The Great Convictions of a Great Christian - Part 1

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

And I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Colossians chapter one.

And again, I am so excited about our group being back from Honduras.

Unbelievable the work they did while they were down there and look so forward to Deedra getting her whole presentation together.

It's going to be exciting.

It really is.

It really is.

I'm telling you, folks.

You know, God's alive and well all over the world.

Can I get an amen?

He is.

He really is.

And I thank the Lord for that.

I really do.

Well, I'm excited about our new series.

You know, a few weeks ago, I preached the last uh eight to ten verses in the book of Colossians when we looked at all the people that helped Paul in his ministry.

And one thing that Paul wanted to do is to give everyone that uh had helped him credit, and I'm so thankful for that because what makes a great church are great Christians.

Can I get an amen?

What makes a great church are great Christians?

And you know what?

We have got some of the greatest Christians right here, and I thank God for that.

But our goal is to be more like Jesus tomorrow than we were today.

Amen.

And boy, this is one of the most powerful books.

And by the way, if you do not have an outline, raise your hand.

I think everybody does.

Bob's good about making sure everyone has the outline on the back of your worship guide.

Because today we're going to be looking at the great convictions of a great Christian.

What makes a great Christian?

It's oh hey, our great convictions.

What makes a great church are great convictions about the truth of God's word.

As I was doing all my studying this week, I ran across a story about the sculpture of Christ.

There was the following story is told about a celebrated, unbelievable sculptor.

His name is J.

H.

Von Danicker.

D-A-N-N-E-C-K-E-R.

When he was asked by Napoleon, this was back in Napoleon era, he was asked by Napoleon to do a sculptor.

And he was to do one of Napoleon himself, to put in his gallery.

And here was his answer.

And I love this.

When he was asked by Napoleon to make a statue of himself for the gallery, for his gallery, he declined.

An enormous sum of money was then offered to him by Napoleon.

But he still refused.

When the emperor angrily demanded the reason why the sculptor why he would not do the sculpture of him, here's what he said.

Oh, I love this.

When the emperor, hey, and the emperor was so mad, here's what he said.

He said, Napoleon, I have made a statue of Jesus Christ, and I can never lower my chisel to carve an inferior subject.

Wow.

Now, guys, we're talking here about Napoleon the Emperor.

Can I can you imagine him telling Napoleon that?

Unbelievable.

But that's exactly what he said.

Hang on, I've got something on my glasses and I'm trying to get it off.

Thank you.

I was seeing double.

So he said, I could not do that.

Then, the first time he said I molded Christ, I love this.

It took two years.

When I unveiled the finished statue in the presence of my little girl and asked her who it was, she clapped her hands in admiration and cried, It is certainly a great man.

Well, I smashed the statue and went to work again, praying as much as I chisled.

The next time I brought my little girl into the studio to view the statue, she walked over to the figure as if it were alive and said in awe, Oh, oh, I know him.

He is the one who said, Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not.

Wow.

That's the message of Colossians.

This is Paul's masterpiece of Christ.

So I could not describe it any better.

So let's begin by looking at Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

And today we're going to look at the first eight verses.

The first eight verses in Colossians.

Starts with Apostle, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.

To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae.

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.

Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you, since the days ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.

As ye also learned of Epapharos, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ, who also declared unto you the love in the Spirit.

Now, one of the things I see here that's so powerful is what are the great convictions of great Christians?

Number one, here it is.

The great beliefs of a great Christian.

Here they are.

I want to give you the great beliefs of a great Christian.

In other words, the beliefs that you and I are to portray in our own hearts and our own life.

Here we go.

Number one.

First of all, the hey, life has but one profession, and that is the will of God.

The will of God.

In other words, our greatest desire, our greatest life purpose is to find God's will for our life.

Would you not agree?

To find God's will for our life, and then do it.

And this is what Paul is echoing back and forth in this first eight verses.

And notice what Paul did.

He said, what Paul did was by the will of God.

That is his profession, his work, his call, whatever God wanted him to do in his life was chosen by God and not by Paul.

It was chosen by God and not by Paul.

Now, I think that's where a lot of us make a major mistake.

We choose our own profession instead of allowing God to choose our profession.

You know, today, about 50% almost, I think it's a little less than 50%, of people that go to college and graduate with a degree, hey, five years later are not even working in the degree track that they went to school for.

And because they'll start working, then they say they hate it.

They can't stand it.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me just say this.

When you are in the will of God and you're doing the profession that God's called you to do, you're gonna have a contentment, you're gonna have a peace, you're gonna have an excitement that, hey, passes all understanding.

And you don't have to worry to make yourself get up and go to work in the morning.

You enjoy going to work, hey, in the morning because God has chosen that profession for you so that he can use you to bring other people to Christ.

That is why Paul is so adamant.

Paul had, you know, he was the educated of the educated.

He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.

But until he found God's call on his life, which means first he got saved, and then God called him to his profession, and then the rest is history because he wrote most of the New Testament.

Unbelievable what happens in your life and my life when we get in the, hey, perfect will of God.

Amen?

And that is what he's saying here.

And here's the thought.

In fact, Paul said, Hey, don't waste your life.

Don't waste your life.

Young people, don't waste your life.

Seek Christ in everything that you do, seek him in your education, seek him in your profession, seek him in who you date, seek him in everything you do.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 6, 33.

And this is exactly what Paul is saying.

He's saying there's only one profession for any believer, and that profession, first of all, is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Amen.

I'm not talking about your job.

I'm talking about your ultimate profession, is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

And then he gives you a profession.

And what is that profession?

Here it is, 2 Corinthians 5.17.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

And then look at what he says in 2 Corinthians 5.18.

And all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

You and I are in the reconciliation business.

What does that mean?

That means that we are to represent Christ as a messenger, as an ambassador, telling people about Jesus.

And that is why I wear Jesus' awesome bracelets everywhere I go in my belt.

Why?

Everywhere I went in Honduras.

Jesus is awesome.

Jesus is awesome.

And that's what I would do.

And then I'd go through my bracelet.

With the word awesome and share with them.

That's my profession.

Your profession, once you get saved, is to be a messenger for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Can I get an amen?

Now, where do you, by the way, that kind of takes care of your profession too?

Your work profession.

Your calling profession is to make the good news what?

Viable and known to everyone wherever you go.

So that means then the job that he gives you, guess what?

It's for one purpose, and that is for you to be an ambassador and a messenger, where God's placed you in the marketplace to exalt Christ, and if he's exalted, he'll draw all men into himself.

John 12, 32.

So that is God's will for your life and my life.

In fact, I love what he says in Hebrews 13, 21.

This is powerful.

Look at what he says.

God make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

Notice the word there: well pleasing.

In other words, what's well pleasing to Jesus Christ and to God Himself is when you find your profession, you find your relationship with him, and then regardless of the job profession, you exalt him.

That is what is well pleasing to Jesus Christ.

So that's the whole, should I say, proposition of the gospel in plastic.

The preeminence of Christ is that you are called to make him known, to exalt Christ.

That's our purpose.

That's your profession.

Amen.

In fact, say this with me, church.

My profession is to exalt Christ.

Ready?

My profession is to exalt Christ.

Again, my profession, that is the will of God for my life.

You know, somebody asked me the other day, he said, Do you really think you can know the will of God for your life?

I said, Absolutely.

And I said, I can know the will of God for your life if you're a Christian.

He said, How are you going to do that?

I said, it's simple.

Jesus said that if you're saved, hey, your goal in life, your position in life, your profession in life ought to be exalt him.

To exalt him, to be an ambassador for him, to be a messenger for him.

It doesn't matter what your occupation is.

What matters is that you exalt him.

He looked at me and said, I've never thought of it that way, Pastor.

That's it.

Hey, when God gives you a job, that's not you.

Hey, by the way, hey, you don't go to get a good job to get a lot of money.

Now, a lot of money's good.

I'm not saying that.

You don't get a job for better benefits.

You get a job because it becomes your platform to exalt Christ.

Amen.

Come on, church.

Amen.

Hey, let me tell you, you'll look at your job in a whole different way if you understand that.

And that is exactly what we see here.

Listen to what James 4.15 said.

For they, you and me, ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.

If the Lord will.

Before you take your next job, before you go, hey, to the school that you want to go to or to go to the train, ask the Lord if that would be, hey, his will for your life.

You know what I've learned when I start saying, Lord, is this really what you want me to do?

It's amazing how I stop, I be still, and I think through what I'm about to do.

Amen?

Be still and know that He's God.

That this is what God wants you to do.

Listen, we don't, you think we have a lot of time.

We don't have a whole lot of time.

Average age, 80, 80, 82.

Actually, it's about 76, I think.

But we don't have a lot of time.

I was involved, I worked one of the worst wrecks I've ever worked this past Wednesday as the chaplain.

Took us two hours to get the lady out of the car.

50 years old, coming around the curve, didn't, you know, life all just and bam, she's gone.

Just like that.

Ran off the road and hit a tree.

Just crushed the car in on her.

Terrible.

Terrible.

Then I spent all afternoon with the family, just it was it was horrible.

But I had a chance to minister the word of God and the love on them and to give them comfort through the scriptures and to exalt him.

I knew that was my job.

I knew that's why God had put placed me there was to share Jesus Christ.

Hey, we don't understand all these things.

We will never understand them, but we do know he will not leave us comfortless.

He's here with us.

Our profession is to live for Christ.

Our God's will for my life is to know him intimately and then to proclaim him everywhere I go.

That is the will of God for your life.

Can I get an Amen church?

Now the question is: if you're not proclaiming the Word of God and living the Word of God wherever you are, you're not doing His will for your life.

Everywhere you go, you ought to love God and love people.

And that is our will.

But notice what Paul did was by the will of God, but also the profession chosen by God for Paul was that of being, look what it says, a minister, an apostle.

The word there means, the word apostle means messenger or ambassador.

He is sent forth by God.

Now, he does not go forth on his own.

He does not go forth by somebody else's authority.

He goes forth by God's authority.

We have 6,000 Southern Baptist preachers quit the ministry every year or are fired.

Every year.

Every year.

Now, I believe the reason a lot of those may quit is because they're not called.

When God calls a man of God or a woman of God to full-time ministry, which we're all involved in full-time ministry, but sets him aside to be that pastor or to be that man of God, that teacher, God endues him and gives him the gifts to do that and also gives him the courage to do that.

And nothing can keep him from fulfilling that will in his life.

I love what he says in Ephesians 3:7.

Ephesians 3:7

He says, Paul says, Wherefore I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

In other words, I had nothing to do with God calling me into the ministry.

God set me apart and called me into the ministry.

I was looking to be a coach.

I didn't want to be a preacher.

My grandmother had told me about four years prior to God calling me that she had seen a vision and God had spoken to her.

She was emblemed in the bed for 18 years, and all she did was pray and read her Bible and listen to gospel music.

I mean, she was that's all she could do.

But she said, Danny boy, Danny boy, look at me.

God's called you to preach.

And I said, No, he hasn't, Mama.

God doesn't want me to preach, he wants me to coach.

He said, You'll see.

Guess who won?

The Holy Spirit and Mama.

I bet she's grinning right now in heaven.

I guarantee you, she's grinning right now.

And she's saying right then, I told you.

But once the Lord Jesus Christ gets a hold of you, he places you.

Listen to what he says in 1 Timothy 1.12.

And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.

You know what I've studied over the last 20 years about men and women being called to full-time ministry is that they were faithful in ministry before God called them.

You know what happens to a lot of these that quit?

They weren't faithful to start with.

Hello.

Somebody asked me the other day, how do you know when you're called of God?

I said, that's very easy.

You're faithful doing the work of God right now.

Hello.

You're faithful doing the work of God right now.

You're faithful.

God doesn't.

Let me just tell you right now, God doesn't call unfaithful people.

No, he's not gonna do that.

God calls faithful.

Timothy was faithful.

Hey, hey, Timothy was faithful.

Paul called Timothy, and then he told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, 2, choose out from among you those that are faithful who are able to train others.

You gotta be faithful.

We have people all the time come up and say, I'd like to be disciple.

I said, Do you really want to be disciple?

Hey, you really want to be discipled?

Alright, start coming and being faithful to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night.

Well, what's that got to do with it?

Everything.

Hello.

Everything.

That's the first step of discipleship is faithfulness.

Boy, it's awful quiet this morning.

It's not just something you say, well, I want to do that.

I want to I w I w I want to be a pastor.

Or or I I or I I I think I want to teach.

I think I want to.

It's called faithful.

Hey, if you want to be faithful in the band, show up on Wednesday night to practice.

Hello?

You want to be faithful to ministry, sure up.

When it's visitation time, when it's work time, show up.

Hello.

Hello.

Get in on it.

Brotherhood.

Second thing.

Look at what he said in verse one.

Boy, this first verse I couldn't.

By the way, if I don't get halfway through, we'll just pick up.

That's one good thing about going verse by verse.

Wherever I leave off with, pick up next week.

Because you're not going to miss this truth.

This is life-changing truth.

Notice the second thing in verse one.

Not only do we see right here, oh, that life has but one profession, and that's finding the will of God.

And hey, that will is chosen by God.

We see that, not by us.

But secondly, life has but one essential relationship, and that's brotherhood.

Look at what he says there.

Look at, oh, that's a beautiful.

He says, hey, Paul and Apostle Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, and then go on and look at verse 2, the first part, to the saints and thankful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae.

But he uses the word brethren for the church people and the word brother for Timothy.

In other words, Paul mentions Timothy as not as a young disciple, not as his cohort in ministry, not as a young mentoree.

He mentions him as a brother.

You know what's so exciting about this church and any church, if it's God's church?

We are brothers and sisters in Christ.

And guess what?

We happen to be what?

Echolesia here together in Westover and Chelsea.

But guess what?

I had the same brotherly love for Pastor there in Honduras.

Hey, those those Christians, even though I couldn't speak their language, Pastor Julio, when we sat there and used the interpreter and I spoke to him for about an hour and we were cast in vision what he wanted, my spirit so bore witness with him.

Hey, he was not a Honduran pastor.

He was my brother.

Amen.

Folks, the reason I love you and hug your necks and tell you I love you, I do.

You're my brother and sister in Christ.

There's a bond in my heart for you.

That's why when I see people aren't faithful, my heart hurts.

Not because, hey, why?

Because I'm the brother in the Lord, but also I know what God wants to do in their life and they're missing it.

If somebody calls you when you're not here, don't get mad at them.

They care.

Hello.

I've told you time and time again, hey, here we're going to keep up with you.

We love you.

We care about you.

Well, I don't want that kind of accountability.

Well, you probably will get upset with us.

Hello?

Well, I don't I don't like that responsibility or that accountability, really.

And both of them go together.

You can't be responsible if you're not accountable.

What did he say?

Amen?

Accountability.

I need accountability.

I need that.

And you do too.

All of us need.

So they were brothers.

Colossians were brothers.

Now, when we have this kind of relationship, you know what that means?

Hey, there's regular relationships: employer, employee, neighbor, neighbor, teacher, student, friend, friend, worker, co-worker, merchant, customer, minister, parishioner.

But nothing that brings so much power and so much intimacy than a brother and sister in Christ.

Nothing.

Nothing is as strong as that.

Nothing compares to that.

And because of that, Timothy, my brother, the Colossians, my brothers and sisters, one of the most cherished abilities in all the world is knowing how to properly relate to people.

And when you and I are Christians, and we meet other Christians, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

When we go to Africa, no problem.

It's like if I've known Rejoice, Reuben, for forever.

Why?

Your spirit, which is the Holy Spirit, my spirit, which is the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, bears witness with each other's spirit that we're the children of God.

Romans 8.

That's what it says.

We bear witness.

We bear witness.

And with that means within the church, there's no superiority, there's no pride, there's no arrogance, there's no envy, there's no, hey, there's no clickishness, there's no criticism, there's no grumbling, there's no judging, there's no divisiveness, and there's no self-seeking.

Can I get an amen?

That's not the place, hey, in the church for that.

Not if you like now, I didn't say that there's not room for disagreement, did I?

Hello.

Hey, listen, my wife and I have been married 30 plus wonderful years.

But we do not agree on everything.

In fact, most of the time, if it deals with furniture stuff, I know what I like, she's not gonna like.

I've been with her that long.

We're just totally opposite.

We don't agree.

Or, hey, but guess what?

You can have an opinion.

We all have in fact, I know you have opinion, I've heard them.

But sis and I have an opinion.

She tells me all the time her opinion.

And she thinks that I'm gonna accept it every time, and most of the time I do.

Sometimes I don't.

It goes in one end, not the other.

But why?

Why?

We all have an opinion.

Do you not have an opinion?

If you don't have opinion, what are you even living for?

Hello.

If you don't have opinion, you don't have a purpose.

You have a purpose, you have an opinion.

Amen.

I don't mind hearing your opinion.

But don't get mad at me if I don't agree.

And I won't get mad at you if you don't agree with me.

You have the right to be wrong.

I set you up good for that one.

That's a joke.

Amen.

But listen, in the church body and in our relationships as Christians, we can disagree to agree as long as we, hey, exalt Christ and we set the example in our disagreements.

Amen.

There's nothing wrong with that, folks.

In fact, I'd hate that, I hate yes, people.

I like to be challenged.

I don't take anything face value.

Never have, never will.

Especially if it go, if my Holy Spirit goes, and it doesn't agree with that book.

Whoop! Whoa, let's go back and let's ask that question again.

Let's see what the book says.

By the way, I'm always going to see what the book says.

Because it's not what I think, it's what the book says and what the book thinks.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

So, again, true brotherhood is to be a fundamental relationship within the church.

Look at what he says in Romans 12, 5.

So we being many are one body in Christ and every one, members one of another.

Wow.

Is that not?

And look at verse 10.

Then it says, okay, if we're members, if we really are brothers and sisters in Christ, read, church, read with me.

Woo! Now wait a minute.

Kindly affectionate.

You know what that means?

You can't get mad at me.

Hello! Hello! I don't think you got that.

I'm gonna try that again.

That means you can't get mad at me.

That means Susan can't get mad at me.

That means I can't get mad at Susan.

Hello?

You okay?

You going?

Felt like you'd just been hit by the two-ball for what?

So when you get mad at each other, that's wrong.

Yeah, but no, there are no butts.

There are no billy goat Christians.

Hello.

Button all the time.

But no, no, no, no, no, no.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, self-control, kindness.

That verse, sometimes I don't like it.

Wait, wait, it gets better.

Kindly affection.

You can't get mad at me to one another with brotherly love.

Brotherly love doesn't get mad, it doesn't get upset and angry toward a brother or sister in Christ.

Now, here's the next phrase.

Honoring, preferring one another.

You know what that means?

That literally means that I go out of my way to minister to you before you try to minister to me.

Ouch! Oh! You got up this morning saying, I can't wait to minister to my wife.

I'm guilty.

I didn't.

I got up this morning thinking, I'm thankful my wife made that peanut butter cake.

Because I'm having me a piece of peanut butter cake with my coffee this morning.

Do you really look to put other people before yourself to serve them before they serve you?

I'm guilty.

Am I the only one guilty?

I feel say if if I was if I'm the only one guilty, we got a lot of serving going on.

By love, serve one another.

Hello.

Hello.

He that is greatest among you, Jesus said what?

Shall be your server.

Should have worn your combat boots today.

Me too.

Me too.

So look at what he says.

Philippians 2, 3, and 4.

Read this, church.

Philippians 2, 3, and 4.

Read, church.

Look, go.

There it is.

Now here's what's the bad thing.

Go back to verse 3, Jason.

Watch this.

Let nothing be done through strife in vain glory.

You know when we're not putting others before ourselves, we're living with vainglory.

It's all about me instead of you.

That's vainglory.

That's selfishness.

So next time you're not thinking about anybody but yourself, that's just, hey, that's you're just vain.

Boy, mm.

Guilty.

The book says, look at what 1 Peter 5, 5 says.

Mm-mm.

Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.

Yea, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Now here's what he's saying.

He's saying, when you put others before yourself, you're a humble person, and God's going to bless you and fill you and bless you with grace and blessings like you've never seen before.

But if you don't, mm-mm mm-mm, God resists the proud.

Those that are vain and those that are proud, he resists.

And we wonder why we're struggling a lot of times in our marriages, in our relationships, in all areas of our life.

It's because we're proud.

You know why?

You know why Susan and I fuss?

Well, usually it's me fussing.

You know why?

I want my way.

Hello?

Come on here, guys.

You help.

Are y'all alright out there?

Are y'all even here today?

I'm up here crucifying myself.

I'd like for some of y'all to get up join in with me.

Hello?

Where did David go?

Where's Wilson?

He'd walked, he knew what I was proud.

He's waving at me back there.

Okay.

All right.

I just wondered.

Start preaching on proudness.

People start walking out.

And they say, I'm humble, I'm leaving.

Hmm.

For God resists the prayer.

All right.

Let's go on.

Look and see.

Life has two levels of spiritual maturity.

Whew.

That's notice what he said in verse 2.

Powerful.

To the saints and faithful brethrons in Christ, which are at Classi.

Notice what he said.

It's powerful.

You'll miss this by just reading at it because the word saints, hagias, is a very important word.

It literally means, and this is all that it means, is to be called out and set apart to be used by God.

That's what the word hagias means.

It doesn't mean that you are super spiritual.

But, you know, early in the church, if you were a saint, they gave you the title of a saint.

That meant you were a very godly, unbelievable person.

But that's not what the word means.

Saint just means a called-out person set aside to be used by God.

Guess what?

Every Christian that's truly born again is a saint.

So if you're saved this morning and you know you're saved, hey, you're a saint.

Amen?

Amen?

All right.

If you're saved this morning, I want you to say this with me.

I'm a saint.

I'm a saint.

I had a lady one day say, I can't say that.

I said, why?

She said, I'm not a saint.

I said, well, but because she had a misinterpretation of the word saint, she thought it meant sinlessness.

It does not mean sinlessness.

All right?

All of us are rotten, no good sinners.

Save by God's grace, Isaiah 64, 6.

All my righteousness is as filthy rags.

But because of God's grace, and because of his payment on Calvary, and because of his, hey, hey, intercession for me and his mediation.

For me, I'm a saint.

And you are too.

But now notice he said a saint, and then he said faithful.

Faithful.

That's very important.

But why?

Because there's two types of saints.

You ready?

Two types of saints.

There's the faithful and there's the carnal.

Now we talked about this about a month ago or six, five weeks ago, when I preached on the three types of people.

I said there's the spiritual, there's the lost, the natural man, and then there's the carnal.

So right here, Paul's dealing with the saints.

Saints equals believers.

But then he went to the church at Closse and he said, the believers in Closse, the faithful brothers in the church.

Paul is making a clear distinction between two classes of believers.

The Hygias, hey, the carnal believers and the faithful believers.

Here's the point.

The point is this a person can be saved and be a carnal believer.

I wish that wasn't true.

It'd make my job a lot easier.

And some don't believe that.

They don't believe they're carnal Christians.

But 1 Corinthians 3 is pretty clear about that.

There's those that are faithful Christians and those that are unfaithful.

Which are you, which are mine.

Faithful believers.

Notice he said, in order for you to exalt the preeminence of Christ and to be all that Christ wants you to be, you got to be faithful.

Not carnal.

Not carnal.

Amen.

Hey, faithful people put Christ first.

Faithful people put their church first.

Faithful people put the word of God first in their life.

Young people, if you would catch what I'm saying, if you would right now at your early age, like a David, like Daniel, like the Hebrew children, like all those young men in the Word of God that put God first early in their life, you'll live a life, you'll live a storybook ending life.

You can have the storybook ending if it's done the storybook way.

And the storybook is the B-I-B-L-E.

Amen.

Amen.

When I gave my life totally to Christ, started to live my life for Christ through the Word of God.

I'm telling you, He took me for the ride of my life.

Who would have ever thought a little South Georgia boy, country boy, could have God have done through me what He's done through me?

I I I was thinking the other day, I was just riding my bike and I was just crying to myself because God has been so good to me over these years.

So good to me.

And I didn't deserve it.

But I've been faithful.

I've been faithful.

I've been have you ever not wanted to be faithful?

Thank you, Don.

Just me and you.

Have you ever not wanted to be faithful?

I didn't say that, Darren did.

But really.

I mean, have you have you ever thought every once in a while, take this job and yeah?

You ever thought about that?

Why am I doing this?

Well, I got good news for you.

You're not doing it for the here and now.

You're doing it for the after now.

There's going to be, let me tell you this.

There's a reward coming.

There's a reward coming.

Folks, you endure, you stay faithful.

There's a reward coming.

But most of the time we get to get on the end of blessings while we're living.

But even if you're not, even if you're you're down and out, but you're still faithful, your reward's coming.

It's coming.

And you're going to see that.

You're going to see it.

Because here's the faithful.

Here's the faithful.

I want you to see this.

Look at the faithful saints or the believers in the church.

Look at Matthew 7, 21.

Jesus said, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter to the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Then look at verse 24 through 27.

Therefore, whosoever hear these sayings of mine and do, hey, and does them, not just listen to it.

When you come in here and your pastor preaches heart out, just don't listen to me.

Take the word, take, you fill in the blanks, take the word of God, take the principles, and go out of this building and live them this next week.

When you do that, look what he says.

When you hear them and you do it, I will liken him unto a wise man which builds his house upon a rock, and the rain descendeth, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon the house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon the rock.

The winds are coming, the storms are coming, but just stay faithful.

Stay faithful.

You can't prevent the storms.

They're coming.

Dave Musselman called me, uh, was it yesterday, honey, or something?

And he was almost crying.

And he said, Pastor Danny, I just finished watching your message on the storms of life on your on the uh uh computer.

And he said, I just want you to know that has put taken me through some things I'm going through right now.

He just won't he said, I want you to know that was such an encouragement.

Keep preaching it, keep preaching.

Listen, just because you are a faithful saint doesn't mean the storms aren't coming.

If someone tells you that, that's a lie.

A lot of times you get saved, say, if you get saved, you give a lie, oh, everything's gonna be, you know, just beautiful.

No, no, not all of it.

Life's life.

And we have heartaches and heartbreaks, but listen to what he says.

Hey, and everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does not them shall be likened to a foolish man instead of a wise man, which builds his house upon the sand and the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blew and beat upon the house, and it fell.

And great was the fall of it.

Wow, why, why, why.

It's your choice.

How are you gonna build your house?

You're gonna build it faithfully or you're gonna build it unfaithfully.

If you build it with, hey, unfaithfully, when the storms come, you're going down.

Oh, you say, Well, I'm going down when the hey, hey, hey, yeah, you go down when the storms come, but let me tell you, God pulls you back up.

The righteous fall seven times, but they get back up.

There's a difference.

Difference.

Note something that needs to be stressed right here.

The church, it's people.

It's not, hey, we're not vague, abstract uh entity.

We're men, women, boys, and girls who love God and love each other.

That's the church.

Anything more than that, it's a social club or an organization.

But God's church loves God, loves him, and loves each other.

That's what's been different about this church, and we we we strive to do that every day.

And let me just tell you, it's a battle every day.

For us to love God with all our hearts and to love people with all our hearts.

You know, it's hard to love people unconditionally, it's hard to love people that say things bad about you, talk about you, try to hurt you.

But that's exactly what Jesus Christ did.

So that's hard to do.

You can't do it without the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

You can't do it in the flesh.

Can't do it.

I've tried.

You'll fail every time.

Or here's what you do.

Oh, God bless you.

And in your heart you're saying, I wasn't gonna kill you.

Or I wish you would just take a hike.

Hello?

Hello, you okay out there?

I'm getting right where it hurts, isn't it?

Boy, well, I am, because hey, I need it, I need it, I'm guilty.

I mean, you you work yourself all week and give everything you got and and helping people, and they look at you and smile and say, Well, I'm out of here.

And you know what you say, Whoa, what did I do?

Oh, I'll help them.

You're not doing it for them.

Oh, hello.

Man, that's liberating.

I'm not doing it for him, then I'm doing it for him.

So they can come and go long as I'm doing it with the right heart, attitude, and motive for him.

He'll take care of everything else, he'll take care of the numbers, he'll take care of the money, he'll take care of everything.

He'll be doing it for him.

Upon this rock, Jesus said, I'll build my church.

What's wrong?

Most of us are trying to build.

I'm too old to do that anymore.

I tried that for about 20 years.

I won't work.

It gets me ulcers.

When I was at Tennessee Temple, about kill me.

Phil.

Because I was worried about everything.

Worried about people.

Worried about this.

Worried about that.

And I realize it's not me.

It's not mine.

I can't do it.

Only Christ can do it.

Can I get an amen?

Only Christ.

Well, that's liberating, folks.

Hey, I can't make Susan love me.

All I have to do is love Christ and treat her like I should.

She'll love me like she's never loved me before.

And sometimes she loves me when she shouldn't.

But you know why she does?

Because she loves Christ, not me.

By the way, I'm not the number one man in her life as Christ is.

Whew! Amen.

Amen.

I don't mind that.

You say, doesn't that make you jealous?

Absolutely not.

If I'm the number one man in her life, we're in trouble.

Because I'm not worth anything.

Amen.

Preacher, you're being hard on it.

Say, no, I'm just being honest.

That's what the book says.

I'm not being hard.

I'm trying to, I want us to get a vision here of what Christ's likeness really is.

I am, I'm tired of seeing people.

Let me tell you what, every time I do go to a third world country, this happens to me.

So you get it.

Every time I come back, I am ashamed of how easily we can get offended and upset for all that we have compared to I see the love that they have when they have nothing.

It is so convicting to me.

And they're running around happy as a lark.

You know why?

Because that's in Christ.

They don't know what they're missing.

And sometimes I wonder our problem is we have too much.

It rains.

Well, I don't, it's raining.

We're not going to church today.

I can't help but think about this morning.

I was, it was pouring out rain.

I said, well, I wonder what the tendency.

Then I thought, Holy Spirit hit me and said, Don't worry about the tendency.

You just worry about preaching.

And then I thought about what Reuben said when I told him that.

And he said, What?

You mean to tell me people don't come to church when it rains?

He and here's what he said.

They got cars.

We walk.

And then D.

Under number one.

Grace and peace.

Life has two basic spiritual needs.

Grace and peace.

Wow.

There it is.

Grace and peace.

Look at the end of that.

I figured I wasn't going to get past verse two.

Look what it says.

Grace be unto you and peace from God and our Father.

These two verses are so packed.

It's really the whole foundation of the rest of the In other words, he says, if you have grace, you're going to have peace.

Amen.

If you have grace, you're going to have peace.

And you know what I saw about that?

I saw the inner strength and confidence that are needed to overcome and to walk joyfully in the world.

James 117, here's what he says.

Read it, church.

Read this with me.

Read it.

Every what kind of gift?

And where does it come?

And perfect gift.

You know what that word perfect means?

It means complete.

Here's what that means.

God knows what you need to be complete.

Is that not exciting?

And if you're faithful, he's going to give it to you.

Every good gift from the Father of life, in whom there's no variableness, neither shadow of a turn.

In other words, there's no there's no uh distinguishing between people.

His gifts are for everyone.

Every saint.

Can I get an amen?

Let me just add to that, every faithful saint.

You mean to tell me he blesses the faithful more than the unfaithful?

Hello.

Hello?

You think if you're working and you're on commission, you're gonna get paid when you don't sell?

So why would he want to bless you more when you're unfaithful or bless you the same for the ones that's been faithful and working and doing what they're supposed to do?

Come on, folks.

Don't don't don't and don't have this mentality about, well, I I at least I'm saved.

I may be carnal, but I ooh, I had somebody tell me this the other day, and I oh oh I had to I had to count to a hundred quick.

Well, you know, all that faithfulness, I'm saved, and as long as I'm going to heaven, that's all that matters.

Ooh, ooh, he missed it.

That's not all that matters.

God didn't save you to just take you to heaven.

God saved you to call you and give you a profession of living for him and being a messenger and ambassador for him.

Do something for him.

Amen.

He didn't save you to sit, he saved you to serve.

Come on.

Get in the game.

Get in the game.

Mm-mm.

Ephesians 1 7, in whom we have redemption.

Through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to what?

Riches of his what?

Grace.

And then Philippians 4.19 says, My God shall supply all his needs according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus.

All your needs.

All God is able to make all grace abound toward you.

Hey, that you may have all sufficiency in all things, that ye may be able to prosper in his work.

2 Corinthians 9, 8.

All grace, all sufficiency, all things.

My friends, what else is there?

And then the last thing, and I'm through for this morning.

The word peace.

There it is.

Grace is the favor of God showered.

Hey, the favor of God showered upon us.

That's God's grace.

Grace, hey, is God's, hey, blessings, all that God is, showered upon us.

Whew, that's good.

If I was here, he'd say, that's good, preacher.

I'm going to say that one more time.

Some of you still hadn't passed some of that other stuff.

I said, I know, I understand.

God's grace is God's blessings and God's all that God is showered upon us.

Showered.

Like it's raining.

Woo! He's opening the windows of heaven and pouring us out a blessing.

Yes.

Yes.

I had somebody ask me, and some of my men have been with me in other places preaching, and they've asked me, they said, sometimes, preacher, when you're in these other places, you preach it kind of differently.

I say, no, no, no, I don't preach differently.

I'm who I am.

The Holy Spirit in me preaches differently.

And there's a reason.

Because the people I'm preaching to there, hey, they're, hey, like at the foundry.

I mean, man, they've the life has been destroyed, and what's happened?

They've just gotten saved.

They're on the on the step of recovery.

Hey, listen, and they don't have anything but Jesus.

That's all they know.

And if without him, they're gone.

There's a big difference when you're preaching to folks like that than when you're preaching to people that have everything.

Hello.

Big difference.

Big difference.

Hello.

Hey, I'm right with you.

Now I am not.

You listen to me.

I'm just, we're having a heart-to-heart family talk today.

Amen.

We don't want to be that church.

And we're not.

We're not.

But we have to work, we have to fight it every day.

We have to fight it every day not to turn right into that traditional type of church.

Me and our friends and our social club, we love each other and we take care of each other and we forget the world.

We can never do that.

We can never do that.

We will not do that.

Amen.

That's why we go on short-term mission trips.

That's why we have, and by the way, we have just as strong a mission right here.

I understand that.

I really do.

And in America, it's getting worse and worse.

And we have to do both.

And we do.

We do.

All right.

I don't think we can handle any more.

I've said enough.

Is that not good?

I love that.

You learn today.

Whatever.

Wherever you are, you're content.

You're content.

You know the best way of being content.

You know how you know how I know when I'm content.

Let me tell you the best way for me, for me, that I'm content.

It's when I'm helping somebody.

When I'm helping somebody.

When I'm giving.

Instead of receiving.

I'm more content.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again God bless you.