You are invited to stop deceiving yourself about the areas where you feel stuck and seek the truth that sets you free. Take a bold step of obedience today, whether it is baptism or simply honoring the word being preached, to prove faithful in your relationship with Him. As you step out of your comfort zone, you will find your life conforming more clearly to His image.
So, my name is David John Phillips. I have the joy of getting to be the pastor of this church. And I'm so thankful that you came today. If this is your first time, we do. We pray that you have experienced and experienced the love of Jesus from the time that you pulled into the parking lot till the time you made it to your seat.
And here's what I know. When you encounter his love, it forces you into the valley of decision. Because he's that good. He loves you and he's inviting you into a relationship with him. See, love, you can't have a loving relationship without the choice not to love.
And that valley of decision is, man, I see this and it's real. So I'm either gonna follow him or I'm gonna reject him. And man, wanna always, I want my life, our church, and your lives whenever you're around people to them to encounter the love of Jesus through you so much that they're placed in that same valley of decision. Where they see Jesus so clearly through the way that you speak, through the way that you act, Through the way that trials and stuff hits your life and you respond with the fruit of Jesus. I want them to see his love in you and through you so clearly that they say, I gotta experience that same Jesus.
Amen? Alright. I'm gonna take, I'm gonna say 5 minutes, so you'll think it's 10. I'm gonna take 10 minutes, 5, 10 minutes to go through 2 verses. And then, we're gonna have a baptism, and we'll be done at 11:25.
Is that a deal? Alright. Somebody ring the bell at 11:15. Say, you're done. But man, just This is Courtney called it obedience Sunday.
Man, you know, we get to worship. We get to follow the Lord in obedience through tithes and offerings and communion. But then, we get to watch people step in obedience with their life and marriage, which is a beautiful thing. Then we get to preach a little bit, and then we get to watch somebody else take the step of obedience through baptism, which is a beautiful thing. You realize, baptism is a step of obedience.
Bible says, repent and be baptized. And so, I mean, praise the Lord. I got a lot of friends that believe in in infant baptism and that's awesome. I just don't see it biblically. Because Peter said, repent and be baptized.
And so, after you have the ability to know and believe, and then turn from yourself to Jesus, and confess him as Lord, be born again. Well then, it's time to make the declaration of baptism. Amen? Alright. Okay.
So, just a real quick couple of points I wanna get across to you, and just a reminder from from last Sunday. We've been in first Corinthians. And, have you guys enjoyed the first Corinthians series so far? If you missed last Sunday, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to it. I'm gonna I'm gonna give a brief overview, and then just hit 2 points.
Last Sunday we talked about, do not deceive yourselves. 1 Corinthians-3:18. Do That's a command. And if it's a command to not deceive yourself, that means it's possible to deceive yourself. And to walk in deception, not because of somebody else, but because of you, because of me.
And deceive, the word we said, we talked about the word deceiving, or to deceive means to believe a lie, because you think it's bit more beneficial for you. And there's a lot of people that have chosen to either be willfully ignorant and not pursue the truth in certain areas, or to reject truth in certain areas, because they don't trust Jesus, or in certain areas we don't trust Jesus. Instead, we trust what we think is more beneficial. The problem is, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Right?
But he also said, as we looked at scripture last week, it says, if you're really my disciples, you will remain in my word, which his word is truth, which means we stand in it. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So here's what we talked about. To the extent that you are not free in any area of your life, that's the extent that you're deceived. Right?
And we're constantly, all of us, myself included, are growing in our understanding of the truth and applying it, so we're growing day in and day out as we know him, and to live out more freedom. And we said, what does freedom look like? Well, freedom looks like the results of the kingdom of God in your life. That's what it looks like. Kingdom of God is not a matter of meat and drink, Romans says, but a matter of matter of righteousness, peace, and joy.
So we said, hey, you can know any of our any area you're not free, because it's an area of your life where you don't experience the results of the kingdom of God. And those results are righteousness, peace, and joy. So any area of your life, whether it be finances, whether it be relationships, your marriage, children, you know, past stuff, the way you play, any area of your life where you can't consistently rejoice, is an area of your life where you're deceived in some way because then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Right? Any area of your life where you don't have consistent peace, and I'm not talking about an attack of the enemy, but I'm talking about any area of your life where there's consistent anxiety, stress, worry, and fear.
That's an area of your life where you're not free, which means you either don't know the truth in that area or willfully rejecting it. So you're deceived in that area. Choosing to stay in a lie instead of walk or seek out freedom that comes from knowing him and remaining in it. *Righteousness, peace, and joy*. So righteousness, any area of your life where we don't believe right standing with God, so we don't believe what he says about us and who we are in him and who he is in us, but then also righteousness is not just right standing but right doing.
When you believe right, you will do right. So in any area of your life where you're consistently not doing right, it's because you believe a lie about who God said, who God is and who he says you are. So it's an area of your life where you're deceived. So in those areas, when you experience anxiety or depression or lack of joy in any area of your life or just a consistent bad habit, Lord, let it be an "alarm bell". Lord God, like go to him first.
Lord God, I need to know truth in this area. Where am I deceived? And seek him first, and you'll experience his kingdom and his righteousness, and all other things will be added to you. "Amen? Amen."
Because what we saw last week, *1 Corinthians-3*, we saw at the end of verse 21, it says, "all things are yours". Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all things will be added to you. All things are yours. And we said, wait a second, hold on. Doesn't look like all things are mine.
Maybe that's what some of you say or in different areas of your life. And remember, remember, he said, the bible says in Romans-8, that we're his kids. And if God did not spare his own son, how will he not graciously give you all things? So we're heirs of his kingdom. He's our father.
We're in his name. So all things are in the "bank account". But just because it's in the bank account doesn't mean it's in my pocket yet. Right? Alright.
Let me just pause that for a second. Let's get into that next verse. *1 Corinthians-4:1*. This then is how you ought to regard us as servants of Christ, as those entrusted with the mysteries of God, the mysteries that he has revealed. Now, this is talking about Paul was talking about in the verse before, Paul, Apollos, Peter, which they called Cephas.
But what were they? Apostles, preachers of the gospel. In *1 Corinthians-1*, it says, verse 21, for since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God or know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. So this is how you should regard us guard us as servants of Christ, those entrusted with the mysteries of that God has revealed. Now listen here, it's important.
Those who you honor, you can receive from. Honor means giving weight to what was Like if I honor someone, I give weight to their words. Those that you honor, you can receive from. Those that you dishonor, you can't receive from. You won't receive from.
And so, that's why when I'm sitting in the in the crowd and Gabe, Mariah, Courtney, Heidi, Daniel, whoever's preaching up here, I want to regard them as those entrusted with the mysteries of God. I'm not saying, man, if if what they say is not lined up with scripture, I don't check it and say, woah, on a second. But man, every time I approach somebody that's preaching the word and I'm going to church on a Sunday or I'm going to to visit or whatever, I'm going to sit on the edge of my seat with my paper out saying, God, what mystery do you want to reveal to me so that I can grow in my understanding of the mystery of who you are. *Colossians-1:27* says, the mystery has been revealed. It's "Christ in us", the hope of glory.
So man, all preachers should be revealing more and more who Christ is and who we are in him and what that means for our daily life. And so, I wanna honor what's being said from the pulpit, honor what's being said and what's being preached so that I can grow in my relationship with Jesus, but it doesn't just stop there. I told a group this morning that was meeting for our Uganda trip that we're going on in June. Praise the Lord. I said, look guys, there's a reason that I ask you and it's kinda funny, people on the dream team or those who hang around me, just know if you get alone with me, I'm gonna ask you, what's God been doing in your life?
What's a testimony? What are you most excited about? Man, let me hear. And it's not because I'm I'm trying to see, you know, and and test your walk with God. Now, do wanna encourage you forward in him.
That's part of it. But the the bigger part is this. If you're born again, you have the same Holy Spirit in you that I have in me. And he's leading and guiding you in relationship with him, and you have a different set of experiences than I do. And so man, if you share a testimony of how God's worked in your life, or what he's been showing you in your time with God, and all those things, I want to listen and honor what you're saying as the potential of you opening up some more of the mysteries of who Jesus is and who he is in us.
So that I can learn from you. That's why I ask you. Man, what if we honored 1 another as believers? I mean, and and sure, if you're a brand new baby believer, man, you know, there you might have a lot to learn. But still you have the same Holy Spirit in you.
So still you can say some things that's gonna challenge me that's been following Jesus for 32 years and encourage me. I don't wanna be so prideful that I can't learn from you. How dumb is that? We're supposed to approach each other in humility, valuing 1 another above ourselves. Have the same mindset in our relationships as that of Christ Jesus, who did not count equality, even though he was equal with God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped.
That means even though I'm equal with you as a human being, I'm not counting equality with Keith something to be grasped, but instead I'm supposed to take on the form of a servant, honoring each other. I want to give you an example. If you don't mind, I'll go 4 more minutes. I'll take the laugh as a yes. I'll give you an example.
About 8 years ago, my wife and I went to Charlotte because I had a a class in seminary I needed to go to there. It was a a like a leadership class or something. And we're sitting in a and I'm in a seminary class with all these other pastors that are pastors in Charlotte. Know, and that's why they were at that part of the campus of Gordon Conwell because they were they were leading there. So we're talking through leadership stuff.
And they're all, as we are talking through good leaders and all this stuff, they are all bashing pastor Steven. And really because he had the growing church on the corner and some of their members are going to his church, not that he drew them there. And so this jealousy and envy, and it's coming out as criticalness as if they're more high and mighty than them. And I'm sitting back and I'm listening, I'm like, oh my gosh, what is this? But remember, from a couple messages ago, what you hear changes how you see.
Well, me and my wife had planned on going to Elevation Church that Sunday because, man, I'd been impacted by their worship team, you know. And some of the message I'd saw on Instagram or whatever, and But as I go to the church, I go with a critical spirit because of what I've heard. It changed how I saw. So I walk into the church and I'm looking for what's wrong instead of looking for who's right. And so I'm sitting in there, and I'm like, you know, I'm looking through the eyes of these jealous, envious pastors who are who are really more concerned about, you know, them losing things instead of the kingdom growing.
How satanic is that? And so, about the second or third song, I just know in my spirit, something's wrong. There's some anxiety there. Some some lack of peace. And it wasn't because of what's the church, it was because of what was in my heart.
So I was just like, Lord, what is this? It was the alarm bell. There was no peace. I was believing a lie, I was deceived. Deceiving myself based on putting, listening to the wrong conversations.
And so, I said, Lord, are you here? And I just felt my spirit him say, I'm here. So I repented. Father, I'm here and I'm open to receive the mysteries of who you are more deeply. Lord, show me, teach me.
And if I wouldn't have done that, I wouldn't have heard in the message that exact word I needed to step into the next season of my life that God was calling me to. I would have been so critical and dishonored the word and not been able to hear when Jesus said, be careful how you hear. Confessions of a pastor. Man, it's so important. Because here's the thing, verse 2.
Now, it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I don't have time today, but I'm a go into it more next week. You see, God entrusts us, not just pastors. This is talking about the preachers and the pastors, but all of us. He entrusts us with his word.
You're a minister of the gospel in your daily life. He speaks to you. He tells you he loves you. Like, he's entrusted you with a relationship with him. And all of us, not just the pastors, but the pastors for sure.
Those that are teachers of the word. James-3:1 says, not everybody should become teachers because don't you know that teachers of the word will be judged more strictly? You know why? Because people are supposed to honor what's being said. And so, man, I wanna be careful to teach truth because I don't wanna deceive you and I don't want you to be deceived.
So it's a it's a big deal teaching the word. There's a responsibility. But with this, all of us are given a trust and we must prove faithful. See remember, it's all in our bank account, but not in our pocket Because we haven't proved faithful yet. We have a comfort zone where we're comfortable.
It's just us. But stepping out in faith requires hearing his word, believing what he said, and then taking a step in obedience. Because here's the thing, if you don't like change, that's semi normal for people, but you gotta get over it because Jesus is gonna change you. And if you're not willing to change, you're not willing to follow Jesus. Hey.
Isn't he conforming you into his image to represent him more clearly? Not for you to look like me, like me and you can look completely different, but it's amazing how me and you look completely different, but we can both look like Christ. Right? So in our comfort zone, we're comfortable. This is who we are, And then God gives us a word, a revelation of our next step.
Get married. Get baptized. Move to clear water and plant a church. Whatever it is. And it's going to challenge you outside of who you are in your comfort zone.
So you have to hear it. Faith comes by hearing, requires believing, and then it's completed by obedience, taking a step. So that is a step of faith, and it's challenging you outside of who you are. But guess what? He requires faithfulness, being full of faith, not just 1 step.
So what you're given in you're entrusted, he's given you a trust, his word. We We do it once, praise the Lord. We took a step of faith, but a lot of people go, I'm comfortable here and I'm never doing that again. But that was great. Thank you, Jesus.
I did an act of faith and it was awesome. Everybody clap for me. Yay. No. Those who have been given a trust must prove faithful, meaning full of faith.
Meaning, don't just take 1 step of faith, but this is an area where he's revealed to me. Well, dadgum it. In that area of my life, I need to be faithful. I need to always, every time, take that same step of faith until it becomes my lifestyle. Then I know the truth.
My life's been set free in that area, and now my comfort zone grew because I grew to reflect him more clearly. Guess what, dang, I got a "new comfort zone" now, and he's gonna challenge me again. And every day, he's challenging me to be conformed into his likeness, and represent him, and prove faithful in every area as I hear, believe, and obey, "little by little". And every time I'm doing that, he's taken that all that's mine, he can trust me with a little more. And now I have more of his promises that I'm experiencing my life and able to show everybody else.
Not because I'm earning it by works, but because out of relationship, he knows what's best for me and what I'm ready for, and he gives me what I'm ready for so it doesn't break me, but actually reflects him more clearly. Amen? Amen. Okay. Now you get to demonstrate how you look like Jesus by forgiving me for going 10 minutes more than I said.
Come on, that was funny. We have a baptism.