1 Corinthians 15 | Elder Chris

Man, let us pray.

Eternal God, our Father, we we thank you for this time we have spent in your house thus far.

We thank you, Father, for the prayers, for the praise team, for the fellowship.

We thank you, Father, for waking us this morning because it lets us know that you love us, that you are still in the blessing business, and you have blessed us to see a day which has not been promised to us.

Father, I come now and I ask that you would sit me down and stand before me, take control of my heart, my mind, my mouth, my tongue, think and speak through me.

Father, I love you and I praise you in your Son Jesus' name.

Father, I ask that you would bless these, your children, that when they hear your word, that they may that they will receive it with joy.

And once we have received your word and we know your word, Father, bless us to tell the neighborhoods and to tell those that are lost in Christ about our the joy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

These and all other blessings we ask in your son Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

And I have one quick announcement.

Joe Thompson, Joe, will you stand up?

Football players, y'all see that young man back there on the wall?

He needs four of you after church to help him lift something.

He said four strong ones.

Four strong ones.

So, yeah.

Look, so look at the team know who it is.

Amen.

Amen.

So if you will find Joe after service, we would appreciate it and he will appreciate your help.

This morning, you may not be able to see it in my face, but I am so excited.

I'm so happy.

I'm bubbling over on the inside because we have spent 14.

We have spent 14 weeks in the book of 1 Corinthians, and where Paul is talking about this this great church that's divided.

He's talking about this great church that's dealing with you're more popular than I am.

We're dealing with this great church where where people think, yep, but my gifts are better than yours and greater than yours.

So even though it's a great church on the outside, and people looking in saying, how great it is on the inside is ugly.

And Paul has been Paul has been talking to us, talking to us.

We've seen Paul address division, pride, power, sexuality, worship, spiritual gifts, love, and what it means to live together in the body of Christ.

But here in chapter 15, Paul reminds us that all of this is going somewhere.

It's going somewhere.

I'm so thankful for the praise team this morning.

I thank you because I requested one song, which is my favorite, and then they sung another one that I like also.

So, so that it and it let me know just as like last time when when we're under God's program and coming to God's house, the spirit had been working all week because Michelle sent me the songs, and I was like, yeah, that's them right there.

So it's all about this 15th chapter.

It's all about victory.

Victory, victory, football team.

I know y'all want victory.

We we don't play games to lose all the time.

We're talking about victory.

When I looked up victory in the Bible, in the dictionary, it says that victory is an act of winning a game, a war, a struggle, or successfully beating an enemy or a hard problem.

So victory, victory.

And I'm one of those people, you may not look at me and say it, but I'm extremely competitive.

I don't care if we're playing titlywink, spades, thumb wrestling, pitching pennies, whatever it is, I want to win.

And I feel some type of way when I lose.

So I want to feel that victory because victory gives us a feeling like nothing else in this world.

Victory gives us a feeling that says, yeah, I can do.

If I could have done it once, I could do it again.

There's something about victory that just makes us feel some type of way on the inside.

It says that I've accomplished something, I've done something.

Others might say that, nope, you can't do it, but once we achieve victory, boy, it's something else.

But here in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, we're looking at verses 20 through 58.

But if you will stand with me as we read God's words, next slide, please.

And I'm only going to read two of them this morning because that's where I'm going to hang out.

1 Corinthians 15, verses 57 and 58, the new international version reads, but thanks be to God.

1 Corinthians 15:57

He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm.

Let nothing move you.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Thank you.

I'll ask you to stand again in about 25, 30 minutes.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

In this chapter, verses 20 on down.

Pastor Drew blessed us with the first 20, 19 verses on Easter Sunday when he preached about resurrection.

And Paul begins this speaking in this chapter about resurrection, how Jesus had died, and how Jesus has been resurrected and the resurrected and the victory that we have because of that resurrection.

And he's talking about our bodies being resurrected, that this little shell of me right now is not my end.

This is just something that I'm living in on this earth.

But our bodies will be resurrected.

Everything will be resurrected.

And it lets me know it.

I'm going to throw this tid bin in here.

Paul is also talking about death.

There are two kinds of death.

There's that physical death where this dies, and then there's a spiritual death in the end where if you ain't right with God, you'll be cast into hell with Satan and all them.

That's called the second death.

And I'll talk about that a little later on.

So there's a physical death and there's a spiritual death, and that spiritual death lasts for eternity.

Me and Pastor were laughing a couple weeks ago, and here's another free one.

When we die, some will say, yep, I'm he's walking around in heaven.

But my word tells me that you're asleep.

So when we die, we don't go directly to heaven.

The Bible tells us that we are asleep.

So now that we are asleep in Christ, and when Jesus comes back to resurrect these dead, sleepless bodies and give us that new body, that's that's that's a whole different thing.

But we are not actually in heaven.

People are not actually in heaven when they die.

We we we we we smile with you and console with you because you are grieving, but you are actually asleep.

Now back to the word.

Paul tells us, he reminds us that all of the pride, the power, the sexuality, the worship, spiritual gifts, love, and the things that he has been talking about in these first 14 chapters, it's been kind of heavy.

He's been calling folks out, and none of us really like to be called out, whether we're right or wrong.

We don't want no one calling us out.

But Paul has called out this church and he has talked about these issues, but he said, all of this is going somewhere.

Paul says in his 15th chapter that Christ has been raised.

He says that Christ reigns, death will be defeated.

Therefore, how we live right now, it matters.

Somebody say right now.

Say it with your chest, say right now.

Right now, how you live right now, it matters.

It don't matter what you went through in the earlier years of your life, it don't matter what you went through yesterday or just last week.

I do understand that the things that we have been through, it shapes us and it makes us think a certain way.

But how we are living right now, it matters.

Say it for me again, right now.

Right now, how we were shaped as kids, the struggles we've been through, the joys and pains, the ups and downs, all of this has prepared us for right now.

I'm standing with my hands on this little piece of wooden pulpit.

I'm feeling like an old country Baptist preacher this morning.

So, yeah.

And the beauty of right now is that you don't have to be perfect.

I'm gonna say that again because I heard that that's right over here.

The beauty of right now is that you don't have to be perfect.

I don't have to be perfect right now, but even though you don't have to be perfect, you have to be committed.

You have to be committed of my right now has to be better than my yesterday.

You have to be committed to my right now has to be better.

I want to be better right now so that when I go into tomorrow, my right now is better than what it is yesterday.

You have to be committed to the work of letting God change your life, change your circumstance, change the way you think, because right now, I've been in some right now moments that I haven't been too Christian with it.

But I have been in some right now moments where I've been a point.

But right now, right now, right now, we have to be committed.

Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Our work of loving, serving, seeking justice, using our gifts and building up the body is not wasted because Jesus Christ is resurrected.

Because Jesus Christ reigns.

Right now, our foundation, our foundation, this series of building on a foundation that will endure the fire.

Our foundation as Christian folks, it all lies and rests in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you don't believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, boy, come talk to some of us after church.

Especially if you've been saved and you're calling yourself a Christian and you are doubting that and you really don't believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have to check your foundation because it's the foundation that on which we stand that helps us a little in life because things may happen.

And if your foundation is shaky, things get shaky.

Right now, right now, our foundation sits upon.

And it began with on what we call Good Friday.

It began with Jesus taking up that cross and walking up Calvary Hills.

Our foundation began with being hung high and scratched wide.

I'm feeling that Baptist in me, Pastor.

It begins with hanging his head, as they said in the Baptist church in the locks of his shoulder, giving up his ghost.

And as they say in the Baptist church, he died while he was on that cross, and they took him down, they put him in a burrow tomb.

And we know anything that you borrow, I want my stuff back.

So they put him in a burrow tomb, and he laid there all night Friday, as I'm growing up listening to.

He laid there a whole night Saturday, all night Saturday, night.

But an early Sunday morning, he got in the back of that grave with a little power in his hand, and that is on my segmentation.

My salmon is the one that he got in the back of that grave with a mother power, not just a little bit.

Not no abusive power.

Because some of us, if we get a little power, we don't know how to act.

But Jesus got out of that grave with all power, and our Bible tells us right now that he's sitting right next to his daddy on the right-hand side, interceding for us.

With that power that he has been given.

Through the resurrection of Jesus, we have victory.

We have victory.

And this church that I love to go to, I call it my second church home.

Is it probably two Sundays out of the four?

They sing this old song, Victory is mine, victory is mine, victory today is mine.

I told Satan, get thee behind.

I told Satan, get thee behind.

But you can't sing that if you don't know nothing about the victory.

Victory is the mode of celebration.

Victory is the mode of we got it done.

Victory is the mode of, yeah.

I remember my my my son came and his little football team.

They had won, they were playing football and they won the league, and they're all around in this circle and they jumping and and they and they were hollering, we just won the ship.

We just won the ship.

They were in victory mode because no one expected them to win it, but they won and just the celebration afterward.

Their celebration brought joy to my heart.

Their celebration brought joy to all of the parents that were surrounded by our kids, watching them celebrate their victory.

So it's something about being in this house of God, being in the church of God, knowing that we already have the victory, knowing that we have already won.

We should be smiling.

We should be celebrating.

If this ain't a right now, tap your hand, amen moment.

You must have missed it.

But something about victory.

Victory.

Victory.

Looking at that top.

This is how we know victory is good.

Paul says, but thanks be to God.

He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Life is filled with battles.

Every believer faces struggles.

We face disappointments.

We face temptation.

Seasons of uncertainty.

But there are moments when it seems like the enemy is winning.

But Paul, and to me, I just said it this morning, and I marked it in my Bible last night that this is one of the greatest chapters in the whole entire Bible because it talks about victory.

And Paul, after all of the writings, because this 15th chapter is really the conclusion of this letter to this church, and he said, we are going to, after all that I talked about, after all of the challenges, after all of me calling you out, in the end, we can celebrate in victory.

After speaking about resurrection and death and eternal life, Paul does not end with fear or discouragement.

He ends this letter with thanksgiving and confidence.

Now, one of the things as Christian folks, one of the points that I want to bring out for you today, if you're one of the you are taking note, victory comes through God.

Victory comes through God.

Paul says, thanks be to God.

Victory does not begin with us.

We didn't earn it.

We didn't create it.

Some of us live and believe that, yeah, I'm big and strong.

I got this victory on my own.

Some of us believe that we've done it in our own power.

We've done it in our own strength, in our own intelligence, our own determination.

James 1.7.

Can you put that scripture up?

117, now, excuse me.

James 1.17 says, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly light, who does not change like shifting shadows.

So thank God when we overcome temptation, God gives us that victory.

Thank God when we survive trials, God gives us that victory.

Thank God when we endure suffering, God gives us that victory.

Have you ever gone through something and you just woke up one morning or that moment just came in your life where it was settled and it was good and it was all right?

And you said, Oh, that problem is not a problem anymore.

That is God giving you a victory, whether you realize it or not.

Because one of the saddest things that scripture, folks, is living a life of defeat.

I've done it for years, living a life of defeat.

Oh, well, this is just how I am.

This is how I was raised.

It's just the circumstances of my life.

Without realizing that victory is just a prayer away in most cases.

That we live a defeated life.

We live a life that we act like we don't know what victory is.

I look across this room.

We don't want to lose in everything.

I can take a loss.

I'm gonna hate it and I'm gonna be mad, and you'll see it in my face that I done lost.

But when I look back over my life, God has given me more victories than defeats.

He has given me, He has given me more victories than setbacks.

He has given me more victories in my life than anything else.

And sometimes, well, for me, let me speak about me.

Every time that I suffered loss, it was because of my own doing.

It wasn't because God said, Yeah, I'm gonna talk this up as an ew, you got a loss coming.

No, God says that everything that I bless you with in this life, you could be victorious in it, but we we we we we sabotage ourselves.

I was good at that.

If I wasn't good at nothing else, things go good, things go great, and I get the feeling like, yeah, let me sabotage.

Defeating myself.

Paul says, victory comes through Jesus Christ.

It comes from God, but it's through Jesus Christ.

Oh boy, it's through Jesus Christ.

Boy, sometimes we live and we say, oh, this these these Jesus freaks.

Why are they cheezing all the time?

Why they happy all the time?

Why are they joyous all the time?

Why why are you helping me when I just played you?

Why are you lifting me up when I really don't care about you?

Why are you going out of your way when I've done things to you that you should be avoiding me?

It's because we understand what victory is, and we understand what victory does in our life.

So if I have victory, if I'm winning, I want you to win too.

Especially in the body of Christ.

When we see one losing, when we see one being defeated, we should think about the victories that God has given us through Jesus Christ.

And we should help out our brother.

Plus, this victory comes through Jesus.

Jesus defeated sin at Calvary.

Jesus defeated Satan through his sacrifice.

Jesus defeated death through his resurrection.

And Jesus defeated the grave through his power.

Next verse, 1 Corinthians 15, 55.

Boy, if this ain't Baptist right here, I don't know what it is.

Oh death, where is thy sting, oh grave, where is thy victory?

It lets us know that even though sometimes it may not be a physical death that you face, it may be the depth of your confidence, the depth of your ability to trust God, the depth of your ability to want to do right.

It says, Paul says, Oh death, where is your sting?

It may feel like I'm about to die, but it don't sting through Jesus.

It may feel like the grave has had victory, but it's victory through Jesus.

Oh death, oh death, where is thy sting?

Y'all ain't feeling me yet, so I'ma keep saying it.

Oh death, where's thy sting?

Oh grave, where's thy victory?

So it's letting us know that even through death, death of this physical body is not the end.

It's not the end.

We still have victory.

I imagine those that were there when Jesus died.

The cross looked like defeat on Friday.

The tomb looked like defeat on Saturday.

But Sunday morning revealed the greatest victory in history.

Victory over guilt, condemnation, fear, knowing.

I just had it three more minutes to y'all.

But knowing that we are victorious, encouraged.

Looking at verse.

Next slide, please.

1 Corinthians 15, 58.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, stand firm.

Let nothing move you.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord because you know that in that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

The first thing Paul encourages us to do is stand firm.

The King James Version says be steadfast.

Steadfast means firmly planted.

Where's the quarterback?

Stand up so we can look at you now, and then that way when defeats come, we'll talk about you.

I asked him to stand, you may be seated.

There's another one.

Where the backup at?

Because you're important too.

Yeah.

Yes.

And now, coach, would you please stand?

Yes, sir.

Now.

If I'm standing firm, that means I'm unmovable.

No matter what's going on.

And I had these young men stand because the quarterback, when he drops back to pass and he's going through his routes, he needs that old line to stand firm.

He needs that old line to be unmovable.

He needs that old line to hold to their ground so that he can stand back there in confidence as he looks around.

He is looking in confidence because he knows the foundation that is placed in front of him, they holding down the fort.

So he can do his job with confidence.

He can do his job with victory in his mind.

So O line, wherever y'all at, y'all stand firm.

Y'all be unmovable.

Not only on that field.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm just not really getting into football, football, and I have realized if O line ain't hitting no nothing, the team ain't hitting on nothing.

I ain't getting a lot of amens on that.

But if your O line ain't hitting no nothing, ain't nobody else is hitting on nothing.

So if we're standing firm, Paul says, remain steadfast, King James.

But here he says, stay firmly planted.

No matter what is going on in your life, stay firmly planted.

Through addiction, stay firmly planted.

Through abuse, stay firmly planted.

When folk talk about you, stay firmly planted.

Stay unmovable.

I've been talked about so much, it don't move me no more.

It still hurt when words come, but it don't move me in that direction of, oh, it's over and I feel defeated.

It moves me because I say, yep, you're talking about me because I'm living victorious.

You're looking at me crazy because I'm living victorious.

And I hope that sooner or later that you will see the victories in my life will help you know that God gives victory.

Remain faithful despite your circumstances.

First Thessalonians 3:8.

1 Thessalonians 3:8

For now, we really live.

Since you are standing firm in the Lord.

Opinions change, cultures change, trends change.

But a steadfast Christian refuses to abandon God regardless of the pressure.

Regardless of the pressure.

We had a saying when we were growing up that pressure burst pipes.

And sometimes, I'm telling you, if you are living with Jesus Christ and you are standing firm, even though your pipe may burst, all it's gonna do is spill out blessings upon someone else.

So don't be afraid about the pressure bursting your pipes.

All it is just saying is that God needs to release something inside of you because the goodness of God, one of the things I see that we do as Christians, a lot of that goodness, a lot of our testimony, we try to keep that to ourselves.

When we should be telling folks, I got victory through Christ because I overcame this.

I have victory through Christ because I have overcame that.

I have victory through Christ because even though I'm just a ragged mess, God still gives me victory.

I tell my son all the time when we'd be looking at sports teams and he'll say, Oh yeah, they playing this team, this team ain't no good.

I tell him on any given Sunday.

They'll creep up on a victory.

So I'm telling you, through Jesus Christ at any given moment, he will give you a victory.

At any given second, he will give you a victory.

And the good thing about God is that he gives victory when we're not even looking for it.

He says, Oh, I got something for you.

We're not looking for these victories sometimes, and he just gives them.

Paul says, back to verse 15, 58.

Stand firm, let nothing move you.

Be unmovable.

Be unmovable.

We live in a culture that we're gonna do what the world do.

Because I don't want to look different.

I don't want to be different.

I don't want folk talking about me.

So the trends of this world, the way this world is turning and what's going on in the world, this world is a hot mess.

And it's up to us Christian folk who live in victory to help sort out that mess through Jesus.

Because we can't sort it out on our own.

I'm a former addict, so I know that the hot mess of addiction, I can't go up into folks' houses and they're actively participating in their addiction and think I'm gonna do some Jesus work because sooner or later my mind and that enemies are gonna say, yeah, let me hit that.

But I also know that one if I do go into that situation, then I better take CJ with me.

I better take Pastor Drew with me, I better take somebody else with me.

Because being a Christian life, even though we are in different churches, different denominations, we're still just one team.

We're one team.

We're one team.

The O-line is just as important as the defensive line, the quarterback is just as important as the running back because it's one team, and as a team through Christ, victory is coming.

Paul says, remain unshakable because one of the tricks of Satan, he wants to shake us, he wants to cast doubt in our minds.

He uses trials, temptations, discouragement, false doctrine, false teachers.

But Paul says, remain unshakable, remain unmovable.

Colossians 2, 6.

So then, just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him.

And what that is saying to you when things get ugly, don't quit.

Don't quit.

When it's not going your way, don't give up.

Excuse me, y'all heard that, didn't you?

Excuse me.

Remain unshakable.

It says, while we are rooted in Christ Jesus, we can endure life storms.

Satan will tell you, nobody notices you.

All the work that you're doing, nothing is changing.

Your efforts are wasted.

But Paul says that your labor in the name of the Lord is not in vain.

Every prayer matters.

Every act of kindness matters.

Every soul reach matters.

Every sacrifice matters.

Every ministry matters.

So this morning, I'm doing good.

It's love and 24.

I said 1130.

I got six minutes, CJ.

This morning, if you have not experienced victory from God through Jesus, today's that day.

If you do not know Jesus Christ, as they say in our brother as I grew up in the Baptist church, if you are still lost in the pardon of your sins, this is the day to be made right.

Prayer team.

Some soft music.

Today is the day to be made right.

If you haven't had a victory in a while, and you're tired of losing, today is the day to get you a dub.

Life circumstance.

What you've acted, what you've been through, today is the day for victory.

Because God has said through the acts, the death, burial, and resurrection of my son Jesus, who I gladly offered as a sacrifice for you, it can change your life today and give you victory.

Because the Bible tells it that God commended his love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

The victory, the victory.

I don't box, but if I knew if I knew that my victory was coming, I'd step in the ring with Tyson Josh.

Because I know victory is guaranteed.

But also I know that then it stops us and holds us back sometimes.

That on our way to victory, it's not a look sport to gain victory.

You must be an active participant.

You have to be an active participant.

Stand with me.