You are invited to stop resisting the pruning process God is using to mold you. Instead, choose to be a bond servant who trusts His process even when the path isn't glorious. Come forward today to commit your life to following Jesus and allow Him to heal and change you.
Wasn't that awesome? I think I'm gonna dub him mister baby dedication from now on. He he won he won that role. My name is David John Phillips. I have the joy and honor of getting to be the pastor pastor here.
There is no place I'd rather be. There's nothing that I'd rather be doing. And if this is not your first Sunday, then you've heard me say that over and over and over and over, and I say it on purpose because I mean it and I want you to know it. There's no better place to be than in the center of God's will, exactly where he's called you to be, running the race that he's called you to run with everything that you have inside of you. Amen?
Amen. If this is your first time, I say it so you can know it as well, but also we're thankful that you came. And we pray that you encounter the love, the presence, and the power of *God* in such a way that you're left "never the same". No matter if you've never experienced a relationship with Jesus or you've been following Him for decades, when you encounter His presence and His love and His power, you're left never the same. You're pushed into the valley of decision to choose whether or not I'm gonna go all the more, "all in with him" as my Lord, or I'm gonna stay where I am or run the other way.
And I don't mind pushing you there. It's a good thing because I want everybody to take deeper steps into looking more like Jesus. Amen? Amen. Amen.
Well, before I get started, I used to take cues from pastor Bill Johnson, who's been like a digital mentor of mine, 1 of the many that God has mentored me through sermons and teachings and other things. And 1 of the things that he does is he always starts with a dad joke. And and I think the reason is because he's very serious a lot of times. And and so just to kinda lighten the mood. And if you've been coming, lot of times, I get very serious, and sometimes I feel like, man, I need to smile more.
So I wanna give you my my best dad joke I heard this past week, if that's okay. We'll start that way. Start with laughter. And if if this feels this message feels cutting, remember, I love you. I do.
And I'm I'm happy that you're here, and I'll I'll try to smile as I'm cutting you with the word. But what do you call a chicken staring at lettuce? Chicken sees a salad. That's a good 1. Alright.
Feel free to use that. That comes free of charge. We are back in the Corinthians series. Come on. We're still in the Corinthians series.
We started this series, I think, in October 2022. Yeah. And it is the baseline series of what we're doing at Real Church. We're we're diving in verse by verse. We're gonna make it through the book eventually.
It might be 2026 before we do, but we will make it. And we kinda weave in and out of this series on purpose as the Lord leads. We just got done with an amazing series called Well Done. Did you guys enjoy that? Man, well done, good and faithful servant.
I think I think the speakers did an amazing job preaching that series. Very thankful for the speaking team that God has given us at Real Church because that's just part of what we do. We empower the ready, and we have so many people that were ready to step into that aspect of the race that God has called them to run. So who am I to hold that back? Amen?
Amen? Amen. Hopefully, you don't come here to hear from me every week. Right? Right.
That's right. Hopefully, you come to hear from Jesus. And Jesus is the 1 that puts people on this stage for very multiple reasons. And so if you come to hear from Jesus, you won't be disappointed when I'm not speaking. That's right.
Amen? Amen. And you'll still come even when I'm not speaking because it ain't about me. It's about Christ. Right?
Amen? So many I think God promoting people and giving them lots of influence, what a lot of people would call celebrity pastors, I don't have a problem with it because man, I pray that they're using that influence to glorify God. But I do have a problem with people who magnify them as more than anybody else. Right? And so no matter how much influence God gives our church down the road, or me, or people on our team, or you guys, I pray everything that God gives us, we use to glorify him.
This is just a side note. I mean, God's just taking me on "bunny trails", but another thing pastor Bill Johnson says no. No. Doctor Eddie Clark says, he says in his in his messages, he'll just randomly go. And he's like, don't worry, I killed that rabbit.
I'm not going on that bunny trail. Anyway, in in in John-17, *Jesus* is praying. And he says in verse 4, I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. So how did Jesus glorify the Father on earth? By accomplishing the work that the Father gave him to do.
How do you think you glorify God on earth? By by accomplishing the purposes and the work that God has attributed to your life. You are created by God for good works that you should walk in, and not everybody walks in the works that they were created to walk in. A lot of people say, well, if it's God's will, I'll do it. Well, a lot of times, as you've heard, real church, God's will doesn't happen because people choose not to follow his will.
It's not his will that anyone would perish, and yet people are perishing every day because they're choosing their own will instead of his. And the purposes that they were created for get left dormant, and a lot of people are untouched and unreached by what God wanted to do through them because they chose to be selfish and follow their own way instead of God's way. Amen? Man, I don't wanna be that in any aspect of my life. I wanna lay my life down, pick up my cross, deny myself, and follow Christ so that every aspect of my life can reproduce his goodness and can glorify God.
I wanna fulfill every good work that He's created me for. Every single 1. Lord, do whatever it takes. Whatever it takes to develop in me the character necessary to walk out every purpose that you have for me. Amen?
Shouldn't that that should be all of our prayers. Why? Because in doing that, that is bringing glory to our God in heaven. Now, what did Jesus say as he's praying in John-17? After that verse, verse 5, he said, and now, father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
He goes on to say, verse 22. This is crazy, guys. The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be 1 even as we are 1. I in them and you in me. So *Jesus and he says it multiple times in John-17*, but he says, I have given them the glory that you gave me.
Why does Jesus do that? Jesus gives you as his children, as his sons and his daughters, his glory. For what purpose? So that you can glorify the father in heaven. Because it takes it takes some of his glory to be able to accomplish the work and the calling and the purposes he has for you.
He's not gonna give it to you before you're ready because it would break you. But as you grow and you develop the character necessary to walk out the call, then He apportions some of His glory to you that it takes for you to live out the purposes He has for you. For some of you, that might be more influence. For some of you, that might be more influence in these relationships or this relationships or more ability, more anointing to carry out these callings and these purposes. And he'll give it to you as you're ready, and it will be weighty, and there will be a test, and there will be temptation.
Are you ready to walk that out? My prayer since, I don't know, 12, 13 years ago has been whatever it takes to develop in me the character necessary to walk out the call. Why? Because I don't want to receive the glory that God has apportioned from my life to be able to glorify him with the work that I do in his kingdom before I'm ready. I've prayed for this church.
I I believe God is gonna do so much, so much more than you could ask, think, or imagine already through this church, and he's done it. But he's going to do so much more. We're just getting started, real church. But I've prayed that God would do whatever it takes, and every person he's called to be a part of this church, every leader, whatever it takes to prune us, to make us ready to fulfill the call, and even if that causes us to be held back for a while. Even if that causes us not to, you know, be the fastest growing church in America right now.
Even if that causes whatever it takes, prune and develop us, so that we can reflect you better, and so that when some more of that glory is poured onto us, we're reflecting him. We're pushing it all back to him, and everybody's looking and saying, Jesus. I see Jesus. I don't see doctor David John Phillips. I don't see pastor Chevy.
I don't see those people. I see Jesus through the way that they they look, and they live, and they preach, and they walk, and they live, and teach in every aspect of their lives. Because if you're promoted before you're ready, and people take a bite of that fruit, it's going to be poisonous to them. Let me explain. I was I told the dream team this, and I think God put this message together, like, an hour ago.
I'll get to the message I had planned, hopefully, because we're supposed to be in the Corinthians series. But on Thursday or Friday, I was I forget which day exactly it was. I was on a walk, and I go on these, from time to time, prayer walks. You know, I just feel like in relationship with the Lord, you know, I have this structure in my relationship where I wake up in the morning and spend time with God. This is the times I do that, but any healthy relationship, there's structure in that relationship and there's spontaneity outside of the relationship, or outside of the structure.
You have structure and it creates health, but then there's spontaneity around that at any time, and and and you take your wife on a random date. And, you know, you you go do this random thing or you pick up this random thing for her. It's it it creates excitement. Well, and the same thing in your relationship with the Lord, you should have structure that's consistent, but also spontaneity in and around that. And from time to time, he just invites me.
I feel I feel I should go on a walk with him or a bike ride or or whatever and and just get along with the Lord and and relationship. If you've never experienced that before, try it out. It's great. Grow in your appetite for the Lord by by consuming the word and and worshiping with him alone, and and you'll grow to desire to be with him more than you ever have. Any appetite that you have in your life, you've developed it by consuming.
Amen? With the more you consume, the the more that you can handle of that thing, and you're ready, and you begin to desire it more and more, whether that's unhealthy or healthy. For the Lord, begin to consume in his word and in his presence and put it into practice in your life, and you'll develop an appetite where when you don't spend time with him, you'll long for him more and more. Amen? So he invited me on this walk.
So I go on this walk, and I'm just like, alright, Lord. You know, I wanna just pray because that's our habit as a Christian is just to spill out everything that's on our heart. And he's a good dad, he'll listen. But as a father of a 12 year old boy who talks a lot, I like it when he asks me questions and listens to me. You know?
Man, I wanna put that into practice in my relationship with the Lord consistently. So I'm like, alright, Lord, my ears are open. What would you say? And I saw out of the corner of my eye this tree, this bush that had red berries on it. And those are the type of red berries growing up in Louisiana.
They look good to eat. They look scrumptious. But if you eat them, your belly will not feel scrumptious. You will feel sick to the stomach, and it it just won't be good for you. And I just began to process that with the Lord and think about it.
Wait a second. There there are things in our lives that we we want to run after, and it looks like it's good fruit, it looks like it's good to eat, and if we are ignorant to what it really is, we may just take a bite and mess up, you know, feel the sickness in our lives. Does that make sense? You guys follow me? So how would I know whether or not that's good fruit?
2 ways. I'm laughing because when I said this with the dream team, there was a third way brought up that I'm not going to bring up, but it was funny. The person said, well, I I pick it and I give it to somebody else and see if it how it works. Oh, no. We shouldn't do that.
But 2 ways, really, is is 1 by experience or 2 by listening to somebody that already knows. Right? Experience. If I if I pick the fruit and I eat it, and it's it's bad, and I experience the the sickness that comes with that fruit, hopefully, I'll learn my lesson and not keep going back to it, but we'll we'll move forward, and now I'll have a wisdom because I've learned by experience. But the better way the better way is to learn by hearing.
Hearing someone that already knows about it, listening to what they say, believing them enough to never try it in the first place. Amen? Isn't that the better way? Well, that's how the Holy Spirit created us. He created us to never have experienced evil anyway, and just to trust him and his voice.
But Adam and Eve in the beginning said, no, I wanna experience for myself, and *sin* infected all of humanity. In every area of our life, there's aspects of this poisonous fruit that looks really good, and the Holy Spirit speaking saying, hey, don't eat that. But Lord, it looks really good. Hey, don't do that. Do you trust God?
Or do you trust what you see, feel, hear, and wanna taste and touch? Are you going to walk by faith? Are you gonna walk by sight? Anything done outside of faith is sin, the Bible says. **faith comes by hearing* and hearing by the word of God*.
So in this whole thing, and you can look at different areas of your life, your relationships, you can look at business opportunities, you can look at school opportunities, everything in your life that possibly looks good. Did you go to God first and ask him what he says about it? Do you have a strong enough relationship with the Lord where you can hear his voice and know what he's saying about it? If you're a born again Christian, you should know his voice in that way, and if you don't yet, man, that's opportunity to realize that you're immature in your relationship with the Lord, and you need to grow to be able to learn to hear his voice. I'm not trying to condemn you by saying that.
I'm just calling it out like it is, because there's so many Christians in America and around the world that have been born again but don't know how to hear the Lord's voice, and doesn't His word say, My sheep will know my voice? He speaks by His spirit, and He speaks always in line with His word, and he'll speak through people, through circumstances, through prayer, and through the scripture. And as you grow in hanging out with your heavenly father, you'll get to know his voice more and more and more. And when he says don't taste or don't touch that, you'll trust what he says over what you see and feel, and you'll get a lot less tummy aches in life. Amen?
Amen. So as I'm processing this with the Lord, he goes, alright. Let's take it a little deeper. I'm like, yes, Lord. He says, now turn it around.
What aspects of your life are bearing fruit that are poisonous to others? I have a problem with that 1. Because I'm like, Lord, wait a second. Doesn't doesn't *Matthew-5* No. Matthew-3 talk about a good tree will bear good fruit, and a bad tree will bear bad fruit.
Good tree does not bear bad fruit, and a bad tree does not bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So if there's aspects of my life that are bearing bad fruit, are you calling me a bad tree? Because I don't wanna be cut down and thrown into the fire. And he was just silent.
I'm like, so I just processed this with the Lord for the last few days, and I got the answer this morning about 2 hours ago, which is pretty cool. The characteristics of God are clearly seen throughout nature. I promise we're supposed to be on the Corinthians series. The characteristics maybe it'll be 20 27 before we finish. Alright.
The characteristics of God are clearly seen throughout nature. It says that in Romans-1. That's why people who have never heard of Jesus are without excuse because they can they can see his characteristics in nature. It causes them to want to to know God or to seek after him, and they either choose to seek him or they don't. And if they seek him, "seek and you'll find".
He's gonna reveal Jesus to them in some way or another. Amen? But that also shows us that we can see aspects about our heavenly father through nature. We can understand ways that he operates and ways that that we operate with him, and it's it's it's pretty amazing as God was trying to show me about the Christian life through this little poisonous berry. So I began to process this with the Lord, and I just kinda asked him this morning.
I wanted to use the little poisonous berry thing, but I'm like, wait a second. I can't use that because your word says **good trees** don't bear bad fruit. And if they're bearing bad fruit, then they're not a good tree. They're going to be cutting down and thrown into the fire. So how does this fit with my own life if there's areas of my life that are bitter or poisonous to people?
And he showed me this fruit. That 1. That, my friends, is a monstera deliciosa. That's what that is. It has different names in different societies throughout Latin America.
Vero from Honduras has had this fruit before, and I forget the official name she said it was, but the nickname is "Adam's rib". This fruit, when it is ripe, is apparently 1 of the best fruits you'll ever taste in your life. It's a cross between a pineapple, a mango, a banana, and a strawberry. It's like taking a bite of Jesus. I can't wait to taste it 1 day.
But when it's not ripe, it's poisonous. When it's not mature, it's poisonous to the person that eats it, causes bad skin rashes and and throat issues. You guys see what's going on here? When you're born again, circumcision happens. Jesus circumcises the sin nature from your heart, Colossians-2.
Inserts God's nature inside of you. You have you are You have the nature of your heavenly Father, John-1:12 13 and 14. Okay. You you the sin nature is cut away, crucified with Christ. It's no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you.
But, there are areas of your life that are immature. You're you're a good tree that's gonna bear good fruit, and every good tree needs to be healthily planted in the soil, needs to receive the right amount of water. Rain planted in the soil means planted in a local church. Right amount of water and rain means, man, in the presence of the Holy Spirit all throughout your day and your life, and the right amount of sun, you're walking with the Lord. Amen?
Amen. In order to bear good fruit, and for that fruit to ripen. But a tree doesn't just immediately produce ripe fruit. Right? And so when I'm assessing my life, for instance, there's times where I still get frustrated with my kids, and I speak out of frustration.
Do you do that? I do sometimes. When I touch my kids with my with frustration from my mouth, I'm touching them with an area of my life that not is not completely mature. And it's poisonous to them. You understand?
There's aspects that are fully mature, but there's aspects that are not, and I need to continue to mature and to grow in those areas. When I speak to my wife out of frustration, because probably something else didn't go right, you know, or or I'm frustrated at myself because maybe I I spent less time in my quiet time that morning than I should have or something, and guilt and condemnation are getting me, which shouldn't be, because therefore there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but the enemy tries to hit you in a weak moment at any time. And so you get frustrated at yourself, and that overflows out of you and touches somebody else if you're not careful and wise to the enemy's schemes. You guys follow me so far? And so this immature fruit touches someone else and it's poisonous to them.
You get it? So when the Lord asked me that, I mean, this is called Adam's rib. I mean, I think it's pretty cool. A reflection of the fruit that we're supposed to bear, the fruit of Christ, and in any area when we give our life to Jesus that we're not, it's an area that we're immature, and we gotta be careful on letting that area touch somebody else, thinking we're more mature than we are, and humbly submit to his word and allow him to grow us, and and be around people who are older than us in the Lord in that area and learn from them. That's why we need the body of Christ submitted to 1 another.
So that in every area we can reflect a fruit that tastes like pineapple, mango, bananas, strawberries. Tastes like Jesus. Amen? Amen. Is that helpful?
Yeah. Alright. I'm gonna fly through this part of 1 Corinthians-7. I'll be done in 7 minutes. Don't worry.
Challenge accepted. *1 Corinthians-7:17*. By the way, I've already preached a lot of the principles from this, so it will be easy. *1 Corinthians-7:17* through I'm gonna read the whole thing first through 24. Only let each person live the life or lead the life that the Lord has assigned to them and to which God had called them.
This is my rule in all the churches. I'm gonna stop there. Just to give you a little background and backstory to remind you of where we were, like, the context of this, Paul had just got done talking about marriages, and those that were born again, like maybe a wife that was born again, and her husband's not born again yet. Paul specifically says, don't leave the man. Stay in the marriage, and serve the Lord, and learn to love your husband as Jesus loved you, and the love for your husband will change his heart, or it will push him away, 1 or the other, because you're looking more like Jesus, and your husband will either your your husband will either grow closer to you because he's seeing Christ, or reject Christ and reject you and walk away.
The same is true for a husband and a wife. If the husband gives his life to Jesus, it's the same for the wife. But he's saying, don't run from that scenario. Whatever relationship or whatever situation in your life, when you give your life to Jesus, stay in that situation. Let God transform you from the inside out, and he'll be the 1 to deliver you from the situation or to promote you or or whatever it is.
Make sense? Unless, of course, that situation is is specifically leading you into sin. You know, like, would say, forgive my example, but if you're born again and you're a prostitute, you probably shouldn't continue that job. You know? That's something like that.
Does that make sense? Yep. Okay. Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to them and to which God has called them. This is my rule in all the churches.
Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God.
Okay. So when you're born again, I talked about Jesus circumcising your heart. Now before this whole thing, the people of God were physically circumcised as a as a physical showing that I'm a I'm a person of God, and that was a physical representation of what Jesus was gonna do spiritually in the church. Side note, my 10 year old daughter, we have all my kids reading the bible in the morning. It's the first thing they do, and then they come and tell mommy and daddy what they learned.
And my 10 year old daughter was reading an Acts, and she says, came and said, daddy, what's circumcision? I did a good job explaining it, and she giggled a lot. Anyway, So but we we we understand circumcision from the the circumcision of the heart from the earlier in the message. But it's saying the physical stuff, it doesn't it doesn't count for anything. It's it's God changing your heart, and then overflowing from your heart into your life.
In Philippians-2, it talks about working out your salvation. Right? God saved you on the inside, and by the Holy Spirit, Him leading you in every aspect of your life, as you're obedient to that, it's working out what He did on the inside so that everyone around you sees what God did in you. Amen? And so the circumcised heart will look like a circumcised life as you learn to obey God.
The circumcised heart will eventually cause you to allow God to cut away, and it's allowed because he's your Lord, but you have to say, yes, Lord, in those areas. He's not gonna force himself on you. Allow him to cut away the things that are not of him. Amen? Amen.
Okay. Because he's preparing you to "run the race" that you've been called to run, as it said in in in '17, leading the life that you've been called to lead. So what counts keeping the commandments of God? What is that talking about? Is it talking about the old 613 laws from the old covenant and the 10 commandments?
No, it's not. That's the Mosaic Law. And just as a quick side note, *Jesus* fulfilled that completely. And in Ephesians-2:15, it says he abolished it in his flesh. But pastor, doesn't it say, didn't Jesus himself say in Matthew-5:17 that that he didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it?
Yes. That's right. And then he not only fulfilled it, but then he abolished it in his flesh. Ephesians-2:15. As a matter of fact, Romans-6:14, pull it up, because I'm not sure I can quote it exactly.
Here we go. For sin will have no longer have dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under grace. Amen. Amen. Now how does that work?
And this is just a side note so you can understand what it's talking about following the commandments of God. How does that work? The old covenant law, the Mosaic law, was against you. The Bible says it was a testimony against you. *Romans-5:19*, 5 20 says the purpose of the law was so that the sin or the trespass would increase.
Why? Because it was God's perfect and holy law and 2 cold tablets of stone that if you broke it, the penalty for breaking it was death. And so it showed you God's perfect will, but did not empower you to keep it because it was demonstrating that you had a sin nature and and couldn't go to God without him, changing you on the inside. Make sense? You guys follow me?
Okay. So Jesus fulfilled the law in his flesh, forgave us, set us free from that, but then put, we're still under law, but we're under the law of the Spirit that gives life, instead of the law of sin and death. That was the Mosaic Law. Romans-8. Okay?
The law of the Spirit that gives life, what does that look like? He wrote His law on your hearts, and it's not a lesser law. It's a more intense law. Instead of do not commit adultery, it's, hey, don't even look at that woman with lust in your heart. Instead, bless their marriage.
So it's the motivation. He he he changes you from the inside out. He puts the Holy Spirit inside of you when you're born again, born of the spirit to lead you according to the principles of his character and nature so you can walk in this life like your heavenly father, being an imitator of him as a dearly loved child. Amen? So you're under the law of the spirit, and that will never go against the principles of his character and nature that were written in the old law, but will lead you higher than them, and that old law has been fulfilled in you, because Christ is in you, and they were fulfilled in Christ.
You follow me? Okay. So when we follow the commandments, what it's talking about is the law of the spirit who gives life, and when he speaks to you, which is in line with this, he's gonna speak to you as you're ready to bear it, and he's gonna lead you towards the purposes that he's created you for and to develop the character and the anointing necessary to walk out all of those. So all you have to do is hear him, believe, and obey him. And every word and commandment that he's given you, he's gonna give you the grace, the power to walk it out as you obey, as you say, yes, Lord.
And then your life is gonna reflect his power and his character. You guys follow me? We can talk more about that if you have a problem with that. There's all kinds of scriptures we'll we'll go to personally, so just reach out to me. So wrapping this up, each 1 should remain in the condition in which he's called.
Verse 20. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself the opportunity. For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord.
Likewise, he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price. Do not become bondservants of men. So brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with the Lord. You are all called to different races.
Not all of you are called to preach on the stage. Praise the Lord, we'd have nobody out there listening. But man, like if you try to run the life that I'm called to lead, you're not gonna live a fulfilled life, and we're gonna war against 1 another because we're both gonna be trying to run the same race, and that's just dumb. Some of you, God's called to be fingers, and others, God's called to be wrists, And others, God's called to be elbows. The finger can't do what it's called to do without the elbow doing what it's called to do, and the wrist doing what it's called to do, and the arm doing what it's called to do, and the feet taking it to where it needs to go.
Amen? Amen. So every 1 of you, God's called you to run the race that he's called you to run without "looking back", forgetting what's behind. And a lot of people get lost and stuck in their race because they're always looking back and thinking they're the same person. No.
You're a new creation. You've been forgiven by God. Don't look back anymore except as a testimony of what God has done and keep running forward. Some people get distracted from being able to live their race because they're looking beside. They're looking at what somebody else's race and saying, oh, why can't I do that?
Why aren't they over there with me? And and and, you know, I'm I'm I'm feeling like I'm I'm left out because they're running their race over there, and I'm over here. Maybe that's the way God created it right now, and that's okay. Praise the Lord. Run your race, and don't compare yourself against them, and don't have them compare themselves against you.
Instead, be focused forward on what Christ is doing. Amen? They might they might be in a different season, in a different leg of the race, and that's okay. Rejoice for what God's doing in their life as you run the race that God's called you to run. Amen?
Amen. And then some people get stuck in the race because they're looking too far ahead. God showed them what's coming, and they're trying to make that happen instead of being obedient to the next step. Self promotion will cause demotion. Self promotion will cause demotion because self promotion is pride.
It's getting the cart before the horse. It's getting ahead of yourself. Instead, you humbly submit. Paul says in first 1 Corinthians-7, forgive me. I'm 5 minutes over.
Forgiveness is is important. Paul said in 1 Corinthians-7:0, where I I got distracted. Oh, **bond servant**s. You know a bond servant? Like like a slave.
Like a slave. People say, well, I I feel like I'm being oppressed right now, and and I I I just need to need to get out of this position. Well, is God taking you out of the position, or did God put you there? And how do you know the difference? Is it because you feel a certain way?
No. It's because of his word and knowing his word. Are you willing to stay where he put you until he gets you out of it? *James-1:12* 13 ish talks about being steadfast "sitting under the trial". Like, I'm I'm sitting under the trial until it's had its perfect work, if you combine 1, 2, 3, and 4 and 1 12 13 ish.
I'm sitting under it until it's had its perfect work. It means I'm not trying to get around it. I'm staying there, letting *God* mold me. I mean, that was hard for Joseph and Daniel, who were slaves. But they were so consistent and obedient in following the master that God promoted them to being over the kingdoms, except for the pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar.
As slaves, guys, are you willing to stay in the position that God has for you, even if it's not as glorious as the next guy? Just because you trust him, and you trust his process? Bond servant. I'm a I'm a bond servant. What is a a bond servant of *Christ*?
A bond servant, I'm I'm his "freed man". So well, first, in any area where I'm feeling like I'm oppressed or in slavery or whatever, inside, I'm God's freed man, so this circumstance doesn't bother me. And what's on the inside will eventually come out and change the circumstance 1 way or another. Amen? But if I'm free on the outside, praise the Lord, I'm internally a bond servant of Christ.
What does that mean? And I'll be done. I'm closing. This is my third close, which means it's the real deal. A bond servant of Christ, and the Hebrew word that they used for bondservant, like in the Old Testament, and in Leviticus, it talks about this, actually.
It's not the verse that I gave you, though. So when somebody was a slave and their their time of slavery, forced labor, was up and the master released them, If they realized, you know what? Life is better, was better under the master, they could choose to go back and willingly, for the rest of their life, become their bond servant. That was a legal thing. And what the master would do, he would have to take an awl, a w l, however you say that.
It's basically a nail with a with a handle used for piercing leather or piercing wood, starting starting the hole. And you take their ear, put it to the door, and he pierced the ear to the door. And legally, that would make them a bond servant of the master. They willingly chose to be the servant because of whatever reason. It's the same thing with Christ, and those represent some very specific things.
**Jesus is the door**. Jesus freed us when we get he he died on a cross and rose again so that we could experience freedom from sin, and be restored in our created value when we confess him as Lord. We say, I'm gonna follow you instead of myself, and and he forgives us of all of our sin, puts the Holy Spirit inside of us. It's called being born again. In that moment, you are set free.
And when you really get that, you return to him as a freed man and you say, I wanna be your bond servant. I want you to be my Lord. Amen? Every person that's really been set free and understood it returns to Jesus in that way. He's the door.
Pierced, Jesus was pierced. We're carrying around the marks of the master, picking up our own cross, denying ourself, and following Jesus, learning what it looks like to love in every aspect of our life. But it was specifically through the ear. Why through the ear? Because faith comes by hearing.
What am I listening to? Am I gonna follow what I see or am I gonna follow what he says? Am I follow what I feel or am I follow what he says? We're willingly say, I'm open to what you're saying in every area of my life from this moment forward and learning to be all the more because you're my Lord, and I'm gonna do what you say instead of what I think and feel. I'm willingly your bond servant, running the race that you called for me.
No matter no matter what I see this person or that person, I'm gonna praise the Lord, praise you for what you're doing in their life. But my eye and my focus is on the next step that you lead me to take because I trust you, cause I'm listening to you and not to what I feel about myself. There's *freedom* in that, guys. Yeah. Amen?
Amen. Okay. We're gonna do a quick non emotional close. Okay? And I just want you to deal with it.
This is a word God gave me to give you. Deal with it. How are gonna deal with it? I hope you weigh it as it matters in your life and put it into practice. Process the aspects of it.
Maybe you didn't catch everything, but there's aspects that stood out to you and different to you. Meditate on them with the Lord. Go search it out in Scripture. But maybe some of you, maybe you need more ministry in your life because you realize there's areas of your life that are immature, and they're creating poison to others in your life. Come get some more ministry.
I'm gonna ask the altar team to come back forward. And and as I close, dismiss you, you're praise the Lord, dismissed to go. And if the Lord moved on your heart in any area and you're like, man, I I need prayer in this area, I need ministry, that's not a it's humbling to ask somebody else to pray for you. It's humility. It's the body of Christ ministering to 1 another.
Confessing your faults 1 to another so that you can be healed of the habits, healed of the issues, or impartation happened, something like that, so that you can grow. Then also maybe you do need physical healing, and you didn't come up for that. Praise the Lord. Or as I'm talking about being born again, you realize you've never entered into a relationship with Jesus. I'm not gonna have you "raise your hand".
If you're really serious about wanting to know him, I invite you. I beg you, come forward to 1 of these, and they'll lead you into a relationship with Jesus, and your life will forever be changed. Amen? Amen. Cool.
Why don't you play some music? Let me close this out in prayer. You all have an amazing Sunday. Father, thank you for these people. Holy Spirit, come.
I ask you to move on those that are that are just thinking, need to respond in some way. Ask you just to hit them with your presence right now. Don't let them leave without respond, responding in the way that you've told them to. *Lord, and if any does, I pray that you just overwhelm them with how much you love* them. Thank you, Lord God, for the opportunity to speak your word today.
Bless them in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.