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Good morning.
If you've got your Bibles, going to open them up to 1 Corinthians chapter 1.
It's where we're going to be as we start off in our new series.
I hope you all got to go outside or chose to enjoy the snow in the way that you wanted
to enjoy it, right?
I don't know if you know this or not, but Joanne C. gets cold, like, looking at refrigerators
at Lowe's, all right?
Like, she's that level of cold.
And so, she confessed any picture that she got was, like, from the inside of the comfort
of her home.
But us, we got out in it for, like, three hours, as long as it was out there, and got
to enjoy doing some South Carolina sledding, which means, like, finding stuff around your
house and then pushing people down a hill of mud, right?
And that's what we did for a while.
But it was a wonderful, wonderful time.
And I hope you guys had the opportunity to enjoy it.
But it's good to have you guys here this morning.
Did this, got here early, hit a little bit of ice on some of the back roads from my house
to here, but overall, it was safe and glad to be able to be here with y'all.
We will have our Sunday night starting back.
We were supposed to start back last week, but we will start back tonight.
And we're excited about that.
Sunday night's full on for us.
Sunday night's more like Sunday afternoons, starting at 4 o'clock.
We'll have all of our adult small groups will be starting back.
Some started this morning, but we'll be back.
And we're going to be working through on Sunday mornings and in our groups, 1 Corinthians
together.
So I'm excited about that, to be leading a group, going through that, preaching through
this on Sunday morning.
But then also on the rows that you're seated, you'll see there's a little reading schedule
there.
And so what I would like to challenge you to do is to take that reading schedule.
And as we work through this on Sunday morning and in our small groups, during your quiet
time, work through it with us.
And here's what you're going to see.
Like on Sunday mornings, we're not going to necessarily read and go word by word through
1 Corinthians.
We'll do a little bit more of that maybe in our small groups, but you have the opportunity
to do that on your own as we walk through this.
And I love it when we have the opportunities to do this together as a church, because what
we see is, is you guys through the power of the Holy Spirit, feeding yourselves in quiet
time, discussing that in your small groups as you meet together.
And then us having the opportunity corporately to come together in worship through studying
God's word.
If you're not in a small group, also on your seats, there's a list of all of our small groups
and there's definitely an opportunity and time for you to get connected in one and would
love to see you have that.
We've also got our kids discipleship is going on tonight and our student ministry is going
on tonight.
And so we have something for every age and every opportunity for you to be a part of Willow
Ridge Church and what God is doing here.
So let's look in, get started in 1 Corinthians.
Now, last week was different for me.
All right.
Confession moment.
All through seminary, you take preaching classes and they're like, hey, we want you to preach
on this passage of scripture.
And it never worked out that that's the passage of scripture that we were doing in church.
And so on usually Sunday nights after we'd get done with church, I would tell Aaron and
the kids, hey, I need y'all to go upstairs and be really quiet.
And then I would position myself somewhere in the house.
Like I did like all the trash, all the dirt, right?
Get move all that out of the way.
Not that we're dirty people.
That just sounded bad, right?
But try to make it cleaner.
And then I would position myself in our home and preach.
And it was weird because it was me and the camera.
And then last week it was weird a little bit too.
But God was good, enjoyed being able to do that.
And just kind of give us a little background of 1 Corinthians of what is this letter about
that we're diving into.
And one of the things that I talked about last week, and I want to kind of recap that
a little bit as we're going into this, is if you've studied scripture some, what you'll
know is that the church at Corinth, as we get into this, like it epitomizes, it embodies
dysfunction.
There's a lot of stuff that's going on that when we read through this, we're like, really?
You're like, this is the decision that y'all are making.
And what I want us to do a little bit is as we read, we're going to see the problems that
are in this church that we're studying.
And I don't want them to see these as these problems that they suffer with, because for
us on the surface, they may be so foreign, but yet the theological stuff that's going on,
the application things that are going on, the practical issues that we're going to see,
and as Paul corrects, are so many of them that can be applied to our context at Willow Ridge
Church, but also to our lives as individual believers.
So that as we journey through this, it's not the standing on the outside looking at the
shock of what those people are doing in their problematic church, but seeing what Paul is
addressing, why Paul is addressing that, how Paul is correcting them, and then looking at
that for ourselves.
And we're going to look at this morning with unity amongst the body, and say, God, what
are you showing me in my life?
Lord, what are you showing us as a body of believers in Willow Ridge Church in Lexington,
South Carolina, where we have the privilege and the opportunity to read this letter this morning?
Right?
It's not just them, it's us, and what do we want to draw from this?
And so just a minute, we're going to start reading in verse 10, but Paul begins this letter,
very important, and we're not going to read it this morning, but he begins it with a greeting
like he often does, and begins it with a thanksgiving.
I think that's important.
I think that's important, and here's kind of what I want to just segue on a little bit.
They're a problematic church that Paul has to deal with, that Paul's got to work with.
There we go.
But what is beautiful in this that we're going to see, and I want it to be the way that we
look at, the way that we address, the way that we work through different things in our life,
is when we have things that cause us problems, when we have things that cause us issues that
we've got to work through, how, what is the mindset that we're taking to them?
Are we taking them to with thanksgiving, as Paul does, as he recognizes that it's a group of
believers that have wandered, a group of believers that are confused, or do we look at these as the
simple inconveniences of our life?
But Paul looks at this as an opportunity for the church to grow and mature in their faith,
and as a result of that, Paul begins with thanking the Lord for them.
So it's going to be the groundwork that we're going to see with this.
So let's start reading in verse 10.
Paul writes, and he says,
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree,
and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind, in the same
judgment.
For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is some quarreling among you, my brothers.
What I mean is that each of you, what I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul,
or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ.
Is Christ divided?
Was Paul crucified for you?
Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that
you were baptized in my name.
I did baptize also the house of Stephanas.
Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.
Verse 17, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words
of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of his power.
And so Paul jumps in very quickly, and he says, look, I'm grateful for you, and now I
want to appeal to you.
I want to appeal to you for who you are to address these things out of the love that I
have for you.
And what Paul does is he calls them to unity.
Look back at verse 10.
I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united
in the same mind and the same judgment.
And so Paul says, I want to encourage you.
I want you to be united.
I want to appeal to you.
So I'm not bringing this to you in words of anger, but as the loving, as someone who loves
you, as a leader who cares for you, as someone that a lot of you look to me as a father in
your faith, I want to appeal to you in this.
Like, can you hear the heart of Paul, what he's dealing with?
It's a parent who's sitting there with their children, imploring them out of the love that
is in their heart, not in the rebuke that comes from their mouth, but imploring them,
begging them, understanding, like, this is what it means for God, for you to walk in his
will, and to exude all that Christ has for you.
And he says in verse 10, he defines this unity for us in two ways.
The first is at the end of verse 10.
He says, but that you may be united in the same mind and in the same judgment.
So what's he talking about?
Paul here is talking about an inward harmony.
He said, I want to be how you feel toward one another and how you feel toward the gospel
to be one of unity.
That when you look at and when you see one another, that you do not see the divisions.
When you look at and when you see one another, what you see is Christ.
When you hear about the gospel, when we're called to the gospel, that we're in the same mind,
there's the same feeling, there's the same desire within this.
That there's agreement, that there's unity.
But also, kind of in the middle, he says that all of you agree.
And this word that you agree is the word, it's a court term that would mean that all of you
would have the same testimony.
And not testimony as in my testimony of coming to faith and your testimony of coming to faith
align and that they happen in the exact same format.
But it's that the testimony of Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ, of who he is,
is unified in who we are.
So our stories may be different, but we're proclaiming the same gospel.
And what we're working toward is we're working toward alignment and unity within the church.
Because the gospel works in this way.
So let's talk a little bit about unity.
And then kind of a negative context.
Let's talk about divisions versus disagreements, all right?
Can we disagree in the church?
Yes, we can disagree in the church.
Now, that makes some of us, myself, feel uncomfortable, right?
But we can disagree.
There are wonderful, beautiful things that we can disagree on.
But can we have divisions in the church?
No.
Here's the thing.
We can disagree on the things that are secondary.
But where there must be unity, where there cannot be division, is on things that are primary.
And that's how the church needs to live and how the church needs to be.
And we can look at that and see that in so many different areas of our life.
From your job that you go to, you need to be unified in where you're going and what you're doing.
Does that mean that there can be disagreements?
Yes, there can.
And disagreements can honestly bring out what's better in this situation.
I thought about the example in my life where I learned so much from what God is gracious to give me is in our marriage.
Mine and Aaron's marriage.
Some of you may find this hard to believe, but we disagree from time to time, right?
I know, right?
And I'm wrong, right?
We disagree.
But what is beautiful in marriage is we disagree on what's secondary.
What color to paint a room, where to go out to eat, what to do on vacation.
These are disagreements that if you've lived in a marriage, you know these are things that we can disagree on.
But we're unified on what is primary.
That in our marriage that we seek and desire to be obedient to God in all things.
That in our marriage we fight for and cling to faithfulness amongst the two of us.
That in our marriage that we want to agree that we raise our kids to love the Lord and to seek after Him.
And so when we take these understandings of who we are as a couple and that this is what we work toward.
Do Aaron and I disagree in our marriage?
Yes.
Do these disagreements bring disunity?
No.
Because they're secondary.
And so many times on both sides of this, churches divide over secondary.
Church divides over things that are based off of opinions.
Paul's like, we can disagree on that.
But we can work toward unity because we're unified under the gospel.
And the church, we need to fight to make sure that we don't have these divisions.
But we must not turn secondary disagreements into primary divisions.
And Paul's going to kind of address some of the things in the church that causes this.
So what causes disunity?
What causes divisions?
Well, let's look at what's happening here in Corinth.
Look at verse 11.
Paul says,
For it's been reported to me by Chloe's people that there's some quarreling among you, my brothers.
What I mean is that each one of you says,
I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ.
So Paul points out here that there's four divisions that are going on in the church.
And we think we can understand a little bit through context of scripture what's going on, how the church is divided.
So the church is divided into four different factions.
Well, see, this church isn't just a church of Jewish converts.
It's not just a church of Gentile converts, even though it's mainly a church of Gentile converts, right?
They outnumber the Jewish converts.
And so Paul says, some of you follow Paul.
Some of you are saying that they follow him.
And so these are more than likely the Gentile converts.
He says, some of you follow Apollos.
Now, Apollos, you can kind of read about him in Acts 18.
But basically, he was known as a very eloquent preacher from Alexandria.
Now, you're going to see some of this context later at the end of this passage of what Paul writes.
So some of you are like, man, we're Gentile converts, and we follow Paul.
He's the one because he's the missionary to us.
And some are like, no, no, no.
Have you heard this Apollos guy speak?
Like, when he shows up to our church, when we have the opportunity to go out and listen to him,
like, how eloquent he is, like, whatever he says, we follow him.
And then some are like, well, but we follow Cephas.
Now, Cephas is Peter, and Peter was largely seen as a missionary to the Jewish people.
And so they're like, no, no, we're Jewish, and so we follow him.
And then there's a fourth group.
And the fourth group's like, no, well, y'all can follow them, but we're just going to follow Jesus.
Now, they're not right either, and let me explain.
All right?
What's going on with this group is they're standing back with almost like a sense of religious pride.
Look how good we are.
You can have all your quarrels all you want to.
We're going to rise above this.
We've been enlightened to the things that you aren't enlightened to.
And so we're just the ones who follow Jesus, and you're incapable of being where we are.
And we're going to see this level of division all throughout 1 Corinthians come up over and over again.
And so what causes this?
What causes this sense of division that we begin to see within here?
And I think there's three different things that we can look at in churches that bring this type of division.
Number one is ego.
And let me say this before we get into these three.
If there's division in your church, division in your marriage, division in your job, division in your family,
I would be willing to bet that one of these three things is what's kind of raising its head up there, too.
That when we see what brings so much pain and so much suffering,
when we see what destroys the unity that God has for us,
we'll find these exact same things.
I mean, if my marriage and my family are supposed to be a reflection of the church,
then these things would be consistently there, too, if there's division.
If you're a Christian in your workplace and you're supposed to be the one that embodies Christ and shows Christ,
but yet you and other believers find a sense of disunity which is in there,
more than likely this would be the case as well.
And the first one that we see is ego.
And so what's happening in here,
and honestly, we don't know what's kind of coming forward in a lot of these different aspects
of what's leading these people to choose these factions,
but what we see happening here and what we see can happen in the church
when the egos begin to rise up
are pastors and leaders
who demand loyalty
even over loyalty to Jesus.
Now, we're going to talk about the frailty of pastors
in just a little bit.
We're going to talk about the weakness of pastors here in just a moment
and I feel like I know them really well.
But pastors and leaders who demand loyalty
over loyalty to Christ.
Yes, loyalty is a beautiful thing.
Loyalty is something that needs to be embraced
within the context of the church.
But in the moment where it's choosing a man
over choosing Jesus,
he's lost his way
and so has the church who follows him.
Or secondly,
people who try to put pastors and leaders
on a platform that they don't deserve
and honestly, I've seen this so many times
that they never even asked for.
I mean, if I can have a little bit of freedom here
on this passage of scripture,
Paul goes five years earlier
before he writes this
and helps plant this church.
And what Paul would do
is he would plant a church,
he would raise up leaders,
he would leave that church to go
plant more churches,
they would help fund what he was doing
and then he would report back,
he would hear back from them,
he would send letters, right?
And to continue to encourage
to be able to do.
And so Paul gets this report
from Chloe's people
that says,
hey, there's factions in the church.
Paul's like, really?
Like, yeah, and some of them
are like, no, no, no, no,
we only follow Paul.
We only follow Paul.
And I can imagine the heartbreak
of what we see from scripture
consistently with the heart of Paul
for the gospel.
And look at how Paul,
and we're going to talk about this
in a little bit,
look how he tries to address this issue
in scripture.
He says, was Paul crucified for you?
Were you baptized in Paul's name?
The humility of what's there.
And church, we're going to follow leaders.
And we're going to follow pastors.
And Paul's not perfect.
And Paul's not Jesus.
And every pastor that I know,
including the one standing here,
is filled with struggles,
with doubt,
with sin,
with battles that they face.
But if that pastor
ever doesn't embrace
the humility
of what Paul says here,
he's no longer worthy
to be the pastor that we follow.
Was it Paul that crucified you?
Were you baptized in Paul's name?
Obviously, you know that's not true.
It's ego
that we follow.
The second thing
that we begin to see
that brings disunity,
this anti-authority.
Right?
While Christ is the leader
of the church,
Christ leads the church,
and Christ is the leader
of this church.
Right?
God does give us leaders
to follow.
He gives us pastors,
elders,
ministers,
and He calls us
as a congregation
and He calls us
as a body
to follow them
and to submit to them
as they seek to lead us
in the way of Christ.
The problem is
for so many of us,
we have a sense of rebellion
that we still want to cling to.
We still have the sense of,
oh, you think you're going
to tell me what to do?
And it's the battle
of the pride of the heart.
That in spite of what I see,
in spite of what God is doing,
that I feel like
that I know what's best for me
and I feel like
I know what's best for you.
Was the leadership
trying to lead
and to keep our eyes
focused on Jesus?
Is our leadership
trying to keep us focused
in on the proclamation
of the gospel
and seeing lost people
come to know the Lord?
Are we there
to glorify Him
in all that we do and say?
If the answer is yes,
then is the leaders
headed in the wrong direction
or are you taking
a secondary issue
and making it primary?
And we all,
all of us,
have to follow leaders.
A danger for leaders
is this.
Ask the leader
who's leading them.
Ask the leader
who they submit to.
And it should be
in the area
that we see
and what we find
in the value
of Scripture
in understanding
authority.
It should be Christ
and others
that are around them.
And then also
what we're going to find
as we read through this
is agendas.
It's agendas.
Now Paul doesn't speak
directly to agendas here,
but we're going to see it
throughout 1 Corinthians
and you see it all
throughout Scripture.
is I'm going to do
what I'm going to do
apart from the unity
of the body.
And it doesn't matter
where the church
is going.
It doesn't matter
what the church
is being a part of.
It's just the choosing
in what I want to do.
And all of this,
all of this comes
from a heart
and a mindset
of taking our eyes
off of Jesus
and putting them
on someone else.
When people talk
about loyalty
to a person
and not a loyalty
to Jesus,
we begin to see
eyes shift.
And so what Paul
wants to do
is he wants
to establish unity
to see that unity
is what's going
to be a part
of the body
of what they're
working toward,
of what they see.
And so much
of what Paul's
going to call them
into unity
is what they
already have.
And so he gives
them three different
reminders.
The first one
that he's going
to see is the
equipping of the church.
Look back in verse 4,
we're going to read
verse 4 through 9.
And this is in
Paul's thanksgiving.
He says,
I give thanks
to my God
always for you.
because of the grace
of God
was given to you
in Christ Jesus.
That in every way
you were enriched
in him
in all speech
in all knowledge
even as the testimony
about Christ
was confirmed
among you.
And then pay
attention to verse 7.
So that you
are not lacking
in any gift
as you wait
for the revealing
of our Lord
Jesus Christ
who will sustain
you to the end
guiltless
in the days
of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
God is faithful
by whom
you are called
into fellowship
of his son
Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Here's the beauty
of what Paul's
telling them
and the beauty
of what we can
cling to today
at Willow Ridge Church.
That the church
at Corinth
and the church
at Willow Ridge
right now
for us
right now
in this moment
and right then
for them
we have all
that we need
to be who God
has called us
to be
and to do
what God's
called us to do.
There's no excuses
for us to not
pursue
the gospel
and the will
of God
in our lives
and in our congregation.
Paul says that
you are not lacking
in any gift
any gift
and the truth
is said
for that
for us today
that we are not
lacking
in any gift
that we have.
So what do we have?
What do we have
that the church
at Corinth had?
Number one
we got the Holy Spirit.
Paul established
for all of these
because of the grace
of God
was given to you
in Christ Jesus
and then what happens
when we are saved
that the Holy Spirit
of God
indwells
within us.
the same Holy Spirit
of God
indwelled Paul
indwells you
indwells me
indwells the church
at Corinth.
So you got the Spirit
of God.
You got part of the Trinity
in you.
It's everything
that you need.
That's everything
that is required.
That within you
because the goodness
of God
is his Holy Spirit
but also
and I think this is
one of the most
beautiful things
of what God
blesses the church
with.
All right?
You got each other.
You got each other
and that's beautiful.
That's beautiful.
Every single one
of you
sitting in here
today
is a gift
of God
to each
and every
one
of us.
and the beauty
of this
of what God
gives us
and the people
that God
brings us
to be a part
of the body
here
is the diversity
that he gives.
Right?
He brings us
the diversity
of gifts.
Right?
There's a few
of us
that can come
on stage
and do
what they
do.
There's a few
of us
that can come
on stage
and do
what I do.
There's a few
of us
that can go
into the kitchen
and do
what they do.
There's a few
of us
who can go
and stand
out the doors
and do
what they do.
There's a few
of us
that can gather
in these rooms
and do
what they do
and what God's
doing
is he's given
us all
this wonderful
sense of giftedness
among us
so that we can
serve amongst
the body
because we have
all that we need.
The beauty
of what God
gives us
is he gives
us different
perspectives
of life
of what we've
experienced
of what we've
been through
the diversity
of that
in which
that brings
of where
we've come
from
who we've
learned under
how long
we've been
saved
it's a beautiful
diversity
of what God
gives us.
God gives us
a beautiful
diversity
of passions
of what he
brings
and so
some people
are passionate
about school
ministry
some people
are passionate
about kids
ministry
some people
are passionate
about worship
ministry
some people
are passionate
about international
ministries
and God gives us
all of these
different passions
so that men
and women
can find
who they
are
and it's
a beautiful
thing
and all
of these
are used
in a way
to build up
the body
and to share
the gospel
but here's
what gets
dangerous
is what
that when
the gifts
become not
seen as
gifts of
diversity
that are
used together
to unify
but gifts
of difference
that are used
to divide
that when
the gifts
of perspective
are not
there as
differences
to learn
from
but are
there as
areas of
division
we have
concerns
than the
areas of
passions
of ministries
of what
we have
that they
must be
seen as
a diversity
of differences
that can join
us together
to strengthen
and to equip
more ministries
so that more
people could
come to know
Christ
and not
as areas
of disunity
that could be
divided
the second
thing that Paul
shows us
and we
focused on
this
or reminds
us on
is to
focus on
Jesus
why was
Paul crucified
for you
or was
Paul crucified
for you
or were you
baptized in
the name
of Paul
a couple
questions
I want to
ask
why are we
here this
morning
why are we
here
we here
for Jesus
or anything
else
if anything
else
or anyone
else
filled that
answer
we missed
it
we missed
it
and who
are we
following
who are we
following
God's
blessed us
with the
wonderful
privilege of
being able to
be at this
church I
believe we'll
be here for
nine years
this summer
I didn't
have gray hair
in my beard
when I got
here
I had a lot
more hair
on the top
of my head
when I got
here
I don't
blame y'all
for that
I blame
genetics
I just want
to be honest
with you
right
I come
from a
long line
of balding
gray men
right
been here
nine years
the average
stay
of a senior
pastor
in the church
in the United
States right
now is four
years
right
I was reading
a study on
the Barna
group some
of you may
be aware
of them
and from
2020
until right
now
shows that
38%
of pastors
38%
are trying
to figure
out how
to leave
the ministry
all right
and go do
something else
they don't
care they
just don't
know
and they're
dying to
get out
and that's
the danger
of when we
put our
eyes
and focus
solely
on the
people who
stand up
here
right
four
years
38%
most
churches
when a
pastor
leaves
attendance
declines
dramatically
church
members
fall
to the
side
and I
just have
to ask
the question
who are
their eyes
on
and focus
on Jesus
and the
last thing
is be
gospel
focused
read verse
17
for Christ
did not
send me
to baptize
but to
preach the
gospel
and not
with words
of eloquent
wisdom
lest the
cross of
Christ
be emptied
of its
power
so this
Apollos guy
you can read
about in Acts
18
here's what we
can find out
about this
guy
what we
know
right
he's
entertaining
he's
engaging
he's got
a crowd
that loves
to hear
him
a crowd
that wants
to follow
him
and they
begin to
say
it doesn't
matter about
the faithfulness
of what we
have
it doesn't
matter about
the vision
that's there
we want
that guy
because of
what he can
bring to
us
what he can
share with
us
and the
talent that
he has
and whether
you stay
here for
one more
Sunday
or whether
you stay
here for
another
thousand
Sundays
whether God
grants me
the wonderful
opportunity
which is what
we pray for
to retire
from here
or whether
God calls
me at a
different time
I don't
know
but when it
comes to
preaching of
God's word
and let me
just tell you
I've been
so blessed
to be
under some
pastors
that have
let me
swing and
miss a lot
more than
swing and
hit a
home run
okay
but I want
you to ask
these questions
when you're
sitting there
with your
small group
leader
when you're
sitting there
in your
Bible study
I want you
to ask
these questions
don't let
the standard
be
is he
entertaining
is he
engaging
is he
relevant
is he
smart
let the
question
that rings
in your
mind
ask this
is he
faithful to
God's word
is he
faithful to
God's word
I've got a
friend of
mine who
pastors at
another church
in another
state
and big
old church
mega church
they do like
seven services
it's crazy
he starts
preaching on
Saturday night
and he gets
done on
Monday it
feels like
anyway
he was
talking to
me and
there was
a church
there in
their area
and he was
really curious
about what
they were
doing and
so he
he went
there to
the church
and he
knew some
of the
people that
were on
leadership
that were
at this
church
and he's
like I
was just
really
curious
and so
I went
and I'm
not going to
use any
names but
just want to
kind of share
this with
you guys
and I said
well what
did you learn
and he said
you know my
wife and I
we went
and then we
left and we
went out to
eat and we
we were
just kind
of processing
through ways
we could
learn and
ways we
could get
better and
he said
here is the
realization that
we came
to he
said during
that service
we laughed
during that
service we
felt compelled
to move
to take
action
during that
service we
got angry
during that
service we
cried
some pretty
strong
emotions
to be
experienced
for sadness
to hit you
for laughter
to hit you
for tears
to come
from you
to feel
compelled
to action
and I
said well
man that
was fantastic
and he
said but
the problem
was
is that he
opened God's
word
he read
a few
verses
and he
never came
back to
it
and he
wasn't
faithful
and he
wasn't
faithful
as a
preacher
verse 17
has hit me
hard
for Christ
did not
send me to
baptize but
to preach
the gospel
and not
with words
of eloquent
wisdom
listen to
this
lest the
cross of
Christ
be emptied
of its
power
we got to
be careful
that the
standard of
teaching of
God's word
is not the
standard of a
politician
trying to lure
us with their
words to buy
into something
but to
understand
that the
gospel
it's
enough
and it's
all that's
needed
Jesus Christ
the son of
God
came here
and died
for you
to pay the
price for
your sins
the price
that you
don't want
to pay
the price
that you
can't pay
and was
buried
and was
raised to
life
three days
later
and lived
and ascended
to the
father
and for
those who
surrender
and put
their faith
and hope
and trust
in him
are guaranteed
the inheritance
of eternal
life
as we go
into this
season of
our church
going to
our small
groups
small group
leaders
be faithful
just be
faithful
as you
open up
your
God's word
every morning
whether you're
working through
first Corinthians
with us
don't open
it
saying
God
entertain
me
open it
knowing
that God
will be
faithful
his word
is living
and is
powerful
and whether
God blesses
me with
another
25 years
25 days
let the
standard
be
is
he
faithful
to
Christ
would you
pray with
me
Lord we
come to
you this
morning
Lord
thanking you
for the
beauty of
your word
and the
truth that
comes from
it
Lord I
pray for
us as a
body
that we
would be
unified
completely
and fully
in you
of who
you are
or what
you've
done
Lord may
we keep
our eyes
focused
on the
primary
Christ
you
Lord
we keep
our eyes
focused
that we
are
surrounded
by people
who don't
know you
and who
have never
had the
opportunity
to respond
to the
gospel of
Jesus
Christ
Lord may
we not
be okay
with that
or could
we be
reminded
that every
Sunday
we have the
opportunity
on Sunday
mornings and
Sunday nights
to pour
into the
lives
of kids
and students
who are
journeying
through a
world that
is demanding
their
allegiance
in many
different
ways
Lord and
they will
make a
choice
choosing
what to
follow
may we
be
unified
and that
it is
Christ
may we
work
toward
that
Lord may
we be
unified
that all
over this
world are
men and
women and
children who
woke up
this morning
never hearing
the name of
Jesus
and no
opportunity
to go hear
about him
Lord can we
not be okay
with that
Lord all
the other
things
that seek
to divide
may we
push them
to the
side
because our
eyes are
focused on
you
Lord I
pray for
wisdom
for myself
for our
other pastors
for our
elders
for our
ministry
leaders
for all
of us
who take
the
opportunity
to teach
your word
to facilitate
a lesson
Lord may
we not
feel like
we need
to be a
politician
trying to
convince you
of our
way
instead
could we
be men
and women
who are
faithful
to the
inerrancy
of your
word
that
stands
the test
of time
and that
rings
true
Jesus
may we
keep our
eyes
fixed
on you
amen
we've got
prayer
encouragers
on either
side
of our
auditorium
maybe this
morning
you want to
talk to
somebody
maybe you
came in
here with a
struggle
with a
doubt
with a
concern
they would
love to
pray with
you
love to
encourage
you
maybe this
morning
you walked
in
you want
to find out
a little bit
more about
this guy
named
Jesus
what it
means for
him to be
your savior
and Lord
that tug
that you're
feeling at
your heart
here's what
we're going
to ask
that you
do
that you
respond
to that
leading
of the
Lord
great way
to do
that is
to let
either one
of them
know
or
I'll be
down here
down front
and we
can talk
with you
we can
pray with
you
we just
want you
to respond
to the
Lord's
calling
this
morning
would you
guys all
stand
as we
worship
thanks again
for listening
to the
Willow Ridge
Church
weekly
podcast
we hope
that you
enjoyed
listening
to this
week's
message
if
you'd
like
to learn
more
about
who
we
are
or
explore
additional
resources
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