch with people but not to the point of knowing everything going on but the church went from when I started going to church there in college in Columbus, this church was probably about 1,400 people, 12 to 1,400.
22:12
When Tanya and I started going there after, know, breaking away from the small town, father and man must leave his father and mother. So, breaking away from that, we started going to this big church in Columbus. It was about 1,800 people. Over the next couple of years, they had sort of a golden era where everything was good and right. You know, it was working and God was growing the fellowship and it was growing up people in the church and it was wonderful.
22:36
It swelled to about probably 2,200 over those three years or so and then, we were members and everything there for seven years before going or for five years before going to my first mission trip to Mexico. You've heard all about that. I'm not going to cover that but the church grew like crazy. It got up to 4,400 people. That's a big, that's a lot of people, you know, and then, it kind of imploded.
23:02
Same thing I was talking about, life cycles where they swell. The wind blows where it will. No man knows where it's coming from or where it's going but sometimes, we can make the conditions favorable for a split, obviously and that happens from time to time and it happened at Winbrook several times. I've been in touch with people over the years who have been very very hurt, wounded, damaged from church splits. I'm one of those people.
23:23
Mine was earlier in a smaller setting but I was thinking about writing a letter and it's partially because Paul writes letters from where he is and he writes with, of course, apostolic authority. I was a young guy that they sent out as a missionary, not some founding pastor of the church but I'm going to read you a bit of this. So, that's why I'm sitting down. I usually try not to read a whole lot because y'all go to sleep when I read honestly, so just listen up. This very real situations, very real to my heart.
23:57
So, as a final close into this ridiculously long letter, Winbrook. Be aware that we are planning on coming to see y'all when we head back there through Columbia before we need to go through Columbia. Some of it's made up, honestly. That part's made up And it might be that we'll get to hang out with you for more than just a passing howdy. We might even get to spend some real amount of time with you before y'all bid us well on our way again as you do to the place that God has called us.
24:23
My point is that I hope that it could be with for a substantial amount of time so that I can observe and see what's really going on rather than just hitting reports and advise if necessary. As God wills, We won't be able to come right away and I will be sticking around for sure here in Jackson through the end of the summer because God's opened up a great door for ministry here and first B is driving through it. Praise God. There's some opposition to of course but that's the way things are when anybody or any group of people takes the call of the Lord seriously. All in all, I'm amazed and overjoyed to see how God is working here.
24:59
It's amazing. Oh, and if Tanya gets a chance, she'll be coming ahead of me. Please be understanding with her and receive her warmly. She's not a sub missionary. She's the real deal.
25:09
She handles quite a spiritual burden for many people and she routinely does God's work every day just like y'all know. I'm kind of honestly, we both were when we left kind of rock stars. It was ridiculous. We were the first missionaries to leave out of this church. The first ones they sent out and they've been supportive of IMB work all over the world but we're the first ones they sent out and then after a few years, then I got to be the rock star and she didn't.
25:33
I don't know what that happened. I don't know what happened and it don't make any sense anyway. So, that's a little background. So, so y'all know that I do. She can't possibly do everything there that will be expected of her.
25:47
Give her a little slack, okay? Don't get aggravated with her. She's incredibly gifted. She's just awesome and if she needs to leave there again before I'm able to arrive, send her out again in the same way that y'all sent us out before with a blessing so that we all can get back together again. All of the folks out here will be missing her too.
26:03
Remember that. Oh, yeah and some of y'all have been asking me about my long haired buddy, Sean. I've talked to him and talked to him and talked to him about coming there for y'all. I think that he with his solid graphs of the Bible and his emphasis on teaching what the Bible actually says, In addition to not having any other outside political agenda that he would be perfect for the problems that y'all have been facing but the more that I've talked to him, the more I realize that he is resolved to keep on in the ministry God has given him in business where he is right now. I tried to clearly explain things from my perspective and from yours but he's quite certain that this is not a good time.
26:41
Though he did say that when God shows him, it is the time, he will drop everything, pick up his family, and be there right away and you can rest assured in that. He's a godly man and I know you miss him and I do too. Aside from all my travel plans and the other possible ways that God might bring someone in to help you get back on track, think hard about this. Concentrate on this. Y'all just be on the lookout.
27:04
Don't be afraid to do what is actually right. According to what God has shown us very clearly in the Bible. If it's unpopular in Columbus, Georgia or in the rest of The US right now, just man up, alright? I mean, out here, they'd even say, cowboy up. Take on the strength that God has made accessible.
27:25
What he's provided for you. Now, by all means, do everything that you do with love and honestly, if you can't personally do it with love, then take a back seat role and pray for somebody who can. Y'all remember DL, mister DL, and miss Sarah and how they were some of the first to be on board with the changing communities and directions informing Winbrook where it is right now and they were so supportive of the work that God was doing there through Brad and Sandy. Man, what gentle souls these people are. The politics of ministry often hurts the truest and most humble of believers.
28:01
I can't express to you how much your prayers and your supportive men over the years for us. I was so glad that Jim and Betty got to come out here last year. We spent an evening with him. I talked with Don and Evelyn on the phone. Since my first missionary journey, they've all always been our biggest cheerleaders.
28:17
Through talking to them, we're encouraged because when you say it out loud to somebody there that's not here and you say what it is that God's doing here just through simple willingness and obedience. It's amazing. They ask such good questions. Jerry Booker does too. I don't get a chance to talk to him as often as I would like but it seems to me that he and Dale kind of got pushed to the margins after many many years of faithful service there.
28:43
Neither of those guys is going to back down easily when there's a biblical reason to stand up but pushing them aside was wrong. So, please don't let that kind of thing go on. Acknowledge them for who they are in Christ and don't let the politics of power confuse you. The churches of the Grand Teton and Yellowstone area greet you. Mike Demetrius, Joni DeMarsh, and the Stern Brothers and the Bible study that meets in their church.
29:07
All warmly greet you. They hear about you all the time from us. All the rest of the brothers and sisters here too greet you. Tanya and I remember y'all finally to them all the time. Now, every time you see one another, embrace one another like you mean it.
29:22
Slide up beside him and give him a side hug as Renzy would say. Side hugs keep it from getting weird. Y'all can recognize that this is actually my chicken scratch because Tanya's handwriting is beautiful. Actually, so is Pascal's handwriting. It's much more pretty than mine and remember what I was saying earlier.
29:43
All of that other crud that sneaks into church life is what we're destined and committed to struggling through but I'm imploring you. Do that. Be getting through it. If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ and put their faith in him and in him alone, let him be a cursed. Don't put him in leadership.
30:04
Because of advanced degrees, smooth talk, or business savvy. Lord Jesus, please come. Now, may God's unmerited favor be upon every single one of y'all and know this, that Tanya and I love all of y'all. That's our charge. I mean, we love everyone of you.
30:22
The only way that that's possible though is through Jesus Christ, our lord. Amen. So, some of y'all caught it in the first verse and some of you caught it in the last verse but that is personalized the sixteenth chapter of the book of Corinthians and it is very very personal to Paul. He mentions the people and he knows him. He knows how they handshake.
30:44
He knows, he knows them. He knows them well. He knows how to kiss actually. I was, that's weird but he's he knows these people and he's very very close to them and so when we had that four verse thing last week about money and he was just saying, hey, lay it out like this. That's a good thing but then he gets into this very personal application.
31:08
I've got the stuff up here. It's personal greetings, an exhortation, and then some encouragement and that's what it lays out to be and here they are. Y'all can read it if you want to. I don't want to be accused of not putting it up there. I just read it.
31:24
In my context that I think y'all could probably understand a little bit better. But he's going to tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost because this is where God's put him and he's opened a wide open door and doggone, he's walking through it. I don't want to scare any of you to think I'm going back to Winbrook anytime soon. I don't want to be the pastor there. I want to be the pastor here, okay?
31:41
Clear that up right now. But I just went phrase for phrase and copied this down. The final exhortations though is what I want to concentrate on and I'll get to that in a minute. The greetings and the solemn farewell. This solemn farewell needs to have its place too.
32:03
If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. The other day, we had a ministerial meeting here in town and and a bunch of the, it was a interfaith gathering actually. There are couple of guys that are outside of the fence of what I'm comfortable with honestly but father Randy over at the Catholic Church when he was going around, we had a chance to talk about our call and our chance, a chance to talk about who we were in in ministry, you know, and when he got the chance, he said, I I don't I don't know exactly and he, you know, got saved in the South and Methodist Church and he said, I don't know exactly that calling exactly what to say except for I fell in love with Jesus and I've been in love with him ever since. And I want for other people to fall in love with him too. And I thought praise God.
32:57
We're going to lunch tomorrow. Amen. This is awesome. So, but if someone says like we had heard in the speaking on tongues chapter in other places that people were standing up and saying out loud in church that Jesus was a curse or that Jesus was not the Christ or that Jesus was anything except for what he really was. When we heard that a few weeks ago, why in the world did those people have any following whatsoever?
33:21
Paul saying, if that's the way that they feel and that's what they're trying to propose, then, write those people off. They're not in church leadership. They don't need to be having a following. You know what's right and it will go back to that. Do that and he's saying, lord, please come quickly.
33:41
My goodness. This is crazy. When that gets to be what the people that end up in power. So, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. He started with grace.
33:50
He ends with grace. It's grace, grace, grace, grace, grace all through the middle. We're going to be going soon to Galatians which is this analysis of grace versus law. Whoo. He's just grace all the way through this one.
34:07
So, here we come. These are the the exhortation in the middle and this, if you haven't recognized it, from those who are in the men's fellowship, men's fraternity group, this is kind of a a motto almost, a six thirteen, Watch, stand fast in the face. Be brave. Be strong. And there's a reason because to be brave in there, I'll get to it in a minute but to be brave in there is act like a man.
34:31
That's what it that's what it says. So, the men's fraternity group that meets 06:00 in the morning here. This is one of their motto verses and then the follow-up to that is let all that you do be done with love. So, watch. The word there means watch.
34:49
Be on the lookout. Actually, another one is be watchful like a watchman in the night or hey, wake up. It's a nudge. Watch out. Look out.
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Heads up. Look for what's coming down the track. Here it is. Watch out. Be wakeful.
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Fully aware of what's going on around you. Are you fully aware of what's going on around you? The next one is stand fast. Now, Paul uses this in almost all of his epistles. He says, stand firm in what it is that you believe.
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Why? Because he's writing to churches. He's writing to people who are believers. He's saying, if you fell in love with Jesus, stick with that. Why would you change it for any other vain worldly philosophy?
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Stand fast. Stand firm in the faith. Be immovable, he said in verse 57 or 58 a couple weeks ago. Fifteen, fifty seven, 58. Stand fast and then in the faith.
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Now, this is another one of those phrases where the in the faith can go with stand fast but it also can go with the be brave. I think it goes with both and I think he did it on purpose. I think Paul was kind of a wordsmith. He did it intentionally. Stand fast in the faith means stand fast on what it is you know to be true.
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What God has clearly revealed in his word. Stand fast on that. You don't have to defend yourself if you just go with what God said. Can anybody think of anything this week? Where somebody might not have stood fast, where a whole denomination might not have stood fast on what the Bible obviously clearly says.
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Yes. If you read the newspaper, you can anyway. Stand fast in the faith. Pay attention to what it says and go with that. Stand fast in the faith.
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Stand firm. Don't be shaken. The be brave, I mentioned it's on andritsus there or something along those lines, but andro, like the anabolic steroid, Andro that's supposed to make you more of a man, Andro, Andros is a man in Greek and then the command form of it is saying, act like a man but it's saying act like a man instead of like a child, not instead of like a woman. It's not saying that. It's saying men and women act like grown ups.
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Grow up. Be mature, And it is a command to do that. And then be strong follows that. So, I like the New King James version where it says, be brave on that last one right there because to act like a man, in a men's group, it's perfectly appropriate translate it that way. It's a decent translation but for a whole group of people, he's saying, grow up.
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Don't be so easily led astray. You know where Jesus says that, you know, suffer the children to come unto me and he says, and anyone who leads anyone of these away, it'll be much better for them on the day of judgement, have a millstone around his neck, and thrown into the sea. If we, kowtow to the winds of culture, if we trim the sails of the ship of church to the winds of culture, then we have to turn it away from the Bible. They are opposing things and if we do trim ourselves to the winds of culture, we will go the way of our culture. We won't go the way of the Bible.
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We won't stay on the narrow path. We won't go with God's way. So, he's saying, that's going to take some doing. Stand firm in the faith. Be brave.
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Act like grown ups. Not pulled away to the side by anybody that comes along with a smooth line and to be strong. Be strong here is about doing the right thing because you have the power of the Holy Spirit to stand. I'm sorry. I pause a bit there because the being strong in this day and age depending on where you're in the world can get your head cut off.
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Be strong. Accept the strength that the Lord has provided Live it out. Continually living it out. Now, I do like the immediate let all you do be done in love because if you looked at just the thirteenth verse, then it could look very militant. Watch.
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Be watchful. Stand on the ball with your sword ready. Stand fast in the faith, you know, kill the infidels. There's another religion that operates like that. Watchful.
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Anybody that's not doing anything exactly by Shariah. Stand fast with this faith. Hold on to this. Be brave. Be willing to do something like cutting someone's head off.
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Be strong. If you don't follow it up with but you gotta love that person, then, it can go around really, really, really, really, really quickly. In fact, if we go back a little bit, we say, stand fast in the faith. If Mohammed had stuck with, now, Christianity been around for six hundred something years, right? Before this.
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He had been taught the way of Christ. He had been taught the way of the cross. Now, whether he accepted that or not, he began to think there needed to be more. Galatians talks about that too. We'll talk about Galatians next week.
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There needed to be more. So, he started to try to take away freedom and add layer upon layer of religiosity over the top of the clear, pure, and simple gospel of Christ dead, buried, resurrected for sin. He wanted to eliminate sin by control and that just isn't possible. It isn't possible. If Muhammad had held to the faith, there would be no Islam.
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If Joseph Smith had held to the Christian faith and stood firm believing that the gospel was enough, there would be no Mormonism. Do y'all get this? That it can go wrong really really quickly if you don't stand firm in the faith. Stand fast in the faith. Be strong.
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Man up. Cowboy up. Be brave. Be strong and let all that you do be done with love. That gets you right back down to the do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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It gets back to in humility, accepting that others are better than yourselves so that you can get along and so that you can serve one another. We're all ready to the takeaways. I went to a concert last night and the night before actually, and I went in these shoes. This is why I wore these shoes this morning. I went in these shoes.
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Look at how thin those shoes are. Ridiculous. I put them on as an unfortunate footwear choice, but I put them on put them on before taking Paschal to school on Friday. I wore them here, and I ended up walking around and being in a lot of situations where I was walking around on the gym floor, hard floor, hardwood floors, concrete floors, walk from here to the concert, asphalt for six hours in a row, and when I was walking back, I was thinking, wow. This is uncomfortable.
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These things are really, really uncomfortable. Well, they're uncomfortable because I'm feeling everything that's going on under them. I could stand on a dime and tell you whether it was a nickel, okay? There's nothing, no padding, no protection here but I'm very very aware of what's going on. As I was standing there, I thought about being in the midst of this great throng of people.
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I thought about, man, I love the music first of all. I'm enjoying this. I'm loving the friends and I'm loving the fact that you couldn't sling a dead cat without hitting somebody from first beat. That was great. Y'all don't use that phrase here, do you?
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Or in Minnesota. Sorry. Sorry. So, I like that we're in there and we're mixing it up. I like that we can stand firm in the faith too and be in the midst of what's going on.
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I like that but hold fast to what it is that you know to be true. Don't don't be swayed. Don't be pulled away. The fact that you're there. I had people come up.
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This is ridiculous. It's a sign of our times, I think. Two or three people wandered from way across the crowd and got over to me and did this. And I did that. Exactly.
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And they said, I'm just glad you're here. We're not any different than anybody else. We're all seeking out experience You remember the bull's eye we had up a few weeks ago where there's dogmatic and existential, supernatural, and natural and we talked about we're trying to hit the center of that. A lot of us were raised with more dogma dogma than experience and so a lot of us when we rebelled from dogma, rebelled on the other side to experience, to see what's out there beyond what we've told was good and true and some of us who have rebelled have rebelled the opposite direction. We were wild and now we are dogmatic but we're shooting for the center of that.
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So, anyway, the takeaways come straight out of the text this week and they are this, our plans for the future really do matter. There are some of y'all who have missionary inclinations who are planning for a future where you will be a missionary. There's some of you who have transferred jobs recently and you're going there. Your plans matter. Paul's plans take up the majority of this chapter.
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Because it makes a difference and what was he looking to do? He was looking to encourage the church. He was looking to always be building up the church. Now, he starts off with be vigilant y'all. Be wakeful.
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Wake up. See what's going on all around you. Our society is that proverbial boiling that pot that's been heating up slowly. Y'all heard that. Every preacher in the world uses analogy.
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Y'all heard it. Throw a frog in boiling water, boom, he jumps out immediately. Put a frog in some water and you start warming it up slowly. It gets to a boiling point. You have frog soup.
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Okay? He's saying be vigilant. Recognize the temperature of the water around you. Do that by using an objective standard. That objective standard is biblical faith.
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Faith like Abraham, really Abraham, not a revisionist history version of Abraham. Be standing firm in true biblical faith. In order to do that, you need to know it. That's why I'm committed to sharing that. I feel like residual Bible knowledge in our society is virtually gone.
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So, when I stand up here, I'm going to keep on thumping the drum for just what the Bible says. It's up to us to make the application sometimes but be standing firm in biblical faith. This guy, oh, this is how I made the sermon last long enough to last the whole hour. David G Cashin, one of my professors at school. I love this man.
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He's great. He's he speaks seven languages. He has four more that he reads because they're dead languages. He does not know how to pronounce. That's crazy.
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He is incredible. He's an intercultural studies professor at CIU where I went to school, Columbia International. He used to sit out in the square. He he was a missionary in Bangladesh for many many years, set like seventeen years, and he would sit out in the middle of a a square, a plaza, and as he was out there drinking tea, he would read his little decorative copy of the New Testament which looks like a Quran but decorative copy dressed in fully Muslim garb and as he's seated back and crossed and reading his book and drinking his tea, people would come up and they would be confused. He looked a lot more American than he does right now when he was younger.
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Apparently, but he would come up to him and say, are you a Muslim? And he spoke the language and he'd say, well, he'd say this, well, that depends on what you mean by Muslim. Now, for us, that's like, well, that's heresy right there but it's not. The word Muslim in almost every language where Islam is practiced means one who is submitted to the will of God. One who is submitted to the will of God and when he said, if by that, do you mean that I follow the tenants of the Quran and Islam?
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General. No. But if you are asking if I'm one who has submitted to the will of God, then yes, I'm a Muslim and he'd open a dialogue conversation. Now, he had tried various means of greeting and meeting and talking to people over the years and the time that he was there. He had a guy on his team that came in and in the first six months, I think, someone stole his camera and when they stole his camera, he got so angry at the local population that he left the country never to return.
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Cursing them as he left. Carl thinks that's funny. Doctor Cashin got in the middle of kind of a a mob accidentally a riot and he was recognized for being a Christian and he was dragged through the streets and he was beaten. He's blind in his right eye. One of his eyes.
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I think it's his right eye. He was beaten within an inch of his life, lost the vision in his right eye, broke his jaw, thoroughly destroyed the man, and he stayed. And after he stayed, and he was drinking tea and answering this question, he had a tremendous ministry. A door was opened wide for ministry. That guy is one of my heroes.
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I just love this guy. Now, he's training missionaries to send him out. He's written a lot and if you want to read anything by him, look him up. David G Cash and he's written a lot about Islam and Christianity and how they how things are going in this country and in Europe and he he's he's quite astute so you might enjoy that. Be standing firm in biblical faith.
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He trusted Jesus when he said there would be adversity. He trusted Jesus when he said there would be tribulation and that there would be trial. If you stand up for me, you are going to receive opposition. That's he trusted that and he got to see some fruit for his ministry. Be standing firm in biblical faith.
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Be brave, not like immature kids. Grow up. Be mature. And accept the strength that God gives. He offers it.
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He offers salvation through the blood of Christ but he also offers a sanctification and a growth process through our yielding to him. It would have been easier for me the other night to take these shoes off and come put on some padded, comfortable shoes and stand around and just be comfortable but I actually thought of this message so I didn't do it. Force myself, Just stick with this for a while and and feel feel the pain of it for a while. Feel what this is like to just stand firm and not cushion it too much. I'm not saying be harsh or abrasive.
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I'm saying, recognize what's going on and accept the strength that God gives to get through it, okay? Standing up for him, being brave, and then finally, remember, that's why it's gone. Love must govern every godly action and I want to back up to this. GK Chesterton, one of my favorites, super quotable. Everything he ever wrote or probably said was quotable.
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He said this and I think it's great. Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. If you've ever really tried Christianity for what it really is, you will not find it wanting. Taste and see that the Lord is good just the way that he said do things is the best way. Trust me.
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No matter what the sin, no matter what the issue, if you just say, that's okay for me because blank. You're going against God. GK Chesterton said, Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and then not tried. Do y'all get that?
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You might have to mull it over for a minute. It has been found difficult and not tried. Some of God's decrees and commands like, I don't know, love one another. Are hard. It's hard to actually do that.
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And when people look at that and say, I don't want to love my enemies. I will leave that. I'll just be nothing. Christianity has not been tried and found wanting. It is found been found difficult and then not tried.
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So, Carl, can y'all come on back up? I think we're down to the the takeaway slide. Be vigilant. Pay attention to what's going around you. Wake up.
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And do it in love. You don't have to get cursed and mad at people. Be standing firm in biblical faith. If you're standing firm in biblical faith, you will see that love must govern every godly action. Be brave because that is what it takes to love people when they're spitting at you, to love people when they're hitting on you, to love people when they won't listen, to love people when they won't forgive.
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For crying out loud, I woke up at 02:30 this morning and I thought of this. I thought Christianity not being tried. If you feel like you can hold on to something and not forgive somebody, that's not Christianity. Forgive one another just as God in Christ forgave you. That is simple, super simple in concept.
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Just do it. Let it go. Let it go. Be brave enough to just let it go, and then accept the strength God gives. I promise you on the backside of it, you will be appreciative that you did.
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In Jesus' name. Let's sing. Would you stand with us?
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Speaker 2Stormy gale anchor holds my soul gives way open stay on Christ the solid rock I stand
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Speaker 1Amen. John fourteen six. John 14 well, five and six. Thomas said to him, lord, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way.
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And I am the truth. And I am the life and no one comes to the father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my father as well. From now on, you do know him because you have seen him. Amen.
Topics
Church SplitsCultural CompromiseForgivenessIslam And ChristianityLove Your EnemiesStanding Firm
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