"Measure Your Appetite for Flourishing" - 9:50AM

[Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] church family we will begin our fall session of small group classes on tuesday september 21st with teachings written by our pastor ralph douglas west check out sgbs.tcww.org to join one of our classes to equip and encourage you in this season resilient the ability to spring back into shape after bending stretching or even being compressed does this describe you the pandemic health challenges financial crisis the stresses of work and family along with life's endless twists and turns can be the strongest person but you you're still standing the trials and tests that stretched you resulted into something beautiful and a new a resilient woman so let's celebrate join the mosaic women's ministry for our amazing women's weekend virtual experience september 23rd through the 25th you are amazing graciously embracing your journey and persevering toward your new best spiritual physical emotional and social self your hardships did not kill you you emerged like a phoenix from the ashes stronger wiser resilient so join us today and register at amazingwomensweekend.com [Music] hello family it's been quite a year although the vaccine is here fear is still steering our lives interfering with our minds closing the blinds on what hope looks like insurrection strikes covet cases spike with a new variant taking flight but i'm supposed to keep a smile on my face right [Music] despite we fight never losing sight of hope changing the scope of our lens to reflect connect and protect hope is here this is our safe space where we're free to embrace god's grace without fear of feeling misplaced when all hope is gone we are drawn to an energy that is incomprehensible but is still accessible hope has always been here dear maybe your church experience has smeared your perception of what fellowship is and what it looks like let all hearts and minds be cleared our savior did not bring you here to veer into the beaten path of wrath [Music] come one come all when the sun sets and your worries weigh a ton know that we are here for you we won't shun it's been a year hope is here we need you you've been through too much to stop short now take my hand and i'll show you how as we bring god's house to your house but this is the day that the lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it come on and help us bless the lord this hallelujah [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] he has foreign me oh hallelujah why don't you help us hallelujah hallelujah [Music] oh hallelujah [Music] is foreign oh [Music] oh bless his holy name good morning church family let us pray almighty god from whom every good prayer comes and who pours out on all who desire in the spirit of grace and supplication oh god deliver us when we draw near to you from the coldness of heart and wandering of mind that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections we may worship you in spirit and in truth through jesus christ our lord amen our new testament reading comes from romans 1 16 through 17. for i am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of god that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the jew then to the gentile for in the gospel the righteousness of god is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written the righteous will live by faith our new testament reading comes from first corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 through 25 for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of god for it is written i will destroy the wisdom of the wise the intelligence of the intelligent i will frustrate where is the wise person where is the teacher of the law where is the philosopher of this age has not god made foolish the wisdom of the world for since in the wisdom of god the world through its wisdom did not know him god was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe jews demand signs and greeks look for wisdom but we preach christ crucified a stumbling block to jews and foolishness to gentiles but to those who god has called both jews and greeks christ the power of god and the wisdom of god for the foolishness of god is wiser than human wisdom and the weakness of god is stronger than human strength this is the word of god thanks be to god let us pray eternal god our father we give you thanks and praise your glorious name we thank you for that your steadfast love never ceases and your mercies are new every morning lord may you give us a constant reminder the sacrifice of your great love for us that we may be called the children of god mighty god in times like these when we are tempted to give up hope to despair to believe that the constant grieving will not end you tell us father that we do not grieve for those as those who have no hope we have this hope as an anchor for the soul firm and secure in jesus christ lord we remember the catastrophic events that took place on 9 11. may we take this time to honor all whose lives were lost we thank you lord for the first responders and the medical personnel help us to remember the sacrifices in service to our communities holy god we are thankful that your power is made perfect in our weakness bless our belief our bereaved family members pinelli and natalie hawthorne shirley and cecil thomas reverend lynette mclean decorah maclean felicia maclean lanelle mcclain peggy tansy james and mildred grant the family of elizabeth square arthur and kofi smith joseph and shayla benoir jackie jackson and dana goodman sovereign lord bless our pastor ralph douglas west sister charita west and their family we are grateful for all they sacrifice for our spiritual growth and maturity bless our church staff leadership congregation first time friends and guests in the powerful name of jesus christ we pray amen [Music] oh [Music] oh please [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] [Music] lord when i pray give me what to say lord when i pray give me what to to die yes [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah great hymn of the church this morning yes i am thine oh lord please join us [Music] i to be is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] hear a blessed lord oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] please [Music] [Music] is bless the lord o my soul thank you so much choir for blessing us this morning uh we want to say thank you also to all of you who have invited god's house into your house thank you so much for tuning in virtually this morning all of our first time friends and guests we are so glad to have you thank you for visiting the church without walls on this morning and we welcome you to join our welcome team immediately following the invitation by texting the number on the screen and we would love to meet you and answer any of your questions and we are so grateful also to those who've tuned in virtually from other countries countries such as panama bahamas trinidad and tobago canada mexico ireland and norway thank you so much for also bringing god's house into your house also we would like to celebrate those who have been on the journey of marriage and matrimony we celebrate uh the anniversary of our church with our walls family members brother john and sharon beasley for 35 years of marriage amen let's bless god for 35 years of marriage considering also during this time of the hurricane season we also want to say thank you for those who have been a part of our disaster relief efforts uh praying for those all families everyone every individual who has been affected by hurricane ida and the hurricane in haiti we ask you to please give and support to help us in our disaster relief efforts through giving at give.t.c or text to give disaster to 713-597-6828 amen keeping in mind that this is the hurricane season remember it started in june and it marks the official date of hurricane season so be sure to visit readyharris.org amen with the recent changes in texas we are sensitive to the shift in the tide in our community uh during this time in the state of texas we want to alert you to the voting laws in texas this is the time to check and ensure your voting status is up to date and correct and we prepare for the general election in november amen god bless church family we want to continue to pray together each week as a congregation please make sure to check the website each week for the prayer devotional and keeping in mind also we are still at level one so we want to continue to encourage you to wear your mask and if you would please let us join together in this effort to mitigate this virus and please get vaccinated amen peace be unto you hallelujah where are all of my victorious worshipers at it's time to give your praise amen [Music] [Music] [Music] the devil thought that he had me but jesus came and he grabbed me but i got away but jesus came and he [Music] but jesus came oh they said i wouldn't make it [Music] [Music] [Music] but you came out with a victory [Music] [Music] yes thank god for victory is victory [Music] [Music] everybody [Music] if [Music] [Music] you got it you got it you got some victory [Music] [Music] he's watching over [Music] [Music] you got it you got the victory that greed claim your victory depression claim your victory you've got it you've got it you've got it blame your victory [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] we bless your name oh god nobody like you jesus nobody like you we've tried we can't find nobody like you jesus hallelujah [Music] oh thank you jesus oh god oh hallelujah we come this morning god asking you to keep us father god we need you to keep us day by day keep our mind keep our soul god fill our spirits with endurance god this morning hallelujah [Music] i want to live live for thee [Music] let your spirits let your spirit be light up saving [Music] [Music] i need your love to give give me strength [Music] oh [Music] i need you to hear my hear my every call world keep my heart [Music] i pray i pray i pray i wanna speak your praise oh me i gotta give you all the glory and praise your name lord sometimes my troubles i got to give you all the glory lord you and me [Music] i gotta speak and i gotta pray oh lord me is [Music] keep me don't worry about it [Music] late [Music] come on help me y'all oh when i couldn't keep myself [Music] i gotta speak your prey me [Music] this is the day the lord is made we rejoice and we are glad in it what a joy it is to be in god's house and to bring god's house into your house thank you choir and thank you for the prayers and the scriptures on this lord's day if you would with me right where you are whether you are home i wouldn't recommend that you do this in the car but if you would take the word of god and open it to first corinthians chapter 2 where paul is about to make a grand declaration as we launch a new sermon series for your personal spiritual growth about six unquestionable measurements for your flourishing i think that it's safe for me to assume that most of you in this church fellowship and those of you that are listening around the world are saying that the one thing that i want to do is flourish in my spiritual life as a christian i want to be vivacious and vibrant and energetic and i want to be able to build my faith on that will which will last if that's what your desire as a christian is and i want to encourage you to study along with us over these brief weeks as we look at some of the selected biblical texts from first corinthians where i believe that paul is trying to helpfully help us in our spiritual development in our growth first corinthians chapter 2 beginning at verse 1 concluding at verse number 5 he's about to make a declaration a limitation and a determination about what he really believes as a witness for jesus christ hear what he says and so it was with me brothers and sisters when i came to you i did not come with eloquence of human wisdom as i proclaimed to you the testimony about god for i resolved to know nothing while i was with you except jesus christ and him crucified i came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling my message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the spirit's power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on god's power this is the word of god hallelujah all right i want to begin this morning with one of the tags of the six measurements and i believe that they're probably more than that i know they are but today i want us to measure our appetite for flourishing you probably recall in governor gavin has been in the news quite a bit here lately but a couple of years ago the governor of california made the news at the height of the coronavirus when he was found in one of the world famous restaurants the french laundry in the california napa valley when everybody else was to be at a distance he along with other people that had invited him to this exclusive impossible posh sophisticated restaurant in the napa to a birthday celebration what made it more interesting is that this is a restaurant that you cannot get into i actually have a personal friend that has a friend that knows the chef at this restaurant and not even the friend of the chef was able to get the friend in to sit down for dinner it's a place of impossibility and yet the governor made it well there are privileges that come along with certain privileges that come along with certain positions and so he got into an impossible place and i can look at you at home and say what in the world is pastor west alluding to by starting this message that way well give me a minute because it simply suggests to us when i read that story but there are some places that are off limits but there are other places where the door is wide open to receive a different kind of meal on the menu and so i want to select this metaphor this appetite for flourishing and hang it over the life of paul who will come in to address the corinthians to remind us that there are some places that have been made off-limits to you but here is a table that has been open for everyone to come sit and feast in verse number one paul comes in to remind us of his journey along with the corinthians he opens up and simply says when i came to you this is a reference to acts chapter 18 where paul will spend a good amount of time in corinth and while he's there he will develop relationships while he's there he said when i came to you paul had come to corinth fresh off of a preaching expedition in athens where he stood on mars hill and he addressed the rhetoricians the sophisticants and the philosophers and the theologians and itinerant teachers and preachers and the parapathetic teachers of that day and he addressed them in fact in such a way he said when i came to you to the university center to the intellectual apogee of the world of that day when i came to you where there were multiple religions and philosophers when i came to you as an itinerant teacher when i came to you really as a spectator just observing what was taking place in the market squares when i came to you looking around at your statues and listening to your poets and being amused by your rhetoricians when i came to you paul would go on to say and when i came to you a little jew from tarshish i made homestead with a friend of another jew that had been replaced or displaced and there i would live with a tent maker and a tent maker and we would work together and in this place where i would work it would be here where i would get an opportunity to meet and be a witness of our lord when i came to you how did it come to them it came to them in this way as one that was hungry but one that says to us if you're going to flourish as a christian you have to lose your appetite to some things when i came to you verse number one he says a few things happened at that very moment he said i didn't come to you with eloquence or with human wisdom now keep in mind who this is that is writing this is an iridite scholar at the particular time paul who had studied at the school of gamilia he was no lightweight when it came to intelligence and scholarship he had bathed himself in the water of academia and into theological and religious studies this is very important as you study the life of paul to know that this man had given himself to zealously that's a powerful word zealously to study about the scriptures he knew the god of the old testament he knew the history of the old testament he knew the history of his people and he says when i came to you i did not come to one as one with eloquence corinth was overwhelmed with people that loved the rhetoricians one that could dazzle you with their words someone that could stand up on a stomp and take any subject and begin to just talk about it i've been re-reading sinclair lewis's alma gantry and one of the takeaways of elma gantry who is a prototype for hypocrisy and charlatanism in the ministry is that he was drunk upon his own oratory he was intoxicated with his ability to ravel off certain platitudes that he didn't even understand half the time and paul was saying i didn't come to you with eloquence of speech or with human wisdom that is i didn't come inventing of my own message i didn't come doing any of that i didn't come with eloquence or education i didn't come being of being absorbed with sophistication uh with superficiality i didn't come the way that way i didn't come to you that way i relied on something else and that's the word in verse one to pay attention to when i came to you i did not come that word is rely i didn't rely on that i didn't rely upon eloquence i didn't rely upon human wisdom that i did not rely on he says but i want you to know i proclaimed to you paul uses an interesting image here as a proclaimer a herod a herod is someone that receives a message from the king and that messenger reads off to the public in a public announcement the message that the king has passed down to him those who have re read through the scripture and you continue to read you pick up that phrase periodically in the life of paul where he says that i passed down to you that which was passed down to me it is a reference to say that i did not invent this message i didn't contrive what i'm talking about i did not come up with this this is not a conjuring in my own study no i'm passing down that which has been passed to me i am proclaiming i'm a town crier i'm announcing to you what god himself has given to me over the last years there are quite a few people that come to the corinths of their communities in their cities that they live in like paul and they come with eloquence and they come with new messages one of the catch phrases that you hear is that you've never heard this before this is new god just dropped this in my spirit i want you to know something that anything that you hear that is so new that nobody else has ever heard about is too new if it's passed through two thousand years of church history two thousand years of biblical study two thousand years of theology and no one else has heard it it is a bypass the patristics has bypassed all of the reformers it has bypassed all of the voices in america and europe and asia and africa and south america if it's past all of that what you're hearing might be too new paul was saying i'm just giving that to you which god has passed down to me passed down through the prophets of old pass down through the literature of wisdom passed down through the poets he says i'm passing that message that god has given to me now i'm passing it down to you not with eloquence not with human wisdom but i deliver to you a message that is god has given me a message and i read that message i proclaim that message i'm not trying to alter the message i'm not trying to step over the message i'm standing on that message not with eloquence not with human wisdom i rely on none of that he says but i deliver to you a message about the testimony of god there's been some discussion is this word to be the mystery of god to testimony some lean toward the mystery of god but here's what paul is getting to the message that i preached to you is not a closed secret that's what i was alluding to when there are people that say you have never heard this before this is not pastor west picking at somebody being trivial and just saying something for the sake of saying it paul was saying exactly those words he said listen this is not a closed secret that is this doesn't belong to uh an elite group of people that they're the only ones that know it and nobody else he says no god has revealed himself in jesus christ and now it's an open secret it is a secret in which we don't know all of it but it has been revealed to us in christ and as we grow in him the more we know about him i proclaim to you now the mystery of god the testimony of god on one hand paul now on the other hand rather paul is saying in this if it's the testimony of god he's preaching to them out of his own experience of what god has done for him remember paul is one who has been born out of season unlike the big fisherman peter or the beloved john or pastor james or the witness andrew who had walked with jesus paul comes to know jesus after the resurrection he said he was as real to me on the road of damascus as he was to you on the galilean seaside so paul says when i came to you i lost my appetite for some things things that i knew better than most people what did he know well he says well when i lost my appetite for some things as a nutritionist a spiritual nurturer i learned to narrow my appetite on some things that satisfied you know nutrition is big in the market of health now doctors are saying to prescribe to almost every patient to develop a healthy balance for nutrition to have the right amounts of fats and good fats and carbohydrates and protein and water saying because you want to have a balanced diet paul says well you just can't feed on everything if you're going to be spiritually healthy and one who knows i lost my appetite for some things and i narrowed my appetite on other things that satisfied verse number two he says in fact i determined niv say i resolved i determined to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him crucified sometimes i wonder if we could interview the apostle paul what would he say to us if we would come to him because listen what he says i resolve to know among you nothing except jesus christ and him crucified now listen to who's saying this we've already had us a peep into his resume for those of you that are listening and paul is a new biblical character to you paul becomes such a significant witness that some says that he is the greatest witness for the christian movement after jesus christ that he he he is one who it does so much that he changes the trajectory for the future for the kingdom i determined to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him crucified if you could interview paul you would have to begin by saying now paul are you saying to me that you have belittled your intelligence to the point that you have dismissed everything intellectual i mean didn't you just come from athens and standing on mars hill didn't you interpret the inscription to the unknown god didn't you quote by memory the poets the greek poets haven't you read the philosophers i mean when we read you you have the same ability to reason from cause to affect and affect the cause like aristotle what what in the world are you saying and then paul would sit down and say well when i met jesus i don't mean that i became ignorant i don't mean that i dismissed intelligence and elevated ignorance no that's not what i mean i mean i took all of my learning and i subordinated it to jesus christ that is wherever i was the message was jesus christ whether i was arguing with a roman sergeant the message was jesus christ and him crucified if i could stand before the roman senate it was jesus christ and him crucified if i stood before felix and nero the message is jesus christ and him crucified if i'm run out of town and carried from jerusalem to thessalonica the message is jesus christ and him crucified if i'm on a sinking ship in the mediterranean and saving my life on a piece of wood driftwood it's jesus christ and him crucified wherever i am whether it's only hill or in the marketplace or in the synagogue or on the steps of a temple wherever it is my message is jesus christ and him crucified what an im what a marvelous word to hear from this erudite to say jesus christ and him crucified one scholar said of the mind of jonathan edwards who in a colonial america have been deemed to be the brightest intellect of his day this scholar said of edwards he deplored the fact that he subordinated his intellect to the message of the cross and became a christian and got involved in that ridiculous movement of the revivals of great awakenings he could have been the number one scholar of his day the scholars haven't read history very well what those revivals have meant to the world that's what they were saying about the apostle paul the very same thing paul could have been a great intellect he could have been someone that changed the course of history if he did not baptize himself in the message of the cross of christ the martin lord jones served westminster chapel for 30 years he was a medical doctor a student and batholmew and there he received multiple not just accolades but invitations to teach and practice in other hospitals and then he was called to a little called to a little mission church after he had surrendered his life to the message of the cross and served in wales and then from wales back to london and for 30 years stood up in that pulpit and even today you can still find the meticulous expositional studies of the apostle paul of d martin lord jones on the life of the apostle paul i believe it took 14 years to just preach through the book of romans what a mind he could talk about anything to anybody anywhere a brilliant intellect an analytical thinker and yet he subordinated his intellect to the lord jesus christ there's something about people that's fascinating captivating to me who love god with their heart mind soul and strength with their mind is something fascinating to see brilliant people who surrender themselves to the message of the cross of the lord jesus christ i'm speaking to you in this church you've been to college in graduate school and you've studied at some of the best places that money can afford don't you let that keep you away from being a bonafide burning believer in lord jesus christ there's something beautiful about people that give all of themselves over to what to what god can do in their life let me move on now because i'm staying there too long but i determined to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him crucified but this goes even further when you look at this metaphor and that is don't become so impressed with the chef the one that's serving the meal enjoy the meal don't celebrate the chef i know that's not good in popular culture because when we go to certain restaurants we want to meet the chef but in this case pay more attention to the meal than you do to the one that prepares it look how paul says he came to them in verse three he said i came to you in weakness fear and trembling i'm at that place in my life now where different people will make a phone call to ask pastor west and they're looking for pastors in fact that some of you in pastoral committees listening now and you've been asking god lord give me a word help us to make a good selection for our future and so when people began to lay out what their qualifications are and this is very serious they begin to say they must have a undergraduate degree and they must be a seminarian then there are other times where they'll sit down and say they must have a college degree and they must have good credit and then they'll go on to say that this person they go with all and i always ask them is there any supernatural qualification what if god chooses since you say you're seeking his guidance to step over your requirements would you be open to that i know of a church now and when they were in the selection process one candidate had no credentials at all and another one had every credential imaginable and the one with all the credentials was a very good preacher and the one that had no credentials was a very good preacher and they selected the boy over against all of our requirements for credentials degrees and they were open to say but he has the making of what we need they were to be celebrated for that that somebody didn't say but he hadn't gone to college he hadn't gone to seminary but now just because he had not gone there did not mean that he was not a student and a studier he is very studious what will you do when god speaks beyond your little paper your little credentials when you say that person must have this and that what if they have it and they're the wrong selection for your congregation how about this paul says when i came to you i came to you with fear trembling and i want you to know and in weakness he came to them in weakness pointless held up on multiple occasions that he had been weak that he he was sickly and broken in many places he says and yet god put his treasure in an earthen vessel i was so weak that the outward man was perishing but thankfully the inward man was being renewed day by day weakness comes along and what happened to paul in his weakness is everything that he did began to deplete him it would be paul who would go along and say these words i'll die daily he was dying under the pressure of ministry think of his life and read his autobiography as he talks about what he wrote and where he preached and where he stood and under the pressure he lived and each experience added to the depletion of his life all of his travel depleted him all of his preaching depleted him as a tent maker by day preaching at night as a tin maker at night and preaching by day depleted him he was always being depleted and yet god used him out of his weakness i thank god in this church how you have prayed for me and many of you have prayed for my strength and i appreciate that but when you pray the next time i want you to add in the prayer what paul is saying this is growth for you pray that our pastor understands his weaknesses pray for my weaknesses not my sins my weaknesses in here he's saying that here when i'm weak then i am strong when i am incapable of doing the work may i then rely upon the power of god it's a dangerous thing for any one of us that preached who sing who serves to believe that what you're doing is out of your own strength and out of you all night that's a guaranteed way to fail in the service of god in my weaknesses a piece of history george whitefield was one of the great preachers and on one occasion one of his last sermons was in extra massachusetts and he was out in the field and these are the days where you could get on the field of a farmer and hundreds and thousands of people would come to hear you preach and they came to hear whitfield preach and after he finished preaching he got on the coach to take a ride over to newberry massachusetts and now in the evening he would stand getting ready for bed to people in the house of a presbyterian minister that allowed him to stay with him for the evening the people in the house began to beg whitfield to preach and with a candle in his hand and standing on the stairwell he began to preach preaching until the candle went out and then he went to bed and on that sunday morning of september the 30th 1770 he himself had been choked to death by his own asthma and his light went out he had preached till the light went out and then his light was snuffed out what a way ago he was weak and yet god made him strong enough to preach until the very end i came to you in weakness but also came to you in fear paul was not fearful in the sense that he was worried about his life or the threats of what people could do to him that's not what he was afraid of he was not afraid that that that someone would harm him along the way he had been beaten and shipwrecked and jailed and pushed around and stuff he had been through all of that but that's not what he was fearful of he was fearful and i was glad to read that in paul years ago as a young preacher people ask me now they said are you fearful when you preach i tell them every sunday my fear is not of the people the fear is that i'm gonna mess up the faith that my fears that i'm gonna use the wrong word that could skew the integrity of what god is saying to his people and that's a great burden on me and one of the reasons why i try to stay close to the scripture in preaching is that if i stay close to the word then it's the word that's being proclaimed and not my eloquence or not my miniscule brilliance let me stay close to the word there's a fear in me and i really mean that my prayer is always and i don't like telling my prayers but some of you know this i ask god to help me preach i cannot preach i don't know how to preach i'm too weak to preach i'm too sinful to preach too broken to preach my insight is too narrow but if you would use me for 30 minutes for your good and your glory you can do with me whatever you please fear weakness and trembling paul talked about that you know that he talked about his eyesight he talked about the big letters that he wrote with he talked about his shaking his nervousness he says at that very moment pay attention to the message not the chef that's cooking up the meal one of my preaching professors dr al faisal made one of the great great impacts on my life as a preacher and that one line that he used and he would and it was it was his thesis for his theology of preaching and he would say to us do not under whatever the circumstances and he would say this way let the people hear the message and not the man and see the man those words changed me forever to remind me that it is the message that is to be proclaimed not the messenger and i'm afraid today that so many of us we've come to see the messenger and pay too little of attention to the message and one reason many of us don't flourish and we falter along the way is because of where we have displaced and misplaced emphasis god uses people understand that but pay attention to the message and don't worship the messenger i appreciate all of you but those who've been around here a long time i don't say it as much now but you remember in the earlier days i would tell you don't worship me don't build your hope on me i'm a failure and if you build on me my foundation has already been faltered but if you build upon christ himself god will make the difference in your life my time is up let me let me prepare to sit down now but i want you to know the host of all of this may be unimpressive and then in verse number four listen what he says about all of this my message and my preaching were not with and here are the words that he uses they were not with persuasive words that is find your confidence in the message on the menu find your confidence in that i didn't come to you with persuasive words let him come to you now was paul no was he saying well i just stood up and whatever came to my mind that's what i said no he had exercised and practiced along the way but he says in verse number four my message and my preaching they were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration and here is the emphasis but with a demonstration of the spirit's power what is he referring to maybe first corinthians chapter 14. i'll just give you a picture of it and then go to the conclusion in first corinthians 14 paul says that you walk into the church and people are displaying the gifts and in that display and demonstration god's power is what magnetizes you to the message that is long before anything happens there's so much gifting that is people who have been gifted to serve serve and those who have the gift of faith they faith and those who have the gift of encouragement and courage and those that have the gift of leadership lead you get the point and those who have the gift of prophecy that is proclaiming the message they are doing that and those that have the gift of teaching they do that and to those who have the gift of generosity you see that and when they see all of that happening the demonstration of god's spirit they say paul said i didn't need persuasive words when they saw god at act demonstrating who he is in the body of christ people say i want to join that movement i want to be part of that movement let me sit down now in the last verse if you're gonna flourish be careful with what you eat you have to do that and i'm done verse number five so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom but on god's power that's what i want to close on so that your faith may rest not on human wisdom but on god's power that's the key to the message so that your faith will be firm on a foundation that has been constructed by god's power you remember what he says in verse 2 he says i determined to know nothing i set a limitation upon my proclamation and that is i determined to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him and here's the key crucified so the message of jesus christ because paul says if i just stopped at jesus christ you could say well he's just a good guy he's a moral teacher he's a philosopher he stands along with aristotle and socrates and plato and the other philosophers of the day and the parapathetic teachers that walk among us paul says no the message is of jesus christ and him crucified i'm not ashamed to talk about that the old preacher used to say to us when we were growing up and they were right every sermon ought to end with the crucifixion of jesus christ whether you go to calvary literally and verbally or you allude to the redemptive work of god in christ through whatever scripture all the scriptures have god's handprint of redemption about the crucifixion everything points to jesus in any sermon that is preached and all it does is motivate you to be a better person a good person has fallen short the cross reminds us that we don't just need a moral readjustment it doesn't mean that we need a mid-christian spiritual course of correction it means that we are in an impossible situation and we can't do anything with it ourselves and we need a savior that's able to deliver us you want to know why you're not growing if all your messages is is how you can be a nicer person you can get that from anybody a better person a good citizen you can read in a political science book and get that hidden textbook on sociology and learn that but if you're going to redeem a community and change it you have to have the message of jesus christ and him crucified paul said i didn't come to you with eloquence but that your faith may be built and rest upon the power of god and the power of god is what holds us up i'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of god on the salvation the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but those who believe salvation i sit down i was reflecting over this and i thought immediately of a couple of months ago of those people in the posh sur-side community in the beachfront property in florida about 1 24 a.m in the morning there was a sudden rumbling and more than 12 stories and then deaths beneath that the champagne towers have been under investigation for years that there was damage to the foundation and it went unnoticed citations have been issued out overlooked one reason because it was going to cost 15 million dollars in repair to the residents that were there and so management is trying to come up with how do we get them to correct what we have blunded on but time ran out collapse deaths because the foundation was faulty if you're building your life on any foundation other than jesus christ i don't care what your career is as an attorney an engineer an astronaut and athlete i don't care what it is as an active academic it doesn't matter you got cracks in your foundation and every week god gives you an announcement you need to correct what's broken at the foundation and unfortunately too many of us keep on living until our foundation gives away but today the power of god will hold you up god's power will keep you and sustain you that's where growth comes from that's where flourishing comes from people want to know how in the world do you survive and thrive and flourish in a life in a world like this with all of what's been going on and you remind them you tell them say your hope is built on nothing less than jesus blood and righteousness and i dare not trust the sweetest friend but holy lean on jesus name on christ the solid rock i stand all of the ground is sinking sand as we prepare to pray today that's my prayer for you i want to keep flourishing i want to keep growing i've said to you 10 years ago i said my greatest fear then is that i'm going to stop growing and studying because normally when you've been at something for 30 years and you quote unquote are viewed as an expert in it you just rest on your laurels you stop studying you stop digging you just rest on what you know you know i don't want to do that i want to keep trying to learn and improve and grow and i feel that way right now in my life like a kid who's still seeing the wonders of the world and i want you to keep growing in your faith right where you are that you can say i determine too to know nothing but jesus christ in him crucified that is i subordinate my life to him that jesus christ becomes lord our father we thank you for the word of god and for the people of god and may we grow and mature in your word to become what you want us to be now for us to do that we have to feed ourself in the scripture in prayer in worship in fellowship in discipleship in following you and even in a pandemic and virtual we're not exempt from doing what you have called us to do help us to be creative in that help us to disciple our families our friends as we grow ourselves then lord have those today who have heard the message may they not reject the truth and say today is my day that i follow jesus others today lord are saying that i need a church home to which i can grow in grace and in the faith of jesus christ and if that's the case lord draw them to yourself or draw them to where you want them to be in jesus name and for his sake and all god's people say together amen as the choir sing the door to church is open i want to invite you to log on to become a member of the church or to give your life to christ whatever the circumstance is we'll respond to you today we welcome you in advance every week somebody makes a decision for christ and the church and so we want to welcome you in advance and say we're glad to have you here at the church without walls you're welcome [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus come to jesus come to jesus come to jesus [Music] [Music] come to jesus [Music] come to jesus [Music] welcome to the church with our walls but more than that welcome into the family of god hallelujah we're glad to have you in the fellowship and in the family now let's prepare to give and as you do that today church i want you to keep in mind of one of the great needs that we have um in our in our world and that's our brothers and sisters in haiti we want to give uh generously today so they're going to need a lot of help in rebuilding we're sending clothes and water and things like that but they're going to literally have to rebuild and we want to rebuild whatever it is that we need to rebuild and so it's going to take resources to do that we'll talk about that i was thinking about that i said you know uh they had been hit with an assassination of the president and then uh an earthquake and then ida and they got one day in the news doing afghanistan one day no more mentioning of what happened in haiti even from our most liberal news outlets there was only one mentioning of haiti these are our brothers and sisters who are there and if they're going to be helped it's going to come from the generosity and the benevolence of people like us i i understand that there are other organizations that are going to be there but we're going to have to help them rebuild and so i'm i'm going to put a team together and i don't know how we're going to do it but we're going to put a team together and those of you in our church from haiti i want to encourage you and those of you who are my um out of the country members and you are from haiti and have family in haiti i want you to get in on this team we'll we'll post it and we want to begin working together to rebuild we can't rebuild all of haiti but we can rebuild our portion of hey and i know we can do it let me say this to all of our new members in our church i can't remember how many years ago it's been jeffrey johnson frederick douglass haynes iii maurice watson and i took a trip to haiti and jeffrey challenged us along with eastern star to give a quarter of a million dollars and the four of us gave two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to give a million dollar gift to haiti everybody fred it was building jeffrey was building maurice was building we were trying to get ready to build and pay off properties there comes a time that you have to put mission and benevolence way over everything else i don't know any of the people there i i haven't been there to see what we have rebuilt i remember redoing an orphanage and doing a school and rebuilding a community i remember that but i want us to give as a congregation so that we can help our brothers and sisters i mentioned that to say if we did it then we can do it again now and we can do more than that now and so let's give and so those of you uh as you hear about it i want you to give generously even now to the uh emergency relief funds that we have that's just hated not to mention to the different people in our church family that we're trying to help on the gulf coast so we have needs and we thank you already for your generosity that's just pastor wes's plug in on as a continuation to say we have work to do all right come on let's let's give today and thank you for your ties your offering and uh leaping beyond our walls i know some of us have taken a little break uh let's get back on and do it i haven't said anything under these conditions about giving but we do have responsibilities that we still have to do and take care of so let's do that all right church come on let's let's give today where there's a temple there's a need where there's a need there's a provision where there's a provision there's god and where there's god hallelujah he'll supply in miraculous ways it's offering time praise the lord and as you are giving we celebrate the fact that we're able to give now with that said let's see what's happening with haley and taylor whoever is on this screen today to give us some insight into what's going on in the life of the church without walls thanks pass hey church family welcome back to tcww trending have you heard hope is here plan to join us on september 19th for a powerful virtual service for you your family and your friends this year on national back to church sunday now let's see what's new beyond the pew church family we will begin our fall session of small group classes on tuesday september 21st with teachings written by our pastor ralph douglas west check out sgbs.tcww.org to join one of our classes to equip and encourage you in this season resilient the ability to spring back into shape after bending stretching or even being compressed does this describe you the pandemic health challenges financial crisis the stresses of work and family along with life's endless twists and turns can be the strongest person but you you're still standing stand the trials and tests that stretched you resulted into something beautiful and a new a resilient woman so let's celebrate join the mosaic women's ministry for our amazing women's weekend virtual experience september 23rd through the 25th you are amazing graciously embracing your journey and persevering toward your new best spiritual physical emotional and social self your hardships did not kill you you emerged like a phoenix from the ashes stronger wiser resilient so join us today and register at amazingwomensweekend.com hello family it's been quite a year although the vaccine is here fear is still steering our lives interfering with our minds closing the blinds on what hope looks like insurrection strikes covet cases spike with a new variant taking flight but i'm supposed to keep a smile on my face right [Music] despite we fight never losing sight of hope changing the scope of our lens to reflect connect and protect hope is here this is our safe space where we're free to embrace god's grace without fear of feeling misplaced when all hope is gone we are drawn to an energy that is incomprehensible but is still accessible hope has always been here dear maybe your church experience has smeared your perception of what fellowship is and what it looks like let all hearts and minds be cleared our savior did not bring you here to veer into the beaten path of wrath come one come all when the sun sets and your worries weigh a ton know that we are here for you we won't shun it's been a year hope is here we need you you've been through too much to stop short now take my hand and i'll show you how all right let's prepare to go into the world to uh serve yeah we had an exciting uh nfl opening didn't we on uh thursday yes sir yeah how about them cowboys how about them cowboy as a man that's always praying and in the word i was in the word on thursday minding my own business praying meditating fasting and in my phone people called me to the game and i had to enter in and they called to let me know that the game was over dallas had kicked the field goal or scored and we had a minute and 24 seconds left and then i said well who gets the ball now and they said my quarterback brady i said oh this game is over but it's not the cowboys that's gonna win it and so once again the old team the old team has prevailed now people are saying i'm conflicted because that's not new england new england will win but when we talk about brady he's always new england and so you know i just have a football demon i'm a legion when it comes to football we are many i i don't we have many but you have to read the bible to know what i'm talking about we are many so my little quarterback one so i'm just going to say it again all about dallas cowboy uh fans yeah how about them cowboy and i love you i mean y'all will still clap and shout even when you're losing 25 years y'all been lose but you still and you would think that they have won something i'm telling you god is good i just said you know lord i don't ask for a lot of things but just don't let them win the night just i i said my goodness well well all right and uh texas play today i'm i'ma tell you unless i got a member that's planned for other texans i got a member huh oh yeah i see him i've said if i got a member that's playing i'm

Channel: The Church Without Walls

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Id: 6vYOe0y2C08

Length: 100min 26sec (6026 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021