 Let's begin our study here in first Corinthians. I'll begin with a Just looking at verses one through three Giving you a brief introduction and then we'll move into verses four through nine We're going to be actually looking up to verse nine this morning rather this in this evening As we look at the introduction lays some context as I did this morning in the book of James I'll give you some background some information and that is really so that you have a context see when you read the Bible You need to remember that there was a reason each one of these letters was written Sometimes we pick up the Bible and just dig into it and that's a good thing to do Of course, but it helps us to know the reason that letter was written You know What was the purpose every letter that you find in the New Testament every epistle has a reason for being written so we'll spend a few minutes looking at that and Then we'll get into some application as we move past verse three into verse four and into verse nine So let's read verses one through three allow me to give to you an introduction that'll help you to understand This particular letter and then we'll get into verse four and look for some application Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and Sassanese our brother to the church of God, which is at Corinth to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus Called to be saints with all who in every place call in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as We begin as I mentioned I'll give to you a brief introduction If you were to look into the book of Acts, I'm not saying you should but if you take notes if you looked into Acts chapter 18 You would see there that Paul is on a missionary journey The book of Acts actually records three specific journeys that Paul went out on there called his three mission journeys and in Acts chapter 18 that particular chapter of the book of Acts records Paul's second missionary journey at The time of chapter 18 Paul has been ministering in various Greek cities He's been in the city of Philippi in Thessalonica in Berea as well as the the major city Athens Now after he's been ministering in those cities. He's arrived at another city. They're in Greece by the name of Corinth If you were looking at a map Corinth was a city located on an isthmus that connected the northern and southern Portions of Greece. It was a large city by ancient standards as it had 700,000 people who live there now It was a city that was filled with a variety of activities It was the host city for athletic contests that were equal to the ancient Olympics they call them the Ismian games Corinth was an entertainment center It was a major trade center and it had a population made up of Greeks and Roman officials as well as businessmen and There were many near Eastern peoples who lived in Corinth including Jews Corinth was the home of a very large temple a temple that had been dedicated to the Greek goddess Aphrodite the goddess of love and It was served by 1,000 temple prostitutes and these temple prostitutes would sell themselves to sailors and to local men Corinth was well known for its depravity as a matter of fact during that day if you were called a Corinthian That was a great insult because it was synonymous to being called debauched or Corinthian would be used to describe a prostitute This was a very very Ancient depraved huge city not unlike many of the cities that we have here in the United States And you think of Corinth you can think of any major city here You can think of uh los angeles. You can think of san francisco You can think of any major city any city that would be known for a variety of things port cities like norleans And other places like that and so what we had is you had a city that was well known for its debauchery But in great needs and so in the book of ax We find that in chapter 18 paul founded a church there And paul was the first pastor In that city of Corinth According to ax chapter 18 verse 11 and verse 18 paul ministered in Corinth for 18 months And then he left During that time there was a young man. It's recorded in ax 18 27 who was also there by the name of apollos And uh, he came just after paul left This apollos is described to us as being eloquent But the thing about apollos is that he was deficient in his understanding of christian doctrine And so when apollos was there and he began to share he had a very profound effect on the people But there were two people a husband and wife ministry team named aquila and persilla Who were there listening to him as he was expounding on things of god and and they recognized that he was Lacking in some things and so they took this young man aside And they began to minister to him and instructed him Deeper in christian theology Later It demonstrates their the effectiveness of their ministry. He became the second leader of the Corinthian church You're gonna see him mentioned here in first Corinthians now Again as the founding pastor Paul had a great love and concern for this church Chapter four verse 15 Actually reveals this love and this is what he says there He says though you might have 10 000 instructors in christ Yet you do not have many fathers For in christ jesus i have begotten you through the gospel Paul had a tremendous love for this church You see every pastor desires those who have come to faith to grow in faith And so pastors desire believers to read their bibles every day To collect great devotionals that will help them in their in their walk with god to learn to read good christian books And to have the discernment to listen to good christian teachers Almost all will one day move on to some other place And that's a good thing for them when I Began to realize the truth of that I remember walking up here into this pulpit And I said, you know, there's only one person that I know for sure is called to this church to stay And that's me Even my wife may one day decide to go to hear raw or somebody else But the bottom line is I know I'm supposed to stay here And so I've never had as a pastor An attachment to sheep to the degree where I would say oh you can't leave I know that my ministry is of such nature that I can put all that I have But somebody eventually everybody eventually says I need something else. I understand that But though you have 10 000 instructors Paul said yet you have but one father I begot you in the gospel And so that's the love of a pastor A love where he cares about them wants to see them grow wants people to add to their faith But always have it has a sense of love for them that is deeper It's much deeper than just a passing acquaintance. There's always a love for those who have left Now every letter every letter has a reason for it being written as I mentioned earlier and in chapter One here at verse 11 you have the reason why this one was written Paul tells us In verse 11 he says it's been declared to me concerning you my brethren by those of cloy's household That there are contentions among you You have been ratted out is what he's saying It has been told to me That there are problems in the church there are divisions that are growing And I want you to see by the way that he mentions Who told him he said it's from the household of cloy So these people obviously know who cloy is and knows the household of cloy And so he's not hiding anything from them. He's saying listen This is a good witness a great testimony. I know I can believe what's being said And it has been told to me that there are divisions And so paul has received a report concerning the life of the body and his concern for their spiritual well-being has caused him to write to them You see over time Which is true in so many churches The church can become filled with a variety of problems. We're going to see it here in the Corinthian church The Corinthian church was filled with division comparison of teachers sexual immorality marriages that were having problems idolatry there were questions concerning the role of women and practice related to communion The use of spiritual gifts. There were questions related to the resurrection and questions Regarding personal stewardship all of those things had to be dealt with and all of those things will be dealt with as we go through first Corinthians Again paul loved this church. He loved them so much that we have two letters that he wrote for the Corinthians Obviously first and second Corinthians. He wrote this particular letter here in the year 56 ad And so as we get into our study Verses one through three give us a brief introduction Now as was common during that day the way they would write their letters was this they you know for us we say Uh to whom it may concern or dear jim or Whomever that's how we do it and then we write our letter and then we conclude sincerely yours or with love or in christ Or whatever you say when you conclude and that's basically what we do we have our our Salutation that we have the body and then we have our conclusion with our signature The way that they would write their letters during this time was first to identify the writer That's why it begins by saying paul So paul called to be an apostle of jesus christ through the will of god and sassanis our brother Then you have the recipient verse two to the church of god Which is at Corinth and then you have a blessing. That's verse three grace to you and peace From god our father and the lord jesus christ And so he's speaking concerning who's writing the letter and he identifies himself. He says that's me paul But there's also another with me his name is sassanis Again in acts 18. We see sassanis. He was a jewish believer who was converted under paul's ministry So paul begins by identifying his call to ministry He begins by saying paul called to be an apostle of jesus christ through the will of god And so he begins by defending his apostolic authority. Why did he do that? Well, his biblical authority has been called into question There are people who are asking concerning him. What gives this man the right to tell us how to live? Who is this man anyway? I don't know him or recognize his name as being one of the original 12 apostles And so what gave paul the the authority is the question that's taken place What gives him the right to question us and what gives him the right to bring correction into our lives Just who is this man anyway? And so as he's beginning his letter, he establishes his authority Let me give you four things about that and like I said, I want to give a detailed study in my introduction four things One we need to remember that he wasn't part of the original 12 apostles He was saved while yet persecuting the church and so people would have questions about that So he says i'm an apostle by the will of god But secondly he had to constantly deal with false teachers and it's the false teachers who generally questioned his apostolic credentials You're gonna see that in chapter nine When he when he asks the question in verses one and two am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen jesus our lord? Are you not the result of my work in the lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others surely I am to you for you are the seal of my apostleship in the lord And so one he was not when he the original 12 Two he was constantly dealing with accusations concerning his authority. What gives you the right to do what you're doing Three he reminded them as an apostle that he had authority to bring them in submission You'll see that in chapter four verses 17 through 19 And then finally fourth. He needs to remind them that his authority comes directly from god You see his calling And this is one of those deep things that you could spend a lot of time looking at His calling into ministry service was not from man His calling into ministry comes from god When I do pastor classes, I call them my wannabe classes When I do pastor wannabe classes I will I have I have Guys who will want to know whether or not there's a call in their life and a lot of times they'll ask Is there any way that I might know Of my calling? How can I know if I'm called into pastoral ministry? And I usually just Break it down into three things one. There's an internal call There's a sense within you That god has called you in first Timothy 3 1 it says if any man desired the office of a bishop He desires a good thing It's an internal sense and there's an internal witness There is this internal sense of the presence of the spirit moving you into the direction of ministry So I'll tell him one you have an internal witness then two You have the confirmation Of elders if you have a sense that you are called Then you're going to obviously be involved if you're involved Then you're going to be known by those who lead the church and the elders can't confirm that by Recognizing by saying you know I can see the fruit that you're producing And so you have an internal witness to you have a confirmation of elders and then I said three I'll say three you have a confirmation of a congregation You may believe god has called you And to teach you may have elders who say you know what I I believe you can But if nobody sticks around to listen to you after your first bible study You have a right to question whether you're called or not You might like speaking to the mirror, but it's nice to have other people there to reflect And so there is this sense and and it always begins really with the call of god Has the lord put it on your heart now when paul is speaking here paul is saying I am called to be an apostle of jesus christ through the will of god When our church first began and I was beginning to pastor this church 30 plus years ago now I can tell you one of the things that I began to see in paul's writings that were of great encouragement to me as a young pastor And and I was 30 years old when this church started And so as a young pastor one of the things that that ministered to me was reading the letters of paul And noting that one of the things he dealt with quite often was the question concerning his authority What he went through in corinth goes on to this very day There will always be people who question and there's nothing wrong with that You know, where did you get your authority is a good question? But there are some who want to know simply because they want to have a trust in the person and there are others Who want to know simply so they can cause problems in that church Well paul would begin his letters by saying I've been called by god Because there were many who were questioning him because he was not one of the original 12 And normally it was going to be those who were False teachers who were entering in secretly in order to bring people under the power of their own authority So paul is speaking there and he says this is my calling He speaks of the church of god now notice how he says in verse 2 to the church of god, which is in Which is at corinth to those who are sanctified in christ the word sanctified means to be set apart Those who are set apart in christ jesus called to be saints now called saints Either you're a saint or you're an ain't Either you're saved or you're not you know a lot of times what we do is is we try to make some special Division of believers and we call them the saints We may even have uh those who canonize them because they have performed certain miracles, etc That's foreign to scripture The word saint is hagias. It means the set apart ones And every individual who has been born again is set apart And that's what paul is speaking about as he's speaking to this church that is known by the way for being so divisive and carnal and everything else Yeah, what is he calling him? He said you are sanctified in jesus christ You need to understand who you are You need to get an understanding It's not what the world tells you what you are It's what god says you are that you need to hold fast to And and as you understand that if you begin to identify with the fact that you have been sanctified in christ jesus And you're called to be set apart by him your life changes And so paul begins with that encouragement And he says look at i'm called by god And as one who is submitted to god and a representative of the kingdom of god as a minister to the grace of god through jesus christ It all came by his will i want you to remember who i'm speaking to you are god's church You are god's set apart ones you have been set apart by god in order that god may work through you You are called saints with all who in every place call in the name of jesus christ our lord both theirs and ours Not only are you the believers there in quarenth, but you're part of something much bigger than one city and one church You're part of the body of christ that is everywhere Those of us who have the opportunity to on occasion travel And to attend other fellowships or minister into other fellowships No, how large the body of christ is geographically not simply numerically, but geographically how you can leave california And you can go to new york or you can go across then you can go into europe or you can go into asia You can go so many places the middle east and and there are believers there And so the body of christ is huge and it and it spreads throughout the earth and and he's speaking concerning that And he's speaking concerning the fact that you've been set apart and god has a purpose for you Now in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 He says there we are his workmanship created in christ jesus unto good works Which god has before ordained that we should walk in them You have been set apart by god to walk in good works and then third verse 3 He gives the blessing grace and peace from god our father and the lord jesus christ Grace and peace those are common designation to both jew and greek When you would speak to a greek a non-jew you would speak to them and you would say carous Carousel is the greek word that means grace When you spoke to a jewish individual you'd say shalom shalom is the word in hebrew that means peace So i want you to notice something he uses both the gentile and he uses the hebrew greeting But notice how he put grace before peace You will never find in any of his letters Him ever saying peace and grace In the salutation you'll never find that what you always find is grace and peace And there's a biblical reason for that you will never have peace Until you experience god's grace And that's why he does that grace first and then god's peace And so if you want to have peace of god and peace with god You experience first the grace of god And so as paul is speaking and giving this introduction He basically is bringing that about and sharing with them some very beautiful things in just a salutation moving into verse 4 I thank my god always concerning you for the grace of god Which was given to you by christ jesus that you were enriched in everything by him In all utterance and all knowledge Even as the testimony of christ was confirmed in you So that you come short in no gift Eagerly waiting for the revelation of our lord jesus christ 2 will also confirm you To the end that you may be blameless in the day of our lord jesus christ Now these verses by the way are revealing the heart of a pastor These verses here. I thank my god always concerning you reveals his love for them He was grateful. He was thankful to god for them and notice with me. I thank my god always concerning you You're in my heart constantly Now why are you so grateful? He says i'm grateful for the grace that you have in jesus christ Because it's the grace of god that gives you access to the workings of the spirit of god in your life We could sit down and make all kinds of rules and regulations for people if you want churches have done that for centuries If you want to really be a solid christian, these are the things you need to do And you can write all kinds of books and all kinds of pamphlets and you can have all kinds of rules and regulations within The church and you can have all of these reasons that you have for that And you want to make sure that all of those reasons have a biblical background and there are churches that do that I remember when I used to teach a bible study just up the street here just off of Of uh, philadelphia. I remember many years ago I had a young woman who came to that bible study. She would come when I I had it on uh thursday nights and She stopped me after the study one day and she says you know, I'm a believer and I just want to know What you think about playing worship songs in church with a guitar And I said I think that's a good thing She says but where I come from they tell us you can't use musical instruments in church I said is that right? She goes yeah, she said you have to sing without musical accompaniment and I said and why is that? Well, because that's how it was in the early church I said really you're saying that they didn't play Guitars in church and things and those churches that do are carnal She said that's what i'm being taught. Is that right? And I said no, I said we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and hymns are accompanied And psalms are accompanied as a matter of fact when you read the psalms It'll say to be accompanied by a stringed instrument You see psalm 150 which says we praise the lord with all forms of musical instruments I said so those who are teaching you that you're not supposed to sing with musical Interments are really not taking the whole counsel of god into consideration. She said oh, is that right? Well, I think they're right, but she also believed that you had to be water baptized to be saved She also believed that if you didn't make it to the water baptism And even though you were intended to be saved if you didn't make it you got in a car crash and died You'd go to hell So she was taught all kinds of rules and regulations that that were intended I'm sure by the individual who first began to do that to try and help the church to do things that are Pleasing to god But in fact if you're not walking in the grace of god no matter what you do you're never going to please him And I've discovered that it's the grace of god that sets me free to worship god in spirit and in truth And so listen something that you take for granted most of us in this room do because you don't you're not old enough to know this When calvary chapel first began pastor chuck was looked at as being that rebel He was he was a young man He was looked at as being that rebel who allows those hippies to come in with those drums and they're and they're they're they're polluting The sanctuary of god I used to be an assistant pastor in a church in claremont and we used to rent a seventh day Adventist church And we used to bring our worship equipment on the stage until they told us you can't do that anymore You can't bring drums on our stage And so we asked them why not and they said because it is defiling the sanctuary of god But you can bring the drums and and those musical instruments into the fellowship hall And it made no sense to me. It's like, you know, god's not in the fellowship hall. He's hanging around the sanctuary I mean What where's the sense in all of this it made no sense at all because when you start making these rules and regulations It just quenches the spirit of god So what what paul's speaking about here is the grace that comes to you And that's why he rejoices I thank my god always concerning you because I am grateful for the grace that you have in jesus christ because it's too grace That you have access to the works of the spirit because as nice as he's being in the first nine verses The rest of the book he rips them So he wants to start out kindly with grace Now notice in verse five He says you were enriched in everything by him in all utterance and all knowledge You were enriched that word enriched is a greek word Uh, that means abundant richness. It speaks of immense spiritual wealth He says you were enriched because he's making it clear that this is something that is past tense It's not something that they're waiting for it's something that has already occurred So as believers he's saying god is bestowed on you abundant spiritual riches And this abundance of riches Is given to you because of what jesus has done for you Later on in second corinthians chapter eight verse nine Paul says you know the grace of our lord jesus christ That though he was rich yet for your sakes. He became poor that you through his poverty might become rich Well, I heard a false teacher saying that that means that you should be Financially rich That every individual is going to be financially rich because jesus was in heaven and he was abundantly rich When we take earthly measures of what riches are and begin to apply them to the kingdom of god You're making a huge mistake There's no way. I mean gold to god is so worthless. He makes streets out of it. Think about that And but what we have a tendency of doing is and oh we'll have so much You don't need wealth in heaven You don't pay for anything and there certainly isn't going to be some nobility or some some kind of a Class of people that are very financially wealthy. So there's got to be something deeper than that And what he's speaking concerning obviously is the spiritual richness that god gives to us through jesus christ And you have those riches in him Ephesians 1 7 says in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace Ephesians 1 18 says the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling And what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? He said you have been made rich in these things What are they enriched in? Well notice he says first you've been enriched in all utterance The word utterance there speaks of speech or communication He says you have been given richness of spiritual empowered communication The spirit has empowered you To communicate the wonders of heaven As you share the gospel of jesus christ Think about that for a minute There is no other message given amongst men with the name of jesus in it other than the gospel And it's the gospel That sets people free You may be thinking I'm never going to be a good preacher of the gospel because I don't sweat enough. I don't get emotional Or I can't raise my voice Or you know, I don't sweat enough I mean There are people who really think that they're disqualified from preaching the gospel or sharing the word of god because they don't have certain gifts of eloquence But I've discovered something If you just share the word The word of god has a power that you don't possess anyway And I was told a long time ago, you know, just let the lion out of the cage You know, there's a power in the gospel. Just let it out of the cage Let god do what god wants to do through his message. You would be amazed At how many people are actually interested In what the bible has to say We've been brainwashed by so many who say, oh, they're just not interested. That is not true at all There are many people who are not only interested But sadly in many churches, there are starving believers who don't get the word of god And so you have been given by god You have been enriched by him with the capacity Of declaring this message under the inspiration of his spirit That's what jesus said in acts one eight. He said you will be witnesses of me How well after that the holy spirit has come upon you after the holy spirit has fallen upon you You will be empowered to be my witness And so it's a holy spirit who empowers you and then you fill yourself with the things of god And like jesus said in matthew 12 34 out of the abundance of your heart your mouth will speak So if you spend time in the word You will be amazed at the opportunities that you have to share what you're reading When I was in the military I was 21 22 years old I would read my my uh bible and I had every time I was reading and memorizing I had opportunities to share what I read. I always did I would find that opportunity. I would talk to somebody and as I was talking they would ask a question of me because That's what you do You're bored and you just visit with each other and then I would say you know what I was reading the bible And the bible says this and I would quote to them when I was reading that morning And I've discovered that you can do that and god will use your words I was going through Anybody here have a junk drawer at home? All of the drawers of my home my junk drawers Well, I was going through one of my catch-all drawers Yesterday And you know, I found in it. I found a little note It was actually a card And and I I have to write them because I put it in my catch-all drawer I've had them for a while now and I go. Oh, I better write them But anyway, I was looking at it just yesterday And this name larry and I turned it over and it says You may remember me You led me to jesus christ you and bill led me to jesus christ in basic training at ford ord back in 1971 And you know what that's been what 40 plus years now Then since that happened larry schwan And I still remember him and I still remember praying with him to come to christ And he somehow sent this card to me and I I got the card and you may remember me indeed I do What did I know? I was a brand new christian I went into the army when I was three months old in christ I was a month older. I was four months old in the lord when we led larry to christ You just need to know jesus and you just need to know enough to communicate And and you know what I was blind but now I see how that happened jesus christ saved me And he can save you too and you you know enough just do it and that's what he's saying here He's saying that you have all utterance you've been enriched in that and secondly he speaks about knowledge Now this knowledge that he's speaking about is what we would call An inner knowledge an inner knowledge that is gained through salvation And it's the salvation that actually informs their preaching So he's saying that you have utterance, but you also have the knowledge the knowledge that you have partaken in There are those who will take a scripture and quote it simply because And there are those who take a scripture and know that scripture because it's real in their life There are those who don't know god, but they might quote a scripture simply because they can you see that in movies all the time They're using scripture in some movie They don't know the lord who gave that scripture But there are others who use that scripture because they have an inner knowledge of what that means because you have an experience with god And so he's saying you have utterance and you have an experiential knowledge of god because you've been saved Now he goes on in verse 6 and says even as the testimony of christ Now notice how he says it was confirmed in you that word confirmed means to be stabilized grounded or established In other words you are genuinely saved because you have genuinely trusted in jesus christ And god is confirming you strengthening you establishing you There are a lot of people who answer surveys here in the united states and claim to be christian who are not not even close to being christian They'll claim that they are But they don't know him and we know that by your fruit. You shall know them Somebody says you're a judge. No, i'm not judging them. I'm a fruit inspector And if I don't see fruit Come on So the bottom line is They they they don't have this internal knowledge and there's no confirmation within them But there is that sense that we used to use this phrase a long time ago I just know that I know That I know There's this internal witness the holy spirit gives to you where you have this sense. I know now I may not know as much today as I hope to know tomorrow. I hope to grow tomorrow But I certainly know more today than I did 41 years ago when I first got saved And that comes through spending time in the word of god It's the word of god that confirms and strengthens you so many times when people say well I just don't have confidence the first thing I begin to wonder is how often are you in the word of god Are you reading? Well, you know, I do study when do you study on sunday when you open the bible and talk to me? Okay, you know, well, you know what I can eat for myself, but I can't eat for you I can present a message to you once a week But i'm fairly certain you've eaten Some material food more than that haven't you since then or did you not eat since last sunday? Oh, no, I make sure to eat three or four or five or six times a day. I'm sure you do I'm sure you do Well, you need to spend time in the word too Because you can only give what you have You know and what you're taking in is what you're able to give out And so you can be confirmed in your knowledge of christ through the word of god And you can have this knowledge that you genuinely saved He goes on in verse seven and he says so that you come short in no gift Eagerly waiting for the revelation of our lord jesus christ You come short you do not lack You have not failed to become a partaker. You haven't fallen back from him In other words when he says you come short in no gift You have a church that is aware of the gifts of the holy spirit. This is a spirit filled church community We're going to look at that in detail when we get into chapters 12 and 13 concerning things of the gifts of the holy spirit But he's saying god has gifted you and there are gifts of the spirit in operation amongst you And not only that notice. He says you are eagerly waiting for the revelation of our lord jesus christ There's an eager expectation of the rapture of the church briefly I've had people over the years say Well, this expectation that you calvary chapels have It's kind of like nonsensical I've had people ask it many times over the years doesn't chuck smith set dates And I say, oh, where'd you get that idea? Well doesn't he set dates and I there's even some guy who's out there Collecting as much as he can to try and state that my pastor sets dates I've known my pastor and his ministry for a long time He's never set a date to my knowledge, but I will tell you what he does He'll say jesus can come back anytime Jesus come back can come back today He has told me personally in conversation as well as publicly and from his pulpit and through the radio and a variety of other things You know, there's only one There's only one prophecy that that that we're waiting for right now And that is when jesus said the next one to come is the rapture of the church And that's how pastor chuck lives Some of you perhaps had an opportunity to listen to him on the radio recently with greg lori It was on thursday night and I listened to him on thursday night listening to my pastor And he was sharing and pastor chuck at at 84 years of age Still says the same things that I heard him say when when I was 20 years old over 40 years ago the same things He has never set dates But he has anticipated the return of jesus christ And one of the reasons I believe that pastor chuck doesn't even consider retiring Is he thinks jesus is coming in his lifetime Because the word of god teaches that we should live as if he is he is one man who really does I spoke to pastor chuck as I said he's 84. I spoke to pastor chuck when he was 64 So 20 years ago. I was sitting across the table from him when we were having breakfast at a pastors conference And he had spoken to me at that time and it's made an announcement to uh To the pastors that well i'm almost 65. I may be retiring And so i'm sitting across the table from him and I asked him so what's this about you retiring? He says well, you know and he just starts kind of share and I said well chuck Who are you gonna put in you know in ministry and I had a conversation with him about that like I said over 20 years ago well About 10 years ago. I was talking to him And I said chuck weren't you supposed to be retired? You said you were going to retire at 65 But here you are Still going strong And he says well, you know He goes well, I got that idea from the world to be honest with you He says people retire at 65 I was almost 65 I started thinking maybe i'm supposed to retire And then the lord said no, you're not supposed to retire He said every day I live with Jesus gives me one more day to talk about him with more experience He says every day. He said the ministry is the one One field of service of god that the person growing older in christ has the advantage They will always have the advantage because they have more experience every day with jesus christ So he says, you know, I'm not planning on retiring And I believe the pastor chuck believes that he's just going to be in that pulpit one day and the rapture is going to happen And he's going to be taken home and I don't think he'd want to be any other place other than in that pulpit And that's that's a by the way, that's a man of god That's a man of god a man who wants to be serving jesus Well, guess what paul was telling the church 2000 years ago that they had that kind of anticipation That the lord jesus christ should come at any moment And so that's the attitude Of the highest posture that can be attained here by the christian that attitude that jesus is coming for the church And that anticipation provokes them to live godly lives And so somebody says well, I I believe that and for the last 20 years I've been living a godly life and he hasn't come yet and have you lost something for living a godly life in 20 years All the sins I could have done he hasn't come. Are you kidding me? In titus chapter 2 verses 11 through 13 it says the grace of god that brings salvation has appeared to all men Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust We should live soberly righteously and godly in the present age Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great god and savior jesus christ So there's an anticipation that we have and notice he says god will confirm you to the end Again, that's important to note because paul is saying god will confirm you But i'm about to correct you You see all of these great things that i'm sharing with you all these wonderful things you're enriched in everything The testimony of christ is confirmed in you. You come short in no gift You're awaiting the revelation of jesus christ. He will confirm you to the end You will be blameless in our day in the day of the lord jesus christ But you need to know i'm about to correct you Because there are things going on that needs to be dealt with But once you receive the correction Your condition in the lord jesus christ will be Blameless When he speaks about being blameless, that means you can stand unaccused You will be unreprovable God is going to do a work in you You see verse nine god is faithful By whom you were called into the fellowship of his son jesus christ our lord You see god called you and god is faithful to perform that which he has promised that he would perform As a brother in the lord i can see somebody who is falling short and i get greatly concerned for them And on occasion i i do see people were At one time we're serving the lord who have Walked away And yeah, it grieves you But my mom asked me something and i'll i'll close By saying a couple of things David doesn't it get tiring sometimes to see What people can do in the name of jesus Doesn't it doesn't it grieve you sometimes when you read of another pastor who has fallen? Yes, absolutely Have you ever wept over a pastor who's fallen absolutely absolutely many many times What happens when one pastor falls guys? Well the body of christ is wounded and the body of christ agonizes There are always those who stand up and say oh what a failure he is That's simply because they're not in ministry You know you can be in ministry or you can be in the pew shooting at the minister But i've discovered a long time ago when you get into into that Into that foxhole and you're in the middle of a battle you don't have much time to criticize the person next to you You see a lot of times the people who take pot shots at ministers are the ones who do nothing other than take pot shots at ministers That's basically the truth now sometimes there needs to be a word of loving correction Absolutely and nobody should think that they can get away with sinning without somebody calling them into accountability There's no doubt about that and that includes the pastor the church and every other person all of us Are supposed to be open to correction. We need to be there's nothing wrong with that and I thank god for it Sometimes the attitudes people have those are different because sometimes they are judgmental and sometimes they are harsh And sometimes they are incorrect and sometimes the judgments made when there's no information They don't even know the full story, but they're very quick to move on what they think they know We all know that that's true But I have as a pastor over the years many times wept over the loss Of somebody because when somebody at one time was being used by the lord and then they step away from him Their lives become miserable But you know what the best thing that I as a pastor can do is encourage somebody So my mom says does it ever make you dip tired son and I say Yes, it does Yeah, it does It hurts What keeps you going? What keeps me going is the knowledge that they belong to god And god has a way of retrieving his wandering children God has a way because he knows where they're at He knows what they're doing And he loves them enough to confront them See, I have had people over the years approach me and and they talk high and holy to me Oh, how god this and how god that I remember a guy who wanted to impress me so much He took pictures of the books he was reading just to show me in church the odd reading This is my library and I'd say wow, that's amazing. We're all I'm glad you can read But I really did I had somebody who wanted to show me his library. He's laying down next to his books That's the truth. I'm not kidding And and he wanted to impress me that he was a reader and for me it's one thing to have a book It's another thing to read the book and it's a third thing to put into practice what the book says Anybody can read If you've been taught to And you can communicate what the book says anybody can do that too But to do Now that's something else. That's what we're looking at with James It's not enough to say But it's to say and to do because those go together, right? Well from my perspective, I want to have the attitude of paul and I tell my mom God Knows them god loves them and god knows how to retrieve them if they belong to him Then my god is concerned for him in a deeper way than I ever can be Then I ever can be Because you see I've said this before as much as I love my children Jesus loves them more As much as I want to see them saved Jesus wants them saved more than I ever have So if somebody's love is going to be relied on it can't be mine It has to be a greater one and the greater love is the love of god And so when god begins a work, he continues it until he completes it That's what paul said in philippians 1 6 being confident of this very thing That he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of jesus christ And so the fellowship that we have Is of his son jesus christ our lord and it's the gospel that invites us to have this relationship with god Through jesus and as paul is writing to the Corinthians He begins with a condemnation rather a commendation, but he moves into a correction When we come back next time he begins to bring correction But he begins first by saying this is what you have in jesus. That's why this correction Can't work in your life Because i'm not speaking to people who are dead in sin I'm speaking to people who are alive in jesus and being alive in jesus gives you the ability to To do all things through christ who strengthens you That's how it takes place