You are not defined by your failures, but by the righteousness credited to you in Christ. As you take communion, invite the Holy Spirit to search your heart and confess what is not of Him, so you can walk in sincerity and truth. Embrace the cleansing power of Jesus' sacrifice to live confidently in His presence.
So Lord God, I pray that you would just give believers in here a **burning desire** to fulfill the great commission. Lord God, that you would give them a burning desire to learn to share the gospel, that they would feel that those "butterflies in their stomach", that nervousness knowing you're calling them to something that maybe they haven't done in a while and they're nervous about. Lord, I pray they lean into that. Lord, give them the boldness. Lord, and I I pray that as they step forward in obedience, because you're Lord, to follow the great commission and learn to share the gospel and learn to make disciples, Lord, their lives are forever changed but also the lives of those around them are forever changed in Jesus name.
And everybody said? Amen. That's 1 of my favorite parts of being a pastor. I get to say, and everybody said? Amen.
If you ever get to preach, make sure you do that. It's it's fun. Okay. I don't think I've ever heard someone preach a message on what I'm about to preach. Doesn't mean it hasn't been done.
It's been done. This is not a a a normal passage of scripture. But, it's necessary because the bible says, all scripture is good for teaching, rebuking, training, encouraging, and righteousness. And this is scripture, so it's important. We're gonna go through 1 Corinthians-5.
But before we do, we gotta hit the verse before it because I didn't hit it last week, and we're in that series titled Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians-4, verse 21. Are you guys ready? Are you sure? Alright.
It says, what do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and a gentle spirit? Now, you have to understand and remember that Paul is *fathering* the Corinthians right now. Paul led a lot of them to Jesus and became their spiritual father. God is our father and a lot of times, he fathers us personally, but then also, fathers us through the body, through people.
And, Paul is fathering them. Now, I have been digesting this chapter and these verses for the whole week. That's kind of my process. I get done with Sunday, and then I read the the next chapter that we're gonna be talking through, and I just begin to digest and process with the Lord throughout the day. On Thursday, I'll sit down.
Thursday's my Like, when I sit down and focus on the message, and get it all coherent, in line, so that it can be communicated in a way that's understandable. So, on Wednesday night, I'm laying in bed, my wife has already been to sleep, and You know, my my son got me on Has anybody ever played Brawl Stars on the phone? Nobody? Yeah. We've got 1 guy.
So, I have an 11 year old boy, and he likes video games. And, he I started playing Brawl Stars with him in my in some of my free time, you know, because father son time, it's great. And, it's summer, and so he had a lot of free time, and every now and then, in between work, and in between relationships, and other things, I'd sit down and play Brawl Stars. Well, I ended up liking it. And so, before I'd go to bed, I sometimes would play Brawl Stars.
He's going back to school, so God had me delete it last night, so that I can get, you know, use my free time in other ways. Anyway. That came to mind because Wednesday night, I was playing Brawl Stars when my wife was asleep, before I went to sleep. He made me like it. But I did delete it last night.
Anyway, I get done playing Brawl Stars, and God's just impressed on my heart. I want to go to sleep with the word on my mind. I just do. Not junk, not news, not other things. I wanna go to sleep with his word.
And so, pull up my bible app, I pull up, and I just felt like the Lord led me to go to Psalm 23. So I I opened up Psalm 23, and I begin to read, and let's read it together, or you can listen as I read it. So, Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, which the NIV says differently. I'm just gonna kinda quote it because of how I grew up. It's 1 of the first scriptures I memorized as a kid.
But, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in "green pastures". He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the "valley of the shadow of death", I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Wednesday night, before I begin to sit down and prepare the message as I read through Psalm or the 20 third Psalm, that line stood out, and I reread it, and reread it, and reread it, and then I went to sleep. Woke up the next day, went out to the office in order to begin to spew what I had digested on a page, because I had been digesting 1 Corinthians-5 for a few days. And as I read or 1 Corinthians-4:21, the verse right before 5 that we have to get into, it said, what do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline or shall I come in love and a gentle spirit?
And I remembered, the Lord led me to 20 third Psalm. Your rod and your staff, they they Am I comforted by the discipline of my heavenly father? I look at what is a rod and what is a staff. Before we get there, it says what? It The same sentence.
It says, even though I walk through the darkest valley or the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Everybody say, I will fear no evil. I will fear no evil. Why? Because you are with me.
In 1 John-4, it says, there is no fear in love. Before that, it says, God is love. And then, says, perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment. The 1 who fears has not been made perfect in love.
God is perfect love. That's who he is. And, he casts out fear. He hates fear. And, he hates fear in his children.
Do you know why? Because fear prevents you from being like him. Fear prevents you from walking out the fullness of the purpose that he has for you. And so, when you're in his presence, he will cast out fear, or you will walk out of his presence. Because he is perfect love.
And, perfect love casts out fear. So, I will fear no evil because he is with me. And, in the same sentence, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Obviously, the context is a shepherd. And, a shepherd has a rod and a staff.
So, Thursday morning, I look up, **rod and staff**, because I wanted to be fresh on it. A rod was used by the shepherd as like a club. Think of it as a weapon in order to beat away enemies. Think about I think there's a scripture about David killing the lion with his bare hands, but most shepherds would take a rod, and they would've beat the bear back, so it didn't get the sheep. They would've beat the lion back, so it didn't get the sheep.
The rod protects the sheep from the predators. So we can take comfort that God, like our shepherd, is going to have a rod and protect us from enemies attacking us. We don't have to fear predators. We know he's going to protect us. But number 2, the shepherd.
Staff. The staff. The staff is it has a crook on it. You know, if you see a a stick with a crook, you think shepherd's staff. It's it's unique and it's used for very specific purposes As the sheep are going in the direction that the shepherd desires for the sheep to go, when a sheep begins to get out of line, the shepherd will take the staff and guide him back in line with the direction he has for the sheep's life.
If the sheep's not willing to move forward, the shepherd will take the staff and poke and prod the sheep in order to get him to go. Kinda hurts a little bit. Ow, but get going. If the sheep gets stuck in a hole, the shepherd takes the staff and takes the crook, wraps it around the sheep's neck and pulls the sheep out of the hole, gets it back in line with the sheep. The staff is what he uses to discipline the sheep, keeping it in line.
And so we can take comfort in the rod and the staff, not fearing any evil, either evil outside or evil that tries to attack from within. The rod protects us from the predator attacking my life. The staff protects me from me. And so I'm gonna take comfort in his *discipline* because he's a good father. There's no fear in love, and he's perfect love.
Fear has to do with punishment. There's a difference in punishment and discipline, and we'll get to it in a second. *Proverbs-15*. This is all pretext for 1 Corinthians-5 because you have to understand this in order to rightly understand and not run off on 1 Corinthians-5. That deserved a little chuckle, maybe, maybe not.
Okay. Thank you for that. *Proverbs-15:5* says, a fool spurns a parent's discipline or a fool despises their father's correction. But whoever heeds correction shows prudence or wisdom. *Proverbs-15:10*, stern discipline awaits anyone who leaves the path.
Think about the staff. Stern discipline awaits anyone who leads the path. The 1 who hates correction will die. Why? Because when the shepherd's trying to get you back on the path, you continue to go.
I don't wanna be corrected. I wanna go my own way. My heart's cry is father whatever it takes to develop in me the character necessary to carry the call. I asked the Lord, I've learned to ask the Lord for his discipline. Lord God, I want to be a disciplined son and I ask you in whatever way that I'm not willing, **heavenly Father** would you discipline me?
Would you teach me? Because I know a properly disciplined child will have discipline in them and will be a disciplined follower of their father. And, I wanna be a disciple who is a disciplined follower of Jesus. So, I don't wanna reject or whine or cry because I'm angry at the Lord disciplining me when it gets tough. As a matter of fact, let's go to Hebrews-12.
Verse 4. In your struggle against sin, you have not resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And, have you have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement? Everybody say encouragement. Encouragement.
What I'm about to tell you is encouragement. It's not being harsh. It's encouragement. That addresses you as a father addresses his son. It says, my son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline.
To make light is to dishonor it. To honor something is to give it weight. I wanna honor when he's disciplining me so that I learn to walk in his ways and to better reflect my father's character and nature in every aspect of this life. My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the 1 he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as a son. I'll input daughter as well.
Verse 7. Endure hardship as *discipline*. If the enemy brings a circumstance against me, and is attacking my life, I'm not gonna ask why. I'm gonna endure the hardship as discipline, because I know my God is good, and all things work together for good for those that love him and are called according to his purpose. So therefore, even the enemy's attacks against me that is meant to destroy me, I know my God's gonna turn it around and show his goodness through my life, and develop me, in me, the character necessary to carry the call in the midst of it, and others will see the way that I walk through the hardship, and they'll see Jesus, and have a desire to follow him.
But if I whine and complain and don't stand through the hardship, then I'm not gonna be trained by it. If the but that's that's 1 type of hardship. That's the enemy attacking. I'll just say this. This is my picture.
I've said this before in church, but there's a lot of new newer people here. Maybe you need to see it. When the enemy's attacking, God's not surprised and like, oh, 0, gosh. I hope it's okay. It's not I have a picture of God on the edge of his seat, looking down between the clouds saying to everybody in heaven, hey, come here guys.
Come here. Check check out my boy. The enemy thinks he's gonna get him with this 1. I've put everything that he needs inside of him already. He's got the Holy Spirit.
He's got every promise. And, what the enemy don't know is, I don't allow I don't allow him to be tempted beyond what he can bear, but I always provide a "way out". And, I know my boy knows me, so he's always gonna be looking for that way out. He's gonna be looking for my presence. I can't wait to see how my boy stands in the midst of this trial.
What if we had that perspective in every every single time the enemy tried to attack us? Lord, We'd be able to rejoice in all things. Right? Endure hardship. Well, that's not the only kind of type of hardship.
That's discipline. I told my son yesterday, he's awesome. Tripper man. Go mow the yard. I taught him to mow the yard when he was 7.
Because he could. He was ready. And, he cried. But he did it. And he was trained by it and he got stronger and he's really good at it now.
He's amazing. I didn't put him in something that he wasn't ready to bear. But, it was hard. And, I knew that as I was disciplining him, pushing him forward in areas that he didn't think he was ready for but I, as his father, knew that he was ready for. I knew that he was learning things that would help him to reflect the character of his father as he grew older.
That's the difference in in discipline and punishment. See punishment is just consequence for messing up. Punishment is consequence for messing up. There's no there's no thought of the motive of benefit. It's like, you steal something, the punishment is this.
You murder someone, the punishment, you go to jail, possibly die in the electric chair or whatever it is, or possibly life sentence, depending on what state you're in. Right? There is punishment for wrongdoing. Period. *Discipline* is different.
*Discipline*, you may end up with the same consequence as punishment. Discipline, you may have to do the same amount of consequence as punishment. But discipline is specifically calculated for your good, for your benefit, for you to grow and reflect the character and nature of your heavenly father. When you've learned the lesson and it's best for you the the punishment to be alleviated from you, he may take it. Do we ask why or when?
No. We just trust him because he's good. Watch. I'm gonna keep reading so you can see what I'm talking about. Endure hardship as discipline.
God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined, and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters. Moreover, we all we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the father of spirits and live?
Now, you might have had a father that really messed up on some of your *discipline* because he's not perfect but God is perfect. So everything he does to his sons and daughters as far as discipline goes is for your good and you can trust him. You can. Some of you may need to forgive your earthly fathers in order to better trust your heavenly Father. Forgiveness is not saying what they did was okay but it's "letting it go", not holding it against them anymore so that you can be loved in that area by your heavenly Father.
That's vital. God loves you and he's good and every type of discipline he does for you is for your good. Verse 10. They disciplined us for a little while, while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, watch this, in order that we might share in His holiness. What?
No discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Those who have not been trained by it, it does not produce a harvest of righteousness and peace. That's why I welcome the Lord's discipline and I wanna be thankful in the midst of it and learn from it, no matter what. But the purpose is that you may share in your father's holiness.
Meaning, you reflect his character and nature. Ephesians-5:1, we are *imitators* of our heavenly father as dearly loved children. When we understand we're dearly loved, we are able to endure everything as discipline because we know he's going to work in us through it, the character and nature to carry the call and to reflect his goodness. What does it mean to share in his holiness? Holiness means set apart, other.
Like, so as we endure discipline, and we have a a peace that's supernatural, it's not natural, We we exemplify his righteousness more and more. That is supernatural. It's not natural. When we walk into a room, we are more and more different from the world, and they take notice. Hey, I just noticed something different about you.
What is what is that that aura you carry or that that, you know, vibe you're vibing with? I I wanna I wanna figure that out. Open door to the gospel right there. The reason that we share the hope and how do we reflect that character nature more and more enduring his discipline. I'm gonna say 1 of the toughest things for parents because it's the exact opposite of the way that people discipline and we think it's love.
And this may be hard to hear for many people in you. I've dealt with a lot of drug addicts as a pastor, but also, my dad started my best friend runs the largest faith based drug rehab in the state of Louisiana. The thing that keeps a drug addict a drug addict the most that I've seen is a mother that doesn't know how to let their son experience the consequences of their actions. And they call it love, but really they're loving themselves. They're loving the way that they feel and trying to stay comfortable instead of allowing their son to go through the consequences of their actions and experience true discipline.
And it enables them to continue in their sin. And the problem and the reason that I bring this up is because God is not an enabler. He disciplines you for your good. And so, in that, he's going to allow you to go through consequences so that you learn your lesson. He's not always gonna save you when you want it to happen because when you want it to happen might not be best.
He wants you to learn your lesson and to reflect his character and nature so we can trust him in the moment because we know that he's developing us for our good. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful later on. However, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. That's the rub in letting someone experience discipline, and and disciplining our kids, is is we have to trust God, and love them enough that even if they're not trained by it, we do what's right. We're risking their future.
Verse 12. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees, make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Meaning, if I don't weather the discipline, and stand in it, and trained by the hardship of the enemy attacking my life, or the hardship of God pulling me forward into my purpose, if I don't stand and weather it, even the stretching, then there are gonna be lame that are disabled, spiritually and physically, that won't be healed because I didn't live out the purpose that God had for me. Like, that's how important it is. I want, Lord God, discipline me to reflect your character and nature.
Because Ephesians says, you've created me for purposes that I should walk in. It doesn't mean I do. And, I want to walk in every purpose that you have for my life. And, it takes being an imitator of my father as a dearly loved child, and weathering the storm, and if he brought me to it, I know he's gonna bring me through it so I can trust him. Let's go back to Proverbs because I just wanna hit those verses 1 more time before we dive into *1 Corinthians-5*.
Proverbs-15:5, a fool despises a parent's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence. Watch this. Proverbs-15:32, those who disregard discipline despise themselves, but the 1 who heeds correction gains understanding. Oh, man. Here's a tough 1.
Proverbs-13:24, whoever spares the rod hates their children, But the 1 who loves their children is careful to discipline them. You know why? Because my children, growing up in my home, it's a controlled environment. And if I teach them the character lessons now, if I spank them when they lie and they learn the character lessons of telling the truth now, that there's consequences that hurt when they do wrong, when they get out of my home, they won't have to experience the hurt and pain in life when they lie to their boss, or to their wife, or husband, because there's pain and consequences there, and I'd rather them learn it in a controlled environment than later in life because I failed to love them enough to teach them when when I had them. Now, if you're hearing that and you're a parent and your kids have already gone and you didn't live that way, hey, praise the Lord, God can redeem the time.
Alright? Lord God, forgive me for me not parenting biblically. Teach me what it means to follow your word instead of what culture says is okay. And, Lord God, I pray for my children that you discipline them as a good father, where I'm lacked lacked, and I trust you. And, he forgives and moves forward and is reconciliation, and and it's beautiful.
But, this is truth. Amen? Amen. Are you sure? Yeah.
Okay. *1 Corinthians-4:21*. What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love with gentle spirit? And, we're diving in.
Paul's disciplining, he's correcting. Verse 5. It's actually reported, like, he's surprised this is happening. It's actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans don't tolerate. And, by the way, a pagan is anybody that doesn't follow Jesus, biblically.
A man is sleeping with his father's wife, and you're proud? Shouldn't you rather have gone into mourning and put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing these things? I'm a say that again. And put out of your fellowship. That means, "kicked him out of the church".
It's biblical, guys. For my part, even though I am not physically present with you, I am with you in spirit as 1 who is present with you in this way. I have already passed *judgment* in the name of our Lord Jesus on the 1 who has been doing this. Everybody say, judgment. Judgment.
Paul passed judgment. Watch this. Verse 12. We're gonna skip down to verse 12 just for a second, but I'm gonna come back up to verse 4. It says, what business is it of mine to judge those outside of the church?
We're not supposed to judge unbelievers. We're supposed to love them, and show them Jesus. If you're not a Christian, and you're living in these things, we love you, and we're showing you Jesus, we're not judging you. As a matter of fact, we're just going Jesus died for you, and he wants you to be free and walk in freedom completely. But watch this.
Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked person from among you. People say, only God can judge me. Not if you're a Christian.
It's biblical. I feel like I need to sit down here for a second. Like, we're gonna have a chat. So, verse Back up to verse 4. I'll read the last part of verse 3, so we can catch up in our minds.
I have already passed judgment in the name of the Lord Jesus on the 1 who's been doing this. So when you are assembled, and I am with you in spirit, and the power of the Lord Jesus is present, that means God said yes to this. Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. What does that mean? I'm not sure that they knew whether or not this man was a Christian.
And I say that just from personal experience. That's thought. But, when you get out of line of God's will, like when you start to disobey, there are consequences. And sometimes, God allows your sin to cut you up, and you to experience the consequences of those sin that sin in your life. Because he wants you like a good like a good dad.
If my kids mess up, I don't immediately save them from all the consequences. If you're a parent that always runs up and blames the teacher when your kids get in trouble, stop that. That's not okay. Correct your son or your daughter. Allow them to experience some of the consequences of their mistakes.
It's important. Because if not, they won't learn the lessons. In my mind, this is someone who is *unrepentant* and not willing to follow Jesus in this specific area of their life. So much so, that it came time to put them out and let them experience the full consequences of *sin* until hopefully, they hit rock bottom and realize, God, I repent. I need you.
I was being prideful and full of myself. Now, it is either that, or they never repent and show that they were never really 1 of them anyway, 1 or the other. And, that Scripture is in first John. Those who left from you showed that they were never really 1 of you anyway. Okay?
I'll give you an example that we we had to do a couple years ago. And, we're getting better at this. We're getting quicker. A couple years ago, we had a couple in our church that was serving, and we thought they were married. They pretended they were married.
They lied about being married. Consistently, most of the serve team thought they were married, and they called themselves Christians. But, over and over, they were, consistently, especially the woman was consistently being offended, and causing offense, and causing division in the team. And, I knew what I had to do. So, I went to her, and I said, ma'am, I'm not gonna call her name now.
It's just been too long. I said, ma'am, are you married? Because she had lied. They they were both part of the team. She said, no, I'm not.
I said, really? I said, why not? She starts, all of a sudden, Holy Spirit hits her. She starts weeping. And, she starts saying, well, you know, I had this marriage and this marriage and it messed up, and I had this marriage and it messed up, and I'm just scared and I'm afraid.
So like, confessions coming. I'm like, this is good. And so, ministered to her in that moment. I prayed with her. I said, you have 1 week.
God loves you. I want you to talk to the man that you're living with, and I want you guys to pray together about being married. And it's it's time to get married. Then I went to him, said the same thing. I think I might have gave him 2 weeks.
Came back, asked her, are you guys married? Cold. No. I said, are you gonna get married? No.
And then, I said, if you And, this is someone who says Jesus is her Lord. I said, ma'am, if you knew that Jesus was standing before you right now, and and like just hypothetical situation here, and he said, I want you to get married. Would you do it? No. She's showing that Jesus is not her Lord at least in that scenario.
This is 1 Corinthians-5:5. Hand this man over to Satan so for the destruction of their flesh so that they their spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. I said, I'm a have to ask you to step down from our teams. I said, you've been offended and offense has been coming out and causing division in our teams, and it's because you're willingly operating in sin. And that area that is you're willingly operating in, you're showing that that is a stronghold.
And the enemy has an attack there, and he is trying to kill every other area of your life. But because you're not willing to take this stronghold down, I have to ask you to leave. And so they left. My prayer and my hope is that they're really Jesus really is Lord. And that what happened here is that they eventually, hopefully, repent.
They get where sin cuts them up enough to where they realize they can't do it outside of what the Lord's calling them to do. And they say, Lord, I need your your help. And they repent and are reconciled, whether to this church or to another. It doesn't matter to me. But that was discipline, not punishment.
My hope is *reconciliation* in that area with Lord Jesus. Does that make sense? Our God is holy and he's put the Holy Spirit in us to teach us what it means to follow him and to be holy. Let me keep reading. We're gonna skip this next 3 verses because we'll come back to it.
Verse 9. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. Did you hear that? Did you hear that? Paul said, I wrote to you, believers who follow Jesus, not to associate with sexually immoral people.
Now, verse 10. Not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral or greedy, swindlers, idolaters. In that case, you'd have to leave the the world. Jesus was a friend of sinners. Jesus hung out with them, in order for them to come to know him.
We're supposed to follow him. Man, I I always want unbelievers in my life that I get to hang out with from time to time, and go, because I want them to see Jesus and be set free. And, verse 11. But now, I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or a sister, anybody claiming that Jesus is Lord, but is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, or a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler. Then it says this, do not even eat with such people.
Why? *Discipline*. Sexually immoral is operating sexually in a way that's not of God's character. That's what that is. Doing sexual things outside of marriage, basically, and marriage between a man and a woman.
Because marriage between a man and man is not God's character, and marriage between a woman and woman is not God's character. *1 Corinthians-6:9* says, or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And then it says, and that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.
Just because that was who you are, doesn't mean that's who you are now. You might might have been born 1 way. I don't care what you believe about that. But you can be born again. God wants to change you from the inside out.
Now, watch this. But now, I'm writing you, you must not associate *1 Corinthians-5:11* with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister, but is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, a swindler. Do not even eat with such people. This is not people who are struggling, wanting to change. These are people with an unrepented heart, like the example I told you.
Man, I I I have discipled and walked with many people who, man, they gave their life to Jesus and now they have patterns in their life that's tough and they have But they have a repentant heart. They want to grow in their relationship with God. They just have these strongholds and it's hard to get over. Man, I'll walk with them for as long as it takes. Because God loves his people.
He's treating you as sons and daughters. But when it gets to the part the place of unrepentant, this is who I am, I'm not changes, doesn't matter what it says. I don't even believe the bible says it that way. You gotta get out. If you claim to be a Christian.
If if you're saying Jesus is your Lord, and you're not living like Jesus is your Lord, and unrepentant, and don't wanna follow him, and don't even wanna figure out how to change, either Jesus isn't really your Lord, or you're severely deceived, so much so that you're gonna infect the body of Christ, and God is calling us to holiness. To be so in much in passionate pursuit of him that it reflects his goodness to a lost and dying world who needs him, who wants to experience his goodness. Once again, look, I hang out with people all the time, talk with people. I don't want people to pretend. I don't want people to stop cussing around me just because they hear that I'm a pastor.
That's why a lot of times when I first talk with people, I don't tell them I'm a pastor. Because I want them to be real. It's real church, guys. But, when you are real, and you really give your life to Jesus, and you're really in passionate pursuit of him, he will really change you. Amen.
Amen. He will really lead you to righteousness. He will really empower you by his grace, to do what you couldn't do on your own, and to be what you couldn't be on your own. And, our eyes are on him. And, in the body of Christ, it's a elbow push, prod, poke, kick, pull, encourage forward to that.
No matter the cost. I'll tell 1 more quick story. We had a guy who was a major part of our church for the first year. And then, something happened, and he tried to take his team, bring them over to my house, and say that everything we're doing is wrong. We need to listen to him.
I responded, hey, man. Jesus called me here to and called our family here to, and gave us a specific vision and mission. If you're not in line with that, you can go, my friend. But, if you are, praise the Lord, we'd do this with you. More and more, it came out, and I had let things go on, lies, sexual immorality, all kinds of stuff.
Where a few months later, Jerry and I sat at a table with him and confronted him on it. Not just not just from 1 person, but from multiple witnesses. And he lied to our face. And I intentionally did not order food at that meeting because I Whether or not I was gonna eat with him was based on how how he would respond. Because the bible says this, did I do it because I was being hateful?
Do not even eat with such bread? No. I did it because I love him. And I love him enough to confront sin in truth, in a way that other people may not ever have. So how would he know, and how would he be willing to change, other unless a brother loves him that much?
Unfortunately, he left. I haven't heard from him. But just know this is a church that is in passionate pursuit of Jesus biblically. And if if you've been struggling with these areas, I'm not kicking you out. But I am saying, hey, Jesus is your Lord.
Have a a repentant heart that's moldable. That's saying, if in this area, I don't have a a sense of peace and and in this area, I know the Holy Spirit's been telling me, have a heart that's saying, I want to follow you. I don't know how. Help me, Lord. Don't harden your heart in those areas because that's that's in danger of demonstrating that he was never your Lord.
Verse 12, what business is is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside, expel the wicked person from among you. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we're not fault finders of each other. We're supposed to look for the gold in each other and encourage 1 another for it and pull that out constantly.
And there may be a time when you have a brother or sister in Christ who it's obvious their pattern of life is hurting them and hurting others around you. You have to love them enough that you're willing to have a tough conversation with them even at the cost, the potential cost of your friendship with them. If they're a fool, as it says in Proverbs-15, they'll be offended and puff up like a billy goat. That's country saying. Puff up like a bull.
But but if if they've been softened in that area then they'll respond with your right. Or they'll come back and respond with that. Thank you for loving me enough to have the tough conversation with me. Amen? Amen.
We're gonna take communion. And, I wanna have a moment of silence before we do. *1 Corinthians-5:6* says, your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a "little yeast" leavens the "whole batch of dough"? Yeast, most of the time, represents sin.
A little bit permeate every aspect. I say most of the time because there are there's a time when it doesn't, where it represents the actual kingdom. Here, it represents sin. But, your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?
Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch. As, listen to this, as you really are. There's the gospel. You are not your failures. When you were "born again", God credited his right Jesus credited his righteousness to your account.
Your spirit is righteous and holy in him, as you really are. That's who you are. The reason you have mistakes, and patterns, and and stuff in your life that doesn't yet look like God is because your mind's not renewed yet. And, you're still following these habits and patterns that of an unrenewed mind. In those areas, we need to renew our mind, so our life can be transformed to look like who he says that we are.
Look at that. Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. That's the purpose of the communion. For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the festival, meaning Passover, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness.
Malice, the desire to do evil, wickedness, doing evil, doing things that are not in line with God. But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. That's what will change people's lives when we live in a honest, real, passionate passionate, authentic pursuit of our Lord and Savior. I wanna invite everybody to stand. And we're gonna have 1 minute, a moment of silence.
In this moment, I want you to recognize that your heavenly father is with you. He's here. I want you to ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and bring to the surface anything that's not of him. I'm not asking you to go on a sin church. It's not biblical.
But I am asking you to to ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart. He'll bring to the surface what's not of him. What Whatever's not of him. When that comes to your mind, confess. God, you're right.
I've been living that way and that's not okay. Repent. God, I turned my life to you in that area with the decision to go and turn your life in that area. And if you need to apologize to anybody that that habit has been messing with or hurting, go apologize. Some people are willing to confess but not to repent because repentance takes action.
And then, just receive his presence as you as you do that. So let's let's just take a minute, a moment of silence to do that. Holy Spirit, thank you that you *love* us enough to point out what's not like Jesus so that we can put those things aside in order to live out who you say that we are. The righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Children loved by our father who are created to reflect through the divine nature, the character and nature of our father.
As it says in 2 Peter-1. Thank you Jesus. Y'all just in your heart listen as I'm speaking this prayer. You can say it with me if you want. I'm saying this over you and as you.
We thank you Jesus that your body was broken for my sin. Your body was broken for the consequences of sin in the world so that I can be restored to fullness in my body, in my mind, in my emotions, and in my spirit. That all the shame of past mistakes, all the shame of things that I've been struggling with you took on your body. You were beaten, bruised, naked, taking my shame so I could be free. Thank you that by your stripes, I'm healed.
What you did 2000 years ago makes me whole today, and I don't ever wanna minimize what you did. But I honor it and give it proper weight that it matters for me today. Thank you Jesus that this is personal and this is public. But I take this bread remembering your body and what it means for me today. Let's take it together.
Lord Jesus, thank you that your blood was shed, taking all the sins of the world. A gift, Lord God, that you showed me and I I received, so that I could be forgiven, and commissioned to go and tell others, so they don't die separated from you. Will I give proper weight? Teach me to give proper weight to what you did. Lord, that I'm forgiven and I'm loved by you.
Lord, I'm clean. Lord, as I take this, it washes. Let it wash me of a guilty conscience, So that I can confidently stand in your presence day in and day out, remembering that what you did 2000 years ago matters for me. I am forgiven and I am whole. Lord, let me remember this so much that it helps me to live forward in righteousness.
It helps me to live as 1 who's really forgiven, and clean, and pure. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that I can "run back to you" as often as I need. But, I pray as I mature more and more in you, I don't have to run as much because I What you did matters so much to me. I stand confident in your presence because of this. I take it remembering that I'm forgiven.
We're about to close. Chevy, if you could come on up. There's 2 words of knowledge that God gave. A "word of knowledge" is basically Jesus saying, I see this and I wanna confront I'm confronting it and I wanna heal it. And then, he's That's what a word of knowledge is is saying.
I'm not gonna I'm just gonna tell you what they are. Those of you that are struggling with these, if you'd come forward at the end, we're gonna have our leaders and elders pray for you. We'd love for that to happen. Specifically, pain in the left like knuckle. So, you know, if you have like arthritis or or something in in your left knuckle, God wants to heal you, even if that spans more than just that 1 place.
But then also, someone specifically dealing with a broken heart. God saw you this morning and wants to comfort you, be your comforter and healer of that. So if you come forward and ask for prayer, please say that that's what it was so they'll know specifically how to pray for you. Also, if you have not given your life to Jesus, he wants to be in relationship with you. He wants you to know him.
So as we dismiss or after we dismiss, if you'll come forward, our leaders and elders will lead you into a relationship with Jesus where you you can experience the fullness of who he is. Thanks for sitting with me through this message. Chevy.