1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,400 Morning, if you will, the first Corinthians chapter one, first 2 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:08,600 Corinthians chapter 1 First Corinthians chapter 1. 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:14,800 I read in a magazine. It's called pulpit helps and one 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:18,560 one guy that had contributed to it had written this list of you 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,120 know you're in trouble when one of those type of lists, and this 6 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:25,120 is of course, it was addressed to pastors and and it's called 7 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:28,640 so long pastor. He said, you know it's over when 8 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:31,480 you return from vacation to find the visiting preacher's name on 9 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,760 your mailbox said you know it's over when your church is about 10 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:37,440 to split and neither group wants you. 11 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:41,960 You know it's over when shut insurance pull the window shades 12 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:44,080 and pretend they aren't home when you come for a visit. 13 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:48,920 You know it's over when your mom moves her membership to another 14 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,520 church. You know it's over when you're 15 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:57,280 told God is calling you to the mission field now, he wrote. 16 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:58,920 You know. You know it's over when your 17 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,000 wife moves her membership to another church. 18 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:05,040 You know it's over when your secretary starts sending out 19 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,640 your resume. You know it's over when the 20 00:01:08,640 --> 00:01:11,880 congregation forces the members of the pulpit committee to wear 21 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,560 sackcloth and make a public confession and repentance. 22 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:18,680 You know it's over when your church members start referring 23 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,400 to you in the past tense. You know it's over when your 24 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,160 love offering is A2 for one coupon at Wendy's. 25 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,960 You know it's over when you show up at church on Monday to 26 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:32,800 discover that the locks have been changed. 27 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:35,560 And he said. You know, it's over when you're 28 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:37,640 cast as the donkey in the Christmas cantata. 29 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:40,920 I got a kick out of those when I read them. 30 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:42,920 I think they're kind of funny. But, you know, I've heard real 31 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,680 horror stories of things that are almost just as bad as that 32 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:47,560 happening in churches. Sometimes there's a fight 33 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:51,200 between the the preacher and and one faction of the congregation, 34 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,320 or there's a fight between two factions of the congregation 35 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:56,200 that are fighting and the preachers in the middle of it. 36 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:58,600 And I've heard, I've heard accounts of people that have 37 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:03,000 been hurt terribly in, in church fights, had terrible, cruel, you 38 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,840 know, many times untrue things said about them. 39 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,320 They've been, you know, accused of having evil motives, being 40 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:11,600 the worst type of character, being untrustworthy, being 41 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,040 selfish, being power hungry, whatever it happens to be. 42 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:16,120 And sometimes those accusations are true. 43 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,360 Sometimes they're, you know, a fox that gets in the hen house. 44 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,000 And, and there are pastors that are like that. 45 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,560 There are people that are like that who get into churches. 46 00:02:25,600 --> 00:02:28,760 But more often than not, those accusations are false or at the 47 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:30,960 very least, they're over exaggerated. 48 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,000 But most of the time the trouble starts in the church just 49 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:38,240 because we are people and people were were humans and we're 50 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,720 contaminated with sin and we're unable to keep from getting 51 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,880 dirtied by that sin for very long stretches of time. 52 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:47,480 And you've heard it said before, at least I have. 53 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:49,480 Maybe you have to something along this lines. 54 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:51,760 If we were all more like Jesus, we would get along and there 55 00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:54,720 wouldn't be any trouble. If we could just all agree, then 56 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:56,080 things would work themselves out. 57 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,400 And that'd be a great thing. That would be nice if that could 58 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:01,560 be true all the time. But that's that's not very 59 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,360 realistic. The godly men that we read about 60 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:06,880 in the New Testament had disagreements with each other. 61 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:11,320 Paul and Barnabas, 2 of probably the the most spiritual men in 62 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,720 the New Testament. You can throw Peter and James 63 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:15,280 and some of the others in there as well. 64 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:19,360 But they had a disagreement so sharp that they that they broke 65 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:21,760 apart their mission and went their separate ways. 66 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,960 We have kind of an indication that they that they made things 67 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:28,760 right between themselves, but it happened. 68 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:33,920 Look, Peter and Paul, you know, one Peter was closest, one of 69 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:37,360 the closest ones to Jesus. He was caught in hypocrisy by 70 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:38,840 Paul and he had to be said straight. 71 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:40,640 They were out of disagreement between each other. 72 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,560 Some of the most godly men in the New Testament had these 73 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:45,840 arguments. And then the early churches, 74 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,120 they were just about as full as trouble and of trouble and 75 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:49,720 strife as most of the churches are today. 76 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,440 It seems like that's a lot of what Paul was writing to these 77 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:54,760 churches about. Hey, stop fighting and just get 78 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,280 along. Stop fighting and, and, and 79 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,760 focus on the things that matter. Focus on the things that are 80 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:01,360 important. It would be nice if we could 81 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:03,240 always agree and see things alike, but it's not. 82 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:04,560 It's just not going to happen that way. 83 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,120 Why is that? Because people are different and 84 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:10,320 they see things differently. And by the way, that's OK. 85 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,080 Could you imagine how boring and bland the world would be if 86 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:15,320 everybody thought exactly the same way that you did? 87 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,560 If they're if, if they had no different ideas than you have, 88 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,920 if they liked everything exactly the same way that you liked it? 89 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:24,960 I mean, this would be a pretty boring place, wouldn't it? 90 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,520 There'd be 1 store that everybody went to and one 91 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,120 restaurant that everybody ate at and 1, you know, I mean, it 92 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,360 would be a pretty boring place if if that's the case. 93 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:35,080 And so, you know, the things that that make us different can 94 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,160 be a strength as well. But because people are sinful 95 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,160 and, and, and we're always going to tend to be selfish and always 96 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:43,800 going to tend to be ambitious and many times thoughtless of 97 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:46,560 other people. That's that's why it's, it's 98 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:48,680 difficult many times for people to get along. 99 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,680 But we're supposed to be different than the world. 100 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,080 The option of fighting it out really isn't a viable option for 101 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:56,920 us. We don't, we don't see that in 102 00:04:56,920 --> 00:04:59,800 the Bible anywhere. Just fight it out, you know, be 103 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:01,120 at disagreements with each other. 104 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:03,840 Let 2 factions of the church be fighting against each other and 105 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:05,520 see who wins and kick the other ones out. 106 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:07,600 It's not an option. We don't, we just don't see that 107 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,520 in the Bible anywhere. We're imperfect people. 108 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:13,160 We're contaminated by sin. And The thing is, when we accept 109 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,680 Jesus Christ as our Savior, he takes the, the consequences of 110 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,720 that sin away. But the effects of sin in our 111 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,080 lives are still felt. We're always going to have that 112 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,200 flesh that we fight against. We're always going to fight the, 113 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,560 the sinful urges and the sinful thoughts until the day that we 114 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:30,400 die. And hopefully you're working at 115 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:31,560 it. Hopefully it's something that 116 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:34,680 you're that you're trying to get better at with the Lord's help. 117 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,800 But we're people and we're never going to be perfect, not until 118 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:41,720 we get to heaven. We're always going to fail. 119 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:42,960 We're always going to come up short. 120 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:46,640 So realizing that churches are made-up of people who are sinful 121 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,080 and that they'll almost certainly continue to get into 122 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,480 fights until Jesus comes, then what can we do about it? 123 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,640 Realizing that you're never going to see eye to eye, even in 124 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:58,880 your own family, like many times husband and wives don't see eye 125 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,560 to eye, parents and children don't see eye to eye, what can 126 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:03,600 we do about it? Paul addressed that exact same 127 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,240 problem here to the church at Corinth in First Corinthians 128 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:08,360 chapter 1. And I'm very thankful that we 129 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:10,600 don't have a divided church. I'm not preaching this message 130 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:13,000 this morning because our church is fighting against each other 131 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:15,440 and you have one faction that's on this side and 1 faction 132 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,720 that's on this side and everybody, nobody will talk to 133 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:20,120 each other because you know, they don't like what this person 134 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,440 said and they don't like what that person's opinion is about 135 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:24,560 the whatever. We don't have that and I'm 136 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,040 thankful for that. We don't have a church full of 137 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,320 cliques with some people who are in the know and others who are 138 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,440 less important and, you know, a lower class of church people. 139 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,320 We don't have that and I'm thankful for that. 140 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:37,840 And I think if you've been here for any length of time, then you 141 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:39,680 understand for the most part that everybody gets along. 142 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:42,560 For the most part, for the most part we do. 143 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:44,480 We do. But you know, you may like 144 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:47,000 somebody more than somebody else because their personality is 145 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:48,560 more like yours and whatever else. 146 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,440 But but, but I, I feel like everybody likes everybody. 147 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:54,840 Everybody knows everybody, everybody talks to everybody, 148 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:56,160 and that's the way that it should be. 149 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,800 So the message this morning is more of a reminder and hopefully 150 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,360 an encouragement for you to keep doing what you're doing. 151 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:05,000 But The thing is this, this church at Corinth, they were all 152 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,600 mixed up and, and they were as mixed up as any church that we 153 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,920 see today. Even even Paul when he wrote to 154 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:13,320 them, had to correct these things. 155 00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:15,080 And it's in First Corinthians chapter 1. 156 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:17,440 It's one of the very first things that he had to address 157 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:19,880 before he could even get to some of the other things that he 158 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:21,800 wanted to get to that were very important for them to 159 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:23,800 understand. He had to get them. 160 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,200 He had to set them straight. Stop fighting against each 161 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,400 other. You're it's like, it's, it's it, 162 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,760 you know, it's almost as dumb as somebody who takes their fist on 163 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:34,800 one side and takes their fist on the other side and starts 164 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,280 punching each other, right? I mean, how dumb would that be 165 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:39,080 to see somebody fighting themselves? 166 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,200 But that's what you're doing when you fight as a church body, 167 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,640 all right? You are a body and the body is 168 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:46,760 fighting itself. What sense does that make? 169 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:49,720 It doesn't even make sense logically when you think about 170 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:51,880 it. Your body should get along 171 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:53,680 right? Your, your, your, your right arm 172 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:55,600 and your left arm should be working together. 173 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,320 When's the last time that you went to do something and you 174 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:00,560 thought, I need to grab this? Oh, I need the other hand. 175 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:02,480 And your left hand said, no, you're not grabbing that. 176 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:05,240 You're not doing that. So you have one hand here and 177 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,280 you're trying to pull the other one up, and you just can't pull 178 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:09,480 it up because it doesn't want to do what it's supposed to do, 179 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:11,400 right? This doesn't make sense for a 180 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:13,760 body to fight against itself. And that's kind of the point 181 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,480 that Paul is making here. So this morning I want to give 182 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,280 you what Paul gave the Corinthians, the perfect plan 183 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,440 for imperfect people. There are probably more, but I 184 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:25,640 want to look at three things that we can do to keep us united 185 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,920 in our church, keep us united in our homes, so that we can 186 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,080 continue to move forward for the cause of Christ. 187 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,159 Because make no mistake, we will not move forward for the cause 188 00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:38,000 of Christ if we are divided. A house divided against itself 189 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:41,760 cannot stand, and a church that's divided against itself 190 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,440 cannot stand either. And if the whole purpose of us 191 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,960 as a church is to stand, therefore in this evil day, how 192 00:08:48,960 --> 00:08:52,120 can we stand if we're divided? So we need to keep the the 193 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,560 division out. We need to keep the stand 194 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:56,200 strong. And this is one of the ways that 195 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:58,520 we can do it. The perfect plan for imperfect 196 00:08:58,520 --> 00:08:59,720 people. That's what Paul gave us in 197 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,160 First Corinthians chapter 1. Let's pray and we'll look at 198 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,520 some of these verses that he gave them that hopefully will be 199 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:06,440 a help to us this morning. Father, again, we thank you so 200 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:08,840 much for your goodness to us. Thank you for the opportunity we 201 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:10,680 have to be here this morning. And I thank you for the church 202 00:09:10,680 --> 00:09:12,960 that we do have and for all the people that make it up. 203 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:14,920 There would be no church if there was no people. 204 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:17,880 There would be no there would be no church if there was no 205 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:19,400 families that were here to make it up. 206 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,200 And, and I thank you so much for everybody who has made the 207 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:24,680 decision to make this their church home. 208 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:28,160 God, may you help us all to have a desire for it to be strong. 209 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:30,120 May you all help us. May you help us all to have a 210 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,440 desire for it to be united so that we can go forward for the 211 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:34,640 cause of Christ. And may this message help us 212 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,480 this morning. Thank you again for all you do 213 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:38,080 for us. In Jesus name, Amen. 214 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:40,280 The first thing I want you to see is this. 215 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:45,040 And this is what Paul gave them in verse #10 but it's to focus 216 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,520 on Jesus because he is the reason we're here. 217 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,000 Focus on Jesus because he's the reason we're here. 218 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,560 Verse #10 Paul says this. Now I beseech you, you know what 219 00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:57,920 that word beseech means. I'm begging you, brethren, 220 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,920 beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 221 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,760 that you all speak the same thing and that there be no 222 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:08,520 divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together 223 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:11,440 in the same mind and in the same judgment. 224 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:14,560 You can almost hear. Now, obviously Paul is writing 225 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:17,560 this and, and one of the things that we know about the apostle 226 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:22,200 Paul is as they've said, and as Paul wrote his, his speech is 227 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:23,720 contemptible. Who is this guy? 228 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,080 He doesn't really speak very well, but his writing is 229 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:28,800 powerful. And you can almost imagine Paul 230 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,960 as he's dictating this to be, you know, to be written. 231 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:36,560 And he says, write this. I beg you, brethren, in the name 232 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:40,680 of Jesus Christ, I beg you, brethren, please get along. 233 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:44,080 Be joined together in unity. Go together that you'd be 234 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,160 perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same 235 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,920 judgment. Focus on Jesus Christ because He 236 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:53,120 is the reason that we're here and that one sentence, he 237 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,960 reminds them that people in the church share a very special 238 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:58,680 relationship with one another. We talked about this a little 239 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:03,080 bit last Sunday night as, as we took the communion and, and, and 240 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,240 talked about the fact that we are a body and that we all 241 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:07,720 should be joined together and that we all do that together. 242 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,120 We're related to each other because we all, if we're saved, 243 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,240 we all call Jesus Christ our Lord. 244 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:15,880 We all call God our Father. We are related. 245 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:18,240 That's why we call each other brother and sister. 246 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,240 We're brothers and sisters in Christ and we ought to get along 247 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:24,760 because we have the same Father and because we have the same 248 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:26,240 Lord. And for that reason, we ought 249 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,920 not to be fighting against each other that we, when my, when, 250 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:32,760 when we were young, my brothers and sisters and I, we used to 251 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:34,240 get into fights every once in a while. 252 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:37,240 And I would tell you that it was always their fault and they were 253 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:39,520 always the one that started it. But you'd probably see right 254 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:41,960 through that story. It was, it was all of us. 255 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,520 And, and we were all guilty of that at times. 256 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:47,960 And we used to try to argue quietly under our breath. 257 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:51,280 You remember that because we knew we'd get in trouble if my 258 00:11:51,280 --> 00:11:53,520 parents heard us arguing. So what do you do? 259 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:55,360 You can't argue out loud. You can't holler. 260 00:11:55,360 --> 00:12:00,440 So everybody's under, right? Well, you all probably all have 261 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:01,720 done that when you were growing up. 262 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,400 There's been times when you all had that same mindset. 263 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:07,040 And I, you know, I used to think that my parents, you know, would 264 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,400 get upset because it's just, it's nerve wracking. 265 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:11,000 And I'm sure that was a big part of it. 266 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:12,920 When you have 10 kids and they're all fighting against 267 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:14,080 each other and they're all arguing. 268 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:15,960 I mean, that's a lot of noise in the house. 269 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:18,640 And no, there's no peace. There's no rest when everybody's 270 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:19,800 fighting. So they didn't let us fight. 271 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,480 We had to figure out ways to do it when they didn't know that we 272 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:25,040 were doing it. But The thing is, the one of the 273 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:28,640 whole reasons why they didn't want us to do it is because it's 274 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:31,040 just not right. Families should not be fighting 275 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,040 against each other, right? And by the way, this is not a 276 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,280 message on the family by any stretch this morning. 277 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:38,880 But you ought not to let your kids fight at home. 278 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,000 They ought to get along. You ought to teach them how to 279 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:42,840 get along. If they never learn how to get 280 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:45,720 along at home, then how are they going to learn to get along in 281 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:46,840 church? And how are they going to learn 282 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,280 to get along with everybody else that they need to get along 283 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:51,360 with? Well, they're just, they're just 284 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:53,240 so familiar with each other. Well, one of these days you're 285 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,040 going to be familiar with everybody else the same way you 286 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:57,760 can be familiar with the people that you work with. 287 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,120 And if you can't learn how to resolve a conflict without 288 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,720 fighting and arguing and shouting to get your way, then 289 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:04,760 what do you think's going to happen when they're in the 290 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:06,280 workplace? What do you think it's going to 291 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:07,760 happen when they have their own homes? 292 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:10,720 You ought to teach your kids to get along. 293 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:12,520 But I'm glad we grew out of that. 294 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:18,280 We don't fight now much, but when times get tough, like it 295 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,600 did when my mom passed away, we all needed to come together. 296 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,880 If we had never learned how to get along, if all we ever did 297 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:28,520 was fight, If all we ever did was argue with each other, and 298 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,080 then you don't have that family that's there when you need them. 299 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,040 That's a good, that's a benefit of being the family of God and 300 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:37,360 being together in one body in a church, right? 301 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,320 And many of you have been through difficult things and the 302 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,280 church rallies around you. What if you're the one that 303 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,800 always argues with everybody else, can't ever get along with 304 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:50,240 anybody, and now all of a sudden you need them Now. 305 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,400 All of a sudden you want everybody to come to your aid. 306 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:54,800 Now all of a sudden you want everybody to be kind to you. 307 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,880 And they probably still would. They do that the same way I have 308 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:00,840 to go help this person. I don't want to help them, 309 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:02,760 right? No, I mean, we don't do that, 310 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:04,080 but that. But you understand what I'm 311 00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:05,680 saying? You're going to need them and 312 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:08,000 they're going to need you. And if you can't get along, then 313 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:09,280 how would you expect to be a help? 314 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:11,640 And how do you expect to be a brother and sister in Christ? 315 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:14,080 See, Paul drew their attention to Jesus. 316 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:16,960 You see what he said? Now I beseech you, brethren, by 317 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,440 the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, He's almost saying for 318 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:24,360 Jesus sake, because you are united in him. 319 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:28,040 Don't fight amongst yourselves. You ought to hang together and 320 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:30,320 strengthen each other. Don't tear each other down. 321 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,960 That's that's what Paul is telling these Corinthians and 322 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:34,920 he's telling to us in the same way. 323 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,040 We are part of the church that Paul was writing these to heard 324 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,160 about a pastor by the name of Clarence Jordan. 325 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,720 He was telling the story about a time that he visited in a very 326 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,760 exciting church. It was very integrated church 327 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:48,800 somewhere here in the South some years ago. 328 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,720 And he was surprised to find a just a very large church so 329 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,360 thoroughly integrated and it was kind of out in the middle of 330 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,720 nowhere, but just rich and poor, black and white, just just 331 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,640 completely integrated church. And everybody just got along so 332 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:04,840 well. And so this this pastor was 333 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:07,320 invited there to preach and he kind of knew a little bit about 334 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:09,200 the hillbilly pastor that was there. 335 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:11,120 He knew a little bit about the church, but he got there and he 336 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:15,320 was just, he was just so amazed and so exciting to see how well 337 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:18,800 the church functioned together. And so he sat down to eat with 338 00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:22,160 him for lunch and he said, how did you get the church this way? 339 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:24,880 And that old hillbilly pastor said, what way? 340 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:27,840 What are you talking about? And he explained it to him a 341 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,680 little bit and, and he said, well, I'll tell you what 342 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,120 happened. When our preacher left our small 343 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:35,200 church, I went to the deacons and I said, I'll be the 344 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:37,800 preacher. And the deacons, they, they all 345 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,840 thought about it for a little bit and they invited me to come 346 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:43,120 be the preacher in that church. And he said, the very first 347 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,280 Sunday I opened up the Bible. And I've read as many of you as 348 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,720 have been baptized into Jesus, has put on Jesus, and there's no 349 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:52,880 longer any Jews or Greeks, slaves or frees, males or 350 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:55,520 females, because you is all one in Jesus. 351 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,200 And then I closed the book and I said, if you won with Jesus, you 352 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:01,480 won with all kinds of folks. And if you ain't, you ain't. 353 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:05,000 And that pastor said, well, what happened? 354 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,720 He said, well, then deacons pulled me into the backroom 355 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:09,680 after the service and they said, we don't want that kind of 356 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,400 preaching around here. You're not going to preach like 357 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:14,320 that and be our pastor. And he said, well, what'd you do 358 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:16,080 after that? He said, I fired those deacons. 359 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:18,880 He said, well, then what happened? 360 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,480 He said, well, I preached the church down to four people. 361 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:23,960 And that's when we started to grow. 362 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,560 People started coming in and they love the unity that we had. 363 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,120 And he said, I preached that down that church down to four. 364 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:32,880 And what I found out is that revival sometimes don't mean 365 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,760 bringing people in, but getting the people out who don't love 366 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,840 Jesus. See, we're imperfect people. 367 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:41,640 Nobody in their right mind is going to argue that. 368 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:44,720 But we need to remember that the reason we're here is because we 369 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,000 love Jesus. Focus on Jesus because he's the 370 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,040 real reason we're here. Go back to First Corinthians 371 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:54,400 chapter 1 and look at verse #11 that's what Paul is telling 372 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,680 them. First of all, focus on Jesus 373 00:16:56,680 --> 00:16:58,400 because he's the real reason we're here. 374 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,600 But the second thing I want you to see is that we should focus 375 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:02,640 on Jesus instead of on other people. 376 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,359 Verse #11 For you hath been declared unto me of you, my 377 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,040 brethren, by them, which are of the House of Chloe. 378 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:11,119 And he threw her under the bus, didn't he? 379 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:15,119 She tattled on you all. And I'm telling you that I heard 380 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:17,720 from Chloe that there are contentions among you. 381 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,560 Verse 12 Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am of 382 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,880 Paul and I have Apollos and I have Cephas and I have Christ. 383 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:28,840 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or 384 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:30,840 were you baptized in the name of Paul? 385 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:34,720 I thank God that I baptize none of you but Crispus and Gaius, 386 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:38,680 lest any should say that I baptized in mine own name, and I 387 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:41,440 baptized also the house that hold this define this beside, I 388 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:44,720 know not whether I baptize any other, for Christ sent me not to 389 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,920 baptize, but to preach the gospel not with wisdom of words, 390 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,160 lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. 391 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:55,600 See, Paul's point was that the Christians were supposed to 392 00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:00,480 follow Christ, not other people. In John Maxwell's book The 393 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:02,920 Winning Attitude, he's written a lot of books on leadership, but 394 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:06,920 he tells the story of 2 cows that were grazing in a field in 395 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,080 a pasture and they saw a milk truck go by. 396 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:12,040 And on the side of that milk truck there, it said 397 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:17,040 pasteurized, homogenized, standardized vitamin A added. 398 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:20,160 One of those cows sighed and looked at the other one. 399 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,040 He said, sure makes you feel inadequate, doesn't it? 400 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,840 And that's honestly, that's the problem with being attached to 401 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:27,960 people instead of to Jesus Christ. 402 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,040 When you follow somebody, eventually they're going to let 403 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:33,560 you down because they're inadequate. 404 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:36,960 When you compare them to Jesus Christ, when you've, you know, 405 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,840 you might be smitten by somebody's personality or 406 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,800 something else that they that they have or something else that 407 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:45,760 they're do that they do, but they're human and eventually 408 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:49,560 they are going to fail you. Others may not be as charmed 409 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,960 with another church leader as you and they see his flaws and, 410 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:56,040 and you know, and then you get the situation that Paul 411 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,920 condemned in Corinth, people rallying around leaders instead 412 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:02,440 of rallying around Christ. I heard a couple who had been 413 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,760 married for about 3 years and they were happy and they got 414 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:06,440 along very well. But there was one point of 415 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:08,920 contention in their marriage and it was the pastor. 416 00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:13,120 The, the, the husband really liked the pastor and he's seen, 417 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:15,120 you know, he really stood up for him with everything. 418 00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:17,840 The wife didn't like him very much and she criticized 419 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:20,480 everything that he did. And here the one thing that they 420 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,760 didn't get along and in their marriage was the pastor, you 421 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,640 know, he the, the, the, the man tended to overlook the pastor's 422 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:30,600 weaknesses and the wife tended to overlook the pastor's 423 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:32,600 strengths because they were coming at it from two different 424 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:34,800 angles. But I'll tell you that The thing 425 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:37,720 is, if, if their focus was on Jesus Christ instead of on the 426 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:41,000 pastor, then they would realize that nobody is perfect, no 427 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,720 matter what capacity they serve in. 428 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,360 And their differences of opinion aren't become aren't going to 429 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:48,480 become a real problem. So the, the temptation for 430 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,880 leaders in the church is to build a sort of personality cult 431 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,520 around themselves. And it's it's never going to be 432 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,680 called that. But you know, I think it was, I 433 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:00,920 think it was a lot more prevalent in the 70s and the 434 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,440 80s, especially in some of the big independent fundamental 435 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:05,480 Baptist churches. You're seeing it all over the 436 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,120 place now with a lot of these non denominational churches. 437 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,520 But it happens everywhere. You know, it's not a it's, it's, 438 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,320 it's not about the church. Look, you see, I mean, I think 439 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,360 one of the most prominent recent examples is is Hillsong. 440 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:19,200 Right. Hillsong was huge, especially 441 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,360 the church in New York City. Everybody was all about Carl 442 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:25,560 Lentz, this the pastor of that church, Justin Bieber's pastor. 443 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,600 And you know, the celebrity, you know, he was, he was a pastor to 444 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,000 all the celebrities and thousands and thousands of 445 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,480 people coming to this church found out that he was having all 446 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,120 kinds of affairs and all kinds of other stuff that was going 447 00:20:36,120 --> 00:20:37,800 on. And they, they kicked him out of 448 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:40,200 the church and that church just went, went down to nothing 449 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:42,680 because it wasn't about following Christ. 450 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:44,440 It wasn't about focusing on Jesus. 451 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,640 It was all about a personality. They were following this pastor. 452 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:49,760 They were following this cult of a church. 453 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,120 And it wasn't about Christ. And so then when the, when the 454 00:20:53,120 --> 00:20:56,640 focal point is gone, the whole thing disappears. 455 00:20:56,640 --> 00:20:59,360 The whole thing disintegrates. That'll tell you what the focal 456 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:04,240 point is, right? It's it, we all want to be 457 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:06,800 liked, right? Everybody wants to be like you 458 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:08,120 all. You know, we all want to see 459 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:10,640 things go well and to get along. So it becomes very tempting to 460 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:14,760 shade things and to be dishonest in little ways, like making 461 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:18,120 people think that you never struggle with sin, right? 462 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:21,600 I'm a human. I, I, I do my best to live in 463 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:24,160 the best way that I possibly can for Christ. 464 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,160 And I'm not out there running around with other women and 465 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,880 doing all these other things. I'm not doing those things, but 466 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,360 I'm not perfect. And for you to think that I'm 467 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:35,520 perfect would be a would be a mistake. 468 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,320 And for me to try to make you think that I'm perfect would be 469 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,200 a mistake. I'm not perfect. 470 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,360 I'm a human. I'm just like you are. 471 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:47,440 But The thing is, we already have an example for us to 472 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,360 follow. And it may, you may find out 473 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:54,520 someday that I did something that, that that disappointed 474 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,400 Christ and you get all disappointed about it. 475 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,240 And if and if and if the whole church is me, then you're going 476 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:02,800 to get discouraged and you're going to leave. 477 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,000 I hope that the day that I'm no longer the pastor of this 478 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,680 church, not one person leaves. Hope that the day that I'm no 479 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:14,040 longer the pastor of this church goes on for Christ the same way 480 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,280 that it did when I was here, and even more after I'm gone. 481 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,200 Because it's not about me. I'm not the focus of this 482 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,040 church. Christ is the focus of this 483 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:24,880 church. And if you're following him 484 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,680 instead of following me, then it will go on no matter who the 485 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,360 leader of the church is. Now, I think it's important that 486 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:33,880 the leader be somebody that's taken everybody in the direction 487 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,200 that's following Christ. If the leader is doing that, 488 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:39,800 then do what Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ. 489 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,200 But if I get off the path and I start teaching wrong doctrine or 490 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:45,880 I start bringing things in that are going against God's Word, 491 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:49,600 then you shouldn't follow me. You should follow Christ, right? 492 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,240 And if I'm not here, this church should just go on the same way 493 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,840 that it is right now because it's not about me, it's about 494 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:58,800 him. And that's exactly what Paul was 495 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,440 trying to say here. He said, you're, you're divided. 496 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:05,280 Oh, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos. Oh, this person baptized me. 497 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,040 That person baptized me. And there was these factions all 498 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:10,920 over the place, you know, bragging about who baptized 499 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:13,640 them. Paul said it's not about any of 500 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:18,480 us, it's about Christ. He says that I thank God that I 501 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:21,920 baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say 502 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:23,840 that I had baptized in my own name. 503 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,320 This isn't about me. Paul says it's not about us. 504 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,200 It's not about Gaius. It's not about it's not about 505 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:31,640 Paul. It's not about all of these 506 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:33,520 things. It's about Christ and him 507 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,200 crucified. That's what should be our focus. 508 00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:37,560 That's what we should be preaching. 509 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,640 And of course, I'm trying to do my best to be a good example to 510 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:41,080 you. I think. 511 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:44,240 I think you realize that. And I hope you realize that if 512 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:47,240 I'm asking you to jump afoot, I'm doing my best to jump 3. 513 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,720 And I can promise you that the things that I preach in this 514 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:53,000 church, I practice in my own personal life and I practice in 515 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,880 my own home. I'm not doing things outside of 516 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,760 the church that that are not an example. 517 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,920 But at the same time, it's not about you following me. 518 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,920 It's about you following Christ. And if all I do is get you to 519 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,360 come and do what I do, and if all I do is get you to come and 520 00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:12,760 follow me as a personality, then I failed as a pastor. 521 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:18,240 Your job is to follow Christ. Follow him, Make him the focal 522 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,560 point. If someday I ever disappoint 523 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,080 you, you're not going to give up and quit and, and, and just 524 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,480 throw in the towel because, well, if he can't do it, then 525 00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,520 who can? It's not about me anyway. 526 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,480 It's about Christ. And if you're focusing on him, 527 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:33,960 then man, I hate to see that somebody dropped out of the 528 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:36,320 race, but I wasn't following that person anyway. 529 00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:40,120 My goal was on the finish line. My goal was on Christ. 530 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:42,320 He was the one that I was following anyway. 531 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:44,720 Boy, I hate to see that somebody failed. 532 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,680 I hate to see that somebody tripped and fell, but I wasn't 533 00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:50,800 following him. So I don't have to trip and fall 534 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:52,880 too. I don't have to quit because he 535 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,400 did. My focus is on Christ and that's 536 00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,000 where I'm going. I'm following him. 537 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:00,160 That's what Paul is saying. That's that's what those verses 538 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:02,560 there in verse 11 through 16 are all talking about. 539 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,360 Follow Christ, focus on Him. I try to teach the Word of God 540 00:25:07,360 --> 00:25:10,040 truthfully and in such a way that I don't bore you to tears. 541 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,800 We plan the services so that it will go smoothly, and our 542 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,960 objective is to to try to eliminate distraction so that we 543 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,200 can actually worship the Lord. But don't let any of that fool 544 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,560 you into thinking that you should be following me. 545 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:27,520 I'm not trying to be egotistical here because it happens all the 546 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:31,160 time in churches, but you know they're there and may be true. 547 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,120 On the other hand, maybe you preferred a different preacher 548 00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:35,520 in the past. Maybe you'd rather listen to 549 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,160 somebody else preach. And that's fine too, right? 550 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,920 God called you here. But what I hope and pray is that 551 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:44,680 everyone who comes to this church would continue tomorrow 552 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,440 if I left. I'm not planning to leave, by 553 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,080 the way. Sorry to disappoint you, but the 554 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,760 focus should be on Jesus and not on any other person. 555 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,240 People are going to fail us because people are imperfect. 556 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:03,320 Jesus is perfect, and it's he that we as imperfect people 557 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:06,160 should keep our eyes on. And so to stay united, we should 558 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:08,760 focus on Jesus because he's the reason we're here. 559 00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:12,040 We should focus on Jesus instead of on other people. 560 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:16,520 And lastly, Paul says this in verse #17 For Christ sent me not 561 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,840 to baptize, but to preach the gospel. 562 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,040 Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be 563 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:28,120 made of none effect focus on Jesus and what he wants us to 564 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:29,120 do. That's my Third Point. 565 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:31,040 That's our last point. That's what Paul is telling us 566 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:34,040 here. Some churches have a time in the 567 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:35,880 service and we don't do this. We've never done it. 568 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,720 But some some churches have a little time in the service when 569 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,200 the children come down to the front and somebody usually the 570 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,920 pastor has a little bit of a an object lesson for the kids and 571 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:46,520 they call it the children's sermon. 572 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:49,080 And one church I heard about a preacher was given the 573 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,320 children's sermon one day, one Sunday morning. 574 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,600 And so he said to the children, when I say a word, I want you to 575 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,480 say the first thing that comes to your mind. 576 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:02,040 And so he said frog. And one of the little boys down 577 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:06,800 there said Jesus. And he said, Jesus, what does 578 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:10,680 Jesus have to do with frog? He said, well, I know this. 579 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,520 You didn't call us down here to talk about frogs. 580 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,400 We're not here to talk about frogs or politics or sports or 581 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,240 any other thing that may come up in a casual conversation. 582 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,720 We're here, or at least we ought to be here, because Jesus died 583 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,520 for us and out of our gratitude for his mercy and his grace, we 584 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,320 want to worship him, Paul told the Corinthian church. 585 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,800 In effect, I I really don't care about who baptized who. 586 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:37,320 I was just doing what God told me to do. 587 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,120 I was preaching the gospel. I don't care who gets the 588 00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:42,400 credit. I was just following my orders. 589 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:44,200 You notice what Paul is saying here, though. 590 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,400 We're having a few people that are getting baptized after the 591 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:49,920 service this morning. I think this is very interesting 592 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:54,560 verse #17 for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the 593 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:56,400 gospel. You notice that he's making a 594 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,480 distinction there. The gospel and baptism are not 595 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:02,400 the same thing. And there's so many people who 596 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,720 want to add baptism to salvation. 597 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:06,880 You have to be baptized if you're going to go to heaven. 598 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,920 You have to be baptized if you want to be saved. 599 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,360 Has nothing to do with baptism. Do you think Paul would be 600 00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:16,160 bragging about the fact that he did not baptize anybody if 601 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:21,160 that's what he was called to do? Paul's life was worthless then 602 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,120 if the gospel is trying to get people to get into a pool so 603 00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:28,360 that he can baptize him. He said Christ didn't call me to 604 00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:30,160 baptize. He called me to preach the 605 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,320 gospel. And I'm glad that I didn't 606 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:34,920 baptize any of you so that you can't say I was baptized by 607 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,360 Paul. That sounds kind of 608 00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:39,960 counterproductive to somebody who's out there trying to get 609 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:43,960 people to heaven by dunking them in a tank, Doesn't it just kind 610 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:46,200 of goes to show you that it doesn't have anything to do with 611 00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,000 baptism on whether you're going to get to heaven or not has 612 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,600 everything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 613 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:52,880 And that's what Paul was preaching. 614 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:55,200 He said Christ sent me not to baptize. 615 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:57,440 He sent me to preach the gospel. And that's what I'm doing. 616 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,320 Paul was not there to baptize them. 617 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:02,840 He was there to lead them to Christ. 618 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:04,920 Baptism is just a picture of salvation. 619 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,160 It's a picture of the death, the burial, and the resurrection of 620 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:10,960 Jesus Christ and somebody who has accepted Jesus Christ as 621 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:13,880 their savior, like the ones who are going to get baptized today, 622 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,040 if they were to die right now, if Jesus Christ came back right 623 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:21,760 now, before we ever get them into the pool, they're on their 624 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,840 way to heaven. This is just a picture. 625 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,760 This is just the the wedding ring to let everybody know that 626 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:31,520 they've been married, right? If I took my wedding ring off, 627 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:36,440 now I'm not married, OOP, now I am married OOP now I'm not, 628 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:38,240 right? Doesn't have anything to do with 629 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:39,200 that. This is just a picture. 630 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:41,760 This is just a symbol to let everybody know I'm married. 631 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:48,080 But 19 years ago when I said I do and I married my wife, it was 632 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,800 sealed, right? Whether I wear my wedding ring 633 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,400 or not is whether I'm proud to be married or not. 634 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:56,240 Whether I want people to know that I'm married or not didn't 635 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,520 have anything to do with whether I wear the ring. 636 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:00,560 It's just a symbol. It's just a picture. 637 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:02,400 And that's exactly what baptism is. 638 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:06,000 Baptism is just a picture to let people know that I'm saved and 639 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:08,640 I'm on my way to heaven and I have this testimony of what 640 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,000 Jesus Christ did for me and I want everybody to know it. 641 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,480 That's why Paul said I didn't. I'm not here baptizing. 642 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:17,280 Listen, if you had to be baptized in order to be saved, 643 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,520 we would do that at the beginning of the service. 644 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,320 We would do that the second you said you wanted to accept Christ 645 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:25,680 as your Savior. Well, let's, let's leave the 646 00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:27,480 tank set up and let's go do it. Now. 647 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:29,520 I don't want you to die without getting baptized. 648 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:31,120 Right? But baptism doesn't have 649 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:32,720 anything to do with whether or not you go to heaven. 650 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:35,120 And that's why Paul said Christ didn't send me to baptize, he 651 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,080 sent me to preach the gospel. And that's what I'm doing. 652 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:42,840 See the the focus is not on religious ordinances, it's on 653 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,520 Jesus Christ and him crucified. What God wants from us can 654 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:51,600 really be summed up in 2 words, faithfulness and fruitfulness. 655 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:55,520 Faithfulness and fruitfulness. God wants us to be faithful to 656 00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:59,360 him, to worship and to honor him with our whole life and to work 657 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,880 at becoming holy, which is simply becoming more like Jesus. 658 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:07,000 Getting rid of the sin, getting rid of the the things that that 659 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,960 hold us back from being exactly what he wants us to do in our 660 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:13,520 lives. Right when you get saved, your 661 00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:15,960 sin is covered under the blood of Jesus Christ. 662 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:21,640 Your sin is, is is not going to condemn you to hell, but many 663 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:23,840 times when people get saved, they have a lot of baggage that 664 00:31:23,840 --> 00:31:25,560 they come with. You have sin that you've been 665 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,160 committing for a long time. It doesn't just automatically 666 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,800 poof, go away and life is a bed of roses, right? 667 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:35,200 Sometimes you have to fight against things that you did 668 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,600 before you got saved because that tendency is, is comes back. 669 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,920 Somebody who's an alcoholic that accepts Jesus Christ as their 670 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,240 savior. Sometimes they can go dump all 671 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:46,400 that beer down the sink and never touch it again. 672 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:48,920 But sometimes people struggle with it for a little while. 673 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,760 It's an addiction, right? And Christ can give you the 674 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:54,520 victory. Christ can deliver you from 675 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:59,040 those things, and He will. But sometimes you smell alcohol 676 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:02,080 and you might have a desire for it again, and you have to fight 677 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:04,080 that desire. Same thing with smoking 678 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,000 cigarettes or anything else, right? 679 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,400 You might have that desire to go back to who you used to be. 680 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,720 We have help now because Christ is helping us to fight against 681 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:15,920 those things. But that's what holiness is, 682 00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,920 getting all of those things out of our lives, then asking God 683 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:23,480 for his help to defeat those things in our lives. 684 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:26,440 God wants us to be fruitful for him too. 685 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:30,080 I heard a story about a small church that was affiliated with 686 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,880 kind of a what you would call a splinter denomination. 687 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,160 And the members had cut out some gold letters and put them up on 688 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:39,280 the front of their sign in the on the wall in front of the 689 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,960 church. And it said Jesus only, but 690 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:44,560 these people, I mean, they just couldn't get along. 691 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:46,640 They were, they were a splinter denomination. 692 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,280 Anyway, they had split off of a split of a split of a split. 693 00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,520 And it was just a little congregation left. 694 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:53,480 And of course, they decided Jesus only. 695 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,520 We want to make him the focus. And they really didn't though. 696 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,000 And one day there was a gust of wind that kind of blew through 697 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,280 there and knocked some limbs down and knocked a couple of 698 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:03,960 trees down. And then when they went back to 699 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,000 the church to kind of fix everything up, some of the 700 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,400 letters had blown off of that little sign that they put up 701 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,560 there. And instead of Jesus only, it 702 00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:14,840 said us only. That's the way the most churches 703 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:16,840 are. It's all about us. 704 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,280 It's all about me. I'm the focus. 705 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:22,760 That's why I want to go to church and have this worship 706 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,560 experience where I just feel so lifted up. 707 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,640 And sometimes, sometimes you ought to go to church where you 708 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:34,440 feel really beat down because you got in God's word and you're 709 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:35,920 not living the way that you should. 710 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,560 You should not walk out feel like you had this wonderful 711 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:40,680 worship experience. You should walk out saying, boy, 712 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:42,440 I've got some things that I need to change. 713 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:45,960 That hurt, right? If the, if all that ever happens 714 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,240 when you go to church is you're walking out feeling like you 715 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,400 worshiped today, then you're missing the point of why you're 716 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,840 here. You ought to want to have your 717 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,160 toes stepped on in church. You ought to want to feel beat 718 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,240 up every now and then. Now, if all you ever do is get 719 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:00,720 beat up, then maybe you're going to stop going, right? 720 00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:03,440 Why are you going to keep getting back in the ring with 721 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,000 somebody who's going to knock you out every time you stand up, 722 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,800 right? But at the same time, how are 723 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:11,639 you ever going to grow? How are you ever going to get 724 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:15,280 stronger if all you ever do is you just keep doing you just 725 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,840 keep living your truth. You just keep doing what you, 726 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:21,880 what you want to do with your life and God will bless you. 727 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,760 Go live your best life. Now do all these other things 728 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,760 that all these, you know, soft preachers want to tell you so 729 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:30,320 that you'll just keep putting money in the offering plate and 730 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:35,360 keep coming back, right? No, sometimes it hurts to sit in 731 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,360 church and hear some things, but wow, I, I really need to fix 732 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,760 that. I need to change that, but 733 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,040 that's the point. It's about Jesus and it's about 734 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,400 holiness and it's about living for Him and it's about doing 735 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,000 what's right. It's not about me, it's about 736 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:51,280 Him. You can be faithful and still 737 00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:52,920 miss the boat. As far as being fruitful, 738 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,320 fruitfulness has to do with us getting the message out, telling 739 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:58,560 other people about Jesus and not just being satisfied with our 740 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,320 own little group of people who are in the know, not just being 741 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,280 satisfied with who's here now because most of the seats are 742 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:06,480 filled now. Let's go out and get more. 743 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:08,400 Let's go out and share the gospel. 744 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,640 Let's go out and bring more people to Christ. 745 00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:13,600 We ought never to be satisfied with how many people we have in 746 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:15,800 the church. It's not about how many people 747 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:18,960 are in the church anyway. It's about how many people we're 748 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:21,160 taking to heaven with us when we finally go. 749 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,480 That's great. It's exciting to have a church 750 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:25,800 full of people. It's exciting to have somebody 751 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:27,880 sitting next to you that's going in the same direction. 752 00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:31,240 But if, if, if you were the only one in your Pew, if you're the 753 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,280 only one in your Rd., you ought still be excited about going 754 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:38,480 forward for Christ. But our goal and our job if 755 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:41,280 there's no seats left in this auditorium is to go tell more 756 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:44,720 people about Jesus Christ, to bring more people to him and to 757 00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:47,640 be fruitful. If we focus on Jesus, then we're 758 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,360 not going to worry about who gets your credit for what. 759 00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:51,560 We'll be too busy trying to do the things that God wants us to 760 00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:52,880 do. And that's exactly what Paul was 761 00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,680 saying here. I'm a Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm 762 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,720 of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Paul said, who cares? 763 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:00,760 Who cares what are you doing for Christ? 764 00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:04,760 It's not about who you, who baptized you and what faction 765 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:06,120 you're a part of and this and that. 766 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:07,840 It's what are you doing for Christ? 767 00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:10,080 And if you get so busy doing for Christ, that's what Paul was 768 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:11,840 saying. I'm not, I don't care who I'm 769 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,240 baptized. I don't care if you say that I'm 770 00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:17,800 of Paul. I'm not here trying to get 771 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:19,800 people of Paul. I'm trying to get people of 772 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:23,320 Christ. I want people to be, to know the 773 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,480 gospel. And if I baptize you, great. 774 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,640 If Apollos baptizes you, great. It's not about that. 775 00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:31,520 It's about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 776 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:34,360 If we focus on Him, then we're not going to worry about any of 777 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:36,560 those things. We were perfect. 778 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,000 We'd never lose track of what our goal is, but we're not 779 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,160 perfect. And sometimes we do need to be 780 00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:44,400 reminded that God didn't redeem us so we could go on being 781 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:49,320 sinful and selfish. When you give your child a gift 782 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:54,040 for Christmas or his birthday or whatever it is, it's His right. 783 00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:56,640 But that doesn't mean that that that you'll allow him to go out 784 00:36:56,640 --> 00:37:00,440 and purposely break it or throw it away because it's His, right. 785 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,560 You give him a nice watch for Christmas and he goes out with a 786 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:06,000 hammer and just starts beating on it. 787 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:07,640 What are you doing? Well, it's mine. 788 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:11,120 I can do what I want to with it. Well, yes, you can, but I'm not 789 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,240 going to let you destroy it just because I paid money for that. 790 00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:16,080 It was expensive. You're not just going to go beat 791 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:19,680 it up and throw it away because I gave it to you and it's yours. 792 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,160 Right. And I think that's God's given 793 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:26,200 this given us the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ, and he expects 794 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:29,640 us to take care of that gift. What are you doing with it? 795 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:32,920 He gave it to you. He gave you eternal life. 796 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:35,760 He gave you a home in heaven. What are you doing with it? 797 00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,240 You just beat it up and throw it around because you've got it. 798 00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:40,000 It's yours. I can do what I want to with it 799 00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:43,960 or you sharing him with others. We're to keep our focus on Jesus 800 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:48,640 and what he's told us to do. Somebody wrote this in a book. 801 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,040 It's called the book is called The Seasons of a Man's Life. 802 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:52,920 He said this. The turning point in our lives 803 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:57,280 is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the 804 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:01,920 God who is. Stop seeking the God we want and 805 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:07,000 start seeking the God who is. So many people, Christians 806 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,560 included, many times, good Christians included. 807 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:15,760 Christians who are in a good Churches across this country are 808 00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,920 making a God that they want, not the God who is. 809 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:22,840 They're seeking the God that they want him to be instead of 810 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,200 seeking the holiness of the God who is. 811 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,680 Well, God's OK with that because no, most of the time he's not 812 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:32,800 right. If we're doing things that go 813 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:35,440 against God's word, he's not pleased with those things. 814 00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:39,120 Stop trying to make God who you want him to be and start seeking 815 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:43,520 the God who is. You see, we're imperfect people 816 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,000 and so our tendency is to be selfish, to be self-centered. 817 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,480 And we see things from our perspective, from a distorted 818 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:53,680 viewpoint many times. And we'll always be in this life 819 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:57,640 at least spiritually prejudice and unable to see things 820 00:38:57,640 --> 00:38:59,720 completely the way that God sees them. 821 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:02,760 But that means that sometimes we're going to have 822 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:04,520 disagreements with each other from time to time. 823 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:07,560 And that's that's a fact. The world solves the problem one 824 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:11,600 way predominantly, usually by might makes right. 825 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:14,960 If I'm stronger than you, if I'm louder than you, if I can get 826 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:16,640 the upper hand on you, then I win. 827 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,680 That's not, not, not, not the way that it's supposed to be. 828 00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:22,280 We're not supposed to be like the world. 829 00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:24,320 We're supposed to focus on Jesus Christ. 830 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,280 He's what brings us together. He's what brings us close, 831 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,760 Right. You ever seen fans at a football 832 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:34,880 game? Well, especially maybe when 833 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:37,960 they're in the playoffs. You watch a game on TV and you 834 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:42,200 see these people just right and, and they score a touchdown and 835 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:43,920 they're turning around. They're high fiving everybody 836 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,720 and they don't, they don't know those people, but they have a 837 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:53,120 common bond, their team, right? You don't see them fighting 838 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:55,040 against each other because they're on the same team and 839 00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:57,840 they like the same team. They they have a common bond 840 00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:01,400 with each other, right? Our team is going to win the 841 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,920 Super Bowl. Yeah, right. 842 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:05,920 And that's what brings them together. 843 00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:09,680 Hey, the same thing should be true of us, right? 844 00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:13,320 We're on the same team. We're going in the same 845 00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,200 direction. If your focus is on this person 846 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,920 or that person or the pastor or this thing or that thing, then 847 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,400 there are there are going to be things that that distract you. 848 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,200 But if our focus is Christ and everything is about him, then 849 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:30,000 man, this is exciting. We already know that we win. 850 00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:33,240 We're following the winner. We're following the one who has 851 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:36,080 already won the final victory for us. 852 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,240 And you've heard it said, we read the back of the book and we 853 00:40:39,240 --> 00:40:42,640 know that we win in the end. What do we have to lose? 854 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:45,760 If our focus is on the right thing and more importantly, the 855 00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:49,920 right person, then we will stay together as a united team and we 856 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:52,840 will go forward for that cause, the cause of Christ. 857 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:55,920 And that's what matters. We should focus on Jesus because 858 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:59,160 he's the reason we're here. We should focus on Jesus instead 859 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:01,920 of on other people. And we should focus on Jesus and 860 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,760 what he wants to do. And if we do that, it'll work. 861 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:09,640 And if we do that, we will have the unity that Paul was begging 862 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,960 the Corinthians to have. I beseech you, brethren, by the 863 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,520 name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you speak the same thing 864 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,120 and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be 865 00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:23,360 perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same 866 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:28,240 judgment. If our focus is on Christ, it 867 00:41:28,240 --> 00:41:30,480 all works. Everything works. 868 00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:36,160 Your family works, your marriage works, the church works. 869 00:41:37,240 --> 00:41:39,400 It all works when our focus is on the right thing. 870 00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,440 I've given you this illustration many times before, but you take 871 00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:46,640 a triangle and you have a husband and wife on one side and 872 00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:50,120 you have God at the top. The closer you get to him, 873 00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:52,680 naturally, the closer you get to each other. 874 00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:56,080 The only way you can get closer to him is by focusing on that 875 00:41:56,240 --> 00:41:58,680 and and making him the focal point of everything. 876 00:41:58,960 --> 00:42:00,520 It works the same way in a church. 877 00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:05,640 Brother so and so, brother so and so, sister, sister, the 878 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:07,760 closer you get to Christ, the closer you're going to be 879 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,400 brought together. The only thing that division 880 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,320 means is that you're going in the opposite direction. 881 00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:17,080 Instead of focusing on the things that matter, instead of 882 00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:19,840 focusing on Christ, you're going in the opposite direction and 883 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:22,800 it's pulling you apart. What did Paul say? 884 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:24,480 Your focus shouldn't be on people. 885 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:27,040 Your focus shouldn't be on these other things. 886 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:31,880 Your focus should be on Christ preaching the gospel, preaching 887 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:34,920 him crucified. And if your focus is on those 888 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:38,840 things, it all works. I'm thankful that we have unity 889 00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:42,160 in our church, but the devil would like nothing more than to 890 00:42:42,160 --> 00:42:43,880 get in and start causing divisions. 891 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:47,360 He would like nothing more than than to create one faction 892 00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:50,920 that's fighting against another or create a a clique that's 893 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:53,800 better than everybody else. He would love to do that. 894 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:56,520 He would love it because that would that would cause division 895 00:42:56,520 --> 00:42:58,480 in the church and that would keep us from being as effective 896 00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:00,280 for Christ as we possibly can be. 897 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:05,920 Stay focused on Christ. He's the reason we're here. 898 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:10,080 Stay focused on Christ instead of on other people and stay 899 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:12,680 focused on Christ and what he wants us to do. 900 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:15,720 That's how we'll keep going forward for him. 901 00:43:16,720 --> 00:43:18,160 Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you so 902 00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:21,480 much for your goodness to us. We thank you for the opportunity 903 00:43:21,480 --> 00:43:24,760 to just bring this reminder this morning, God, that everything 904 00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:26,920 that we do should be focused on Jesus Christ. 905 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,800 Everything in our lives should be all about Him. 906 00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:32,440 God, may we always have that as our focus. 907 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:36,240 May we have a unity in this church that allows us to 908 00:43:36,240 --> 00:43:40,000 continue going forward for you. May we have a bond and a 909 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:44,240 strength together that we could never have a part because our 910 00:43:44,240 --> 00:43:48,080 focus is on the right things. It's on Christ, on the gospel, 911 00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,840 on holiness. God, may you use our church. 912 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:54,120 May you help us to continue going forward for you. 913 00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:58,360 We thank you for all that you do for us in Jesus name, Amen. 914 00:43:58,360 --> 00:44:00,400 If you stand at your seats with your heads bowed and your eyes 915 00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:06,360 closed, the invitation song is going to be played. 916 00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:09,720 God spoke to your heart about something this morning. 917 00:44:09,720 --> 00:44:14,120 Perhaps not that you are divided against other people, not 918 00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:15,800 necessarily that you have division. 919 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:18,320 Although if that's the case and you are at odds with somebody, 920 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:21,800 you need to get that right. But maybe your focus is not in 921 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,040 the right place. Maybe your focus is not on 922 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:25,840 Christ the way that it should be. 923 00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:30,160 That being the case, you might be the one that causes a 924 00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,840 division that really hurts the church and really hurts the 925 00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:37,880 cause of Christ. So as the piano plays this 926 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,640 morning, if God spoke to your heart about anything, it's the 927 00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:42,120 Holy Spirit that does the speaking. 928 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:44,560 So he might have, he might have spoke to your heart about 929 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:46,040 something that I never even mentioned. 930 00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:49,160 But either way, if God spoke to your heart as the piano plays, 931 00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:49,520 you come.