[0:00] Blood, if you don't understand that, that's written out of Exodus when that Passover lamb was slain. And when the destroyer came through and took the life of the firstborn, when he saw the blood, he passed over him.
[0:15] It's not saying when I see blood, I pass out. It's speaking about blood of a lamb that was shed. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.
[0:27] And I'm thankful he took away my sins. That's the difference between me and somebody else out in the street is that he took away my sins. Because I, by faith, came to him and received forgiveness of sins.
[0:40] I believed on him. It's the difference between me and somebody that's in church this morning too. And they're dotting their forehead and their belly button and crossing their shoulders. Or somebody else who's offering some kind of sacrifice before God.
[0:53] Or somebody who's bowing on a little prayer rug and facing a certain direction in this world. The difference between me and them is I have my sins forgiven. And they're trying to figure out a way to do that.
[1:05] So thank God for Calvary, for what Jesus Christ did. If you have your Bibles, please find the book of 1 Corinthians. And go all the way back to chapter 15. We were in chapter 6 last Sunday.
[1:22] This morning I want to take you to 1 Corinthians 15. And the longest chapter in this epistle. And all the way to the end of it.
[1:37] In verse number 58. The Apostle Paul closes this lengthy chapter with a final charge. And it's a fitting conclusion to this chapter.
[1:49] To what he says to these believers. Let's read together 1 Corinthians 15 and verse number 58. Where the Bible says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
[2:06] For as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So behind me is a picture. On the way up there somewhere behind me.
[2:17] And so you can just stare at that for the rest of the service. Where it says, taken from this verse, Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
[2:28] I've wanted to come up with some form of a theme or something to take us into this new year. And to just something to keep before you. An image perhaps. And I thought on this.
[2:39] And I really fell in love with this verse. And this thought, this theme for this church. And I couldn't find something that really satisfied me for a graphic. Mountains.
[2:49] I thought mountains. That's perfect. Mountains illustrate this thought well. But it's got a bunch of snow on it. I thought, oh, come June, everybody's going to be like, yeah, right, snow. We can't sit here and stare at snow through July and August.
[3:01] And it's 110 degrees out there. And there's snow behind us. Maybe it will actually help us. I don't know. We'll see if we can handle it. But I thought I'd look for other images.
[3:12] I really didn't like this one at first. And I wrestled with it. And so I looked for something else. I thought something a little springier. Something a little more California. Something with flowers. And as soon as it just made sense to me, as soon as I got the image and I found one that was as good as I could find, I thought, no, the flowers, they're not unmovable.
[3:30] They're not steadfast. They don't last. The Bible says they fade. And then I saw some hills covered in the greed and the grass. And I thought, no, the Bible says the grass withereth.
[3:43] And I saw ones with running water. Something with more than just snow. And something a little better. And I thought, no, it just doesn't work. The images just aren't connecting to the theme.
[3:55] The Bible says, Jacob said to his son, you're unstable as water. And water's moving and it's not steadfast. It's definitely not unmovable. And so I just came back to the mountains.
[4:08] Something that's permanently fixed. Something that doesn't change by seasons. It doesn't change by climates. It doesn't change by politics. It's not affected by green energy or anything that's out there today.
[4:21] I don't think there's any image that expresses this concept of being steadfast and unmovable like rugged, towering, majestic mountains.
[4:32] Even the mountains that are way up there in some places in the world in the 20,000s of feet, they don't ever melt the snow. That snow stays. It's unmovable.
[4:43] It could be while we were up last spring, hopefully get back up to Bishop or up that way. This spring again, we were up there. It was 80 degrees and getting sunburned down in the valley.
[4:54] But up there on top of those mountains, snow. Just plenty of snow. They were unaffected. And I think that image really seems to work and hit what I'm looking to get across here.
[5:06] And I want to preach from this verse this morning and possibly go into something similar next week along the same lines of being steadfast. And let me just dive right into this and notice that Paul closes this chapter with a charge.
[5:21] And I want us to see first the reason for the charge. Notice the verse begins with the word, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast. Therefore, whenever you see the word therefore, you're supposed to look and see what it's there for.
[5:37] That's something that you don't have to have a doctor degree to figure out. Even if it was short-lived, it was fun, wasn't it? Therefore is connecting one thought to another.
[5:50] It's connecting the previous teachings of the passage of the chapter to a conclusion. Therefore. Well, what's it there for? Well, when we read earlier, I'm not going to read the entire chapter, but come back to the beginning of the chapter.
[6:04] Let's just maybe highlight a few things and skim through it. We'll notice that he begins by declaring the gospel to this church in verse 15, or verse 1 of chapter 15.
[6:17] Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, wherein you stand. In this gospel, he refers to Christ's death, burial, and resurrection in verse 3 and 4.
[6:30] Verse 4 says that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And then it describes the witnesses, many witnesses, that saw the Lord Jesus Christ.
[6:41] In verse 6, even saying that there was 500 brethren at one time that saw him. Quite a crowd of people saw Jesus Christ alive, of whom the greater part remain unto this present.
[6:52] Meaning most of those 500 are still alive when Paul wrote this epistle, saying you can go check it out for yourself. You can ask them for yourself. They'll verify they were eyewitnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[7:06] He is alive. Paul says, you know what? I saw him too in verse number 8. Last of all, he was seen of me also. So the resurrection of Jesus Christ is what this chapter is really, the thrust of it here initially.
[7:20] And after he describes the fact of it, he goes into making some arguments. In verse 12 down to maybe verse 19 or so, saying, look, if he's not alive, then you guys are in a mess.
[7:35] If he's not alive, then we're liars. We're preaching something that's not true if he's not resurrected. So in verse 12, Now he goes on to say that in verse 17, If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain.
[8:11] You're yet in your sins. And those that are dead in Christ, no, they're perished. They have no hope. And in verse 19, In this life only we have hope in Christ.
[8:22] We are of all men most miserable. If Jesus Christ didn't come up, we are a joke, a laughing stock of the world. We're fools. We're still in our sins.
[8:33] We've still got to figure out a way to get rid of our sins. Like I mentioned earlier with certain religions and the things they've come up with. We've got to come up with something. But he makes it final in verse 20, But now is Christ risen from the dead, And become the first fruits of them that slept.
[8:49] For since by man came death by man, Came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Not just Jesus Christ, But he goes on to say that because Jesus Christ arose, So will you.
[9:04] And so Christ's resurrection is proclaimed and is verified, And it even confirms that we too will rise. And then he transitions toward the end of the chapter And dealing, really expounding upon the resurrected body.
[9:19] From verse 35 on, He discusses this at length, And I'll just point out a few things that he says about the resurrected body. Verse number 42, So also is the resurrection of the dead.
[9:30] It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
[9:42] Use the word sown because earlier you mentioned a seed. Reference to seed. You sow a seed into the dirt. Your body goes into the dirt. Six feet under. And it's sown in corruption and dishonor.
[9:55] In verse 44, It's sown a natural body. But it's raised a spiritual body. And so he goes on to describe that that new man, It comes up in a new body and is a spiritual body.
[10:07] It's the Lord from heaven in verse 47. And in verse 48, And as is the earthly, Such are they also that are earthly. And as is the heavenly, A different body, Such are they also that are heavenly.
[10:20] And as we have borne the image of the earthly, We shall also bear the image of the heavenly. And he goes on to hint at the rapture here in a changing, A mystery in verse 51, Where some people aren't going to die, But they're going to be changed.
[10:34] And their bodies are going to be just like that. In a twinkling of an eye, He says, They're going to be changed. And in verse 53, This corruptible must put on incorruption, And this mortal must put on immortality.
[10:49] So Paul uses some language to expound and describe How superior the resurrected body is To the body of flesh that we are in today. And now he gets to the end of the chapter, Saying, Therefore, my beloved brethren, Be ye steadfast.
[11:07] In view of the fact of our resurrection, In view on top of that of the form of our resurrected bodies, Be ye steadfast. Unmovable.
[11:19] What's Paul saying? He's reminding them of the fact, Not only that Jesus Christ is alive, But because he's alive, Our future in him is fixed. It's going to be a reality one day. And with that in mind, Hey, You know how you should be living today?
[11:33] Steadfast. Unmovable. Unmovable. And always abounding in the work of the Lord. There's a reason for this charge.
[11:44] That we can be today what we ought to be, And we can be doing today what we ought to be doing for Jesus Christ, In view of the fact that he's alive, And that he's promised us a future, A better future than what we have today.
[11:56] When I was a boy, A young kid, Well, I still do today. I hate peas. I hate them. There's something about them. I can't stand them.
[12:07] I can't stand the smell. I can't stand the taste. I know there, I've tried as I got older, I thought, Oh, fresh peas. Oh, snow peas. Snap. I can't, I don't like them. But I grew up eating them out of a can, You know, Some kind of this and that, And thank you.
[12:22] And, And, You know, If you open that can, It was canned, Mushy, And all that water, Oh, It just stinks. It repulses me to think about it. But as a kid, I had to eat it.
[12:33] And my, There'd be peas on my plate. My sisters would handle it. Not great, But they'd handle it. And I despised it. I didn't want to touch those nasty things.
[12:45] Yes, sir. It took me so long to clean my plate, And finish my dinner, So that I could have dessert. It took me so long. Literally, If we had peas, I would be the last one, With an empty plate, Except for a pile of peas, And everybody would be eating dessert.
[13:00] My dad would be dipping his Oreos in milk, And just slamming them one after another. Or, Or even worse, If my mom, My favorite thing, She would make chocolate chip cookie bar, Like a, Like a brownie, A big pan of that, And cut them into squares, And, Oh, I love them things.
[13:16] Thank the Lord. And the worst yet, If that thing was sitting in front of me on the table, And here I am eating these disgusting peas, You know what helped me to finish those peas? Was knowing that that's waiting for me.
[13:29] When I can gag down the last pea on my plate, I'm going to dive in to one of my favorite desserts. And that might be a corny little thought, But, By looking to a better future, A bright and glorious future, That God has promised for us, It can produce the necessary resolve in us, To stick with it, And to stay with it till the trumpet sounds.
[13:54] Some days, And some seasons in life, Will be unpleasant to endure, But the Bible says, Joy cometh in the morning. You don't need to go anywhere, You can stay right where you are, With the Lord Jesus Christ, You can stay right in your place, Walking with God, Living the Christian life, Knowing he's alive, He's well, He's promised to take care of the mess that this is, This vile body, The flesh that we live in, It gives us fits, And he's going to give us one that's incorruptible, One that's immortal, It fadeth not away, It's going to shine like the stars forever and ever, And he gives us the victory in verse 57, Therefore, Therefore, Because of what he's promised to you in the future, Be steadfast, Don't go anywhere, Be unmovable, Don't quit on God, Don't let something come up in this life, And get you off track, Don't get bent out of shape, Over some foolish little thing,
[14:55] He said this, Or she said that, Or they looked at me wrong, Or they did this, Or I'm just not feeling like I should do, Look to God, Look to what God's put in his book for you, And get steadfast, Get your feet rooted and grounded, Get established, You ever see, What was that video?
[15:17] Those guys, Those guys put on concrete, They put, They formed a square of concrete in a boot, And then they slipped their foot down in the boot, So that they could barely move at all, And the idea was they were throwing some balls at them or something, And they had to, From a great distance, They really couldn't move left or right or jump at all, To catch the ball, It had to be on the spot, And I just, I get the flash of that, That those guys aren't going over, Because they're concreted basically, Down to the earth, And as believers, Be steadfast, Be stuck in the right place, When you know it's right to be in, Whether it's your place of worship, Whether it's your place of fellowship with Jesus Christ, In the mornings through the day, Whether it's coming to an event, Or being part of something, A church activity, Whatever it is that God has in this life for you, Be unmovable, Don't quit, Stay steadfast in the Christian life, Some people will disappear around you, Look to your left, Look to your right, In time they may not be here anymore,
[16:19] They may be gone, They may leave, They may go to glory, But that shouldn't affect your walk with God, That shouldn't affect the resolve inside of you, To be unmovable, The reason for this charge, He says, Therefore, Is considering all those thoughts of earlier in the passage, But then secondly, Let's look back at the verse, And notice the recipients of this charge, Therefore, My beloved brethren, My beloved brethren, Now, It might not seem like much to you, But in, In this epistle of 16 chapters, The apostle Paul calls them brethren, Or, Or addresses them as brethren, 20 times, And we read one of them, At chapter 15 and verse 1, When I said, Moreover, Brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, It's back in chapter 14, And you can skim through, You'll see it in chapter 14, Verse 20, Brethren, Be not children in understanding, Back in chapter 12, Verse 1, Now it's concerning spiritual gifts,
[17:20] Brethren, And you can skim through, And you'll see it over, And over, And over, He calls them brethren, But there's only one time, That he calls them, My beloved brethren, And it's here in verse 58, This one time, He adds the word, Beloved, Now if you understand, This church, And we read through this book, And studied it, You'd find, That this church at Corinth, I don't know how to say it, They were a mess, They were an immature, Body, Or congregation of believers, That came together, And Paul, In this very epistle, Earlier in these chapters, Had to rebuke them, And reprove them, And call them out, Over and over and over, On issues of their local church, He mentions things, Right away in chapter 3, About their carnality, Saying that there's envyings, And there's strifes, And there's divisions among you, Can you picture that, Coming together, On Sunday morning, And there's envyings in here, Where some are envying the other, And they don't talk to each other,
[18:22] And there's strifes among them, Or there's divisions, They won't even, Come close to the other person, Walk right by them, Because they're divisive, There's something wrong there, That's carnality, In chapter number 3, Not only that, There's something that's worse, There's a, A manner of fornication, Going on, That they're not dealing with, And it's mentioned in chapter 5, It's mentioned in chapter 6, And fornication is mentioned, In chapter 7 as well, It's an issue for these young believers, Not cleaning up their lives, Not living sanctified, There's the misuse of spiritual gifts, At this church, And he addresses that, In a few different instances, There's the abuse of the Lord's supper, He has to address as well, They're also following men, Or you might say, They're men worshipers, In some cases, They lacked spiritual discernment, They lacked discernment, In the area of civil matters, As well as spiritual church matters, I mean, These guys had it, He went there, He got the church started,
[19:22] Preaching the gospel to them, And then, Here's word that, These guys are, They have got it messed up, There's so much going on in there, They're so carnal, They're so out of order, But he says, Therefore, My beloved brethren, Paul's declaring to these weak, And immature, And carnal believers, That he loves them, Look at chapter 16, In verse 24, He closes the book, By saying, My love be with you all, In Christ Jesus, Amen, I think these are necessary words, For them to hear, From their apostle, The preacher that came to them, Declaring the gospel to them, The one that, The gospel by which you are saved, They've been quickened to eternal life, Through the preaching of the apostle Paul, He's delivering here, The word of God to them, He even told them twice, In this epistle, To be ye followers of me, Be followers of me, Follow me, But then he rebukes them,
[20:24] And reproves them, And as I said, He calls them out, Repeatedly throughout the epistle, But he also lets them know, That he loves them, The bible says, A friend, Loveth, At all times, And the apostle Paul's pen, Was dealing out, Some wounds, To this church, But those wounds, Were faithful wounds, As the bible says, Faithful are the wounds, Of a friend, Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, Just a page over, 2nd Corinthians, The next epistle, And as he writes, His second epistle, He references some things, That he said, In his first epistle, How he was harsh, And tough on them, 2nd Corinthians 2, And look at the verse number 4, For out of much affliction, And anguish of heart, I wrote unto you, With many tears, Not that ye should be grieved, But that ye might know, The love which I have, More abundantly, Unto you, The apostle Paul loved, These believers,
[21:26] They had a lot of, A lot of things wrong with them, A lot of room to grow, And a lot of things to be worked on, But he loved them, They're his beloved brethren, And because they're his beloved brethren, He cared about them, He cared about them enough, To get involved, And to guide them, Forward in their Christian life, He doesn't just focus, The entire epistle on their sins, And on their shortcomings, No, He sees what God wants them to be, He wants them to be, Those mature believers, He wants them to be steadfast, And unmovable, And always abounding, In the work of the Lord, And so he encourages them, And charges them to go forward, And to advance, And to grow, Look at chapter 16, Of 1 Corinthians, And look at verse 13, Before we read that, Let me refer back to a passage, You don't need to turn, But in chapter 3 of this epistle, Early in this epistle, He says in verse 1, And I brethren, Could not speak unto you, As unto spiritual, But as unto carnal,
[22:27] Even as unto babes in Christ, I fed you with milk, And not with meat, For hitherto you were not able to bear it, Neither yet are you now, Babes in Christ, He calls them, Now look at verse 13, Of chapter 16, He says, Watch ye, Stand fast in the faith, Quit you like men, Be strong, Like men?
[22:49] You just got done calling them babes, I can't feed you meat, Because you're too childish, You're too immature, You're too carnal, I gotta feed you with milk, Because you're babes in Christ, But then He says, Stand fast in the faith, Quit you like men, Be strong, Why is He telling them now to be strong?
[23:09] I believe in Paul's love for these believers, He not only corrects them, But He teaches them, And guides them, And trains them, And admonishes them, To be steadfast, Just like mature believers are, He doesn't just, Cast them aside, And say, Well, They ought to know better by now, No, He still considers them, Brethren beloved, I love you, And I want to see you be steadfast, I want to see you grow, I want to see you stand fast, I don't want to see you be the babes, That you are right now, I want you to stand up, And be strong, Like men, Look earlier, I know it was mentioned, I didn't even read it, But, It just came to mind, Chapter 14 and verse 20, Where he says, Brethren, Be not children in understanding, Howbeit in malice be ye children, But in understanding, Be men, Be grown, Be strong, And his love for these believers,
[24:12] Paul admonishes them, To be mature, It's easy to look at a carnal Christian, And it's easy to look at one, That's, That's fallen into sin, Or, Or walking away from what they know, And say, Oh, What a mess, It's easy to shun them, It's easy to, In some cases, Maybe that's necessary, But it's, It's so much easier, Just to be like, Oh, They're not living right, It's easier to dismiss them, Off into the world, As back in chapter 5, Deliver them unto Satan, For the destruction of the flesh, And I know there's a time and point, For certain things, Certain situations, But I believe more often than that, They need love, They need somebody to show them they care, And not enabling them to sin, And allowing it, And just overlooking the sin all the time, But being faithful, A faithful brother, And a faithful sister in the Lord, Seeking to help and encourage them, To grow them, Toward righteousness, I believe they'll adapt, Or I'm sorry, They'll be much more apt, To respond to love, Than they will to the shunning,
[25:15] If they know you care, If they know you're genuine, If they know you're not running your mouth about them, If they know you're not just looking to tear them down, But you love them, The recipients of this charge, They're his beloved brethren, You may not have known it, By the rest of the epistle, But you find out, No, He had a real love for them, He wrote that epistle with tears, Because he cared about them, He wanted to see them grow up, He wanted to see them, Be steadfast, And unmovable, Now finally, Back in that passage, In chapter 15, In verse 58, Notice in this verse, That there's a reward, In this charge, Therefore my beloved brethren, Be steadfast, Unmovable, Always abounding, In the work of the Lord, For as much as ye know, That your labor is not in vain, In the Lord, So if it's the work of the Lord, If that's what it is, Then it's not in vain,
[26:17] It has value, It has recompense, There'll be reward, Ye know, That your labor's, Not in vain, In the Lord, Why, You can do some things in this life, And feel like, What's the point?
[26:32] You could clean your house, And say, Why am I cleaning it? It's going to be dirty, In a week, You can think that way, It feels like it's vain, There's some things you feel are vain, There's some things you feel, Correcting your children, And they're not getting it, It's vain, Teaching them certain, Truths or principles, Or even, Facts of school, It just feels like, It's not getting through, This is all vain, But if your work is in the Lord, If it's the work of the Lord, That's one category, Where it matters, It's not in vain in the Lord, Brother, Ye know, You can imagine, If, Just imagine you work at a, At a facility, And there's a big inspection coming, And there's a, A janitor, And he's got his hands full, Because he knows, I've got to get this place, In tip top shape, My job, This is the day, This weekend is the one, That hinges everything, On how well I do, And I've got to get the floors clean, The toilets clean, The whole place has got to be perfect, For this inspection that's coming up,
[27:33] And that janitor comes to you, And says, I'm so sorry to ask this of you, But I have an emergency in my family, And I can't be here to do this, Would you please help me out, Just have my back this weekend, Just, There's so much to be done, And would you be able to do it for me, And if you say, Well, I'm a good friend, And I feel he guilts you into it, Or twist your arm, Whatever the case, You go ahead and do it, You be cleaning them toilets, And maybe waxing those floors, Thinking, I'm getting nothing for this, What a good friend I am, Aren't I a great friend, Pat yourself on the back, While you're grumbling, Cleaning, And doing all the labor, Because there's really no reward in it, Except maybe just, Helping somebody out, But what if it's the owner, That comes to you, And says, Hey, We got this major inspection coming up, And the janitor told me, He's got an emergency, And I just want to ask a special favor of you, I'll make it worth your while, Will you be able to help me out, And I won't forget this, If you'll do this for me,
[28:34] Isn't it a little different, Than doing it for the janitor, Versus doing it for the boss, For the owner, Isn't it a little bit different, Working for God, Than it is for man, Because you know, The Bible says, That your labor is not in vain in the Lord, Although some of the things we do in this life, To earn a dollar, We get our dollar, Well that's about it, It's, There's not much else to it, Vanity of vanities, All is vanity, Sayeth the preacher, A man that had everything, A man that amassed everything to himself, Nothing was withholding from him, And here we work and labor and toil, Just to get some of that, And then we look back and realize, Man, He was right, Man I worked all those years, And all those hours, Just to, Something I can't take with me, To give to somebody else, And who knows what they'll do with it, That's the way Solomon talked, But your labor is not in vain in the Lord, You could live meagerly here, And earn something major up there,
[29:35] You could devote your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, Turn with me to 2 Timothy, I want to run a few verses here, And wind this thought down, 2 Timothy chapter 4, And after that we're going to catch Colossians chapter 3, So see if you can get both of those, And you can lose your place, We won't be coming back to 1 Corinthians anymore, 2 Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 4, The challenge and the charge is to be steadfast, Unmovable, 2 Timothy 4, Look at verses 7 and 8, As the apostle Paul, Is coming to the end of his life, He said, Paul's informing us that God rewards everybody that sticks by the stuff,
[30:44] That plant their feet in the ground for the Lord, And declare I'm not going anywhere, By the grace of God, I'm in it to win it, Until the trumpet sounds, Or until my time of departure is at hand, I'm sticking here, Paul fought a good fight, All the way to the end, He finished his course, He was steadfast, And unmovable, Now Colossians chapter 3, And here's a passage about dealing with wives, Husbands, Children, Fathers, And then servants, Obeying their masters, And in verse 23, And 24, The Bible says, And whatsoever ye do, Do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men, Knowing, Knowing, Knowing, Like he said earlier, You know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, For ye serve the Lord Christ, Implying, You're not serving some man, You know that if you serve and do what you do for God,
[31:49] You will be rewarded, Because you're serving the Lord Christ, He is a rewarder, Be ye steadfast, Unmovable, Always abounding in the work of the Lord, For ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, The Lord doesn't just reward in this life with health and wealth, He rewards with something far better, Something far better awaiting us, As Paul alluded to back in chapter 15, But before I close, I want to say this, There's always going to be something, That will attempt to move you, If there wasn't, Why would he say be unmovable, There's always going to be something in this life, Some pressure from some direction, And it will be different for you than it is for me, Something that will attempt to move you, Paul warned of a falling away that's coming, In Galatians chapter 1, He asked them a question, There was false teaching, And he said, He said,
[32:49] He marvels that you are so soon removed from him, That called you into the grace of Christ, Unto another gospel, He marveled at how quickly they moved away from the truth, Into some false teachings, And false doctrine, And there they are, And it's still happening today, It's pretty easy, People get stuck online, They get sucked into some stuff, And they just believe it, And they don't know how to open their Bible up, They don't know how to rightly divide the word of truth, They don't ever go to somebody who knows the Bible, They just believe the video, And watch the video, I talked with a fellow a little while back, And that was his problem, And as I counseled him, I tried to say, You need to get off the internet, That's what you need to do, Just stop clicking on the videos, And looking, Searching for my problem, Here's my problem, Search for it on Google, Oh, here's some apostate Bible teacher, That teaches a verse, And he doesn't know what it means, But he's putting it on me, And now I believe it, Now I'm guilty,
[33:51] There's always something, That'll cause somebody to be moved, And sometimes it's false teaching, And it's deception of Satan, But then there's people that get grown, Are you still in Colossians?
[34:05] Look at chapter 2, Then there's a, When you get grown, And you know your Bible, Notice this in chapter 2, Verse 5, How this language matches us, In verse 5 through 7, For though I be absent in the flesh, Yet am I with you in the spirit, Joying and beholding your order, And the steadfastness of your faith in Christ, As you have therefore received Christ Jesus, The Lord, So walk ye in him, Rooted and built up in him, And established in the faith, As you have been taught, Abounding therein with thanksgiving.
[34:35] So as you are steadfast in your faith, And grown, And rooted, And built up, There's also something that'll Try to move you, And what would that be?
[34:45] Well earlier in, Look at verse 4, He says, This I say, Lest any man should beguile you, With enticing words, Look at verse 8, Beware lest any man spoil you, Through philosophy and vain deceit, After the tradition of men, And rudiments of this world, Not after Christ, Later on in verse 18, Let no man beguile you, Of your reward of voluntary humility, And worshiping of angels, Intruding into those things, Which he hath not seen, Vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, What am I saying?
[35:12] There'll be those, Intellectual arguments, And those debates, That'll suck you in, Or mysterious doctrines, Or teachings of others, When you're established, And grounded, And rooted, That'll try to move you, Try to find something new, The philosophies of men, Debating, Well what about this, What if that, And you don't have an answer, And you can't beat it, So you get knocked down, Or knocked out, Feeling like, I don't understand anymore, There's another temptation, Something that could move you, In this Bible, Where Paul, Wanted to go to Jerusalem, He wanted to go, Because he had a burden, For his kinsmen, After the flesh, The Jews, He wanted to preach the gospel, To them, And see them saved, And he was warned, That if you go there, It'll be bonds, And afflictions, And his response to that, In Acts 20, 24, He said, None of these things move me, Neither count I, My life dear unto myself, That I might finish, The course set before me, To testify the gospel,
[36:13] The grace of God, The apostle Paul, Wasn't going to be moved, By the threat of afflictions, Or even by the threat, Of imprisonment, He wasn't being moved, He was too steadfast, And unmovable, And always abounding, In the work of the Lord, Now there's always something, That'll attempt to move you, And it could, It doesn't have to be doctrine, It doesn't have to be prison, Or persecutions, It could be a spouse, It could be a wayward child, It could be a church member, Or that looked at you wrong, It could be somebody, Who didn't pay you, What they owe you, It could be something, In this life, That just gets inside, And you don't handle it right, And it gets you turned, And your course ends up, Over there, Instead of going straight ahead, For Jesus Christ, The charge to you, This morning, Is to be resolved, To stay faithful, To your God and Savior, And to his word, And to his people, And to his service, In this life, Your heart will hurt, In this life, You'll see change, There'll be unexpected things,
[37:15] Coming your way, There'll be highs, There'll be lows, It's inevitable, But through it all, You can grab a hold, Of that verse, And determine, That I'm going to be steadfast, I'm not going anywhere, By the grace of God, By the strength, Of Jesus Christ in me, I'll continue, To go to the throne room, I'll continue, To seek mercy, And grace, To help in time of need, I'm not going anywhere, Be ye steadfast, The challenge is, Not to be a fair weather Christian, That's the flowers, And that's the grass, That withers and fades, But be unmovable, Like a mountain, Secure, Permanently fixed, Not driven away, By the weather, Not affected, By the storms, All the storms, Will beat on them, The storms may even, Alter the face of them, Like it can alter, Your countenance at times, But inside,
[38:15] You can remain steadfast, Permanently fixed, In Jesus Christ, Let's bow our heads together, We'll be dismissed, After a moment this morning, I hope in your heart, That that's, That's your desire, And goal is to be steadfast, And unmovable, That you're not looking, For an excuse, You're looking for the Lord, To come back, You're looking for a way, To please him, You're looking for, An opportunity to be, Abounding in his work, Father I ask that you'll, Minister your words, And these thoughts, Into our hearts, And Lord put some resolve, Within us, We believe what you said, That there's better days coming, We believe that you're coming back, That you're going to change us, That we're going to be able, To drop this flesh, And we're going to have, A glorified body, That'll never sin,
[39:17] That won't struggle, With faithfulness, And thoughts of quitting, You're going to put something, Way better in us, Lord as we anticipate, Those days ahead, Place that resolve, In the new man, This morning, For some that are, Struggling with thoughts, Struggling even with, Things in life, That aren't pleasant, God give them grace, And give them mercy, Draw them to your throne room, Where they can get help, Thank you for being, Ever present, Ever present, And always available, And always ready to help us, To pick us up, To strengthen us, To carry us even, Thank you for being so faithful to us, So Lord help us then, To be steadfast, And unmovable, To be planning on, Storms ahead, To be prepared, To be prepared, For the days when they get dark, Paul said,
[40:20] One time no man stood by me, There he was all alone, But he said the Lord stood by me, Lord give us this resolve, Within us, Father I pray not just for individuals, But for this church, Lord that we wouldn't go anywhere, That we'd stay true to you, Till you come back, That we'd keep preaching your word, That we'd keep glorifying your son, That we'd tell others, We'd seek to please you, Even so come Lord Jesus, Let's stand together, We're going to sing a hymn, And we'll sing so tahun, You can sing a hymn, That we'll sing a hymn, And we'll sing a hymn, A hymn that we'll sing the hymn of God, And we'll sing a hymn, And we'll sing with you.
[41:07] It's now going to sing, He's the someday, Yeah, And that we'll sing, And you've re-in- Ăn. I know if we're listening, And we do this, And I know how you're going there, I know.