You are invited to examine your heart today and ask the Lord if there are areas where you aren't living like Jesus. Come forward in repentance and receive the freedom found in His new covenant, knowing He empowers you to walk in holiness. Let this moment be the start of a deeper, unshakeable relationship with Him.
Well, God, we just thank you once again for who you are. You're amazing and you're wonderful. We lift you up. The Lord over all, you're **Jehovah Jireh**, our provider, you're our healer, you're our savior, you're our help in time of need. You're the 1 who's faithful, you're compassionate, you're good, you're almighty, you're everlasting, you're eternal, you're all knowing, you're present, You're our present help in time of need.
You're the comforter. You're the God of all compassion. You're Lord. You're master. You're my friend.
And my father. Thank you, Jesus. We praise you. We give you the rest of this service in totality. We ask you to have your way in Jesus name.
Amen. God is good. Isn't he? All the time. All the time.
So couple things before you sit down. Number 1, we have a junior high ministry that is starting today. So you if you have junior high kids, you can look at in the back there, I think you see Keith raising his hand. You guys can go. All junior high kids can go back there.
You all students, you'll you'll have a blast. So go have fun. And then high 5 3, 5 people. Tell them how good they look today. How happy you are there in the house of the Lord.
Introduce yourself. Shake a hand. Smile. Be a friend. I told you not to sit down yet.
Well, good morning Real Church. My name is David John Phillips. I have the joy and honor of getting to be your pastor. There's no place I'd rather be. There's nothing I'd rather be doing than getting to stand up here and preach the gospel to you today, and worship Jesus with you.
See your smiling faces, high 5 some of you. Get to meet some of you. It's just a good thing. Amen? Amen.
So I I pray you've had an amazing week and that you've encountered the love of Jesus from the time you drove in the parking lot until right now. I pray if this is your first time, shoot. I'll pray for all of you that you leave never the same. That you leave having just come to know Jesus that much more in such a way that it impacts every aspect of your life. Because when you confess him as Lord and you really confess him as Lord, you really believe, it's going He's going to impact every aspect of your life.
It's a relationship that changes everything. It has to. If it doesn't, it's not real. If it if it doesn't change everything, then you don't know him. Uh-oh.
I'm gonna be gentle today. In Jesus' name, I have I was planning on continuing the Corinthians series today. For those of you that don't know, we've been in the series called Corinthians since October. And sometimes, take 1 verse. Sometimes Hey, we even did a chapter a couple weeks ago, and it was great.
We got through chapter 5. Now, we're on chapter 6, around verse 7, and and this week, I was chewing on *1 Corinthians-6:7* through 11, and just chewing on it. And and and when I say chewing on it, if you don't understand what I mean by that, *Matthew-4:4*, *Jesus* said, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. So my relationship with God is he's he's what I live by. And I don't do that just because I'm a pastor.
I do that because I follow him. He's my Lord and my Savior. I'm a disciple of Christ. You realize you can't be a disciple of Christ unless you deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow him. Otherwise, you're not really a disciple.
It's time to begin denying yourself in the areas that you haven't. Pick up your cross and follow him so that you can know him more in every area of your life. And then, his words to you in this word and by the Holy Spirit as he illuminates his word and you hear his voice in prayer, man, they become your life. You chew on them like bread and you can't help but live by them. That's what I mean when I was chewing on it.
I just there was like 15 different directions to go. And so, we're gonna start in 1 Corinthians-10. We're gonna get to communion later. We got baptism in a little bit. And, I'm not a 100% sure where the Lord's gonna take this message, but I believe he's gonna take it in an amazing direction by faith.
And, it's gonna be challenging, it's gonna be encouraging. And if it's from God, then it's gonna be food to eat, to chew on, to give sustenance to you, so that you can go and walk in a closer relationship and get food for yourself and your own relationship with the Lord. Amen? Because if you just eat on Sundays, then you're starving. If you just eat on Sundays, then you're malnourished Christian who needs to grow up and learn to feed yourself.
God loves you way too much to just feed you on Sundays. He wants you to dive into his word, get into his presence, seek after him on your own which shows that you have a relationship with him that's more than just what everybody else thinks about you. If I'm stepping on your toes, it's because I love you. And, this message may step on your toes a bit but it's gonna challenge you to righteousness because that's what we meet for. We meet to encourage 1 another forward in righteousness.
To encourage 1 another forward into a deeper relationship with Jesus that is more than a bunch of religious stuff but that impacts every single area of your heart that you're not willing to let go of. Every single 1. *1 Corinthians-10:1*. For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
By the way, these verses are not gonna be on the screen because I didn't give them to them back there. I gave a lot of other verses. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Verse 3. Now, this is crazy guys.
But, I want you to hear this because this is a warning from the Lord. It's biblical. They all ate the same **spiritual food** and drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them. Their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
Now, these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our *hearts* on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, which means to put something before Jesus, as some of them were. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. We should not commit sexual immorality as some of them did. And in 1 day, 23,000 of them died.
We should not test Christ as some of them did and were killed by snakes. And, do not grumble as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. These things, this is crazy, these things happened to them. This is 1 Corinthians-10:11. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind, and God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. What's crazy to me is verse 3, it says, they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with them, with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
Like, just to give you a little background of what it's talking about, it's talking about the Israelites when they came out of Egypt, and they were wandering around in the in the wilderness before they made it to the Promised Land. They were destined to go to the Promised Land, but they did not walk out their destiny because of disobedience, of unbelief, of grumbling, and of complaining. And, this is a warning to this congregation, to you as believers, you are destined to walk out your promise, the promise that God gave you, but don't throw it away for disbelief, for complaining, for what unbelief, for disobedience, for whatever it is that would distract you. Do not stand firm in the hope that he has given you. How could it be that some of them, they all drank the same spiritual drink from the rock that was Christ, and ate the same spiritual food, the manna that was from heaven.
And yet, they died in the wilderness, never having experienced the promised land, which would mean they ate and drank from Christ, but did not know Him. They had a "form of godliness", but didn't let the power of God really change their life, denied the power thereof. *Hebrews-6*. It's a tough 1, man. But I gotta go there because it's very applicable.
It's very similar. Don't worry, you're gonna be encouraged because discipline is encouraging. He loves you. He's treating you as sons and daughters. Me too.
I'm not just preaching to you, I'm preaching to myself. *Hebrews-6*. This is a tough 1. Right? Verse 4, it's 1 that theologians argue about.
I hate it when people argue. It says, it is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away to be brought back to repentance. To their loss, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again, and subjecting Him to public disgrace. That's crazy. What do you do with that right there?
If you just take it, you'd think, man, if I knew Jesus at this 1 time and I walked away, I'd never be able to come back. If you just kinda take it at face value, but I don't think that's what it's saying because the next analogy that it gives in the verses immediately after describe what it's saying. So, let's let's look at this next analogy because it kinda fits with 1 Corinthians-10, what we just what we just read. You ready? Verse 7, the very next verse, Land that drinks in the rain, often falling on it, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed, receives the blessing of God.
But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end, it will be burned. Will be burned. That land received the same rain that the other land did. 1 produced a crop that was good for harvest, 1 produced nothing but thorns and thistles.
Which 1 received the good seed? The 1 that produced the good crop. Both received the rain. If you receive the good seed, you're gonna produce a crop when the Holy Spirit hits your life. You will.
It's impossible for you not to. And, when you really know him, I don't believe you'll ever "walk away". That's my You might disagree with my theology there, but I'll just just for kicks and giggles, just for fun stuff, know. In in first John if I can find it real quick without getting too far off. Oh, 1 John-2:19.
It says, they went out from us but they did not really belong to us for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their going show that none of them belong to us. I believe that when you really receive the imperishable seed of Jesus, you're really born again, you won't leave his kingdom. You might It might look like you walk away for a little bit but you're gonna come back because you're his son or daughter and he's pulling you. But there are a lot of people that are sitting around and receiving, drinking of the spiritual rock that is Christ and eating of the spiritual food that is Christ but don't know him.
They just like the benefits of him. And their life isn't producing good fruit. It just it's it's very hard to tell. Like, think about the parable of the "wheat and the tares". You guys wanna go there?
Yes. Thank you, Kevin. You you guys can all respond like that. That would be good. Not a problem.
It encourages me. But, think about the parable of the wheat and the tares. Like, this is this is a we just sung about the Lordship of of God, the Lordship of Jesus, and how holy and amazing he is. And now, I wanna give you a message that that pairs with that, so that you understand how important it is that you make your calling and election sure. And every step that you take, it's vital.
*Matthew-13:24*. *Jesus* told them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But, while everyone was sleeping, the enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away, or a lot of versions say, tares, weeds. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the tares or the weeds also appeared.
And, this type of weed looks very similar to a wheat. You can't really tell the difference. The owner's servants came to him and said, sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from or the tares? An enemy did this, he replied.
The servant asked him, do you want us to go and pull them up? Watch what he said. Watch this. No, he answered, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest.
At that time, I will tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds, tie them in bundles to be burned, then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be tied in a bundle and burned. I wanna be wheat, not a tare. And, you realize that they look the exact same as they're growing up. You can't tell the difference.
It's really hard. The only the only real way to tell a difference in wheat and a tare is when they mature. When they mature, the weight of the fruit of the wheat causes it to bend over in humility. When a a tare matures, it sticks its head straight up in pride. Ain't that crazy?
You will know them by their Fruit of earth. You will know them by their Fruit of earth. Drink the same spiritual rock, ate the same spiritual food, and that food was Christ, but yet died in the wilderness because they didn't really know him even though even though they received his benefits. *Hebrews-6*, what we saw was the land drank the same rain but some produced thorns and thistles and others produced crop that was good for use and good for a harvest. You will know them by their Fruit.
Their fruit. Fruit. Man, the first verse I memorized as a kid was a tough 1. You wanna hear it? Yes.
Are you sure? Yes. It's a tough message, man. *Matthew-7:21* says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father. Many will come to me on that day and say, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not cast out many demons? Did we not perform many miracles? And then, I will turn to them and tell them plainly, depart from me for I never knew you. The crazy part is is they said, Lord, Lord, which means they thought they were friends with God. You say somebody's name twice in that day and age, that was like, man, we're close.
But *Jesus* said, depart from me for I never knew you. That means, there were aspects of their hearts that they were closed off to the Lord. There are aspects of who they are that were just completely and totally closed off. It it kinda concerns me a little bit. You know, because I think about king David and I think about king Saul.
King David, the Bible says, was a man after God's own heart. And, yeah, he screwed up royally. Like, we He murdered a guy and and and had sex with the guy's wife, and in order to cover it up, he murdered the guy. You know? I mean, he screwed up royally, but yet, he was still considered a man after God's own heart, because in all of his mistakes, in all of his errors, in all of his stuff, God, search me.
Know my heart. Know my anxious. Know my terrible ways, and make me new in you. Never hidden from God, but when confronted, running forward to him in his presence. King Saul, on the other hand, was a little bit different.
King Saul didn't like the way that things were going in a certain time, and so he did it his own way. He was confronted, and he got angry, and he rebelled against the authority, Samuel, who was there. So, Saul got angry and bitter. And, there was You know, when you when you get angry and bitter, when you when you begin to walk in sin, sin begins to cut you up, and you experience the result of that sin. And, that's not a bad thing.
As a matter of fact, God lets sin cut you up for a bit because he wants you to come to repentance. He wants you to realize that your actions don't lead to righteousness, truth, and grace, and goodness, and love, and all of the things that are in him. And he doesn't just cover it up. He waits for you to realize, I was wrong because he wants to train you and and grow you up into his character and his nature. But, if you never come to that realization, did you ever really know Him?
Because King Saul was tormented in his sin. The Bible says literally by a demon, a messenger of Satan. And you know what King Saul did? King Saul called David, was anointed by God, to come and play worship music for him because it made him "feel better". He didn't serve God, but he drank of the drink of Christ in order to feel better.
Do you get it? There's a lot of people sitting in church that don't serve God, But, they come because they experience the presence of God in order to make themselves feel better in the midst of their living. And then, they go back out Monday through Saturday and don't serve God, but get around other believers or or come when they're really at their lowest in order to feel better about themselves. So but then, they go back out and don't serve God. Or, is is that like someone who claims to know Jesus, and they drink of the spiritual rock, Christ, and they eat the spiritual food, but it's just to make them feel better.
It's not because they really love him. Because the bible says, not everybody who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father. It's the 1 who does the will that's really a friend of God. Those who love me will obey my commands. And why do we obey his commands?
It's because we're captivated by him. And why are we captivated him by him? Because we love because he first loved us. We really believe that God is good and that God really loves us. And I'm so captivated by how much he loves us, how much he loves me.
It transforms my heart to love him back and I can't help but obey him because what he says is better than what I feel. That's knowing him. Where's your limit in following Jesus? Do you have 1? And what is it?
What is it that he tells you to do that you're gonna say, nope, not anymore. I'm done. Do you have 1? Because my bible tells me in Revelation-12:11, it tells me this, they overcame him, Christians, though followers of Jesus, overcame the enemy by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. By what Jesus did for them and by telling people about what Jesus did for them.
But then, the next verse is more applicable to this message. Says, or the next phrase it says, they did not love their lives unto did not love their lives unto They were willing to die for Jesus, not just a martyr's death. That's not what I'm talking about here. Yes, that's applicable too. But, I'm talking about Jesus said, you can't be my disciple unless you first deny your Self.
They did not love their life unto? Debt. You can't be not my disciple unless you first deny your? Sell. Carry your cross and follow me.
You get it? Let's connect it with something. I think it's Mark-10. The rich young ruler comes to *Jesus* and says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? You know, that word inherit is not a bad word.
As sons and daughters, we have an inheritance. And that inheritance is eternal life. We have an an an a good inheritance with Him. Rich, young ruler comes and says, what must I do to inherit eternal life? But first, He said, good teacher.
*Jesus* tests him. He says, why do you call me good? There's no 1 good but God. And, the rich young ruler says, Jesus Jesus continues, he says, you must do what, you know, the law says. You must Don't do adultery.
You know, honor your father and mother. Don't steal. You know, all these things. And, the rich young ruler says, I've done all of this stuff since I was a kid. And then, Jesus puts his finger on the thing to see if the rich young ruler really thought that Jesus was good.
He put his finger on the 1 thing that the guy was still holding on to. He said, what about your money? Sell all you have and give it to the poor, and then come and follow me. You know what the rich young and older did? Walked away sad because he had great wealth.
*Hebrews-11:6 says, without faith*, it is impossible to please God because you must believe that he exists and he's a rewarder of those who seek him. You must believe that he's good and it's better for you to follow what he says over yourself. The rich young ruler believed that God was good up to a point. But then, there was a point where he said, no, what I have is good, more better. It's better than what God is saying.
So, I'm going to follow myself now. My question is, what's your point? Is there a point where you're gonna turn around and say, nope, I'm done. He can tell me to do anything except that. Because, if that's the case, then that thing is your Lord, not Jesus.
And, my question is, do you really know him? *Faith* finishes. **faith finishes**. That was a lot of spit on that 1. Faith finishes.
Let's go back to Hebrews-3:7. So, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, when? Today. Today. If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for 40 years, they saw what I did.
That is why I was angry with that generation. I said, their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. So, they saw his ways, but they didn't know his ways because they didn't know him. So, I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest. AKA, they died in the wilderness and went to hell.
They didn't enter into the promised land. There was only Moses who was on top of the of the mountain, and then Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and Caleb saw the promised land by faith, didn't die in the wilderness, and went into the into the promised land. Do you understand? See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving *heart* that turns away from the living God.
But, encourage 1 another daily See, I told you it's gonna be encouraging. Encourage 1 another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Verse 14, we have come to share in Christ, if Everybody say, if. If. Indeed, we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.
As has just been said, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. Who were they who rebelled, who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And, with whom was he angry for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, bodies perished in the wilderness?
And, to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? So, we see that they were not able to enter because of their, what? Unbelief. Unbelief. Disobedience, in this passage, is equated to unbelief.
Belief equals obedience. Disobedience equals unbelief. You see it. *John-3:16*, for God so loved the world that he gave his 1 and only son, that whoever would not perish, but have eternal life. If you really believe that he's good, and you really believe that he loves you, and that he saved you from your sin, that you were born again, you really believe that by faith, that he forgave you, then you are going to continue to follow him no matter what he tells you, whether you feel like it or not.
You're gonna say, yes, Lord, you're my Lord, and I'm gonna keep following you. And, if you ever quit, then you're like the rich young ruler who "walked away sad" because you believed him up to a point. But, when it cost you your life in that area, you said, no, this is my Lord. We follow him until the end. **Faith always finishes**.
And if it doesn't finish, it wasn't *faith*. Do you understand? This is this is hard, pastor. Like, how do I know I'm gonna finish? Well, I have good thoughts about you.
I believe you're all finishers. And he we finish by grace through? And he's gonna give you the grace to finish. We've already read the verse. He's not gonna allow you to be tempted more than you can bear, but he's always gonna provide a way out.
So when the enemy comes at you to try and tempt you, if you really know him and you wanna follow him, you're gonna find the way out. And if you fall, you're gonna fall forward into his arms. You're gonna realize, man, I really screwed this 1 up. Look back to Jesus, and he's gonna pick you up, and you're gonna get back up and keep walking because you believe that you were really changed from the inside out. You really believe that you're the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
You really believe that you're forgiven. So every time you mess up, you're gonna get back up and keep walking. Because if you don't, that shows that you only believed it up to a point you didn't really believe it. I've done this analogy before, but I don't have a problem doing it again. Because second Peter says, he wrote these things, things that we're already firmly firmly established in, but he didn't have a problem reminding people because it kept them strong.
So, don't have a problem reminding you either. It's biblical. Amen? Amen. *Faith* always finishes.
What is faith? Faith comes by hearing. We hear His word. That's His word is grace to us. When we have He gives us the capacity to hear Him, that's that's like His gift to us.
It's amazing. Now, faith requires belief. I have to believe it enough to put that word into practice. It's not about just walking an altar 1 time and I mean, walking to an altar 1 time and praying a prayer, and then walking away and living like hell. If you did, you had an emotional experience.
You really didn't just come to know Him. But, if you know Him, it will change your life. Belief equals obedience. No obedience shows no belief. Amen?
Amen. So, faith comes by hearing. Faith requires belief. But, James says, without works, faith is dead. Faith is completed by obedience.
The the the obedience is the fruit with the Father, that I really believe that He loves me, and I'm going to follow Him. And now, in that obedience, His *grace* empowers me to reflect His goodness and character and nature. Not only that, His grace empowers me to obey if I'm going to believe Him enough. So, let's pretend I got 1000000000000 dollar treasure. Because 1000000000000 dollars maybe is too much to think about 1000000000 dollar treasure.
How about 1000000000? Billions a lot, but got 1000000000 dollar treasure. And I got x marks the spot, and I put it 10 feet down. But I don't tell you I put it 10 feet down. Then I come to you and I give you the shovel and I say, hey, look.
See that x? There's a treasure under there. If you "dig deep enough" to get it, it's yours. Don't quit. Don't quit.
You take the shovel, you look at it, first guy, looks at that x, the ground looks hard. There's all this other stuff going There's a party going on around. Ground looks hard, party looks great. Ground looks hard, party looks great. I don't really believe this.
Walks away. It's a lot of people when they hear the gospel, the good news of Jesus, you can have a relationship with Jesus, they just reject it. And, they die separated from the treasure for eternity. Person number 2. Treasure, billion dollars, trillion dollars, 10 feet down, x, hey, take the shovel.
There's 1000000000000 dollar treasure under that x. You dig, you get to it, it's yours. Thank you, sir. Awesome. Man, I'm excited.
Did you hear that guy has 1000000000000 dollar treasure? That's amazing, man. Come on. I start digging. I'm getting 6 inches down, a foot down, a foot and a half down.
Is it faith? Yeah. Oh, you don't know yet. I didn't finish it. It looks like faith.
But you don't know if I'm a tare or if I'm a wheat. You get it? It looks like faith, but you don't know yet. I didn't finish. 2 feet, 2 and a half feet, 3 feet, and I get $10 3 feet down.
Man, there must be a treasure down there. That's awesome. 3 and a half feet, 4 feet down, 4 and a half feet. It's getting hard. Dang it.
I'm tired. Throw the shovel down and walk away. Is it faith? Oh, you don't know yet. You don't know if I completely gave up or not.
You just gotta wait and see. Capiche? Person number 3 comes, get the shovel. Trillion dollars down. Sir, there's 1000000000000 dollars under this axe?
Are you sure? Yes, sir. I believe you. That's amazing. I can't wait.
I'm gonna start digging right now. Is that okay, sir? Okay. Alright. I'm gonna do it.
Starts digging. 1 foot down, 2 foot down, 3 foot down, 4 foot down. Gets real fast. 5 foot down. Next thing you know, there's $500,000.
Oh, my gosh. That's a gift along the way. It's amazing. I'm a put that into practice. 5 and a half foot down, 6 foot down, 6 and a half foot down, 7 foot down.
There's $700,000 that's under here. That's an amazing gift. I love that. Hey, let me give that out. That's beautiful.
Let me use that. Put that into practice. I can't wait. Is it faith? You yet.
You don't know yet. Looks like it. Getting some gifts along the way, putting them into practice, seems like it might be faith. 7 foot down, 8 foot down, 9 and a half foot down. Is it faith yet?
You don't know yet. 9 foot 11 inches, and there's Remember, the the treasure is 1000000000 dollars. 9 foot 11 inches, and I find $2,000,000. Oh, my gosh. And I put it in my pocket, and I walk away, never to return.
Was it faith? I was more captivated by the gifts than I was by the treasure. And, I walked away before making it to the end. A lot of people that do that in Christianity, they start following Jesus, start experiencing the presence, start experiencing some joy, maybe pray for somebody, they get healed, maybe get a prophetic word, and it was awesome. Then, their business gets blessed, it's wonderful.
Next thing you know, they take their eyes off of Jesus and never return. I tried that, but now I've got mine. Is it faith? Well, it looks like it. I experienced Jesus 20 years ago, and it was awesome.
I really went after him for 10 years. But now, you know what? I'm done with all that. I only go to church every now and then, but I live my life. I don't know if you know Jesus, sir.
Faith finishes. Capiche? I don't know where I got that from. Guy number 2 comes back, picks up the shovel, 5 years away. Something nagging at him couldn't stop, had to come back.
Digs 6 feet, 6 and a half feet, gets hard again, gets frustrated, throws it down, walks away for 10 years. But just this thing, something about what that man said, it's there, comes pick it back up, keeps digging, keeps digging, 8 foot down, I really wanna quit, but I'm not 9 foot down. Is it faith? He makes it 10 foot. You didn't think it was faith because he quit a couple times, but he ended up coming back because he knew it was true and couldn't help himself.
He believed it. Now, we don't have to live that way. We could just stay consistent, stay around believers, and then being encouraged, encourage 1 another, and keep Even when it gets hard, look at the other guy that's digging, and you guys encourage 1 another at what God's been doing and what he's doing and continue. But, I'll tell you what, I don't know if you're a wheat or a tare until you're harvested. I look at your Are the fruit in your life?
You will know them by their fruit. So, I'm gonna treat you all like wheat. I'm gonna encourage you all. I'm a preach the gospel to all of you. And when I see some faithfulness, I'm going to I'm going to equip and empower that aspect of you and and believe.
Please, don't walk away. Not say in this church. Some of you are going to be sent all over the world. Some of you will be sent to other churches, and that's a good thing. Don't walk away from Jesus.
Keep following him. And when you fall, fall forward into his arms, get back up and keep walking. He is worth it. He loves you. He cares for you.
And when you gave your life to Jesus, when you were born again, that was real. It really, really was real. *Romans-4:8 says, blessed is the person whose sin* is never counted against them. Never. Past, present, and future.
Never. If you really believe that, you're never going to fall away and never return. What makes most people fall away and never return is not believing that. You mess up and you think, oh, how could he really love me? And then, you get guilty, and condemnation starts ripping you to pieces, and then, you believe that you were never changed in the first place.
The next thing you know, you're going around in circles, and the same old drug crap that you used to go in, or adultery crap, or or lies, or whatever it is because of guilt keeps you in these circles, and it shows that, wait a second, you need to be reminded that you were forgiven, and you need to believe that you're a new creation. Because if you don't, the question is, did you ever really believe it in the first place? But, I think better of you. That's what the bible says after Paul gets done with all these tough stuff and ripping them to shreds as far as you know, hey, come on guys. He says, but I think better in your case.
And I'm saying the same to you, impart in faith. I think better in your case. You're those who are tough. You're gonna walk this thing out. Not because your effort, not because you're trying so hard, but because you believe in his grace so much that no matter how hard it gets, you're gonna continue to allow his grace to empower you because you believe him.
That's who you are, church. Well, that's who most of you are because the reality is some of you have not been that. Some of you have ran from God And this is an opportunity for you to run back to him. For you to realize either 1, that you really were changed on the inside out and you just forgot how forgiven you were, pick the shovel back up and keep walking, or 2, you never really believed him in the first place and it's time to get born again. It's time to go from a land producing thorns and thistles to a land producing good fruit because you really believe him and you're gonna follow him for the rest of your life.
It's time for that. We're about to do communion. Before we do, we're gonna give an opportunity for some repentance. And this microphone thing got all wrapped around my shoulder. Kinda feeling funny.
Give me a second. There we go. Alright. First Corinthians. Chapter 11.
Verse 17. He's about to go into teaching about the Lord's Supper, and he says, in the following directives, I have is Paul. This is tough. He says, in the following directives, I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. Lord, whatever it takes, please discipline our church in such a way so that our meetings always do good, not harm.
Yeah. Wouldn't that be terrible? Yeah. So it tells why. Verse verse 18.
In the first place, hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you. And to date, to some extent, I believe it. He's like, incredulous that this would even Like, oh my, I can't believe that this would even happen, that there's divisions among you. The fact that there's divisions among you means that you're self focused. I don't wanna be a church that's self focused.
That's why we do belong on Tuesday nights. That's why challenging everybody to get outside of themselves and share the gospel. How can you show the gospel? You can't show the gospel if you're self focused. Yeah.
It encourages unity. Anyway, the next couple of verses show how they were being self focused and selfish. Verse 23. For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you. The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread.
And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Remember, *Jesus* said a new command I give you, to love 1 another as I have loved you. Just a little tidbit here, that word love is agape. Jesus commanded us to love people, 1 another with a God kind of love that's impossible for human beings.
We can't do that except by His grace through faith. And, God's kind of love is sacrificing himself for our sake. So, if we're sacrificing ourselves for each other's sake, there will be no divisions. And, just to belabor that point, I was counseling a while back, a couple. And, I told 1 of them, I said, for you, you'll know you're loving the other person well when you're being gentle.
And, I said to the other 1, for you, you'll know you're loving the other person well when you're being bold. Love looks different in different circumstances because love is giving sacrificing yourself to give somebody else what they need, not what you want, and not what makes the moment feel the best. It's sacrificing yourself to give the other person what they need. And sometimes, that makes you step outside of what is normal for your giftings and your abilities, and step into him, and allow him to empower you to do what you wouldn't normally do. Amen?
This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after supper, he took the cup. The body was the bread, the cup is the the wine or the juice. This cup is the new covenant of my blood.
Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. Everybody say, new covenant. new covenant. Under the old covenant, there were laws that people had to follow. Right?
But, they had a heart that was far from God. So, it was impossible for them to follow those laws. They were they were destined. It was The old covenant was going to bring the sin out and cause them to sin more. It's in Romans.
Look it up. It's amazing. But, we had to be saved from ourselves. So, God loved us so much. He sent his son to die and rise again so that we could be born again, so he could give us a new *heart* and a new covenant.
The new covenant of his blood, *Jesus* washed us clean, forgiving us of our sin, but not only that, gave us a new heart that's bent towards God instead of bent towards selfishness. We still have a mind that's needs to be renewed, but we have a heart that's bent towards him. That's why when you give your life to Jesus and you start going do the old things that you used to do, you're like, why don't I like this as much anymore? It's because you're a new creation. Believe it.
Keep walking in it. And then, he puts his spirit in you. You know why? The new covenant laws are no less strict than the old covenant laws. They're actually even more.
The old covenant says, don't commit adultery. The new covenant says, don't even look at a woman with lust in your heart. The old covenant says, don't steal. The new covenant says, be radically generous. So they're even higher.
But he puts his spirit in us to empower us to follow him. Like, he doesn't just leave us alone and say, what are you gonna do? No. He walks with us and gives us his power to follow his covenant. That's the new covenant relationship with him.
It's pretty cool. For whenever you verse 26, for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. That's that's it. I'm remembering what you did, Jesus, so I'm willing to deny myself to it, totality, in order to follow you because you did it for me. Now, I'm loving you back by denying myself to follow you in obedience.
So then, whoever eats the bread and drinks the cup in the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of Jesus or the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who What are we examining ourselves for? Watch this. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ, eat and drink judgment on themselves.
So when I'm discerning, I'm not looking for sin. I'm looking for Jesus. I'm supposed to eat and drink with discerning the body of Christ. But, as I look down at myself, if there's any area that I'm like, oh, that's not like Jesus. Well, now, I just confess and repent.
*Lord, that's right. Thank you Holy Spirit* for showing me that. That area of my life isn't like you. And I want every area to be like you. I repent.
I turn this area of my life to you. We take of the cup discerning Christ and remembering that what he did was enough to make us new like him, and believe it enough to keep taking steps forward in him. Amen? And then, it goes on to say, for those of you who eat without discerning the body of Christ, eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why so many are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
But, if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned by the Lord. Meaning, when you when you believe a lie about yourself, you don't submit that area of your life to Christ, you empower the liar in your life and you get ripped up. Not good. So, here's what we're gonna do.
If we have Robert come back out and pick up that guitar, I wanna encourage all of you to stand. Those of you that are getting baptized, I would encourage you to take *communion* and be get ready to get baptized because we're gonna do baptism right after communion. As Robert plays, here in a second, I want you to remember that God loves you and he cares for you. And, if as I was talking, as he's playing, you realize that you don't know Jesus, that it's your it's time for you to have a real relationship with Christ, I just simply want you to "come forward" to the front so that we lead you into a relationship with Christ. Those of you that realize that you haven't been living for him, you've forgotten that you've been forgiven, you've forgotten what it's like to really follow him, and you wanna get back and "pick up the shovel", just hit your knees where you are.
Turn around. Use your chair as an altar or **come forward** and begin to repent. And turn your hearts back to Him and begin to follow Him with all your heart. The rest of you just ask the Lord, is there any area of your life where there's unforgiveness or bitterness or any area of your life that doesn't look like Jesus and just give it to him. And then together, we're gonna take communion.
Does that make sense? So, if you need Jesus, as he's playing, come forward. If you need repentance, do business with the Lord, and all of you, get your communion cups as well. Is that clear? It's like 3 different things?
Alright. Let's do it.