On Recapping 1 Corinthians (1 Cor. 16) | The Sandhurst Podcast

Alrighty.

Welcome to the Sandhurst Beyond Sunday podcast.

Adam, what are we trying to do here?

We are trying to help our people think biblically about God, life, and culture beyond Sunday.

Man, wouldn't the faith to go beyond Sunday?

And so that's uh hopefully, hopefully this is helpful to that end.

It is to me.

And uh yeah, it's it's become, I would almost say, surprisingly enjoyable to me to do it.

Um so yeah, dude, we just finished First Corinthians 16.

But before we get there, um I was on I was on Facebook.

I have a little little bone to pick with you.

Okay.

Um not actually, but um you're good at that too, by the way.

If you've ever seen one of Will's T-bones after he finishes, he is good at that.

Dude, I like to pick the bone.

Um So I was on my computer like looking for something on Facebook, and I saw our our podcast come up.

I was like, huh.

And it went from you, and then it went to this spot, and it was someone else.

Ha yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mark Palmer, which shout out to Mark.

I was like, he took my spot.

Um but so yeah, you're doing you're doing another podcast.

And so tell us about that real quick.

Yeah, man.

Quick uh faithful finances, it's just discussions again, kind of it's in a similar vein, only specifically uh, you know, life, Christian life beyond Sunday, but specifically the money strand.

Yeah.

You know, how to have an honest, real conversation about money.

And, you know, the whole church, for the most part, whoever wants to, is doing FPU, Financial Peace University, uh Ramsey Solutions.

And so as a part of that, we're just taking one topic a week and drilling down on that topic, very similar to what we do here.

And so Mark and I are talking through that.

Mark is a experienced, just he's a husband, he's a father, he's an architect, professional, and he's also done really well just to organize his money in a way that is super wise and has done very well over the years for him.

And so he and I are having these conversations just to drill down on it and give us a kind of a deeper look into those topics.

I like it.

Shout out to Mark, stealing my seat.

Just kidding.

Um, I'm I'm glad we're doing that.

Drinking your coffee.

No, he actually doesn't drink the coffee, he has water.

All right, so yeah, we finished uh First Corinthians.

And uh man, I do I mean I said it on Sunday, but I feel like when we come to the end of a book, it feels like coming to the end of like I don't know if you've ever watched a show kind of all the way through where the show ends.

You kind of feel like you lost a friend.

Uh yeah.

I mean there's a little bit of a grief to that, isn't it?

A little grief.

Especially with the Bible book, because I always feel like, man, when I finally get to the end of this thing, I'm now I'm ready to teach it.

So like start over again.

Okay, everybody.

Turn your Bibles to recap it and as always, just try to take things that we weren't able to uh talk about in the sermon and be able to flesh it out a little bit more in a way that helps our faith go beyond Sunday in a way that um just sometimes it's hard for the sermon to get everything that you wanted to.

Yeah.

So we know um that the book kind of has three elements to it, has problems, and then in response to the problems, Paul gives actions and gospel.

But actually, we saw that the the the order, the order matters, and the order that he is really giving throughout the book isn't problems and then actions and then gospel.

It's actually problems and then gospel and then the actions flowing out of that.

And uh the order really matters, but the church had some it had some problems.

And let's just recap those problems.

And the reason that I want to recap the problems is uh just to get a sense of like, man, sometimes we feel like just want to go back to the early church, you know, back to the way things were.

And um if you want that, that's that's fine.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

We can but let's remember what the early church was like.

Yeah, nostalgia often is a little bit airbrushed.

It is.

Yeah.

Um, so chapters one through four, um, we have the ugly problem of what we ended up calling hero worship.

It is the idolization of um of their favorite church leader.

And um back then the church would like subdivide into camps, you know, like you know, back then they would do that.

Yeah, back then.

Back back then, and uh they have these problems of following into you know, sort of like my guy, my guy, no my guy, and like wait, we're all the same team, but you know, yeah, and and so the problem with that is a couple things, and I'll let you just kind of see express whatever the problems you see with that.

But the problem behind the problem, so if the problem is divisive allegiances, you know, around this hero worship, the problem is the more that they were putting their identity in and allegiance to the leader, you know, the man, Paul, Apollo, Cephas, the the more Christ was taking a back seat to those people, and Paul is like, What the heck?

Was Paul crucified for you?

No.

In other words, put Jesus back on the pedestal, and the church's undoing begins to happen and continues to happen the more Jesus gets off the pedestal and other things get put there or other people get put there, or programs get put there.

It's uh tied into their later problems with um, you know, prioritizing certain spiritual gifts because you know, notice it when he talks about the hero worship, he says, you know, I planted, Apollos watered, you know, it's God makes it grow.

God causes growth.

And I think some people are like, you know, the real, the real elites in the Christian faith are the evangelists, they're the missionaries, the Pauls, you know.

And then somebody's like, look, and I mean, anybody can go on a tour, right?

But the real elites are the Apollo, you know, who will get down in the trench and just teach people how to live, you know, and and and grow the fruit, you know, or no, the real elites knew Jesus as Peter, or, you know, or I'm of Jesus.

You know, they're all these, and and and I think so they were just deciding what they thought was most important.

And that comes up later, you know, in terms of gifts, you know, prophecy in tongues and flexing a little bit on and so um Paul's trying to disengage them from creating this hierarchical sort of system of varsity and JV.

It it we're all the same team.

Um, for faith going beyond Sunday, if if we get a sense that our faith is more tethered to a podcast or to a program or to a person or to a leader than it is to God and his word.

Um well, let me ask you, then what's the response there?

Don't do that.

Stop it.

Well, and and okay, so that actually brings us back to the very point.

When when we when we sense the problem, my gut reaction is always, what should I do?

And Paul goes to what do we need to believe?

Yeah.

And uh it it is really starting with where do I fix my gaze?

It's it's it's really realizing, especially in chapters one to four, the problem is the gaze, it's the hope, and by mean by gaze.

I mean the gaze of the soul, yeah, where I'm putting my hope for sanctification and for um like uh growth.

Yeah.

We um, you know, by way of analogy, you know, you know the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, who it's not a particularly Christian book.

It's not a Christian book, but he has completely tapped into this concept because in terms of goal setting, some people will set goals that are outcome-based, like I want to lose 20 pounds.

Some people will set goals that are process-based, like I want to go to the gym four times a week.

And those are both important, but he says those need to go back to what he calls identity goals.

I want to be a healthy person.

And even underneath the identity goal, he says, you've got to have a why.

Like you, I want to be a healthy uh father for my children, or husband for my wife, or whatever your healthy goal, you know, your identity.

And then your identity will lead to an outcome that you can identify, which will identify the process along the way.

So he's made millions of dollars tracking things back to identity, which is like exactly what you're saying.

A gospel transformation then leads to action, not the not the reverse.

Yeah, yeah.

And um that is that is the pattern throughout the book and chapters one through four.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, stop doing that, but there is a how do I stop?

I stop by remembering by whom am I saved?

By whose doing am I washed and sanctified and justified.

Yeah.

And so uh the the the little stool under the cross will continue to be helpful for me every time I think about this.

Yeah.

All right.

Um, so that was a problem.

Uh there's another problem in chapter five.

It's ongoing unrepentant sin in this specific form, and is that is uh a man is sleeping with his father's wife.

Yep.

Okay, so there's a church, right?

I mean, this is in the church.

This isn't like out there, you know.

This is like this is the first century church.

Yep.

And uh so he exposes the problem, and then he goes to the gospel and he says, uh, Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.

Amen.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

Yeah, let us celebrate celebrate the feast with sincerity and truth.

So what comes out of this gospel of Jesus is a natural outflowing, not to say it's an easy outflowing, but uh a natural outflowing of sincerity and truth.

And then he says, and remove the wicked man from your midst, not because of uh massive moral failure, but because of ongoing unrepentant sin.

That's right.

Um so problem, gospel action, right?

Uh then chapter six, there's the there's the problem where they're suing one another.

Yeah, they're taking each other to court.

And um so what do we do about that?

Well, we could say, well, stop that.

Right.

And he does.

It's just not what he does first.

Right.

Um, and this one actually is, I think, really cool.

Uh after the problem of lawsuits, he says, or do you not know?

Which by the way, that that phrase right there, do you not know, ten times throughout the book, where when Paul brings a correction, he goes, Don't you know something?

Like clearly, you're acting like there's something you don't know.

There needs to be something that we call to our mind here.

Yeah.

And here's he says something in verse two of chapter six that most of us don't know.

He says, Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

And then verse three, do you not know that we will judge angels?

So the the gospel emphasis there is like a scope of gospel that is so much bigger than kind of the flat gospel of, well, God will forgive me.

It's like the scope of gospel redemption in the life of the believer, in the life of in the life of the person who's put their faith in Jesus, is that at some point in some way, we will judge the world and judge angels.

Now, um I don't know that the what that will actually be like, but I do know that it says something about the scope of gospel impact in the redemption and what we have um and what God has accomplished on our behalf.

And so if that's the scope of gospel impact, then why not rather be wronged than drag God's name through the mud by going to by taking other believers to court?

Yeah.

Because we so often reduce our gospel understanding to just me.

I'm saved, I'm forgiven, Jesus died for my sins, and I'm gonna walk right and I'm gonna die and I'm gonna go to heaven.

And but what he's doing is is he's setting you in a context of all of creation and saying, yeah, okay, that's great, but that's only the start.

Also, you'll judge the world and you'll judge angels, angels.

And so, I mean, um you would practice differently if um if you knew that the game was gonna be before a few parents or if it was gonna be before millions.

Yeah, yeah, you would practice differently.

And I I I feel like that what he's saying is don't lose your edge here.

You're gonna be living before millions in eternity.

So bring your A game now.

Yeah, that's who we are.

Um, all right.

So what I'm trying to do here is just as we're going through the problems, be able to establish with greater detail what I didn't have time to on Sunday, and that is to see the problem and then to actually see the gospel and the action in that order.

All right.

So that was a lawsuits in chapter six.

After that, in chapter six, he addresses the uh the problem of prostitution that the church is engaging in in the culture.

And uh, so that's a problem.

And then he says a bunch of times.

In fact, I think in this portion, he says it five times.

Or do you not know?

Or do you not know?

Or do you not know?

And so in chapter um, chapter six, verse fourteen, he says, Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through his power.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

You belong to him.

It's not my body, my choice, it's my body, his possession.

This is who you are, you belong to him.

And therefore, verse 17, but one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him.

Flea immorality.

That's right.

Okay, so problem, gospel, who am I because of what he's done, and now action.

That's right.

Um, and then he swings back to the gospel again.

So I d here's what I don't want to do.

I don't want to um be more um sort of um rigid than what Paula actually is.

Like he does give his problem and then gospel and action, but then he's he's quite content to just kind of weave the gospel in throughout it as well.

So he he kind of finishes with the gospel in chapter six.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, that you are not your own, for you've been bought with a price.

There's gospel, now action, therefore glorify God in your body.

Yeah, I think that's a really concise version of it.

That is, yeah, that is you were bought with a price, therefore honor God with your body.

Like you are a something, therefore do something.

And I think that that then gets that that gospel reality gets um tied into everything he says in chapter seven about marriage, about sleeping with your spouse, about divorce, about singleness.

You are not your own.

You've been bought with a price, right?

Therefore, yeah, glorify God in your body.

Yep.

Um let me take one more at this to establish, okay.

We got problems and then gospel and then action.

Um in 7 to 16, you know, he's replying to questions, and what comes out of these questions is yeah, we got problems, but in chapter 15, it's it's a problem of confusion, it's a theological problem of like what is the nature of the resurrection and is there gonna be a resurrection?

And he spends a whole chapter.

I mean, chapter 15 is long, talking about yeah, there's a resurrection, Jesus actually rose, and we will actually be raised with him.

Gospel for a long chapter, and then leading up to um chapter 15, I think it's verse 58.

Yeah, a last verse of it all.

Therefore, like because of this gospel, you will be raised.

Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Gospel, okay, now do this.

Yeah.

And um so let's do two things.

First, oh, it it has been impactful to me to think about uh uh the problems in the church and then the heart of God for that really uh messy church.

So I want to think about that, and then I want to um kind of think a little bit more about the significance of the order.

Okay, so um would you most people would not want to come to this church.

This divided church.

We got people sleeping with their mom, suing each other, suing each other, uh just and and divisive hero stuff.

Yeah.

Who would want to go to that church?

I'm just imagining all the YouTube little videos that would be made of all the people who act like they're uh they're contending for truth on YouTube by exposing all the the dark sides of of church.

Right.

And and God inspires Paul to not hide or airbrush the church at all, but be like, we got problems.

And um, and what's the solution?

The solution is not, hey, we're gonna start a new church plant.

Right.

We're gonna deal with what's here and how we're gonna deal with it with gospel and um with action.

But uh but God's heart is for this broken and messed up, messy church.

First Corinthians is a long letter.

I mean, Paul put a lot of work into it, and he's got a lot of life invested in these people, and he's clearly not giving up on them.

And in fact, he's planning as he's writing this, he's in Ephesus, he's planning to come around and visit them in a few months, and uh he's trying to prepare the way, but he is very much invested in their health and their healing and in their growth and their maturity, and in cr in spite of incredible brokenness, he is plowing forward under the assumption that the gospel will take root and it will transform them.

Yeah.

Yeah, and so what happens when we start to think, man, that a church shouldn't have all these problems.

I think on the one hand, you'd be like, Yeah, we shouldn't, but problems are gonna be a reality.

And um, they happen then to be part of how God actually grows the church because um I mean on Sunday it was really it was really helpful to me to s to seem to think how problems draw out what I really believe.

Um problems with well, I I don't need to go through them all again, but but whether it's money problems or um habitual sin problems, these are gonna draw out what I really believe about grace, what I really believe about God's provision, what I really believe about reconciliation.

They're gonna draw out what I really believe, and then I can d kind of diagnose, man, I I have not just a um uh a behavioral problem, I have a belief problem that's behind that that needs to be addressed, and the problems kind of draw out uh what's already there in terms of belief problems.

Yeah, for real.

Um church had problems and God didn't give up on them.

Thankful for that.

Yes.

Um and when we get the order right, one of the things that you mentioned at the run through on Thursday, which which I I kind of wish people got to come to the run through on Thursday.

It really is it's just like a little private worship service, like Plyler does all the songs, and it's just kind of the three of us and then kind of run through the teaching.

Yeah.

And there's no pressure to like if things don't work or just stop and redo it.

Yeah.

It's really good.

Um, but we were talking about when we get the order right, the problems don't get smaller, they get bigger.

Yeah.

Yeah, because uh so when the when the order is wrong, you know, and when we're going from problems to actions with a gospel tale, you know, what what I'm thinking is that the problems are basically could be solved by actions.

Okay, the problems yeah, yes.

You know, I mean, it's like, you know, the problem is that I've got an irate wife in front of me and I need to put her in her place or answer her arguments or f you know, solve the problem.

Yeah.

And or if I've got a tr uh a misbehaving child or for you know something in my own heart, right?

And I just need to fix it.

Good.

We're you know, just stop that, do different, you know, whatever's broken, fix it and move on.

But when you put the gospel after the problems, you realize, okay, the problems can actually, they are, they are a brokenness that I cannot fix.

Yeah, no action can actually solve the problem.

No, no, we are dependent on the supernatural divine power of the resurrection life of Jesus to have died and paid for that, brought his eternal and uh indestructible life to it, and brought wholeness and healing to whatever this brokenness is.

And then out of the receiving of the grace of Jesus, and earlier in the book, um, I noticed, you know, Paul said, by the grace given to me, I act, right?

So to we receive the grace of God, reconcile with God, reconcile with others, and then out of that wholeness and healing, then offer a solution and a and a road forward.

But the problem is infinitely larger than us and can only be solved by the gospel, not by our actions.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So the the right order, um, if it's problem and then gospel, that makes the problem bigger because it's not just like, well, you know, I'm just kind of doing what guys do.

I'm just kind of like, you know, sleeping around.

It's actually an offense to God and mocking his name.

And so now the problem is even bigger, and then it's get a real sense that man, my action cannot solve this problem.

Yeah.

There's only one thing that can meet this problem to the depth that the problem actually exists, and that is the work of Jesus.

Amen.

And so the problem gets bigger, but then grace gets bigger.

And when grace gets bigger in my well, it doesn't actually get bigger, but my view of it gets bigger.

And uh, and then I can actually start operating out of gratitude and joy in the Lord because of what He's done.

Yeah, no, it's good.

And and and I I I I think the the tendency, especially as men, at least it is for me, is to just jump in there and fix, you know, just problem solve.

Set aside everything else.

And rarely, almost never, is that the starting point.

You know, uh there's the the we We need to remember who we are, bring the gospel, remember our own redemption, and then bring that to the to the moment.

Yeah, and I I don't know if that's a man thing.

Typically I I don't know.

I wonder why that is more of our natural disposition.

I guess I guess because this is we can control our actions and we can't and you can you can observe you know, m actions are easier to measure and to to tick off than you know just kind of believing something.

Well, you know, uh I I I would tend to think too that there's it it it it feeds on the wave of our pride.

I can fix this.

And so I just jump in and do it.

And it kind of feeds on, especially anger.

If I'm angry about something, I'm just gonna jump in there and figure out how to fix it because uh I feel justified and and in control.

So there's like pride, control, there's all these issues.

And I think to to step back, take a breath, humble yourself um before God, before the situation, it requires uh a real supernatural grace.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, that's that's a good word.

As we're you know, trying to get the order right and seeing that the the right order makes the problem appear to be well, no, it makes the problem bigger and then it makes grace bigger and then produces more gratitude.

Uh, we're we're looking at how the gospel that Paul gives throughout First Corinthians does two things.

It exalts Jesus, it just shows how awesome he is, and it clarifies who I am because of him.

And so, you know, on Sunday we we put up the chart that kind of had the the gospel statements that exalt Jesus and the gospel statements that clarify who I am.

Right.

And um there what I resist, what I tried to resist on Sunday is trying to make take all those identity statements and make them into something that is uh pithy or sticky or um I wanted to resist that, but give space for us to say, uh Lord, what do what do I need to hear?

Like what part of this identity are you saying you you need to remember this?

Okay.

So I wanted to give a little bit of space for the Holy Spirit to to work.

Um but I'm not sure if that was a great call because it does, it really, really, really helps to be able to have an identity statement.

So um I wanted to go over a few identity statements that have been helpful to me in the past and see if you if you have any or if you want to kind of riff off of the things that um uh that I that I bring up.

There's three that come to my mind that have been really helpful.

Okay, one we say all the time, and it's from Ephesians 1 Carfish.

Chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, informed, sealed, heir.

Yep.

All right, I would say that has been really helpful.

More helpful to me than that one has been and actually Carfish uh this is from my dad, and or at least that that acronym got from him, and the second one that I'm about to say uh is as well, but is really helpful in terms of forming an identity statement.

This one's a little longer, but it has been super good for me.

And a number of years ago, all the students, you know, we we memorized this.

I'm a child of God, forgiven and set free from slavery to sin.

The Spirit of God lives in me to do the work of God through me.

I'm an instrument of God to help more people find more life in Jesus.

I'm gonna say that one more time because that's that's kind of a big one.

But what I'm trying to say is the gospel that clarifies who I am, it does help me when I can not just have a list of things, but I can actually have something that that I can call to mind in the moment.

Like I know who I am.

I know my name is Will.

Okay, I don't need like I don't have a paragraph.

Yeah, you know, my name is Will.

It helps to be able to say, I know who I am, and I can articulate it uh concisely.

Somebody say it one more time and you can uh give some thoughts on it.

I'm a child of God, forgiven and set free from slavery to sin.

The Spirit of God lives in me to do the work of God through me.

I'm an instrument of God to help more people find more life in Jesus.

That's good.

Yeah, that is good.

And um, you know, it I like the progression of the whole thought.

You know, it begins with God, what he's done in you, and then you become an instrument, you know, to not just to fix things, yeah, uh, but to an instrument of his purposes and his will and his power and his grace.

And so uh I like the flow of thought there, uh, you know, very helpful, like you say, to understand God, we're rooted in God, and then the outworking of that.

You know, one thing that the modern world unfortunately has done from us is it has ripped us as humans out of our created context, being in the image of God.

And and therefore we find, you know, we're just encouraged to basically self-create our identity.

And we don't need to do that.

We are doubly identified in God by creation and redemption.

So we are, you know, we are born in his image and we are born again into his family.

And both of those matter.

And they give us access to God as a father, as an empowerer, which, by the way, kind of goes back to the point that you've been making about you don't just be strong, you be strengthened.

Yeah.

You know, and that we walk uh in a way in which he is uh a power for us.

Because people will say all the time about cliche, yeah, God is my whatever, my co-pilot, God is my help, God is my aid, by God, we'll do this.

But that is actually a real thing in in it's a real teaching in the New Testament and in Corinthians to be strengthened in this identity that we have.

Yeah.

Yeah, our identity is not a self-made identity.

It is it's interesting to think about how we use identity statements.

You know, I am a pastor, I am a dad, I am, you know, whatever.

Um does Russian like I am uh 35 years old, but I think in French, uh man, I'm going back to high school here.

I took beauty, age, goodness, size.

I think that all those things came before, like, or uh, what is that?

Like I have 35 years.

I think is what you would say in French if you're like gonna translate, but I have 35.

Yeah, in Russian similar, you'd say to me or 35 years.

To me or 35 years.

And so um Will you say that?

I just want to hear it.

So but I could say minya piatzit piat lit.

So actually to me is 55 years, but minye piti piat fifty-five lit years.

Okay.

So, but uh uh in in and it the same is true, like you know, in and in English you'd say like um I am a teacher, like ya uchitil, right?

And then but uh and and but in Russian the word there's no to be.

It's just I teacher.

Yeah, that that is interesting.

And actually, this is one of the the things that I uh I don't I don't know if it's good or bad or right or wrong, but for any time that I introduce myself at Sandhurst, um I say my name is Wool Rut, and I always say I serve as lead pastor here instead of saying I am lead pastor.

And and for me that has just been a way of clarifying my my let letting my identity be the thing bigger than kind of my occupation.

Yeah.

Um I'm a servant.

I am a servant.

Yeah.

Uh I am a saint.

And so I don't want to be like nitpiggy on anybody's words and I'm like critiquing other people.

But it's a nuance that matters.

A nuance that has mattered to me.

Um I serve as lead pastor.

Yeah.

Um, I am a Christian.

I am a child of God, forgiveness set free from slavery to sin.

The Spirit of God loves in me to do the work of God through me.

I'm an instrument of God to help more people find more life in Jesus.

That's who I am.

Yeah.

I'm a Christian.

Yeah, absolutely.

I'm a child of God, right?

And my role I have a role in that in that family and in that kingdom, but it's not my identity, it's my role.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And man, so the reason I like that statement is it really brings clarity to the therefores.

Like if I'm an instrument of God, how do I treat my girlfriend?

If I'm an instrument of God, how do I engage at work?

If I'm an instrument of God, then um how do I actually pray for my ones?

Right.

Uh that it really, it really brings probably the most clarity.

It brings more that identity statement brings more clarity to the therefores than carfish does for me.

Yeah.

Um so carfish, that's an identity statement or way to capture who am I.

The one I've said a couple times now, that's a way to capture who am I.

Another one that came out of Daniel for me uh was I'm a convictionally resolved, supernaturally distinct stranger who humbly serves most high God.

That's that's alien.

You know, the Bible calls us aliens and strangers.

Right.

I'm a convictionally resolved, supernaturally distinct stranger who humbly serves most high God.

That that has actually been really, really helpful to me.

Yeah.

Um, all the words are modifying the word stranger.

I'm a convictionally resolved, supernaturally distinct stranger who humbly serves most high God.

That's right.

And and and um by the way, by stranger, you don't mean strange and you don't mean um unacquainted.

Well, I do I do mean strange to the world.

Yes, yes.

I think even the reason kind of underneath that is that you're a pilgrim, right?

You you you are you you belong in another land.

Yes.

And so stranger in the sense that you belong to another uh kingdom, if you will.

Yes.

And a kingdom that is not of this world.

And so while we journey through this world, we will appear as a stranger to those who are at home in the world.

Um, and we are not.

Yes.

Yeah.

And that's again, that's where my cl my identity it has just natural their force.

If I'm a stranger, does anybody look at the way I would s use my money or my time um and go, that seems strange.

If nobody does, you're probably not doing it right as a Christian.

I mean, like, somebody needs to think that's strange because if you're just going down the river the way the world is doing it, then we're not strangers here.

Yeah.

And if but that's where the identity just helps so much.

But I am a stranger.

So this isn't just what I should do, it's what just makes sense to do.

It's it's not should, it's duh.

You know, a dog barks, duh.

It's not what it should do, it's just what it does.

A stranger uses their money in a strange way for the kingdom that they actually belong to.

That's not a should as much as it is.

This is just duh.

It just makes sense.

It's who I am.

I'm a stranger.

That's right.

Um, so what what am I trying to say?

I'm trying to say that uh what I didn't do on Sunday is try to give us a phrase to memorize.

Because I wanted to give the Holy Spirit just some wanted to let the Holy Spirit speak.

Yeah.

Um, as you looked at that list, are are there any that came to your mind that you felt like, man, these are some of the ones that I want to cling to?

Because my mine were washed and washed, purchased, strengthened servant.

Those were the four.

I am a washed, purchased, strengthened servant of the one who died and rose again to make me his.

That was kind of my statement.

I didn't share all that on Sunday, but um and it w what which ones came to mind for you?

Um for me, and I'm looking at the list, you know, I like steward of the mysteries of the gospel.

You know, I feel like as a as one who uh I I I like to read, I like to teach, I like to kind of draw in ideas and and then prepare them for people in a way that is helpful for them to live their lives.

So I feel like I'm a steward of the mysteries of the gospel and how that work plays itself out in our lives as as men, as women, as husbands and wives, fathers and and mothers.

Um I think also not your own, you know, to just to remind myself that I, you know, again, by creation and redemption, everything I have belongs to God.

Um it was all his in the beginning, and then I was bought with a price.

So like I doubly everything belongs to God.

And so to think about, um, we were talking about in my core group on Thursday the concept of be at your post.

So a real uh what, you know, and and if when Jesus comes back, uh, we think about the fate, you know, when when Jesus or when in in the story he tells about the talents.

He gives the one talent, the two talents, and the five talents.

He goes away, comes back, you know, once buried, the other two have been multiplied.

And basically he's asking, have you been faithful with what I gave you?

And you know, we think about a soldier being faithful at his post, meaning he stays in one spot just kind of looking around.

But if you think a little bit bigger than that, I mean, he's also gonna have duties to clean or to cook or to do uh exercise, do other things.

And at any given moment, his post will change and he should be doing what he's supposed to be doing.

That's why I like the the youth you know rules when they come to stuff here.

Two rules, right?

Be where we are and do what we're doing.

Yeah.

And I feel like as a man, I need to be where I should be and be doing what I should be doing.

Yeah, that's what we talked about last week.

Be on the alert.

Yes.

Yeah, be at the post.

And so be at your post is a is a is a is a phrase that helped us in our core group.

And so the other night I was coming out of the kitchen.

Um, it was uh Thursday night or Friday night, I don't remember, but it was a weekend night, because Thursday nights are a weekend night for for me.

And Heather was just kind of going to bed, and I know she likes us to go to bed together, and you know, that that's something that that she appreciates when when we can do that, and which is should be and is most of the time.

And as I walk out of the kitchen, if you've been in my house, you you can look out of your left eye, kind of down the hallway, and our our our bedroom is down at the at the end, and out of my right eye, I could see into my office.

And I was thinking, you know, it'd be really fun just to go watch a few Marvel YouTube scenes or, you know, play around or whatever, you know, and then you know, go to bed in half an hour an hour or whatever, just you know, kind of decompress, right?

I really thought you were gonna say it'd be really fun to go read some ancient manuscripts.

Okay, well, I was gonna say that, but yeah.

Um and then uh and then or I could go to bed now, which it was at a normal bedtime, right?

And and um and so I thought in that moment, um what I what I kind of what my flesh wanted to do was just kind of go have fun.

But what my what I knew was right and good, I could feel like the moral, like the the right action was to go down the hall and go to bed.

And so like there was this, I had this sort of, you know, those like you know, in a moment, um, I realized my post is back here with my wife.

Yeah.

And and why is that your post?

Because you have an identity and you are no longer single, you are married.

I'm a steward of the gospel.

I am bought with a price.

I I am then exactly, I took vows before God to honor my wife over myself, right?

And I felt like that was literally the choice right in front of me.

And uh, and so thankfully in in that moment, you know, um, uh I made the right call.

But that that that scene of where's your post, what I feel like I want to do and what I ought to do, just reversing it back to remembering and reminding myself, you know, I have a faithful savior who came and died for me and gave his life for me and to me.

And now, as you said, I I'm an instrument of his righteousness to others.

And in that moment, I had that opportunity and I took it.

And thankfully.

But um, I don't always, but it when I in my best moments, I do it's not just what should I do?

It's who am I?

I'm bought, I'm a steward, you know, and and and I'm washed, I'm redeemed, I am I'm an instrument.

Go whatever path is gonna best reflect that, do that.

And that pretty much nearly always clears it up.

Yeah.

So yes, who am I and what therefore is naturally come out of that?

I have be with my wife, I have uh watch YouTube, okay, and both have their reasons of why they feel uh desirable.

Right.

Okay.

And then I go, who am I?

If I'm an instrument of God, or as I was saying according to mine, if I'm a washed, purchased, strengthened servant and I am married, then there's there's just a natural therefore.

And it's not that that watching a Marvel scene on on YouTube is is bad at all.

Totally a time for that.

Totally a time for that.

There is a time for that.

But if I'm faced with the choice, then I'm just gonna go back to okay, who am I?

Who have been who have I been made by Jesus?

Um so that that's that's a really good example.

Um so identity statements.

We're speaking the gospel to our problems, to our choices, to our behaviors, and seeing that the gospel and it clarifies our identity, and just trying to think through okay, is there uh some identity statements that I can call to mind that will help the me make the more natural, therefore, kind of be at my post decision?

Yeah.

Um, so for our faith going beyond Sunday, I think it would be really great if if we um if we put one of those to memory, either um Carfish, which is probably the easiest one, or the really long one.

I'm a child of God, forgiven and set free from slavery to sin.

The Spirit of God lives in me to do the work of God through me.

I'm an instrument of God to help more people find more life in Jesus.

Okay, just rewind that, play it a couple times, write it down, and put it on your steering wheel or something.

Or I'm a convictionally resolved, supernaturally distinct stranger who humbly serves most high God.

Or mine from First Corinthians now is I am a washed, purchased, strengthened servant of the one who died and rose again to make me his.

Yeah, and I think it helps me.

Yeah, and I think for me, you know, just in the moment, I really resonate with I am a I'm a bought steward, called to be faithful, where is my post?

That's kind of what I think.

Okay, I'm I'm a bought steward, and by that I mean I'm bought by God, and now I am stewarding the things he's given me, called to be faithful in that stewardship.

Where is my post?

Yeah, yeah, that's good.

So I am I'm exhorting us.

Here's an action.

Just put some uh put some of this identity to memory so that it can inform your actions.

So um what I really like that you um you gave a real life example because one of the like uh bummers from Sunday for me was it's like I gave examples of or I established kind of the pattern of problem gospel action in First Corinthians, and then I gave some great examples from movies, but none from real life.

Like, let's think about Spider-Man, let's think about Simba.

And I think those are good, you know, they're helpful.

But um, a couple from real life would have been helpful as well.

You just hear uh a really good practical one from you.

I want to give an example from the Bible and then just some examples from life too, because I just really want this to be fleshed out into real life.

Okay, there's a great example of someone who was extremely identity driven in the New Testament, and his name was John the Baptist.

Okay.

The the reason what I love about him is I just resonate that who I am clarifies who I'm not.

And and actually that's where I tend to get more traction in real life, to where I can go, okay, if this is who I am, then I can look at something else and go, that's not me.

That's not who I am.

I don't do that, okay, because that's not me.

Uh here's what it sounds like from the mouth of John.

Okay, this is from John 1, and it says this in John 1.19.

This is the testimony of John.

When the Jews sent to him priests and Levi Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?

Okay, well, that's a great identity question.

Who are you?

And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

They asked him, What then?

Are you Elijah?

And he said, I am not.

So two things were he's like, Well, I'm not that.

And I'm not that.

That's not me.

Are you the prophet?

And he answered, No.

And then he said to them, uh then they said to him, Who are you?

So that we may give an answer to those who who sent us.

What do you say about yourself?

I just love this.

Who are you?

Not that, I'm not that, I'm not that.

He said to you, he said, I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.

Bro, he you don't know?

I'm a voice.

I'm a voice saying what God said a long time ago.

I'm just saying it now.

That's that's kind of a version of saying I'm I'm a I'm a steward of the mysteries of God.

Yeah, I'm I'm a servant.

And um, but but I like what when he understands who he is, he can then say, nope, I'm not that.

Nope, I'm not that.

Nope, I'm that's not me.

That's not me.

And that so so to give some real life examples uh for me, um there there's not there's a few like specific stories that stick out to me, but generally speaking, who I am uh and then therefore who I'm not has been most helpful to me in two areas of life, um conflict and apathy.

Okay.

In conflict, when you can imagine like conflict with sweet D and me, okay?

And we're just at one of those points where just kind of feeling like um or or just to speak from my perspective, I just feel like I just want to dig my heels in more.

Um I feel uh like the way things have happened so far, it's just not fair, it's not just not right.

And and then the identity has has helped me to go, okay for.

For me to dig my heels in and demand um to kind of get my way to win this, listen, I'm a servant.

That's not who I am.

That's not it's not me to demand my way to keep pressing the issue.

Now, I I'm not trying to make myself seem like I'm, you know, um some uh like like conflicts aren't real and I'm perfect in that by a long shot.

Yeah.

Um but when we what when I start to get traction out of the conflict, it's usually me going, what am I doing right now?

This is not who I am as an instrument of God, as one who's washed and strength washed, washed, purchased, strengthened servant of the one who died and was gonna make me his.

That reminds me of uh an actual story.

So I was in a conflict with one of my kids, and we were up on the landing at the in the at the top of the stairwell, right outside their room.

And, you know, it was it was kind of one of those moments where you get a little bit heated, not super heated, but just everyone's a little elevated, and I forget who it was, honestly, you know, was saying something and I'm saying it back and they're saying it and I'm saying it back.

And it and it and it kind of ended with a fine where I just kind of I literally just turned and walked away.

And and I got downstairs and I realized, you know, because in that moment, you know, they were being stubborn, I was being stubborn, we were locking horns and nobody could get anywhere.

So I just kind of threw in the towel, so to speak, and walked away.

Which is just, you know, now talking about it, obviously it's not mature, but in the moment you just feel like I'm just gonna keep fighting, I'm gonna keep fighting, I'm gonna win this thing, I'm gonna win this thing, and then you realize, I'm not gonna win this thing, and so I'm just gonna walk away.

I quit.

So I realized when I went downstairs, it wasn't now about the issue, it was about how I treated the issue, right?

And so, you know, kind of inter-gospel because I had been there was a problem, I don't know what it was, room's not clean, didn't come in for curfew, whatever the problem was, and we were fighting about it.

I was not gonna solve it.

But I created another problem by uh by just trying to wrestle it down.

And so I backed up, okay, who am I?

All right, I'm a Christian, I'm a saint, and though we don't use those those weapons to try to use force, to sort of try to win an argument by force, whether it's by anger or volume or whatever it is.

Yeah, that's not what we do.

That's not who we are.

That's not who I am.

That's not that's not how I do things.

So I went back upstairs, I knocked on the door, and uh heard, you know, what?

And and I said, uh four words.

I said, I want to apologize.

And I went silent and the door opened.

And I said, I lost my cool.

I'm sorry, and that was that was wrong, and I and I apologize.

And all of a sudden, all the energy just kind of drained out of the conflict.

And I I f you know, we sat down, we talked, and we worked through it in a much different way with mutual trust, much more trust, much more humility coming from, and I feel like the gospel just kind of reminded me in that moment this is not who you are.

We do things differently.

You've, you know, regardless if he's right or wrong in the argument, you've created an offense that needs to be healed first.

And God's grace was present to do that.

And so it was a moment where we just kind of backed out and said, Okay, this is where I bring uh humility and servanthood, and and then we could move on.

So that that that was a moment where I realized how much um identity impacts the way that we should play out these uh conversations.

Yep.

Yep, I think that's a great example.

So yeah, the um the identity statements or reality, the gospel reality that clarifies who I am in Jesus, uh tends to be very relevant for me, relevant for me in conflict and very relevant for me in apathy, or maybe a better word for it is routine.

Um anytime I just kind of catch myself going, just kind of going through the mindless routine, um, is where an identity statement, like like let's just take myself uh singing on Sunday, just kind of singing the song mindlessly.

Can do that.

Um to go, hey, this is not who I am.

Right.

This is not this is this is not an instrument of God.

This is not a servant of most high God.

This is not how a servant of most kind most high God worships.

Um and that has helped me kind of the break out of the mindless routine in a way that is um better than just kind of telling myself, I mean, snap out of it, you know, um gospel first.

Yeah.

But um in terms of something that's a little bit more recent and how gospel identity has helped me, uh I I used to love to be busy.

Like I used to love to have I want to have something every night of the week, and that was kind of ideal week for me.

And then uh as I've gotten older, and I honestly a lot through COVID, I just kind of started to change into where uh the ideal week for me is having fewer things throughout the week, especially in the evenings.

And um, so sweetie texted me this morning and she sent me a list of the um kind of our our things for this week, and we have something every night this week.

And um, you know, with the way I am now, it didn't fill me as much with like, yeah, baby, perfect week.

It was typically a week like that, it's just a little bit more like ah and um but but actually the identity, gospel identity impacted me this morning to think, okay, there I I I don't it's not that I that I'm a proponent of unsustainable rhythms, but I I just looked at the list and went, man, that that looks like a schedule very reflective of who I am.

Servant of most high God, servant of the one who died and rose again to make me his.

Yeah.

And and it it actually there wasn't so much of a should that came out of that.

It was like, man, I should be grateful for this.

It just kind of happened for me that as I looked at it and I thought, yeah, this this looks like who I am.

Uh that there was a there's less stress and kind of like tension in me that happened when I was able to connect um what would normally be viewed as a problem to this is this is who I am.

Okay, so here's here's a question.

Let's let's get make it really real.

So somebody out there has staff meetings on Tuesday mornings, okay?

And sorry.

Somebody.

Somebody that's us.

Yeah.

And uh at their office, wherever that is, um, you know, they're like, oh man.

And somebody's like, okay, here's the agenda for the staff meeting, and makes maybe maybe even makes an offhand comment about how and hope you hope you survive it or whatever.

What's what's a better way as a Christian to think, you know, yeah, um, you know, instead of jumping on the bandwagon to kind of run down the meeting, you know, what is where what is a way that who I am could impact the way I approach the meeting at my office, wherever that office is, uh, or whatever it is, whatever your office responsibilities or duties are that you just like, bruh, you know, that my identity, however, as as a Christian, as a believer, would impact that and and and change that.

Uh I so I have thoughts.

I'm gonna let you go first though, because my brain is slower than yours.

So I mean, the the first thing that comes to my mind is that okay, if God has given me the gift of this job, then um I want to be at my post.

And if my post is in that meeting, it's not just to be there physically and and and begrudgingly and under compulsion because God loves a cheerful giver.

And if I have to do something for my job, I want to give myself cheerfully to it as unto the Lord.

Because I'm his.

Because I'm his.

I'm a I belong to God.

I don't belong to this company.

I belong to God.

And God, in his stewardship, is loaning me, as it were, to this company and provided this mutual relationship where I serve and and I work for them and they provide uh a paycheck for me.

And so, you know, on this arrangement that I would give myself to it wholeheartedly and find a way to bring my whole self to commit to being present mentally and to do what I can to bless and honor the company because that's what a servant would do in this situation.

Yeah.

Uh I think fully agree.

And the the thought that I was having was actually coming out of Daniel.

So the identity statement for me of I'm a convictionally resolved, supernaturally distinct stranger who humbly serves most I guess, all of that language is pulled directly out of the book of Daniel.

And um, it's they they say like six or seven times about Daniel, you have a supernatural spirit about you.

A supernatural spirit.

He has a supernatural spirit about him.

Where did that come out in the context of his job?

Yep.

He he was just doing his job.

And he was an administrator working for basically the worst man on planet Earth, like him.

He was working for a horrible person.

Yeah, horrible.

Yeah, as a captive, you know, and and yet he could have this positive.

Yeah, working for the person who probably slaughtered his whole family.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And and now he's living as an exile under his rule and needing to serve him and and bless his kingdom.

Yeah, living as a stranger, as an alien.

Um and so I think there's there's good precedent in the Bible to look back at people who lived as strangers, supernaturally distinct in the context of their job, and actually that made that made a big difference.

Um and so that that identity statement is comes to mind for me to um to go, all right, I'm a supernaturally distinct stranger here.

I want to act like it even in even in the office.

Yeah.

Um and and it's it's not that in the book of Daniel, every time that that people were coming up to him all the time and be like, Man, this seems like something different about you.

But you know when they did come to him um in times of crisis, that's when they come they came to Daniel in the book of Daniel, is like when when Nebuchadnezzar is like, Hey, I had a dream.

You have to tell me what I dreamt and give me the interpretation.

And if you don't, I'll kill you and your family.

Okay, that's called crisis.

That is a high bar.

That's when people start going to Daniel and be like, hey, we've actually noticed that there's something uh different about you.

And um and so I yeah, I'm a supernaturally distinct stranger.

Uh why am I supernaturally distinct?

Because I'm a temple of the Holy Spirit and He lives in me.

That's what makes me supernaturally distinct.

Um, that's an important sort of clarification part of the identity.

Yeah.

Um good word.

What else you got?

I guess I guess that's the main thing of what I wanted to capture in our First Corinthians sort of recap.

And before I close this out and give and kind of lead into where we're going, any final thoughts from you about the book?

Man, great book.

So practical, so helpful.

I I think it's the most helpful book in the New Testament because it deals with such specific problems that are like, what the Bible talks about this?

Yeah, it does.

So I agree.

And the the problems are very much a part of our modern life and culture.

And so we have a front row seat on how to handle things.

And and I think the the gospel solutions, which then fuel our actions, is such a great uh template for us then to apply across everything.

Yeah, I agree.

And um probably, you know, the if if anybody did a recap of 1 Corinthians and the word love never came out of their mouth, I think somebody ought to be like, are you sure you're recapping first Corinthians?

And because love is just interwoven through it all, because the most natural um therefore that is ever going to come out of the gospel is love.

And what First Corinthians does so well is actually give clarity on what love does in a situation.

Um, love does not endorse or um approve of ongoing unrepentant sin.

Right.

Love doesn't do that.

You know, love doesn't demand your rights, love uh doesn't divorce.

Now, well, there's we did a whole podcast on that, so I should probably clarify that a little bit, but we did a whole podcast on that.

Um love doesn't withhold sex from your spouse.

Right.

Okay, it just it spells out what love does all throughout the book.

Love doesn't um uh isn't part of the body and then disengage from the life of the body.

That's called being a wart.

Love doesn't do that.

Love doesn't uh set up rivalries within the same team.

Yeah, love doesn't do that.

Yeah, um, love doesn't um uh elevate my personal conscience in uh love doesn't exercise what I'm free to do in a way that wounds you.

Love doesn't do that.

That was that was the whole meat sacrifice to idols thing.

So um Yeah, love I did wrestle with that in terms of on Sunday going, okay, but I wanted to stick with okay, gospel and action.

Yeah, but yeah, if we if we recap first Corinthians and don't come back to love.

And but we did it, we did it last week.

The the five things in chapter 16.

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strengthened, let all that you do be done in love.

Man, church, less love.

Yeah, got a whole chapter in 13, and then like you say, recaps all throughout.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, so where are we heading, dude?

I am pumped.

Yeah, man.

It has been 10 years in the making or more.

Dude, more.

Man, so we're heading to a series on the story of God.

Okay.

Exalting Jesus in the story of God.

We're gonna go Genesis to Revelation in 14 weeks.

Um, I'm super excited.

Actually, I was thinking today, I was just kind of going through, okay, what what as we're doing a flyover of the whole Bible.

There's only we're gonna do like a uh a 30,000 foot, but then sometimes we're gonna jump out of the plane and parachute down and kind of like look at the land and we're gonna get zap back up.

And so I was just kind of looking through uh where the times we're gonna really parachute down and be like, whoa, let's let's let's just see this.

And so I started writing down.

I thought, man, we should have a Bible reading plan.

So I'm writing right now a Bible reading plan that's gonna be available uh for us on Sunday that's gonna go through the whole series that can say, okay, uh, it's gonna be 10 chapters a week.

Okay.

The 10 chapters that you can read that will um prep you to for the the portion of the biblical narrative that we're gonna be looking at that Sunday.

Love it.

So uh no more than 10 chapters, 14 weeks.

You got 140 chapters that we're gonna read that will give us a walkthrough of the whole Bible.

Uh my hope is that 10 chapters is um challenging enough, but not uh crushing enough.

And man, I'd say, how long, how long would it take you to read 14 chapters?

I know you're fast enough.

10 chapters or 14.

Oh, sorry, sorry.

10 chapters.

10 chapters.

So I mean, average three minutes a chapter, 30 minutes.

Okay.

You are lightning fast, at least compared to me.

Okay.

Uh that would take me, it takes me a lot longer.

Uh, I would say if if you got to choose, you know, between listening to the Beyond Sunday podcast and actually doing the 10 chapters of reading to get you ready for Sunday, I would say choose the reading over the podcast.

Yeah.

Um, if if you had to choose.

But I'm actually I'm very excited about our church being able to, over the 14 weeks, read 140 chapters that'll walk us through the biblical narrative and we can see the story of God and how it exalts Jesus and clarifies who we are.

Because I I really think we can't really make sense of our story until we understand how our story fits into God's story.

Yeah.

And then our story starts to matter a lot more than just kind of being a blip on the page of the R.

And by the way, you know, to take the whole Bible in 14 weeks is fabulous.

And uh at 10 chapters a week, you know, 140, then um there's um I think 1189 should just just should have 1200 chapters in the in the whole Bible.

So we're we're talking we'll the for context, we'll be reading more than 10% nonetheless.

I mean, in those 14 weeks, which is a very solid uh survey of the whole text.

And what's cool, and I don't know if you even knew this, the uh the key class at nine o'clock is gonna be wrapping up the mission's outreach uh in October and November, December, except for the last two weeks, are committed to um a also a Bible flyby, not so much in terms of content, but how to study your old testament, how to study your new testament.

I like it.

So we're gonna be doing the the equipping on how to study those things while we're getting the content of what's really there.

So I I think it's gonna be a beautiful I'm a fan.

I'm a fan.

And I cannot say how excited I am for our church to be able to hold the story of the Bible in their hand to see that, man, this isn't just a collection of stories.

It really is one story.

And for every person at Sandhurst to be able to walk anybody through the story of the Bible and how the pieces connect, um, not only do I think uh we can get there, I think we're going to get there.

Yeah.

And I think uh actually reading the story itself will be awesome.

And you know, you know, have you ever gone through and watched a movie a second time or a third time, how much more sense it makes.

Because you just have it in your head where it's all going and you know at every moment what piece this part plays.

Yes, you know how it fits.

And so and that's what I love about the these overviews of the whole Bible.

It just it shows you where how all the pieces fit.

Now we know where we are, and every every scene makes so much more sense because now it's in context.

Yep.

So that's where we're going.

And uh so we have officially wrapped up First Corinthians, and I I loved it.

Um, the things that came out of First Corinthians, the stool under the cross.

Yes.

I love that.

The one body teams, you know, because one body we verb, one body repairs, one body cooks, one body visits, one body gives.

I love that.

I love first Corinthians nine brought us to uh, you know, the I've become all things to all peoples.

So by all means I might save some.

You know, if one is enough for heaven to rejoice, one is enough for me to pursue.

So out of that came this um, we pursue our one.

And a reminder to everyone our strategy for winning our ones is this daily prayer, monthly relationship, quarterly truth.

Okay, that's not Bible, but the in terms of the timing isn't, but the the other the actions are prayer.

Yeah, it's it's it's a uh it's a pattern, you know.

It's a it and you know you can say, I want to be healthy, but if you never go to the gym or eat well, you know, it's all talk.

And so it's a way to actually do the talk.

Yep.

And to reach out.

So you're right.

It's not the way, but it's a way.

So if if you've got yours, do it.

But if not, here you go.

Yeah.

And and the the timing is not the way, but the the prayer and relationship and truth, that is yeah, the way.

That is.

And uh there's other things too.

Um, invitation, you know, invite your one to fall back Sunday.

That just makes sense.

Yeah.

Um, but I'm gonna close, and as I close, I want to pray for our ones and um let's do it.

Father, um, really grateful for the book of 1 Corinthians.

I'm grateful that it's helpful.

Um, grateful that it addresses real life problems with the gospel first, and then um when we understand who we are because of you, that we have therefore's that come out of that that just makes sense.

They're not just shoulds, they are they just they just duh just duh.

And I want to ask that uh our church that you would guard us by the power of your spirit from divisive allegiances, that we would preach Christ crucified, that we would proclaim with hearts of joy that it's by your doing that we are in Christ, that um we would believe in faith that we plant and you water, but you cause the growth.

I want to ask, Father, and that there would be in us a uh a depth of love for you out of the gospel that would lead us to say, Man, why not rather be wronged?

Why not rather be defrauded, that we would rather be wronged and defrauded than break your name through the mud and ask for marriages, that we would take the the gospel that says we've been bought with a price that we're not our own, therefore glorify God with our body, and that we would take that into our marriage and that as husbands and wives, that we would love one another, that we would forgive, that we would be patient, gracious, kind, forgiving, forgiving.

Um I ask that as we are one body, you're one body, that we would be full of saints who are engaging the life of the body according to the way that you've gifted us and according to the love that you've called us to.

And we want to have our hearts grounded in the reality of the resurrection and to see that um just as you rose, we will be raised with you, and you've given us your spirit now.

And so we are steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our work in the Lord is not in vain because of you.

Um I want to be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, acting like men, letting all that we do be done in love.

And we we just need you.

And the people in our lives who don't know you, they need you.

And so we pray for our ones, Father.

Um that you are worthy of worship from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

You're desiring that none should perish, but that all would come to repentance.

And right now our ones are dead in their trespasses and sin, and by nature children of wrath.

They're separate from you, a stranger to the covenants of promise.

And so we pray for them, asking that the eyes of their heart would be enlightened, that they would know the hope of the of your calling and the riches of your inheritance and the surpassing greatness of your power towards those who believe.

We know that they cannot call on him whom they have not believed, and they can't believe without a preacher.

So here we are, Father, send us in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, speaking not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in a demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that their faith would not rest in the wisdom of men but on the power of God.

We know that out of the overflow of our heart our mouth speaks.

So help us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and let us be known by our love.

Strengthen us with all power according to your glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints and light.

God, incline your ear to hear.

We do not present our supplication before you on account of our own merit, but on account of your great compassion.

In the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

Let's go.