You are called to exercise your freedom not for your own benefit, but to ensure you do not cause a fellow believer to stumble. Take a moment to examine where you might need to limit your rights today to love your neighbor more effectively. Invite the Holy Spirit to reveal areas where you need to prioritize others over your own preferences.
So Daniel is an anointed teacher. We actually ordained him as a teacher in this church, I don't know, 6 months ago, a year ago, something like that. I mean, just look at his Bible. It looks like a teacher's Bible. Right?
I mean, it's huge. Anyway, he's got an amazing message. I'm excited to learn, sit down, and take notes. And if I'm gonna take notes
you should take notes. Amen.
If I'm gonna take notes, you should take notes because what you honor multiplies in your life. And I wanna weigh this word as if it matters because "God's gonna speak to us". Amen? Amen. Amen.
Hello? Hello? Oh, there we go. Good morning, church. Good morning.
What an honor. What a blessing. They were not lying. Esther is an amazing woman of God, and I highly, highly recommend all you single people to wait for that. Wait for the person of God that God has for you.
It's it's so much better. Staying patient in that will bear so much fruit in your life. Amen? Amen. Amen.
Well, I'm Daniel Raymond Manix, and I have the joy and honor of being the teaching pastor here at Real Church. No place I'd rather be, nothing I'd rather be doing. Amen? Chevy did it last week. I had to do it.
But seriously, this is an honor. I get to talk about Corinthians. This is the Corinthian season or series that we've been going through for the last probably since I started coming to this church. But it is such a blessing. It is it is such a great series.
2 weeks ago, pastor David and Courtney went over 1 Corinthians-6. We're gonna skip chapter 7 this week. We're gonna come back to it. Don't worry. We're gonna do 1 Corinthians-8.
So go to 1 Corinthians-8 and take a look at that chapter. It seems kind of boring, doesn't it? It's short, and it's titled food offered to idols. It's like, skip that. Alright?
I mean, show of hands, how many of you offer food to idols? No? Exactly. Alright. Well, have a great Sunday.
You had to see David's face there. He actually believed me. If I did that, I'd probably no longer be the teaching pastor at Real Church, but more importantly, we would be missing such an amazing teaching. There is an underlying heart to the message in 1 Corinthians-8, and it's something that we should walk out in our daily Christian lives every day, and that is to put others above yourself. It's simple as that.
We hear about it all throughout the Bible, and and Paul specifically talks so much about it. But it's so important to our faith walk of of always counting others greater than ourselves, and that's the heart of 1 Corinthians-8. Really, there should just be a footnote there, 1 Corinthians-8, that says, for cliff notes, see Philippians-2:3 through 4. Because, again, that's that's the heart of this. So start actually in *Philippians-2:3* through 4, which was also a letter written by Paul.
Paul says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility "count others more significant" than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. We are to put others above ourselves. That's the heart of this. And and Paul is gonna use this opportunity to encourage the church in Corinth and beyond.
So we're gonna be encouraged as well. Before we do that, let's pray. I know we've done a lot of praying today, but you can't pray enough. Amen? Amen.
Alright. Lord, thank you so much for your people, Lord, your children, the ones that you love, the ones that you've given eternal life for, Lord, that that they thirst and hunger for righteousness. Lord, that they that their ears would be attuned to what is said here today, Lord. This letter was written thousands of years ago, but it is just as poignant and pertinent today as it was back then. Lord, help us to have this word planted deep in our hearts that it's something that we would actually walk out, not just words on a page.
In Jesus' name, let it all be to your glory. Your words in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
So *1 Corinthians-8* actually starts with Paul answering a question. So the people in Corinth wrote a letter to Paul first, and they were asking him a bunch of questions. You see him opening chapter 7 in a very similar way where he says, now concerning the matters about which you wrote. This time, Paul is answering questions about food offered to idols. So to give you some background there, because again, none of us offer food to idols these days, as far as I know.
So this is Corinth. This is the Greek world. This is this is the gentiles. These are the pagans. Right?
They didn't believe in God like the Jews did. So you have these gentiles that are *worshiping* many gods. They have a god for everything. Right? And they had these temples set up with idols in them where people would have animal sacrifices that they would buy from those that were selling them in the temple, and they would sacrifice these animals to these idols for, you know, whatever god, you name it, the tree god, the rock god, the god of fertility, let's say.
And, not all the animal parts were were used. There were some parts that were left over, and what the pagans would do is they would buy this and use it as food. So, they would eat this leftover meat inside the temple as a form of worship, or you know, just showing that they follow these false deities. So, obviously, that sounds wrong for us. Right?
I mean, everybody knows that's wrong. But there are some believers in Corinth that figured, well, if I don't eat the meat actually in the temple, and I'm not actually worshiping these false gods, if I know that there's only 1 true God, and this meat, it doesn't matter if it's clean or unclean, then it's not an issue. Right? I I should be able to do it. Eating the meat itself is not a sin.
That's important. That's a thread that will go throughout chapter 8. Eating the meat itself is not a sin. But Paul is going to argue that it's not about eating the meat. It's not about what you're allowed and not allowed to do.
It's like what David and Courtney spoke about in chapter 6 verse 12, where Paul said, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. Paul's less concerned about what these people in Corinth are allowed and not allowed to do, and more concerned about whether what they're doing is building up the body of believers. Amen? That's what's important, that they are not so focused on their own rights and desires, but they are more focused on the spiritual well-being of their fellow believers. And this is this whole discussion of eating clean versus unclean was actually pretty popular back during this time.
Paul addresses it in a couple other places in the Bible, 1 place being Romans-15. So we know that there are many churches that were dealing with this discussion, this understanding of what's clean, what's unclean, what can I eat, what can I not eat, what's a sin, what's not a sin? And it was a problem for the Gentiles and the Jews alike for different reasons, but we're focusing on the Gentiles here. So with that background, let's go ahead and get into it. So 1 Corinthians-8:1.
We're first just gonna read verse 1 through 3 after I drink this water. I was praying for so many people over the music, but I've, like, lost my throat already. That's a good reason to lose your voice, though. Now concerning food offered to idols, we know that all of us possess knowledge, quotations. This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is **known by God**. The quotations imply that Paul is literally pulling these words out of the letter that the Corinthians sent to him originally. So you can see the Corinthians writing, you know, we possess knowledge, and, you know, we we we're okay. Right?
We're we're righteous. We've been cleansed by Christ. This is not a problem for us. Right, Paul? Paul is saying, no.
That's that's not right. The Corinthians are saying, we have this knowledge. Knowledge of what? Knowledge of truth. Knowledge of Jesus, that he has saved us.
Right? He has saved our hearts, minds, and souls. We are completely cleansed. It's the truth as Jesus said in Matthew-15 that it's not what goes into a man that makes him unclean or defiles him, but what comes out. Right?
It's not about what we take in, which is what the Jews were focused on. It's about what comes out. And so, you can actually imagine the people in Corinth, as they're writing this letter, probably quoting Jesus and saying, this came exactly from the Messiah's mouth. So, we're in line with him, and Paul, to think otherwise in this situation, seemingly is like the Pharisees that Jesus was talking to in Matthew-15. They were mad at him, because he was saying these things.
But that's why context is so important. You can't just take a little snippet of scripture and say, I'm gonna expound on this, and I'm gonna use my own logic, and and I'm going to throw my own words on the end of 1 scripture verse. Don't let anybody do that. When somebody's talking to you about the Bible, do not let them do that. You have to "verify and back scripture" with scripture.
We have to look at this in context. And if you look at that in Matthew-15, I'll let you go there and look at it yourselves when you have some time, Jesus is highlighting the *hypocrisy* of the Pharisees in that they were so focused on the outward appearance of abiding by the law while their hearts were sick. Okay? So Paul, if you look at that from the correct perspective, is actually in line with Jesus, in that he's saying, you all are so focused on the outward appearance of abiding by the law of the spirit that you are righteously clean, that you're totally not seeing the fact that you are being selfish, that you are more focused on yourself than others. And that's the risk of knowledge, this kind of knowledge.
Knowledge puffs up, as Paul talks about there. Right? This is not kingdom knowledge. This is this is arrogance, basically, is what Paul is saying. But *love*.
But
*love*.
Love builds up. Amen. Knowledge puffs up the 1 who possesses it. Love builds up who? Others.
Others. Exactly. It's others facing. Go a couple chapters over to chapter 13. Some words we're all very familiar with if you've ever been to a wedding.
By the way, we had a wedding at church here today earlier. 2 people got married today earlier in the dream team service. How amazing is that? Praise God. But Paul actually isn't talking about the love between a man and a woman here in 1 Corinthians-13.
Sorry to burst the bubble of the millions of people who use this. This is specifically speaking about the love that we are to have for everyone, for our fellow believers. Right? Yep. And Paul talks here, starting in verse 4, he says, "love is patient" and kind.
*Love* does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. There's another translation there where it says arrogant. It says, is not puffed up, which we just heard about. Knowledge puffs up.
*Love* does not puff up. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. Where it says insist on its own way, there's another translation that says, it does not seek its own. It's not focused inwardly.
It's focused outwardly. *Love* is about others. And that's the type of of knowledge that Paul is referring to here. He's saying, if anyone imagines that he knows something, and he's knowing in that selfish, arrogant way that we talked about, he does not yet know as he ought to know. You're not as smart as you think you are, is what he's saying to these people.
He implies that there is a good kind of knowledge, doesn't he? But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. If anyone loves God, he is known by God. Why is he focusing on God? This is talking about the fellow believers.
Right? Why doesn't he say, if anyone loves his fellow believer, he's known by God? The reason why is because it's implied. If you love God, you have to love your brother. I'm sorry to break it to you.
You can't love God and hate your brother. Don't just take my word for it. 1 John-4. 1 John-4:20. God, I love reading John's words, man.
So good. Verse 20. If anyone says, "I love God", and hates his brother, he is a, what? Liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother. That's right. You have to have both. So Paul focuses on the the higher form of love here. Alright?
Loving God. And he says, if you love God and you love your brother, then you will be known by God. Yeah. This is a higher form of knowledge. This is different from the knowledge that he put in quotations at the beginning of 1 Corinthians-8.
This is a special kind of knowledge. The word there that that Paul uses in the Greek is ginosko, g I n o s k o. Ginosko. And it's David's talked about this before. It's an **experiential kind of knowledge**.
And it actually has an intimate meaning, like between a man and a woman, believe it or not. Like when a husband knows his wife on their wedding night. It's that kind of knowing. So Paul is saying, if you love God and your brother, you can have an intimate knowledge, an experiential intimate knowledge with God. Why?
Because if you love God, it's because you recognize and you've gotten the revelation that he loved you first. 1 John-4. If you understand that he loved you first, that means that you've received the good news of the gospel. Right? That you've given your life to Christ, and the Holy Spirit now dwells within you, and you have this intimate relationship where you can actually be known by God.
That's knowledge. That's the knowledge that I seek. It's not to know things. It's to be known by God. Amen.
That's good. When I first you know, when when God first saved me from my sin, I mean, that that was the number 1 prayer of my heart was, God, give me heavenly wisdom and knowledge. God, give me heavenly wisdom and knowledge every single day. That's what I prayed for. And sure, he showed me so much of himself in this book and through prayer by his Holy Spirit.
But more importantly, during that process, as I began to learn more about who he is and became more deeper in intimate relationship with God, I exposed my inner self to him. That process of exposing my inner self to him, "tearing down walls", turning on all the lights in your heart, opening all the doors, not hiding anything from God. It was in that process that I began to trust him more, and he began to see more of me. And he saw more of me when I stepped out in faith, in obedience, proved my faith by my works. Yeah.
And by that, he began to know me. And that is the kind of knowledge that Paul is speaking about here. That's the kind of knowledge that we need to be seeking. Let's let our thirst for knowledge not be self seeking. Again, it's not possessive.
It's not us knowing things. It's being known by God.
So anointed.
It's being known by God. And to know is to love. To be known is to be loved. The apostle John totally understood this. How did John describe himself?
Does anybody know? The 1 whom Jesus It wasn't anything that he had done. It wasn't his job. It wasn't his family. It was the simple fact that of everything in his life, the only thing that he identified with, the only thing that had purpose, the only thing that was noteworthy and true was the simple fact that he was loved by Jesus.
Love is the ultimate objective, not knowledge. Love. Paul gives us the roadmap of our Christian walk at the end of 1 Corinthians-13. He says, when everything else disappears, meaning everything else doesn't matter, faith, hope, and love remain, but the "greatest of these is love". That's our faith walk.
You come to Christ in faith. Right? That's justification. Right? God, I can't do this on my own.
I trust you. I believe that you died for me. I believe that you rose from the dead, and I believe that I can have eternal life in you. That's faith. That's justification.
Then, you're progressing forward in this relationship with God by believing, by having *hope* in the fact that he can change you from the inside out. Colossians-1:27, *Christ* in you, the Hope. Hope of glory. The hope of sanctification. The hope of glorification.
And lastly, *love*. Right? Love, being in communion, being in the presence of God who is love for eternity. That is the ultimate end. That is the ultimate goal.
That's your faith your faith walk. Faith, hope, love. Look at Peter, put it in the same order. Look at 2 Peter-1. 2 Peter-1, it's verses 5 through 7.
And I won't go through it all, but they'll put it up on the screens there. So if you look at 2 Peter-1:5 through 7, you'll see that Peter tells us to supplement our faith. Supplement, meaning build upon, or add to. Supplement your faith. Grow in your faith in these ways.
And he lists all these things, and then he ends it with what? Not godliness. Not knowledge. Knowledge is in there. Right?
Godliness is in there, but what does he end it with? *Love*. It is the ultimate objective. Why did God send his son? He loved.
What He did Jesus say was the most important commandment?
*Love the Lord God here. All your hurt and soul*.
To love. Love God, love self, love neighbor. That's the type of knowledge that Paul is talking about here, that we are to love, we are to have knowledge in a way that we are known by God because of our love for him and for our fellow believers, and love does not seek its own.
*Amen. Love*
is focused on others. Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol has no real existence and that there is no god but 1. For although there may be so called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, notice the lowercase g, lowercase l in quotations.
Yep.
Yet for us, there is 1 God, the father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and 1 Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. We could literally talk about these couple of sentences for another year. I mean, there's so much in there. But Paul says that these righteous believers actually have a valid point. For those that have been cleansed, that they've been set free from sin, their minds have been rescued, it's not a sin to eat the food.
Right? For those that understand that these little g's and little l gods and lords, false, you know, they're they're false deities. They're fallen angels, some of them demons. Right? But Paul says, for us, we know that there is only 1.
There is only 1 who is worthy of our worship, as we heard in worship here this morning. There's only 1 that's worthy of us to pour out our praise and our worship, and we will be doing it for all of eternity. Yeah. There's only 1. God the Father.
We heard the name today earlier, Jehovah. Jehovah, Yahweh. "I am who I am", God said. Moses said, who do I say sent me? In Exodus-3 in the burning bush, and God says, tell them I am sent you.
That's gotta be a little confusing, as you could imagine. But God says, I am self sufficient. I am all encompassing. I don't need to go outside of myself for anything. I don't get tired.
I don't get hungry. I have no need for anything. I am who I am. I never was not. I never will not be.
I am who I am. God the father, from whom are all things. All things. He spoke *creation* through his word and literally created everything that we see. Everything.
And the pagans would have found this really hard to wrap their minds around because again, remember, they have gods for everything. You know, rock god, a tree god, a fertility god, whatever it may be. But, Paul says there is 1 God from whom are all things, and for whom we exist. It's not for you that you exist. I hope we're starting to see the message here in in 1 Corinthians-8.
It's not about you. Heaven is not about you. Eternity will not be about you. It's not about you getting rich, famous, having a big family status, any of that stuff. It's not about you.
Narcissistic people would hate heaven because it's not going to be about you, none of it. It is all for his glory. 1 Corinthians-10:31, do everything for the glory of God. It is all for his glory. For him, we exist.
And then there is 1 Lord, capital l, a title reserved only for God. There is 1 Lord, *Jesus Christ*, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. So we have the father from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and now we have Jesus Christ through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Jesus is the great catalyst. Jesus is the way.
Everything is through Jesus. *Creation itself is through Jesus. Again, it was the spoken word*. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the word.
*John-1:1*, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Proston Theon, he was in communion, face to face relationship with God the Father in the beginning. He is the spoken word, and everything was created through him. He is the 1 from whom everything flows. How beautiful is that?
Well, go back to the *creation* story in Genesis. You'll see it for yourself. It says that God called forth land from the waters, and God called forth plants and trees from the land, and God called forth seed from the plants and trees, and so on and so forth. God called forth things from his creation, *potential* that he had made within his creation, and he used Jesus to call it forth. And he does the same thing with us.
God created potential within you. There's a nation within you, and you need Jesus to unlock it. You need Jesus to be able to receive what God has for you. He wants so much more for all of us. I don't care how much you've done.
God has so much more planned for you. It is through whom that all things are, and it is through him that we exist. So creation is through Christ. Love is through Christ. Right?
God showed his love for us how? By sending his son. By sending his son. Romans-5:8, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It was through Jesus.
*Grace is through Jesus. Redemption*, life, we exist. Our lives are from *Christ*. They are through Christ. *Galatians-2:20*, I have been crucified with Christ.
It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. You are spiritually alive. You are born again only because you are in Christ. That's it. When you became a believer, you crawled up on that cross with Jesus.
You died. You were buried. And the only reason why you were born again is because *Jesus* rose on the third day. That's the only reason. There's nothing else.
You have no other qualifiers. I don't care how many church services you've been to, how many how much money you give in tithes, how many missions you've been on, none of that matters. The only qualifier for any of us, when we get to heaven and they say, what are you doing here? The only thing you can say is, "I'm with him". I'm with him.
Like the thief on the cross. Right? The thief on the cross is is the best example of this. He did nothing for God his entire life. And he's on the cross, and he says, I believe in you.
And Jesus says, this day, you will be with me in paradise. That was his qualifier. What are you doing here? The guy on the cross said I could come. That's it.
That's all we need. That's the good news. That's all we need. Your salvation isn't about your works. It's about the 1 through whom we exist.
Okay. So having all that knowledge, there's something else that we need to know. There are some that don't have this knowledge, don't have this level of spiritual maturity. And Paul says that their *consciences* are pretty weak. And because they are weak, they can be defiled.
So let's read what he says in verse 7. However and sorry, Alex, if I'm going too fast for you back there. Not all possess this knowledge, but some, through former association with idols, formerly pagan, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak is defiled. So for the spiritually mature, we understand that our consciences are cleaned. Right?
*Hebrews-10:22*, we have been sprinkled clean, free of a guilty conscience. But there are weaker believers that aren't there. The writer of Hebrews talks about them as well in Hebrews-5 where he says, the reason why is because they are unskilled in the word of righteousness. They don't fully understand righteousness, that they are actually righteous. That's so good.
Yep. And it's because of that that their consciences are weak, and it allows the enemy to come in, speak lies, and they don't know the difference between lies and the truth because they haven't received the truth of righteousness yet. So they're weak. What are we what are we supposed to do with them? Love them.
Should we kick them out? Love them. You wanna love them? Alright. Eric said he'll love them, so everybody come to him who's weak.
Let's see what Paul tells us to do in Romans-15. What are we to do with the weak? *Romans-15* starting in verse 1. We who are strong, spiritually strong, have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.
For Christ did not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. Paul says we have an obligation to "bear with the failings" of the weak.
That's right.
We have an obligation. We're only as strong as a body as the weakest link. That's right. We have an obligation. It's not about our rights, our desires, It's about the spiritual well-being of the rest of the body of Christ.
That's right.
That needs to be our focus. Remember, love suffers long. Love is patient. Love does not seek its own. Love is outward facing.
That's the type of love that we are to have for our fellow believers. Verse 8, food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat and no better off if we do. But take care that this rite of yours does not somehow become a "stumbling block" to the weak. Yeah.
We know that eating the food is not sinful. But do others? I mean, again, keep in mind that some of these, probably a lot of these Corinthians were former pagans, and they were in these temples offering food to these idols as sacrifices. And now they see these other believers that they see in church all the time, and they're in the temple, and they're buying the food, and they're saying, I'm just gonna go eat this at home. No big deal.
What do you think that does to them? Maybe maybe it's not that bad. Maybe I can do this. Maybe it is just eating meat. But then they think to themselves, you know, my wife and I have been trying to get pregnant.
Maybe it wouldn't hurt to offer 1 sacrifice to the fertility god. I mean, I saw other believers in here. Nobody would really know. Maybe I've had a tough harvest this year. My crops have been crap, so maybe I need to offer a sacrifice to the rain god.
In addition to worshiping Christ. Right? I'm not gonna throw him away. I'm I'm still doing that. I'm still going to church on Sundays.
Right? I'm there. But just in addition, just in case, right, does it really hurt? And their *consciences* are defiled because they are actually worshiping idols. They are worshiping false gods.
And these righteous *believers* are so focused on themselves, disregarding others that they're not seeing what they're potentially doing. Paul says, take care that this right of yours doesn't become a stumbling block. Why are we so focused on our rights when we've given them up to Christ? Come on, pray. Say that again.
How can we be so focused on our rights when we've given our rights up to Christ? I mean, David and Courtney just spoke about it 2 weeks ago. They said, for you are not your own. You were "bought with a price". *1 Corinthians-6*, you were bought with a price.
You are not your own. And my God, what a hefty price it was. I love, the song Crowns by Hillsong. There's a line in there. It's amazing.
It says, for I have counted up the cost, and all my wealth is in the cross. All my wealth. That's the only thing that matters. It's through that that I exist. My life is not my own anymore.
Died on that cross. *Jesus* told us to deny ourselves, not justify ourselves. Don't justify your actions. Deny your actions. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge, quotation knowledge, selfish, arrogant knowledge, eating in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged if his conscience is weak to eat food offered to idols?
God, I wanna encourage fellow believers into Christ, not away from him. Dang. Thank you, God. Let that be the encouragement. Let's not encourage our brothers and sisters into sin.
And so, by your knowledge, this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. Woah. Paul now puts this seemingly trivial matter into such important context. Your self righteous, selfish acts can actually destroy other believers, the ones who Christ died for. How do you think Jesus feels about that?
That's his bride. Little public service announcement. If you do anything to hurt my wife, I'm coming after you. I'm not too spiritually mature to be at that point yet. I'm not a big guy, but I'm gonna find a way.
I'm gonna I'm gonna get some help. My brother Jerry right here. Yep. Amen. Amen.
*Amen*. That's my wife. Tread lightly. Take care with how you treat each other. *Jesus is coming for his bride*.
Make no mistake about it. He's coming. Take care. Not only how you treat each other here, but how, pastor David talks about, you know, talking about other churches. Be careful about how you talk about other churches.
You know? I mean, that's Christ's bride. Don't be a gossiper. Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
No surprise there. Right? I mean, if you sin against the body, you sin against the head. You sin against the bride, you sin against the groom. You sin against the church, you sin against Christ.
So, there's that that's love. There's no surprise there. Paul says, I'm not so worried about what I'm doing, whether it's right or wrong. I'm more concerned about the impact that I'm having on others, and those that are in more senior leadership positions, it's even more so the case. But, what impact am I having on my fellow believers?
It's not sinful for me to go to dinner and have a couple drinks, but I'm not gonna do that around my sister in Christ who just broke the chains of alcoholism, lest I make my sister stumble. It's not sinful for me to gamble, but I'm not gonna take my brother who's struggling with a gambling addiction to the casino, lest I make my brother stumble. Let's not be so focused on our rights and what we're allowed to do and what we're not allowed to do and sit on this piety, self righteous stage and say that the book says I can do this. Let's be more concerned and doing things through the lens of love. Christ could have done so much.
He held back on us. There are 2 people, 2 kinds of people that I want to come up on the stage here for prayer. Not on the stage. You just come down here. So the elders come up to, to be able to pray with these people.
The first people are the Christians that say, you know, that's me. I'm feeling so weak right now. I'm sliding back into this thing that I thought I had overcome, and I started to dabble in it. I didn't think it was gonna get me, but it's gotten me. And I'm spiraling back into this lifestyle, whatever that may be.
That's the first kind of Christian that I want up here. We are to bear with your failings. We are to we have an obligation to do it. Amen? We have an obligation.
Everybody say amen. Amen. This isn't about you. This isn't about yourself. This isn't about you leaving and and going home and doing whatever you wanna do.
This you are bearing with the failings of the weak, and we're all weak at different times. So let's not look down on that. And the second Christian is the 1 who has stood on that **righteous ivory tower** and said, yeah, but the word says I can do this and I can do that. And you have potentially lorded it over people, and maybe you have even led some brothers and sisters astray. There's forgiveness for that too.
Come on.
Both have forgiveness.
And there needs to be repentance.
There needs to be repentance. Exactly. That's the first step. We need to turn. Admit it, turn.
*Amen*? Amen. 1 Corinthians-8, kinda boring, Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much for the power of your word, Lord. You are so good.
Your word is so mighty, Lord. It is sharper than any 2 edged sword. It cuts to the heart of man. It divides between soul and spirit. It is a beautiful thing, Lord.
God, I pray that your word just penetrated, infiltrated the hearts of men that, like that first day after Pentecost, Lord, that that that sermon that that the people said when Peter spoke, they were cut to the heart. I pray that people were cut to the heart today, Lord, and that they come to you, the comforter, to be healed, to move forward, to repent. I thank you, God, for the truth of your word. I thank you for the the the strong, firm foundation of your word, Lord, that it it it lasts throughout the ages. As Jesus said, when everything disappears, the word will still be there.
Thank you for the word. Thank you for caring enough for us, Lord, that you would give us these revelations so that we could be known by you, we could be in deep relationship with you, God. I pray that you would strengthen the faith of everyone in this room, that you would give them boldness, Lord, to "walk out this Christian life" in faith, hope, and love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
*Amen*. Amen.