SPEAKER_00: Again, very thankful to be with y'all today.
SPEAKER_00: The uh title of my message today is One God, One Church, One Purpose.
SPEAKER_00: One God, One Church, One Purpose.
SPEAKER_00: I uh I want to give you a scripture this morning that uh I think very fondly of, but I think it has a powerful message in that one verse.
SPEAKER_00: It's found in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Paul writes this to Timothy, and he says in 1 Timothy 3 15, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: The part of that verse that has always interested me is the pillar and ground of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: But I want you to see the language in this verse.
SPEAKER_00: That Paul is writing to the young minister Timothy, and he's saying that if I tarry long, if I'm not able to come and be with you, he's saying, I want you to know how that you are to behave yourself, conduct yourself in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: So he's writing this verse in a practical sense, right?
SPEAKER_00: He wants Timothy to know and understand what Timothy is actually supposed to do in the church, right?
SPEAKER_00: He wants Timothy to know where the rubber meets the road.
SPEAKER_00: Timothy, this is what you are supposed to do in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a very practical verse.
SPEAKER_00: But, and he says, Behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to say this, that in the modern world that you and I live in, there has been somewhat, I see, a little bit of a divorce from Christianity and the church.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: That so much so, especially in America, let me say that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm speaking more about America than I would be about other countries because I don't know about other countries.
SPEAKER_00: But our American ideal of rugged individualism, it's all about me and my walk with the Lord and how I'm growing in the Lord, and we tend to want to make things about ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that you see in the scriptures over and over again is the context that Christianity and the life of the individual is placed in the context of the church body, amen.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, that the church, brothers and sisters, is so very important, the actual assembled body of believers.
SPEAKER_00: But in modern Christianity in America today, I see that there is somewhat of a separation or somewhat of a divorce from the individual's Christianity and then the church body.
SPEAKER_00: And it shouldn't be that way.
SPEAKER_00: That if somebody says, well, when I talk to people, well, oh yes, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and I love the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well, where are you a member in a church?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm not.
SPEAKER_00: Or where do you attend church?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we go to this church sometimes, and we go to that church sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, the church is very important.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul writes to Timothy here.
SPEAKER_00: I'm writing this to you, Timothy, so that you know how to actually behave and conduct yourself in the house of God, which is, notice this, the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Now stop right there.
SPEAKER_00: The church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that so in the Bible, God is often talked about as the living God, the one who is alive.
SPEAKER_00: You know, uh in the book of Revelation, that Jesus Christ walketh among the candlesticks.
SPEAKER_00: That, you know, uh, I believe it's in the book of Luke that uh as he writes the uh gospel of Luke, that it talks about that uh uh O Theophilus, I began to write, uh I'm sorry, in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Acts, uh Luke wrote the book of Acts, he also wrote the book of Luke, and then the book of Acts he continues and he said, you know, uh uh this uh treatise, O Theophilus, that I uh uh began to write unto you about the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The point is, well, Brother Josh, I thought in the Gospels that Jesus Christ was crucified.
SPEAKER_00: He was.
SPEAKER_00: But then you read in the book of Acts that he rose again, that in the end of the gospels that Christ rose again.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you and I don't serve a dead Savior.
SPEAKER_00: We serve a risen Savior, we serve a living Savior, we serve a very much so alive and living God who is alive and well today.
SPEAKER_00: Well, why is all that important?
SPEAKER_00: Because you and I don't serve some dead idle God that is no thing.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what's the purpose of all this, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see the three things: one God, one church, one purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Even in this verse, it speaks about that living God, and it speaks about the church, and it speaks about the believer who is supposed to know how to behave himself in this world in the church of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: But look at this.
SPEAKER_00: The last part of that verse says the church of the living God, uh, which is the pillar and ground of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: That's the part that I wanted to get to.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have been looking at, and I want to tell you purposefully, you and I have been going through step by step what is called the Baptist Catechism.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just a, all that means is just a series of questions and answers.
SPEAKER_00: And the question that you and I are dealing with today is, are there more gods than one?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer to that question is no.
SPEAKER_00: No, there is only one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he is a trinity of persons, but we'll get to that in a later sermon.
SPEAKER_00: But what I want you to see is, Brother Josh, you know, uh, we live in the modern world, and you were talking about the divorce and separation of Christianity and the church, yes?
SPEAKER_00: Well, brothers and sisters, the problem is that so many modern Christians don't really want to talk about doctrine, and they don't want to talk about these type of things.
SPEAKER_00: They just want to, well, I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and just I want you to get up there and I want you to preach about what my duty is and you know, tell me how to live my life as a husband or a mother or the children in the family.
SPEAKER_00: That's all fine and good, brothers, but did you know that the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth?
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: A pillar, think about a pillar on a big uh house or a big huge building.
SPEAKER_00: A pillar is a support structure, right?
SPEAKER_00: Now, God's truth is forever.
SPEAKER_00: But what is the job of the church?
SPEAKER_00: What is my job as a minister?
SPEAKER_00: To proclaim to you the truth of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: The business of the church in 2026 or 2,000 years ago, or if it lasts that long, 2,000 years in the future, will be to do what?
SPEAKER_00: Preach the word of God as professed in the Holy Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: The church, the job of the church, we are the pillar of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: You and I are to uphold, we are to bear the weight of, you and I are to defend, you and I are to speak of, you and I are to proclaim the truth of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: The church of the living God, the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, the world today that is uh so much so caught up in lies and falsehood, well, where do I go for help?
SPEAKER_00: Where do I go if I don't know where to go?
SPEAKER_00: Go to the church.
SPEAKER_00: If you are struggling financially, if you are struggling in your marriage, if you are struggling with anxiety, if you are struggling with fears, if you are struggling with loneliness, if you are struggling with sin, where do you go?
SPEAKER_00: To the church.
SPEAKER_00: Because the church is the one who upholds the truth.
SPEAKER_00: It's the very ground of the truth, it's the garden that you go to to glean and pick out the right fruits of the truth of God.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna find it in secular psychology or the world that is just tossed to and fro with every terrible doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna find it out there.
SPEAKER_00: So, this lost and hurting world, brothers and sisters, the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: So that is why I am attempting to go through the Baptist catechism that sounds like an old, antiquated, ancient thing.
SPEAKER_00: But y'all know I am super excited about this message this morning, talking about the one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know I would be that excited about it, and I'm not trying to be emotional, but as I studied this, I just got wound up about thinking about the one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: So let's just dive right into this.
SPEAKER_00: So, one God, one church, one purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Let's start talking about one God.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Timothy chapter 2, in verse 5, we read, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now there's a lot of lot contained in that one verse.
SPEAKER_00: So here in the New Testament, in Timothy, as Paul is writing to Timothy again, Paul is telling Timothy, Timothy, there is one God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, why is that significant?
SPEAKER_00: One God.
SPEAKER_00: The question in the catechism is, are there more gods than one?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer to that question is no.
SPEAKER_00: There are no more gods than one.
SPEAKER_00: There is one singular, true, and living God, and yes, he is a trinity of persons, but we'll have to get to that another day.
SPEAKER_00: But there's only one God, and the Bible tells us that.
SPEAKER_00: Paul told Timothy, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is God made flesh.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God is fully able to understand mine and your condition.
SPEAKER_00: You and I do not have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
SPEAKER_00: Christ was tempted in every way like you and I have been.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, he understands hunger.
SPEAKER_00: He understands persecution.
SPEAKER_00: He understands being defamed.
SPEAKER_00: He understands being hurt in literally physical pain.
SPEAKER_00: He understands the weight of responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: He understands all the things that you and I go through, but yet he was without sin.
SPEAKER_00: But, brothers and sisters, there is only one God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, see, Paul was primarily a preacher to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to read in a minute in Ephesians, while Paul was imprisoned, that he was writing to a Gentile church who also had Jews in it.
SPEAKER_00: But see, the Gentile world believed in multiple gods.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, we talked about Mars Hill last Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Those Greeks and the Romans, they believed in a multitude of gods.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, there's one thing that I want you to get nailed down in your theology.
SPEAKER_00: There are only and have only ever been two religions.
SPEAKER_00: I know I've said that before, but I'm going to keep saying it throughout the years because it's so true, and I want you to get it cemented in your mind.
SPEAKER_00: There are only and have ever been only two religions.
SPEAKER_00: Christianity, which is the truth, the Church of the Living God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth, and everything else.
SPEAKER_00: And the everything else falls under Satanism, falls under lies and falsehood.
SPEAKER_00: And then it falls under every other religion by every other stripe and whatever type of makeup it puts on.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: By whatever name it goes by, it is falsehood.
SPEAKER_00: It is lies.
SPEAKER_00: There are only two religions that have ever been the truth and a lie.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And the Holy Bible proclaims unto you and I the one true and living God, the one true church, the one true purpose, the one true religion.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: It's just that simple.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul even told the Corinthians, he said, I fear, lest ye be led away from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in James chapter 2 and verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: James chapter 2, verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: The man who was the minister of the Jerusalem church, he said, Thou believest that there is one God.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Thou doest well.
SPEAKER_00: The devils also believe and tremble.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know how deluded Satan really is, but y'all tell me.
SPEAKER_00: Satan, who himself was a created and fallen angel, and all the demons who were angels created by God and then fell when Satan fell, y'all tell me, do they know and understand that there actually is only, in reality, in truth, only one God.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all tell me.
SPEAKER_00: 100% they know that.
SPEAKER_00: Do y'all know that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, James says here, thou believest that there is one God.
SPEAKER_00: Thou doest well.
SPEAKER_00: The devils also believe and tremble.
SPEAKER_00: Satan is convinced, unless he has believed his own lies for so long, because he wants to be like God.
SPEAKER_00: He's so prideful.
SPEAKER_00: But Satan and the devils know there is only one creator God.
SPEAKER_00: They know that.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a lot of men walking around this earth that don't even believe what the devils believe.
SPEAKER_00: That there is only one God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if y'all will turn with me for a minute to Deuteronomy, we're going to go all the way back to the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy chapter 6, beginning in verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 6 and 4.
SPEAKER_00: So we've talked about one God.
SPEAKER_00: And in Deuteronomy 6, 4, and 5, we're going to also learn about one God.
SPEAKER_00: And also the thing that is linked to knowing about that one God, which is mine and your one purpose.
SPEAKER_00: See, this is where this doctrine turns into duty.
SPEAKER_00: See, because in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 and 5, Moses is telling us about how that this doctrinal knowledge that there is one God naturally overflows into the duty that you and I have, the responsibility that you and I have with that knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is why we in the church preach doctrine and duty, while the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Let's dive into it.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 6, 4, and 5.
SPEAKER_00: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: And thou, you people, shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.
SPEAKER_00: There is one God, and to this one God, you and I have one duty, one purpose, one calling to love the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, that seems kind of simplistic.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it is, in a sense.
SPEAKER_00: But look at what he tells us.
SPEAKER_00: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask y'all a question, and I won't apply this to me and to you.
SPEAKER_00: So, when you and I learn that there is only one God, and that you and I are supposed to love him with all our heart, our soul, our might, and according to the New Testament, our mind, what does that look like?
SPEAKER_00: What does that actually look like?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me ask you some questions.
SPEAKER_00: Are you and I daily, purposefully, intentionally learning the word of God on our own?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, are you personally, as a person hearing this sermon, sitting in a pew?
SPEAKER_00: Are you reading your Bible every single day of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Are you purposefully, intentionally trying to learn more about the Lord and grow in grace and in knowledge of Him?
SPEAKER_00: Are you purposely, intentionally praying to God every day and asking Him for strength that you might walk in victory over your own personal brand of sins that you struggle with, so that you and I will do a better job at serving him and following after him and loving him better?
SPEAKER_00: I heard a minister recently say, he said that uh he said, be consciously aware of God's presence in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, do I think about God on purpose, intentionally, am I consciously aware that God is riding with me in the car or the truck down the highway?
SPEAKER_00: When I pick what I'm about to listen to on the radio, when I decide how to respond to the person that calls me on the phone, when I respond in anger, in vulgar language, when I respond with no patience or shortness of my response, when I pick the song that I listen to on the radio that might not be.
SPEAKER_00: Be glorifying to God?
SPEAKER_00: Do I am I consciously choosing to think about the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ dwells, the Holy Spirit dwells inside of my person?
SPEAKER_00: And the things that I put in front of my eyes, the things that I put in my ears, the things that I choose to learn and spend my time on, do I consciously, am I consciously aware that God is right there with me?
SPEAKER_00: Do I intentionally think about it that way?
SPEAKER_00: I remember, you know, there are Christians that have favorite TV shows.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to miss my favorite TV show on Wednesday night at 7 o'clock, or whatever it is, or whatever night of the week it is.
SPEAKER_00: And that show is 30 minutes long, or that show is an hour long.
SPEAKER_00: Well, on that same day, did you purposely, intentionally decide that I will read my Bible for one hour that day?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I didn't make that, Brother Josh.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not going to miss my TV show, and it's an hour long.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say you can't watch your favorite TV show.
SPEAKER_00: But were you purposely, consciously, intentionally attempting to grow in grace and in the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Because, see, there is one God, and you and I, according to the Bible, have one purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Now, please don't misunderstand me, folks.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, let me ask you.
SPEAKER_00: How well did you do in that task this week?
SPEAKER_00: Not as good as I should have.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be the first one to tell you.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm preaching about today is something that you and I are called to do better at.
SPEAKER_00: If you and I do not purposely right now have a daily time of Bible study and prayer with the Lord, then you and I should have.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And brothers and sisters, so what I want y'all to see is this is a doctrinal sermon talking about the fact that the Bible says that there is one true and living God according to the New Testament and according to Old Testament, but that perfectly translates into mine and your duty and responsibility that you and I have, knowing that there's only one God.
SPEAKER_00: There's not Mars and Apollos and Aphrodite and Diana and who knows what has been invented since then.
SPEAKER_00: There's not all those other gods.
SPEAKER_00: Those are lowercase G, man-made gods of this earth that are pagan, ungodly idols, they have nothing to do with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: There is only one true and living God.
SPEAKER_00: And you and I have a personal responsibility to walk with him every day of my life on purpose, intentionally.
SPEAKER_00: So when I am driving down the road, or when I am at the grocery store, or when I am at work, am I purposely thinking about the fact that God lives in my life and I should be trying to think about him, glorify him, and how I interact with other people, about the things that I think about, the things that I bring into my life?
SPEAKER_00: Well, should I take up that other hobby that I've been thinking about?
SPEAKER_00: Well, does that hobby glorify God?
SPEAKER_00: Does the hobby that you're considering, you know, brother and sisters, I want to, again, sorry, I'm a preacher.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of families, young families, that are involved in travel ball.
SPEAKER_00: And I've known some of those families that they are literally for a season of their life, months on end, they never go to a church service because travel ball is happening on Sunday morning in another state or another city or another town.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, Christian family, you should say no to doing that.
SPEAKER_00: Because travel ball and your child playing baseball or softball is not more important than God.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: It's not.
SPEAKER_00: Under no time ever, period, in the story.
SPEAKER_00: One God, one church, one purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean that your child can't play softball or baseball?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: They can play all the other days.
SPEAKER_00: Just not on Sunday morning.
SPEAKER_00: That should be a priority with my family and with yours.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, you're doing that preacher thing.
SPEAKER_00: The preacher thing that I'm doing is attempting to take this doctrinal truth and show you what the Bible says, how this translates to what you and I are supposed to do with it.
SPEAKER_00: Because in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, it says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, colon.
SPEAKER_00: The statement doesn't end there.
SPEAKER_00: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.
SPEAKER_00: But I can't do it during travel ball season.
SPEAKER_00: Or I can't do it if my show interferes with my Bible study.
SPEAKER_00: Or I can't do it if I got a tummy ache.
SPEAKER_00: I remember one morning that Brother Caves called me and said, Brother Josh, he called me at like 7:30 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: on a Sunday morning and said, we won't be at church.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Brother Cage, what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Sister Hilda had a terrible night.
SPEAKER_00: She said she was sick all night.
SPEAKER_00: She said, Neither of us slept.
SPEAKER_00: And he told me, he was very candid.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I had to get up multiple times and help clean her up.
SPEAKER_00: And when I pulled up to the church house, five minutes before church started, Brother Case and Sister Hilda had been sitting here for 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: I said, Brother Case, why are y'all here today?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, when I told Sister Hilda that we weren't going to church because we had a rough night, she said, Well, she said, I went to school as a school teacher when I didn't feel good.
SPEAKER_00: She said, I better go to church when I don't feel good because that's more important than school.
SPEAKER_00: I almost cried, brother and sister.
SPEAKER_00: At the time that they told me that they were some of the oldest members in our church, and they drove the furtherest distance to get here.
SPEAKER_00: It made me feel ashamed as a young man who at times I make excuses for my own personal Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: But see, what Brother Caes and Sister Hilda were doing is they were putting God before themselves, before their comfort, before everything else.
SPEAKER_00: See that?
SPEAKER_00: Would you say that the Apostle Paul put the service of the Lord before himself when he served the Lord and he was imprisoned and beaten and shipwrecked and defamed and all?
SPEAKER_00: Would you say that he put God before his own personal comfort?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, the Lord called him to that ministry.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord knew he was going to have to go through all those hardships and trial.
SPEAKER_00: So you're telling me, Brother Josh, that the Lord called Brother Paul to do very, very hard things that were very painful and uncomfortable for him to do at times?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he did.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord knew they would be painful and uncomfortable and hard and difficult for him to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the Lord asked him to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord asked us to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And he's not asking too much of us to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, all thy mind, and all thy might.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah chapter 43.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at verse 10 and 11.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah chapter 43, verses 10 and 11.
SPEAKER_00: We read, Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Hard stop.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, brothers and sisters, have been called to actually be witnesses for God.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have responsibility as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: What did he tell Timothy?
SPEAKER_00: Timothy, I write unto you that you may know how to behave thyself in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, I really don't like preachers talking about what I'm supposed to do or my responsibility or how I'm supposed to stay accountable.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody likes to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: We all won't just eat, and again, I'm talking about myself too.
SPEAKER_00: But what I'm trying to proclaim to you and tell you today is the Lord expects you and I to serve Him, to follow Him, to behave, to live right, to do right, to think right, to spend our money right, to spend our time right.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord expects you and I to do that.
SPEAKER_00: And as Christians, if you and I aren't doing that, then Lord help us to have strength to repent and change and to not do that stuff anymore.
SPEAKER_00: But to do differently.
SPEAKER_00: If you and I have not been reading our Bible every day, then I hope that you and I can actually change our daily habits and start reading our Bible every day.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord help us to do that very thing, to not continue doing what you and I have been doing if it's the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if it is the right thing you've been doing, well, Josh, why is it that I find it so hard that I can sit down and watch a two-hour movie and then I try to do a 20-minute Bible study and I just immediately get distracted?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody had that problem?
SPEAKER_00: I have.
SPEAKER_00: I have, I'll tell you that right now.
SPEAKER_00: You know why that is?
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you why it is.
SPEAKER_00: Because the movie appeals to minding your flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And it's real easy for you and I to just sit down and be entertained and enjoy that movie and not have to engage our heart and our mind and all of our faculties.
SPEAKER_00: The movie appeals to our flesh.
SPEAKER_00: However, the Bible and prayer appeals to mind and your spiritual man.
SPEAKER_00: Well, if I get down and try to do Bible study, and then I just can't get my mind focused, I can't get focused on this, that means, brothers and sisters, that you and I have not cultivated a spiritual garden where that you and I get excited about the Bible because there are times when you and I do get excited about the word of the Lord, and you and I just want to dive into it and dig into it, and it is like a it's like honey on the honeycomb, and you and I just want to eat it, you and I want to consume it, I can't get enough of it more and more and more.
SPEAKER_00: We stay up till one o'clock, two o'clock in the morning reading the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Or no.
SPEAKER_00: When I can I just can't get focused, I'm just not interested in it.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have to cultivate our spiritual nature that actually desires that type of food.
SPEAKER_00: It's real easy for money and your flesh just to want the things of the world.
SPEAKER_00: You and I can have a real good attention span for two or three hours, but sometimes not so much with the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have to cultivate our spiritual appetite.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have to start feeding the spiritual man where he wants more food.
SPEAKER_00: Because right now, if you and I can't sit down and do a Bible study for 20 minutes, our spiritual man is just weak and starving to death, and I don't know, that food is kind of foreign to me and it doesn't taste real good, and I really don't want any more of it.
SPEAKER_00: We got to start cultivating that in our lives and eating the better food.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know I love, I have an American palate.
SPEAKER_00: I love Cokes and McDonald's hamburgers and whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And then my wife tries her very best for me to eat healthy.
SPEAKER_00: She'll cook organic.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, she will cook the best food and take the time, and then I want to go to Dog General and get a bag of powdered donuts.
SPEAKER_00: I'm serious, I'm telling y'all the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: That good food sometimes, brother.
SPEAKER_00: I drink water every day.
SPEAKER_00: I drink water all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I just want to coke.
SPEAKER_00: And it is just pure sugary badness.
SPEAKER_00: It's terrible.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is poisonous what it is.
SPEAKER_00: It's terrible for you.
SPEAKER_00: Our flesh likes the things of this earth, and we just naturally gravitate toward them.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have got to start eating the actual strengthening food of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: And you and I have to cultivate that appetite.
SPEAKER_00: Put down the sugary donuts of the flesh and pick up the strengthening food of the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: We have to do that.
SPEAKER_00: We have to choose to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Isaiah 43, verse 10, he says, Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And my servant whom I have chosen, so we are witnesses.
SPEAKER_00: That's our responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: And my servant whom I have chosen, well, we are chosen servants, but he may be talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am He.
SPEAKER_00: Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: I, even I, am the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's the proper name of God, Jehovah.
SPEAKER_00: And besides me there is no Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Now very quickly, let's get to Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to spend the rest of our time right here.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to try to wrap this up.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I lose in books of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: So in Ephesians, chapter 4, and verse 1, we read.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This is Paul writing to the Ephesian church.
SPEAKER_00: And again, he was writing to Jews and Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: And he was writing this.
SPEAKER_00: He actually was having a secretary write it for him as he dictated it, while he was imprisoned at Rome.
SPEAKER_00: I, therefore, so he was a physical prisoner.
SPEAKER_00: I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.
SPEAKER_00: That is a mouthful of words, but that is wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: Paul said, writing to the church at Ephesus, I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the vo what is this vocation wherewith you and I are called?
SPEAKER_00: What is he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: He is actually talking about that God has implanted the Holy Spirit in you and I, and you and I have been called to be witnesses of the Lord in this world, to glorify him, to honor him, to love him above all things.
SPEAKER_00: That is mine and your vocation.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when we talk about vocation, Rose, what do you do for a living?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm a cabinet maker, I'm a woodworker, I'm a preacher.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do for a living?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm a woodworker and I'm a preacher.
SPEAKER_00: That is my quote-unquote vocation.
SPEAKER_00: Well, did y'all know that my higher calling, my vocation is actually what?
SPEAKER_00: Christian.
SPEAKER_00: To be a disciple of Christ, to be a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: God has by his grace implanted the Holy Spirit in me, and he now calls me to do what?
SPEAKER_00: To walk with him, to glorify him, to love him, to be a witness of him here in this world.
SPEAKER_00: That is mine, and you're calling our vocation above everything else.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter what your earthly job is.
SPEAKER_00: You are called to walk with the Lord and glorify him in that first and foremost.
SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
SPEAKER_00: That internal living of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: What are you and I supposed to do?
SPEAKER_00: God has called you and I out of darkness and into light.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's called you and I out of sin to walk in holiness and purity.
SPEAKER_00: And only now that you and I have been born again are you and I actually able to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Because, see, God, we've already learned that God is light, right?
SPEAKER_00: Again, Brother Josh, here's some of that overlapping doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Because God is light and he is purity and he is holy, and in him is no darkness at all, he can take us folk, us creatures, who are living in darkness, he can call us out of darkness and translate us into the kingdom of his dear son, into the kingdom of light, and he can enable us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to now walk in purity and holiness of life and walk in victory over mine and your flesh, which before you and I could not have done that.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But he has called us to do that.
SPEAKER_00: He's called us out of darkness and into light.
SPEAKER_00: He has called us out of bondage and into liberty.
SPEAKER_00: Before you and I were a slave to sin.
SPEAKER_00: People don't like to hear that before you're born again, that you are a slave to your own sin.
SPEAKER_00: That's every single human being except the Lord Jesus Christ is a slave to their own sinfulness before they're born again.
SPEAKER_00: But you and I have the ability to walk in victory over them through the freedom that is in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
SPEAKER_00: John chapter 8.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's verse 36.
SPEAKER_00: So we have been called out of the friendship of this world and into the fellowship of the church and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Did y'all know that church folks aren't supposed to look like, act like, think like, do like everybody else out there in the world?
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean that you and I aren't teachers and nurses and homemakers and all the, you know, and it doesn't mean that.
SPEAKER_00: It means that the way that you and I live in this world is supposed to look differently than everybody else out there acts.
SPEAKER_00: Because God has called us out of fellowship of this world and into the fellowship of his son and of the church.
SPEAKER_00: We're also called to walk like sons and daughters of the one true King.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, you and I are sons and daughters of the King.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to act like him.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what does that look like, Brother Josh?
SPEAKER_00: Look at the life of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you and I are supposed to think and act and do.
SPEAKER_00: And how you and I are supposed to be compassionate in love.
SPEAKER_00: And how disciplined you and I are supposed to be.
SPEAKER_00: Do you and I meet up with that mark?
SPEAKER_00: No, we won't.
SPEAKER_00: In this side of heaven we won't, but that's the mark you and I are to strive for, is the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we're supposed to walk worthy of our inheritance.
SPEAKER_00: Salvation itself, heaven and immortal glory.
SPEAKER_00: That's where you and I are headed by God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the prayer, I, therefore, the praiser of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called, the vocation.
SPEAKER_00: And we're to do this with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love.
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to walk humbly in this world.
SPEAKER_00: Christians aren't supposed to be arrogant folks.
SPEAKER_00: That is the most off-putting trait I ever see in a Christian human being.
SPEAKER_00: When a Christian is arrogant.
SPEAKER_00: That makes me wonder: are you even a Christian at all?
SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to be thankful for whom we are.
SPEAKER_00: Lowly, meek, long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is, you know, one God, one church, one calling.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Brother Josh, how does a church come into all this?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, we are the pillar and ground of the truth, but uh look at the next verse.
SPEAKER_00: Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_00: There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called, and one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
SPEAKER_00: One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.
SPEAKER_00: One body.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure over the course of my ministry that at some time I've made y'all mad.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want to volunteer to talk about that?
SPEAKER_00: If I ever offended anybody here, I'm sure that I have.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not just talking about from the pulpit, but something I have done or haven't done.
SPEAKER_00: My point is, brothers and sisters, is that you and I are sinful folks.
SPEAKER_00: At some time or another, you and I are going to make mistakes, do the wrong thing, choose the wrong, make the wrong decision.
SPEAKER_00: But what are you and I supposed to do with each other about that?
SPEAKER_00: You and I are supposed to be long suffering.
SPEAKER_00: I love that word.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in the Bible it often talks about being patient, and it is.
SPEAKER_00: But I love the fact that the King James uses the word long suffering.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a brother in Christ who doesn't have his act together, and he just goes around offending everybody else, are you and I just supposed to write him off?
SPEAKER_00: He loves the Lord, but he can't get his act quite together.
SPEAKER_00: What are you and I supposed to do for him?
SPEAKER_00: Pray for him, love him, come alongside of him, be patient with him, but even further, you and I are to forbear with him, you and I are to bear up under his wrong.
SPEAKER_00: We're not to excuse his sin, that's not what that means.
SPEAKER_00: It means you and I are to work with him, to labor with him, almost like a wayward son or a wayward child.
SPEAKER_00: Are you and I just gonna give up on our children and abandon them and say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: You just can't get your life together, you can't get your act together, you are no longer my daughter, you are no longer my son.
SPEAKER_00: No, we don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Son, I'm gonna love you, but I don't agree with what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: Daughter, I love you, but I don't agree with what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: I'm never I'm never gonna forsake you, but I'm not gonna condone what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna continue to pray for you, and I'm gonna continue to speak truth into your life, to speak truth in love, so as to try to move you in the right direction.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Daddy, you just need to leave me alone, though.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry I'm not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I love you.
SPEAKER_00: Because I don't want you to run your car off the cliff and shipwreck your life.
SPEAKER_00: I care enough about you to speak the truth in love.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying be a judgmental Pharisee, that's not what I'm saying at all.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm saying enough that as a Christian man and father and your brother in Christ, that when I see you about to shipwreck your Christianity, then I'm gonna do the harder thing and actually tell you to stop, to don't go that way, to repent and change because you are living wrong, you are thinking wrong, you are acting wrong, you are doing wrong, change your life.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you don't, you are gonna ruin your witness, your family, your health.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna lose your job, you're gonna lose your finances, you're gonna lose your home.
SPEAKER_00: You could physically die.
SPEAKER_00: I've known, my brother and sisters, I have known men who have had liver failure because they drank themselves to death.
SPEAKER_00: Would be to God if somebody would intervene in their lives and come alongside of them, not like a judgmental Pharisee, but instead like a brother in Christ who actually cared about them and wanted to help them change their life.
SPEAKER_00: Amen?
SPEAKER_00: And that is a harder thing to do, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's difficult, it's not easy.
SPEAKER_00: Long suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Forbearing one another in love.
SPEAKER_00: Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_00: There is one body, one spirit, even as ye are called, and one hope of your calling.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this, verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: One Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Did y'all know there's only one Lord?
SPEAKER_00: What is his name?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is not Satan, it is not the government, it is not my boss man at work, it is not the contractors or whoever is over you that you're working for that's trying to drive you and pull every ounce of energy.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: There is one Lord, and his name is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And there is one God, and you and I serve him above all else.
SPEAKER_00: One God, one church, one purpose.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord help us to keep our priorities straight.
SPEAKER_00: I'm done.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I have.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: The church of God is the pillar and ground of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: You come here to hear the truth.
SPEAKER_00: But let me say this.
SPEAKER_00: May you and I not just come here to hear the truth, but may you and I come here to not only hear the truth, but so that you and I may grow in the Lord and you and I may leave this place and go be the church and actually act out on the truth and do what you and I know to be true.
SPEAKER_00: Would be to God that I would do all the truth that I have in my head.
SPEAKER_00: Because right now I'd be being generous to myself if I did a fourth of it or half of it.
SPEAKER_00: We love y'all very much.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna ask Brother Don if you would come and help us close in a word of song.
SPEAKER_00: The church doors are always open.
SPEAKER_00: You desire to night with membership of our church.