This is this is a very special service today.
Thank you for coming, watching online, listening on Grace FM.
This is a turning point in ministry of Calvary Chapel
today, as we are in the process of beginning to develop future
leadership for the church to continue on long after Pastor
Lewis and myself are no longer here.
We're not leaving yet. Hopefully we'll have some more
time here to be with you guys and to love you guys and to
teach you the Word of God. But we also realize that we're
not going to be here forever, right?
Charlie Kirk, unfortunately, was taken out at 31 years old.
No one anticipated that. Fortunately in your organization
they had leadership plan to continue that long after he was
gone and he was aware of the fact that he's his life could
have been taken and unfortunately it was.
So we're still grieving that. Pastor Bodie Bachmann, a
wonderful pastor, good friends with a lot of us in ministry.
He was very close with RC Sprole and John MacArthur.
He died at 56 years old. He had a, a minor surgery thing
and the Lord took him home. I'm driving up from Charleston,
WV on Wednesday, driving like I always do, 100 miles an hour,
now 665 miles an hour. And this thing came out like I
had no idea, like where it came from, what it was.
It sort of looked like a large dog.
It could have been, you know, a number of type of animals.
But I hit him and fortunately, George says it was good.
I didn't swerve because if I would have, I would have flipped
the vehicle and who knows where I'd be right now.
But anyway, the Lord spared my life.
So we're wise enough to know that we need to have depth in
every aspect of our ministry here for people to carry on when
some of us may no longer be here anymore.
So that's really important. And so I just wanted to to share
a little bit about the church itself.
I realized a couple years ago that it wasn't sustainable for
me to continue in the degree that I was 'cause I'm getting
older. So I asked Pastor Lewis to
consider becoming not an assistant pastor anymore, but a
Co pastor with equal responsibility with me.
And he took me up on that. And since he's done that, the
church has been so much healthier.
I've been more calm, less in the way of the Lord.
So if he teaches a month and I teach a month.
So this is my last Sunday this month.
So I'm excited to give it over to you, Lou, you know, for next
month. We're always kid each other.
Hey, it's your turn now. No, not yet.
But anyway, on Wednesday nights we have 5 wonderful men in the
church, lay pastors, lay leaders, not ordained formally,
but gifted teachers that teach on Wednesday night.
And I used to do it all myself, which wasn't again, sustainable.
But body life, we believe in team ministry here.
So everything we do is as a team, we, we don't have one
person making all the decisions, which is good for you and and
healthy for the church. And so we believe in body life.
And body life means when every part in the church does its
share, it makes increase of the body and to the edifying itself
together in love. And so not one person, but many
people serving the Lord together and serving one another.
So for the future of Calvary Chapel, 15 years ago, I met this
man named Lewis Harrell and Terry.
They attended a church picnic. And soon as I met Lewis, I said,
Lord, I'd love to serve you with him.
He didn't know that, but I was just hoping he might just choose
this church to come here. And he did.
And he walked into Calvary Chapel with his wife and his
family. Case and I believe was 13 at the
time. I first realized as I met Lewis
that he had giftings. But more importantly, he had a
love for people and a love for God.
And that's the kind of people you want to have in the church,
serving and leading people who love God and love you.
And so I had the same feeling when I met George Prentice and
John Morris and their families. And they've been with us forever
here in the ministry. And what's caused these long
term ministry relationships was their love for Jesus number one,
their understanding of the grace of God.
Not to judge people or criticize people or put people on guilt
trips, but just care for people and build them up and most
importantly their love for you is God's people.
Cason. When I met him as a young guy, I
could tell that there was something special about him.
And from the first day I met him, I knew he was a lover of
God and a lover of his church. He actually did some teaching
way back then. We had some of the young people,
Nathan Pace and Josh Susak and Cason and maybe one or two other
guys I can't remember now, that taught the youth on Wednesday
nights. And I could see even way back
then that the Lord had his hand on Cason.
I watched him excel in basketball in Hempfield, went to
many games and sat there with Lewis and Terry.
And also, I got to see him play in college at Indiana, Purdue,
and then online at Killister in Ireland.
And he was always pointing the fans to Jesus.
Every time he'd have a slam dunk or do this crazy 3 pointer, he'd
be like, like that man, one way. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus he.
He would be on his knees in front of the public praying
before games and he impacted the rest of his team as coaches.
And he always had a heart to be a servant at Calvary Chapel.
And he works with the kids right now.
And Pastor Chuck told us years ago that if you want to find
someone really called by God to go into ministry, start them in
a kids ministry. Most guys are too proud to do
that. Kids.
I'm I'm I'm supposed to be teaching adults.
And Chuck said if you can't teach kids and keep their
attention, you're not going to certainly be able to teach
adults and a lot of wisdom. So Cason actually be teaching
the kids this morning after he shares for a couple moments.
We spoke to him about pastoral ministry many years ago.
As we saw in his life God's anointing and calling today,
this call is now a new beginning for him and for us as a church.
Today he'll begin his training and he covets your prayers and
your encouragement as you help him to develop in this this
work. After I got done praying in the
hallways, we always pray before the service.
I came walking out and I saw him and the worship was starting and
he just took this deep breath. And I understand, you know,
every Sunday I come up here, I'm taking a deep breath like Lord,
just have your way and keep me out of the way, right?
But it, it's intimidating, right?
We can't do this without the Holy Spirit and without his
power, because if it isn't him, nothing's going to be good for
you guys. So Cason was no more words to
me. Come on up and share with the
church how this all transpired. When you began to think about
this, the the decision you had to make to retire early from
professional ball in Ireland and.
Good morning. I'll be honest, it's weird being
home right now. I'm not used to being home this
late in September. I'm usually on a plane right
now, so it's nice to be back home with you guys for good now.
Yeah. So, yeah, Pastor Clark and my
dad brought this to my attention couple years ago.
And at the time, like, I just felt like I was really just in
the prime of my basketball career and I just wasn't ready
to stop. Like, I just felt really good.
And I was just, I wanted to keep going.
And of course, they didn't put any pressure on me.
They just kept, you know, telling me to just keep praying
about it, keep praying about it, which I did.
So this past year in Ireland, for some reason, I don't know
when it when it started, but I just really got very interested
in in studying the word a lot more deeper than I had years
past. So I started diving into Paul's
letters. I started in the Romans.
And for some reason I just like felt this like excitement about
it. And I'm just like, I want to
teach this. And I was just like, it started
really tugging in my heart at the time.
But again, I was still kind of back and forth to pick, 'cause
I'm in the middle of my season and I'm, I'm playing really
good. I'm like, I'm not ready to give
this up yet. So it was actually after we won
our national Cup where the feeling really started to, to
hit. And I remember like I wasn't
like depressed or something, but there was definitely something
on my mind after we won. I wasn't as excited about it as
I thought I would be. And I remember talking to my
parents because they can, they, they could always tell when
something's bothering me or something's like not right.
So they were just like, you know, what's going on?
I'm like, well, I'm not really sure if I want to keep doing
this. And they were just like, you
know, what do you mean? Well, I just, I've really been
like studying these letters from Paul.
And I'm just like, I really have like starting to have a heart to
like to teach. And you know, they just said,
well, just keep praying about it.
Keep praying about, you know, God will make it clear whether
something wants you to do so around like the last month of
our season, my dad actually brought to my attention about a
job that it opened up at, at the Hemfield Park where I used to
train all the time. So I told I, I prayed and I told
God, I said, God, if if you want me to stop playing, let me get
this job, I'll come home, I'll call it for good.
Literally last month of the season, I get a call.
They offered me the job. So at that point I was like, OK,
that's it. I'm done.
So I finished that year, came home, and even today I still get
a lot of questions like why, like, like, why did you stop?
Like you're at the primary career, You could definitely
keep playing. And I'm just like, well, you
know, God called me to something different.
And even when I came home for a little bit, I wasn't 100% sure.
And then Pastor Clark took me out to lunch last weekend and we
talked and we, you know, we kind of explained kind of what he
wanted me to do and just kind of just really just broke it down
in a way that that made it, you know, a lot easier to
understand. And I just, I felt like, you
know, it was time for me to answer this call and I couldn't
run from it anymore. And you know, I told, you know,
I told my dad my parents this morning, like I, you know, I was
nervous and everything. And I remember I saw a quote on
Facebook actually yesterday was God doesn't call the qualified,
He qualifies the called. And that just gave me a lot of
peace 'cause it's like, even if I'm, even if I don't feel like
I'm ready, I know that if I just keep my eyes on Jesus and just
lock in with him and just pray and just stay in his word and
just keep my focus on him, that, you know, when it's, when it's
time, I'll be ready. So big thing for me is just
prayers from all of you, please. Just that I keep my eyes on
Jesus, that I, I really step into this calling with faith and
that you know, when the time is right, that you know, God puts
me where he wants me to be and that I'm able to lead this
church whenever it's time or, or help leave this church the way
that God wants me to do it. But I, I thank you all for your
support. I thank you all for your
prayers. And I'm really excited for what
God has for not just me, but for all of us in the future.
So thank you. So stay up here for a couple
minutes. We're going to have some prayer
for you. I wanted to read from Second
Timothy chapter 2, and the whole chapter is all about being
called into ministry. So you can read a lot of it on
your own. I'm not going to read it all
today, but you therefore, my son, be strong and the grace
that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard from
me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will
be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure
hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No one engaged in warfare and tangles himself with the affairs
of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a
soldier. And also if anyone competes in
athletics and you know about that, right, he is not crowned
unless he competes according to the rules, the hard working
farmer must first be a partaker of the crops.
Consider what I say and may the Lord give you understanding and
all things. Amen.
So Pastor Lewis and Terry, if you could come up, I believe
John Morris is here today. I don't know if Lewis is here or
not Lewis, but George, but whoever's here, come on up.
And we're going to pray for Cason's calling.
John, if you could lay hands on Cason and praise the Lord leads
you here. Here's thank you.
We're going to pray in light of things that have happened in our
country in the last few weeks. A man is coming to serve.
And my question is, are you willing?
We know you're willing to live for Christ.
Are you willing to die? I figured that.
So you know we're going to pray
that in his heart he has a heart like Joe, even if he slays me
yet will I trust in him no matter what.
So this is the kind of man you have standing before you today.
So let's pray, Father, you know Kayson's heart, his desire to
serve you. He's lived his life to glorify
you. And now he's going to endeavour
to to move into full time service, which he's always been
in full time service, Lord, but he's going to stand before your
body as a teacher. And Lord, we ask for your
guidance for him, for your wisdom upon his life.
Lord, protect him, watch over him, and not under physical
trouble, Lord, but spiritual things.
Lord, that you would guard his heart and you would make him
strong in you, then nothing would sway him, nothing would
move him. Lord, that he would be fearless,
kind and loving, but fearless, Lord, not fearing any man.
Our message, Your message goes against the world, the culture
of the world, and he needs to stand true to what you've given
us through your word. And Lord, I just pray that you
would strengthen him, that he would rely on his brothers in
the church to, to sharpen his iron against Lord and your word,
and that he would have unity with the brothers in the church,
Lord. And again, that you would guide
him and bless him as he, as he serves you in this body.
Lord, he's, he'll be the pastor of the church, which means he's
the servant of all. He's your servant, Lord.
So Lord, strengthen him and bless him in what he does in
Jesus name, Amen. And all God's people said, Amen.
So one of your one of your first duties is to dismiss the kids
and pray the Lords blessing on what you're going to teach them
today. Go ahead.
Lord, just thank you for all these kids.
I just thank you for the privilege it is to be able to
administer to these kids today. And Lord, I just pray that you
would just watch over them Lord, keep them Lord, against the the
darkness of this world. And I pray that they will just
keep their eyes on you and just keep their childlike heart for
you God and just continue to grow in the things of you.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Amen.
Thank you. Good job, Pastor.
Pastor, do you want to say any? You got to say something.
This is like a one time deal, right?
You have one son. I have none.
I have two daughters. Now, if they were sons, they
would have been doing this, you know, maybe my grandson someday,
but I. Have no greater joy.
Didn't see my children walking the truth.
Amen, Amen. Amen, brother.
OK, we're in First Corinthians 13 this morning.
If you have your Bibles, turn there and it won't be a long
message because I covered half of this book last week and that
we'll we'll complete it today. So First Corinthians 13 is not a
chapter just to read and hear words.
I'm thinking as I was studying it today that this teaching in
First Corinthians 13 about what love is, you could put your name
in all these little definitions of of what it is and find that
you have struggles with it. You have challenges of doing it
or living it out, and this isn't something you can do in your own
strength. This has to be done by the Holy
Spirit and when you find that you're a flawed and you're not
able to love this way, don't beat yourself up to say Lord, I
want you to do this in me because I can't do this apart
from you, from you. It's as though I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, but have not love.
I've become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faiths that I
could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I
give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me
nothing. Love suffers long, so you can
put your name in there. Just quietly say to yourself and
to the Lord, I suffer long. Love is kind.
Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is
not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own,
is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity,
but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, and endures all things.
Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies, they will
fail. Whether there are tongues, they
will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it
will vanish away. For we know in part, and we
prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part will be done away.
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put
away childish things. For now we see in a mere dimly
but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I
shall know just as also I am known and now abide Faith, hope,
love these three. But the greatest of these is
love. Father, we read this chapter
understanding it's about your love, your agape, your
unconditional undeserved love that you give to each of us.
And Father, I pray that you would help us to read this
periodically just to see how much we are either not becoming
more like you in our daily life, or we are encouraged,
understanding that you are causing us to begin to to live
our lives out this way, that we actually do these things by the
power of Your Holy Spirit. That we're not uptight.
That we're patient. That we're kind.
That we're loving, that we esteem others more highly, and
we do ourselves all the things that are all about you and how
you lived your life when you were on the earth and how you
taught your apostles and your followers.
And so, Lord, please bless your people today.
Encourage us. Do in US, Lord, what we're not
capable of doing in ourselves. For Lord, we want to.
Be these kind of people and we just ask these things in your
name, Jesus Amen. So some thoughts on this
chapter. Cindy and I read this when we
first got married because it meant a lot to us.
We were just young kids 20 and 18 coming out of the world.
I had long hair, former hippie got my hair cut off 1/2 an inch
to please my father-in-law. My wife had a mini skirt on.
It was surrealistic. As I look the pictures by my
bedside, I look at it and I think about all the years God's
taken us through hard times, challenging times, times we
regret, times that we look back and smile and this thank God for
the experiences. But learning to live.
And be in. Love with God is a process and a
journey. Proverbs 817 says I love those
who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me.
I thought about that verse this morning.
The Lord loves us, but He really loves us when He knows we love
Him back. The Bible says we love Him
because He first loved us. So the love relationship with
God begins with Him loving you and me.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And so I was thinking about how much do I seek Him diligently?
I try to every day to start my day to seek Him.
But some days are crazy, right? You get up and you're so busy
and you got so much stuff to do that you find yourself taking
off in your life without seeking Him, without asking him for
direction, without asking him for help.
Maybe on the fly you do it. But it's it's, it's a difference
between diligently and superficially seeking him.
And sometimes we find ourselves not sensing God's presence in
our lives because we haven't been taking time to spend
seeking him. And he said if we spend time
seeking him, we will find him. And there's nothing better than
having the presence of God in your life and experiencing that.
The thing you come to church for isn't to just get information.
You're praying. And I'm praying to God help us
find you today and the challenges of life in the midst
of the adversity and the struggles and the things we all
find challenging, the temptations, the setbacks, the
failings, whatever it might be, that we might come here and find
hope again and be reminded that God is with us and He'll never
leave us or forsake us. He's not like an earthly father
who can easily be disappointed. He's never disappointed because
he knows the way we are and and he expects our failings, but he
doesn't leave us in our feelings.
He comes to our rescue to bring us out of the feelings and out
of the mistakes and out of the mock at times we find ourselves
in to restore us into that relationship with Him of love.
The Apostle John tells us in the 14th chapter about what the key
is in regard to this love relationship.
And these are the words in your Bible, the red letter.
This is actually Jesus actually speaking.
He says, if you love me, keep my commandments.
And I used to read that. And I think this responsibility
I have to keep and do work harder.
And lots of times like I didn't want to like keep his
commandments. I didn't want to obey him.
I wanted to do what I wanted to do, I wanted to keep my plans in
place and at times in my journey is learning to be a follower of
Jesus Christ. I found that I was disobedient
and yet He still loved me and He still loves you.
But that deep relationship that can be established and developed
with God is this internal desire that, Lord, I really want to
follow you because I love you, not because I have to.
I want to follow you because I'm learning how much you love me.
And if you love someone, you don't want to intentionally hurt
them or betray them, he says. Then knowing when He tells us,
we have to endeavor to keep His commandments, He says, and I
will pray the Father, and He will give you another helper,
that He may abide with you forever.
The spirit of truth. And the world can't receive,
because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.
But you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
Isn't that cool how God does that?
He tells us like this heavy thing.
If you love me, keep my commandments.
And then right away he realizes that we're not going to do it
without a helper, right? The Holy Spirit, that's his
grace. And he gives us the Holy Spirit
to do this work of obedience in our lives.
Give us a desire to be obedient. So the whole Bible is full of
teachings on this love relationship that the Father
desires to have with us. And my wife tells me, and we've
been married a long time. The thing she cherishes most are
the times that we can just talk together and pray together.
It's not the stuff that I can get her do for her.
Whatever it's, it's deeper. It's heart to heart, right?
It's communicating your heart to your lover's heart, your bride's
heart. If you're married, and then the
same kind of love relationship to God is tender and precious to
Him. When you pour your heart out to
Him and want to talk to Him and share your dreams and your
desires and the longings you have and the vision that He's
given you as a family, for your marriage, for your home, for
your kids, your grandkids, everyone that enters into your
life, your workers, your coworkers.
This this love relationship. And the fun part for me in life
is to watch the people I know and I care most about initially
my family and then you guys. Watching how God uses you to
love people unconditionally. Seeing you forgive people for
things that most people would never even consider forgiving
anybody for. I watched Erica Kirk last Sunday
in her short eulogy on what her husband meant to her and this
woman was so empty of herself and so full of the grace of God
that she was able just to be a. Vessel of this love for
everyone, but also the person who killed her husband.
She forgave him. Now, maybe some of us would come
to that kind of place or conclusion down the road in our
life, but this is just a few days after her husband was taken
from her through that violent, senseless killing.
I listened to testimonies of people that serve in government.
Not all of them, but a lot of them that spoke from their heart
about their love for Jesus Christ and their love for their
country and their love for their fellow man.
That's rare, isn't it? You don't hear that in media,
you don't hear that in Hollywood, and usually you don't
hear it in everyday life and the people you run with or you work
with in Galatians and Ephesians. We learned these things when we
went to Bible college many years ago, and we're still trying to,
you know, submit and yield to the reality of these verses.
Ephesians 518. It uses the illustration of
alcohol and spiritual life, and there's nothing wrong with
someone having a drink, but there's something wrong when
someone has too much to drink. Because when they have too much
to drink, what are they controlled by?
The alcohol, right? And the alcohol then causes
problems in homes and drunk driving and abuse and all kind
of terrible things when it's not managed properly and maturely.
But Paul used an illustration that all the people could
understand because most people at one time or another have been
drunk and they knew what they would act like if they were
drunk. She says don't be drunk with
wine, where is an excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And if we're believers, we know the difference between 2
extremes. When we're filled with the Holy
Spirit, it's all about God first and everyone else 2nd.
It's no longer about me or you. It's about this self selfless
kind of love that impacts the rest of the world.
Someone once said people don't care how much you know until
they see how much you care. And if there's no mention of
caring or loving others or illustration of laying your life
down for the sake of someone else.
And everything in the Bible is this words and messages, and we
come to worship and we just leave empty if we haven't
allowed these words to penetrate our lives and to change us.
Whenever we seek God with this depth of diligence, we begin to
cultivate a deep love for God. We're actively and earnestly
seeking God's wisdom and presence in our lives.
And we trust then that this diligently search will be
rewarded with God's presence and blessing.
And it's a fact that if we seek the Lord and love him this way
and seek him diligently will find him.
Like the U2 song says, you know, I still haven't found what I'm
looking for. You won't find what you're
looking for until you find your searches made complete in the
one that you were created to follow and to know, and that's
Jesus Christ. And then the book of Galatians
talks about the the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the
flesh. And when we were young
Christians, we memorize these things, these chapters, Cindy
and I. And it says in verse 16 of
chapter 5, I say, then walk in the Spirit, and you shall not
fulfill the lust of the flesh. It's a command.
The, the, the Greek tense in that statement is that this is
what you're to do, not a suggestion, but a commandment.
And why? He says the flesh lusts against
the spirit. So there's this battle between
our fallen nature and the new nature that we have that we've
been given when we got saved or born again.
They're contrary to one another. So you can't do the things that
you want to do, and Paul talked about that in Romans 7.
Why do I do what I know I shouldn't do?
And why don't I do what I know that I really want to do?
That that conflict, that power of the flesh and the Spirit, but
it only can be overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit.
You can try and make promises and journal and hold, have
accountability partners, all that kind of stuff.
Nothing's going to work until you're under the power of the
Holy Spirit. And he says, if you're led by
the Spirit, you're no under the law.
The law would be like, do this, don't do this.
And, and all the 10 commandments and, and you find that if you've
tried to live the commandments, you've broken them.
That's why we needed a savior. That's why we needed Jesus
because he's the only one that could fulfill the law 100% and
give us his forgiveness and righteousness because he knows
we couldn't do it ourselves. And so he, he tells us then that
the works of the flesh, like if I'm under the compulsions of my
human fallen nature, they're going to be very clear.
And they could run into all kind of different sins.
Adultery, sex outside of marriage, fornication,
uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions,
jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and the
like. Of which I tell you beforehand,
just as I told you in time past, that those who practice such
things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
So you read that and you say, well, you know, in my life I did
this, I did that, I did this. Well, that's why the cross is
there to forgive us, right? And to give us new life and,
and, and Jesus, he cleanses us from our sin through his blood.
And God says he chooses to remember our sins no more.
Isn't that awesome? I remember mine, but he says,
Clark, I'm not remembering him. So why are you remembering?
I don't know. I'm a knucklehead.
Lord, help me to think on the positive things that you've
done, not the negative things that I've done.
Mercy, forgiveness, freedom, grace.
But we we find ourselves at times maybe not deep in the dive
at a flesh anymore of doing like the big bad ones, we think, but
like you're flipping out an outbursts of wrath, yelling at
someone just flipping out right. You ever do that?
Anybody ever flip out and yell at someone?
Raise your hand, every one of us.
We still don't Thanks, Dan. Dan's helping Jessica admit it,
right? So he raises their hand for her.
But you know, we, we, we just do that, right?
We do it. But then what do we do?
Don't condemn. Just say, Lord, forgive me and
fill me with your spirits. And next time I'm going to be
cool and I may be calm and I may be collected and I'm going to be
under your control. So you still sin and that's why
there's repentance and confession before the Lord to
keep short accounts, get things right.
But if we are doing this habitually and we could care
less, it's obvious we're not saved.
We need a Savior. We need to get born again so
that our nature then begins to change into God's plan and not
our own. And then he says the fruit of
the Spirit and this correlates this First Corinthians 13 If
you're under the control of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the
Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering.
That's patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. If you're, if you're honest and
you're a clear thinker, who wouldn't want to have that kind
of life, right, to be that way as much as possible in our
lives? I mean, that's like the
ultimate, that's like the the goal of of human existence to
have that kind of demeanor and temperament.
So you can live that way and and be that way in business and
neighbors and families and marriage of kids and craziness
stuff. And this have that gentleness
and that self-control. Against such there is no law.
And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us
also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited,
provoking one another and envying one another.
So we go back to first Corinthians 13 and all the
things there. Love suffering long, that's
long-suffering, that's a fruit of the Spirit kind.
Doesn't envy. Love doesn't act like a big
shot. It's not all about you or me.
It's not puffed up and braggadocious, Does not behave
rudely, does not seek its own, has not provoked, Thinks no
evil, does not rejoice in sin but rejoices in the truth.
Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things. So what happens is someone has a
failing or someone. Stumbles if someone falls and
the human nature is, did you hear what happened to such and
such, right. And then we begin to tell
everybody about something that we have no business spreading
around about someone. If we really love someone.
The Bible says love covers a multitude of sins.
You want to cover the person's sins.
You want to protect their reputation.
You don't want to destroy them publicly.
Now you might have to talk to them and help them figure out
how to get out of the mess they got themselves in.
But love isn't like telling anybody else about someone
else's dirty laundry or problems or failings.
I loved how Jesus dealt with that woman caught in the act of
adultery. Everybody knew about it because
of how people would talk about things and they wanted to accuse
her and they wanted to throw stones at her.
And the way Jesus responded to this crisis was with his typical
long-suffering and love. He always behaved this way.
He always acted this way. He said you who are without sin,
let him cast the first stone. Guess what they did?
They put their stones down and they walked away because who
were they to condemn someone else?
Love never fails. No matter what happens in your
life or mine, God will never stop loving you.
Everybody else might turn away from you, reject you, badmouth
you, slander you, but at the end of the day, Jesus is always
there with His arms. Come to me, all you labour and
are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Learn from me for I am meek and lowly of heart.
You will find rest for your souls when you feel everybody's
betrayed you, abandoned you, There's no one that depends on
you, no one trusts you anymore. No one believes in you anymore.
The Lord never stops believing in you.
Isn't that awesome? That's the God we serve.
That's the Jesus who saved us. And He's the one that wants us
to tell everyone about who he really is, not who they might
think he is because of hypocrisy and self righteousness and
legalism and judgmentalism. That's not the gospel he talks
about the giftings. And the giftings are still here
today. But guess what?
One day when he comes, they won't be needed anymore.
You won't have to put up with inferior preaching from men like
me or anybody else. We try to do the best we can
with whatever God's given us a gift and that's it.
Like, you know, that's all, that's all I got right.
But Jesus, he has it all. And when he comes and preaches,
it's going to be awesome. Whether there's prophecies, they
will fail. Whether there are tongues, they
will cease. Whether is knowledge, it will
vanish away. For we know in part and we
prophecy in part right now we're doing the best we can with the
light that we have been given by God to teach the Word of God and
to follow the Word of God. But when that is which is
perfect has come, and that's Jesus, when he comes second
coming, then that which is in part will be done away.
Then won't need, there won't be any need for anything else but
Him. When I was a child, I spoke as a
child, remember? I had like this nostalgic thing
couple days ago. I was working, I'm driving back,
and the way the sun was setting that day just reminded me of
what it was like when I was a kid.
So I grew up in Irwin. So I drove down through the
streets of Irwin and remembered things the way they were when I
was a kid. Isley's was there, Murphy's 5
and 10 was there. I remember going down into the
five and 10 and when The Beatles came out, I they had those 40
fives and and they had those little paper sleeves.
If you remember, and I want to hold your hand was the, the,
the, the big song that was on Ed Sullivan.
It started The Beatles career. And I forget the other one.
She loves me or something is on it.
Well, I looked around and I put two of those in one one thing
that was the kind of kid I was, you know, So I got 2 for the
price of 1 I stole, right? I remembered that.
I remembered walking down an Irwin and acting like a big
shot, smoking my first cigarette.
I remember going to the dance at the Methodist Church and I, like
all these flashbacks, came back. I remember going down to the
Irwin playground and it used to be packed on there.
Kids playing basketball, tennis. I don't know where the kids are
anymore. They're playing video games or
something. I don't know.
But we were down there playing until it got dark.
And I remember as a kid, vaguely 3 years old, for whenever I was
old enough to begin to walk around, I had this like
adventurous spirit. So when my mom put me in for the
nap, I didn't want to take the nap.
So I figured out a way to lift the bedroom window up, climb out
and get on the railing. And I had these pajamas on.
I had these feet in, you know, didn't have any shoes.
And I'd walk. I saw this alley going down to
the Irwin playground and it just drew me.
It was sun was on. It looked like the yellow brick
road, right? And I just walked down there and
I went down there. My poor Mama came out.
Oh my gosh, where is he? And she would come down and she
knew I was down there and she'd have a hair brush and she'd be
beating my beat my butt the whole way up with me on her
shoulder beating me. And I don't you ever do that
again. Well, I, I still have that
wanderlust kind of. That's why I like sails.
I can be in different places at different times whenever I'm
meeting new people, meeting new things, different experiences.
That's that's what floats my boat.
But when I was a child, though, I thought about all those things
that I did as a child. I thought as a child, but when I
became a man, I put away childish things.
And I'm still trying to put away some of the childish things
because I'm still a kid at heart in a lot of ways.
And I know, like, I like to have a good time and have fun too,
you know? But there's certain things that,
you know, I do differently now, I think differently.
And maturity begins to develop in our lives as God grows us in
his grace. But he says, for now, we seen a
mirror dimly. So back then they had these
bronze mirrors. They didn't have these like
clear crystal mirrors like we have now.
Maybe they would be better, especially as you get older.
If you had a bronze mirror, you couldn't see the wrinkles,
right? And say, well, I still look
pretty good at whatever age, but that's the type of mirrors they
had. So when they, when he said this,
Paul, he, he talked about the, the ability or the lack of
ability to be able to see clearly.
But then he said one day we'll be able to see face to face.
Now I know in part. So we know a little bit about a
lot of things and not a lot of things about little things, but
we know some things. And he says, I know in part, but
then I shall know just as I'm also known.
So one day we'll see Jesus face to face and he's not going to
bring up a bunch of junk that's already been died for and
cleansed and forgiven. He'll talk to us about our
effectiveness or lack of it, maybe in regard to his calling
on our lives that I really live fully for what He created me
for. And that's the purpose of
church, to help us all like sort of get on track to be reminded
of what the big picture is because it's really about him
and becoming more like him and living for him.
Career success, all these things are all fine, but the most
important thing is that one day when all that stuff's behind us,
it'll just be us and him. And if we live as fully as we
could by his grace for him, we'll hear those wonderful
words. Well done, good and faithful
servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.
And may we help each other stay on track and keep pressing in
deeper and deeper to Jesus is like Cason said this morning, he
has this desire to press deeper into Jesus.
May that all be our desires to and now abide faith, hope and
love these three. But the greatest of these is
love. The worship team can come
forward. Love is what makes life worth
living. To be loved by someone, there's
nothing like it. To be loved by God is far
superior than any human. Love can be given to us.
Love sets us free. I think stings lyrics.
One of my favorite musicians. He still doesn't know the Lord
before he can write good music. If you love someone, set them
free. Jesus proved us to us, He loves
us, He set us free. He said you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free.
Amen. Nothing better than being free,
is it? When I got saved, the night I
got saved, I didn't know all the theology, I didn't know all the
verses, but I knew I met Jesus and on my way to the Community
College, I had a Volkswagen, a pale powder blue Volkswagen with
a sunroof, and I had The Who on full blast.
I am free. I am free, and my hair and
freedom is thus a taste of reality.
Jesus has set us free, and whom the sun is set free is free
indeed. Let's prepare our hearts for the
supper. Lord, we are grateful for this
special day you've given us for your servant case and Harold,
who will now begin to take the steps into the path that his
Father has walked now for eight years and I've worked, walked in
for 30 years. Lord, we do pray for him today
and other men, young men that will be raised up in this church
in days ahead to help lead it. You would protect him, keep his
heart free, keep it joyful, keep it full of your Holy Spirit.
And if you do, he will one day finish well as his dad and I
desire to do. And along with George and John,
thank you for everybody you brought here today.
Thank you for those on the YouTube and the Facebook and
Grace FM Lord, who are tuned in. We pray, O God, your blessing of
First Corinthians 13 upon all our lives, that we would love
others like you have loved us for You said by this people will
know we're your followers, your disciples, by the love we have
for one another. Thank you for the love in this
church and the lives of these people, and may we just grow
deeper in it. Now we celebrate once again,
Lord, as we do every week, and remembering what you've done for
us. On the night to Jesus, it's
betrayed. He took the bread in his hands
and he broke it, and he gave thanks and he said, Take, eat,
this is my body which is given for you.
Eat this in remembrance of me. The same manner, in the evening
he took the cup, and he said, This cup is a new covenant, My
blood which was shed for the forgiveness of sins of many.
Drink this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this
bread and you drink this cup. He show forth the Lord's death
till he comes again. Amen.
God bless you guys, love you, have a great week.