Preventative Maintenance - [1 Corinthians 16:12-24]

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Well, I always like to know what people have in the front of their Bible. Maybe just a bulletin, maybe some notes, maybe a favorite quote from one of your favorite preachers or teachers.
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I wonder if you keep anything in the front of your Bible or back of your Bible. I have in the front of my
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Bible the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards, and I also have this piece of paper here that I'll read a portion of right now.
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Soldiers, sailors, and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force, you are about to embark upon the great crusade towards which we have striven these many months.
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The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty -loving people everywhere march with you.
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In company with our brave allies and brothers in arms on the other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the
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German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
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Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well -trained, well -equipped, and battle -hardened.
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He will fight savagely. And then Dwight David Eisenhower concludes with,
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I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory.
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Good luck. And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
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Why would a pastor have that in the front of his Bible? Answer, we are in a spiritual battle.
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We are in a fight, and there are things going on in the invisible realm that we can't see, but they are present.
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And let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. As Paul, almost like Eisenhower, except not wishing the troops good luck, gives a divinely inspired charge to the troops at Corinth, designed to clean up the mess that the
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Corinthians have themselves started. In other words, Paul is going to give charges to the church of Corinth, so the mess is cleaned up, and for us at BBC.
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This is going to be really good, because if you do these preventative maintenance charges, by the grace of God, in light of the cross, you'll never find yourself in the mess like the
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Corinthians found themselves. I don't know about you, but with a car, I'm always hesitant to say to myself, well, even though I'll do the oil change every 3 ,000 to 5 ,000 miles,
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I'm not so sure about the transmission cleaning and the flushing of the this and that, you know, those technical terms,
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I have no idea what I'm talking about. You get this preventative maintenance list, and you think at 40 ,000 miles, you do this 50 ,000, 80 ,000, and then you're not going to have the car just break down.
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These charges are just like that. Preventative maintenance, because if you just drift, you'll always drift to ungodliness.
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You'll never drift towards godliness and holiness and right living. Look at 1
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Corinthians chapter 16, verses 13 and 14, and hear these crisp, clear, staccato -like charges from Paul, who in a sense is like a general.
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The first four are military charges, and then the fifth one is certainly a Christian charge.
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Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men.
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Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
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Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and I want to remind you of the
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Lord Jesus Christ and what He's done for you. Before we look at these five commands, I'd like you to know who you are in Christ, so that, in fact, you can obey, so that you want to obey, so that you have a good reason to obey, because you realize, this is what
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God has done for me. The least I can do is to fall in line. I can hear the heels clicking as the troops of the
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Lord, the soldiers of Christ, arise and then decide, yes, I want to obey. But to remind you of your homeland and what you're defending and what you're guarding, and who gave you this great trust, 1
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Corinthians chapter 1 powerfully demonstrates God's gracious redemption and love for sinful people.
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It's one thing to tell your kids, clean the room. It's another thing to tell them, I love you, I provided for you, everything in the room is yours, and in light of my love for you, mommy's love for you, clean the room.
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So, to remind ourselves that chapter 16 is connected to chapter 1, I know hard to believe after these three years,
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I think it's taken us three years to get through this book, they are connected. And so, who you are in Christ motivates your obedience.
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1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26, it says, Consider your calling, brothers.
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Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful.
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Not many were of noble birth. And then look at this barrage of God chose, God chose, God chose.
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But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
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God chose what is low. By the way, He's talking about us. He's talking about Christians.
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God chooses the lowly because then when something happens to them and they do something for Him, He gets the credit.
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He chose what is low and the despised in the world. Even things that are not.
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That's like calling your servants, the help. You don't even give them a personal pronoun. You don't say, him or her or they or them.
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You say, the help. The nobodies. We're not the somebodies, we're the nobodies.
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The nothings, literally. Even things that are not. To bring nothing, to bring to nothing things that are.
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Now, why would God choose people who aren't at the top of the caste system?
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Why would He save them? Verse 29. Here's why. So that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
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Can you imagine the epitome of sin? Rushing to the throne of God and saying, I'm going to boast in me.
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God, you're pretty lucky to have me, by the way. And look at what I've done. I'm here,
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God. You didn't help me get here by 1%. I'm here because I'm smart. I'm religious.
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I'm spiritual. And I earned my way to heaven. I mean, even an unbeliever would probably figure out that's pretty bad to do.
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God is the one who does all the work. So that we might be thankful. We might be grateful. We might realize we're saved by grace alone.
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And look at what He goes on to say. If you'd like to know why you're going to heaven. If you're a
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Christian today, why are you a Christian? Here's the answer. And because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus.
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It's because of God. God planned it. God executed it. God did it. God sent
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His Son. God had the eternal promise in eternity past to send the Son. The Son gladly went.
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The Father gladly sent Him. The Spirit gladly energized the Son. It's of Him, because of Him.
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It's not because of our power, our merit, our might, our standing, our money, our parents, our philosophy, our baptism, our religious deeds.
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It's not of ourselves. You know that from Ephesians chapter 2. For by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of yourself.
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Lloyd -Jones said, Have you become a Christian? Then what is the reason?
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What's the reason? Because God alone, the Savior, saved us. He caused us to be born again.
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We were in Adam. Now we're in Christ. All by His doing. Take a look at verse 30 again.
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These Corinthians loved wisdom. And then it says here, By His doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God.
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That is, in particular, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Can you believe by God's grace alone
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He looks at you and He counts you as righteous? He credits you as righteous. The gavel comes down, not guilty.
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No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. No wonder John Bunyan said, 300 years ago almost,
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My righteousness has been in heaven for 1800 years. Jesus is in heaven for those eons.
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He's my righteous one. He's the one who saved me. Not by my philosophy.
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It's by His righteous life. And then the text says, And sanctification set apart for God's work and redemption.
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Just how were you delivered from sin? By God's redemption. So if God has saved you,
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You deserve hell, you get to go to heaven, And God has done all the work, Then what's the response? Verse 31, I'm glad you asked.
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To stand in God's presence and say, Me? Look at me! To stand in God's presence like a football player does in the end zone
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After an interception's returned back for a touchdown And look in and me and all that?
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No, I don't think so. Look at verse 31. So that, As it is written,
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As it stands written, Let the one who boasts, Boast in the
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Lord. It's all of grace, It's all of Christ's work, So then He gets all the credit.
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And we are born little boasters. I see little boasters, They're not quite born yet, But they're newborns sitting right there,
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Born to boast. You are wound up to boast. Show me a grandma that goes into labor and delivery
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And sees the baby born, And she's now a grandma, She's boasting. That's exactly what she was born to do.
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Boasting in the birth, And then ultimately boasting in God. You're going to boast in someone.
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Because a God has saved us, And because then we want to have a clean church, A holy church,
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A righteous church, Now we can go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16
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And see these commands In light of who we are. For the reason, The reason is you've been saved by grace,
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So live a life of Holy Spirit driven obedience. Hard part for us here at this church,
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And other churches, If you're going verse by verse through 1 Corinthians, And it takes you one year, two years, three years, You get to these commands at the end,
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But you forget they're connected to the engine That drives everything at the beginning, Christ's advocacy on our behalf,
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The risen Savior. Now you know what, Last time I forgot verse 12, I didn't forget it, But we just didn't run into it,
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Didn't go over it, So just let me go over verse 12, So those of you who think that maybe
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I'll skip over hard verses, I won't skip over this verse. But it's not hard. Verse 12,
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Now concerning our brother Apollos, Remember Apollos? Makes cameo appearances in the
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New Testament, And the Corinthians, remember, In chapters 1 through 4, Were all following different people.
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I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Christ, I'm of Cephas. Apollos is a good guy,
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But they were propping him up in an improper way. And Paul says, Our brother Apollos, He's not mad at Apollos, He's not at odds with Apollos.
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I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, But it was not at all his will to come now.
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He didn't want to feed the flame of, Hey, I follow Apollos. That's right.
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I'm glad people listen. That's right. I'll never forget the time, by the way, Don Kistler, Some of you will know who
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Don Kistler is. He said, If you'd like to damn your children, Dismiss them from the worship service.
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Let's close in prayer. That's about how Don Kistler works. Here's what he meant. Train your kids to sit still in the worship service,
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So that they'll sit underneath the Word, Because people get saved by hearing the Word of God. Right?
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We have a time, A place, Where we send people, Young children over, To learn about the Gospel message again.
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But that's only training, Until you, the parent, Can figure out how to get your kid to sit there,
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To listen. Right? So I'm glad for those listening comments. I'm glad for the little ones we have seated here.
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For the big ones, too, I'm glad. A good way to boast in the
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Lord, Is to live a life of obedience in light of the cross. So let me give you these five exhortations,
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From 1 Corinthians chapter 16, Verses 13 and 14. That are marching orders from headquarters,
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But not from the allied expeditionary forces, But from God Himself, The Spirit of God, Through Paul.
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It's like a gatling gun. These are five imperatives, Commands. And they're present tense.
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Remember present tense? Just lock it in your mind from here on out. Present tense, When you hear me say it, Or MacArthur, Or anybody else,
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It means ongoing. The command is always present. It's continuing. It's durative.
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It means you just don't do this once and you're done. It's an ongoing thing. Present tense commands,
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And the first four are the church. That means it's the body. That means it's to everybody.
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So when the one command is act like men, That's for the ladies, too. Today I get to tell the ladies at Bethlehem Bible Church to act like men.
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We'll see what it means. To think that the church of Corinth, Was chastened by pagans,
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And pagans saying, Yeah, you know what? Let's even coin a term. What the church does at Corinth, It's like to Corinthianize.
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It's that bad. When the pagan unbelievers say there's sin in the church, There's a problem.
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And so Paul says, Let me tell you how to right the ship. In light of who the God of this universe is,
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And what he's done at Calvary, These commands will right a ship. Show me a sinful church,
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Who will be determined to do these, The ship will right itself by the grace of God.
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And here's the good news. I don't think we're Corinthian, So let's just not be
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Corinthian. Who would want to be that kind of church? Five commands,
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That are preventative maintenance oriented, In light of the cross. By the way, These are 12
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Greek words, 21 words in the ESV, And the first four are military.
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Their language of soldiers arise. Battle that's going on. Number one.
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First charge for preventative maintenance, In light of the cross, Be watchful.
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Our NAS says be on the alert. Every one of these is going to come right from the text. Your outline will be my outline,
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As Paul is outlined. When I go overseas, Or even here teaching preaching classes, We always start off with this passage.
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Because you want to outline, The text in the way that the text is outlined. And so this is easy.
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Five present tense imperatives, And they just flow one to the next, To the next, to the next. Be watchful.
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And by the way, this is where we get the English name, Gregory. Do we have any Gregory's here?
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Gregory means to be watchful. It means to pay attention. Now Paul doesn't just mean,
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Now when Pastor Mike preaches, you keep your eyes peeled. It's spiritual. Pay attention spiritually.
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Walk around, And be aware of what's going on, And there's a spiritual battle, Things are happening.
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This is the opposite of, Stick your head in the proverbial sand, And act like an ostrich.
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This is military language, Of a sentry at a post, Who is supposed to guard that watch.
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And by the way, I did some research this week, And you could either be killed if you were on watch,
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And you were found sleeping, Or a much more effective one, Because it would keep you,
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In the military, Is they would find you sleeping, The commanding officer would come over, And would light your garment on fire.
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Be alert. Sleep walking through your
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Christian life, Isn't going to do it. I'll never forget my father coming downstairs and saying,
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Mike, Your room won't be cleaned by, Osmosis.
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I didn't know he knew such a word. This drowsy, Come see, come saw,
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Kind of indifferent, Attitude. 22 times in the
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New Testament. Watch out. Be aware. Now think about the Corinthians. If they would have been doing that,
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They would have been seen. We've got a fractured church. We've got sexual sin in the church.
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We've got people misusing their spiritual gifts. We should be watching out. Now it's really interesting,
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The word watch out is used regularly, For Christ's return. There's an eschatological flavor to this word.
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Watch out. Now laced through 1 Corinthians, Paul has talked about, The day of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter 1, chapter 3, chapter 5. The day is going to come, the day is going to come,
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The day will disclose. And I think Paul gets this right, From Jesus' terminology,
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Talking about end time, stay awake. Matthew 24. Therefore, Jesus said,
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Be on the alert. Watch out. Why? Because if you know,
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That the Lord is coming back soon, You're going to live a holy life. When Dad, back in Nebraska, Would leave on a
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Sunday night, To go work out of town, For Northwestern Bell, And he said, I'd be back on Friday afternoon,
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Sunday night, No problem, we did whatever we want. Monday night, no problem. Tuesday night, no problem.
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Wednesday night, no problem. And on Thursday night, when Mother would say, By the way, your Dad's coming home tomorrow night. How did that make us act?
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We got everything all ready. Tip top shape. The same kind of mentality, think about it.
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Pop quizzes. Why do professors and teachers give pop quizzes?
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Well, I give pop quizzes, Maybe because I want to make the students suffer. No, just kidding.
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I want them to be ready, Because if they just wait until the exam at the end, They might not study throughout the time.
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So when you think the Lord could come back at any moment, It helps you live a holy life.
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Jesus said, Be sure of this, That if the head of the house had known Of what time of the night the thief was coming,
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He would have been on the alert, And would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you be ready too,
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For the Son of Man is coming at an hour When you do not think He will. Not sure if He's going to come tonight.
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No wonder Robert Murray McShane said to all his friends, The young preacher who died at 29 years old,
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Do you think Christ will come tonight? No. No. No. Then he would always repeat that text,
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The Son of Man comes at an hour when you think not. G.
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Campbell Morgan, The predecessor of Martin Lloyd Jones said, I never lay my head on my pillow
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Without thinking that Maybe before the morning breaks, The final morning may have dawned.
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If the Lord is coming back soon, Holy living. Matthew 25,
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Jesus said, Be on the alert, For you do not know the day or the hour. Mark 13,
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Be on the alert, Because you do not know when the master of the house is coming. I say to you, and I say to you all,
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Be on the alert. Don't be taken off guard.
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The Lord is coming back. No wonder John said, Amen, come Lord Jesus. No wonder
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Paul goes on to say in chapter 16, Oh Lord, come. No wonder Jesus taught us to pray, Thy kingdom come.
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Luther said, I preach as though Christ died yesterday, He rose from the dead today, And is coming back tomorrow.
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I think we have to watch out for the return of Christ, But also we should watch out for Corrosive behavior,
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And corrosive doctrines in the church. The same word is used in 1 Peter 5,
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Be on the alert, Your adversary the devil prowls about Like a roaring lion, Seeking someone to devour.
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Spiritual warfare is real. And if you turn on Christian TV, By the way, there's no really such thing that I know of,
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It's usually all crazy stuff on supposed Christian TV, There's a battle, There's corrosive influences,
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That you better watch out for them. Ever take a flashlight, And you say, I can't figure out why this flashlight won't work,
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And so you open it up, You try to slide the 2 or 3 D -cells out, And they don't slide out, why? Because there's been a leak,
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And you look in there, And you have to pound it down on the workbench, And out comes the 3 gross D -batteries,
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With all this corrosive nasty stuff in there. Never be a Duracell battery,
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Only Energizer, But sometimes the Energizer just leak all over. I used to work for Duracell.
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One quick story, The first service didn't get this. You know, they have these big display things,
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For retail stores, And so I was unregenerate, I was about 22, got a job for Duracell, And they've got these big displays from Energizer, And so you just pick those displays up,
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When no one's looking, And you take them down into the trash compactor, That they have in the corner, And you push this green button,
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And it's funny what the thing does. Okay, back to the point. Listen, This isn't just for elders.
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Oh, the elders stand sentinel for the church, And hold sound doctrine. Yes, Titus chapter 1.
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The elders guard against false doctrine. Yes. But this is to the church. You are responsible.
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You can't just say, Well, you know what, It's unloving to stand up for truth,
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And to watch out for these kind of things, And spiritual warfare. The elders do it. I don't even like it when the elders do it,
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But that's their job. No. Well, it's unloving if you ever watch out
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For these spiritual influences that corrupt, And say something about it. Sorry, it's unloving if you don't.
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This is the charge from God. No wonder Mark 14, Jesus said to the disciples,
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Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation. The spirit is willing, But the flesh is weak.
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Watch. Temptations come. Corrosive, worldly, demonic influences come.
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Watch out. The Corinthians should have known that. They were judging each other. Influence of bad theology.
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Chapter 5, chapter 15. Can't be lulled into some lethargic apathy.
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It's time to wake up. To be alert. Positively, I could say,
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Be alert for opportunities to evangelize. Be alert to opportunities to serve. I'll just push that snooze button
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For one more year. No.
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2. In light of your calling and who Christ is And what He's done for you, Your love for the church,
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Be watchful, No. 1. No. 2. Stand firm in the faith. See that in verse 13. Stand firm in the faith.
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NAS and ESV translated the same way. This is for the group. Lock your shield
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With the person next to you And you stand ready. I'm not going to be a pushover.
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I'm not going to stand on some kind of ice Of slippery theology. Minimum spiritual disciplines.
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Hold your ground. What do you say? This is military language. You say to the people who are at a strategic spot
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Or by a hill or by some kind of Upper area that you need to keep In Korea or something during the war.
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Hold your ground. Stand firm. This is military language. Tough days require
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Tough gospel standing. It's a battle.
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I just don't like all this contending And battling. This isn't for the elders.
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This is for everyone. If you're a Christian, this is for you. Stand firm. I taught
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Gracie's basketball team once Or Luke's team once About how you just need to keep your legs Underneath you in shoulder width
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Stance. And I'd have them stand kind of like a stork And then I would push their forehead And over they would go.
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Not all the way over. I can move them from their position.
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Now open your legs a shoulder width apart And bend your knees and I would push on them. They couldn't get pushed back.
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They were standing there firm. Hold your ground. Defend the truth.
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Look at chapter 15 verse 1. He says, I would remind you brothers Of the gospel I preached to you Which you received in which you
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Stand. Well taught in the Word. Stand your ground.
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I think maybe in the old days when I was younger I kind of liked to fight for the faith. Agonize for the faith.
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Defend the faith. I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the relentless
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Ongoing Satanic Whirly smash Against the gospel
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Sanctification, the Word of God Christology And the local church. I'm tired.
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So now what? Okay. No. God uses these kind of exhortations
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To say, listen. You are a man under authority. You are a church under authority. You've been bought with a price.
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The blood of Christ Jesus. And so now It's a good year ending message. A good year to start message.
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It's time to stand. Tired or not, stand. Not going sideways.
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Not going backwards. It's easy to cave in by the way And it feels so good.
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Because then you're not labeled as unloving. You're not labeled as you know, That's the church that's known for what they're for And what they're against With some kind of derisive monikers
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Against us. This church better be known for what it's for And what it's against. Stand firm.
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What was Paul saying? Stability for the Christian. Sometimes stability comes from running, by the way.
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Flee immorality. Flee idolatry. Chapter 6 and Chapter 10. When you give in, when you don't stand your ground,
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It never ends. Think this way for a minute. Oh, you know what? If we just give the
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Palestinian PLO folks Gaza, They'll quit. No? And then it's the
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Golan Heights And then it's Jerusalem itself. They're not going to give in. Well, let's just give them civil unions for gay marriage,
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For gay relationships. Then it'll all quit. I don't think so. You know,
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I'm just tired of being the one labeled as unloving Because I'm just trying to stand up for the Word of God.
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And so I'll make concessions And I'll just run the white flag of I'm just tired and I'm going to quit.
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I'll give this doctrine away If you'll just say I'm loving. If you'll just say I'm in for unity.
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If you'll just say I love other people And want to be with their churches too. Didn't Paul just say in 1
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Corinthians 15? Be steadfast. Immovable. If you don't grow,
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If you're not popular, It doesn't matter. Stand firm.
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Number three. If you're going to do these kind of things, You need this exhortation.
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In light of what Christ has done for us, How can we not want to obey? Be watchful.
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Stand firm in the faith. Number three. Men and women and children. He's addressing the church.
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It's a second person plural. It's ye. It's all y 'all.
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Act like men. By the way, That's why it's super bad to have some neutered
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Bible translation and gender neutral. There's a reason why He says act like men.
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By the way, this is the root word Andre. You have to say it like that by the way. Andre.
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Not Anthropos, man, mankind. But even a more masculine word that means manly.
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It's Andre. And when you think about Andre, I always think about the most masculine man
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I could think of ever. At least in my day. Andre. King James says quit ye like men.
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Here's what he's saying. He's not saying women are inferior. He's not saying women are sinful.
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He's comparing men and toddlers. He's comparing men and children.
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He's comparing men and immature people. Be mature. Be courageous. Act like men.
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That's what he's doing. Get out of junior church. I don't know why
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I'm after junior church today. I really like junior church. For a season. Maturity and courage are called for.
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It's time for the Corinthians who would say well you know what, kids just live and let live or immature or okay whatever.
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We did that for 15 chapters and look where it got us. It's time to act like men. This is a military command as well.
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We're the valorous men. We're the manly men. We're the church that says we don't want to be children anymore.
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Tossed to and fro by various doctrines. When the pressures of society come, where are the men?
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Somebody comes after the family, your personal family, and then where's the dad? He's in the garage hiding.
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Doesn't make sense does it? Childish ways be gone.
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My favorite story about acting like a man is from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa days.
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Pastor Roman was talking to a couple on a Monday and the husband was throwing things and yelling and knocking over things and acting very childish and so the couple came in.
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Their marriage was in trouble and so Roman talked to the husband and said follow me. They went down the dark hallway of the church into a room.
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Lights still off. Roman takes something, picks it up, hands it into the man's hands.
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He accepts it. The light is turned on. They're in the nursery. It's a diaper. And Pastor Roman said it's time for you to grow up and act like a man.
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And the next time you want to act like a baby around your wife, you go ahead and put the diaper on. Do what babies do in diapers.
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Take a shower and go out and be a man to your wife. I don't think there was ever a session two for that.
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Be manly! Be manly, church.
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Act like men. Don't be immature. You know, immaturity is fine if you're a brand new
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Christian. If you're not a brand new Christian, you ought not to be immature. Now this is right from the
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Old Testament way of thinking. When there's a battle going on, times are tough, listen to Joshua.
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Be strong and what? Courageous. There you go. 2
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Chronicles 1 Chronicles chapter 28 David said to Solomon his son, be strong and courageous.
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Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed for the Lord God, even my God is with you. Where are the men?
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Where are the godly men? Praise God we have many in this church and I praise God we have many ladies here who keep their femininity, who act like men, who are not childish.
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By the way, if you're struggling with this ladies, think of a here's what I want you to be, a spiritual
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Maggie Thatcher. Maybe you don't like her politics, but she was tough.
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Tozer said, the church at this moment needs men. The right kind of men.
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Bold men. The talk is that we need revival. We need a new movement of the spirit and God knows we must have both.
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But God will not revive mice. He will not fill rabbits with the
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Holy Ghost. We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul.
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Who cannot be frightened by threats of death because they're already dead to the world. The true church's leaders heard from God and went ahead wholly independent of popular support or the lack of it.
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They knew their Lord's will and did it and their people followed them. Sometimes to triumph. Often are to insults and public persecution.
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Their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in a wrong world. Conduct yourself in a courageous way.
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When things are challenging, Deuteronomy 31 says, be strong and courageous.
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Do not fear or be in dread of them for it is the Lord your God who goes with you.
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He will not leave you or forsake you. Here's what this word means to be manly.
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To carry out your responsibilities even though it might cost you danger but I have to do it.
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Be valiant, be brave, be mature. And might I say Bethlehem Bible Church and you know this and I'm very thankful for it.
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The way to mature is through the word and through the word alone. I'd like to get a zap and then
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I can be more mature. I've been there, done that, it doesn't work. It's through the word.
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I just want to take the easy way out. No, it's through the word. No wonder 1 John 2 says, I write to you young men because you're strong and the word of God abides in you.
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How do you become strong? How do you grow up? It's all through the word. God's ordained way to do this is through the word of God.
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Philippians chapter 2. Holding fast to the word of life. The good news is when you grow in grace and knowledge of the
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Lord, it helps with unity, it helps with your stability. Focusing on the redemptive work of Christ strengthens the church.
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Don't let it ever be said of Bethlehem Bible Church or of you personally. Hebrews 5.
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For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
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Well, the Bible says more about maturity but we need to move on so let's go to exhortation number four.
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This is also a military command. This is also plural. This is also present.
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Be strong. The response of the
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Christian who has been called by God and saved forgiven is to be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men.
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Number four, be strong. Now here's a really neat thing with this one.
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It's passive which means you have to be strengthened. So Paul is saying be strengthened.
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Get strength. In other words, we're weak and we need strength from the outside. It's not in us, it's not native to us, it's not inherent in us.
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We need help from the outside. Become strong. Kistenmacher said in the passive voice, the verb means to be made strong through experiences that God prepares for the believer.
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And not only that, it's for prayer. Go Lord, help me to be strong. Help me to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
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2 Timothy chapter 2. Now think about that Old Testament again. Be strong and courageous.
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Be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous. What's he say here? Be courageous and strong. Kind of ironic too, isn't it?
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That the Corinthians so despise weakness and Paul is saying you're weak and you need strength from someone else, the
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Lord God. Be strengthened. Paul said in 2
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Corinthians, my grace is sufficient for you, quoting Jesus, for power is perfected in weakness.
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Most gladly therefore I will rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
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And when God strengthens you, then it's Philippians 4 quoted properly, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
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Whether it's the context of contentment and then anything else He calls you for.
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Be strong. And then lastly, number 5. Be loving.
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This one isn't a military term. This is a Christian term. It's from the word agape. And remember
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J. Vernon McGee, he'd always say, this is not agape. This is not sloppy agape.
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This is agape. So let's find out. Be on the alert. Stand firm. Act like men. Be strong.
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Number 5. Be loving. Verse 14. Let all that you do be done in love.
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Everything you do, you think about what God the Son has done on your behalf.
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A good demonstration of sacrificial love. And so you work in that sphere too. One man said, love frames the letters closing.
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Let all that you do be done in love. Wouldn't have this solved the problems for the church of Corinth?
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Unity issues? Solved by love. Spiritual gifts issue? Solved by love. No wonder
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Paul says in chapter 8 of this book, love builds up. Do everything in love.
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One radio Bible teacher says, love compliments and balances everything else.
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It's the beautiful softening principle. It keeps our firmness from becoming hardness and our strength from becoming domineering.
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It keeps our maturity gentle and considerate. It keeps our right doctrine from becoming obstinate dogmatism and our right living from becoming smug self -righteousness.
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These just compliment one another, don't they? I think about if I'm too tough and not kind enough at times, then
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I have my lovely wife who will say, honey, you need to be kinder, you need to love more.
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And then sometimes if she's not tough enough or firm enough, I might have to say, honey, you've got to be firm.
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And so we compliment one another. These verses compliment each other as well because there's the tough, strong, stand, act like man, watch out, and then you've got the other tender side.
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Do things in love. Right? 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul's like, I was like a tender mother taking care of you.
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Do everything in love right after, be manly. 1 Corinthians 14, pursue love.
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1 Corinthians 13, love is patient, love is kind, not jealous. Love sacrifices.
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1 Peter 4 8, above all, keep fervent in your love for one another because love covers a multitude of sins.
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You're fighting. You're in a battle. You're in a warfare. But don't forget, you're not supposed to turn your guns and shoot yourselves.
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You don't shoot the other people. You don't shoot people on your side. Love the enemy as well.
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But make sure when you're caught up in all this warfare that it doesn't become cannibalistic.
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Love covers a multitude of sins. Galatians 6 says, so then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially of those who are of the household of faith.
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So it's been another year. The Lord has been faithful and good. He's protected us. And now we have some marching orders.
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These are good marching orders. These are good marching orders for this time. Well, I don't really know what's going to happen with the world and our president and the politics and the world system.
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I'm afraid for my children. I think that kind of talk needs to be replaced with this.
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I have been made so I can know God, and He knows me.
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And it's time to be strong. It's time to be courageous. It's time to stop acting like a baby, walking around going, you know what, the sky is falling.
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The sky isn't going to fall. One day it's going to open up, it's going to be rent in two, and the king's coming back. And in the meantime, it's time to not walk around going, you know what, politics and guns and issues and social, economic and racial and everything else, all these issues, they run my life.
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I've got some news for you. Act like men. Be strong. The world is going to cave in.
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The world acts exactly like the world. And now we have the privilege of being Christian emissaries and ambassadors for the gospel.
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When the world is the worst, the gospel rides swiftly on its chariot. So these are good marching orders because, can you imagine how much better we have it in the states today than these people did back at Corinth?
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We're on the opportunity list for all kinds of ministry, and we stand firm against the truth, against the falsehood for the truth.
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I think you know what I need to do. I think I need to put these five commands in front of my Bible and replace it.
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Replace the Eisenhower. I think maybe this should be in front of my Bible instead, and probably in yours too.
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Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong.
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Let all that you do be done in love. Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we now commit our lives once again to you and your good care.
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You don't change. You never get better. You never get worse because you are the unchanging
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God. And once you set your love on a people that never can leave. And Father, because of that great love that was at its apex at Calvary, where your
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Son, the sinless one, died for sinners like us. We just ask that you'd help us to live a life that shows that we love you.
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If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. And we want to do that. So strengthen us, Father. Give us grace to do it.
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May the Spirit of God help us so it's just not from our own bootstraps. But we do want to guard your church.
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We do want to guard the people in the church. We want to act with true love, yes, but it's time to stand up for the
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Christian faith and boldly proclaim the truth that Christ Jesus forgives the worst sinner.
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Father, I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church. I pray that any attacks that might happen will not be from the inside to cause division.
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And the attacks from the outside would cause us to grow closer together in love for one another.
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Father, I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church that she would never see the days of the Church of Corinth.
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And Father, when we do act fleshly and certainly we are not sinless, we'd ask that you'd help us to repent quickly.
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Father, I pray for Bethlehem Bible Church finally that if there are those in the church that have issues with one another, differences that need to be reconciled,
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I pray that you'd help that happen even this week with a fervent love for one another. In Jesus' name we pray.