SPEAKER_00: We are starting a brand new series today.
SPEAKER_00: We finished up our marriage and family series, going through the Sermon on the Mount this past summer, last week, we finished it up.
SPEAKER_00: Today, we're starting a brand new series called God Never Said That.
SPEAKER_00: And this is something I'm very excited about because there's so many things, uh, sayings, idioms, colloquialisms, different expressions that have infiltrated our thinking, even as Christians, where it's become so normalized and so common for us that we say it, we pass these phrases on without giving it a second thought, never realizing God never said that.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't speak these things.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it's not that these things are causing major catastrophic damage, but it can cause doubts and questioning and disruption of what God has actually said in the lives of people.
SPEAKER_00: And I think you'd all be in agreement with me today that it's more important than ever that we know what God actually said.
SPEAKER_00: Because we live in a world with the ruler of this world, who is the father of lies and deception, that is constantly trying to deceive us, to twist the things God has told us so that we will not follow what God has actually said.
SPEAKER_00: And we see it from the very, very beginning, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 3, it's it's how sin entered the world, the curse of sin that damaged and broke God's perfect creation that was good in every way.
SPEAKER_00: He makes all of this, and then we see sin entering the world through the lie and the deception of what God has actually said.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 3, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read this together.
SPEAKER_00: Now the serpent, the devil, was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to the woman, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: So how did sin enter the world?
SPEAKER_00: By God's image bearers not standing firm or knowing what God actually said.
SPEAKER_00: Keep in mind, Eve, at least according to the narrative we read in Genesis, God gave the command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
SPEAKER_00: He gave that command to Adam.
SPEAKER_00: And so then Adam probably passed that on to Eve.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: But it's when we don't know exactly what God has said and hear it for ourselves, we're susceptible to the lies and the twisting of it.
SPEAKER_00: Not only does the devil and the enemy of God want to outright lie, he wants to take what God has said and twist it, trying to misapply or misappropriate that truth so that we are at least following a path that God has not wanted us to walk.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in Luke chapter 4, Matthew chapter 4, right, where the enemy comes to Jesus to tempt him, and he's trying to get the Son of God to sin against his father.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the temptations was oh well, God said in his word, go ahead and throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple, because it is written in Scripture that if you do this, he will give his angels charge concerning you, and you won't even strike your foot against the stone.
SPEAKER_00: And he tries to quote the Psalms, the scripture, but to twist it and use it in a way God never meant it to be used.
SPEAKER_00: But it's Jesus, it's the Son of God, it's the living word of God, and he says, it is written, and he's able to rebuke that temptation.
SPEAKER_00: The father of lies comes to deceive, to twist.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we must know what God actually says.
SPEAKER_00: God just encourages right out of the gate as we get into this series today to know what God has says requires, it demands you hear it, and you hear it for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Not even just coming here on Sunday mornings listening to a sermon about what God has said.
SPEAKER_00: You need to take every day to open this and let God speak to you directly, to know his heart, know his word so you know what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Because can I just tell you this?
SPEAKER_00: There may be some things that you hear from here that we need to question.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to give back to the word to say, Lord, is that what you've actually said?
SPEAKER_00: And this is not an intentional thing, but can we acknowledge I, every other pastor and communicator that is here a part of impact, are we fallible?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: I had to remind my middle daughter of this recently when she was kind of just wanting me to feel good and told me, yeah, dad, anything you say, I just know it's true, so I don't even have to look it up.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, honey, it's okay for you to actually question some things that I say at times because I'm not always right.
SPEAKER_00: There's times where I'll say something, and then even a few years down the line, look back and go, oh man, I was a little off on that.
SPEAKER_00: As God continues to help me understand and grow in my understanding and truth of what he's told us.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 17, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: We read about this group of Jewish Christians who heard Paul come and preach the gospel, and they received that gospel message, but there's something unique about them.
SPEAKER_00: Check this out, they're known as the Bereans.
SPEAKER_00: Acts 17, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica.
SPEAKER_00: They received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
SPEAKER_00: So they had Paul come in and preach the good news of Christ, and they took the message of the gospel, what they heard from Paul, and they said, Oh, that sounds amazing.
SPEAKER_00: That sounds incredible.
SPEAKER_00: Is it so?
SPEAKER_00: If we take it back to Scripture, is what he's saying, does it align with the truth that God has revealed?
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we want a church, we want to be a church of Bereans.
SPEAKER_00: And a church of Bereans that take what we're hearing even from the pulpit and go, okay, Lord, is it so?
SPEAKER_00: And you're in the words yourself.
SPEAKER_00: All that's happening here with sermons is wetting the appetite, right?
SPEAKER_00: Getting the appetizers so we crave that main course and the goodness of truth that God gives to us day by day as we spend time with Him.
SPEAKER_00: We must know what God has said.
SPEAKER_00: Please understand this as well.
SPEAKER_00: None of this is trying to embolden those who are already critical nitpickers by nature.
SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to give liberty and license so that everyone's sitting here and we've got our little pen and paper and we're like, I don't know about that.
SPEAKER_00: Check.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna audit every single word that comes from anywhere we hear, even if it's in a conversation here at church, and we're gonna be there to criticize, to tear down.
SPEAKER_00: It is so easy to be critical, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It is so easy to tear something down that's been built, but critics don't build anything.
SPEAKER_00: They just destroy.
SPEAKER_00: We want a church of Bereans, we don't want a church of Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: That the Pharisees who are the legalists, the experts in the law, they knew everything about Scripture except the heart of God behind it.
SPEAKER_00: And they missed even the Messiah that the scriptures pointed to.
SPEAKER_00: So this is not a license to be critical and start tearing everybody apart.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, too many Christians, too many of us even, maybe even here today, we spend so much time fighting over doctrine and being the keyboard warrior that we haven't made a disciple in years.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know who said it, but they said it very well.
SPEAKER_00: When we as Christians don't evangelize, we cannibalize and we turn on each other and we use the sword of God's spirit to engage in doctrinal duels with one another, fighting over nuances of theology and different things, as opposed to using it to battle the enemy of God and win souls to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There is room for doctrinal and theological differences of opinion within the church.
SPEAKER_00: There's room for that.
SPEAKER_00: Not on the essentials, right?
SPEAKER_00: The essentials of who Christ is and what he has done, that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, not of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: These are non-negotiable.
SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to other secondary issues of theology or even tertiary, third-level issues of theology, guys, there's got to be freedom.
SPEAKER_00: There has to be liberty and grace that we show one another.
SPEAKER_00: If you see eschatology differently than me, if you think the end times are gonna unfold in a way differently than I do, if your worship style or preference is different than mine, we can still fellowship together, be brothers and sisters in Christ, as long as we are going out together and trying to win souls to the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Or was it St.
SPEAKER_00: Francis of Assisi said it very, very well.
SPEAKER_00: In the essentials, unity, in the non-essentials, liberty, but in all things, charity or love.
SPEAKER_00: So this is not in any way a message to say we need everybody to be super critical and hyper vigilant and vigilantes when it comes to theology.
SPEAKER_00: But it is a message to exhort and encourage us as the people of God to know what our God has said, to be those Bereans who are in the Word so much that when you go anywhere, be it here or anywhere else, and something is said that doesn't resonate or align with what you've read, that you say something's off.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not deceived.
SPEAKER_00: We've got to know the truth of what God has said.
SPEAKER_00: That's what our hope is for this series in the weeks ahead, and really for the rest of our time as a church for years and years and years, is that we know what God has said.
SPEAKER_00: Today, we want to hit on one specific Christian myth that I know is gonna be very familiar, that most of us have heard.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we have even said it and we've embraced it as something that's scriptural that God has said, and so I don't want anyone here to at any point feel all ashamed or embarrassed or weird.
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we're going to God's word together to really say, okay, what did God say in this regard?
SPEAKER_00: But here is the Christian myth we want to unpack today, right out of the gate.
SPEAKER_00: Ready?
SPEAKER_00: God will never give you more than you can handle.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone here, just out of curiosity, going through some hard things?
SPEAKER_00: Glad I'm not alone.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone here ever gone through something in your life, a season where you felt like I can't handle this?
SPEAKER_00: We we've all experienced it.
SPEAKER_00: We've all been at some place where we've reached the edge of our ability to handle the things that we are going through and experiencing.
SPEAKER_00: About a week and a half ago, I was driving my son's car, 2006 Mustang, and a family member, his aunt and uncle got it for him.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm driving it to the DMV out in Hemet and had my appointment scheduled, everything was good, middle of the day.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm driving this thing out to register it and transfer title over to our name so that I can then get it insured, as opposed to my my my brother-in-law, my sister.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're driving this thing out there, and I'm by myself, and the car starts overheating and completely breaks down.
SPEAKER_00: We had just paid a decent amount of money to completely overhaul the whole coolant system.
SPEAKER_00: And now I'm sitting on the side of Dominic Ghoney.
SPEAKER_00: You know that lush green, beautiful part of town?
SPEAKER_00: Coming up to State Street in Hemet, and there's no place really other than a small shoulder to pull over, and I'm having to climb this little mini hill of weeds and gopher holes to try to get away from the traffic and figure out what to do.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm also, mind you, keep in mind, I've got shorts on and flip-flops and a t-shirt, no hat.
SPEAKER_00: It's over a hundred degrees already outside.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm on the side of the road, the sun beating down on this bald head of mine, and I'm looking within the car, going, okay, surely my son, he's 17.
SPEAKER_00: There's got to be like a dirty shirt somewhere, something I could even tie over my head.
SPEAKER_00: I don't even care.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: This kid was immaculate.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't have a single thing in his car except in the trunk.
SPEAKER_00: He had a boogie board.
SPEAKER_00: Like, really?
SPEAKER_00: Nothing but a boogie board.
SPEAKER_00: So I had to carry this boogie board up this little hill on the side of Dominagoni, and I set it on the ground with black ants wandering everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sitting on the boogie board.
SPEAKER_00: I also found against this fence a torn, partially burned, why?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, partially burned slab of corrugated cardboard.
SPEAKER_00: And I took this piece of cardboard and I was holding it over my head, sitting on a boogie board on the side of Dominagone.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, anybody driving by was like, oh Lord, please be that homeless guy over there.
SPEAKER_00: Just bless him.
SPEAKER_00: Let him know who you are, any impactors, you know, you go.
SPEAKER_00: And that was my life.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the problem.
SPEAKER_00: I'm driving to get it registered.
SPEAKER_00: I normally would have just called our insurance company and they would have sent a tow truck out, right?
SPEAKER_00: But I'm literally on my way to get it registered so I can insure it.
SPEAKER_00: So I call the insurance company, they're like, no, we can only tow vehicles that are insured under us.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, that's not gonna work.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, triple A.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have triple A.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're like, well, you should have had triple A, that doesn't help my situation.
SPEAKER_00: So my parents have triple A.
SPEAKER_00: I'll call them.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a second, they're on vacation in Yellowstone.
SPEAKER_00: No problem, I'll call my brother.
SPEAKER_00: He's in Zambia, Africa.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know who else has trip has triple A.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm sitting on the side of the road on this boogie board, cardboard over my head, rethinking all of my life's choices.
SPEAKER_00: And guys, I assure you, in that moment, it was more than I could handle.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: We've all found ourselves in situations that are similar to one degree or another.
SPEAKER_00: And then people come along when we're going through it, feeling like we're drowning, we don't know what to do, and someone walks along and they give us this nice little platitude of, hey, don't worry.
SPEAKER_00: God gives his toughest tests to his strongest soldiers.
SPEAKER_00: Or then they'll say, Don't worry, I know you're going through hard stuff, but God will never give you more than you can handle.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of us in that moment just want to look right at him and say, He already did?
SPEAKER_00: Because I can't handle what we're going through right now.
SPEAKER_00: My family is falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: My marriage is failing, and everything we try to do, whether it's counseling or retreat or spending more time together doing a devotion, just literally makes us angry with each other and we don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: My kids want nothing to do with me right now.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know the diagnosis the doctors just gave me, just gave my spouse?
SPEAKER_00: We just lost someone we love and care about.
SPEAKER_00: I just lost my job.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what I'm gonna do to provide for my family.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe some of you have gone through all of these things at once.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're expected to just say, it's okay, I can handle this.
SPEAKER_00: This is a misapplication of 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: I want to read this together today.
SPEAKER_00: This is Paul writing to these Christians in Corinth, many of whom were saved by the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: They were saved from a life of pagan idol worship, idolatry.
SPEAKER_00: And they're trying to learn what it means to walk as a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul writes them, he says this, verse 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
SPEAKER_00: God is faithful, and he will not let you be what, guys, tempted beyond your ability.
SPEAKER_00: But with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.
SPEAKER_00: Is Paul talking about trials and hardship here?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What is he speaking about specifically?
SPEAKER_00: Temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Temptation to sin.
SPEAKER_00: But somewhere along the line, we took this principle and started using it as a self-motivation tool to reinforce our delusional ideas of independence and self-sufficiency.
SPEAKER_00: Because we like to feel self-sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: I understand.
SPEAKER_00: We like to feel like we can handle anything that comes our way.
SPEAKER_00: We like to feel like we can fix any problem, solve any issue, that we've got this handled.
SPEAKER_00: And yet many of you right now, I know without question, are in circumstances you can't handle.
SPEAKER_00: Things are falling apart in a way where the more you struggle to fix things, the worse things get.
SPEAKER_00: And you are in this drain that is funneling down, and you see the bottom, and you don't know how to get out of those circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: The result, as we hear things, well, God will never give you more than you can handle.
SPEAKER_00: The result is further discouragement, resentment toward God and others, deepening feelings of despair and hopelessness and defeat, even feelings and conclusions at times that I must be a really bad Christian because clearly I can't handle this and I'm failing.
SPEAKER_00: And so some of us even end up walking away from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because God, you clearly gave me this, but I can't handle it, and I'm supposed to.
SPEAKER_00: And we neglect the full counsel of scripture, what God has actually revealed.
SPEAKER_00: Story after story after story of God giving people things that they could not handle.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, Moses could not handle leading God's people out of the land of Egypt, and yet God gave it to them anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua could not handle the walls of Jericho, and yet God gave those walls to Joshua anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Gideon could not handle Midian with only 300 men, and yet that's exactly what God gave to Midian.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples could not handle the storm that they were rowing against when the wind was against them, and they thought they were going to drown, and yet Jesus called them to go into it anyway.
SPEAKER_00: God gave it to them anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Daniel couldn't handle the lion's den.
SPEAKER_00: Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, they couldn't handle the fiery furnace.
SPEAKER_00: Yet God gave those things to them anyway.
SPEAKER_00: The Apostle Paul, he couldn't handle being beaten and whipped and stoned and in prison and left for dead.
SPEAKER_00: And yet that's exactly what God gave to him.
SPEAKER_00: God never promised that he wouldn't give us more than we could handle.
SPEAKER_00: What he promised us is he would never give us more than he can handle.
SPEAKER_00: Because each and every one of those stories, we see the mighty, miraculous hand of God with his people.
SPEAKER_00: That he was with them in the furnace, in the lion's den, against Jericho, against Midian, against Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: God was with his people, and even Jesus with the disciples in that boat, saying, Why do you fear?
SPEAKER_00: I'm right here with you.
SPEAKER_00: And one of my favorite examples of this, we read in 2 Chronicles chapter 20.
SPEAKER_00: King Jehoshaphat of Judah is leading God's people at the time, and there were many enemy nations who despised Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And so they all rallied together and they said, Let's go and fight against Israel together.
SPEAKER_00: And so they brought all of their armies, and Jehoshaphat sees them and hears of this, and he recognizes, God, we can't handle this.
SPEAKER_00: We are outnumbered, we are outflanked, we are overwhelmed, we are not able to fight against this army.
SPEAKER_00: We will most certainly lose.
SPEAKER_00: And he prays to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And hear this: we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
SPEAKER_00: You see him acknowledging we are powerless, we are impotent against these enemies.
SPEAKER_00: God, I don't have a solution, I don't have a battle strategy or plan.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what to do.
SPEAKER_00: And the prophet speaks on God's behalf in response, and God says this to his people you will not need to fight in this battle.
SPEAKER_00: Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed.
SPEAKER_00: Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Has the good news of the gospel that God can handle everything we can't.
SPEAKER_00: And not only that, but he's even given us each other.
SPEAKER_00: He's given us community to come alongside and support, knowing we can't do these things on our own.
SPEAKER_00: I never finished my story.
SPEAKER_00: I left you as a homeless person off the side of Dominagone.
SPEAKER_00: But because I didn't know what else to do, I thought to myself, all right, who would have triple A that I know?
SPEAKER_00: Pastor James Proxmire, that's who.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone's gonna have triple A, it's gonna be James.
SPEAKER_00: I called James.
SPEAKER_00: It was a Friday.
SPEAKER_00: That meant it's our Sabbath day, office is closed, he's not working, and he saw Ryan calling, and he's still picking up.
SPEAKER_00: Up.
SPEAKER_00: He was probably sorry that he picked up afterwards.
SPEAKER_00: I explained the situation.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, oh man, that's terrible.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll be praying for you.
SPEAKER_00: Then he hung up.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Didn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: What'd he do?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Man, no problem.
SPEAKER_00: He calls AAA.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I'll be there in just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: And he left from Canyon Lake and drove all the way out to State Street in Hemet to give me a ride and get the tow truck there and get me get things taken care of.
SPEAKER_00: That's Christian community.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I had never been so happy to see a little Mini Cooper driving around the corner.
SPEAKER_00: We need that community.
SPEAKER_00: It's why the author of Hebrews writes in chapter 10, verse 25 do not neglect or not neglecting to meet together.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, that's not a verb in the in the Greek to meet together, it's a noun, the meeting together of.
SPEAKER_00: Do not neglect the meeting together of this community, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
SPEAKER_00: As so many of us, you know, we know that we need Jesus, but we forget too often we need each other as well.
SPEAKER_00: That we're not meant to do this alone.
SPEAKER_00: Week in, week out.
SPEAKER_00: I'll give a little thing at the end of the message saying, hey, if you're in need of prayer, we have a prayer tent out there with some of our church leaders ready and eager to pray with you.
SPEAKER_00: And some of you take advantage of that, but only some.
SPEAKER_00: I know for a fact there are so many that come here Sunday after Sunday, we hear that and we think to ourselves, well, I'd go, but I'm sure there's people going through stuff that's, you know, it's even a lot worse than what I'm going through.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, we never asked you to rank yourself on the prayer need chain.
SPEAKER_00: We just said if you're in need of prayer and support, we want to give that to you.
SPEAKER_00: How can we come alongside you, not just here on Sunday, but with whatever it is that you're going through?
SPEAKER_00: It's why community matters.
SPEAKER_00: It's why small group fellowship and home church and these things, it's important because we need brothers and sisters at times to hold us up as we're struggling, trying to make our way in this following Jesus journey.
SPEAKER_00: Are we still trying to do it on our own?
SPEAKER_00: Or are we actually engaged in that community?
SPEAKER_00: Our creator has made us creatures who are limited by design.
SPEAKER_00: You ever thought about that before?
SPEAKER_00: You know that so many of our limitations aren't due to our sin nature.
SPEAKER_00: They're just because of our human nature.
SPEAKER_00: These limitations we have, we almost always think of them as because of sin.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: We have these limitations before sin entered the world.
SPEAKER_00: Sin just complicated them all.
SPEAKER_00: We are limited by space, we are limited by time, we are limited in our intellect and our ability to comprehend.
SPEAKER_00: We are limited in our power, in our effort, we're limited in our energy.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get an amen?
SPEAKER_00: We are limited by design.
SPEAKER_00: It's how God created us to be.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, so many of us still try to live functionally as if we have no limits.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do all the things everybody wants me to do.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna make every commitment and then I'm gonna be determined to keep them.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna remember everything.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do everything.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be everywhere at all times all at once.
SPEAKER_00: And then we fail and we're discouraged and frustrated because we don't recognize these limits God has given to us.
SPEAKER_00: Why does God create us with these limitations?
SPEAKER_00: Because we were made to rest in a position of dependence upon our Maker.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in this place of dependence, not independence, which is exactly the original sin back in the garden, where they wanted to be like God, knowing good and evil for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to be dependent upon God anymore.
SPEAKER_00: It's in this place of dependence, returning to that place at the cross, that we find more freedom and more liberation than we could ever possibly imagine.
SPEAKER_00: Saying, Lord, I can't, but I know you can.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul described, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, speaking of a thorn in the flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Some people would suggest it was a sin struggle that he was having.
SPEAKER_00: Others suggested it was a physical limitation or or disability that he couldn't overcome.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we do.
SPEAKER_00: Any hint of weakness, we're just like, Lord, let it be gone.
SPEAKER_00: Make me strong again.
SPEAKER_00: But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
SPEAKER_00: So what's Paul's conclusion?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
SPEAKER_00: For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.
SPEAKER_00: For when I am weak, then I am strong.
SPEAKER_00: Because we need to stop being ashamed of our weaknesses and let's start boasting in them.
SPEAKER_00: Because when we boast in our weakness and God uses those, he gets glory, not us.
SPEAKER_00: Our strength is in dependence on the one we were created to know.
SPEAKER_00: And isn't it interesting that when everything in our lives is going pretty well, when we feel like it's all mostly together, that's when we tend to drift in our intimacy from God.
SPEAKER_00: And God, in his grace and great love toward us, knowing we were made for relationship and dependence upon him, will have us go through these seasons to bring us back and remind us.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: This is where life is found.
SPEAKER_00: So what is 1 Corinthians 10 actually teaching us?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to read through all of this.
SPEAKER_00: I want to encourage you guys, read through all of chapter 10.
SPEAKER_00: What you're gonna see is Paul exhorting these Corinthian Christians to flee idol worship, to leave this life of worshiping idols and sexual immorality and testing God and grumbling and complaining, all this sin, to leave it behind and to walk as followers of Christ, to be holy as God is holy.
SPEAKER_00: And that's when he wraps the whole thing up with God will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape.
SPEAKER_00: So many of us, we need this reminder today.
SPEAKER_00: We're not talking about how we misuse this verse.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take it for what it actually is.
SPEAKER_00: What did God actually say that you and I will never be tempted to sin beyond what we are able to handle?
SPEAKER_00: We've got to have this reminder because I know without question there are some here that in your life of following Jesus, in your Christian life, you have been so bombarded by sin because of this world that we live in and felt so defeated by it.
SPEAKER_00: You have pretty much resolved yourself to the fact it's always gonna be there.
SPEAKER_00: This is just a part of my life.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing I can do.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is always gonna be normalized, there's no way I can escape it.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what God says.
SPEAKER_00: What God says is there's no temptation you and I face that He does not provide a way of escape for.
SPEAKER_00: So that we are fully responsible and accountable before Him.
SPEAKER_00: Because what are the things that you have just resolved yourself to when it comes to sin, so that now this whole call to be holy as God is holy, you don't even think about that anymore.
SPEAKER_00: All you do is try not to mess up too bad.
SPEAKER_00: You don't struggle against sin.
SPEAKER_00: There's no struggling anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You just do it and just really hope that, you know, God is gonna forgive you, just one blanket forgive for the rest of our life.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not a message of religious performance and go out there and be better, right?
SPEAKER_00: We can't handle sin in our life, so many of us.
SPEAKER_00: We need him to show us that door.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, are we looking for it?
SPEAKER_00: I think back to when I was in high school, I had a buddy who was training and he would uh have actual fights.
SPEAKER_00: These he was a kickboxer.
SPEAKER_00: And so he was a big guy, man.
SPEAKER_00: He's played defensive end on his football team and all league, all whatever, and and fought all the time and just had all this pent-up aggression.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm this good little Christian kid.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, you know, a little over six feet in my sophomore junior year.
SPEAKER_00: I probably weighed 165 pounds.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you sneeze too hard, you could blow me over.
SPEAKER_00: And there was a time where my buddy's like, hey, my sparring partner canceled.
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to come spar with me?
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, uh no.
SPEAKER_00: And so he starts trying to convince me, no, no, no, it's good.
SPEAKER_00: You'll have the helmeted thing on, you know, and you'll have the gloves on, so you'll be protected there.
SPEAKER_00: And I won't go full force with you, you know.
SPEAKER_00: I just need to get some reps in.
SPEAKER_00: And it's only for a few minutes at a time, man.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, you'll you'll be fine, you'll be good.
SPEAKER_00: And then to try to further motivate me, he said the thing that was really popular in gyms and workout situations back then.
SPEAKER_00: He was like, Come on, Ryan, go big or go home.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'll go home.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone with me on that?
SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
SPEAKER_00: What are my options here?
SPEAKER_00: Go get pounded, my face beat in by this large man who's a friend but not in the ring for even three minutes at a time, or there's the door.
SPEAKER_00: I can just leave and find him someone else to beat up on.
SPEAKER_00: This is kind of that imagery, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: How many of us were just like, okay, gonna stand here again and just okay, Lord, why did it happen again?
SPEAKER_00: God's like, there's a door right there.
SPEAKER_00: Just put your phone away.
SPEAKER_00: Just go down and get a dumb phone where you don't have that temptation anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Just go to bed when the rest of your family goes to bed so you're not alone and wandering the rooftop like David and opening yourself up to temptation.
SPEAKER_00: Don't put yourself in these situations where the enemy has a foothold.
SPEAKER_00: Avoid, do whatever you can, because there's always a door.
SPEAKER_00: As what are the doors you and I refuse to walk through?
SPEAKER_00: Because when we continue to fall, it's not because God is letting us be tempted beyond what we're able to handle.
SPEAKER_00: Because every temptation we face, he has given us a way of escape.
SPEAKER_00: Take that way of escape.
SPEAKER_00: As he finishes chapter 10, he leads us into the conversation where he even mentions communion, and we get to close by receiving communion together today.
SPEAKER_00: But I love this.
SPEAKER_00: He he brings them back to the taking of communion and the Lord's table, as it's called, and he tries to bring this contrast.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, Corinthians, you are literally going and participating in all of these feasts and celebrations of idol worship.
SPEAKER_00: You are worshiping and participating in that worship of demonic spirits and false gods.
SPEAKER_00: And then you're coming here to church and you're partaking of the Lord's table.
SPEAKER_00: You're participating in the blood and the body of our Savior.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do these things.
SPEAKER_00: If we're going to participate in the sacrifice of Christ, then we can't participate in the very reason that the sacrifice was necessary.
SPEAKER_00: And this is that call to be holy as God is holy, to let that be a priority, a desire of our heart.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us need to ask the Lord to relight that fire today.
SPEAKER_00: Because we've been walking this path of sin, continuing to come here week in, week out.
SPEAKER_00: It's just how it is.
SPEAKER_00: We take communion, Lord, forgive me because I messed up all the same ways again, and then we move, move on.
SPEAKER_00: And it's just this cycle that the Lord says, No, I want to free you from that.
SPEAKER_00: It's why I sent my son, not just to forgive your sin, but to free you from it.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to take a moment, guys, before we receive communion.
SPEAKER_00: Can we just close our eyes, bow our head, just come before the Lord without distraction today in this moment?
SPEAKER_00: Let's do that.
SPEAKER_00: And if sin has become normalized for you, will you confess that to him today?
SPEAKER_00: Acknowledge you can't handle this situation.
SPEAKER_00: You need him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, help me be holy as you are holy.
SPEAKER_00: Free me from the sin in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, thank you that there's no condemnation for those of us who are in you, who placed our faith and trust in you.
SPEAKER_00: So Lord, even in our sin, we come to the table, being reminded not only of your sacrifice, but reminded of what it accomplished.
SPEAKER_00: That we are forgiven and we are free.
SPEAKER_00: Help us walk in that freedom.
SPEAKER_00: We read in the Gospels that Jesus, on the night before he went to the cross, was having a Passover meal with his disciples, and that at one point he stood and he took that bread and he blessed it, and then he broke it and he gave it to his disciples, and he said, Take and eat of it.
SPEAKER_00: This is my body.
SPEAKER_00: Take and eat of it, and as often as you do, do it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_00: Church, can we take and eat of this bread in this the bottom of the cups in front of you, around you, somewhere?
SPEAKER_00: Let's take that bread.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, as we're taking the bread as you did, God, we bless it.
SPEAKER_00: We bless it knowing that your body was given for us.
SPEAKER_00: And so we remember that body that was willingly broken so that we could be made whole.
SPEAKER_00: And we say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: If you have the bread, let's take and let's eat of it together.
SPEAKER_00: We then read that Jesus stood again and he took a cup of wine and he said, This is my blood of the new covenant that's been given for you.
SPEAKER_00: Take it and drink of it, and whenever you do, do it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_00: So again, can we just take a moment and thank him for his blood that forgives our sin?
SPEAKER_00: That washes us clean.
SPEAKER_00: That makes us righteous and holy in his eyes.
SPEAKER_00: Let's take and drink of the juice together.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus, for your life.
SPEAKER_00: God, may we leave here boasting in it.
SPEAKER_00: So that people don't look at us.
SPEAKER_00: They're not inspired by us.
SPEAKER_00: They don't feel superior or inferior.
SPEAKER_00: God, that we leave here and all people see is you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That you get glory.
SPEAKER_00: And may we leave here not motivated and amped up and inspired because you won't ever give us more than we can handle.
SPEAKER_00: But because God, you can handle everything.
SPEAKER_00: And that as we depend on and trust in you, we have nothing to fear.
SPEAKER_00: And so may we leave here rejoicing, knowing that you have handled it, you will continue to handle it, and we can rest in you.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, may we also leave, determined by your grace, to recognize that there is no temptation we face where you have not given us a way of escape.
SPEAKER_00: Help us walk through that door.
SPEAKER_00: May we be holy as you are holy.
SPEAKER_00: We pray all this in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.