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1 Corinthians 4:14,21 -Disciples- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2024-04-07
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Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. For though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore, I beseech you be followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto you, Timotheus, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which he in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love And in the spirit of meekness. Father, thank you for your holy word. Thank you that you love us enough to discipline us, to wake us up, to keep us on that straight and narrow. Thank you for these appointments, that you have for us, that you've appointed unto us on the trials, testing, difficulty. And Lord, how these trials, are not an accident. You're sovereign. You've designed these trials. You've orchestrated. You've engineered these trials, these difficulties unique to each of us, but collectively, all of us, Lord, have faced these things. They're common. Lot of us, Lord, we think that that, we're the only ones that ever faced these things, ever ever gone through them. And we look back on our lives and we thank you, Lord, for getting us through so many different difficulties and how it mold and shaped us, how it burned the dross off, how it purified us, how it drew us ever closer to you and all that the enemies meant for evil, Lord, you've turned around for good to save many people this day, Lord. So father, bless now. Help us to enter into all that you have for us, and the Lord may it never ever ever be watered down. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? Why is it that teenagers, those of you that are parents, grandparents, when we had our girls, you know, we had control over them. And we could we could make them wear whatever Easter dress we wanted to buy for them, a bonnet, all of it. We could make them go to bed when we want them to go to bed and eat what we want them to eat and all that kind of stuff. And and then, when they became teenagers, first there was this this thing where, you know, they'll listen to everybody. Some urchin that comes out from underneath the bridge and underneath the truck, they'll they'll listen to them before they'll listen to their father and mother. And, and then when they become 18, they'll say stuff like, you can't tell me what to do. I'm 18 right now, you know. And then you try to say, well, you wanna live under this house. You're gonna follow the rules, you know. And so they take you at your at your at your threat and they go move in with some knuckleheads, some person seducing them, some person, you know, saying, well, you can come live here. Your parents are mean, you know. One of my daughters actually told people that she was adopted. She wasn't really our daughter. And the the the lady called up my wife and Kathy said, well, I remember birthing her. I remember she came out of me, you know. But I mean, just bizarre bizarre crazy stuff, you know. And they it's just I don't think I don't think I was around to do that my with my family. My mom, I didn't live with her since I was 16. So so she had the sheriffs come and haul me away and I never lived with her again. So I didn't get to go through all that. But so in our rebellion and or our indifference toward our fathers, we gravitate toward some of the most unqualified of advisers parading as our friends. So Paul enjoyed a enjoyed a father son relationship with the church at Corinth. So which means is when he was in the book of acts and the Lord sent him to Corinth, there was no church of Corinth there. So he spent eighteen months planting that church. So in essence, he's like a father unto them, eighteen months and discipling them, teaching them. And then as Paul leaves from there and he goes to Ephesus for three years, these kids get all puffed up and they start thinking they know better. And then all these different false prophets start coming in. All these people from underneath the bridges and all and all the YouTube prophets and everything and everybody's got an idea and they got a new thing and you know and you know, hey, we're loving. Love your neighbor. Wear the mask. Love your neighbor, you know. And and all this crazy crazy in the name of love. So Paul's got to define for them what real love is because they're thinking next chapter, they're thinking love is fornication. They're thinking in chapter six, you know, that everybody's gonna go into heaven. And Paul says like like Vicky's podcast, be not deceived. You know? Don't be deceived. Adulters, fornicators, idolaters, and he has a whole list of people that are not gonna inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. Ain't that great? The Lord pulled us out of that, saved us. I'm excited about getting there. But until we get there, we gotta try to understand the importance of the right frame of mind and being teachable because they weren't teachable at this point. They were listening to other folks and so Paul's making appeal unto them that, hey, I'm your father. I'm your father. Why won't you listen to me? Do you think your mom and I would ever wanna do anything that was, you know, against your, you know, best, you know. We're not here to destroy your life. We're here to protect you. We don't want you to make the same mistakes that we made, you know. That's why we don't want you doing those things, you know. And we're not here to ruin your life. And it's it's it's just so amazing how few people, you know, really wanna listen. Everybody's just so quick to think they already got it, you know. They already know. I already know. I read the bible once. I already know. I know it all. I know the whole thing, you know? And then they reach a place where they start having trials and difficulty and such. And rather than looking back to the word or or being discipled in the word, now they're running toward the psychiatrist and the counselors and the meds and the life trainers. I'm a life trainer. What the heck is a life trainer? You're 18 years old. You barely shave. How are you a life trainer? You know? Ronnie and Fred are live trainers, you know? They've been through it. Sit with them a while. You know, listen. Just listen. Just quit talking. You don't know as much you think you know. Pastor David told us, guys, gentlemen, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing because you think you're intoxicated. You think you've got it and all. And so Paul says, got one spiritual father and that's me. Now, Matthew twenty eight eighteen, Jesus said before he's ascending to his father, he's saying to the 11 that were there, he's saying all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. And he says, now go and teach all teach all nations, baptizing them in name of the father, the son, the holy spirit. Teach them to observe all things that I've commanded you along with you always even at the end of the age. So we are to preach and to teach. Mark would talk about preaching to every creature. So we preach to the unbeliever as a church. We you and I preach the gospel to the unbeliever. But we teach the believer. Go and teach. Teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always even the end of the age. That would be what we call a disciple. A disciple is a learner. Church should be a place of learning, of instruction. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. And the Lord Lord's looking down two thousand years later and he's saying, oh, I forgot. Oh, there's some things I should have put in there. Because there's gonna be a time where there's people that are gonna be abused as children, and oh, my gospel isn't gonna be powerful enough to transform and change them. I'm gonna have to get them with some life trainers and and help some people to understand their nervous system and talk to the nervous system and get the nervous system to be in compliant, and they're gonna have triggers and they're gonna have PTSD and all this. What am I gonna do? An inadequate gospel. A gospel that that can't reach people that are hurting. Do you think we're the first generation that's ever suffered? We're in the most unprecedented time of prosperity, and yes, we have derelict moms, dads, uncles, people that molest children. Divorces, murders, lies. It's a fallen world, and the gospel's the solution. And as you come to Christ, it's the power of God unto salvation, which means deliverance and healing. And it doesn't all go away. There's still pain there, but what he brings into your life, life and that more abundantly, is far greater than any abuse you've ever experienced. Unless you want to remain a victim. If you want to remain a victim and have a pity party and not grow, then go to the therapeutic churches that are gonna gonna speak to you in such a way like you're a child, a victim, twelve, thirteen different new counselors on these staffs to come and put you in a circle so that everybody can miserate of how victimized they are. It's ridiculous, and it's an affront to Jesus. It's it's it's it's taken away the glory of the gospel, the power of God unto salvation. And I don't sit there and reach back, my mom married seven times, and reach back to tell you all the little nuances of how convicted, how how how abused I am because I don't even wanna think about that stuff. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old things are passed away. All things become new. What God's doing for me far exceeds anything the devil could have tried to do to destroy me or neutralize me. Amen. So why would I why would they obsess over the people that victimize us and never grow, never to be disciple, never get to know Jesus, you know? And I want you to know something. God never says, oops. He never says, oh, I'm sorry. He takes all of the sin, all of the junk, all of the hurt, and he says, I'm gonna make it better. Amen. And I'm gonna start the process in saving you, and I'm gonna give you the power to not let sin have dominion over you. So salvation is in three tenses, past, present, future. The definition is deliverance and healing. Deliverance from what? In the past tense, the penalty of sin. You're justified now. You're righteous. You have a righteous standing before God. He doesn't look at you as a sinner. Justification, just as if you've never sinned. You cannot improve upon that because Jesus said to Talas, I paid in full. Your sins are all paid for, past, present, and future. There's now therefore no condemnation. In the present tense, you cannot continue to be a wretched sinner because somebody victimized you. You cannot say, well, I'm I'm just acting this way because my nervous system's messed up, man. And I need to talk to my nervous system. So I had a I had a person tell me this this week and that's why I'm going crazy because because they used to do this to me before years ago when, you know, codependency or or the serotonin thing, and they they they start out this way. Well, you know, what if you had a broken bone, pastor? That's physical. Wouldn't you go to the doctor? You're not gonna even pray about that broken bone, but it's not gonna go away. Oh, wow. Wow. Oh. Wow. That's a real good one. So now the nervous system's physiological. Oh, part of the beam. God didn't know that the nervous system breakdown triggers were triggering, but person couldn't walk in obedience to the Lord. So I know it's volitional. You choose to sin or or to obey. You're no slave. If you come to Christ, sin shall not have dominion over you. Period. Romans six fourteen. Now your emotions and all that, that'll be all over the place. Your nervous system, fine. But the word of God's living and powerful and sharper than any two of the sword, divided the son of soul and spirit and joint and marrow, and is discernive thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God can reach places, including the nervous system, the brain, serotonin, chemicals. Worship changes your chemistry. How about you just get your eyes off yourself and start to worship? Amen. The joy of the lord. Why why do you try to have to bring it down to something? Oh, Jesus didn't think about the nervous system. It's the nervous system now. That's the new one. It's the nervous system. So everybody's out there saying, oh, yeah. Those triggers that abuse, your nervous system's messed up. That's physiological, and we got a we got a methodology. We got a new methodology. If you'll stay here till your insurance runs out, we'll get you healed. So each night when you go to bed and you think about how you're abused, you tried to pray and you tried to put new thoughts in your head to try and overcome that that nervous system, the PTSD from being a soldier and such. And and I'm not minimizing the trauma that people have gone through through being in war or whatever. I'm just saying it's Jesus greater. Amen. And you don't need alcohol or drugs or or feel like you're a victim the rest of your life. There's gonna be pain. But that pain will drive you to Christ. It'll drive you to him to get to know him, to to receive the relief you need. So in the present tense, sin shall not have dominion over you. Because when you see yourself as a victim, all of a sudden it's not your fault. So what happens is somebody triggers you and that might be a manipulator. Oh, there's a manipulator. And now I'm triggered and now I'm gonna go into a rage. You just decided to go into that rage. You decided to be angry. It's volitional. You say, no, I'm not gonna go into the rage. I'm gonna choose to forgive. What? Choose to forgive the person that did that to me? That's your way to get free. Matthew 18, if you don't forgive them, you're gonna be given over the tormentors. You may torment the rest of your life. Why don't you try it? Why don't you try praying for them? Once you try praying for them that they get saved, watch what happens. You're set free. That's what Matthew 18 says. But if you wanna hold on to this and use as leverage against God, I'm the first guy that's ever gone through this and you owe me. You're gonna be in those circles, going in circles, chasing your tail, the rest of your Christian experience. You're not gonna experience endurance, you're not gonna be walking by faith, you're not gonna grow, you're gonna be taken down at every turn by so called triggers. It's one of their new words, triggers. Don't go there. Be a disciple. Learn the word of God. That's the job of the pastor is to disciple them. Jesus said to go, make disciples, teach him. What do I teach him? Teach him my word. Teach him all that I've taught you. Pass it on. From Genesis to Revelation, how about that? Well, Lord, it's inadequate. No, it's not. I've given you everything you need in second Peter chapter one verse three for life and godliness. Everything you need. And in the third tense, and this is the one that's hard, is we've got to wait for all that pain, that sorrow, and that sinful nature that we have to be delivered from. One day when we see him face to face, we're not gonna have this old sinful nature. We're not gonna have the the memories and the scars and not maybe the scars, but not the the the memories of the trauma of what we've gone through. The Lord's gonna take all that away. Now I wanna suggest to you that even now though, as a Christian, I can experience joy. And God can give me a peace even if I've been a soldier and faced traumatic things, and even if I'm during PTSD, post traumatic stress syndrome, or whatever ailment there may be, you've been put to the limit. You've been put beyond reason, the things that you've seen, things you've experienced. But as a Christian, God bring brings healing. God brings you to where you can be a husband, you can be a father, where you can set an example as a Christian. You're gonna need Jesus more than every other dad on the block because you've been traumatized. And as you draw near to the Lord, he's gonna draw near to you. And you are going to experience maybe in addition to those headaches, you're gonna experience joy and peace and long suffering and gentleness, meekness, and self control. You don't need to rage. You don't need to turn toward alcohol and drugs, and you might need a medicinal marijuana. No problem. I don't care. I'm not against meds. I'm not against that sort of thing. I just don't want you to rely upon things that, change your chemistry, that change your your, faculties, and cause you to gain an addiction and a dependency when that dependency should be upon God. And reliance upon him. And it's it's it's a walk of faith, not of feelings. Those feelings are deceptive. They're gonna come. They're gonna go. You're gonna be triggered, I guess. You know? And I just love being with Jesus. When I'm walking in the spirit, I'm safe. I'm secure. I don't worry about anybody or anything else. I just wanna walk in fellowship with Jesus each and every day. When I'm outside of fellowship with Jesus, I got a lot to worry about because all of my fallen nature is at the surface and can do a lot of damage. So I choose each day, am I gonna walk in the flesh, or am I gonna walk in the spirit? If I walk in the spirit, I don't fulfill the lust of the flesh no matter what my nervous system is telling me physiologically, you know? Mind boggling how they come up with this stuff, you know? And I feel so bad for him. I feel so bad because year after year after year, there's no growth. There's no growth spiritually. It's sad. Alright. For the sermon now. So this intimate discipleship requires four things from the disciple. If you wanna be a disciple, there's four things here Paul's wanting to get through to you. Because again, it's your will. If you don't wanna be a disciple, you're not gonna be a disciple. If you don't wanna hear God's word, you're gonna leave and go somewhere according to the last days prophecies. You've got you're heaping up teachers having itching ears. You won't endure sound doctrine, Puget Sound doctrine. You won't do it. You're gonna go go looking for teachers that'll tell you what you want to hear. And they're out there. And they're therapeutic messages, self help messages. They're they're, what do you call them? When you got a football game Friday night, they're pep rallies. Little pep rallies, you know. Everybody dancing around, you know, the lights and the smoke and the whole thing, and you go away from there, you had cotton candy, and there's no substance. And when reality strikes you, you've got no faith because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But you didn't hear any of the word of God. You didn't get any word of God. You're not a bible student. You don't study the word. You're not taught this. Your pastor doesn't even study the word. He can't teach the book of revelation because he's never studied it. He doesn't teach one third of the bible because he's afraid you'll you'll get scared and trigger, and then you'll leave the church because it's doom and gloom. Oh. It's like babies. It's like we're dealing with babies. It's ridiculous. And they should be scolded. Do you think they're gonna stand before the Lord and the Lord's gonna say, well done? You left out one third of the book? The testimony of me is the spirit of prophecy, and you wouldn't tell them about my second coming or the rapture? You wouldn't teach them concerning the millennium? Are you out of your minds? What'd you teach them? I taught them about the loaves and the fishes, that they could keep getting happy meals, you know? Even Jesus thinned out that crowd. Number one, listen to his warning. He says, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. Is it okay to warn a son? Is is it okay to pull a son aside and warn him about some danger outside? That woman with the blue dress on, is it okay? It means to admonish. And and I say that because, you know, I got daughters and it's always we're afraid of our daughters being seduced, but those of us that have grandsons, we know there's a whole lot of women that seduce too. Whole lot. To admonish, to criticize in love, to speak the truth in love, not to shame them. So you don't wanna shame them. You don't wanna ridicule and drive them away, belittle them. But as a loving father, you wanna put your arm around them and you wanna warn them. Hey, son. I see you drifting. I see you spending too much time on your switch. Too much time on your phone. Too much time on the computer. I see you drifting, man. You need to spend more time in the word. Son, how come you can't make it to church on Sunday? How come you can't make it to bible study, home bible study or whatever? And then all the excuses come. Well, son, you talk a big game. You talk really big, but where's the power? Don't you wanna be powerful? Don't you wanna be spiritually powerful? Can you be spiritually powerful without going to the gym? Physically powerful? I tend to a power lifting gym and it's not it's not where the elderly like me go and play water aerobics, you know. It's not like that. It's got some really strong military girls, really strong military guys, elite kind of force, and they are really strong. And I'm very polite, lest I get a kick aside the head. They're they're very nice. And, so if any of them ever say to me, hey, I hear you're a pastor. What kind of church do you pastor? I said, I pastor a power lifting church. You can't handle it. You're spiritually too weak. You're gonna have to go to one of the other, you know, curves, and then I get through them. You won't make it spiritually Cause it's all about you. So that's really that is a true analogy. I I want this to be a power lifting church where you are trying to get as powerful as you can in Christ Jesus. Why would we wanna be spiritually insipid webs, you know? Why would we do that? Why would we have no power at all? What I mean, don't you wanna see people's lives transformed and changed by the power of the holy spirit? I mean, I do. I wanna see people sit. And and when we have the privilege of watching God transform and change people who just came to Christ a year ago or two years ago or three years ago, we got no methodology. There's no formula here. There's no program. We're not we're not talking about their triggers or their nervous system. We're giving them Jesus. Jesus knows what they need, and he does the work just as he he's done in our lives. But if they're yeah buts, yeah but, but, yeah but, yeah but, yeah but, go to a yeah but church, you know? So Paul's warnings was that of a heartbroken father pleading with his son. God says in Ezekiel thirty three eleven, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye turn ye for why will you die? And that's when we have a prodigal son or daughter that goes away as as mothers and fathers, it just breaks our heart. Adam, where are you? He knew where he was. Adam, what happened? Why why we were having great fellowship walking in the garden in the cool of the day. What happened, Adam? Adam, where are you? What are you thinking, Adam? I wasn't, Lauren. I wasn't thinking. Jesus warned, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus wept in Luke thirteen thirty four says, oh Jerusalem Jerusalem, you that killed the prophets and everybody, you know, I've sent unto you. How often I've gathered you together as a mother hen does gather her brood under her wings, but you would not. They were not teachable. He's warning them, you weren't teachable. You can discern the the sky that tomorrow there's gonna be an eclipse or it's gonna be sunny or cold or winter, but you don't discern the times that you're living in. You don't even know the messiah is here right in front of you. You're blind. Ephesians six four, Paul says to fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So warn them, but don't shame them. Don't shame them like David did to Absalom. You remember in second Samuel chapter 14 through 18 that, there came a time where one of David's sons, Amnon, who was a half brother to Absalom, had a sister. Absalom had a sister named Tamar and they had a half brother named Amnon. And Amnon was lustful and he was just like a frenzy with lust toward his sister Tamar and said, I just gotta have her, gotta have her, gotta have her. And so a friend of his taught him how to seduce her, bring her over, get permission from dad, and he faints that he's sick and oh, dad, it'd be really nice if Tamar would make me some biscuits and feed me in bed and stuff and you know, just administering to me and all. So dad gives permission and then and then Amnon is stronger than Tamar and overpowers her and, moves in a direction of raping her. She said, don't do this. Don't do this evil. You're gonna be a fool. You're gonna be known as a fool, you know. And then he forces himself. He rapes her. And then afterwards, it says that that lust that he had, that intensity they had for wanting her, flipped the other side. He want nothing to do with her. And she says, now you're doing even worse than the other. Why don't we go get permission from dad to marry and such, and he want nothing to do with her. Well, her brother Absalom heard about it and he waited two years and dad did nothing about it. David didn't do anything about it. So Absalom, he waits two years and he says, hey, dad, I'm threshing some sheep. Why don't we have a party? Why don't you come? Dad says, I'm not coming. David's, I'm too busy. I'm not gonna be there. Well, how about the rest of my brothers? So they get out, you know, Amnon there and Tamar and everybody, and, and then he has some friends that, take out Amnon. Hitman, they they killed him, assassinated him. And then David heard about it, and when David first heard about it, he thought all of his sons were killed. No. Just Amnon. And so then Absalom had to flee for three years. He he had fled away from city of Jerusalem as such, and and then, Joab, could see that David was missing Absalom, and so Joab concocted a plan to send a woman to David and do a little parable, little story, and then David David, realized Joab was behind it and gave permission for Joab to go and retrieve Absalom, bring him back to the city. But David didn't go reconcile with him. David didn't go consult his son and talk with his son for two full years. He just left Absalom there in his shame. The people thought Absalom was a hero for stepping in there and standing up against, you know, Amnon on behalf of Tamar. And so Absalom began to sit stand at the city gate and gain more and more of the hearts of the people, And pretty soon, Absalom went in rebellion against David and tried to do a coup against David. And David fled, lest, you know, whole lot of lives be taken. And Ahithophel, who was David's greatest counselor, was now the counselor for Absalom. Who's Ahithophel? Ahithophel is the grandfather of Bathsheba. So he'd been waiting a while, wasn't he? He'd been done an injustice in that David went into his granddaughter and defiled her, and then killed, you know, his son-in-law Uriah. And so Ahithophel began to counsel Absalom, and the counsel of Ahithophel was like from the very mouth of God, they said. He was so wise. And then David had a different counselor at the time, and, Hithophel told Absalom, go after David right now. Get him while he's on the run. He's vulnerable. Well, David had a different counselor that came around back to Absalom and, but it's really David's counselors and told that your dad's like a wild bear. He's a warrior from his youth. You don't wanna get him while he's this mad. You wanna wait. Well, they waited and David gained his strength, and then there came a time where they went to battle. And Absalom was a beautiful looking dude, apparently, really good looking. His hair was really thick and everything, so much so they cut it and sell it each year. But his hair got stuck in an oak tree and he suspended off of his donkey from the ground and Joab comes up to him and thrusts him through with a dart, killed him. And David's reaction in second Samuel, this is this is a heartbroken father. We being a parent's the hardest thing ever. Hardest thing. The most humbling job in the world is being a parent. It's it's brutal. Just brutal. All those dreams, all those ways you think they're gonna listen to you, all those things you wanna do for them. And one urgent of a person can come out from underneath a rock and ruin the whole thing. They listen to him. They're seduced by him. They're sucked in. It's a spell. They come under a spell many times. Second Samuel eighteen thirty three, David wept and and he wept and he said, Absalom, Absalom, my son, Absalom, would to God I had died for thee. Oh Absalom, my son, my son. A father's sorrowful regret. I failed my son. I failed my daughter. I failed my family. You feel responsible. If you were to go out today as a father and you were to choose something that your flesh was craving, your flesh was wanting. There's people around you that tell you deserve that. You've sacrificed long enough. You've you know, and you do that and you leave a you leave carnage. It's a domino effect of everybody in your life, your family, extended family, when we decide to step outside of God's will to go indulge our flesh in our selfishness. And it just destroys everything, doesn't it? And God in his grace and mercy, he picks us back up and helps us get going again, and we say our I'm sorrys and all that, and we get going. But we're walking we're walking as David did with the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba. Now he's experiencing the sword within his own family begin to hit his heart as he took Uriah, as he took, Bathsheba from her husband and the child that died. A father's sorrowful regret. What did Absalom really want? What every kid wants, his dad's love. That's what Absalom wanted. He didn't want the kingdom. He wanted dad's love. Do your kids know that you love him? They're not gonna listen to you till they know that you love him. If they know that you love them, they might listen. And what did David want from his son? He wanted a son that would listen. Just listen. Would you please listen? Would you please respect me enough to just listen? Would you please attend church? Would you please spend time in the word? Would you please sow to the spirit so that you have the strength to resist the wiles of the wicked one. Well, dad, I'm going to college. I'm gonna get my career going. I'm going to the military. Son, will you continue to be in God's word? Will you continue to seek the Lord? Will you continue to be built up spiritually? Son, I don't want you to be a casualty spiritually. What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Son, I'm trying to get you ready for heaven. Alright, dad. Alright, dad. Alright, dad. Alright, dad. Are they listening? Verse 15, for though we have 10,000 instructors in Christ, I don't care how many people come through here in Corinth that act like they're the YouTube prophets. Yet have you not many fathers? For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. You got saved in our ministry. You got saved when I came here. Why are you listening to all these pretenders, these posers? What happened? Why won't you listen to me anymore? Paul earned the right to be heard. This intimate discipleship requires four things from the disciples. One, listen to his warning. Secondly, look to his example. Our kids wanna be able to mimic. They'll follow us as we follow Christ. If I'm not following Christ, why should I expect my kids to follow me and my example? Because my example is a hypocritical example. They see through the hypocrisy, makes them angry. Dad, you say one thing but you do another. Dad, you're telling me I should live this way but you're not. So Paul says here, wherefore I beseech you be followers of me. Who could say that? Paul can, but there's another part of it. Be followers of me as I follow Christ. That's why within the home when we're when we're letting the women know, the wives know, sorry honey, you can't be a pastor. Any of your wives wanna be pastors? Sonny, honey, you're finally gonna be in with the Lord when you really close to Jesus when you finally call me Lord, like Sarah called Abraham. That'll never happen, Rick. I know. I'd never want that to happen. It's just a joke. Okay? So wives, be submissive to your husband. The only way she can be submissive to that leadership in the home is if she sees that her husband submitted to Jesus. If he's into porn and he's cheated on her and doing all sorts of weird crazy stuff, she's she's gonna try to secure the kids and make sure this guy doesn't destroy all them. She's not gonna listen to a word he has to say. No matter how much he pontificates and goes to church with him on Sunday, she knows the real him. The raging and the anger and all that other stuff that goes on. Can't expect him to follow that. So Paul said, I wanna be an example. I wanna show you what the Christian life looks like. You've heard me say it, now I want you to observe, to watch. Jesus had disciples, 12 disciples that walked with him for three and a half years. They could observe, they could watch. When I went to school of ministry, that's how Carl designed it, is that we not only academic, but we'd hang out together and do things together and spend time together with a discipleship band, a group, if you will. And it was good to see the pastors up close to see and learn, you know, not just from afar, but kinda some of the things that they go through before we were to venture out. So the father is to model the Christian life. If dad wants to go to church on Father's Day, guess what kind of kids you have? See, that's how I know what kind of man of God you are, is when it's your choice what to do. Because you got a little leverage at Christmas and Easter, don't you, as a parent? Christmas and Easter, you can get your kids to come to church sometimes, more so than the rest of the year. But on Mother's Day and Father's Day, that's another one of those days where the kids say, dad, what do you want for Father's Day? Well, I don't want another tie. I don't want another tie. I want you to come to church with me. And then we're gonna go have brunch because pastor Rick doesn't finish till two. And and then we're gonna we're gonna go home, and we're gonna watch Ben Hur. And after that, I don't know. But if you're the kind that says, I'm gonna go fishing, you can fish any day of the fifty two weeks a year, man. You're showing me your priorities. Hey, I I can't make it to church. I'm I'm having church in the fishing boat. I'm having church hunting. I'm having church at the casino. I'm having church. Your kids aren't gonna follow you to church ever. They have nothing to do with it. They saw what a fool you are. They saw how little you value Jesus, how very little you love Jesus. You're gonna get the same out of them that God's getting out of you. Nothing. They're gonna live for pleasure, aren't they? But if you set the example, the fathers have the most profound influence of all, not the mothers, the fathers. And the mothers have to take the baton because the derelict fathers out there who think they're so great because they bring home the bacon, and in most homes, wife brings home more than you do. They're capable of making more money than you. And you're still gonna walk around like you're the cock of the walk. You can't do that anymore. They can do anything you can do, and they can do it better. They've mostly been holding back so that you feel like you're in charge. You know? You're really not in charge. God's in charge. But if dad would rather go fishing, sleep in, go to the ball game, party at the casino all weekend, guess what? So more children become drunks, womanizers, cheats because of parental, not peer pressure. So as many times as my daughter defied our advice, said no to what we're trying to get her to do and and seek the Lord and such, She never saw me and Kathy drunk, although she drinks. She never saw us do drugs. She never heard us use swear words or things like that. She could never say the reason I'm such a mess is because you guys were such hypocrites. No. Can't do that. Can't go there. I'm not perfect. Cathy is not perfect, but you had a good home, and you as a Christian kid did not value it. That's all you. And that's all you can do as a parent. You can't force them. And even if when you do make mistakes and you do sin, hey, I've got an out. You need to forgive me. I'm asking for forgiveness. I'm doing the best I can. You see me trying, And the kids need to see that and respect that. If they don't, then that's that's the respect that God has for them is the respect we have. They're they have a free will, free moral agency. We can't force them. All we can do is is teach and model the Christian life and hope and pray they come back one day and want to embrace that which we've modeled for them over a period of time. Paul says, be followers of me even as also I am of Christ in first Corinthians 11 verse one. Fathers are to mimic Jesus. I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. So we follow him and his example. Jesus never fails. This intimate discipleship requires four things from the disciples. Listen to his warning. Look to his example. Thirdly, learn from his instruction. Learn from your teacher's instruction. I'm so thankful that pastor Chuck was so incredibly consistent in teaching me the bible. Every single time I went to church, I knew what to expect. It wasn't gonna be fluff. He was always gonna be prepared. He was always gonna be ready to take us through the bible. It was not a waste of time. I always went away from there hearing from Jesus, the holy spirit speaking to my heart and life. Every single time. I got saved in 1980 at 20 years old. I'm still still putting the word for today app on my phone and earbuds in my ears and listening to bible teaching from my pastor. Because I want to learn. I wanna keep learning, And I wanna remember the things I've already learned and forgotten. I wanna be reminded of these truths. Right? And I'm so into the spirit. If you think you've arrived, if you think in your complacency, oh, I know it all. If any man thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. That's what happened to David. He he quit going out into battle. In a time when kings go out to battle, David was idle. David got up on the upon the palace roof and saw Bathsheba across the way, naked. And he gave in to the temptation. And a whole lot of people suffered because of his indiscretion, his sin. I don't wanna drop my guard. I don't wanna think I've arrived. I don't wanna think after forty three years of walking with Jesus that I don't need to be in his word and be in prayer and walk in fellowship with him and serve him. That I can just put it on cruise control and rely upon yesterday's manna. Every day I need to be partaking of Jesus, the manna come down from heaven. The freshness of his holy spirit ministering to me, I have to first learn before I can teach. I have to first receive before I can give. That's how a pastor is made. A pastor is made by being a student, by being a disciple. Don't tell me you can't teach the bible if you're a pastor. Amen. What are you doing? You're if you heard of an airline pilot that says, well, I really I really haven't taken any classes on, flying by just my my the electronics. You know? If we had some cloudy weather, we're doomed. I can only fly by sight, you know. That's just far above my my my level of learning, you know. I'm gonna go to the doctor and get a operation, but, you know, I've I've I've only done ingrown toenails. I I I haven't done a knee yet, you know. I watched the YouTube video though. I think it'll be okay. You're gonna take a saw and cut my femur bone? You're gonna pull my knee out and try and put in a a metal one, and you haven't done this before on a cadaver or or been trained at all? No. I'm just winging it. Yeah. And that's how some people approach the ministry. I'm just winging it. I'm gonna get inspired right now. I didn't do any preparation. I didn't study. I didn't go any time with the Lord, but I'm just Holy Spirit, I'm gonna speak extemporaneously. The Holy Spirit's giving me something to speak. And we're gonna be over here, over here, over here, over here, here. And then and then if I really don't know, I'm gonna say, let's read this. What do you think it means? What a mess that is. Let's have bible study. Let's get in a circle, and let's all read. And then what do you think it means? You've got the biggest mess ever. Who cares what people's opinions are? What does it mean is what we wanna know? Amen. What's it really mean? What's that word mean? What's fornication mean? Well, it's it's out there somewhere. Let's try and grab it. Every man doing that which is right in his own eyes, that a relativism. Oh, that doesn't apply to me. My interpretation is. Well, that's not what it says there. It says adulterers and fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God. Well, that's just loss of reward. I can't picture God, you know, send anybody to hell, you know. He says, verse 17, for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son. So this is, one that he's disciple. This is Timothy that Paul brought under his wing a disciple and now Timothy is becoming a pastor and Timothy is is one a mediator, one that's going to be a liaison between Paul and the church of Corinth because church of Corinth's got some trouble. So Paul's gonna help them get back on track and Timothy's gonna help him. My beloved son and faithful in the Lord who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. So Paul's consistent. Everywhere he goes, he teaches the same way. It's Jesus. He's bringing him Jesus. Timothy learned well. Paul was able to disciple Timothy as a son. Timothy was teachable. Now watch what Paul says to Timothy in second Timothy. The things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. We all pass it on. We all are in the Sunday school, in the nursery that which we learn, we pass on, we learn, we pass on, and we keep doing that throughout our Christian experience. When I first started teaching, it was in the two year olds. Kathy and I would watch the two year olds at Calvary Costa Mesa. Not a whole lot you can teach, two year olds. The best we could do is keep them from biting each other. That was about it. There's like 23 of them. It's like crazy. And then I graduated to teach in fourth graders and fifth graders, and a lot of them came to the Lord and did that for four years. Then began to teach home bible studies, and then I started getting a few opportunities at the church to teach, you know, other other times and places. And but the whole time along, I've always always always felt inadequate. And then that inadequacy, it's it's driven me to Christ that I might learn, that he might help me, that he might open the scriptures to me because I need to first and foremost be a student. I need to be teachable. And that which I learn, I pass on to others. Pass on to those in my home, those in the bible study, those in the church, those that wanna hear. Now, I understand not everybody wants to hear. And I'm not gonna change the message to get more people to be willing to listen to a pseudo Christianity or an easy believism or a watered down version where we start with Jesus, but then we go into psychology or therapy or Oprah or whoever it might be is on the scene these days. In first Timothy four one, Paul warned Timothy that in the last days many would depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. So I recognize that. I recognize that people that are gonna come through that door, not everybody's gonna wanna hear the word of God. If you can imagine that. If I wasn't teaching the word, I'd expect a whole lot of people to run. But you know what? It's the opposite. The more the word you teach, the more they run. The majority of the people run. So I'm so thankful for you guys because I got a few people that I get to teach. You're rare. Very, very rare. And you're the ones that are out there that have told me what these churches are like. The majority of the churches do not teach the bible, and we know that. And it's okay with us as far as we're not giving into their thing. I'd rather be poor. These pastors, these false guys, they got big salaries, big houses. They send their kids to college, put braces on their teeth because they got a lot of people, a lot of people tithing and giving, and they talk about giving. That's probably their main theme they talk about. So we don't need to go there and do that. We just focus on Jesus. We trust the Lord. We all walk by faith here. We just walk by faith. So we're not gonna give in the doctrines of demons. And then in second Timothy four three and four, it says in the last days, many would not endure sound doctrine. Sound doctrine means healthy doctrine, teaching. We need doctrine. Doctrine's important. Doctrine is the body of that God's revealed, the body of teaching that he's taught. Jesus said, go and teach them what sort of things, you know, that I've commanded you. The Lord taught them first, now you go teach them. And so we have this body of doctrine, but many aren't gonna endure sound doctrine. But they're gonna heap under themselves teachers having itching ears. So they're gonna look for teachers to tell them what they wanna hear. They're gonna look for people that affirm them and stroke them and and and and what you have is unbelievers. You you're you're trying to appease goats. You're appeasing goats. You're trying to get goats to be comfortable in a pew, but if I talk about sin and repentance and and prophecy and the Jesus, that's not what I wanna hear. I want my best life now. Tell me how I can have my best life now. And you know the beautiful thing about disciples and those that have developed endurance is we're watching the highest levels of suicide. We're watching anxiety, depression, discouragement. People are fainting right now. Why? Because they don't have the faith to endure. Because they didn't train the muscle. They didn't endure. They didn't go through the hard times and allow Jesus to be their strength. Faced like a muscle. It's gotta be exercised. But if you negate that, if you negate that relationship with the Lord and that dependency upon the Lord and getting to know the Lord, those cisterns are broken cisterns that can hold no water. Your house is built on sand, and people don't recognize it or realize it or see it until there's a crisis. And when there's a crisis, now you're falling apart. And and the price of food's only gone up 25%. Just wait. If you're weary with the footmen, Jeremiah says in chapter 12, you know, Jeremiah's wimping out, and God says it to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, if you're weary with the foot soldiers, if they're getting under your skin and you're starting to wimp out, Jeremiah, I'm gonna jump in and make it easier for you. I'm gonna send you to Club Med. No. No. He didn't. The Lord says, Jeremiah, get your big boy pants on because there's worse times coming, Jeremiah. If you're weary with the foot soldiers, what are you gonna do when the horses come with the chariots and the enemy comes in like a flood with the swelling of the Jordan in Jeremiah 12? So when we sit there with God and we say, oh, God, I can't handle this trial. I can't handle this difficulty. Oh oh, I want out. I'm gonna quit. I'm not gonna speak your name anymore. He doesn't sympathize with that. He doesn't say, okay. Wimp out. He says, buckle up buttercup. Get ready. Snowflakes, get to church, get in the word. Quit making excuses. Worse times, more difficult times are coming. Strengthen. If you're strengthened, you're gonna be able to help your family get through it. If you're not strengthened, if you're not equipped, if you're not ready, who are they gonna turn to? How are they gonna get through it? Timothy listened. Timothy looked. He learned, and now he can pass it on the same that which he learned on to others. You have to first learn before you can teach. You have to listen and learn and look unto the Lord. Jesus said to the church of Ephesus, I have somewhat against thee because I was left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou are fallen and repent, do your first works or else I will come into thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of its place except thou repent. That's the voice of a heartbroken father. The church of Ephesus was doing so good, they left their first love. They left home. They thought they could put it on cruise control. This intimate discipleship requires four things from the disciples. Number one, listen to his warning. Number two, look to his example. Number three, learn from his instruction. And fourthly and finally, live in submission to him. Meaning Jesus. Live in submission to Jesus. There's where our biggest problems are. We choose to sin. There's no nervous system making me sin. Alright? Get that through your head. There's no nervous system. There's no abuse that causes you to to, you know, that makes you sin, that makes you a rager. Those may be symptoms of some of the pain and that which is happening, but when you when Christ comes into a life, you might fall into rage, you might fall into anger, you might say some things, but God's begun a good work, and he's going to continue to do that work in your heart and your life. You're gonna start to get victory over these things as you learn to rely upon him. As you turn to him and you pray, Lord, take this from me. Lord, I just threw that hammer out there. You know, was so angry, my kids saw me do that, or Lord, a bad word came out of my mouth. My kids heard it. Lord, please take that from me. From thine to the heart, the mouth speaks. Lord, change my heart, oh God, make it ever new. And God answers those prayers, doesn't he? Cause you're showing dependence upon him. You're showing reliance upon him. You're not trying to change yourself. You can't change yourself. It's a work of God's spirit within our heart. Feast in six one, children, obey your parents in the Lord. Verse 18, now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you, too big for their britches. Some became puffed up like Lucifer. Some became puffed up like Cain and says, I'm not doing it your way. I'm gonna kill my brother with a rock. Paul had a discipline problem on his hands. How do you as a pastor, how do you as a parent, how do you implement godly discipline? When I was growing up, if you did something wrong, mom and dad are sitting on the couch or dad on the couch, they'd say stuff like, don't make me come over there. And then they'd say the next time, if I've gotta get up, all these threats, there'll be trouble. Or when dad's at work, wait till your father gets home, you're getting a licking. Wipe that smile off your face. Those are all these threats, you know, you didn't like when you had a day like that and hear dad's car pull up. You know? You knew that belt was coming off of his waist, and they'd take me to the back room there, and they'd say, Rick, drop your doors. And I don't know how your dad did it, but you'd have your rear end flashing them, and then he'd he'd he'd whip you. And you'd get two or three of them, be howling, neighbors could hear, and nobody turned you into CPS or anything, you know? It was a normal thing. And you you weren't mouthy to mom, you know, after that. You wanna tell her you're sorry and otherwise you get another one. And if you messed up at school and you were stupid enough to tell mom and dad about it, you get another one when you get home. So I lived in the day I told my grandkids where the principals could spank us, you know. They got this big long wooden thing and and then Barbara the secretary be watching, you know, witness and you know, a couple of those. Some of you went to Catholic schools. I hear some horror stories. Catholic schools, those nuns, man. Whoo. But it's common in the community. You know, you don't want anybody else disciplining your kids, but in the community, there's a sense of respect toward adults and authority that's taught. And, discipline, a major part of this. And so what should the pastor do with rebellious childish sheep? Let him keep fighting? Hey, just fight it out. Let's let's see. Give him time out? I'm gonna give you time out. You go sit over there, you know. Let them vote. Hey, let's vote. Let's vote which way we should go here at the church, you know. Let's vote. Let's put it to a vote. Hire a hitman, a butcher. Let's have a picnic. Let's, let's kill one of the sheep and have a picnic. There you go. And that's what the shepherd would do. If he has a rebellious sheep that continues to lead other sheep astray, they would butcher that sheep. They'll do everything they can to keep that sheep from leading the other ones astray, but there's a point in time where this one's incorrigible, and we're gonna we're gonna how many of had, lamb for Easter? We're gonna have some lamb. Verse 19. So we would say, we might suggest to them there's a better church for them. This church isn't working for you, and your temper tantrums aren't gonna work here. We're not giving into your temper tantrums, and we can't negotiate with terrorists. And so maybe you'll be happier somewhere else. And that's a nice way of saying goodbye. But everything calms down after that. And so I was very, very poor at this for most of the years of our ministry. I thought I could reach him. I thought I could change their mind. I thought I could get him to calm down. But in hindsight, as other pastors told me, I didn't nip it in the bud. I didn't stop it before it permeated, and that poison, that angst that can spread and divisions develop and stuff. And so you gotta be careful. But I will come to you shortly, the Lord will, and and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. So so many talkers. Everybody's talking. Everybody's got a a dream, a vision, a YouTube prophet. Yeah. This is gonna happen. You know? Show me the power. Where's the power? Show me what trials you can endure through. You're a Christian celebrity. You haven't gone through anything. You've been insulated from reality. You project this worldly success and that's really your attraction. That's what your people want is that worldly success. But when reality strikes, when the economy breaks, when somebody really gets sick, what are you gonna do then? Are you gonna be able to endure a trial where God tells you three times no? Can you endure a messenger of Satan that's buffeting your head, and you've got a headache in the apostle Paul? You've prayed for other people. You've raised other people from the dead, but God tells you no. You're gonna continue to live with that headache, Paul. That physical infirmity because my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength's perfected in weakness. What's he saying? It's what we said in the introduction. That pain drives you to Christ. It's what drives you to Christ. You're not a shallow, you know, surface y Christian. You've you need Jesus. You need him every day just to get through this day. So, Paul, you're gonna find that when you're weak, then you're strong because you're gonna be relying upon me. Well, Lord, I've been a strong man my whole life. I know. Unless you be exalted above measure, I'm gonna give you a messenger of Satan that's gonna buffet you to bring you to a greater dependence upon me because I don't want your pride to destroy you, Paul. I'm gonna keep you humble, buddy. And nothing like a physical infirmity to keep us humble. Right? Show me the power of your life. Show me the endurance. Show me the scars. Show me what you've gone through, what you've come through. And not for your evil actions because a lot of us have suffered the consequences of our evil. No. For your righteousness, trying to serve the Lord, trying to tell the truth, trying to be used of God. What kind of difficulties come into your life as a result thereof of you becoming a target? And JD talked about that. JD Frog the other week, he had a demoniac speaking out of the service, and one of the things he said that he's discovering is is that the devil hates hates him because he tells the truth. And because he tells the truth, his church becomes a target. His family becomes a target. And he's recognizing that the the the assault and the threats against him and his family and the demonic activity, the devil trying to destroy and neutralize the work going on there. And so expect it. Are people coming to Christ through your example? Or are you just pacifying goats, filling the pews with a bunch of goats, bunch of unbelievers, nickels and noses, people who are one day gonna hear away from me, I never knew you, you that practice iniquity. How tragic that's gonna be. These people do draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, Jesus said. He says, verse 20, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Paul's life produced fruit. Fruit came forth from his life. Is your life bringing forth fruit? If you're a compromiser, you're compromising with the world, your life's not gonna bring forth real fruit, real genuine fruit. You're gonna bring forth fruit as you abide in Christ. As you draw near to him and his life flows forth from your life. In Romans fifteen nineteen, Paul said, through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the holy spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about under Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Powerful. Turning the world upside down, cities turned upside down, riots breaking out, prison breaks. Powerful results. Verse 21, what will you shall I come unto you with a rod or in love in the spirit of meekness? And so we as parents, know, hey son, it hurts me more to spank you than you get in the spanking. Right? Paul said, you want me to come there with a rod? You want me to come as a heavy? I'll show you heavy. I'll show you. You remember Elijah calling down fire from heaven, you know? We can do it. Elamis the sorcerer made him blind. Do you want that kind of reaction? Do want me to discipline you the way I did Elamis the sorcerer? Or do you want me to be soft and me, loving and kind? Are you approachable? Are you teachable? You choose. How do you want me to discipline you? Hard or soft? Pain free change. Is it possible to change without pain? I think so. I think that's the way the Lord wants it. He doesn't wanna have to use pain. He says in Psalm thirty two eighty, he says, I'll instruct thee and teach thee in the way you should go. I will guide you with mine eye. So if you're looking at your master, at the shepherd, if you're looking, he's gonna say go left, go right, sit, stop, wait, if you're asking him, if you're watching him. But if you're not, then David goes on to describe how he's gonna have to put a bit in your mouth. What's the bit for? Pain. I can get the horse, I can get the mule to move by pulling on the right hand side. Right? Joy, there it's hurting. That's hurting. Over here, it's hurting. Pull back. I gotta stop. And so he says, be not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding whose mouth must be held in with a bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. And so God has to use a painful means in many cases to get us to follow his will for our lives. You can run, but you can't hide from God. You remember Jonah? Jonah, you can either go by way of boat or you can go by way of fish. You decide. It's volitional. You have free will. But you're going one way or the other, bud. Obedience or rebellion? You're unwilling? I have ways of making you willing because you're mine. And whom the Lord loves, he chastens and he scourges every son or daughter. Those that don't receive chastening, they're none of his. Jonah, you're mine. I love those Ninevites. And dude, I've got a great big fish for you, bud. You're gonna learn to yield to what I'm telling you to do. Any you experienced that? Say, I'm doing what I wanna do. I'm out of here. I'm 18 now. The Lord prepares a nice fish for you to ride in for three years. So you can go walking with God like Enoch or you're limping with God like Jacob. Jacob wrestled with the Lord and went away limping, but he went away changed, didn't he? From Jacob to Israel, governed of God, prince of God. But Enoch, he walked with God and was not. Lord is pleased with him and took him. What would it be? The fatted calf with dad or the pig's food of the prodigal? A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her that bear him. I love both my girls. I love my grandkids. I'm always gonna be proud of them, always unconditionally love them. There's a lot of hurt. There's a lot of sorrow. Not because it's my image I'm worried about as a pastor or this community. I could care less about this community, liking me or not liking me. My daughter, I have one prodigal. I have one that walks with the Lord. My prodigal, I love her. Nobody, nobody can shame me because of what my daughter's done. Doesn't matter. I love her no matter what. I don't care what they say or whatever. Doesn't matter to me. Because I know God's gonna complete the work he's begun in her. And I've never imposed upon her, oh, honey, you do know what you're making your mom and I look like in this community? I've never had that conversation with her. I don't care. This is a vile, wicked community. Who does this community think they are? A youth pastor raped my daughter and nobody cared. I brought her here, we brought them here at 10 and 12 years old, homeschooled. It's this community where my daughter learned to be a prolific liar and seduced and raped, I don't worry a bit. I don't care how many piercings. I don't care how many people through the back door try to remind me that kids shouldn't have tattoos. Who stinking cares what you think? She's my daughter. Let me evaluate your kids. It's a humbling job. It's super humbling. I can't write a book about parenting. I don't know how to parent. I'm relying upon the Lord. We held her up and dedicated to her. Pastor Chuck dedicated her. We're there, and she belongs to Jesus. And she's struggling. And maybe the Lord allowed that my life in some ways so that I have some empathy for you. Because if if both my girls would have turned out great, I'd be pointing a finger saying, you guys just don't know how to do it. Look at me and Kathy, man. You don't want that. You don't wanna go there. God, it's humbling. It's so humbling. It hurts. That's it just hurts as a parent. It just hurts. And it's not a hurt like she hurt me. It it hurts to watch her. It just hurts to watch somebody with such potential and such beauty to be, you know, destroyed by the wicked one. You hope and pray that it stops, that the prodigal will come home. Peter, in John 18, he denied the Lord three times. He said he wouldn't, said he was strong. I don't know the man. And and Luke's account, he even cursed. He's using curse words. I don't know the man. He's brought the cussing. I mean, if you start to talk to me about Hillary, you might get me to cuss, but or Obama, but this is Jesus, you know. You're one of his disciples. And he's cussing. I don't know the man. I don't know the man three times. Then Luke's account, on the third time, Jesus looked at him. And I don't think it was a look of, I told you so. You wretched man. No. It was Peter, I love you, man. I love you. I love you, Peter. I'm gonna meet you over here when you guys go fishing. You know? I'm gonna restore you, Peter. Do you love me? Do you love me more than these? Feed my sheep, tend my sheep, disciple my lambs. I'm not done with you, Peter. Peter went out and wept bitterly. It was a godly sorrow that led to repentance. Judas went out and wept, hung himself because the sorrow of the world. It was just a worldly sorrow. He didn't get his way. He wanted his way and he didn't get it. As many as I love, I rebuke and chase and be zealous, therefore repent, Jesus said, Revelation three nineteen to the church of Laodicea. If John five thirty, Jesus said, I seek not mine own will, but the will of the father which has sent me. Jesus was in obedience to his father. I do always those things that please him. This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, God the father said concerning his son. Is anybody listening? Except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and dies, it abides alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Do you know if you're dead, you can't even feel your nervous system? You know if you're dead, if you're hanging on a cross, you can't whine about who victimized you? And I wanna empathize. I want to be I want to be I wanna I want to let you tell your story. But once you tell the story, we're gonna bury it. We're gonna forget those things which are behind, and we're gonna press forth to the things which are ahead. Okay? We can't run this race looking back, being a victim. We're gonna run out of our lane. So we're gonna forgive, we're gonna seek to forget the stuff, we're gonna focus on Jesus, and we're gonna press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That's the only way we can run this race. And we're gonna set off the sin which the weights of sin that so easily besets us. We're gonna get rid of those things that are impeding our progress. That's selfishness. So except a corn of wheat fall to the ground and die, seeds gotta die first. You guys planting stuff. That seed's gotta die before it can germinate. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. We gotta die. We gotta look to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. The disciple listens, he looks, he learns, and he lives in submission to his father. Are you one of this man's disciples? Are you gonna say no with Peter? Is there enough evidence in a courtroom of law to convict you of being one of this man's disciples? Do people know that you belong to Jesus, that you're his, or you play on both sides, all fields? Let's pray. Father, thank you for apprehending us. Thank you like with the apostle Paul. He's going one way. He's breathing out threatenings. He's wanting to kill Christians. He's an enemy of the cross, a blasphemer, compelling people to blaspheme the chiefess of sinners. And Lord, on that way to Damascus, Lord, you arrested him. You intervened in his life. You took a killer. You took a hateful, religious, pious man who thought he was better than everybody else, Lord, and you broke him right there. You took him down. And Lord, you began to empty him over and over and over again, that you might fill him with yourself, Lord. And Paul proclaimed that it was the greatest privilege of his life. He counted all of his past exploits, all of his past, the things that he accomplished with the world, with the religious world as refuse, as dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. To know you, Lord, was his greatest joy and blessing. To know you, the power of your resurrection, the fellowship of your sufferings be made conformable under your death, Lord. Father, help us to take our cross up daily and follow Jesus, To not live for self, but to live for you, Lord. To be that corn that falls to the ground and dies, that your life, that the fruit might flow through us, Lord. No longer me living, but Christ living through me, Lord. Moment by moment, day by day, we don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring with the eclipse. We don't know what earthquakes are gonna happen or buildings fall or false flags or any of that stuff, but today, today, we can enjoy sweet, rich fellowship with you. And you're gonna prepare us today for tomorrow. And tomorrow, Lord, you're gonna be more than enough, more than sufficient for us to face whatever it is that you ordained for us to face tomorrow and the next day and the day after. Because Lord, you've begun a good work in us, and our confidence is in you. You're gonna complete that work that you've begun, and you're gonna complete that work that you've begun in our children, and Lord, in our grandchildren. You never fail. So Lord, we look to you. We look to you today to heal the broken hearts, to heal those with deep deep pain, sorrow from being abused, from our own actions or the actions of another. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, the old things are passed away, all things have become new. We thank you for the newness of life. We thank you that your mercies are new every morning. And there's now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Thank you for saving me, Lord. And while your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, if there's anybody here this morning and you're unsaved, you're lost. You're in your sins. You've been trying to do it yourself. You've been seeking help with therapists and anybody else that's out there that might wanna help, but it doesn't reach the deepest needs within you, which is to know God. You might even think you know God, but you realize you don't. You don't know God. It's superficial. It's from afar. God's tugging on your heart, and he's showing you the cross. He's showing you that Jesus died for your sins. He's wanting you to turn from your selfishness, turn from your sins. Let go of that leverage that you think you have because you're the only person in the world that's been abused. Let go of it. Jesus suffered far more than you'll ever suffer. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as were our faces from him. With his stripes, we are healed. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Look in the mirror. Quit looking at other people who abused you. Look in the mirror. You've sinned against God, and he's come that he might wash away your sins, that he might make you new, that he might give you the capacity and the love to forgive those who treated you in an unjust manner, unfair way. That you'd be set free. He came to set the captives free. You're not their dog. You're not their victim. You're his trophy of grace. Anyone here this morning? Lift your hand up. Receive Christ. We wanna pray with you. Don't try to go it alone. God sent his son. God sent Jesus to suffer in your place. Father, thank you once again. Thank you for the comfort that we have that we can walk by faith, not by sight. We don't have it all figured out, and we don't need to figure it all out. We can't figure it all out. That wouldn't be faith if we did. But Lord, we walk by faith afresh, assured hearts is flooded with peace, flooded with joy. So thankful that you've saved us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
