Podcasts about first corinthians

bible christians romans revelation confusion context uniqueness judgment day first corinthians doug wilson second corinthians gary demar

158: Is There a Judgment Day for Christians?

Do Theology

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2025 64:32

For those watching on Youtube, there are some technical glitches in the video, but the audio is mostly fine. Jeremy's microphone settings weren't in the right place, so there's some noticeable clipping. Also, Jeremy's voice was not in the best shape during this recording. But we trust everything will be alright! In this episode, Jeremy responds to a recent promo video for a discussion between Doug Wilson and Gary Demar on the subject of eschatology. Jeremy takes the opportunity to launch into a bit of a Bible study about one item in particular that is brought up as a main point in the video: the Christian's future judgment. For more discussion on this topic, see the article written by Jason Bradfield over at reformation.blog: https://www.reformation.blog/p/darrens-surprise-garys-shrug-and Do Theology is part of Foundations Media. Learn more at https://foundationsmedia.org https://dotheology.com https://store.dotheology.com https://www.buymeacoffee.com/DoTheology Contact Us: show@dotheology.com https://twitter.com/dotheology https://facebook.com/dotheology Subscribe to the podcast: https://linktr.ee/DoTheology 0:00 Introduction 1:30 Preterism 3:30 Context of the Video 7:13 Confusion about Judgment 17:46 Confusion about Timing 21:19 Confusion about the Day 25:17 Romans 14 28:43 Second Corinthians 5 33:44 First Corinthians 4 38:35 Revelation 19 43:41 First Corinthians 3 51:23 John 14 55:10 Uniqueness of the Pre-Trib View 1:02:46 Conclusion #Theology #Podcast #EndTimes #Eschatology #Judgment

Humbling Reminders About the Church and Its Leaders

Grace Central Coast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2025 39:36

As we continue our MESSY CHURCH study of First Corinthians, we come to a bunch of helpful and humbling reminders for a church family and for church leaders as Paul continues to dismantle the factions and unite the church around the Gospel.

church gospel leaders corinthians reminders humbling scripture readings first corinthians messy church

First Corinthians | Grace Be With You All

corinthians first corinthians

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2025 42:46

First Corinthians Week 41 | 1 Corinthians 16:19-24

Re:Member Core Practices VI Generosity

Sermons - Mill City Church

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2025

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning. My name is Spencer and I'm one of the pastors here. We are continuing through our Remember series. We're in the last couple of weeks of this series. We're walking through our membership commitments and what binds us together and belief and practice as a church. We're in the 13th commitment. Today we've got this and then next week our 14th commitment. And then we'll launch into our gift series for December. But I want to read the 13th commitment before we begin. It says, I will practice and grow in generosity by financially supporting Jesus mission in church in our city and the world. Therefore, I will consistently and sacrificially give to Mill City Church of Cayce and to Mill City Church of Cayce family as they may have need. So this is what our church commits to. But this really embodies the people of God for centuries. This is our story. If you haven't thought about this before, much of actually Western culture is impacted and shaped by the generosity of Christians. Like the majority of hospitals over time were started by churches and denominations. That's why so many in many cities have a Baptist hospital, a Methodist hospital, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, all at one point were they begun as seminaries. They were training grounds for pastors and educating laypeople in theology. The Salvation army was started by Christians in an effort to wage war on poverty in the London's east end over 100 years ago. The YMCA and the 19th century began as an effort to help Christian men. So it's the Young Men's Christian Association, Christian men who've been negatively impacted by the Industrial Revolution. Samaritan's Purse was started to wage to help kids that were affected in Korea by starvation. Habitat for Humanity was started by Christian missionaries who were building homes and then brought that back to America and has impacted many people for the last few decades. The majority of orphan care, orphanages, adoption agencies were started by Christians that have been run by Christians into the day. The examples go on and on. If you just think locally for a moment, the organization that's had the most impact on homelessness in the city of Columbia, without a doubt has been Oliver Gospel Mission. They've been doing it for over 137 years, since 1988, started by a Methodist minister. Our own hospital, Baptist Hospital, was started by the denomination that we belong to, the South Carolina Baptist convention, years over 100 years ago. So this is a part of the people of God. This is our story. And there are many examples of how this shows up. And our 13th commitment is in line with what God's people have done for Thousands of years. So today I want to show you where this comes from in the Scriptures and why we're called to live with sacrificial generosity. We're going to do a fairly quick blitz through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation to see this theme. This is going to be a biblical theology of generosity, this theme that gets pulled from Genesis all the way through Revelation, the end of the Bible. So we're going to see where this comes from, where we're commanded to live like this. And then I want to take a step back and examine ultimately why and how we're supposed to, as the church, live this out. So let me pray for us, and then we'll walk through this together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us see the gift that it is to live a life that is generous, that is not about self, but about ultimately you and your purposes here and beyond. And I pray that you would speak to us in a way that would disarm us and instruct us, and we wouldn't just be hearers of the Word, but would leave here as doers. And that's going to come through your work. So we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.Okay, so starting in the book of Genesis. One of the earliest examples we get of generosity in the Bible is in Genesis 14, when Abraham is. He wages. He's in a battle. And after they win that battle, there's a king and a high priest named Melchizedek that comes to him. In Genesis 14, it says,> And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. (Genesis 14:18–20, ESV)And Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. So this is one of the earliest examples we see of giving up your material blessings. Abraham gives up a tenth of what he has in response to this priest. This type of generosity gets enshrined into the Old Testament law When you read past Genesis, into Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers. When you read these books, you see throughout the law, this type of commanded generosity of the people of God. When you get to numbers 18, it's one of the places that commands the people of God to give of their finances to support the work of the priesthood. You see, the Levitical priesthood, that tribe did not have an inheritance from the Lord. That was land Their inheritance was to serve the Lord. And the people of God and the promised land were commanded to give to sustain the work of the Levitical priesthood. So you see this in the Book of Numbers and other places. In Leviticus 19, you see that the giving that God calls us is not just to help those who are priests, like Melchizedek, like the Levitical priesthood, but it is also to help one another. As you read Leviticus 19, this command to be holy as I am holy, there's a bunch of different parts in it. But one of the things that shows up in verses 9 and 10 says,> “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 19:9–10, ESV)It's just built into the law that as you harvest, don't take all of it. Don't be about the enrichment of self, but realize that there are the poor, the widows, the sojourners among you that do not have food and make sure that they can come and take part in the harvest as well. You see this in other places, like Deuteronomy 15. Deuteronomy 15 says,> “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be.” (Deuteronomy 15:7–8, ESV)Do not harden your hearts against your brothers who are in need. Throughout the law, you just see how God is commanding his people to think about one another in a way that is beautiful. And when you read the law, I'm picking places that I can't go to, all of it. But you read it. You read about the redemption laws, you read about the year of jubilee, you read about all these things that God commands of his people so that they might take care of one another, take care of the priesthood, who ministers on behalf of you, and then also take care of one another together. That's all over the Old Testament law.As you keep flipping through the Old Testament, you see examples of how this is lived out. But one of the places that you'll get to is in the wisdom literature. You won't just see that generosity is commanded, but generosity is also wise. It is wise to be someone who lives generously. In Proverbs 3, 9 and 10, it says,> “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” (Proverbs 3:9–10, ESV)I so appreciate that it's proverbial, which means it's not a promise or a guarantee. But what he just said there is that if you honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce, that first fruits language shows up in the Old Testament law as well. That is the idea that you take the first of your harvest, not the leftovers. And that theme carries throughout the Bible as well. Don't give the Lord your leftovers, give him the first fruits, the first and best of what you have. If you do this, then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine, which means, again, proverbial. Generally, if you will be willing to be generous, the Lord will provide for you over and over again. So we don't treat it like a formula, but we see that it's wise that those who live generously, the Lord provides for them again and again and again. We see this in 11:24.> “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” (Proverbs 11:24, ESV)Again, proverbial. But the idea here is that if you are giving freely, the Lord is taking care of you. But if you are greedy, if you withhold, if you are self interested, you will only suffer want. And there are plenty of other proverbs that hit different aspects of what it means to the wisdom that is bound up and not living for the enrichment of self, but living generously.Now, the Old Testament law, you see this from start to finish in the Old Testament law. This theme of God's people who were called to live generously. Then we get to the New Testament and then Jesus comes and begins teaching. And one of the most consistent teachings that Jesus has is on money and generosity over and over again. And Jesus doesn't just get to the commands, he gets to the hearts behind the commands. Because when you get to Matthew chapter six in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says,> “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21, ESV)So Jesus gets the heart of the matter, which is, do not, do not live for the riches of this present world. Everything that your heart so quickly desires, all the shiny objects and things in this life, all of it will end up in a landfill. It will decay. But if you will put your heart where God's heart is and the kingdom of God in eternity, you will store up riches that will never spoil or fade. Put your heart there. He gets to the heart of it. And this teaching that we get in Matthew 6 that is so helpful, helps us see, this is what we're called to be, is to put our heart in the things that God cares about that last into eternity. And listen, if you just do the Gospel of Matthew, I'm gonna do just some quick hits of just how he teaches this over and over again. But if you go back to Matthew 5:3, he says,> “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3, ESV)You get to Matthew 5:42. He says,> “Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:42, ESV)You get to chapter six, verses one through four. He says,> “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,” (Matthew 6:1–4, ESV)which is the teaching that we should give not to be seen. That we should not strut to the offering box and say, look at what I have done. That we should not let everyone know on GoFundMe that I'm the one that has given. We shouldn't make it known to everyone that I am giving, but we should do it in secret, because ultimately our giving is to the Lord and not to be seen by others. And he continues, I mean, 6:19, 24, we just read do not lay up treasures in heaven. 6:24 we read earlier is,> “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24, ESV)6:25–34 he says, do not be anxious about material needs. Seek first the kingdom of God. In Matthew 13:22, when he's teaching the parable of the sore sower, talking about the seeds of faith that are sown, one of the seeds that gets choked out is by the thorns, which is the riches and the cares of this present world. And that's a warning that if we care so much about material blessings in this life, we care so much about money and riches here, it will snuff out our faith. In Matthew chapter 19, we get an example of what that looks like. When a rich young man comes to Jesus and says, I want to follow you. And he gives his resume of all he's followed the law. And then Jesus goes straight to the heart and he says, okay, so sell everything you have. Come, follow me. And he says, no, it went away sad because he had great wealth. And then Jesus goes on to say in teaching that he says, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And listen, that's the eye of a sewing needle. Have you ever heard some prosperity? False prophets say, that's a tiny little door in Jerusalem. That's a lie. The whole point there is that, no, you cannot be saved as a rich man in your own, your own self. It comes through faith in Jesus Christ and him shaping us and our approach to how we think about money. That's just the Gospel of Matthew, but if you keep reading the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of John, Jesus continuously, repetitively, aggressively, at times teaches on riches because there's a lot at stake now.Jesus goes to the cross, he dies for our sins. He rises from the grave, conquering the power of death and its grip on us. And then when he ascends to the right hand of God the Father and the Holy Spirit descends upon the church. In Acts 2. We've been in this passage multiple times throughout this Remember series. We see the early church embody Christ's teachings on generosity. In Acts 2:44, it says,> “And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” (Acts 2:44–45, ESV)They believe it. They are all in on what Christ taught. And they just say, give it away. I'll sell this and I'll give it to you. Make sure that the saints are taken care of, make sure that the gospel can go forward. They believe this wholeheartedly and they begin to live this out. And when you read the rest of the book of Acts, you see this. And when you read the rest of the New Testament letters, Romans all the way through, you're going to see this over and over again. I can't hit all of it, but I just want to show you a few different parts of the New Testament letters that teach this theme of generosity. In Second Corinthians, chapter eight, Paul put he's talking to the church at Corinth, which is a very wealthy church and a wealthy city. And when he's talking to them, he uses the Macedonian church, which is in a different area that is not as wealthy, as an example to spur them on to generosity. And in chapter eight, verses three and four, it says,> “For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.” (2 Corinthians 8:3–4, ESV)That little phrase is one of My favorite phrases on generosity in the Bible, that this church was begging, they were eager. We cannot miss out on this. Can we give? The saints in Jerusalem were struggling, they needed help. And they said, I want all in on this. Can we be a part of this? And he's trying to help the Corinthian church. Do you not see how we're called to live? And if you read different parts of the New Testament in the letters, you're going to see this call to give to the efforts of gospel ministry and give to one another, to take care of one another. I mean, when you read the book of Philippians, y', all, we spent time a couple years ago in the book of Philippians, wonderful, beautiful theological insights, wonderful, beautiful passages. But when you get to the end, you see that it wraps up like a support letter because he's thankful for their partnership with him in the gospel. In 4:15, he says,> “And you Philippians yourselves know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving, except you only.” (Philippians 4:15, ESV)And he's just thankful, thankful for the church at Philippi and how they've invested in his ministry efforts. Paul at times had to be a tent maker, but he did need money to live on. He needed money to travel. And in First Corinthians 9, at one point when he's talking to the church at Corinth, he makes the point that it is my right as a minister of the gospel to be paid. And it makes that clear in the New Testament. Ministers of the gospel, those who do gospel work, should be paid to make their living by the gospel. But he tells the church of Corinth, I'm not demanding that of you because I know that's a stumbling block for you. I want you to believe the gospel. I don't want you to think I'm money hungry. And that is something that even shows up today. It's hard for pastors at times to talk about money because you don't want to fall into the category of money hungry pastors. But God talks so much about it and it's so important. So we will. Throughout the New Testament, you see this commanded generosity, these examples of generosity for the advancement of the gospel, moving forward through caring for one another, and all of that. As you read through the N terminates in the Book of Revelation. And if you were with us the last year as we walked through the Book of Revelation, those final three chapters is a vivid picture of where all this is going, that God's people get to experience the eternal generosity of God unendingly, that we get to have a feast with our God, that He provides for us, that we get to have eternal dwelling with our God, that He provides life and light and riches beyond imagination. Our God freely, lovingly, joyfully, gives to his people forever and ever and ever. Amen. And that is how the Bible ends. And you see from start to finish this thread that is pulled of generosity, of how God's people have been shaped by this and really how we've lived this out for thousands years.But all these examples that are wonderful and beautiful, all these commands that are powerful and all these teachings that shape us, it is also important to realize it's pretty dang hard to live this out. It just is because we're just so self interested. We're just self interested people. I know I am. I mean, I see it like I y', all, I see when my. Give you an example. When my kids, when there's a dessert in our household, they, they, they become feral. It's it's mine. Like you ever seen a, you ever seen a raccoon that's eating trash pizza? You come up on a raccoon eating trash pizza and you try to meet my children with a dessert, it's theirs. Do you know where they got that from? My wife? No, I'm just kidding. They got that from me. One of the most infamous stories in my family is when I was in college, I was home for Thanksgiving, my mom made this chocolate pie and she made it for me to take it to college back for exams. And I had it and my stepdad and my sister saw it and they said, ooh, I want a bite. And I grabbed it and I licked the whole thing. Which in my family was claiming it. I know in your family that might not have stopped anyone, but in my family that stopped everyone because this was mine. And that self interested instinct is all over how we think about riches. It's all over how we think about money. This is what we do, y'. All. That's why when the pandemic hit, what was the first thing to leave the shelves? Toilet paper. That's just everyone's like, gotta get it. I gotta get in my house. It's what we do. This is a human infection that we pass down from generation to generation, from forefathers to their children and grandchildren. This desire for the enrichment and care of self. We have a Bible reading plan that anyone in our church is welcome to go through, but a few of us have gone through over the last few years and I'm in this Bible reading plan the other few weeks ago, and we come up to 1 Timothy, chapter 6. And I'm reading it, and I just. Was just slayed. I read it, and I just want to read. Gets right at the heart of this. It says,> “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Timothy 6:6–10, ESV)Do you hear that? That's a warning. That riches can become your ruin. The desire for them can become a ruin for you. Verse 10. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pangs. And it's like, I just. I read that. I went, oh, my God, woe is me. If you, if you don't read that and tremble if you don't receive that and go, I. Where. Where have I fallen in love with riches and, and money in a way that is. That is literally risking me walking away from the Lord, then we're. We're not reading it correctly. It's a. It's a real danger. And if you, if you realize the danger of our. Of our. Of our besetting sin in our hearts. It's not enough just to look at the whole Bible and look at all the examples, because those examples, enough, even those commands are not enough for us to take our eyes off of the riches of this present world. We have to get to the heart of why. Why are we commanded to live this out? Why should we do this? And the example that we have of why is found in, in Jesus Christ. When you read 2 Corinthians, chapter 8, it says,> “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9, ESV)That teaches that Jesus Christ, the second member of the Trinity, left the glory and the comfort and the heaven to become man and dwell among us in poverty. That he left the riches and the comforts of heaven to live a lowly human life in need constantly. And then he goes to the cross where he has nothing. The garments that he has are divided amongst the people below and he's crucified for our self interest and greed and desire for the riches of this present world. And he resurrects to conquer the power of sin so that we might not be slaves to riches, we might be slaves to our desires for this present world, but we might be resurrected in faith to have new eyes and a new heart. That we might see that he is better and that following him and putting all of our hopes in eternity is better than anything this present world could have to offer. And that by the power of the Holy Spirit he might break us of a desire for things that will spoil and fade and fix our eyes on eternity. We read 1 John 4:19 the why is we love because he first loved us.> “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19, ESV)The only hope we have to grow in being generous people is to look at the example we have in Jesus Christ and put our faith firmly in him as our only hope. That is one and that is the why which shapes our commitment. I will practice and grow in generosity by financially supporting Jesus mission and church in our city and the world. Therefore I will consistently and sacrificially give to Mill City Church of Cayce and to Mill City Church of Cayce family as they may have need. God, who loves us, who came to rescue us, who saves us from our own selfish desires, sets us apart to follow him and calls us to trust him, to yield to him open handedly that he will provide for us and to lift our gaze to the heavens, to store our riches there, where one day we will taste and see of things that we could not passively dream, possibly dream or imagine about. That is what guides us and the hope that we have in this commitment as a church.So if that is why I want to end with how. How do we practically take steps to grow in this? It begins with giving. And one of the things that we say is in the language we have in our commitment is to is to sacrificially give. We use the language of sacrificial giving in our Give series in a few weeks. That's a language that's going to show up. That's a language we've used for years. We do not use the language of tithe. And if you grew up in the church, that's a very common phrase. It shows up all over the Old Testament law. Tithe, that just means a tenth. It goes back to the example of Melchizedek and Abraham. But you read the Old Testament, it says to give a tenth. The New Testament actually doesn't command the tithe. It embodies the heart of generosity from the Old Testament. But the language we see consistently in the New Testament is one of sacrificial giving. Therefore we command from the scriptures. You need to sacrificially give. And I think that's more helpful language than the time I do. I think that calls us to consider what we should give before the Lord in a way that is, that is meaningful. And I think for some whom God has blessed in this church, making money that you never thought you could make, if you say that giving is the tithe, you have limited yourself and you are not actually growing in sacrificial giving. For some of you, the tithe is the floor, it's not the ceiling. And you should be looking for ways to continue to grow in giving. And for others, like that's. If we just use the language of tithe, that's a hard place to get to. If you're not giving anything at all, that's a tough thing to accomplish. We want us to take steps of faithfulness and growing and sacrificial generosity. We do not dictate how much you should give. We do not dictate exactly where you should give. You see, the language that we got here is I will consistently and sacrificially give to Mill City Church of Cayce and Mill City Church of Cayce families. And above it, it says I will financially supporting Jesus mission in the church and the city and the world. So we're not saying that you've got to give all of your money to formally the local church though I would caution, I have heard and seen this over the years that some folks will say, ah, I just, I, no, I'm not, I don't know if I can, I don't know what the church is doing. I want to be able to dictate where my money can go. So I'm going to give to people in my church, I'm going to give people to my community. I'm going to give to orphan care, I'm going to give to missions. But I really, I don't know if I can give formally to the local church. I just, I don't know how. And I just want to caution you, if you have any bit of that zone in your heart, I want you to consider what functionally that means. It means that you do not trust the leadership of this church and work with our boss team, our boss Business Oversight and Sustainability Squad, that's our team that oversees finances in our church. So the elders and our boss team, I don't trust them to be able to give to the local church. And I just want to caution you on that, because I'll be honest, if I was a part of a church and I didn't trust the leadership of that church to handle the finances, I wouldn't be there. I just. I was like, if I can't trust you with money, then I can't trust you, period. And if that's the position of your heart, I want you to evaluate that and I want you to reckon with that argument, because I think you should trust the leadership of this church. You should formally give. You should give in the give boxes, you should give online. You should give to the local church and the ministry efforts entrusting us to figure out what is the best use of how these gifts have been given to use and distribute in a way that accomplishes the purposes of the local church. You should also give to your church family. You should be saving up regularly to give to your church family. You should be looking eager, like that Second Corinthians language. If I'm eager to jump in and give at a moment's notice to someone who is in need, y'. All. One of the benefits I have as a pastor is that I regularly get to see people who are embodying Matthew 6, not being public, letting the left hand know what the right hand is giving. So they come to one of the pastors and say, hey, I just. I want to be able to bless this person. Can you make sure they get this? Can you make sure that this person gets this? I see this all the time. I've lost count of how many cars have been given away in this church, how many washing machines, how many medical bills have been paid off. I've watched people just live it out in beautiful and wonderful ways. We should do that. You should be looking for ways to just bless people in our church who are in need and to see the beauty and the wonder and the glory of just joining in in God's mission and caring for his people, just as they did in Acts Chapter two.And beyond that, we should be eager to give beyond our church, beyond the local mission. That's one of the reasons why we give regularly to 1040 HOPE. 1040 HOPE is the mission organization that Ben Johnson, one of the members of our church, leads. It's on the meets on the third. They have office space on the third floor of our building. And we give to them, and we encourage you to give to them because we want to see the gospel Reach every nation, tribe and tongue and the areas of the world where there are not Christians or anyone that even knows the gospel. We want to be about all of it. So we. That's what. That's what it means to. That's how we should do this. We should give, firstly, meaning of your first fruits. Do not give your leftovers. We should give consistently, which means that some of you should set up regular giving and we should give sacrificially, meaning we should be considerate of giving in a way that we feel it, that it actually is a sacrifice. This is something we should grow in and take steps of faithfulness in. So if you're in a place where you're like, I just, I can't. I just. I literally can't give right now. I want to say very clearly that's a problem. But that's a problem we'd love to help you with. We have a financial care team that will sit down with you, that'll sit with you in your budget, that will help you figure out how you can take steps of faithfulness here. We want to help you to be able to do this. And when I'm coaching people up on this, that's why I think language of tithe can be discouraging at times. Because if you're like, I'm going from 0 to 10, I don't know how I'm going to get there. Just take steps of faithfulness. Start by giving 40 to 50 bucks a month. Do that and commit to it. And you might have to cut things out. But of how much you spend on Starbucks and Amazon prime and Netflix, and if you total all of that up, and that's more than what you give to the mission of God, that's a value statement. That is a problem and it needs to change. So we need to do some soul work in this. And I say, take steps of faithful. So I'm coaching people on this. I'm like, start here. Maybe next year you can carve out 1% of your budget and maybe the following year you can take a step of faith and double it at 2%. And maybe in three years you could double it again and get to 4%. Maybe in four to five years, if you're really figuring this out, you could jump up to eight. Figure this out before the Lord and ask the Lord what he wants you to give. But we can take steps of faithfulness and growing in this. It's worth it for our own souls to not fall in love with the riches of this present world. Some people will Say, like, I don't know if I can get. I don't know when I'm gonna have enough to give. I don't know if I'm gonna get there. And I will say to you very clearly, we have to be trusted with the small things that we're given so we can step into the greater things. The idea that if I make more down the road, I'll be able to give. It's not how we logically work. It's not how the scriptures teach this. We need to be faithful with little so we can later be faithful with much. We need to take steps of faithfulness to grow in this. I was talking with Raz Bradley. Raz, one of our pastors, was in Florida for a conference a few weeks back, and he got to meet a guy and hear his story, and I got to watch this video of this guy's story. But this. This man was. Him and his wife, years ago, were going to be missionaries. They're excited to go on the mission field. And as they're gearing up, ready to go on the mission field, his father sits down with him and his brother and says, hey, I'm retiring. He had a small mom and pop crane company. Because I'm retiring, and it's either y' all are taking this over or it's gonna end. But, like, I mean, we're. And he had a decision to make, and he prayed, do I go on the mission field or do I take over this business and use it for the glory of God and funding missions? And much to his wife's dismay, they didn't go on the mission field. Him and his brother took over this crane company, and they started out from the very beginning. They said, this is what we're going to do. We are not going to build this company for the enrichment of ourselves. We are going to take the profits. So about half invest it back into the company itself, and the other half we're going to give away. We're going to invest in gospel efforts. Now, a normal company, you do the first half, you've got to invest money back into the company, otherwise it won't make it. But the other half is yours. You get to keep the profits. And that's what it means to be a small business owner. And they said, no, we're going to take salaries and we're going to grow this company, and we're going to see the Lord grow this company over the years. We're going to see what he's going to do with this. And they did this for Years and tens of thousands turned into hundreds of thousands of profits, which turned into millions of dollars in profit to this year. They've given away over $70 million this year to mission efforts across the world. And it's like all along the way, it took salaries, they took decent salaries for a long time. He had $100,000 salary. You see the video of his house. It's a normal house. His car, it's an old beater car. And they had their most need. They had, you know, kids are going to college. He had a good salary of $150,000. And then when his kids were done with college, he went back down to $100,000. But they are handling tens of millions of dollars a year. And they're saying, I don't want it. I want to put that in the kingdom of God. And to think if this continues that for years to come, that they might invest a billion dollars into mission efforts across the world. Can you imagine the riches that they are storing up in heaven? What a life to live. What a legacy to leave behind. And y', all, the heart that is bound up in those men and their story is the same heart that is bound up. If you remember the story of Jesus and the widow's mite, the widow who comes to the temple and has only a few pennies to give, and she gives all of it. And Jesus points to her and says, look at it, look at her heart. This is what it means to be generous. And she gives all of it away. That's the same heart that was embodied there. It's the same heart that is bound up in the Christian who is looking at their budget and they're saying, you know what? I want to grow in generosity. I want to give to the church, to orphan care, to missions, which means I might drive the same car for the next 10 years and my co workers might have nicer trucks and nicer cars. But I'm going to take it on the chin here. I'm going to drive this thing until the wheels come off because it matters that I have the margins to give to what God wants us. This is the heart, the same heart that is in that. And that man is the same heart that sent a young Christian who's figuring out money for the first time. And they realize that the normative pattern that we've just accepted, that I just upgrade a phone every two years doesn't have to happen. So I'm holding this phone for three, four and five years so that I can have the ability to give and give generously to others. This is the same heart that's in the Christian right now that's looking at their budget and looking at inflation and going, I don't know how we're going to make ends meet, but I'm not cutting my money to this missionary. I'll cut my Starbucks habit before that happens because it matters to invest in the kingdom of God. That is the heart that shapes this commitment. Let me read it one more time. I will practice and grow in generosity by financially supporting Jesus mission and church in our city and the world. Therefore, I will consistently and sacrificially give to Mill City Church of Cayce and to Mill City Church of Cayce family as they may have need. Let's be a people that forsake the love of money and the love of riches in this present world, that look to Christ as our hope to change us and then take steps of faithfulness to be the generous people that God has called us to be.Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us submit something that is so dear to our flesh, something that we don't like to talk about, something we don't like anyone else talking to us about. But let's take seriously the teachings about money and riches in this life and let's be a people that embody the heart of generosity that flows throughout the scriptures that you perfectly exampled and that you hold out for us all the way to the new heavens and the new earth. In Jesus name, amen. The band's going to come up. We're going to sing one final song together. I hope as we consider these teachings this week, as they may be difficult for us to receive and even more difficult to live out, that we would seriously consider them, that we would not hear them and discard them, but we would actually let the Holy Spirit, as we sing right now, do some work in our heart that as we leave this place, we would sit quietly before the Lord and ask God, how do you want me to grow? What steps do you want me to take? And if you need pastors or financial care or anyone to help you figure that out, we'd love to sit down and help you do that.

america god jesus christ amazon netflix thanksgiving father lord bible gospel christians holy spirit reach western romans acts revelation numbers salvation blessed harvard corinthians jerusalem exodus seek humanity fall in love proverbs kingdom of god philippians old testament starbucks figure member columbia new testament generosity false korea scriptures thousands deuteronomy amen yale gofundme samaritan baptist salem verse sermon on the mount leviticus book of acts toilet heavenly father gospel of john generally corinth habitat ministers melchizedek ymca gospel of luke philippi in matthew macedonia faith in jesus christ in jesus dartmouth tithe industrial revolution esv young men methodist purse corinthian in acts ben johnson in genesis raz macedonian possessor acts chapter levitical first corinthians god most high cayce second corinthians esv you esv do core practices mill city church esv they business oversight

A Church Like Us: What We Can Learn from First Corinthians- week sixteen

Living Springs Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2025 22:36

The church in Corinth wasn't perfect—and neither are we. In this series, we'll explore the real-life challenges faced by one of the earliest Christian communities and discover how Paul's letters to them still speak to our struggles today.From division and pride to spiritual gifts and love, First Corinthians is a mirror reflecting both the beauty and the mess of church life. Together, we'll see how God works powerfully through imperfect people to build a community grounded in grace, truth, and unity.This week, Pastor Doug continues our seriesReflection Questions:1.How do I view death - as an unconquerable foe or as something Christ has defeated?2.What aspect of resurrection do I wrestle with?3. Am I spending my life or investing it?Do you have a question you've been wanting answered? Head on over to our website http://www.invertedorthodoxy.com/ to submit a question. You can find us on Wednesdays on Youtube, or wherever you subscribe to podcasts. To learn more about our church, you can visit http://www.livingspringsairdrie.com/

god jesus christ head church corinth first corinthians pastor doug reflection questions week sixteen

A Church Like Us: What We Can Learn from First Corinthians- week sixteen

Living Springs Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2025 22:36

The church in Corinth wasn't perfect—and neither are we. In this series, we'll explore the real-life challenges faced by one of the earliest Christian communities and discover how Paul's letters to them still speak to our struggles today.From division and pride to spiritual gifts and love, First Corinthians is a mirror reflecting both the beauty and the mess of church life. Together, we'll see how God works powerfully through imperfect people to build a community grounded in grace, truth, and unity.This week, Pastor Doug continues our seriesReflection Questions:1.How do I view death - as an unconquerable foe or as something Christ has defeated?2.What aspect of resurrection do I wrestle with?3. Am I spending my life or investing it?Do you have a question you've been wanting answered? Head on over to our website http://www.invertedorthodoxy.com/ to submit a question. You can find us on Wednesdays on Youtube, or wherever you subscribe to podcasts. To learn more about our church, you can visit http://www.livingspringsairdrie.com/

god jesus christ head church corinth first corinthians pastor doug reflection questions week sixteen

November 13th, 25: The Greatest of These Is Love: Exploring Job and First Corinthians

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2025 20:59

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In today's episode, Hunter invites us into the scriptures on this 13th day of November, guiding us through Job chapters 39 and 40, and First Corinthians chapters 13 and 14 from the New Living Translation. As Hunter reminds us, our journey isn't just about pages in a book—it's about encountering the living Word of God, who brings us true life. Today's readings reflect on God's unmatched wisdom in creation, the foundation of love in the Christian life, and the order God desires in our communities. Hunter emphasizes that without love, all our efforts and gifts amount to nothing—love must be the root and fruit of our lives. We're invited to reflect: Have we truly received and experienced the love of God? Because it is only through knowing we are loved that we can be vessels of love to others. Join Hunter for a moment of prayer, gratitude for supporters who make this ministry possible, and encouragement to carry God's joy and love forward into the world. No matter what today holds, let this episode remind you: you are loved. TODAY'S DEVOTION: If we fail to have love, we fail. We can pursue many things, but if we fail to pursue love in this life, we are lost. Love is the foundation of our lives. Love orders our lives and our communities. The extent to which we love is the extent that our lives will function as they ought, having order and peace among ourselves and within ourselves. It all begins with love. But here's the kicker. We can't give what we don't have. And we can't live a well ordered life of love if we haven't experienced love. So let me ask you, are you loved? Have you felt it? Do you know it? If not, I understand. It can be hard to know and feel. And sometimes we get mixed messages. Sometimes we're told that God is love, but then we say other things about God that don't seem loving at all. That's why I'm so eager and so committed to stating that fact each and every day to myself as well as to you. And that fact is this, that you are loved by a God who is love, full stop. Doesn't need to be qualified with anything other than that. Because everything about God flows from his love. And that's why I come to the Word each and every day, to remind myself. I want to remind you. When we come to the Word, the living word that is Jesus, we're able to see that God is love. We see it in everything about Jesus. He is the Word of God. And he is conspiring to reveal to us the extent of his love demonstrated in his coming to us, the incarnation, in his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension. Everything about him is demonstrating to all of creation who God is. Galatians 4:19—Paul says this: Oh, my dear children, I feel as though I'm going through labor pains for you again. And they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives. May Christ be formed in you. Fully developed—his love, fully developed in our lives, healing us, setting us free. May you know his love today. May you feel it today. May you understand it today as you look to Him. That's a prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen. Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. And now Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, Joy. Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation. Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL

November 12th, 24:Discovering the Way of Life: God's Work in Us and the Body of Christ

Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons and Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2025 21:13

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Job 37-38; 1 Corinthians 12 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible podcast! In today's episode, we journey together through the pages of Scripture, exploring the depths of Job 37 and 38, and discovering the richness of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Hunter invites us to open our hearts and reflect on God's unfathomable power, the beauty of creation, and the unity we find as members of Christ's body. Through heartfelt prayer, thoughtful reflection, and practical encouragement for everyday kindness, this episode weaves together wisdom from ancient texts and personal devotion. Whether you're seeking a deeper way of life or simply a moment of peace, join us as we focus our hearts on what matters most—and remember, you are loved. TODAY'S DEVOTION: The Way of Life. Have you discovered the way of life? The body of Christ, in all its rich variety, is made for life. It derives its life from the one who is life itself. So have you found the Way of life? What is the way of life? First Corinthians 12:6 tells us plainly: God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us—God in us. In all of us. The way of life is God expressing himself in us. It is God in the hand, in the eye, in the ear, in the man, in the woman, in the boy, in the girl. It is God in me and God in you. The way of life is God expressing himself through your uniquely created, gifted self. Do you have peace with who you are? Do you have patience with where you are? Are you confident with yourself? Are you confident with what God has asked of you? To the extent that you realize that God is at work in you, that will be the extent that you discover and live in the way of life. There's another way of living that is not life. And that, of course, is to deny or to fail to see or recognize or welcome the life that you have in him. We fail to surrender to his life and instead demand our own. But when we do live the way of life, God uses the unique ways that he has created and gifted us in service to his kingdom for our own joy, so that others might know and experience his love. He enables us to help others find the way of life and to awaken to the reality of Christ in them. Paul wants to show us the way of life today—verse 31: "But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all." And the prayer of my own heart today is that we will see it, that we will know it, that we will receive it, that we will live in it. That's a prayer that I have for my own soul. That's a prayer that I have for my family, too—my wife and my daughters, my son. And that's a prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen. Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. And now Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, Joy. Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation. Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL

A Study of First Corinthians November 12, 2025

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2025

November 12, 2025

November 11th, 25: Waiting and Serving: Lessons from the Lord's Table and Paul's Letters

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 11, 2025 20:37

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In today's episode, Hunter—your Bible Reading Coach—takes us through Psalms 122 and First Corinthians chapters 9 to 11. Together, we reflect on what it truly means to follow the living Word, Jesus, as we journey through scripture. Hunter emphasizes the importance of waiting for one another, serving with humility, and preferring others above ourselves, especially as we gather for communion. Alongside powerful readings and thoughtful meditation, you'll join in prayer, hear encouragement from G.K. Chesterton, and be reminded that you are deeply loved. So settle in, breathe deep, and let's allow these ancient words to guide us into a slower, more gracious way of living today. TODAY'S DEVOTION: Wait for each other. Slow down. Don't scramble to get yours, but see to it that others are served. That's the message at the heart of today's scripture and the encouragement found in Hunter's devotional reflection. Waiting is not something most of us want to do. Our world, our churches, even our relationships often suffer because we fail to wait for one another—we find it difficult to prefer others above ourselves, sometimes even at a simple meal. Yet, as Hunter reminds us, this is precisely what Jesus did the night he was betrayed. He served, he waited on his disciples. He was their waiter; he gave of himself on their behalf. In doing this, Jesus set the humble example for us all: to wait, to serve, to give ourselves for the sake of others. When we take this posture, remembering Christ by serving and preferring others, we make room for the Holy Spirit to work—not just in our own lives, but in the life of the church. Waiting becomes a simple spiritual discipline, one that opens us up to experience Christ's life and participate with him in his transforming work. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians challenge us: "When you gather for the Lord's Supper, wait for each other." It's simple, but necessary. Waiting reflects a posture that allows Christ alone to do what only he can do among us. As we gather in our churches, as we share at the Lord's table, let us be reminded to wait, to serve, to learn to give ourselves for others. That's a prayer Hunter has for his own soul, for his family—his wife, daughters, and son—and for you. May we learn to live this out in our homes, our communities, and our daily lives. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Daily Prayer (November 11th, 2025) Lord of life, you have awakened me again to the gift of this day. You go before me, walk beside me and dwell within me. Let me walk slowly in your presence. May I resist the hurried spirit of this world and instead breathe deep of your peace. Open my eyes to beauty, my ears to your voice, and my heart to the quiet work of grace. Help me not to strive, but to abide, not to achieve, but to receive. Today. Let my words carry your kindness. My actions reflect your mercy. My thoughts be anchored in your truth that I am yours and you are with me. Amen. And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation. Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL

November 9th, 25: Journey Through Job and First Corinthians: Seeking Justice, Truth, and Spiritual Renewal

psalms address dedication st john homily basilica first corinthians lateran mass readings

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2025 19:52

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Job 34; 1 Corinthians 4-6 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible podcast for November 9th, 2024. In today's episode, Hunter invites us into a thoughtful reflection on freedom, faith, and the journey of becoming who we are meant to be in Christ. We explore passages from Job 34 and 1 Corinthians 4 through 6, considering themes of justice, humility, and the transformative power of God's love. As Hunter leads us in prayer and meditation, we're reminded that true freedom is not autonomy, but living fully in the presence and design of God. We're encouraged to honor God not only with our words, but with our bodies and our lives. This episode is a soul-nourishing reminder of what it means to belong to God, to seek His kingdom, and to let His joy be our strength. Whether you're tuning in for a fresh start to your day or seeking wisdom for your spiritual walk, you'll find encouragement, challenge, and hope in today's episode. Let's join Hunter at the well of God's life-giving water and remember together: you are loved—no doubt about it. TODAY'S DEVOTION: You are free, my friend. But our freedom in Christ doesn't mean autonomy or abolition from all restraint on the self. No, it means that we are free in Christ. He has freed us to live in Him—the One who is the origin of our original design, the rock from which we have been hewn, the quarry from which we have come. And as we gaze upon him, we begin to see who we really are. The family resemblance begins to shine through, and we begin to honor God even in our bodies. May the Holy Spirit awaken our minds and our hearts to the reality of who we are and to whom we belong—that we might live to the praise and glory of the One who has set us free. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen. Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. And now Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, Joy. Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation. Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL

GOD'S NEW ADDRESS – Homily for THE DEDICATION OF THE BASILICA OF ST JOHN LATERAN - Nov 9, 2025

Fr Jim Chern's Homilies

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2025 15:54

Mass Readings for the FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE BASILICA OF ST JOHN LATERAN - Sunday November 9, 2025 Reading 1, Genesis 28:11-18 Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 84:3, 4, 5-6, 8, 11 Reading 2, First Corinthians 3:9-13, 16-17 Gospel, Luke 19:1-10

First Corinthians | Serving Together In The Gospel

gospel corinthians first corinthians serving together

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2025 62:08

First Corinthians Week 40 | 1 Corinthians 16:10-18

Re:Member Core Practices V Everyday Missionary

Sermons - Mill City Church

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 9, 2025

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptWell, good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We are working our way through our membership commitment. Normally we're working our way through books of the Bible. We are taking this season as a church family to say, hey, let's remember the things that we've committed together and let's recommit to these. We have a membership commitment. It looks like this. It's a one sheet piece of paper. It's got 14 points on it. It is intentionally simple. We are saying, hey, we believe the Bible and we're going to practice the things that the Bible calls us to. And this is some of how we're going to practice that together. The first ones are just, the first seven are things that we believe that we hold to, to be true. Number eight says, I actually believe that. I'm going to go apply that. And then from there on we're saying, this is how we're going to practice that here.If you are a Christian, you should belong to a local church that has some authority in your life. You, you should be around Christians who you are beholden to, to walk out the things of what it looks like to be a Christian. And this is just us saying, this is how we're going to try to practice that together. Here we've made it to point number 12 of 14 and we are turning and saying, this is what it looks like as we kind of face outward as we work as missionaries together. I don't know if you know this and hopefully by the end of the day it'll be clear, but if you belong to Jesus, you are on his mission, you're a part of his mission, which means that you are a missionary out in a mission field. Do you know that? Well, now you do. Some of you are foreign missionaries. Welcome. Please help these Americans meet Jesus. Some of you are like, I didn't move anywhere. I'm not a missionary. I grew up here. It's like, well, you did grow up here, but that doesn't make you not a missionary. That just means God has you here for you to be a part of his work here. And so we're going to look at that together.I'm going to pray and we'll read number 12 and then we'll start seeing, where does the Bible say this, how does the Bible say this? And how do we practice this together? Lord, we ask for your to bless our time. We ask for you to empower your word. We ask that we would actually, as we follow you and walk in the Spirit, do these things so that so more people might come to know you in Jesus name. Amen.So number 12 says this. Empowered by the Spirit and partnering with my community group, I will obey Christ's call in everyday life to advance his mission of redemption by proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples. That's why we call it our membership commitment. We are committing two things. Let me read that again. Empowered by the Spirit, partnering with my community group, I will obey Christ's call in everyday life to advance his mission of redemption by proclaiming the Gospel and making disciples. That center phrase there, his mission of redemption is kind of what everything else is built into coming out of that. Jesus has a mission of redemption that he came to redeem sinners, to rescue, to make them whole, and that we're on this where John chapter 20, verse 21, he says to his disciples,> Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."So the church, his disciples are sent out the same way that he was sent. We're joining him in his mission. This is the way Paul puts it in second Corinthians says,> All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.That what Jesus was doing was there was a lost world of people who were in rebellion and sin and Jesus died on the cross to pay for their sin. That he rose again so that we might have forgiveness and life. And there's forgiveness proclaimed in his name and hidden through his death. He is reconciling the world back to himself. That the gap between us and God because of our sin and rebellion is paid for. And then it says, he's given us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, meaning there's a way for us to find forgiveness through the work of Jesus and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. That that message has been given to the Church. This is why we say when we finish up on Sunday mornings and we're about to leave, we remind ourselves of this mission, this message, and we repeat consistently the Church's plan A for this message to go forward. There is no plan B. We've been entrusted with a ministry of reconciliation. We've been entrusted with the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal for through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We're sent with a message to implore, to plead, to call people to be reconciled. This is something that we're Commissioned to go do this has been given to the church. We're joining him in this mission.So let's go back to that first phrase, empowered by the Spirit. Partnering with my community group. Now, that's tagging back to some of the things we've already said in our membership commitment, that we're empowered by the Spirit, we're equipped for mission and service. I will say this briefly. If you are a Christian and you're like, I just want to know what it's like to walk in the Spirit. I want to know and live in the Spirit, then you have to do the things of the Spirit. And you have to do things that you need the Spirit for. You have to go and join him in mission and service. And then the Spirit empowers that. The Spirit does not empower eating Doritos and watching football. There are things that we partake in in life that we don't need to lean into the Spirit for now, sometimes the Spirit empowers you, repenting of how many Doritos you ate. He helps us with self control, but he's not empowering some of the things that we're partaking in. And if we want to walk in the Spirit, we're supposed to join him in this. And so we're saying, I'm empowered by the Spirit. I'm going to. Then we put partnering with my community group.We yesterday had our fall festival. In a few weeks, we'll start our Give series, our Give project, together as a church. And that's really it. As far as the things that we say, hey, our whole church is going to go do this together. We very rarely say, hey, we want our whole church to go do this. Most of the time, our groups are just serving and working and laboring alongside of each other. So we have groups that serve at homeless shelters and groups that have partnered to feed people and work on houses or build wheelchair ramps or groups that are hosting parties intentionally to welcome people who don't know Jesus. We have groups all over the place doing things all the time. Every once in a while, we'll say, hey, this group bit off a little more than they can chew. And if other groups would like to join them, they sure would appreciate that because they got excited and committed to some things that are kind of expensive, labor intensive. They're going to get after it. But we'd love for two or three groups to partner with them. But most of the time, it's just your group. What are you gifted in? What are you good at? And y' all are partnering Together. And the mission is served by us going together. So that's what we're saying. We're going to do this.In this context, I will obey Christ's call. This is not an optional thing. It is a matter of obedience. Matthew 28. Jesus, after his resurrection, he says he came and said to them,> And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."He's talking to his disciples. Go, therefore, and make disciples. Okay? So he says, go do with them what I've done with you. Go make disciples. Go equip people. Do exactly what I've been doing with you. You're going to go do that with them. And then he says, of all nations, at this point, he had 11 disciples. It's a big ask of 11 guys. There's an assumption baked into this that as they make disciples, those disciples are going to go make disciples. That this is something that's given to all of those who are going to be brought into this. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So it's for the entire earth until the end of the age. It's given to the disciples who are going to make more disciples, who are going to follow in this and continue. Which means that if you belong to Jesus, you are a part of the gospel going forward to the nations. Because this was not said in English, but it's made it here now. And if you belong to Jesus, you're here now as a part of this effort to join in.What does it look like to make disciples now, there are times in the Bible where someone is set aside for a specific purpose. We see that in Acts, chapter 13, there's a church, they're praying, and the Spirit specifically while they're praying and fasting, says, send Paul and Barnabas out to go do this, what I've asked them to do. So some people are going to stay and help send, and some people are going to go. That happens in Galatians. Paul talks about he has a ministry specifically to Gentiles, just like Peter has a ministry specific to Jewish people. That happens. My grandparents were missionaries to Nigeria. They learned Yoruba, trained to do medical work, and went and lived in Obama Shah to be missionaries. Which means that by learning Yoruba and moving to a Bomasha, they didn't learn Arabic and move to Lebanon. It's pretty straightforward. Seems Pretty self explanatory. But Ben Johnson, who is a part of our church and helps run 1040 Hope for the 1040 window, was in a class in Bible school and they were talking about the unreached people in the Islamic world. And he said he went back to his dorm and he wept at the idea that there were so many people following Islam, following Muhammad and not Christians. So he learned Arabic and moved to lebanon and started 1040 Hope. He works here now, helping send and equip missionaries. Sometimes people are set aside for specific tasks. But no matter where you are, where God has you, you're called to this, you're called to help send, and you're called to participate in this mission field, in this mission work, that we're a part of his mission of redemption. And I praise Jesus that there are people in Cayce and West Columbia and Irmo and Columbia that are here that know Jesus and are trying to reach people who don't know Jesus. So that's what we're saying, is that we're going to participate.That's what Romans 10 says. He just said,> For "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"Somebody's got to go. Somebody's got to sin. Somebody's got to go. Somebody's got to say it so that they can hear it. Once they hear it, then they can believe. Once they believe, then they can call on him. But Paul says none of that happens if we aren't going and we aren't talking. So that's where we come to what we're committing to, which is that we're going to practice this in everyday life, that in your normal everyday life, you're going to take the call to Christ's mission seriously. We're going to be mindful of it, active in it, aware of it.So what we're going to do for the rest of our time is we're going to look at where Paul talks about this in Colossians. There's a lot of places we could go, but we're going to go to Colossians chapter four and we're just going to look and kind of walk through the way he says it, what he says, and try to grow together. And what does this actually look like, how do you be what we call everyday missionaries? How do I do that? What does that look like? So let's read Colossians 4.> Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison—that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.So that's what he says, I want you to be in prayer. Then he says, at the same time. So while you're praying, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the Word to declare the mystery of Christ. But that would be the first thing, is to be praying for an opening for the Word. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door for the Word. And now he's specifically saying, pray that for us. But he's told them to be praying. And it would be a good thing for us to be praying for ourselves as well. For you to be praying for your group, for us to be praying for our church, that there would be an opening for the Gospel.So we start there. If you are going, how do I be in everyday mission? I don't even know where to begin. You begin by asking the Lord, give me opportunities, open a door, help me to be in the right spot, help me to meet the right person. Help there to be a window for this. You begin to pray for the people on your shift. You begin to pray for the people on your road. You begin to pray for the people who work out at the same gym. You begin to pray, Lord, may there be an opening. May there be an opportunity. May you give me, put me in the right place. I know somebody who used to say they would pray, lord, you fill my plate. You just be the one who puts on my plate what I have today. And you're asking, lord, put me in a place where I can share the gospel. So we start by praying. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that. We've got more things we're going to spend a little more time on. But we begin there. We begin by praying.Then he says that we may declare the mystery, which means that part of being an everyday missionary is that at some point we have to open our mouths and see the gospel. I said that. My grandparents were missionaries in Nigeria. They went as medical missionaries. My granddad actually became an obstetrician, an OB GYN because they said we need more OB GYNs to go do mission work. Which means that primarily what he did with his time was helped run a hospital, deliver babies. He would ride a bicycle around and help give out vaccinations. And he passed away this past November. And I was looking through his journal of his time there. And the very first page says, as you go preach, it's a reference to Matthew 10. You go to the next page and he talks about, I know I'm going to do mission work to medical mission work. I know I'm going to help run a hospital. But as I'm on my rounds and as I go village to village, I'm there to tell them about Jesus. He understood that it wasn't just the work of serving people who needed real, tangible earthly needs met. It wasn't just the in breaking of the kingdom, in a kindness and a service for the sake of healthy born babies, but that he was there to be able to articulate the gospel. And without an articulation of the gospel, it's incomplete. So we want your group to serve at a soup kitchen. We want your group to host a party. We want your group to do whatever it is in front of you that you're gifted to do. We want you to go be a part of a prison ministry. But we want, as you do these things, to love others, that you would articulate the gospel because at some point we have to declare it.Which brings us to the next thing that Paul says, which I'm very thankful that he says it. He says, pray also for us so there'd be a door open that we may declare the mystery of Christ and that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. The reason I love that is because Paul was aware that there were times where he had tried to share the gospel and it was unclear. There were times where the Apostle Paul was like, oh my gosh, I rabbit trailed all over the place. What was I even? How did I get from here to there? Or I made that way too complicated, Or I jumped this thing. Like I'm so thankful that he's aware this is something that I should practice, prepare in. That's what Peter says. Be prepared to give an answer. Which this means is one if you think, well, I'm not good at it. I tried that and I did a poor job. Cool. You're in a club with the Apostle Paul. That doesn't mean that there's some people who are just always good at it and some people who aren't. It means that this is a normal thing when you're trying to articulate the gospel to people, that you might mess it up a little bit. You might not exactly know where to what to say next. But it also means that we should pray about this and get better at it. You should work on how to clearly articulate the gospel.So I'm going to give you a starting place for that. This is where I think you should start. If you're like, I don't know how to share the gospel with somebody. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Pray and then do this. These are my starting places for you. I'm going to walk you through these briefly, and then I'll show you a little bit of how they work. First is if you're like, I don't even know where to go. In the Bible, if somebody walked over to you and said, hey, will you share the gospel with me? Where does the Bible say this? And you're like, okay, hold on. And you just. Romans Road is what people call it. But it's just verses in the book of Romans that clearly articulate it. And you can just kind of go to the book of Romans and work your way through. So it's Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23, 8:1, and 10:9. You can do 10, 9 all the way up to 13 if you want.> For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.> But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.> For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.> There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.> If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.You can do 10, 9 all the way up to 13 if you want. Romans 3:23 says that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Five, eight says that Christ loved us in that while we were still sinners, he died for us. 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. So you're going to say you're a sinner. There's hope because he loves us enough to die for us while we're sinners. There is the wages of sin. What you've earned your wage, your paycheck for sin is death. But there's a gift that's in Christ. Then Romans 8 says, there's no more condemnation for those who are in Christ. So that if you're in Christ, if you actually belong to him, then you don't get the wages of sin, but you get this gift of eternal life. You get no condemnation. And then 10, 9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. So then you get to go to Romans 10, 9 and say, do you believe that? Do you want that? Do you want to trust him? Do you want to confess? And it's just a way to say clearly a picture of the Gospel. So if you have nowhere, start there, learn at least the references so you can get a Bible out and show them. You have your phone in your pocket. Get a Bible app. That's a good place to Start.The other ones are concepts. There's a lot of people around you who do not know the basic storyline of the Bible. They think they do, or they think that we've all collectively moved on past Jesus and they don't need to know this information. It used to be you could start off by assuming people knew that the Bible, the basic storyline of the Bible, and you could start with just you're a sinner. And sometimes that would connect with people. But now a lot of people don't even know the basic storyline of the Bible. This is the basic storyline of the Bible. Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. Creation is that God made the world good. And we see this. You can connect with people on this all the time. There's a lot of really beautiful, wonderful things out in the world. Flavors, you guys. God designed the world and he made it to where food gets to taste good. That was nice of him. He didn't have to do that, but he made food good. Some chilies win awards. There's flavor, there's good, there's beauty in the world. Then there's the fall, which is that our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned, they rebelled against God and the curse enters the world and the world is broken. And we can see that clearly too, that there's so much wrong in the world. And some of the reasons it's so painfully wrong is because how beautiful it was or how much promise it held or how it could have been great if it weren't for blank. So it's creation and fall are seen clearly all the time. Redemption is that Jesus comes to fix that. He comes to reclaim the garden. He comes to buy back the people in rebellion. That there's this storyline of redemption. And actually we're all trying to live that out. We're all looking for something to fix the problem. And we're told that Christ is the only one who can. And restoration is that at some point all the sin and all the evil and all the brokenness is gone and it's fixed. There's no death, there's no pain, there's no suffering. That's the basic storyline of the Bible. And everybody's living in that storyline, whether they know it or not. We'll talk a little bit later about how to filter that into conversations, but I just wanted you to give the concept.The next one, which is more of a zoomed in version of the same kind of thing, is that there's a functional hell, a functional savior, and a functional heaven. So this is, if I'm trying to talk to somebody. And I'm trying to filter in these basic concepts. Functional hell is just whatever's really broken in your life at this moment. Or what would be the worst thing, the thing of nightmares that's chasing you down. There's something that is just, if I get stuck in this, it'll be awful. And then functional heaven is where that's not the case anymore. And so your functional savior is whatever gets you out of functional hell and into functional heaven. Functional meaning practical, current. Let me give you an example. You might have a co worker or a friend who grew up really poor and poverty for them is their functional health. They might be currently really poor. And that's all that, that's affecting them in life. They just don't have the money to handle the next thing that's coming. And so they're constantly talking about their functional heaven, which is, if I just had enough money, I'd be fine, then I'd be okay, everything would be fixed. And so their functional savior is their job that they currently have. But this could be as someone who's not poor anymore. It could be someone who's currently in the middle of poverty and fighting it. But their job, they want the job. They have some vague future job. Like they're just, they've got something that's going to get them from point A to point B. And as we're listening to them and relating to them, we have opportunities to understand. Well, actually Jesus is a better answer for these things. He's a more complete answer. He's actually a real response these things. Like he works in all this stuff to undo all of this and we have the ability to begin to speak in. So I'm going to give you examples of that in just a second. But let's keep following what he says so that you would make it clear and you'd learn some of these basic things. I think that's a good place to start. And again, like I said, I'm gonna show you two examples or some examples of the how that works in a conversation in just a moment when we get there, alright?Verse 5. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders making the best use of the time. So he says, be praying for an open opening for the gospel, that we might declare it, that we might make it clear. And then he looks at the church and says, walk in wisdom towards outsiders making the best use of those are those people who are outside of Christ that you should use your wisdom, ingenuity, intentionality for the sake of. How do I relate to people who don't know Jesus, and that you should make good use of the time. So when we talk about being an everyday missionary, this is some of what this means practically for us. We don't do a lot of things in this building. We meet on Sundays. We meet in community groups. We want you to walk in church, family. We don't have a ton of things on our calendar. This is a constant thing. When we go to add anything to the calendar, we sit and debate whether or not we should ever have anything on a calendar. We know that meeting and doing things is good, but, boy, we don't like it every time we plan something. It's just your pastors, just so you know. We don't want things on the calendar because we don't want you having a whole bunch of things to do here and missing out on being in the places where the people are that don't know Jesus.There are a lot of churches in this city. If someone wants to come follow Jesus, if they're looking for Christ, they'll come. They can show up. But there are a whole lot of people who do not want to be here. No, thank you. They don't want to come to your group meeting. They don't want to show up on Sunday. We have to go where they are. So we want you to coach a Little League team, join a bowling league. We want you to go be out in the world around people who don't know Jesus for the sake of being a missionary. So when we talk about making the best use of the time, what we'll do with people. I've done it consistently being a pastor here is we'll sit down and just go, hey, what time do you wake up in the morning? What time do you go to bed? What happens in between? What does Sunday look like? What does Monday look like? What does Tuesday look like? What's your schedule? What's your job? Because it's possible that you work out four days a week and you see the same people repeatedly. Okay, learn their name. Start praying for them. Take your headphones out, Start talking to people. And you might say, well, that's weird. Okay, be weird for the sake of people knowing Christ. Some of you work jobs where someone is stuck with you 40 hours a week. The only way to get away from you is to quit. And they need this job. So start praying for them and start talking to them. And start asking for openings for the gospel to make the best use of your time, we say things like, don't go eat in your car. Eat in the break room. If someone invites you To a thing, go to it. And you can complain to the Lord. You can lament to him. You can say, lord, I'm going to be really stressed out. I'm not going to know anybody. This is going to be really hard. And then you can say, so empower me with the spirit. Help me to get over that. Help me to go have a good time. Help me to make a friend. Open the door for the opportunity. Let me find the other person who's standing around awkwardly. I'll go talk to them and then go, we don't want to have a church kickball team. We want you to go join a kickball team with pagans and become real friends with them so that you might share the gospel with them.So if you look at your schedule and you go, I work from home. I don't have any roommates. I'm not in class with anybody. I don't know anybody. Then we just start going, okay, well, then you've got to get creative to make the best use of your time. And we'll help you plot on that. And you can talk to your group. But also you might say, I don't know anybody. I don't know how to make a friend. I've never made a friend in my life. Then we would say, join a community group. Those people have to be your friends. Step one. And then ask the people in that group, who are your friends? I'm gonna need to hang out with you. I want to join you in what you're doing. I tell my group this all the time, but if you invite someone to lunch and they'll go to lunch with you, you can just bring someone from our group to that lunch. They can't stop you. You can just be like, oh, so good to see you. Also got Logan to join us. Have a seat. What are they going to say? I thought it was just going to be us. They're not going to say that. And now they know someone else in your group. You're going out of your way to make the best use of the time. You're working together. Like, we get to do these things. But you're trying to think through, who am I around, where am I at, who's stuck with me, and how do I get to be on mission with Jesus there? Because those people need to know Christ, and we want you there. We want you to gather with us on Sunday, study the Bible, pray together. We want you to get with your group. This is why we have a review, the mission section where we're trying to talk through how's it going? What are you doing? Praying with each other, thinking it through. But then we want you out doing this. Okay? Making the best use of time.Then he says, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Okay, Ought to answer, meaning that there is a. We are things that we're supposed to be saying. We already know that. So there are things that we should be including in conversations that we have conversations where we should be gracious, grace filled conversations and seasoned with salt. I don't think that means just be interesting. You know, he's not just like, bam, flavor your conversations up. I think he's saying be intentional about how you speak to people making the best use of the time to declare the gospel.You know how like 95% of news anchors have worked to have this like generic American accent? Like they, they've gotten good at it, they practiced it, they just have neutral American. I think that most of us also have a practiced neutral American way that we talk to people who are not Christians. That if someone asked you who was in your community group that you've been walking with, trying to follow Jesus, if they said, hey, you know, I'm about to get married, do you have any advice? You might say something like, well, Ephesians 5 says, Matthew 19 says, here's one of the things we know as we follow Jesus, you might just. But if someone at work says, you got any marriage advice? I think a lot of us are more likely to jokingly quote a movie before we are to talk about anything that has to do with Christ because we know what we're supposed to do, have our generic American answers. Stop that. I've told this story a lot, but it was pivotal for me in my trying to figure out how to do this. I was in seminary. I was working at Sears selling appliances and yes, Fortune 500 company. You're right. It was a very excellent place to be. I'm not trying to brag. All right. Anyway, just trying to make ends meet. Was working there. And there was a guy I worked with who we would just be talking about, whatever, shift slow, or just having discussions about sports, money, life, whatever. And he would consistently say, well, I'm a Muslim, so we. I'm a Muslim, so I. Well, the Quran says he just did this all the time, all the time. And I had known him for months. And then suddenly one day I was like, wait a second, I can do the same thing. He's been teaching me Islam for like three Months. And I can be saying, well, I'm a Christian, so we believe I'm a Christian. So the Bible says I'm a Christian. And just applying it to me, that was part of it. He was just applying it to himself. He was just telling me, here's why I would think about it this way, because this is what I'm taught. And every time, I just found it interesting just listening to him, being slightly discipled at work on how to be a good Muslim. That's what I was doing. And I was like, this is. This is excellent. I can do this. So I started just responding, well, I'm a Christian, so we believe this, we think this. And it's a way to just incorporate it. It's pretty neutral. I'm just talking about myself, but I'm getting to articulate the gospel. I'm getting to articulate how the Bible influences my choices. I'm getting to have my conversation seasoned with salt.All right, let's talk through some of. Like, if you're thinking, okay, I want to do this. I want to figure out how to get this into conversations. It feels really weird, feels really hard. I want you to understand that this is some spiritual warfare stuff. The enemy doesn't want you to do this. There are some opposition things to this. It's not going to be the easiest thing. You're going to feel tense, adrenaline. You're going to have to lean into the spirit for this. All that's true, but I also want to just give you some practical things to consider and ways to apply some of this. I want to tell you a story about. I don't think I'm the best at this, but I trying to relate some of the stories, some ways that I've seen this work and some of the ways that I've been able to have this conversation.There was a guy who was putting in a panel at my house, and he was struggling. He's on, like, his fourth hole that he had drilled into the wall. He's over there, I mean, fighting it. And he's got some work to do to fix the problems he's causing at my house and to do the thing. But he's made more problems since he got here. He hadn't even done the thing he was supposed to do. That's what he was doing. But, y', all, he's stuck at my house. He can't leave unless he wants to quit his job. So I'm like, well, I better make the best use of the time. I have no real desire to like, talk to him. Just so, personal. If you're like, my personality is not like yours. My personality is to go live in the woods. My wife and I daydream about that. What if we just lived somewhere and didn't know people? We've gotten over it. We love y' all dearly, but we've had to work to get past that. And some days, we still want the woods, you guys. But I'm going, okay, I gotta. He's here. Let me try to, you know. And so what I said to him, I did. Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. I said, man's it fighting you? He's like, you know, he's trying not to be like, I'm ruining your house. But he was like, yeah, it's not going great. And I said, yeah, you know, I'm a Christian. And the Bible starts off. It says that God created the world and it was beautiful and that Adam and Eve rebelled. And it tells us that because Adam rebelled, work is cursed. So it's always like this, man. Most of the work, I always find that most of the work I'm doing, I can get 80% of it done in 20% of the time. And then I have, like, one screw that. I fight for four hours and go to Lowe's six times. And it takes it because it's cursed. It fights me. I was like. And that's one of the things that I think is wonderful about being a Christian is it says, jesus has come to redeem all this, to fix all this, and one day, it's not going to be a thing anymore. We ended up having a bit of a conversation out of that, but it was just. Anywhere there's brokenness, anywhere there's beauty, we can connect to creation and fall. And this happens all the time. We see beauty all the time. These are things that people point out to you all the time. They'll point out beauty to you all the time. Look at how wonderful that is. And we get to respond. Yeah, you know, I'm a Christian. The Bible says God designed all of this good and beautiful. And it's the beginnings of a conversation. It's seasoned a little bit. Somebody points out brokenness to you. They do this all the time. This is the worst. This is awful. Can you believe this? Yeah, I can. We've entered into a conversation about the fall. I can enter right into that. The Bible has a lot to say about fear and doubt and injustice and brokenness. And it also has a lot to say about the person who fixes that. The hope that we have to think through the functional savior thing.I had a friend who, the more I knew him, a big part of his story was how broken his home life was growing up. And it just factored really big in his life. Makes sense. And then he would daydream and he would talk about like his, his whole hope. The storyline of his life was get married, white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and not do the stuff my parents did. He was on a redemption arc. And so in that story, he has a functional hell and he has a functional heaven. So I can start listening for what's his functional savior. Some of it was him being a good father was going to come later, but it also was whoever he was dating at the time was going to take him from hell to heaven. Which meant a couple of things. He was going to put either way too much pressure on this person because he needs them to save him, or he was going to be too excited about the concept, the prospect of who this person was. That he was going to overlook a lot of things because this was his chance and it could be really bad, but he was just going to let it be really bad because this is going to be. Because it's not the reality of the situation, it's what it represents. And so I now, knowing the gospel, knowing this person, knowing their story, have ways to begin to fit in. Hey, man. I can agree with him on the brokenness. I can agree with him that this is good, but I can't agree with him that it'll fix everything. There actually is a better family and a better hope and an eternal one. And there's a better savior who actually can undo this in his heart in a way that this can't. She can't. There's a God who can speak to these things that are broken deep inside of him that she can't, won't ever be able to. And the expectations of that will crush her. So I have the ability to begin to speak in because I understand functional health, functional savior, functional heaven. And so this is a helpful way for you to begin to listen to the people that you're around and try to understand what are they thinking will fix this? What are they thinking will make this better? What are they thinking will save me? What do they think is broken? What do they think would be good? I had someone who's group leader in our church recently say this has been one of the biggest benefits of being in a community group for them is that we're consistently sharing the gospel with one another in our groups and it helped him understand how to do that at work, how to apply the gospel to all these different situations, how to begin to speak the gospel in all these different situations in a way that made sense.Okay, so we're going to turn off generic American responses. We're going to be praying for the Lord to give us some opening. We're going to have some mental preparation on how the general storyline works. We're going to begin listening for these things. And then here's what we're going to do. We're going to make some conversations kind of awkward, but not terribly awkward. But you actually have openings for these types of conversations all the time. Because people constantly ask you to agree with them. Constantly. They talk and talk and talk and then they say, right, you know what I'm saying? Isn't that what you would do? Don't you think? And how often have you listened to someone say things that no, I don't think. No, not right. No, that's not what I would do. And how many times have I just gone. Does that just. Why do I need to get in the middle of this mess? I'm like the kid in Christmas Story who just goes football even though he wants a red Rider carbon action single shot air rifle with a compass in the stock. Like he just is. He's got something he really wants, but he's lost. He's just not paying attention. He's just dumbfounded. Like this. So they say, right? Isn't that what you would do? Just go, no. First of all, it'll be fun, don't you think? How would you handle that? Whatever. They ask you this all the time, you know what I'm saying? No, I wouldn't do that at all. But we get these situations all the time. Someone says, you enter into a conversation where they're talking about what they would do if they won the lottery. Now pause for a second. I have my locker room, Sears job answer to that. But that's not actually what I would do if I won the lottery. And that's not how I would talk about it. If I was with my community group. If I won the lottery, first thing I would do is be terrified. I don't know if I can handle that amount of money. That sounds scary. Which is a weird thing to say to your co workers. They'd be like, what? I could absolutely handle millions of dollars. I don't think you could. I've seen you handle this paycheck bad. You guys, you've made a lot of bad choices since I've known you you get these opportunities where they ask you, what do you think? What would you do? What would you. How would you handle this? What would you do in marriage? What would you. I have people come say, hey, you got any marriage advice? You got any whatever? And these are these moments where we get to go, yeah, I actually do have a lot of thoughts on marriage, but I'm a Christian, so it's all informed by the Bible. Do you want to hear that? Oh, yeah. The Bible says. I'm a Christian. So the Bible says a lot about how we handle money. So I can tell you how I'd handle, you know, $2.5 billion. You're going to be annoyed with me, but here we go. And you can start those conversations. Someone says, am I right? And you can go, I don't think so. So. And they'll say, what? And you can go, I'm so glad you asked. But you have these moments all the time. And if you actually think about it, if you actually have your radar up, you've gotten a lot of windows, a lot of doors for you to begin to share the gospel, for you to begin to have conversations that are real. And the truth is, some of these people, you're like, I'm building a relationship with them. I'm building a friendship with them. And if I asked you why, you would say, so that I can share the gospel with them. Okay, and now you have these doors, these openings, these opportunities, and you're like, but if I do that, they won't be my friend anymore. Okay, well, then you're not making the best use of the time. If you're in these friendships for the sake of sharing the gospel, and you won't share the gospel, that's odd. But when you begin, if you say, well, they'll stop being my friend, well, then, okay, go make a friendship with someone who wants to hear this and pray for that door to be open. But you also don't know that that's true because someone shared the gospel with you. And it was like someone had brought water to a desert. And you would declare that it's the greatest news you ever heard. And there's somebody that you're around that you have a relationship with that you have an opening for, you have an opportunity with that you love dearly. And you might could begin to tell them something. And the spirit go to work in their heart because Jesus has bought them with his blood. And they suddenly go, thank you so much for sharing this.So we're going to go be active in this, and y' all you gotta understand there are some energy level things that happen in relationships and invitations there, your invitations to people, the things you're asking people to participate in, take energy level. There's energy level differences. So some people will be like, I invited them in my group, they don't want to come. Okay, first of all, invite people to your community group. That's one of the best places for them to be and hear about the gospel. But if they don't want to come, that kind of makes sense. Would you like to come to someone's house you don't know, meet people you don't know, discuss, eat food that was cooked at their houses that you haven't seen? You don't know where that came from. Just add a little bit of mystery. Discuss a thing you don't care about. Pray to a God you don't believe in for three hours. No. No. Well, that's weird. It's like that actually, they might not want to. That energy level, you know, there's a different energy level from can we grab lunch together to do you want to come to my community group? Do you want to get matching tattoos and move to Colorado with me? Like, energy levels on invitations change, you guys. And so start figuring out what will they say yes to. Some people would much be much more willing to come eat dinner with you at a restaurant than at your house. Some people would much rather eat dinner with you at your house. Some people don't want to come eat dinner with just you at your house because they have to carry the conversation. They'd much rather come to a party. Some people don't want to come to a party because meeting a bunch of new people scares them. Be wise, use the best. Make the best use of the time and start figuring out who am I around? What kind of invitation will they say yes to? How do I get the rest of our group around them? And how do we begin to be everyday missionaries together? But let's take this seriously because someone once told you the gospel and you will never be the same.And God has us around people where he has already infiltrated with missionaries and we're supposed to tell them, let's pray. Lord, may we be blessed in our everyday mission efforts. Lord, may your spirit be at work to convict and to send and to equip. And Lord, may when the gospel is proclaimed, people respond in belief. Help us to take this seriously and obey. Lord, we ask for open doors and for clear presentations, for fearlessness that we would be unashamed of the gospel. It has the power of salvation for all who will believe in Jesus name. Amen.As we conclude our time together, we're going to sing in a moment, but we're going to take communion. And in First Corinthians, chapter 11, Paul gives instruction on what communion is and how to respond to it. He says,> For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.So as Christians, we come around the table together to remember that Christ's body was broken for us, that his blood was shed for us, and that our only hope is in Him. Some of you have very real sins that you're struggling with right now, very real doubt, very real pain. And one of the things that we do is we take very real bread and very real fruit of the vine, and we remember that he died for us in a very real way, and that he rose in a very real way, and that his substantive work on the cross is effective and efficient for salvation, and that our only hope is in Him. There's something to the tangible nature of this, the slowing ourselves down and the remembering that if I'm not in Christ and he's not in me, I have no hope. And so this is something that we share together because we have one Lord that saves all of us.So if you are not a Christian, this is not something that you would partake in because you do not yet know and remember and proclaim the work of Christ on your behalf. But if you belong to Jesus, I would invite you to take a moment to confess, to take seriously what we are about to participate in. And when you are ready to take communion, if you have a gluten allergy, we do have gluten free, the back corner over there. So when you're ready, take communion.

November 8th, 25: Embracing the Message of the Cross and the Power of Prayer

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2025 5:12

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Job 33; 1 Corinthians 1-3 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible podcast! In this November 8th, 2024 episode, your Bible reading coach and brother Hunter invites you on day 312 of our journey through scripture. We begin with Job 33, listening to Elihu's heartfelt dialogue with Job about God's ways, before diving into the opening chapters of First Corinthians. Here, Hunter guides us through Paul's passionate plea for unity, reminding us that true wisdom and power are found in the "foolish" message of the cross. Alongside the readings, we create space for prayer—interceding for ourselves, those we love, and the world around us. Hunter reflects on the simplicity of the gospel: that God, in radical, co-suffering love, has revealed His heart for humanity through Jesus. The episode closes with words of encouragement, partnership shoutouts, and an invitation to return tomorrow to be refreshed by God's love. Whether you're seeking spiritual guidance, deeper understanding of scripture, or simply a moment of peace, this episode offers a gentle reminder: you are loved—no doubt about it. So, let's open our hearts and journey together. TODAY'S DEVOTION: His message doesn't come with a bunch of show and pretense. He's not trying to build his own name or his own following. He's not trying to present himself as a great philosopher or a renowned debater. He has a simple and sincere spirit-empowered message. And it's so contrary to what the world would expect. So much so that he calls it the foolish preaching of the cross. He presents the simple, sincere, self-empowered foolish preaching of the cross. That message is that God in his love has offered his dearly loved Son to redeem humanity, to restore and renew all that was lost. God has loved all of humanity so much that he became one of us. He came to us in self-giving, radically forgiving, co-suffering love. And on the cross, he has defeated death, despair, and the grave and drawn us to himself. On the cross, God fully revealed to us his loving heart, the precious value of every human life—including yours. Now we can know who God is and who we have become in Him. This is the foolish message of the cross. And it's for you, it's for me, it's for everyone. So today we rest in that, we rejoice in that. And we ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes that we might see more and more of what God has done, who he is, and what we have become. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, my daughters, my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen. Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. And now Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, Joy. Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation. Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL

First Corinthians | Faithful Stewardship in the Gospel

gospel corinthians faithful stewardship first corinthians

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2025 57:59

First Corinthians Week 39 | 1 Corinthians 16:1-9

A Study of First Corinthians October 29, 2025

Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons and Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 29, 2025

October 29, 2025

Third Presbyterian Church, Birmingham AL

"Forbidden Lawsuits" (1 Corinthians 6:1-11)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2025 31:16

This message, brought by Pastor Brock on October 26, 2025, continues our series on First Corinthians.

1 corinthians lawsuits forbidden first corinthians pastor brock

Ep 1195 | Jase Officiates His Son's Wedding & Miss Kay's Blessing to the Newlyweds Moves Jase to Tears

Unashamed with Phil Robertson

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 27, 2025 56:41

Jase steps into one of the most personal moments of his life: officiating his youngest son Cole's wedding. He opens the ceremony with a risky joke before laying out God's blueprint for an abundant life and a marriage rooted in Jesus. Miss Kay's handwritten message to the newlyweds leaves the family in tears, and quoting Phil's classic line about marriage has the guests cracking up. Al and Zach how God's design for marriage transforms families for generations. In this episode: Genesis 1; Genesis 2, verse 24; Ephesians 5; Ephesians 6; First Corinthians 7, verse 28; Proverbs 22, verse 6 “Unashamed” Episode 1195 is sponsored by: http://frontline21.com — Embrace biblical masculinity. Download the Frontline21 field guide for men and 21-day devotional at no cost to you. https://www.puretalk.com/unashamed — Get PureTalk for just $25 a month. Make the switch today! Kimchi One from Brightcore – Improve your health, improve your life. Get 25% Off with code: UNASHAMED at https://mybrightcore.com/unashamed or dial (888) 404-9677 for up to 50% OFF and Free Shipping – ONLY when you call! https://duckstamp.com/unashamed — Get your all-new digital duck stamp today. It's easier than ever! https://preborn.com/unashamed — Visit the PreBorn! website or dial #250 and use keyword BABY to donate today. http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters: 00:00-08:15 Jase marries off another son 08:15-13:29 The bridal party drill sergeant13:30-18:48 Jase runs the wedding gauntlet 18:39-29:12 A risky ceremony joke pays off 29:13-32:22 Phil & Miss Kay's message to their newlywed grandkids 32:23-40:04 How to raise godly children 40:05-46:04 Jase wasn't crying, he had something in his eye 46:05-50:20 Talk about Jesus to your kids 50:21-55:41 Wedding night jokes — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

God's Pleasure in Saving Through the Preaching of the Cross

Grace Central Coast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2025 38:50

God uses a "foolish" and "weak" message, means and people to save perishing people. Why? We explore that question as we continue our "Messy Church" series in First Corinthians.

god spotify cross corinthians saving pleasure preaching scripture readings first corinthians messy church

First Corinthians | Victory Through Our Lord Jesus Christ

jesus christ lord victory corinthians first corinthians

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 26, 2025 63:24

First Corinthians Week 38 | 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

A Study of First Corinthians October 22, 2025

Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons and Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 22, 2025

October 22, 2025

Third Presbyterian Church, Birmingham AL

"Dealing With Sin in the Church" (1 Corinthians 5)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2025 30:46

This sermon, preached by Pastor Brock on October 19, 2025, continues our series on First Corinthians.

church 1 corinthians first corinthians pastor brock

The Word of the Cross

Grace Central Coast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2025 40:41

In the first four chapters of First Corinthians, Paul calls the divided church of Corinth to a renewed unity around the Gospel. In 1 Corinthians 1:17-25 he tells us WHY the Gospel is a all supreme and all sufficient basis for the unity of God's people.

god spotify gospel cross corinthians corinth scripture readings first corinthians

First Corinthians | Raised In Glory

corinthians raised first corinthians

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2025 59:20

First Corinthians Week 37 | 1 Corinthians 15:35-49

A Study of First Corinthians October 15, 2025

Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons and Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2025

October 15, 2025

Third Presbyterian Church, Birmingham AL

"A Sermon Against Cruise Control Christianity" (1 Cor. 4:8-21)

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2025 25:18

This message was brought by Pastor Brock on October 12, 2025 and continues our series on First Corinthians. Please be advised this audio seems to have some quality issues.

christianity sermon 1cor cruise control first corinthians pastor brock

First Corinthians | If Christ Has Not Been Raised...

jesus christ corinthians raised first corinthians

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 12, 2025 77:06

First Corinthians Week 36 | 1 Corinthians 15:12-34

A Study of First Corinthians October 8, 2025

Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons and Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 8, 2025

October 8, 2025

First Corinthians | The Gospel We Received and Proclaim

gospel corinthians received proclaim first corinthians

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2025 78:09

First Corinthians Week 35 | 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Re:Member Core Doctrines IV

Sermons - Mill City Church

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2025

Group Guide Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. Transcripteah, I did that two weeks in a row. It's not a good start. All right. We are, as Matt said, we're working through our membership commitment, which is kind of uncommon for us normally. We're working through books of the Bible. We just finished First Samuel. We're going to pick up and go through Second Samuel next year. Don't cheer too loudly. I know you're super excited. You're like, I want to know what happens. Well, we're going to get there. But right now we're working through our membership commitment and we're trying to say, where do these truths come from if we're going to commit to these as a church, if this is going to guide us as how we're going to make disciples and how we're going to have life together? Where did we get that? And we are walking through each of these points and then looking at the Scriptures. If you want to grab a Bible and go to Matthew chapter 28, that's where we'll begin. But we are going to move all over the place this morning.During World War II in 1941, the Ford Motor Company built the Willow Run plant right near Detroit, Michigan. It was about a mile long. And they were building B24 Liberator heavy bombers. That's an actual picture of the plant and where they were assembling them. They were assembling those one every 63 minutes was coming off the line. That's like a squadron of bombers a day just in that one plant. Now, in order for them to do that, they needed to have the right equipment. They needed to have the right people. The right people with the right equipment needed to be doing the right job. And in order for them to go as long as they did and as quickly as they did and as well as they did, they needed to know the purpose. They needed to know why it was worth the energy, the effort, the time, the focus in order to do this. And in some ways, I feel like that's what we're looking at when we look at commitment six and seven for us today, which we're going to look at those two, is that we, as a church, God has designed his church to function where they are equipped and working together for a purpose. And that's what we're going to look at this morning.So commitment number six for us is I have been sealed by the Holy Spirit for salvation and empowered by him for mission and service. Now, we looked at sealing by the Holy Spirit for salvation last week. So we're going to start with and empowered by him for mission and service. That the Spirit has empowered us, has equipped us for what we need to do what God has called us to do. So Matthew 28. Look at verse 18. It says.> And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."So that the church is commissioned. This is the Great Commission, where Jesus says, this is what you're supposed to do. This is the purpose. This is what I'm sending you out. That you would go and make disciples, that you would bring people into what it looks like to follow me, just as I've brought you into it. And then he says, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age, that Jesus is going to be with them, to empower them to accomplish what he sent them out to do. And the way that he does that is through the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ. It's referred to Jesus says that he's going to send the Spirit. It says that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, that we've got the Holy spirit, Spirit.Acts 1:8. This is what he says to the same group, same disciples. He says,> But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.So they're going to be empowered. That's why we use that word. We're empowered by the Spirit. They're going to be empowered. They're going to receive power, and they're going to receive power for a purpose. He says, you're going to receive power from the Spirit. And he doesn't just stop. He says, and you'll be my witnesses that this Spirit is going to empower what he's called them to do. If you showed up for your first day at work, they sat you down in the office and they gave you three pool noodles and a sword, you'd have some real questions about what your job was. But if you come in and they give you the exact equipment that you need for the job that you're going to do, it makes sense. And so when the Spirit empowers us, he's empowering us for what God has called us to do, for what he's equipped us to do, what he's sending us out to do.So in Acts 2, 8 2, 38. Peter says this while he's preaching, and it's a helpful clarification for us to understand. Says,> And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."so that the Spirit is received upon conversion. That when we place faith in Jesus, when we repent, when we're baptized, when we're following him, that the Spirit then goes to work in us. We're not waiting for some later manifestation of the Spirit or some later filling of the Spirit, but that we are equipped with the Spirit. The Spirit comes in when we're sealed for salvation. We're also empowered for the work that he's called us to. And this is going to be referenced throughout the New Testament letters. We're going to look at Romans 12 together. First Corinthians 12 also speaks of this, and it's Ephesians 4 talks about it, but it says Romans 12 having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. So if you're a Christian, the Spirit has sealed you for salvation. Spirit's at work in your belief, and the Spirit is at work in empowering you to fulfill the calling placed on the church. But we have gifts that differ. Now they're gifts given to us by grace, meaning we haven't earned them. They've been granted to us through the grace of Christ and through the work of the Spirit, but they're different. So there are some things that you are good at, empowered by the Spirit intentionally for the sake of the work of the church. And there are some things that you're bad at. And that's just how it works. And there's some people around you who are good at something else because we differ in this. But he says, let us use them.> Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in his serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.So you are gifted and you should use your gifts for something. And we see this right? You see this in the church. This is actually one of the reasons why we exist in community groups. We're just trying to practice together as a church, what it looks like to be Christians. So in your community group, you're meant to bring the work of the spirit in you for the sake of the good of your group. This is why it matters. If you're consistently not there, that means there's work of the spirit that's consistently not there. This is why it matters. When your group says, hey, we're going to go do this as a mission effort, or we're going to go do this as a serving effort, and you just don't show up, that matters because the spirit empowers you for work, for service, for mission. But you see this in your group, right? There are some people in your group who, when they're like, hey, let's all go do this. Everybody all goes and does that. And they're somehow gifted to get people to lead, to get people to come along with them. And there are other people who are like, we're going to go this way. And they just head off by themselves. And it's like, hey, let's. Maybe that's not the thing that you're the best at. There's some people who, if they throw a party and they invite people, everybody shows up. My brother was like that. He could throw a party. He could get everybody to come. He wouldn't talk to them once they were there. Wasn't his thing. He was bouncing around, doing other stuff. There are other people who. They can't. They're not good relationally, socially getting everybody around. But when you're at a party. I was talking to some group leaders today. They were talking about this. They said, this person in our group, they can get people. And then they said, and I just show up and start talking to those people about Jesus. And that's my job. He said, I'm kind of feel a little socially awkward anyway, so conversation with me is going to be uncomfortable. Might as well be about Jesus. So he's just in there asking questions, talking to people. He said, that's what he feels gifted to. Do you know that there are people in your group, when somebody cries, everybody else just kind of looks at this person like, you gonna make them feel better? There are other people in your group who, when they go to encourage you, it's not encouraging. They're like, that's all right. One day you'll die. It's like, that doesn't. I don't feel better. Were you trying to make me feel better? Like, and we have gifts that differ, and we're meant to use these for the sake of building one another up. We're meant to use them. So if you were to say, well, I don't really have anything. The New Testament's going to say that you're wrong and that you're actually being a poor steward. What God has given you first.First Peter four says it this way, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. That we are empowered for mission and service.> As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.Now, we're going to talk more about mission in a moment, because that's going to show up again in seven, in our seventh commitment. But we're empowered for service, that there are things that are meant to be used for the edification of the church, for building one another up in love. And if you aren't doing anything and saying, well, I don't really think I'm gifted, I would tell you that the reason you don't think you're gifted is because you aren't doing anything. You all know when Superman found out he was bulletproof is the first time someone shot him. That's how he figured that out. That's how that works. That the Spirit has empowered us for the work that he's called us to. But if we don't ever go and we don't ever serve and we don't ever try and we don't ever know, he's not empowering you to sit at your house by yourself watching tv. That's not the thing that is empowered in us. He's empowering us as we go, while we walk in faith, while we go into missionary efforts, while we go into service effort, while we talk to someone who's struggling, while we pray with somebody. He empowers us as we go, and then we begin to learn what it is that he's gifted us to do. This is why you should try things. This is why you should serve. This is why you should ask the Christians around you, am I any good at that? This is why when someone asks you that, you should tell them the truth. No, I'll tell people. Sometimes I think if you really desire that, you can get better at it. Sometimes we'll say, hey, because we believe the Spirit has gifted you somewhere, we don't mind telling you we don't think this is it, y'. All. I spent one summer serving with children. I just felt called into ministry. I was like, I'm gonna go serve with kids. That was the last summer I ever spent serving with children. I've gotten a little bit better at it now that I have children, but only in, like, select circumstances, like when I'm coaching and I can make you run, but, like, you go Try some things, go have some people witness and tell you and help you along in it. But we are meant to go and we're meant to steward it. And if you were saying, well, I don't really have anything, that's actually an accusation against the work of the Spirit, his goodness and his grace. So let's be good stewards and let's go. Let's begin to serve, let's begin to labor, let's begin to work. When you show up to your group, start asking them, are there things I'm good at? Are there things you've find encouraging or helpful? Or the things that I should be doing? And start intentionally putting forth effort to serve and to build up your group. And it matters if you're there or not there. And it matters if you're pulling weight or not pulling weight. But there's something beautiful that happens as we do that together. I feel like that every once in a while when my group eats a meal together. It's actually like this beautiful picture of what the church is. Because all I brought was taco shells, but someone else brought meat and someone else brought cheese and someone else brought lettuce. And together we've made something beautiful, a taco, something wonderful. But if somebody doesn't show up and they're the meat person, it's like, get them on the phone. What are you talking about? You're not showing up. I'm eating shell with cheese and lettuce. Have you lost your mind? But that's the way it works with the church. That when we aren't participating, we lose something. Okay, I've said enough of that. Here we go.Number seven. Jesus will return to rescue his church and judge his enemies. Those who have trusted in something or someone other than Jesus will be separated from God for eternity. As a part of God's church, I'm sent to proclaim the gospel so that as many as possible might be saved. And through Jesus. Now it feels like a shift. And it is from. From our commitment number six to commitment number seven. But commitment number six, part of the reason we wanted to carry walk through these together is a number six says, the Spirit's empowered us for what God's called us to do. And then number seven begins to clarify, what is that? What is it we're supposed to be doing? Why are we building one another up in love? Why are we loving one another? Well, why are we caring for one another? It's so that the church might move forward and see people come to know Christ, so that we might see disciples made. So we're going to walk through this piece by piece and try to understand, where does this come from? So it says, Jesus will return to rescue his church and judge his enemies. This is often referred to as Judgment Day. The Bible calls it the Day of the Lord. We'll refer to it as the Day of Wrath, the day of Jesus Christ. Or often just that day, the day or that day that there is coming. A day, a moment in history when Christ returns. And when he does, there is judgment. Jesus will speak about this. Jesus actually says that on that day, people will be held accountable for every word they use. Acts 17, 30 and 31. Paul preaching says,> The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead, so that God in Christ is the righteous judge. That Christ will judge all of humanity down to everything we've ever done that's coming.First Peter four, five, he says,> They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.Now, this day is distinctly different, depending on whether or not you belong to Christ or you don't. And so I want to, as Christians, point out, that this is a day of joy for us.Romans 5 says this.> Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.So that the Day of Wrath is a day of salvation for those who are in Christ. If we've been justified by his blood, if we've been made right by his blood, if you've trusted in the blood of Christ to cover you where it says that there's a proclamation of forgiveness of sins, if we're trusting in the forgiveness of sins through the work of Jesus, then on the Day of wrath, we are saved from wrath. It's a day of salvation. Second Thessalonians puts it this way in chapter 1, verse 10.> when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.So that on that day of salvation, the Church marvels and Christ is glorified. And I always feel like John Piper is very helpful in These kind of passages. So I looked to see. I was like, I'm sure he has something to say about this. So I went to see if he did, and he did. And here's what he said, and I thought it was helpful. He says, what is marveling? Another word for marveling is being amazed. Amazement and marveling are not thoughts, their emotions. If you see something marvelous and you feel nothing, you're not marveling. I don't care what you think. If you see something amazing and you don't feel any amazement, you're not amazed. Marveling is a feeling. Being amazed is a feeling, not a mere thought. And I think that's helpful, and I think it's true. I think he's onto something here, that we feel it. You're either amazed or you're not, but you feel it. You have this moment of. Catches your breath that you lose yourself for a moment, and it's something that happens inside of you. That's why you ever tell a joke. And I mean, I do this. I tell jokes a lot of all the people around me, unfortunately, if you're going to be around me, I'm going to make jokes about things. But I'll be around people sometimes and they'll go, that's funny. And it's like, well, then laugh. You must not have thought it was funny. You just made a comment on the humor of it. And that's what A little bit like, you ever tell somebody really good news and they're like, that's wonderful. And it's like, wrong. You've done this wrong. That's not how you respond to good news. You should feel something. You should respond better. And that's some of what he's saying, is that when this happens, it'll be something we feel. He goes on, he says, well, what kind of feeling is it? It's a good feeling. People pursue amazement, they pursue marveling. That's why we go to the mountains and the canyons. That's why we get out of the city light so that we can see the stars. People pay money to be amazed, to marvel. It's a good feeling. It's a desirable feeling. It's a species of pleasure, joy, gladness, and satisfaction. So he's just looking at this passage and he's saying, when Jesus shows up in the church, marvels, it means they feel something wonderful. And y', all, as Christians, and I feel like Christians understand what I'm talking about. You've had those moments you couldn't describe, but you wouldn't. You couldn't talk, tears just ran down your face. You just had these moments where you were caught by the beauty and the glory and the goodness of Christ. These moments when you were overwhelmed by it. And what it's saying is that when he arrives, all of Christianity, everyone who belongs to Jesus, is just going to go, it's here. He's here. The moment has come and we're going to feel it. John Piper goes on to say that God will get the glory and we will get the joy, and that in our joy he will be glorified. That's what's happening on that day. And this is why Jesus is going to use language like he's the groom coming for his bride. It's going to be these pictures of joy, of love, wonder. And this looking forward to this day offers us comfort in the middle of difficulty, when we're facing trials we can remember. I know where this goes is what we're saying about. I know how this story ends. It comforts us. It also calls us to endurance. This ought to help you say no to sin. There are times when I think, no, I have a Lord. I can't just do what I want. And I'm going to stand before him one day and I'm going to give an account. I can't just chase after the things I desire. I have a king. But it also gives us endurance in the midst of trial and persecution. We know where this is going and that the Lord sets it all right. But throughout the Scriptures, there is clear and compelling and startling language given to this day of judgment. Clear and compelling and startling language. So I want us to consider those who have trusted in something or someone other than Jesus will be separated from God for eternity. Those who have trusted in something or someone other than Jesus will be separated from God for eternity. I'm now going to read two passages. We're just going to try to take them in. The first is Jesus speaking about this day. It's found in Matthew, chapter 25. He says,> "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."Jesus says, there's a day when the Son of man will come and the glory of his angels will sit on the throne and he'll separate and everyone will head eternally in one direction or the other. This is the way 2 Thessalonians says it, this is the evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you he's writing to this church in Thessalonica may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed. So he's saying on the day of Christ, when he's revealed, there will be relief and affliction when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming the fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.> and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.We're told that no one comes to the Father except through the Son, so that in order to know God, you have to know Christ. Jesus says, if you reject Me, you reject him who sent me. So to know God is to know Christ, to know God through Christ. And he says, do not obey the gospel. I think that's helpful when you consider what we just read in Matthew, that the Gospel is the news that there's forgiveness of sins proclaimed in the name of Christ, that we would submit to and repent in light of what Jesus has done, and then walk in obedience so that all those things that he talks to the righteous about in Matthew 25 show up. Because we're following Jesus in obedience to the Gospel. So it's not a list of ways that you earned it. Jesus has qualified us through his death and resurrection. His blood has covered us. That's what he said. If we made, if we're justified by his blood, how much more will we be saved from the wrath of God? So that it's work of Jesus that saves us. But it shows up in how we live. And there is a moment when people are separated. Those who knows Christ and those who do not, verse 9. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed they will suffer the punishment, eternal destruction. This is what the Scriptures teach. This is what we believe. That there is a day where Jesus Christ, as the King of all things, judges the world, and that the stakes for that day are eternal. But at that moment, there is nothing left to do but to be sorted and evaluated, welcomed and cast out. And as we look forward to this day as Christians, and as we look to it as a day of joy, and as we look to it as a source of comfort and a call to endurance, it also should give rise to such compassion in our hearts that drives us into Willing, delighted obedience to proclaim this message, because we should not want to see any cast out.So as a part of God's church, I am sent to proclaim the gospel so that as many as possible might be saved through Jesus. What we're saying is we understand this reality and we're supposed to go. It's what we say every Sunday when we're finishing up some version really of this. Our world is broken and marred by sin. The people around us are caught in it, in despair and headed towards destruction. And that Jesus tell us, tells us that judgment is coming. But we know that there's salvation in him and him alone. So empowered by the Spirit, you are sent. The church is plan A for this message. There is no plan B. We talk through this every week. We remember this every week because there are people around us who are going to be sorted with the goats on that day. So Jesus in Luke 24 says,> and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem."But there's a proclamation of the hope of the gospel that is to be sent forward. Acts 10. This is Peter speaking. He says,> And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.That we're commanded. Peter says, we were. He's talking about the. The disciples. But all of us that follow after them are commanded to proclaim this news that Jesus is the one who's going to judge and that there's forgiveness and hope in his name. Second Peter 3. He says,> The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.There are moments when you think, I just wish the Lord would come back. I wish he would end this. I wish he would come get us. And in those moments, I want you to hear the voice of the Spirit say, he's not slow, he's patient. And there are more who need repentance. He's not slow, he's patient. And there are more who need repentance. The message hasn't gone far enough yet. It hasn't reached them yet. He's got some that are going to believe at the message that's proclaimed and are going to marvel and weep and dance for joy on that day, but they don't know yet. And he says, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. We won't see it coming. Two weeks ago they said the Rapture is coming. I don't know if y' all heard that. No, it wasn't. That's not how it works. Facebook won't know about it. It's going to come like a thief. It's going to catch us off guard. But then the heavens will pass away with a roar and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.Why are we empowered? Why are we equipped? Why did they build a mile long factory? Because they were at war. And y', all. We should not be any less focused than someone who's building a bomber to fight Hitler. We should not be any less focused. We should not have any less ability to understand the purpose of what God has called us for. We should not lose sight of what really matters. Because there is going to be a day, and on that day, there's going to be a lot of things that do not matter. And there's going to be one thing that really, really does. Do you know Christ? Have you surrendered? Have you repented? Have you been saved by his blood? That's going to matter. But there's a whole lot of things that we focus on, spend time on, have energy in that do not matter. And we say things like, I don't know, it's been really busy. I don't know. It's hard for me to read. I don't know. I just feel so awkward. I don't. You know, I just. Bible's always been kind of confusing to me. Somebody's saying, hey. You say, hey, you need to be trying to build with people and share the Gospel. And it's like, well, I just don't know what to say. Then you say, well, read your Bible. Yeah, but it's hard for me to read. Okay. Didn't you quote stats to me about a sports team? Did you make those up or did you read them and memorize them? I don't know. I just kind of. It's hard. I'm busy. I can't. I can't make it consistently to this. I can't be a part of mission stuff. Okay. Do you miss a workout? Do we know what matters? Do we know that there is a day that will be to the glory of Christ, but there will be judgment on that day? Y' all have neighbors that don't know Jesus. Do I care or am I busy?As I was working on this and considering It I was considering how our groups function. We meet with one another and we have time where we're intentionally. We're just trying to practice what it means to be Christians, trying to practice what it looks like to follow Jesus. So we study the Bible together. We're not just a Bible study, but we study the Bible because Christians study the Bible. We eat a meal. It's not just about eating a meal, but we belong to each other. So we share a meal. We confess sin, we encourage one another, we ask, how's your life going? And we have a section in our normal group rhythm that's called Review the Mission, where we ask, who are you building with? How's that going? Who are you sharing the gospel with? And I've been considering recently that we have care nights. So if you're not in a group, there's a thing called a care night. If you're in a group, you know what I'm talking about. We sit and we say, how are you doing? Where do you need to repent? Where do you need to believe the Gospel? And I know as a group leader that if someone just said consistently was like, nah, oh, I don't do this. This isn't my thing. Or when we went around and we said, how are you doing? They just went, you know, basically some form of pass. We would be telling them, hold on a second. No, you. You need to understand how Christ interacts with your life. You need to know that you have sin, you need to confess, you need to walk in openness, you need to be rescued, you need to be redeemed. Like, we'd be pressing on this, but I started realizing that they're consistently. I feel like our group sometimes when it comes to considering mission, we just kind of. I don't have anything to say because that's not really a thing I do. And we need to have the same understanding. If that's not acceptable for people who know this, you have nobody in your life that you're praying for, that you're going out of your way for that. You care about meeting Christ? Nobody. Then find somebody. Love somebody. We tell people all the time, join a bowling league, but join it. As a missionary. I'll tell people. Sometimes I say, it's so hard to work at my job because I'm the only Christian. And it's like, I want to hug them and praise Jesus because Jesus has already infiltrated a place where there's no Christians, but you're there. Start praying, start pleading with the Lord. Start building friendships. We're supposed to Go.I was reminded as I was studying this, where Jesus says in Matthew, as he's telling the parable of the sower, he says, as for what was sown among thorns. So he tells a story. Somebody's casting out seed, and some of it lands in a place where crows come and eat it. And he says, that's the enemy. He just steals it away. They didn't understand. He tells about some lands in an area where it's got thin soil and it just burns up as soon as the sun comes out. He tells there's a place where it begins to grow, but thorns grow out. And he says, there's a place where there's good soil and it grows and produces. When he's talking about the thorns, he says this. He says, this is what that picture was. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word. But the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and it proves unfruitful.> As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.And I just wonder how much of when we talk about what it looks like to obey Jesus, what it looks like to share the gospel, do the things that we say are in the way, fit in the category of the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. And if we heard the Word, but it's being choked, there's hope in Christ. There's a day of judgment. And those who don't know Jesus and have not had him rescue them will spend eternity away from them. And on that day, there's a lot of things you're not going to care about on that day. There's a lot of things I'm not going to care about that I've spent time, energy and effort on. And I read this and I say, lord, stay patient. Because there's more people who need repentance and we need to go. Let's pray. Where we ask that your spirit would empower us, that you would burden us with the glorious weight of the good news, that we would carry this message, that we would risk awkwardness, that we would risk difficulty, that we would focus on, that we would see clearly that day so that we might be comforted, so that we might endure, that we might run from sin. And so, Lord, that we might proclaim that you were going to judge the living and the dead, but that you are the living God who died so that there might be forgiveness. May we go to hell in Jesus name. Amen.The band's gonna come back up. We're gonna sing. But I would ask you at this moment to consider what needs to change? How do you need to organize your life if this is true? What does that mean? Who do you need to tell? Who do you need to tell today? Who do you need to call and say, hey, can we get together? Where do you need to be more intentional with the way that you organize your time so that we might go? This news is too good and that day is too real for us to stay quiet.

First Corinthians: Body Life, Part 2

Something Good Radio on Oneplace.com

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2025 24:58

Let's talk about love, on this Tuesday edition of Something Good with Dr. Ron Jones. The Corinthian church had plenty of problems and plenty of questions. Questions about the gift of speaking in tongues, about eating meat offered to idols, about divorce and remarriage. In First Corinthians, the Apostle Paul offers a practical response to these and other issues. But the foundational principle upon which all his answers rested was love. Stay with us now as Ron continues his teaching series, “The Ultimate Road Trip Through The Bible.”

apostle paul speaking in tongues corinthian something good first corinthians body life ron jones

First Corinthians: Body Life, Part 1

Something Good Radio on Oneplace.com

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2025 24:58

Here in America, if you want to take a trip to Sin City, you'll go to Las Vegas. But in first century Greece, you'd have gone to Corinth. Corinth was Vegas before Vegas. Prostitution and debauchery ran rampant. And when a little of the pagan Corinthian culture began to infiltrate the church the Apostle Paul had planted there, Paul took pen to parchment and wrote them a letter. What did he tell them, and how much of what he said applies to our culture today? Find out next, in Ron's continuing series, “The Ultimate Road Trip Through The Bible.”

america las vegas greece apostle paul corinth sin city prostitution corinthian first corinthians body life

A Study of First Corinthians October 1, 2025

Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons and Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 1, 2025

October 1, 2025

First Corinthians | God Is Not a God of Confusion

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Play Episode Listen Later Sep 28, 2025 70:45

First Corinthians Week 34 | 1 Corinthians 14:26-40

The Parable of the Sower: Understanding Why the Gospel Takes Root in Some Hearts But Not Others

Reformed Brotherhood | Sound Doctrine, Systematic Theology, and Brotherly Love

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2025 63:13

In this insightful episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, hosts Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb begin their series on Jesus's parables by examining the Parable of the Sower (or Soils). This foundational teaching from Christ reveals why some hearts receive the gospel message while others reject it. The hosts unpack the four soil types Jesus describes, exploring what each represents spiritually and how these patterns continue to manifest today. They emphasize that while the parable reveals different responses to the gospel, it also provides comfort for believers engaged in evangelism, reminding us that outcomes ultimately depend not on the sower's skill but on the condition of the soil—a condition that only God can prepare. This episode offers both theological depth and practical encouragement for Christians seeking to understand the various responses to the gospel message in their own ministry contexts. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Sower serves as a hermeneutical key for understanding all of Jesus's parables, as it directly addresses why Jesus taught in parables and provides the interpretive framework for understanding their purpose. The parable reveals four types of responses to the gospel (represented by the four soils), but only one that leads to genuine salvation and fruit-bearing. The focus of the parable is not on the sower's skill or the seed's quality but on the condition of the soil—emphasizing God's sovereignty in salvation while encouraging continued evangelism. The "rocky ground" hearers represent those who initially receive the gospel with joy but have no root system to sustain them when trials come, often resulting in what we might call "deconstruction" today. Christians should expect varied responses to gospel proclamation and not be discouraged when the seed appears to be wasted on unresponsive hearts, as this pattern was predicted by Jesus himself. The parable provides a warning against shallow faith while encouraging believers to develop deep spiritual roots that can withstand persecution and trials. Genuine conversion is ultimately evidenced by fruit-bearing, not merely by initial enthusiasm or religious affiliation. Understanding the Soils The Parable of the Sower presents four distinct soil types, each representing different responses to the gospel message. The first soil—the path—represents hearts where the gospel makes no impact whatsoever; the seed simply bounces off and is quickly snatched away by Satan. This illustrates not merely outward rejection of the gospel, but also intellectual non-comprehension. As Tony explains, this doesn't necessarily mean active hostility toward the gospel but could simply be indifference: "It may not be someone who has like a closed fist, 'I hate the gospel, I hate everything about God,' but for some reason they're just not [interested]." This parallels Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him." The rocky soil represents those who initially receive the gospel with enthusiasm but lack depth. Their faith appears genuine at first but quickly withers under pressure or persecution. This phenomenon is particularly evident in what we often call "deconstruction" today—where someone who appeared genuinely converted falls away when their faith is tested. As Jesse notes, "I think what I've been helpful for me is to get outta my mind...what's the length of time here? Is it possible that somebody could be in this place...which presents like a setting down of deep roots that could last like years on end?" The parable reminds us that immediate joy at receiving the gospel is not necessarily evidence of saving faith, and it calls us to examine whether our own faith has sufficient depth to withstand trials. The Comfort of Realistic Expectations One of the most encouraging aspects of this parable is how it calibrates our expectations about evangelism and gospel ministry. Jesus teaches that when the gospel is proclaimed, we should expect varied responses—including outright rejection—not because of any failure in the message or messenger, but because of the condition of human hearts. This provides tremendous comfort for believers engaged in evangelistic efforts who might otherwise be discouraged by apparent failure. Tony highlights this point: "This parable is not about the skill of the sower or even the efficacy of the seed...The point of the parable...is that it has to do with the soil itself." This understanding frees us from the pressure of thinking we must somehow perfect our evangelistic technique or presentation, while also removing the false guilt that can come when people reject the message we share. Furthermore, the parable encourages continued, generous sowing of the gospel seed. As Tony observes, "We don't see the sower in this parable meticulously only identifying the good soil and only planting the seeds there. He does promiscuously spread this seed everywhere that he can." This reminds us that our responsibility is faithful proclamation, while the results remain in God's sovereign hands. Memorable Quotes "The Parable of the Sower teaches really that the gospel call goes out to all... but only those who God regenerates, that good soil, are gonna receive it savingly and will bear fruit." - Jesse Schwamb "Just because our experience of Christianity and our experience of being in the faith feels so genuine and real and rooted, we should also recognize that it felt real and genuine and rooted for [those who later fell away]... There's a caution there for us." - Tony Arsenal "The exhortation built into this is that we need to seek that root. We don't get to determine what kind of soil we are on an ultimate level—that's God's election and his secret providence. But on a horizontal level, in our experience of things, we have agency, we make decisions. We seek to be rooted or unrooted in the gospel." - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:36] Introduction and Greetings Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 462 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I am Jesse. Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast of Good Soil. Hey brother. Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. Well, will you look at us? Look at us. It's finally and officially begun. And that is this conversation. [00:01:00] Kickoff to the Parable Series Jesse Schwamb: This episode is really the kickoff, well, the first parable that we're going through together, starting a long conversation that I think is gonna bear much fruit, if you will. Yes. Maybe 30, maybe 60, maybe a hundred times. Lord willing. It's gonna be great. And we're starting off with a doozy. Yes. Actually, maybe this is like the granddaddy of all the parables because we're gonna hear Jesus tell us something about the word of God and how it's received among different hearers. And this is so fantastic. It's the only place to begin because this is truly some eternally contemporary words. Yeah, it's, this is the parable that's continually verified under our own eyes. Wherever the word of God is preached or expounded and people are assembled to hear it, the sayings of our Lord in this parable are found to be true. It describes what goes on as a general rule in our congregations in the world. Anytime the word of God goes out, what a place to begin. So we're gonna get there. It's gonna be great, don't you worry, dear listener. [00:02:04] Affirmations and Denials Jesse Schwamb: But of course, before we do that, it's our tradition, our word that's spoken is always something in affirmation with something or in denial against something. So I say to you, as I always do, Tony. What do you have for us on this episode? Uh, an affirmation or denial. Tony Arsenal: This is an affirmation. I'll try to keep it nice and short and tight. Uh, I am affirming everything that comes with the fall. It's the air's getting crisp. The season, the, the pumpkin. Yeah. Not, not the fall. With the, let's, let's, let's clarify. I'm affirming everything that comes with autumn. So, uh, the air's crisp, the pumpkin spice is flowing, the leaves are starting to come down. Although, as a New Englander, I feel like I might be a little disappointed this year they're saying that it might not be as vibrant because we've been under a bit of a drought. But, uh, I, I'm all for all of it. Sweaters, gimme like a nice cozy scarf to put on and like a, I don't know, like a stocking cap. Gimme some flannel. I'm just ready to rock and roll. I'm, I'm, I'm done with summer and I'm ready for fall and yeah, that's, that's the whole thing. That's the affirmation. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. [00:03:09] Autumnal Delights and Debates Jesse Schwamb: Beautiful. It's speaking of like eternally or seasonally contemporary. That is so good. Plus I would say like the fall or autumn. The best adjectives, doesn't it? Yes. Like including like the word ottum. Yes. Like, that's just a great word that we, we do not use enough of. So this season, loved ones dropping a tum in there because Yes. It's just such a good word. Tony Arsenal: And I, I know people hate on the pumpkin spice and uh, there was a rev, I think I've said this before, it's re revolutionized my understanding because I used to get so mad because I was like, this doesn't even taste like pumpkin. It's not pumpkin flavored items, it's pumpkin spiced. Flavored items. So it's the, the spice you would use in pumpkin pie is the spice that they're talking about. So people complain that you're just putting nutmeg in things. And to that, I say yes, that's the point. You just start adding nutmeg or pumpkin spice or cloves or all spice or whatever it might be. The point is we're using the same spices that you would use for making a pumpkin pie or some other sort of fall. Delicious fall. Pumpy squashy, goodness. Jesse Schwamb: You got that right. This is a classic case of don't hate the player. Hate the game. Tony Arsenal: It's true, it's true. And if you don't like it, if you don't like pumpkin spice, then just don't talk to me at all. I'm just kidding. Still get pumpkin spice. Like you can go to Starbucks and get the same, same coffee you always get. You don't have to get pumpkin spice, you don't have to drink pumpkin beer, you don't have to do any of that. The all the stuff is, all the normal stuff is still available. They don't tell you you can't have it. Nobody is opening your mouth and pouring it down your throat. So just calm down, order your normal drip coffee and move on with your life. Jesse Schwamb: Speaking of polarizing autumnal type things, I don't know if we've talked about probably, we have talked about this and I've just forgotten. Where do you land on the whole. Cotton, uh, sorry. Candy corn, not cotton candy, but candy corn. Tony Arsenal: I, I feel like we have talked about this and my perspectives may have changed over the years. I'm not a big fan of candy corn, but I will eat it until I vomit. If you put it in front, I think is the, is the consensus that if there's a bowl of it in front of me, the first thing that I will do is I will break off two little white tips of the ca uh, candy corn and stick them on my fangs and pretend to be vampire. Jesse Schwamb: Beautiful. Tony Arsenal: And then I will eat the remainder of the pound and a half of candy that's in front of me until I throw up. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. And I know there's some difference between like candy, corn and like the little pumpkin confectionary ones. Yeah. Some people prefer those over others. And then this is not even to talk about the whole debate between when it comes to Reese's Peanut butter cups and Oh yeah. The pumpkin variety of those and No, all that stuff. Tony Arsenal: No. Mm. Jesse Schwamb: No. To those? Tony Arsenal: No, to those. The, the shaped, the shaped, uh, Reese's Peanut butter objects, I suppose they're not cups at that point. Uh, they use a different kind of peanut butter. I dunno if you know that, but they use a different peanut butter. So they, they actually do taste different than the actual didn't know that says peanut butter cups. Um, it's either a different kind of peanut butter or a different kind of chocolate. But one of the primary substances, uh, not in the Aristotelian sense, uh, one of the primary substances is different. And so it does actually taste different. It's not as good. And then the balance between the chocolate and the peanut butter is off. It's, it's not good. I'm a, I'm a peanut butter cup. Uh, I like to say aficionado, but I think probably snob would be a better. A better term for it. Jesse Schwamb: Listen, you'll, you like what you like by the way, only on this podcast, only, I think among long-term listeners, would it be necessary to clarify that you do not mean substance in there was six alien sense. Tony Arsenal: That's true. That's, that's definitely true. Well, Jesse, that is where we are. Enough about my, uh, fall. Uh, food preferences. What are you affirming and or denying? Tonight, [00:07:02] Musical Recommendations Jesse Schwamb: I'm gonna also come along with you on it with the affirmation, and maybe while you're drinking that PSL or you're searching for that candy, corn, you might like, want something to put into your ears that isn't us, that's a little bit more melodic. And so I'm affirming with the, this time and age in which it is all about curation. That's often a lovely thing. I use Spotify for all of my music consumption, and they just fed me like a really interesting playlist that I would never have thought of as a category, but I've really been enjoying, it's called Math Rock. And I saw, and I thought I'm, I'm usually kinda like dubious of the Spotify playlist because like they're kind of out there for me generally. But I thought to myself, well, this is an interesting port man too. Like, I like math. I like rock, and the description was complex rhythms and mesmerizing loops. So I thought, I like complex rhythms. I like loops that continue and mesmerize, so the check it out for yourself. If you're looking for something that's like, it's enough to be interesting while you're working on something, but not too interesting. So that distracts you. This is apparently the jam. So yeah, it's like just really interesting rock oriented, mostly instrumental music that is like. Really motivating, but again, not interesting enough to really distract you from the task at hand if that's not your thing. The other thing I would recommend, I know you'll join me in this, Tony, is that poor Bishop Hooper released a new album this week. It's called The Serpent and the Seed, and this one has a ton of tracks on it, like 18 or so, and it, it as well is a unique mix of both instrumental, really lovely, beautiful pieces and then some that carry more vocal and melodic stuff that's kind of their customary jam. Both of 'em are great. They both do have kind of an an autumnal vibe, if I'm honest. Now I'm thinking about it. It's really the perfect compliment to whatever it is that you're consuming that has that pumpkin spice in it. So math, rock, the serpent and the seed. There you go. Tony Arsenal: I'm trying to synthesize. I mean, math and rock are like two of Jesse's favorite things. So I'm trying to synthesize what it would be like to scream the quadratic equation at someone with some sort of like slightly off cadence, dissonant guitar rift underneath. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. Tony Arsenal: I feel like there's a Me Without You album out there somewhere that that's exactly what it is. But Jesse Schwamb: yeah, probably there should Tony Arsenal: be at least. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there, there absolutely should be. And I'm with you. I'm willing to work on that album. That's a great idea. Like just, it's just an album of mathematical equations and like the deep mysteries of life, you know, listen, math is beautiful. Numbers are stories. There's, there's so much there. Yeah. You had me at Quadratic, so I, I think we've, we've given people a lot to enjoy in this fall season. It's true. Tony Arsenal: I, I. I couldn't solve a quadratic equation to save my entire life at this point. Uh, I took introduction to logic when I got to college 'cause I couldn't remember how to multiply fractions on the entrance exam. That's fair. So that's fair. So that was, that's my experience with math. But right Jesse Schwamb: now the internet wants to keep serving me videos about, you've seen like all these tests, like these entrance exams for like Harvard or like the Ivy Leagues, other Ivy Leagues, and it is all these random things, you know, like we're solving for like two variables, terminally, and there is some kinda like expon explanation to it. Um. Yeah, I guess that's what I've become and I watch 'em all. They honestly get me every time. Yeah. I'm like, I'm not gonna watch that. And then I'm like, oh, I'm definitely gonna watch that. So it just happens. It's great. Tony Arsenal: I love it. Meanwhile, meanwhile, YouTube is desperately trying to get me to watch Season six and Cobra High. And it's very quickly gonna be succeeding. I think the next time Netflix has a, has a promotion where I can get a cheap month or something like that, I will definitely be binging Cobra Kai. So I feel like our YouTube algorithms are very different. Jesse Schwamb: Very different. Yeah. Very different. Certainly in, um, there is a commonality of, of the mysteries of the world and. [00:11:06] Introduction to the Parable of the Sower Jesse Schwamb: In some way, that's what we're talking about in this entire series. And yeah, if for some reason you didn't hear a conversation from two weeks ago where we really set the table, I think for what a parable is, why Jesus uses parables. As far as I remember, you correct if I'm wrong, it was the definitive conversation about why the parable is not just peace wise in Jesus' teaching, but really why it's the centerpiece. Yeah, we talked about that at great length. So now we're really ready to go. If you didn't hear that, I highly recommend you go back and hear that. 'cause there's so much. I realize as we, we looked at this parable of the sower or better like the parable of the soils, that we could do a whole series on just this bad boy. Such not just like wide interpretation, but wide application. So much for us to really chew on and then to really come back to and chew the could. So we're gonna have to be probably every time a little bit self-editing and brief. So if you're just yelling at your device, why aren't you talking about this thing? There's a great place for you to yell into or maybe just calmly and very politely suggest rather than the void, you can join our Telegram group. Telegram is just an app for, it's kind of a conversational tool and platform, and if you're looking for it and I know that you are, don't, why would you even fool yourself? It's, you can find it by going to T Me Reform Brotherhood. There's a whole channel, there's a bunch of channels there, a bunch of little conversations that we have compartmentalize. There's one just to talk about the episode. So as we go through this, my encouragement to everybody is track with us, get your scriptures out. Come along with us in the actual journey of processing this. Do spend some time processing it with us. And then when there is inevitably that thing, they're like, why didn't you talk about this? You know, a great place to converse with others and us about that would be in the Telegram Chat. So T Me Reform Brotherhood. So enough of that, let's get to it. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, there's, there's some, um, there's some logic that would say we should have just rather than doing an Introduction to Parables episode, we should have just done the parable, because this parable does really follow, it really does form like an introduction to all of Christ's parabolic teachings. And, you know, it's, no, it's no, um, mystery either in God's providence or just in Matthew as being a, a, you know, somewhat genius level composer of, of a work of literature in putting this parable first, because you're absolutely right at the top of the show that this parable really is. Almost like the hermeneutical key for all of the parables. Not just for in terms of like understanding the parables, it doesn't do that so much. But in understanding the purpose of the parables and more importantly, explicitly in the middle of this, Christ explains why he teaches in parables. So we covered that a lot last time, so we're not gonna, we're gonna skip over that middle section 'cause we don't need to rehash that. But this really is the granddaddy of all the parables. It it is, um. It is Christ's teaching on why he uses parables in action. It's the application of his own theology, of parables, if you want to call it that. Uh, in principle. And he is gracious enough that in this very first parable, he actually gives us the interpretation, right, which is, is not entirely unique, um, in, in the gospels, but it is not always the norm. There are a fair number of parables where Christ just drops the parable and leaves it there, um, for both his immediate listeners to figure out and then also for us to figure out. We're not given the inspired interpretation, but this one we are given the inspired interpretation. And Jesse, I had to laugh because, um. Just as you get really, really upset and worked, worked up about when people say Christ's body broken for you. Uh, it just drives me nuts when people call this the parable of the soils. 'cause Christ gives it a name, right? So, so we'll talk about that too. And I, I'm, I'm mostly playing, like, I'm not gonna jump through the screen at you or anything like that, but that's the, one of the other unique features of this parable is that it's given it's, it's given a name. Um, and that's part of the interpretation is that in most cases, parables have a primary figure or a primary point that's being made. And if you get that primary point wrong or that primary figure wrong, um, you tend to get the rest of the parable wrong. In this case, Christ graciously tells us who the parable is about or what the parable is about, and then later on when we get to the, the next parable or a couple parables down, um, he actually tells us more about the parable through some other teaching as well. [00:15:38] Reading and Analyzing the Parable Tony Arsenal: So, Jesse, do you have that text in front of us? Do you wanna go ahead and read that first chunk? That's the parable itself. Jesse Schwamb: I do, let's do it by the way. Uh, maybe somebody should keep track. Here's a fun little game of how many times we say parable or parabolic. And of course, whenever I hear parabolic, I always think, of course there is like something of great hyperbole or allegory, but I often think of, uh, parabola, which to your point, Tony, I think you're just doing this for my sake now, and I love, this is an exponent oriented equation. Of course, it's a like a canonical section, which can only be creative mathematically by pronunciation again. So thank you for that. I thought you just did that for me, so Tony Arsenal: I have no idea what you just said. You might as well have been speaking like Hindu. Jesse Schwamb: It's fantastic. Well, let's, let's get to the actual, the best word, the word of life. And this is from Matthew chapter 13. Beginning just at the start of the chapter. That same day, Jesus went out of his, uh, house and sat beside the sea and, and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables saying. A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprung up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no roots, they were it away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain. Some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. So on a surface level here, the, the parable is straightforward, right? We have a very straightforward picture, which is, is common for most of the parables, that it's not some sort of unusual, crazy out there situation that's being described. It's a common scenario from everyday life, uh, that doesn't tend to have sort of like. Mythological legendary kinds of characteristics. We have a simple farmer who is out sowing his seeds. Um, some of the commentaries we'll point out, and I don't, I dunno how accurate this is or isn't, but I, I saw it in, in a couple different commentaries. So I'm inclined to, to believe it that our model of farming, uh, in sort of a western world or, or maybe not western world, but in a more, I dunno, technologically advanced world, is to teal the ground till the ground first, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: And then to scatter seed. And it was much more common in the ancient world to actually scatter the seed kind of, uh, promiscuously and then till the ground. Um, I don't know the reasons for that. I'm not a horticulturist, but, um. The, the, one of the critiques that I've heard, and it's funny when people try to critique Jesus is 'cause they're always proven wrong, but one of the critiques I've heard is like, no farmer whatever would ever do this. Like, no, no sower would ever just throw seed on the ground, but this actually is the way they would've done farming. So he's, he's taking an everyday scenario that everyone would've been familiar with. Right. Nobody would've been like, oh yeah, that doesn't make any sense. They would've just said, oh yeah, of course you just throw the seed on the ground and then you come back around later and you do what you need to do. So it, it was really a scenario where some of the seed would've fallen on the path. And we're not talking about like a road next to the farm, but a lot of times the, the field had sort of, um. They're probably called like convenience trails is what they're called now. But people would travel through the, through the paths, and so there would be an area that's already walked, walked on that's a little bit easier to traverse. And eventually that area would turn into a pathway. So it was, it was kind of turned into sort of like hard clay turf that you couldn't get the seed into anyways. And then there would've been areas where, um, there was rocks under the surface. Most of our fields that our farm fields have been tilled and prepared and have been worked over, that the stones had been removed. But it wasn't always like that in the ancient world. And then you would've had areas where there was, uh, there was other vegetation, thorns, weeds, other kinds of plants that would've made, made it difficult for the crop to sprout and to bear fruit. So we have a very common scenario. There's nothing surprising about this. There's nothing out of the ordinary. It's just a simple farming metaphor that Christ employs here. Jesse Schwamb: And in some ways that's very consistent of course, because we have these very ordinary, normal things that God is using as a means of explanation for something that is very extraordinary, very supernatural. So we have the natural coming into play, not just as a representation, but to really demonstrates, illustrates and impound both in structure and form. This idea of what it means for the gospel to be communicated. And I'm with you, my understanding is in most ancient world. Those, those fields, we tend to think of them as fields and often the reference that way were like more like these narrow strips of land separated by these paths and you have this farmer casting the seed like very liberally. And not only that, but I think what's interesting right on the face. Is we see that there are basically four potential outcomes here and only one of those outcomes, 'cause we're already understanding this to mean the sowing of the sea, which is the word of life, which is the gospel message. Only one of those outcomes results in kingdom growth. There's a ratio of three to one. There's three times as many poor outcomes. In other words, there's all of these various ways in which we find that the seed is not rejected or does not result in the intended fruit. But there is just one path, one narrow kind of way in which it does result, and then it results in kind of various outcomes in terms of like the magnitude of the fruit or the plants that result from this planting. But as a result of that. I think what's really interesting to me right on the face is that we're seeing, like you said, there is a sower. He's casting the seed deliberately, he's coming on the path and he's just throwing it out. And in that narrow strip of land, there are all these different soils. And so right away we see if you're, if you're a farmer, you're understanding something about, it's not about the skill of the farmer in the casting of the seed. It's not even about the, the skill of the seed to grow. It's about the soil itself. And so again, we have this as three times as many potentially poor outcomes as there are for the one that results in this grand harvest. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And the one thing about this that might be, might have been, and, and again, some of the commentators are, are split on this, but might have been a sort of unexpected, um, element. And, and this is something we do see with, uh, with the parables, is there's usually some sort of, um. Unexpected or dramatic or turn of events kind of element, usually towards the end of a parable that would make, would, should be a subversion of expectations. Right? Right. And so the, in this instance, um, a yield of 30 times or, or 60 times or a hundred times, all of those yields would be crazy high yields. Um, you know, I, I, I think there are some plants, some of the commentators will make, make a point that there are some plants where like a 30. A 30 yield is normal. Um, but a 30 or a 60 or a hundred times yield of a crop is, is not the expectation. And so I think in, in a scenario like this, the reader or the listener is prepped by the fact that there are three, uh, negative outcomes and only one favorable outcome. To assume that the crop yield is not going to be great. Right? And then the reality is the crops that do sprout the crops that land on the good soil or the seed that lands on the good soil. Not only is it productive, it's so productive that it actually outpaces and kind of compensates for the lack of productivity or the lack of fruitfulness of the other three. So it's, it's three different, uh, it's four possible outcomes and then three levels of fruitfulness. And so this parable does sort of cause the listener or the hearer to think about, um, and start, you know, from the very outset, think about what does, what does it mean that the seed landed on the path and was stolen away by the birds? What does it mean that it sprouted quickly and uh, but didn't have roots and so it withered away in the sun? And what does it mean that, you know, it sprouted among thorns and so it couldn't bear fruit. And then I think the implied, um, the implied question that's being forced here because the parable does start out, you know, saying there was the sower, the sower, um. Sowed this seed out. He doesn't introduce this the same way he normally, he normally does or commonly does, right? Jesus often will start the peril ball by saying something like, the kingdom of God is like, right? Or you know this. This is like that. This, he just starts out saying like, a sower was out in the, in the field sowing seed. So the, the listener is not primed to know what the comparison is necessarily, but I think part of that is that now they're forced to ask what is the comparison? And I don't think it's much of a stretch. And again, this is why parables are so kind of paradoxical is it's not a difficult, when we get to the interpretation, it's not difficult to see the interpretation. Right, right. It's, it's easy to understand that the parable here, the metaphor is, is different reactions of, of some sort to. To a given thing, right? It's, it's different reactions to an investment of some sort. There's an investment of seed and in some instances it just doesn't take, in other instances, it takes and it doesn't sprout, and in other instances it sprouts, but it never fruits. So when we get to the interpretation, Jesus is gonna give us the clarity of what that investment is, and then who are, or what are the outcomes and what do they mean? In, in our, you know, in our thought process of what the kingdom of God is like. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, so let's do it then. [00:25:44] Understanding the Soils Jesse Schwamb: 'cause what we've got here is we basically have, each soil is representing some type of here. So we've got four heres but only one true believer. So it's probably behooves us to go through all of them and really kind of chat through. And maybe what we can do is try to bring some of our own practical application to each of these. I've been really meditating and pondering that, trying to think if this is practical for us, then how can we understand how each of these are being manifest all around us? And of course the intention here is not to like name people that we think fall into each of these four little groups, but more so to think about how we might understand people who do fall into each of these groups. And that is to say that. Each one of these, well, the, the first three rather, that these ones in which they're, the soil is in some degree suboptimal. I, I don't know that it means that it's always that way, for instance. So we might think of people that fall into those categories, but the Lord may be moving or working in them to move them into that fourth category. And of course, he's done that with ourselves, so we know that that's exactly how he operates. Um, and it's, I think it's good for us to remember that. I think there's a lot that's scary about this first soil, this idea that. The seed just bounces. So we get no uptake whatsoever in this one. But the other ones, at least you get a little satisfaction that there's some kind of reception. There is a receipt of that word. And the reason why I find this one to be so troubling is because these who hear it in the first case, they don't understand and they don't esteem it. And Christ is very clear to say that the seed itself doesn't sit there long. It bounces. So there's a, there is a literal hardness. That's reflected in that clay soil or that path, which is down trotted. And it's hard because of perhaps this constant lack of belief, this constant and unrepentant hearts or lifestyle, but it would be enough if it just kinda bounced off and sat there. But the fact that it's snatched away that the birds come and take it away, that Satan himself has an active and powerful role in influencing all of those who are hearing this word. And I think that hardness of heart may not just be manifest in, say, like an unrepentant lifestyle or this kind of clench fist against God on the inside, which is of course true of the natural man. But more than that, that anything that would take us away from true belief. So that is even any kind of our religious system or belief, any kind of philosophy, any kind of other worldview I think is in mind here because we know the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And so. What he's doing in that sometimes happens first and foremost in the mind, manifested in the heart and then in our behaviors. So if he's stealing away this word by replacing it with something that is false, that is not true, that destroys, that pulls us away and moves us away, then this is very scary. He has a real power, which we talked about. I don't know, like maybe six or so episodes ago. It's worth listening to, I think. And so what I find here that is really traumatizing upfront is the involvement in particular of the sinful man under his own mean estate. That is, that it's clear that the natural man cannot conceive of the things of God without regeneration, and Jesus makes it abundantly clear. He's, he's basically saying what Paul says later on in First Corinthians when he writes, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, does not accept them. So again, there's no agreement. There's no, even an intellectual ascent does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one for who is understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ, so there is no mind of Christ, which is, it's a horrible way to live life. And so in that space we have both the natural man, his total depravity, unable to pull himself up by his theological bootstraps or philosophical bootstraps or his intellectual emotional bootstraps to even discern what the way in which the world really actually is. And then in in, I say in addition to that, we have the devil himself waging war and attacking by pulling away that seed. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And I have a little bit of a different take on this and I think this is what I am looking forward to in this series. Is there, there is gonna be. [00:30:01] Understanding the Parable of the Sower Tony Arsenal: Different, uh, different understandings that probably all fall and are all compatible, but all fall within a acceptable range of understanding. Here, you know, I, in, in reading some of the commentaries, Calvin makes the point that all four of these different types of seed represent people who in some sense are open to the gospel. They're, they're open to, he, he makes the point that this is not talking about the, the person who like refuses to hear the gospel at all, who like won't even come into the church. This is a person predominantly who is, is exposed to the word in some sense, probably in view as someone who's among the people of God who's in the, in the, in the physical body of the people of God who's among Christians or among those hearing the word. And for whatever reason, the, the, the seed doesn't, uh, it doesn't even get into the soil. Right, and he compares, Christ compares, um, this not to somebody who is hardhearted, but to someone who doesn't understand, right? That there's an intellectual element to this, right? You think of, um, you know, you think of somebody who hears the scripture and probably understands outwardly what it means, but doesn't ever comprehend it internally. They don't ever really, they don't ever really let it penetrate into their, into their hearts. Um, so it's been sewn into their hearts, but it doesn't actually take root in their hearts in any other sense. [00:31:38] The Role of the Soil in Receiving the Word Tony Arsenal: And this is what's a little bit different from, from the other ones that we're gonna see in all of the other cases. The seed takes root, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: It actually penetrates the ground and begins to grow. Um, it, this is a seed that never even makes it that far. And so it may not be someone who has like a, who necessarily has like a closed fist. I hate the gospel. I hate everything about God, but for some reason they're just not. And when we say for some reason I'm talking, obviously I'm talking la you know, horizontally. Um, we know that the reason that they don't have an open heart is 'cause the Holy Spirit is not open to their heart. But for whatever earthly temporal reason, the word just doesn't penetrate. It bounces off of them. It just doesn't get there. Not necessarily because they're outwardly hostile to it. They just maybe are not interested in it. And so this is where I think that. Along with the evil one, snatching it away. That's actually like one in the same thing. Is, is part of what I think this is getting at is that the, the, the only reason that the, um, that Satan can snatch away the word from their heart or what has been sewn into their heart is because their heart has not received it. And so it's that sort of dual function and, and maybe it's kind of like, almost like, uh, in Exodus, you know, God hardening the heart and then Pharaoh hardening the heart and those two things are happening, you know, by means of concurs that God is doing it in a divine sense. I almost feel like this is an instance where kind of like the, the census or, or with job where Satan is the one who is doing it, but it's ultimately attributed to God as well. It's the hardening of the heart, but it's also the hardness of heart. Um, all of those things are playing a dynamic, but ultimately the point here is that there are those who the word is preached to. [00:33:30] The Sower's Responsibility and the Soil's Condition Tony Arsenal: Um, you know, we will find out in, in a little bit later, like, the sower is Christ in, in these parables here. It's not, it's not generally the sowing of the word. It's Christ who is sowing the word. It's the son who is sowing, uh, the seed of the word. And we can think about that either during his own ministry. This certainly was, um, was true of his own ministry on Earth, that there were some who just did not receive the word and they just, it just bounced off of them. But then also as the son sows the seed through his people, down through the church age, through history, whether it's in the Lord's Day service or personal, witnessing, personal, you know, um, evangelism, it's still God who is sowing the seed. It's still the Lord who is the sower of the seed. But even in that context, there are still some who just don't receive it. So I think what you said earlier is really, is really spot on. This parable is not about. The skill of the sower or even the efficacy of the seed. Right. And I think sometimes people read this and they, they look at it as though it is actually the sewer's fault. What a dumb sower. He sowed it on the path. Of course it's not gonna take root. That's not the point of the parable at all. The point of the parable, and we learn it just right, this very first one, is that it has to do with the, the soil itself. Which is why, you know, I, I kind of joke about calling it the parable of the soils, and that's a fine way to refer to it. And most of these parables could have multiple different, you know, accurate titles as well. But the point of the parable, or the main point of the parable is that the soil itself is what determines the outcome. Again, you know, we, we don't need to get into all the theological details of how the soil becomes, what the soil is. This show has the word reformed in the title. You can figure out that we're gonna say, well, God is the one that prepares the soil. And that also just fits with the, with the a parable here, right? The good soil is only good because it's been tilled and prepared by the sower ahead of time, right? So I think that's, that's spot on. And, and you know, as I think about the people I know in my life, um, it's very easy to get discouraged when you try to so seed to, to follow through on the metaphor when you try to so seed and it feels like it bounces off. But we shouldn't be surprised at that. We shouldn't be surprised when someone is just not interested because Christ in his very first parable tells us there are people out there like that. That doesn't mean you don't sow the seed, it doesn't mean you don't continue to spread the seed the way that the sower does. And the reason for that is that some of it is going to take, take root, some of it is going to take root and bear fruit and you are not in charge and you don't control which one does which. We don't see the sower in this parable meticulously only identifying the good soil and only planting the seeds there. He does promiscuously spread this, so this seed everywhere that he can. [00:36:26] The Reality of Hardheartedness Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there is something there that I think is comfortable about this hardness of the soil, because I think sometimes we underestimate that the normative position of man is to be antagonistic toward God. That's not to say like we're talking about in their every action they take, they're going to refuse to hear the gospel or they're going to fight vehemently or out outwardly against it. But it's true that everywhere we find the scriptures, whether it's this other metaphor about God, again, doing this great surgery, of taking out this height of stone, which is of course hardheartedness or whether we go to like Romans three, where Paul says that there's no one who understands, there's no one who seeks God. So we understand that the default position is, one, nobody's seeking after God. Two, that God is too threatening to us. He threatens ourself. He threatens our ego, he threatens our own way. He threatens our contingency, all of which we try to fight against, like to our own dismay. And you know, basically. You know, it's willing, suspension of disbelief. But it's interesting and I think comforting here that what he's saying is, is exactly what you've just said, which is do not he, he'd almost say like loved ones. Do not be surprised when you find that people are just not that interested. They're just not into the gospel. Because your default position is to be a gospel abuser. To be a covenant breaker. And so because of that, there's just a natural hardness. And that hardness, I think he has to draw out. He has to say it's gonna bounce and Satan's gonna snatch it away because it would be, it's too easy to look at those who are just like vehemently opposed to the gospel that wanna debate. You wanna shut you down, wanna yell at you, wanna put signs in your face, wanna spit on you. That's too easy to be like, well, of course. Those people are not gonna receive it. But what about the quiet people who just don't care? Or, yeah. What about the people who are too caught up in their way of life or their simple behaviors or their patterns, or again, just what? What about those? What about the Mormons? When they come to your door and you can speak into your blue in the face about what Paul says, like the gospel plus anything is anathema, and they're just kinda like, yes. Yeah. Totally. That's fine. Totally down with that. And you're like, yeah, but you're doing, you're doing that very thing. This is great comfort to know that even those situations where you're not at war explicitly with somebody, that it's still comforting to know that this is going to happen. And also I think it's a great reminder that apart from God, apart from that changing of the soil, as you said, Tony, we would be those same people. That's in fact where we start. I, I don't say that. Like there's a progression here. We find in the, from moving from one to four. There is though something like you've said, where it's just interesting that Jesus shows us the very kind of shades of this. And I think, again, we gotta get out of our head like the, the temporality of this or like, well, what length of time are we talking about? Like when we get to the second one, which we should move on to. And there is some sprouting of the seed. Like how much time are we talking about? Like if it's two weeks, are they in camp two, if it's three weeks, are they moved out of that into some other, one of the other schools? Uh, I think it's just to show us that there are really, again, four hearers, one believer, and we can see clearly what the one believer looks like. It's a little bit more difficult to maybe sometimes discern what the other three look like, but it gives us hope and encouragement and basically just a sense of like, this is the way the world works. To know pres positionally, that when we go out, and like you said, I love this already, this is a major theme, is speak the gospel to all people. I mean, in this way, the gospel is for all people. Because Jesus' saying, do not cast the seed here. Go and look at that narrow path and find out, try to keep it off the, the hard ground. Do not let the devil snatch it up. It just says, throw and seed, throw and seed. And so we have to keep doing that stuff. [00:40:10] The Challenge of Shallow Roots Jesse Schwamb: So let's get to number two. What, what? Yeah. What say? Yeah. Tony Arsenal: Let me read it here. This is in verse, uh, 20 and 21. Here. It says, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the world, immediately he falls away. So thi this is the person who, um, who has some sort of outward conversion experience, right? It's a person who receives the word, he receives it with joy, um, and appears to sprout, right? This is seed that has taken hold and has, uh, you know, the, the, and we, we can see that it has taken hold. So it's not just some hidden seed that has roots and never breaks the surface. Right. It's a, it's a, it's a plant that has made its way into the soil. It has taken roots of some sort. Um, but the roots are shallow. The roots never actually get, uh, deep enough to, to be able to survive the sun, right. In the, the original parable, it's, it's baked by the sun. And, you know, this is, um, I think what what we're gonna see is maybe to sort of preface your question, and I think probably this is gonna be one of those two parter episodes, even though we planned it to be one parter episode. Um, I think what we're gonna see here is that you can't actually know whether someone is. The hard rocks is the rocks or the thorns. Right? Un until, until all is said and done. Right. Right. And that's part of what's difficult is you, you want to look at a parable like this, and this is where I think maybe this is a good sort of like caution against overinterpreting, the parables, right? Christ is not trying to give us a rubric to identify who is what. Jesse Schwamb: Right. He's Tony Arsenal: not trying to give us like a litmus test to say like, that person is the hard soil. That person is the rocks. That person is the thorns. And you know, this reminds me, I, I recall, I, I dunno how many years ago, it was a couple years ago when Kanye West was going through his like Jesus phase, right? And he, everyone was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that Kanye is a Christian and he's writing this album called Jesus. Jesus Saves. And, and I, I just remember saying at the time, like, guys, there's a parable of the soils here. Like we should be. Um, we should be joyful that it, it appears that this seed is taking root, but there are lots of different outcomes when the seed takes root. And it's funny because I, I don't, I don't remember what episode this was and please don't go look it up 'cause that's a waste of everyone's time. But I remember when that conversation happened and I don't know whether there was an affirmation or a denial or what context came up in, but I remember contrasting him to Justin Bieber. And it's ironic, right, because I actually just read on Twitter today. Let me see if I can find the post during the next time you're talking. Justin Bieber posted this really amazing, theologically astute, mature kind of statement on Twitter today. And I think at the time, if you had asked me, um, is Kanye more likely to be the good soil or Justin Bieber to be the good soil, I would've said Kanye. Right? Just because he's, he was older, he is a little bit more established in himself. Um. Justin Bieber was still very young. He was, he was sort of like all over the place personality wise. He seemed to be changing radically. And it just goes to show like, you can't tell. And, and I'm not even saying right now like, this is, this is where it gets difficult. I'm not even saying right now, Justin Bieber is good soil, although I did right. Retweet his quote and did hashtag good soil. Almost aspirationally, right? But we can take a look at someone's life in retrospect and say, this person is bearing fruit, or this person is not bearing fruit. And, and that's really where this particular, um, type of soil goes. It's not so much the fruit, it's the sprout. And I think when we look at a situation like Kanye and, and. There's hopefully still a lot of life left for Kanye, and that means there's still hope for a con, a genuine conversion and bearing fruit that keeps with repentance that does not appear to be what had happened at the time. Right? He's gone totally off the rails at this point. So we pray for that. We hope, we hope for better things for him. Um, but. At the time, Kanye was, is he, he's going by Y now. I don't even know what to call him anymore. But Kanye was a sprout that grew up with great joy quickly. And what we found through time is that it appears that he, when he was, although maybe he fits better into the second, this next category that we'll have to push off till next week, I think. But either way, like he appeared to have sprouted, he appeared to have taken root and ultimately did not actually bear fruit. And that's the defining feature of these first three ones. It's not so much about what happens with the seed. Does it get in the ground? Does it not get in the grow? Does it sprouts, does it not sprout? It's ultimately about the fruitfulness, right? The final, the final phase of the parable, the final, um, the final type of soil is the one that produces fruit. So we'll get to that in detail, but that's what we need to think about. And again, like I said, it's not as though crisis saying like, all right, here's this checklist of ways to determine whether someone's conversion is correct, is true or not. Because we can't know that until after the fact and well after the fact. We also can't know that it's valid until after the fact. What I think this parable, broadly speaking, gets at is that we have to look at every situation and realize that there are these different possible outcomes. And although I don't know that this is explicitly part of the parable, it also sort of points us to the fact that like, because it's not a foregone conclusion about what's gonna happen, maybe there's also something we can do about it. Right? Right. Maybe when we realize someone might be on the rocky soil. Whether we, we have some reason to believe that or we just want to get out in front of that possibility, maybe there's still room to actually get in there and, and move the seed to a different soil, I guess might be a better way to use the metaphor is to, to just take the seed somewhere else or to till the soil, to get the rocks out of the soil. Although this is not talking about like rocks in the soil. It's talking about a layer, probably a layer of bedrock. Like Yes, exactly. Just under the surface. Jesse Schwamb: Right? So Tony Arsenal: there is an immutability about these, these different categories of, of people, and again, this is where like overinterpreting, the parable can get to be problematic, but we, we see that there are these categories, we can't necessarily know which one of these categories a person is in when they have some sort of outward expression of faith where they've received. I think we can tell the difference between that first category. Someone who just has not received the, the gospel at all, has not received the word of God at all, right? Like it's just bounced off of him. It's made no impact. I think we can see that that's a relatively straightforward, um, situation for us to assess. And of course we can't see someone's heart, but it's, it's usually pretty outwardly, readily available to us that they just have not received the word in any means. Right. When we get to these second two categories, that's not the case. We're talking about two different categories of people who have received the word and it has begun to sprout. It has begun, it actually has sprouted, not just begun to sprout, but it's sprouted. Um, I just think we need to be really careful to sort of not place someone in an immutable category until after we've seen what's gonna happen. Yes. Really across their whole life. Jesse Schwamb: Yes. [00:47:41] The Importance of Deep Roots in Faith Jesse Schwamb: I'm glad you brought that up because we really have to remember that in the last three instances, you cannot tell from the soil what the outcome will be. So it is a little bit, I'm with you, kind of a misnomer in the translation. This idea of like rocky soil. Yeah. If it were truly like rocky soil, the way that probably most of us in the Western think of it like soil mixed with gravel, right? They're probably, the sewer would be like, why would I throw it on there like that? That doesn't make any sense. Certainly again, if you're looking for that, that really fertile, well tilled ground, the one that looks promising, you wouldn't do that. So more than likely, I'm with you. We're talking about like a hired limestone layer that would've been like a few inches below, and as the sun would come down, my understanding is of course, like that limestone would heat up. It'd be like the perfect warm environment for like a seed to immediately like spring up with some hope. And that's exactly I think what Jesus is after here. It's this idea that the seed springs up immediately. People receive the message with joy. There's been no root or development to deeper moist soil though, because it doesn't exist. It gets blocked out. But inci incidentally, like the heat of that rock bed actually is the thing that causes it to germinate and produce at least a sprout really, really quickly. But as soon as like any kind of other heat comes upon it, because it cannot not grow deeper because it cannot set the roots, because it cannot get enough water from deep down, then it's going to be quick to die. I think we see this all the time. Maybe we even see this to some degree, not exclusively and in the same kind of magnitude in our own lives. But you know, we may listen to a sermon with pleasure while the impression produced in us is like only temporary, short-lived. You know, our hearts can be like that stony ground. Sometimes it may yield like a plentiful cop clap of warm feelings and like good resolutions and good vibes. How often do we hear that language? But all this time, there may be no deeply rooted work in our souls. And that first like cold blast of oppression or temptation may cause like all of that to go away. What I see interpret it from this particular group and, and this the one that follows it very much the same is like a conversion to religion. So here where this is where I firmly, like, I think we have a class, and this might trigger some people, but I'm gonna say it anyway. We have a class for this to me is deconstructionism. Yeah. And I think what I've, I've been helpful for me is to get outta my mind is that. I'm not sure that we have to be so concerned in this, this metaphor or this great parable about like what's the length of time here? So for instance, is it possible that somebody could be in this place where there is this hard layer of rock, which presents like a setting down of deep roots that could last like years on end. Yeah, where somebody has heard the gospel message has come into the life of the church and finds that this is generally a pleasant way to believe and to live and to express these ideals until maybe they have a strong voice somewhere or they're confronted with the fact that this, their message now is not very tolerant. And so as soon as there comes against them, this push that maybe what you're saying is too exclusive, that all of a sudden there really is a manifestation that there's no real root there. Yeah, there was no conversion. There was a conversion to religious principle and ideas and insomuch as those things didn't push too much against whatever objectives they had. Not even like going after what happens in the the third instance here with all the pleasures of life and all the temptations of the flesh, but just that there is some challenge. To what they believe and that it would be continually lived out in their actual lives, meaningful enough that it would impact behavior, change their mind, and continue to make them outspoken about the thing in which they're setting their roots into that if those things would cause the death of. That sprouts, then to me, that's where we find deconstruction isn't falling. And so in that case, again, it's comforting because it's not a matter of actual conversion as it were. It's not a matter of actual regeneration that hasn't actually occurred. There's plenty of reasons to come alongside and to give the gospel some kind of favor or to give it some kind of acquiescence because it's good on its own. There are lots of things that are good about it, but the rootedness in that is not merely in the outward manifestations of all the benefits of the gospel. It is getting Christ, as we've said. Yeah. And if we're not abiding in Christ, then we will necessarily die. In fact, Christ says elsewhere when he speaks to himself that even every bad branch that does not bear fruit, the father prunes and throws away. And so here we find that happening. It's, this is traumatic, it is dramatic, but this is where I think we see oftentimes Christians really get unnerved and sometimes it really, I think, rocks them when they see people who've had, like you said, Tony, like some professional faith. And I remember us talking about Kanye, and I remember us saying like, I think you and I were cautiously optimistic. We said like, this is fantastic. God does this very thing where he transforms people. And then we see in the long term, in the long run, the manifestation of that transformation, not in just merely as sinner's prayer or some expression of knowing something about the gospel intellectually, but the living it out so that the plant itself grows up in Christ to know of his great love, and then to share and abide in that love where it bears fruit. And so here I find this again, to be just very comforting because I think we see this a lot and our nerves, a lot of Christians, but I think Christ is giving an example here to say, do not be a unnerved by this. [00:53:10] Encouragement for Sowers and Believers Tony Arsenal: Yeah, maybe one last thought and then we, we can push pause until next week when we come back to this parable. Is. I think it's, there's two words in this, um, this little, these two verses here that really stick out to me. There's the, the word immediately, right? Yes. He immediately receives it with joy. That word is repeated later on when he immediately falls away. So there is a, um, there's a, a sense of suddenness to this, to this kind of, I'm using quotation marks if you're not watching the YouTube to this quotation or this, um, conversion experience, right? I think we all know people who have kind of the slow burn conversion experience, right? That's not to say that those people may not be, um, on hard soil or rocky soil. Right. But the, the person that we're talking about in that crisis talking about is the person who hears the word and has every appearance of an outward, radical, outward conversion of joy. And then joy is the second word that that shows up here. One of the things that drives me crazy, you know, maybe just to, to riff off the, the deconstruction, um, narrative a little bit is it drives me crazy when some sort of, um, high profile Christian falls away from the faith or deconstructs or falls, you know, into deep sin and then abandons the faith or has a tragedy happened in their life and whatever reason they abandon the faith. There's this tendency particularly among, I, I think sort of. I don't know if like, there still are young restless reform Christians out there, but I think it's still a valid descriptor. Kind of like the, I'm trying not to be pejorative, but sort of like the surface level tulip is what I call them, like the five point Calvinists who like heard an RC sprawl sermon one time and think that they are like the def, they're the definition of Calvinism. There's this tendency among that demographic that when somebody falls away from the faith to act as though everything about their experience of Christianity was somehow like an act like it was a, it was a, it was a play they were putting on, they were deceiving everybody. Right. That's that's not real. It's not the, it's not the way that it actually works and, and. I think the, um, the flip side and the caution for us in that is that just because our experience of Christianity and our, our experience of being in the faith feels so genuine and real and rooted, we should also recognize that like it felt real and genuine and rooted for Derek Webb or for name, name your key, you know, Joshua Harris, name your big profile deconstruction person of the day. Um, there's a caution there for us and I think that's the caution here in this, um, in this, I dunno, part of the parable is. Just as this is saying, the reason that the person falls away immediately is because there is no root in them yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, he immediately falls away, right? The cause of this is because there is no route that ca

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5 Things Charlie Kirk Taught Us Before He Died

Abrahams Wallet

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2025 56:05

Charlie Kirk lived boldly for Christ, using every platform he had to proclaim the Gospel. In the wake of his tragic passing, many are asking how God can use such a loss for our good and His glory. In this podcast episode, we'll watch five powerful clips from Charlie's life and draw out five lessons every man of God should embrace—truths about courage, conviction, and living on mission for Jesus. Links in this Episode BONUS: Political conservatism is NOT the solution to our nation's problems. We're in a spiritual battle that must be engaged with SPIRITUAL understanding: https://x.com/DogRightGirl/status/1967242013398741271 Abe's Wallet Retreat Nov 21-23 Cincinnati, OH About Abraham's Wallet: Abraham's Wallet exists to inspire and equip Biblical family leaders. Please partner with us in inspiring and equipping multi-gen families at https://abrahamswallet.com/support AW website Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Facebook LinkedIn Instagram Chapters (00:00:00) - Abraham's Wallet(00:01:23) - on the Assassination of Karl Rove(00:05:36) - Wouldn't It Be Impossible to Put Obama in a Box?(00:05:55) - Charlie Kirk on the Threat of Violence(00:12:09) - Is There Enough Evidence to Convince Charlie Kirk of Being a Mart(00:14:27) - Be Unapologetic for Your Witness(00:16:09) - Charlie Kirk(00:22:48) - What Makes Christian Mythology Real?(00:27:37) - Charlie Kirk on Defending the Faith(00:32:23) - Electrician Advice for Young People(00:37:04) - Charlie Kirk on Praying With People(00:41:14) - Prayers For Strangers(00:43:45) - First Corinthians 16: Manhood(00:45:28) - Charlie Kirk: Prioritize Family over Everything else(00:51:22) - Charlie Kirk on Family and Faith(00:54:11) - A Taste of the Abrahamic Blueprint

A Study of First Corinthians September 24, 2025

Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons and Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 24, 2025

September 24, 2025

First Corinthians | The Power of Clear Proclamation

corinthians clear proclamation first corinthians

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2025 68:30

First Corinthians Week 33 | 1 Corinthians 14:13-25

A Study of First Corinthians

Wesley Memorial Church (High Point, NC) Sermons and Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2025

Session 1

September 14th, 25: Valley of Dry Bones: Seeing God's True Nature and the Gift of New Life

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2025 23:45

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Ezekiel 36-37; Psalm 110; Revelation 19 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible, where together we journey through the pages of Scripture. In today's episode, host Hunter invites us to reflect on September 14th's readings from Ezekiel 36–37, Psalm 110, and Revelation 19. As we listen, we are drawn into vivid images of restoration, hope, and the powerful promises of God—a valley of dry bones brought back to life, a unified people, and a vision of the one who is the Resurrection and the Life. Hunter reminds us that, even in times of adversity and doubt, God's purpose remains: to reveal His true nature as a loving and powerful King who brings life where there was once only death and despair. Through prayer and thoughtful reflection, this episode encourages us to see ourselves and our world through God's eyes—understanding that what He offers us in Christ is a gift of new life, hope, and joy, not because we earned it, but because of His immeasurable love. Settle in as we draw encouragement from Scripture, join in heartfelt prayers, and remember together that we are deeply loved by God. TODAY'S DEVOTION: TODAY'S DEVOTION: People have the wrong impression about God. And God is going to correct that. When people see the suffering and hardship of God's people, they have the mistaken impression that God isn't good or that he's not powerful enough to help them when they really need it. They're wrong about that. They have the wrong impression. But God's going to help us all see, like he helped Ezekiel see. It's a vision in a valley of dry, dismembered, dead, lifeless bones, skeletons littering the valley. God desires to correct our wrong impression by impressing us with this amazing vision. For at his word, God resurrects these bones into living, breathing bodies. He restores them to life. And God is clear that it's not because they deserve it, but because he wants them and us to have the right impression of him. He wants us and the whole world to know what he's truly like. He's like David, Ezekiel tells us, a good shepherd and a loving and powerful king. But he's far better than David. It's important that we have the right impression. He is the one who was raised from the dead. He is the one who offers all of us dead, lifeless people resurrection, life. When we look at him, we get the right impression. We understand fully what God is truly like. We see what God is offering us through his Son. He offers us life, hope, joy, love—the life we've always wanted, a life we didn't earn, but one that we have received. This is what can happen if we get the right impression. May God impress you today with who he is and who you have become. He is the resurrection and the life, and this is what he has done. He has resurrected and given life to the dead. First Corinthians 15 says, "For as in Adam, all die, even so, in Christ all shall be made alive." God has breathed life into the sons and daughters of Adam. This is God's vision. This is what God was up to in Christ. This is what he has finished and completed. This is the impression God wants us to see and understand. And it's all a gift from the God of love. May God open our eyes to see him, what he's done, and what we have become. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen. Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. And now Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, Joy. Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation. Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL

First Corinthians | Eager To Build Up The Church