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Introduction: The Faithful Worker... (1 Corinthians 16:5-12) Prepares for MINISTRY . (1 Cor 16:5-9) James 4:13-15 - Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." By EXPECTING the UNEXPECTED (1 Cor 16:5-7) By viewing OPPOSITION as an OPPORTUNITY (1 Cor 16:8-9) Plays well with OTHER BELIEVERS . (1 Cor 16:1-12) By supporting their EFFORTS . (1 Cor 16:10-11) By respecting their CONVICTIONS . (1 Cor 16:12) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Unified and Purified: Scheduling Ministry Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript 00:00 Well, as Kelly just read, please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses 5 through 12. 1 Corinthians 16, verses 5 through 12. And as you turn there, I want you to consider a question that I have been considering all week. I have my own answer. I'd like to hear your answer. Are there more lazy slackers in the world, or are there more faithful workers? 00:30 Are there more lazy slackers? Or are there more faithful workers? What do you think? Slackers seems to win the day. Yes, there are a lot of hard workers out there, but they seem to be outnumbered by the amount of lazy slackers that exist. There are a lot of people who don't want to do much besides relax and take it easy. And my wife encountered a lot of these lazy slackers at her old job when she was in human resources at a clothing company that is now bankrupt and no longer exists. 01:06 But she would come home with the craziest stories of people who worked hard to not work hard. 01:13 But there was one lazy slacker who stood above the rest. 01:18 There was a woman who was fired and denied unemployment because she was found dead asleep in a dressing room, RESTING ON A BASKET OF CURLY FRIES AS A PILLOW. 01:32 I mean, you can't make that up, right? 01:35 But this woman claimed it was made up. It was false. Her boss just howled it out for her. It wasn't true. 01:42 Unfortunately for her, there was photographic evidence of the curly fry nap incident. 01:47 There was unavoidable proof that this woman was a lazy slacker. 01:52 She slept on the job. 01:54 She was not a faithful worker. As I look out across the landscape of the American church, I see a lot of lazy slackers. I see an abundance of people who want to take and take and take, but are not willing to give much back. I see a large number of church consumers and not many ministry producers. 02:24 I see many unfaithful workers. But let's not spend too much time talking about people who are not here. Let's instead focus on you. Are you a faithful worker? Don't worry about the person who's not here. Don't worry about the person next to you. Answer for yourself. Are you a faithful worker? Men, are you a faithful worker? 02:54 at home. 02:55 Are you faithfully loving your wife? 02:58 Are you faithfully discipling your children with the word of God? 03:03 Or are you being passive rather than active in these roles? 03:08 Ladies, are you faithfully respecting your husbands and training your children in the ways of the Lord? 03:17 Or are you unfaithfully disrespecting your husbands and allowing the culture to raise your children? 03:25 Are you a faithful worker in your community? Are you faithfully shine the light of Jesus Christ and faithfully sharing the good news of Jesus with unsafe family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors? 03:40 Or are you slacking because your schedule is packed with good activities that crowd out what matters the most? 03:49 Are you a faithful worker at harvest? 03:53 Are you faithfully serving in ministry and participating in the life of the church? Or are you stiff-arming your church family and your church responsibilities? And I know exactly what some of you are thinking right now. Here we go. It's time for a lecture. Fine, Pastor Taylor. Tell me how much I stink. Tell me how much I am failing at everything. Go on, give it to me. I have no interest in doing that. I have no interest in giving you a lecture because that will not help. That will not change you at all. I'm not going to lecture you because I need to hear this word as well. I can be a lazy slacker. I can fail to be a faithful worker. I'm not someone who stands above you as someone who has figured it all out. I am with you in this struggle. This morning we will continue through the final chapter of 1 Corinthians and discuss some final business items from the Apostle Paul. In chapter 16, verses 5 through 12, we receive the ministry schedules of three faithful workers, Paul himself, Timothy, and Apollos. We get a sneak peek of their personal calendars, and we see how they ordered their lives around serving the Lord and serving others. To be honest, this is the part of the book that seems unimportant, but it isn't. 05:22 This is the part of the book you are tempted to skip over, but you shouldn't. In these eight verses, Paul clearly shows you what it looks like to avoid being a lazy slacker and to embrace being a faithful worker in every single area of your life. So before we continue, let's go to the Lord and ask for his help. Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim God's word, and I will pray for you that you will faithfully receive God's word. 05:54 Father, we come before you as your people to acknowledge our many failures. 05:59 We thank you that we stand in the victory of the only one who has perfectly obeyed you. 06:05 The only one who has perfectly been a faithful worker. 06:09 We thank you for your son and all that he has done for us. 06:12 Help us to hear this message, to hear this passage in light of what your son has accomplished on our behalf. 06:19 Lord may we not be motivated by guilt. May instead we be motivated by love for you and love for others. We ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen. So on your outline we're talking about the faithful worker. First up the faithful worker prepares for ministry. The faithful worker prepares for ministry. In verses 5 through 7 Paul opens up his day planner and he tells the Corinthians as well as you and me that he has a lot scheduled in the future and again this may seem boring at a first glance but these verses are absolutely life-changing once you understand how paul arranged his life how paul arranged his schedule let's read verses five through seven i will visit you after passing through macedonia for i intend to pass through macedonia and perhaps i will stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you if the Lord permits. In these verses, Paul is booking his ticket to Corinth. He wants to visit them. He wants not only to visit them, he wants to help this church and be helped by this church. Isn't it amazing that Paul wants to be with the Corinthians? 07:50 and I've given him a spiritual headache. If I were him, I would have written, you know what guys, I intend to pass through Macedonia and go far out of my way to skip Corinth. Good luck with all those problems I've been writing to you about. See you never. Have a nice life. But that is not what Paul writes. That is not Paul's heart. That is not Paul's plan. Paul has a plan to visit Corinth. Paul has a to-do list that he wants to check off. He has destinations. 08:19 that he wants to reach. Paul wakes up every single morning with a purpose. With a goal in mind. Paul plans ahead for ministry. This isn't just something that Paul did in the first century. This is something that you should do as well. Right now in 2026. You should plan ahead for ministry. We all know the saying, if you Fail to plan, you what? You plan to fail. This is especially true when it comes to the task that God has entrusted to you. If you never plan ministry ahead of time, you will never do ministry. If you are not planning to do ministry, you will never do ministry. Thankfully, I know that there are many people watching online and in this room who have plans to do ministry. 09:18 Your schedule is packed out with ways that you are serving the Lord. You plan to serve at church next week. You plan to serve at church the week after that in the AV booth. Back in Harvest Academy on hospitality. You plan to lead or co-lead a small group. You plan to disciple your children tonight by going through family devotions after dinner or before bed. You plan to work with local organization

Introduction: To Support the Church, Each of You Give Something (1 Corinthians 16:1-4) To SUPPORT THE CHURCH , each of you give something. (1 Cor 16:1-4) To support the church, EACH OF YOU give something . (1 Cor 16:2) To support the church, each of you GIVE SOMETHING . (1 Cor 16:2) Give Something. You Have to Consider: Am I giving INTENTIONALLY ? Am I giving PROPORTIONALLY ? Am I giving EXPECTANTLY ? Luke 6:38 - give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Unified and Purified: Giving an Offering Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:05 Let's open up your Bibles to the passage that Max just read. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. While you're turning there, let's just pause for a moment and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to communicate God's Word clearly and accurately as I should. And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord is teaching us in our passage today. Let's pray. 00:34 Our Father in Heaven, as Bob said just a few moments ago, this is Your book. We believe that You wrote this book. And I pray that we would give it the attention and the obedience and just the high regard that it deserves because it is Your communication to us. 01:04 We believe that, Father, and we believe that it is through Your Word and Your Spirit working together in our hearts that transformation happens. I pray, God, that today would be a day of transformation. To Your glory and honor, we pray all of this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and all of God's people said, Amen. 01:35 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 01:36 Are you there? 01:39 Last week when I was preaching, I had a suit jacket on. 01:47 And right in the middle of the sermon, the top button just broke off. 01:54 Nothing makes you feel more like a fatty McButter pants than your button bursting right in the middle of just talking. 02:04 No jacket today. 02:08 You know, I was sharing this with Pastor Taylor, and he seemed genuinely surprised when I told him that I was able to sew the button back on. 02:18 I'll probably have to use reinforced thread or something stretchy. 02:23 But I think he was genuinely surprised that I was able to sew the button back on. 02:28 It's not complicated, right? 02:31 It's not complicated. 02:34 At our house, we have a hyperbaric chamber. 02:39 It's one of the portable deals. 02:40 Just imagine like a seven-foot-long, like indestructible balloon. 02:45 It's a pressurized chamber that you get inside. 02:49 And the whole deal works because it has these valves, right? 02:53 And the valves know when to kick on to regulate the pressure. 02:57 Well, years ago, one of the valves broke. And I called the company and I said, I need to get new valves. And they took my order and they said they're going to send them out. And I said, well, I don't know how to put the valves on. And the guy on the phone talked to me like I was an idiot. He goes, you just take the old ones off and you put the new ones on. And I'm like, Look, I'm a pastor. I went to Bible college because it was just one book that you needed to buy. I am not a hyperbaric chamber repair technician. They did not cover that in Bible college. I don't know how to do this. I'm like stressing. I told the guy, I'm like, I don't know how to do this. Like, what kind of tools I need. I mean, my parents were both bankers. I didn't come from a long line of, hyperbaric chamber repair people. Like, I don't know how to do this. And he goes, you just take the old ones off. You put the new ones on. He goes, we'll send them out. And if you need help, just give us a call. And I got to tell you, I was so stressed about this. Like, I don't know how to do this. Do you know how to do this? Like, who do I even call? Who do I call? Who do I call? I didn't know Krauss at the time. I mean, does he have experience? Who do I call? I was so stressing about this. And I got the valves in the and I grabbed a bunch of tools and I went down and when I took the valves out of the box they were just threaded at the end. And I said no it can't be. And I took the old ones and unscrewed it off and I screwed the new one. It was almost, almost, almost as hard as changing a light bulb. 04:57 It wasn't complicated. 05:00 The button on my jacket. 05:02 The valve. 05:04 Important stuff. 05:05 Not denying. 05:05 Important stuff. 05:06 It's not complicated. 05:08 It's not complicated. 05:10 And today, we're going to talk about how to give in the church. 05:18 And I've got to tell you, I spent a lot of time studying this passage this week. 05:24 And here's the conclusion I think we'll all come up with after we study it together. 05:29 When it comes to giving, it's not complicated. 05:34 Now, this message, it's about giving. 05:37 Okay, this isn't a guilt trip. 05:39 We're not in crisis as a church. 05:41 Pastor Rich is going to give us an update later. 05:45 Why are we talking about giving? 05:46 Because we go straight through the text. 05:48 We go where the text goes, right? 05:50 That's what we do. 05:51 And that is the subject of this passage. 05:53 We get to the end of 1 Corinthians. We've been going through this. We had the resurrection chapter, chapter 15. And now when we get to the home stretch here, chapter 16, over the next few weeks, Pastor Taylor and I are going to be looking at, it's just some business items. Paul's closing up the letter because we have a few items of business we've got to discuss. All right? First up, look at verse 1. He says, Now concerning. That's a key phrase in 1 Corinthians. I don't know if you noticed that. Chapter 7, chapter 8, chapter 12. Paul keeps using that phrase, and it seems like when he uses that phrase, he's addressing their questions. Right? Like, you ask me some questions, and I'm answering them. 06:48 Okay, now concerning this. Okay, now concerning this. And apparently, they had asked about giving. And he's like, all right, here's how to give. And if you were with us last week, the last few weeks, you might think, wow, giving? Like, that's kind of a hard left turn from talking about the resurrection, right? I mean, there was no smooth transition there. 07:18 That's a really hard turn from talking about something as lofty as resurrection. And I would say, not really. Because if you understand eternity and all the promises that God has for you, that should motivate how we give now. And I have to say this. He's talking about this collection and how he instructed the churches of Galatia. 07:47 In Paul's day, poverty was a real issue. Okay? It's not an issue for us here today. In this country, in this area, there is not a poor person among you. All right? But Paul was collecting from the churches over a year. 08:17 to take to the poor Christians in Jerusalem. There were people in Jerusalem that were destitute. Some Christians that were poor. So Paul was taking this collection for them, and that's what he's talking about here. This is how to give. This is how to give, and it's not complicated. All right? So on the top of your outline, here's your heading. To support the church, Each of you give something. To support the church, each of you give something. Okay? Point number one, jot this down. To support the church, each of you give something. Look again at verse one. It's not complicated. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatians, so you also are to do. All right? For the saints. Giving is for the Now listen, be clear. We're not saying you never give outside of the church. We're not saying that. We're not saying that you don't give to a person you see in need, like the story of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told. We're not saying that. The point is just simply this. The church should fund its own needs. That's all. The church should be taking care of its own people. 09:45 The people of God give to the work of God. You're like, for what? Well, we talked about this back in 1 Corinthians 9, paying the ministers to support those who are in need in our church, to pay bills here. Everything from Bibles to snacks for the littles back there to the AV equipment to all of it. The people of God give to the work of God. 10:15 The money that's given should support the church. And Paul says, this is what I directed to churches in Galatia. This isn't just a Corinth thing. It's actually been a practice since the very beginning. Read the book of Acts. Read Acts chapters 2, 3, 4, 5. You see it's the pattern. The people of God give

Introduction: Why Jesus' Victory is the Greatest Victory (1 Corinthians 15:50-58): He won the greatest PRIZE . (1 Cor 15:50-53) 1 Thessalonians 4:16 - For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. He defeated the greatest ENEMY . (1 Cor 15:54-57) He gives us the greatest PURPOSE . (1 Cor 15:58) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Unified and Purified: We Labor in Victory Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:05 Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of 1 Corinthians and chapter 15. 00:12 While you're turning there, just take a moment please and pray for me to communicate God's Word clearly and accurately as I should and I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us in His Word today. Do we have a deal? 00:30 One of you? 00:32 Alright, let's pray. 00:35 Father in Heaven, this church was built on the belief that Your Word does Your work. Your Son made it clear that when Your Word is sown and it falls on good soil, it reproduces. And I'm praying today, Father, that our hearts our good soil. 01:06 And that we would allow your word to take deep root and change us from the inside out. 01:18 Father, we thank you for your goodness. 01:21 We thank you for your promises. 01:24 Be glorified now through your word. 01:26 We pray in Jesus' name. 01:29 And all of God's people said, Amen. 01:33 Amen. 01:34 Sports fans, don't you just love the thrill of a really tight game? I know I do. But you know what I love even better than a really tight game? An absolute blowout. I mean, just a good old-fashioned curb stomping, rubbing your nose in it. Like, I love when it's your team that's doing The dominating. I love that. I like that even way better than a close game. But even better than that is when you're actually playing the game where you're doing the stomping. That is delicious. I've had that experience a few times in my life. One, many, many years ago, I used to be decent at tennis. I mean, I wasn't like, Andre Agassi or anything. But I was decent. And I could keep up. But I remember meeting this guy through a friend of a friend kind of thing. And he found out I played tennis. He goes, oh, I play tennis. I'd like to play you sometime. I'm like, great, let's play. But then he started all the smack talking. He's like, well, you know, I'm going to destroy you. I'm like, okay. He goes, yeah, I'm really going to, he goes, I'm really going to beat you. 03:04 I'm like, aren't we adults? Like, why are you talking like this? But he just like kept us smacked. Okay, so now he's like in my head a little bit. Like, okay, so I'm going to show up and play this guy, and he's going to embarrass me. And I'm like, so I was trying to get in that headspace. Like, how do you walk into that, right? Well, the day came for our big match. And I don't know. 03:33 I don't know how else to say it. He was horrible. I mean, the word is pathetic. It was at the point that I'm not sure he knew which end of the racket to hold. In fact, if he would have been swinging at it with just a handle, I think he might have done a better. He was horrible. Like, how bad was he? He was so bad that I started playing as if I would play against like a five-year-old. 04:03 Just like he would get it over the net and I would like rejoice that he even got it over the net and I would just well in that when you're playing it like 10% obviously you're going to make mistakes because that's not how you're supposed to play and I'd like hit it into the net by accident. He started the smack talk up again like yeah what's up now I'm like oh okay like all right. That's when I proceeded to completely the court with him. Unmercifully never saw him again. I think he moved to Nepal or something. But it was so just exhilarating being on the side of a complete, dominating, crushing, one-sided victory. Oh, and speaking of, today we are going to talk about the greatest, one-sided, overwhelming victory, that's ever happened. 05:05 And that was Jesus Christ defeating death. 05:09 And he did it by resurrecting. 05:14 And that's what 1 Corinthians 15 is all about. 05:18 This whole chapter is about resurrection. 05:24 And we talked about this through this series. 05:26 The whole idea of resurrecting from the dead was crazy. 05:32 to the Corinthians, the Greeks, and Corinth. They didn't believe in a bodily resurrection, so Paul was setting them straight. He goes, no, this is what God said, okay? And there's even people in churches today really don't think about the idea of resurrection, right? Even people in churches today are like, okay, I get like salvation, and I get like heaven, but like this idea that I'm going to bodily resurrect, Yes! According to the Bible, you are literally going to get a new, eternal, indestructible, glorified, resurrected body. You're going to get a brand new body. Some of you should be shouting Amen. I know I am. You know, this is a rental, and I've beat it up pretty bad. So, last week the question we examined was this one. 06:32 What's the resurrected body like? What's it like? And you can go back and listen to that message, or if you weren't here, it's on our website or the YouTubes. But today, we're going to answer this question. This is where the text takes us. When do I get this resurrected body? When does that happen? And the answer is when Jesus returns. 07:03 The dead receive theirs first, then the living receive theirs, and that is going to be the day, according to this passage we look at today, that's going to be the day that we celebrate the greatest one-sided victory of all time. All right, some of you might not be convinced, so if you have an outline, why Jesus' victory is the greatest victory. Why Jesus' victory? 07:32 He just claimed it was the greatest one-sided overwhelming victory of all time. Why? Why is it? Well, number one, He won the greatest prize. He won the greatest prize. Look at verse 50. He says, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 08:02 designs special bodies that are suited for eternity, suited for heaven. We talked about that a little bit last week, right? This body that he gave us that we're living in now, this body is suited for earth, right? The way this body functions, it works perfectly in the earth environment, right? This is suited for here. But this body is not going to work in heaven. 08:31 There, we're going to need a new body. So we're going to have to be changed. We saw last week, the Bible says that this body is like a seed. And when we die, we are buried in the ground. And like the seed, our resurrection, we are raised up as something new. 09:01 All right, so here's the question. On the table. Okay, you're saying the people who die are put in the ground, raises something new. What about people that, like, aren't dead when Jesus returns? Like, what about those people? If you have to be buried to come up as a new body, like, what if you're one of the people alive, and it very well could be us, who are alive when Jesus returns? Does that mean that we have to die so that we can be buried so that we can get our resurrected body. Is that what has to happen? And the answer is no. If you're alive when Jesus returns, you do not die. What does happen? Well, he tells us, look at verse 51. He says, behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 10:01 Now when he says mystery here he's not talking like you know Alfred Hitchcock or anything like that. He's the word mystery in the Bible just means something that God never said in past time but now he's revealing it for the first time. It's all through the Bible. 10:18 He says we will not all sleep. That's a nice way of saying die. We will not all die but he says we will all be changed. 10:28 So when Christ returns believers who are alive Christ comes, will not die, but are going to be transformed. 10:38 And do you know how long it's going to take? 10:41 If you're alive when Christ returns, do you know how long it's going to take for this body to be changed into the new body? 10:50 Do you know how long that takes? 10:52 He tells us, this is astounding. 10:55 Look at verses 52 and 53. 10:57 He says, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable. And this mortal body must put on immortality. It's going to be, your change is going to be instant. 11:31 Your body is going to change fa

Introduction: What Happens to Me When I Die? 2 Corinthians 5:8 - ...we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. When Do these Resurrections Take Place? Acts 24:15 - ...there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. What is the Resurrection Body Like (1 Corinthians 15:35-49)? Your body now is like a "SEED" , your resurrected body is like a "PLANT". (1 Cor 15:36b-38) Your resurrected body will be SIMILAR but DIFFERENT but BETTER . (1 Cor 15:39-42a) Your resurrected body will never have EARTHLY WEAKNESSES . (1 Cor 15:42b-44) 4 Contrasts Between Your Earthly Body and Your Resurrected Body: PERISHABLE vs. IMPERISHABLE DISHONOR vs. GLORY WEAKNESS vs. POWER NATURAL vs. SPIRITUAL Your resurrected body is just like JESUS' glorified body. (1 Cor 15:45-49) Philippians 3:21 - who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body... Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Unified and Purified: We Will Be Raised in a New Body Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:05 Open up those Bibles with me please to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 00:11 If you don't have a Bible, you're welcome to take the one in the seat back in front of you. 00:17 I know that's got like microscopic font. I think there's bigger print ones in the shelf in the very back. 00:23 Oh, Jane Hour got it. Alright. So if you want a bigger print Bible, you've got to wrestle Jane Hour for it. 00:30 Oh, okay, there's more back there. Okay, you don't have to, you don't want to do that anyways. 00:34 So, but please consider it our gift to you if you don't have one. So, speaking of, I'd like you to just stop for a moment and pray for me to communicate God's Word as I should accurately and clearly. And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord tells us in His Word. 01:04 in this portion we're looking at today. So let's pray. Father in heaven, as we turn to this portion of your word, there's such great encouragement for what you have promised. There's also challenging conviction. Your word says that when we have this hope, we purify ourselves as you are pure. So I pray, Father, that this Yes, would be informational in the sense of correcting wrong thinking that we have carried. But at the same time, Father, use this to motivate us to use the short time we have here on the earth to make an impact for your kingdom. We thank you ahead of time for whatever it is you're going to do here, Father. We pray in Jesus' name. When all of God's people said, Excuse me. Amen. 1 Corinthians 15, are you there? Back in 2009, Heidi Montag, who is one of the stars of the TV show The Hills, she was 23 at the time, 2009. She had 10 plastic surgeries. 02:35 in one day. 02:39 Ten plastic surgeries in one day. 02:45 You got questions? 02:47 I got questions. 02:49 Like, ten? 02:52 What all did she have done? 02:53 Well, she had her brow lifted. 02:57 She had Botox. 02:59 She had her nose done. 03:01 She had fat injected into her cheeks. 03:04 and lips. She had her chin done. She had her neck done. Liposuction. Isn't that when they take the fat out? But then it was put into her cheeks. So just like one hose. All right. I don't know. Look, I've never had plastic surgery, but you probably knew that. 03:34 You're like, I sure hope you didn't pay for that look. Anyways, she had her ears pinned back like a Doberman. She had her waist, her hips, and her thighs done and some other things. Ten surgeries in one day. You got questions? I got questions. How much does something like that cost? Well, I had to Google that. I have no idea. I don't know what the going rate is now, let alone what it was in 2009. 04:04 It cost her, they say, about $30,000. 04:12 How long does that take? 04:16 How long does all that stuff, it was 10 hours of surgery. 04:22 You know what my question was? 04:26 Did anybody recognize her when she got home? 04:29 Could you imagine? 04:30 and she leaves in the morning and she's like, I'm going to have some surgery. Then she comes back, a completely different person. Like, hey, I'm home. And they're like, ah, who are you? Like, it's me. It's me, Heidi. You know, groundhog, we didn't recognize you. I mean, we do all kinds of things to try to keep this young and from wearing out. And look, maybe plastic surgery is not. 05:00 your thing. Maybe it's exercise. I was going to ask for a show of hands, but I think to save all of us from embarrassment, myself included, we won't do any hand raising here. Okay, at least for this part. But do you have an exercise equipment graveyard in your basement? Do you remember things like the ab circle? Do you remember the ab circle? The bow flex, the toe flex, The Total Gym. How about the Thighmaster? You old enough to remember the Thighmaster? Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze your way to firmer thighs. Well, maybe it was just the exercise method, right? Because we've got Pilates, we've got yoga and Zumba, P90X, Insanity. 06:00 T25. You ever done this program? I've done Insanity and T25. And let me tell you, that is for the birds. For the birds. And I was like really into it for a while. And my wife was like, are you doing that exercise thing where you dance around the living room like a ninny? I'm like, well, I guess not anymore. 06:31 Okay, like, you can get the body you've always wanted. Get the body you've always wanted. The problem is you're not going to keep it forever. 1 Corinthians 15 is all about the resurrection. Jesus and ours. The Bible says because Jesus rose from the dead, Listen, I think so many people sitting in churches miss this truth. You, too, are going to rise from the dead in a new body. Now, if I told you, hey, next week, you're going to get a new car. But here's the deal. This car, this is the only car you're allowed to drive for the next 40 years. 07:30 car it is? Wouldn't you want to know what it's like? You mean I'm stuck with this car for four decades? Yeah. What kind of car is it? Tell me about it. I want to know all about it, right? Right? Well, the Bible says you're going to get a new body that you are going to have for all of eternity. Would you like to know what this body is like? 08:00 of eternity. So, we've got a lot of information here. Again, in this chapter, Paul packs so much information. And we're going to be going through it very quickly. So, you might want to listen to this again when it's on our website or podcast or whatever. You might want to pass this on to someone else. So, I encourage you to jot some notes down. First question, we're just going to take a step back here and kind of this whole thing. The first question is, what happens to me when I die? What happens to me when I die? And the reason we're starting here is like, look, okay, we got resurrection. Okay, but like, it's obviously not immediate. So, what happens to me when I die? Well, the Bible never talks about limbo or purgatory or soul sleep. The Bible never talks about that stuff. The Bible is very clear. If you're a believer in Christ, when you die, you are immediately in the presence of the Lord, right? 09:00 2 Corinthians 5 verse 8 says we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Paul says something very similar to this in Philippians 123. 09:14 He said to depart is to be with Christ. 09:20 Right? So if you're a believer when you die you are in the presence of the Lord. 09:23 Your spirit is. And if you have not received Christ you go to a place of torment called Hades, where you are awaiting the final judgment. All right? But the Bible promises that eventually, eventually, everybody, everybody will get a resurrected body. Everybody gets one. Like, well, when do these resurrections take place? 09:57 Here's the next question on your outline. Understand again, the Bible is crystal clear and consistent. It teaches many times there are two resurrections. Okay, there are two. Acts 24, 15. There will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. Right? We talked about that before. Daniel 12, 2. Jesus said it in John 5, 28 and 29. There are two resurrections. Okay. 10:27 First, I want to talk to those who have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, those who are born again. The Bible says you will get your resurrected body at the rapture. Now, we're not going to get too deep into this now because next week the whole passage is about the rapture. But at the rapture, when Jesus returns to remove His people from the earth, believers up to that point, dead or alive, will get a new resurrected body. 10:57 about that next week. Those are for believers. For those who have rejected God's gift in Jesus Ch

Introduction: Why the Resurrection Means Everything (1 Corinthians 15:12-34): The resurrection SHAPES my FAITH. (1 Cor 15:12-28) IF There Is No Resurrection: PREACHING the Gospel: Meaningless. (1 Cor 15:12-14a) FAITH in Christ: Meaningless. (1 Cor 15:14b) Your BIBLE : Blasphemous. (1 Cor 15:15) Your SIN : Not forgiven. (1 Cor 15:16-17) Believers who have DIED : Gone forever. (1 Cor 15:18) CHRISTIANS : The worst. (1 Cor 15:19) The resurrection STOPS my FEAR. (1 Cor 15:29-32) The resurrection SELECTS my FRIENDS. (1 Cor 15:33-34) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Unified and Purified: The Resurrection Means Everything Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:05 Open up your Bibles with me please to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. While we're turning there, just ask that you would please take a moment to pray for me, to be faithful to communicate God's Word accurately and clearly, and I will pray for you that your heart would be open to receive what it is that God has said in His Word. Deal? All right. Thank you both. 00:34 Let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We're asking now that You would eliminate any distractions in our minds and our hearts, that we would focus solely on what it is You've communicated to us. Father, lay on our hearts the importance of this Word because of who said it. 01:04 that we're not here to talk about my opinion or some old preacher's opinion. We're here to talk about what you have said in your word. So I pray that that would drive the attentiveness that we give to what it is you've said here, Father. We thank you in advance for what you're going to do. We pray in Jesus' name that all of God's people Amen. Amen. Alright. Who here is a golfer? Raise your hand if you're a golfer. Some of you are shy about it. I'm sorry, is it a secret? I see some of you. Yes, it's a secret. Come on, raise them high. Raise them proud. Who's a golfer? Even if you play golf. You don't have to be on the PGA. 02:06 Do you know? I've never played golf a day in my life. I'm not against golf. I've just never played it. When I was in high school, I was going over to my friend's house, and he was in his, it was actually his grandparents' house, and he was in the backyard hitting golf balls into the woods, just whoosh, whoosh. So I show up. He's like, hey, I'm almost done. I'll be with you in a minute. 02:34 So I don't golf. I'm just like do-do-do-do-do-do. And I look, and in the tree, like where the branches split, there was a wiffle ball in the tree. I'm like, I wonder how that got there. So I pulled this wiffle ball out, and I was shocked at how heavy it was for its size. Very intriguing. I can tell you're intrigued by it. I certainly was. So he's hitting the golf balls, and I said, hey, check out how heavy this ball is. And I tossed it to him. And he was like, ha-ha. And he took a swing. Let me tell you what I think he thought was going to happen. I think he thought he was going to hit that wiffle ball like into the woods, launch it in midair like baseball style, right? So I'm like, hey, check out how heavy this ball is. I threw it. And he's like, whew. And he swings and the ball hits the middle of the golf club, like the shaft. 03:34 and it explodes. 03:37 And he's standing there holding the handle. 03:39 And his eyes were like as big as silver dollars. 03:42 He's like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. 03:45 I'm like, what's the matter? 03:47 He's like, this was my grandfather's brand new driver. 03:55 And I found out later it was very expensive. 03:58 I don't know. 03:58 I don't play golf. 03:59 I told you that. 04:00 But he's like, I'm like, what's the problem? He's like, this was his brand new driver. And I'm like, his driver? I said, is that important? And he's like, is that important? It's the most important club. And he got in all kind of trouble and we all laughed. Well, he didn't, but we all did. Like, why did I tell you this? That story. 04:31 Because here's the thing, in golf world, I was completely oblivious to the most important thing. I didn't know. I didn't know. The driver, it is important, right? It's important. Okay, all right. It is important. I was clueless. And you know, fast forward a few decades, let's get out of golf world, let's get in church world, the principle still stands, I think. 04:59 There are so many people in church world that are ignorant of the most important thing. And the most important thing, biblically, is this idea of resurrection. And we talk about it in church, and there are people that are like, is that important? Like, it is the most important thing. Resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15 is all about resurrection. 05:29 And the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and this is by no means any kind of exaggeration, but the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most significant event in the history of the world. It's the central teaching of the church. And because Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead, the Bible says his followers too will resurrect from the dead. 05:59 just a few minutes ago. Dead to self. Alive. Raised in Christ. Understand that when we talk about resurrection, it's not just like this metaphor or this poetic concept. It's real. This is literally your eternal state of being. You will resurrect. So you have to know what the Bible says. 06:29 says about this, and you have to believe this. 06:34 So on your outline today, I encourage you to take some notes, but why the resurrection means everything. 06:41 It means everything. 06:45 Number one, we're going to do some theology today. 06:50 Number one is the resurrection shapes my faith. 06:54 It shapes my faith. 06:56 Everything that we believe in this church is tied into this idea of resurrection. 07:07 It shapes my faith. We started this last week. Paul talked about the evidences that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. 07:13 He talked about the grace that we receive, the gift of God. 07:18 And now when we get to this section, Paul actually plays a what-if game concerning resurrection. Paul says hypothetically, hypothetically, what would result if there were no resurrection? 07:35 What would result if Jesus didn't rise from the dead? 07:41 What would that mean? 07:42 What would be the significance for us, church, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead? 07:47 I mean, imagine the scene. 07:49 Imagine the scene. 07:51 Jesus Christ, mocked, humiliated, crucified, dead, taken from the cross, put in the tomb. Three days later, the women show up and the stone is still there. The guards are still there. The guards are like, move along, move along ladies. And Jesus is in the tomb and He stayed in the tomb. 08:21 What if there was no resurrection of Jesus Christ? What if? That's what Paul gets into here. Look at verse 12, 1 Corinthians 15. He says, now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 08:51 has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. Stop there. On your outline, if there is no resurrection, the first thing Paul says, if there is no resurrection, preaching the gospel is meaningless. Think about that. Preaching the gospel is meaningless. You are totally wasting your time here this morning. You got up and got your church clothes on and you drove here for what? 09:21 studying this. That was a complete waste of time. I wasted much of my week. You wasted your Sunday morning coming here today. You're wasting your time right now just listening to me blather on and on and on about what? Every sermon, every Bible study, every small group, every Christian book, every Christian podcast, every Christian conference is a complete waste of time and money if there's no resurrection. 09:52 Why are you here? So preaching the gospel is meaningless. Letter B, faith in Christ is meaningless. Look what he says. Rest of verse 14, he says, and your faith is in vain. If there's no resurrection, your faith is in vain. Who's your faith in? My faith is in Jesus. Oh, okay. Well, if Jesus died and stayed dead, what's so special about him? He's just in a a long list of religious leaders that showed up, said some profound things, died, and is in his tomb. Just like everybody else. There's no resurrection. Oh, by the way, Jesus throughout his ministry clearly proclaimed that he would die, and he said he would rise from the dead. So, if there's no resurrection, Jesus Christ is either crazy or he's a liar. And that's your faith? Your faith is in that one? 10:52 Let us see your bible is blasphemous your bible is blasphemous

Introduction: Daniel 12:2 - And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. John 5:29 - ...those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. Romans 10:9 - because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 3 Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-8): The CHURCH . (1 Cor 15:1-2) SCRIPTURE . (1 Cor 15:3-4) Isaiah 53:10 - Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Psalm 16:10 (Acts 2) - For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. EYEWITNESSES . (1 Cor 15:5-8) 3 Evidences You Have Received God's Grace (1 Corinthians 15:9-11): You don't think you're WORTHY . (1 Cor 15:9) You DEFINE yourself by grace. (1 Cor 15:10a) You are motivated to WORK by grace. (1 Cor 15:10b-11) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Unified and Purified: We Live in Grace Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:04 1 Corinthians chapter 15. My wife Erin was talking to a good friend of hers, Sharon. And Sharon told her this story that I've been thinking about all week. She said she took a bunch of youth to this youth conference. And they asked everybody to stand up. We're not going to do this here today. But she asked everybody to stand up. 00:34 I asked everybody to stand up and asked who had been saved for a year. And did they know at least one Bible verse? And if not, sit down. Right? And then who'd been saved for two years? You know two Bible verses. If not, you can sit down. And it went up. Who's been saved five years? Do you know five Bible verses? If not, sit down. And by the time the exercise was done, nobody was standing. 01:04 And I keep thinking about that. It's not a matter of learning Bible verses to be like ready for Bible bowl or just in case you're on Jeopardy and New Testament is one of the categories. That's not the purpose of learning the Word of God. What is the purpose of learning the Word of God? 01:35 What you really believe shapes how you live. That's just a reality. You live according to what you really believe is true. We just finished a section of 1 Corinthians with Q&A. And I think it's where this Bible knowledge intersects with the biggest question. 02:04 we really discover the biblical ignorance of a lot of people in church. And the biggest question is, what happens after we die? You know, thinking about all of those matters, you know, our death and rapture and return of Jesus and resurrection and heaven and hell, and what about all of that? Look, I've been doing this a long time, and I've been part, of so many funerals. 02:40 And it's always astounding to me, at a funeral, even people that say they've been following Christ for many, many years, it's astounding to me some of the crazy unbiblical things people say. 02:56 For example, I've heard this many times at a funeral. 03:00 They're like, well, you know what? God just needed another angel. And I'm like, there is so much wrong with that statement. First of all, God needs nothing, right? Second of all, we don't turn into angels when we die. Where did you get that concept? It's biblical ignorance. That's not really the place. That's not really the place to correct people, right? You don't want a shot block there. I guess that would help to have Miles there with me, I guess, at a funeral. 03:30 next time that happens. 03:32 Like, God needs another angel. 03:33 Miles would just be like, you don't turn into an angel when you die. 03:38 If you know, you know. 03:43 Another crazy thing I've heard people say is, well, you know, grandma's just watching over me. 03:52 You know, little Joey was supposed to have a t-ball game and they were calling for tornadoes and thunderstorms and hail and blizzards and all that. 03:59 And it didn't. 04:00 We had perfect weather. Thank you, Grandma. Grandma was watching over me. Well, your Grandma might have been wonderful, but she's not God. Okay? But that's one of the crazy things people believe is our departed loved ones are orchestrating things. You know, another crazy thing, and this might be the craziest, is regarding what happens when we die afterwards, all of these matters. Some people say, well, nobody really knows. 04:30 That could be the craziest thing because God wrote it all down for us. And when I talk about our Bible ignorance, I hope you don't take that as a guilt trip as much as over the next few weeks we are looking at a chapter in the Bible that answers so many of the questions that so many Christians get wrong. 05:00 I encourage you to tune in and take notes and look very closely at what God has said. So with that said, let's just bow our heads for a second. I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me to be faithful, to clearly and accurately communicate the word of God. And I will pray for you to have your heart open to receive what it is that God said. All right. Let's just take a moment and pray. 05:30 before you today with Thanksgiving. I thank you for your word that clears up all of these questions that we wouldn't have answers to otherwise. I thank you for the noise of the children in this room right now. It's a sign of life. And I thank you for parents that want to come and worship you and hear your word and will bring their kids. I thank you for that. Father, I just pray that you eliminate any distractions in our hearts and minds so that we can laser focus on what it is you've said in your word today. 06:00 This is the most important message there is. And what a tragedy it would be to leave here and have missed it. What it is you've said here in this absolutely awe-inspiring portion of your word. God, we thank you. And we pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, okay, some of God's people said it. The rest weren't ready. 06:30 We'll try again next week. Come back to Second Service. You can try then too. Okay, so what happens when we die? Well, among many other things the Bible teaches, the Bible is crystal clear on this. You will resurrect from the dead. You will. Everybody, not just believers actually, Everybody rises from the dead. The Bible says unbelievers get an eternal body that's suited for hell and judgment. And believers in Jesus Christ get an eternal body that they will use in glory in heaven forever. Right? Daniel chapter 12 verse 2. Old Testament talks about this. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Some to everlasting life. And some to shame and everlasting contempt. Jesus taught this, John chapter 5. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. There are two resurrections, one for believers, one for non-believers, an eternal body that will live forever somewhere. And 1 Corinthians chapter 15 is all about resurrection. 08:00 The first stretch is, appropriately, about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then the back nine of 1 Corinthians 15 is about our resurrection. Look at chapter 15, verse 1. Paul says, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand. 08:31 You see, we just spent a lot of time, 1 Corinthians 11, 12, 13, 14, they had all these corporate worship problems. And Paul's like, okay guys, we cleared up some of the details, but the most important thing is getting back to the basics of the gospel itself. And he's talking about resurrection in this chapter. As we said, it is not resurrection. 09:00 Resurrection is not a part of what we believe. Resurrection is the heart of the gospel. It is the core. It is the very, it's essential to being a Christian. It is absolutely a necessary doctrine that we got to embrace. Look at what Romans chapter 10 says. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that what? God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. Do you see how a belief in resurrection is directly tied to your salvation? It's non-negotiable. But of course, there's always skeptics, right? You can study the ancient Greeks. Many of the Greeks who lived in Corinth, they didn't believe in a bodily resurrection at all. 10:04 And even Christians today, they're just not entirely sure what happens. 10:14 You know, I know there's, okay, so we die, but we're with Jesus, but there is a, o

Introduction: How to Have a Church Service, God's Way (1 Corinthians 14:26-40) BUILD UP believers. (1 Cor 14:26b) ELIMINATE the chaos. (1 Cor 14:27-33a) WOMEN don't preach. (1 Cor 14:33b-35) 1 Timothy 2:12-14 - I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. None of this is up for DEBATE . (1 Cor 14:36-40) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: What Should a Worship Service Look Like? Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:36 You know, just a few days ago, in this very room, it was complete chaos. It was so good. I mean, VBS, it was complete chaos, right? You're going to hear more about it later. We're going to show you a video. But just kids on top of kids, people screaming and throwing. There was slime dripping from the ceiling. Wasn't supposed to, but there was. 01:06 And it was just, it was chaos and it was beautiful. Which is fine for vacation Bible school, but chaos is not something that should describe Sunday morning. And that takes us to the passage we're looking at today. So I'm going to ask you to please pray for me. 01:36 Faithfully represent God's Word. That's all we try to do here at Harvest Bible Chapel. We're not preaching our opinion or scratching itchy ears. We just want to represent the Word of God. And I'm asking you to please pray for me to do that faithfully, and I will pray for you to receive what it is that the Lord has said in His Word. All right? Let's just take a moment and pray. 02:09 Father, when we open the Bible, the question is, is this from God? 02:21 Father, we have solidly come to that conclusion. 02:25 We believe that this is your word. 02:28 When it says things that we like, and when it says things that we maybe struggle to believe, It's your word. And I pray today, Father, for all of us. You eliminate any distractions or preconceived notions and allow us to receive what it is that your word actually says. We pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, Amen. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Chapters 11 through 14. 03:04 in 1 Corinthians is all about corporate worship. Right? And we've been talking through this series. We had a little break from Pastor Taylor's excellent message taking us back to the Old Testament. But in this section in particular where we find ourselves, we're talking about speaking in tongues. And you can go back and review those. But tongues, there was a legit miracle gift. And if you study your Bibles, Speaking in tongues was speaking a known language. All right. It was an existing language, but the speaker, they didn't know that language. They didn't study, but they would. It'd be like if I got up and started speaking Mandarin. I don't know Mandarin, but I started speaking Mandarin because there were Mandarin speaking people in the congregation. That's what the gift of tongues was about. We saw. Previously, the tongues was a sign of judgment. 04:04 Israel had rejected the Messiah. And tongues was God's way of saying, okay, you're going to hear a language you don't understand because you've rejected me. I'm moving on to other people. And it was for the season of transition from the old covenant to the new covenant. We saw in chapter 13, verse eight, he said, tongues will cease. It's going to come to an end. It was only for a season. 04:34 The Pagan Practice of Tongues. In many pagan religions, there would be this ecstatic screaming of sounds. They weren't real languages. It's just screaming this gibberish. And the Corinthians brought that into church. It's chaos. There's chaos. Look at verse 26, where we left off last time. Verse 26. Paul says, What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Stop right there. That's not a command, by the way. He's describing the chaos. He's like, here's what your church service is. Everybody shows up, and everybody is like, ooh, ooh, me, I want to teach. I want to speak in tongues. I'm going to sing. And everybody was doing it. 05:33 And it was just this circus. He says your worship services are just chaos. You have the gibberish. You have misusing the real gift of speaking in tongues. You have the debacle that you've made the Lord's Supper. You have women preaching. You have people showing off. Your services are a complete mess. And it'd be real easy for us to look. 06:03 and say, wow, yeah, glad we've matured from that. But sadly, many things that are called church services are still a real mess. What have we turned worshiping our Savior God, what have we turned that into? For some churches, it's putting on a concert and giving a pep talk. 06:33 heresy, screaming gibberish, holy laughter, holy barking, craziness, chaos. So much being done in the name of worshiping the Lord that is anything but actually worshiping the Lord. And you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a second, hang on. 07:01 Who says what should happen in a church service anyways? Well, I would suggest to you God. The God that we worship has told us how we should worship. So very simply, in this passage we're looking at today, Paul is outlining here's what a worship service should be. That's what this passage is. What should happen in a church service? Paul's like, this is what should happen right here. 07:31 So, on your outline, how to have a church service God's way. Number one, first thing has to happen, absolutely has to happen. He says it first because this has to be the primary drive. Number one is build up believers. Build up believers. Look at the end of verse 26. He says, let all things be done. 08:01 For building up. 08:07 Here's a philosophical slash theological question for you. 08:11 Who is church service for? 08:13 Is it for believers or for unbelievers? 08:19 Biblically, church service is for believers. 08:23 Now listen, if you're here today and you're not a believer and somebody invited you, we're so glad that you're here. 08:29 But we're going to tell you to receive Christ. We're going to tell you to believe what the believers here believe. That we are, by nature and by birth, we are alienated sinners from God. And God reconciled us to himself through the death of his son, Jesus Christ. And he commands us. He commands us to turn from our sin and to believe in Jesus Christ. And when you do, you are saved. You are a child of God. That's the gospel. 08:59 The goal biblically in our worship service should be building up believers. Like, what parts of the service? Well, your Bible says the same thing that mine does. Let all things, all things be done for building up. It's teaching God's truth and teaching believers how to apply God's truth. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because we have talked so much about this through 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 09:29 Church is where you go to give, not go to get. Over and over and over and over and over. Paul says edify, build up, edify, build up. It's just been the theme of this whole chapter. Paul says when you go to church, you should go to church ready to serve other people. That should be your mindset. I'm not here to get, I'm here to give. You're like, well, what about evangelism? 10:01 I'll study the book of Acts. When believers are built up, they are prepared to reach the lost in their lives. There's lost people in your life, in your sphere of friends, influence. You need to be built up here so you can go to them and share the gospel of Christ. The church is not what's in it for me, but. 10:29 Everything we do here has to have the mindset of what can we do to build up believers. That's what he says. So number one, how to have a church service God's way, build up believers. Number two, he says, eliminate the chaos. You've got to eliminate the chaos. Here he talks about two gifts. Just for that day that were not used appropriately in Corinth. Tongues, even the legit, They weren't doing that right. And prophesying. And understand again, the New Testament was being written during this day. So prophets were getting new revelation from God. We don't get that now that the Bible is complete. Right? Those blank pages in the back of your Bible aren't for you adding to Scripture. That's not what that's for. 11:32 But there were two gifts in that day that were being wildly misused, and it was contributing to the chaos. Tongues and prophecy. First, he addresses tongues. Okay? Legit gift of speaking in tongues. How do we do it? How do we do it? Look at verse 27. He says, and let someone interpret. 12:02 But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silen

Introduction: Why Are We Doing This? (Psalm 90): Because TIME IS SHORT . (Ps 90:1-12) Because GOD IS GOOD . (Ps 90:13-15) Because THERE IS WORK TO DO . (Ps 90:16-17) Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Gratitude - Part 2 Jeff Miller / Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript Paster Jeff 00:00 Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of Psalms. And we will be looking at the 90th Psalm. I can think of a couple reasons now why we need a building on that property. Both of them pretty evident today, right? Alright, let's get into God's Word together. Pray for me please. Paster Jeff 00:30 A sermon in three acts. So you pray for Pastor Rich and Pastor Taylor. All right? And we all will pray for you. All right? Let's pray. Father in heaven, as we turn to your word now, I just pray for all of us that our hearts are open to receive what it is that you've taught us through your eternal word. Thank you, Father. Thank you for All that you have so richly blessed us with, but most of all, Father, for the salvation that we find in Christ, because otherwise we would be so lost and hopeless. Father, I thank you that you have left us a guarantee of your love for us, the provision of salvation, the means by which eternal life can be restored, Father. And I pray that you would help us all to just Zero in now in your word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I love the kid sounds, by the way. Not a distraction up here. Don't let it distract you. It's a sign of life. I love it. Alright? I told you before when I hear kids making noise, in my mind I just hear, Amen! Amen! Amen! That's how I hear that. So it just encourages me, alright? Psalm 90. Let's take a look. Paster Jeff 02:00 This is a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Verse 1, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Again, this was written by Moses. And I thought, what an appropriate place for us to land today after this last series that Pastor Taylor took us through. Paster Jeff 02:29 The Psalm that was actually written by Moses. And look at what he says again in verse 1. Look close. Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. That's really a funny statement when you consider what was going on when Moses wrote this. You could say that Israel was between homes. Paster Jeff 02:59 Right? What is home? Anyways, I was thinking about that a lot as I was preparing for this. All the places I lived. I grew up in Shakura. Moved to Ohio for school where I lived probably a half a dozen different places during my years in Ohio. Then moved back to Butler where I lived on Locust Street and then on North Street and then on Pearl Street. Paster Jeff 03:29 And then we moved to Renfrew, Prospect, Chicago, back to Prospect, then to Economy, and now in beautiful Zillian Opal. Every time I moved, I swore it was the last time I was ever going to move. So I stopped doing that. But what is home? What is it? I think about the church, right? Paster Jeff 03:59 met at the meeting room in Pantera Bread. Lo these many years ago. Then we were in a man's basement. He knew. He was there. Then we met in the chiropractor's office. Marshall Middle School. Then 12330 Perry Highway Suite 100. And then almost 414 Klein Road, but right back to 12330. Paster Jeff 04:29 Perry Highway Suite 100. What is home? Well, if you're a believer, there's no place on earth that's ever really going to feel like home. Because earth is not our home. Wherever we are, wherever we are, that's what Moses is talking about here. Lord, You have been our dwelling place. Paster Jeff 04:59 Church, our dwelling place isn't this office building or even Klein Road or wherever the Lord has. Our dwelling place, Church, is the Lord. Wherever geographically that is, He is our dwelling place. Well, if this isn't our home, and if the new church building isn't something any of us are going to enjoy forever, then why are we... Paster Jeff 05:29 Why are we going to joyfully and gratefully go after the work of this church building? Why? Paster Jeff 05:40 So what's the point? Well, there's three points actually. Here's the first one that Moses reminds us this. Time is short. Paster Jeff 05:52 Time is short. Paster Jeff 05:55 Look at verses 2 through 6. He says, For the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Paster Jeff 06:08 You return man to dust and say, Return, O children of man. Paster Jeff 06:14 For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday, when it is past, or as a watch in the night. Paster Jeff 06:23 You sweep them away as with a flood. Paster Jeff 06:26 They are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning. In the morning, it flourishes and is renewed. In the evening, it fades and withers. Time is short. Oh, not for God, right? He made that clear. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. When God revealed to Moses what His name is, He said, his name is I Am. And that tells us everything we need to know about God. God's not I was, like you should have seen me in high school. I was in shape and good looking. No, no, God's not the I was. And God is not the I will be. Right? Like, you know what, Moses, I might not look like much now, but I'm exercising and I'm on this paleo diet. Paster Jeff 07:26 and I just did a juice cleanse and I'm seeing a good chiropractor and I'm going to be something great. No, no, no. He's not the I will be. He is the I am. He is the I am in Moses' day and he is the I am today. And Moses points out here, God is from everlasting to everlasting, but I think it's pretty obvious he says we are not. He says we're not. Paster Jeff 07:56 around you, you and I are here and gone. Right? Gone like what he tells us in verse 5. He uses three pictures here. First of all, he sweeped them away as with a flood. Could you imagine? Some of you can. Then he says, they're like a dream. I love that image. Have you ever, this happens to me all the the time. Have you ever had one of those dreams that seem like they take place over the course of like days or weeks and then you wake up and it's only been like, you've only been in bed like an hour? Has that ever happened to you? He's like, that's what man's like. We think this is like such a long thing, but it's over quick. He uses another image here that shouldn't be lost on us. He says, we're like grass. We're renewed in the morning. We flourish. We grow. Paster Jeff 08:56 in the evening we fade. Paster Jeff 09:00 We wither. Paster Jeff 09:02 Why is life so short? Paster Jeff 09:05 He tells us, look at verse 7. Paster Jeff 09:07 He says, For we are brought to an end by your anger. Paster Jeff 09:13 By your wrath, we are dismayed. Paster Jeff 09:17 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins, in the light of your presence. Paster Jeff 09:23 For all our days pass away under your wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70, or even by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone, and we fly away. Paster Jeff 09:53 the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you. Why is life so short? He just basically very poetically sums it up just as one concept. It's the curse of sin. It's because of sin that life is short. God promised Adam, the first man, if you sin against me, God literally says, dying you will die. You're going to get old and wear out and die. Dying you will die. Paster Jeff 10:22 It's an act of judgment from God on a world that's rejected Him. Paster Jeff 10:30 You're like, so what's the point? Paster Jeff 10:33 Why would Moses bring this up? Paster Jeff 10:36 Verse 12 is Moses' point. Paster Jeff 10:39 He says, so, this is his prayer to the Lord, should be ours. Paster Jeff 10:43 So, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Paster Jeff 10:55 Teach us to number our days. Okay, so the Bible says that we should number our days. So let's obey, shall we? How many days do you have left on this earth? How many days? Well, we'll take Moses' average here, right? Did you notice he says, in verse 10, 70 or 80. So we'll take the average, which is 75. All right, thank you, accountants. So if we take Moses' average, 75. Now that's just the average. This is an exercise, right? I did the math for you. Okay, so if you're 50, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand with your age or anything like that, right? Okay, so So if you're 15 years old, you're sitting here today and you're 15 years old, do you know how many days you have left on this earth? 21,900. All right? If you're 25, you have 18,250. If you're 35, you have 14,600 days left on this earth. If you're 45, you have 10,950 days left on the earth. Paster Jeff 12:21 If you're 55, you have 7,300 days left

Introduction: Why is Complaining So Serious? (Numbers 21:1-9) Because It INSULTS GOD . (Num 21:1-5) Because It INFECTS OTHERS . (Num 21:4-5) Because It INFLICTS A PENALTY THAT MUST BE PAID . (Num 21:6-9) John 3:14-15 - “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” Romans 8:32 - He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? God, I give you thanks for... ____________________________________________________ Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! For Our Example: Ancient Warnings for the Church Today - Do Not Be Complainers Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript 00:48 Numbers chapter 21. 00:53 Do you ever suffer from decision paralysis? 00:57 Trying to figure out what to watch on a Friday night, and you end up spending the whole night scrolling through all your various streaming services because you can't figure out a movie to watch? 01:08 You and your family have decision paralysis about where you're going to go on vacation next year, the lake, the beach, a road trip across America. 01:17 You and your spouse have no idea where to go for your next date night. Do you know where I experience the greatest sense of decision paralysis? The Cheesecake Factory. Has anyone else ever been there? Does anyone want to guess how long their menu is? 21 pages. 21 pages. 01:47 on those 21 pages. Over 250. That's insanity. There are so many good options to choose from. Whenever I'm in that booth, I have decision paralysis. I don't know what to pick. I don't know what to eat. I felt that same exact way that I always feel in the Cheesecake Factory booth as I decided what to preach on this morning. 02:16 This is the final week of our latest series for our example, Ancient Warnings for the Church. Today, we have been digging into the books of Exodus and Numbers and learning from the negative example of the Israelites and receiving warnings from God Himself. Warnings like, do not be idolaters. Do not be doubters. Do not be fake repenters. This morning, we will receive our fourth and final warning. 02:45 Do not be complainers. So why did I experience decision paralysis as I was planning out this series and this sermon in particular? Because there are so many stories of the Israelites complaining in Exodus and Numbers. Their complaint menu is long and extensive. There are so many options to choose from. 03:15 their work harder in Egypt. In Exodus chapter 5 verse 21. They complained at the Red Sea. In Exodus 14. 11 through 12 that they would die. And they finally shut up whenever God rescued them. They complained about food and water in Exodus 15. Exodus 16. Exodus 17. Numbers 11. Numbers 20. The people complained about how hard their lives were in Numbers 11 verses 1 through 3. And as a result, some of them were consumed by fire from heaven. And number 16, a group is not happy with God's choice of leadership and they rebel against Moses and Aaron. They grumble, they complain. And as a response, God opens up a sinkhole and swallows the rebels. A much more serious sinkhole than the one outside Passman Hospital a few weeks ago. 04:14 People are very upset. They think Moses is the one who killed these rebels. They complain. And then God kills those complainers with a plague from heaven. Do you see why I suffered decision paralysis? There are so many options to choose from on the Israelite complaint menu. What about your complaint menu? Is it short and almost non-existent? Or is it long? 04:44 and extensive. 04:47 If I asked you to list all the things you complain about, would that be difficult for you? 04:53 Would it be difficult to filter out all the options, to list out every single thing you complain about because you complain about most things in your life? 05:02 Or maybe you even complain about everything in your life. 05:07 Complaining may seem like small potatoes compared to idolatry, doubting, and fake repentance, but it isn't. Complaining may seem like a small issue, but it isn't. It is a big deal. It is a serious issue that you need to take seriously right now. It is a serious issue that I need to take seriously right now. Thankfully, I eventually overcame my decision paralysis. 05:40 And I forced myself to make a decision. I settled on the last recorded example of the Israelites complaining in the book of Numbers. Numbers chapter 21 verses 1 through 9. This passage shows us why complaining is so serious and how we can take it seriously moving forward. So let's go to the Lord and ask for his help. Let's ask the Lord that we would take our complaining seriously and we would take his word very seriously as well. 06:10 Go to the Lord in prayer. Father, there is not a single person in this room or watching online who can say that they did not complain this past week. And the same for me. Lord, we are so sorry that we complain so often. We are so sorry that we often do not recognize Your goodness in our lives. 06:40 We walk out of this service with a renewed desire to worship you and give you the thanks that you deserve. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So why is complaining so serious? Why is complaining so serious? Reason number one, because it insults God. Because it insults God. 07:10 I know that many of you have been in and out of service over the past month so let me give you an idea of where we are in Israel's history they have been rescued from slavery in Egypt and many of them survived worshipping the golden calf at Mount Sinai two weeks ago we studied a sad story of doubt the Israelites refused to go into the promised land they chose to trust themselves more than God and as a result God gave them a consequence The Grumbling and Complaining Older Israelites will never ever see the Promised Land. They will die during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. The younger generation will see the Promised Land. It will take 40 years to see that come true. Last week we focused on the Israelites' response to this bad news. They tried to take the Promised Land by force against God's wishes. 08:10 for them? Not at all. They were quickly defeated and they were sent away. Now we are fast forwarding in time and we're picking up their story near the end of the wilderness wandering. The older generation is fading away and the new generation is replacing them. Let's see if the new kids on the block do any better than the older generation when it comes to complaining. Look at verses 1 through 3 of chapter 21. 08:40 When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Otharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction. And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah. 09:10 The Canaanites pick a fight with the Israelites, which leads to the defeat of the Canaanites. God is giving His people a preview of what their conquest of the promised land will look like. It looks like a new day is dawning. It looks like the Israelites have turned over a new leaf. It looks like they are closing the book on their disobedience. And they are starting a new chapter of obedience. 09:39 Maybe not so much. Check out their response to God's victory. The victory that God gave them in verses 4 through 5. From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses. Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is no food and water and we loathe this worthless And we're back. 10:14 It looks like the apple hasn't fallen very far from the tree. 10:17 New generation, same old sins. 10:21 The Israelites are impatient again. 10:23 They are accusing their leaders again. 10:26 They are complaining again. 10:30 At its core, complaining is dissatisfaction with God and His good gifts to you. 10:38 Complaining is an unspoken thought or a spoken word of dissatisfaction with God and His good gifts to you. And that's what the Israelites are doing here. They are complaining. They are acting like God hasn't done anything for them lately. They are completely ignoring His provision in the past and in the present. The Lord just showed up for them in a huge way in their battle against the Canaanites. God could have chosen to sit this one out, but He did

Introduction: The Warning Signs of Fake Repentance (Numbers 14:39-45) Regret Without CHANGE . (Num 14:39-40) 2 Corinthians 7:10 - For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. Resistance to CONSEQUENCES . (Num 14:41) Reliance on SELF . (Num 14:42-45) John 5:6 - When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! For Our Example: Ancient Warnings for the Church Today - Do Not Be Fake Repenters Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript 00:48 Please turn your Bibles to Numbers chapter 14 verses 39 through 45. Numbers chapter 14 verses 39 through 45. It can be hard to spot something that is fake if you don't sit up and pay attention to the warning signs. Raise your hand if you've ever been tricked into believing that an AI generated image or video was actually real. It's okay, you're among friends. We've all been bamboozled. 01:17 and no, I have too. We've all been tricked. So many people are fooled by AI on social media. So many friends and family members have sent me a new trailer for a new movie that is completely fake. I have to awkwardly break them. The bad news. A reel will pop up on social media or Facebook and it looks legit, but if you sit up and pay attention to the warning signs, you'll see that something, is off. 01:48 There are lighting inconsistencies. 01:51 A person's hand has seven or six fingers instead of five. 01:55 A car crashing doesn't obey the law of physics. 02:00 Or maybe someone's mouth moving doesn't line up with what they're saying. 02:05 I don't want to lecture you about the dangers of AI because you are very well aware. 02:10 Slander, misinformation, cyber attack, even framing people for crimes that they didn't actually commit. With each passing year, AI is getting more and more advanced, and it's getting more and more difficult to tell the difference between what is genuine and what is fake, what is real and what is not, what is true and what is phony. AI is a really serious issue in 2026, isn't it? 02:41 But do you know what's an infinitely more serious issue that has spanned the entirety of human existence? Sin and a person's response to it. The Bible commands you. The Bible commands me. The Bible commands everyone to repent. Repentance is a total change of mind and direction. You are called to turn away from your sin and to turn towards Jesus Christ. 03:10 You are commanded to repent, not just on the day of your conversion, but every single day after that as well. But here's the problem. How can you tell if a person's repentance is genuine or not? How can you tell if your repentance is the real deal or not? Similar to AI, you need to sit up and pay attention to the warning signs. 03:39 You'd be on the lookout for the warning signs of phoniness. We have taken a brief pause on our series in the book of 1 Corinthians to focus on the books of Exodus and Numbers. We're in the third week of our latest series for our example, Ancient Warnings for the Church Today. We have been studying some serious cases of sin and disobedience. The Israelites have provided negative examples for us to avoid, and the Lord has provided warnings for us to heed. Warnings such as, do not be idolaters. Do not be doubters. 04:17 This morning, the Lord has another warning for you and me. 04:22 That warning is, do not be fake repenters. 04:27 Do not be fake repenters. 04:31 And the stakes of this warning are extremely high. 04:34 The ramifications are a matter of life or death. 04:38 Heaven or Hell. So I beg you to not lean back and daydream during this sermon. Instead, sit up and pay attention. Be on the lookout for the warning signs of fake repentance in your life. Because the Lord may convict you today that you've never truly repented. Or the Lord may convict you that you haven't truly repented. 05:08 in a very long time. 05:11 So let's go to the Lord and ask for His help. 05:14 Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim God's Word. 05:18 And I will pray for you that you will faithfully receive God's Word. 05:24 Father, we come before You today to acknowledge our many sins. 05:30 We come before You to acknowledge the reality that we so often do not deal with our sins in the ways that You want us to. 05:37 We so often don't deal with our sin. Or we deal with our sin in the way that we want to. Lord, today, may we truly deal with our sin in the way you called us to in your word. And that way is genuine repentance. By the end of this service, Lord, may we all be able to say before you with integrity that we are genuine repenters. May your Holy Spirit move in a great and mighty way. May he seek and save the lost. May he He give faith where there is none. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. The warning signs of fake repentance. The warning signs of fake repentance. Number one in your outline, regret without change. Regret without change. Last week we studied the story of Israel's doubt and their refusal to enter into the promised land. 06:37 to scope it out, to see where the enemies were and where their cities were as well. 06:42 And they're commanded to be of good courage, but many of them choose to be cowards. 06:48 Ten of them came back with a very bad report. 06:53 And this bad report led the Israelites to doubt the Lord, to grumble against Him, and to refuse to enter the Promised Land. 07:04 There are immediate consequences for this disobedience. Immediately, the ten unfaithful spies are killed by a plague. And the Lord shares the long-term consequences of their disobedience. The older generations will not enter the promised land. The only two people who will are Joshua and Caleb. Because they were the two faithful spies who gave a good report and were faithful to the Lord. 07:34 Everybody else, 20 or older, will never enter the Promised Land. The younger generations will see the Promised Land, but they have to wait for 40 years. They have to wander in circles for 40 years. Now it's time for Moses to break that bad news to the Israelites. God has shared that with him. Now he has to share it with them. How do you think that's going to go? Is it going to go well? 08:04 Are they going to respond positively or negatively? Are they going to respond with genuine repentance or fake repentance? Let's see their response in verse 39. When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. This seems positive, right? This seems like a good development. The people seem crushed. They aren't grumbling. 08:35 anymore. They aren't shaking their fists at the heavens. They aren't kicking the sheep in anger. They are crying. That's good, right? But are these tears genuine? Is this genuine repentance? That is the question. And we find the answer to that question in verse 40. And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country saying, here we are. We will go up to the place the Lord has promised for we have sinned. 09:07 The Israelites still are not getting it. They still are not listening. They are not doing what God tells them to do. At first, God says, go into the promised land. And they say, you know what? We're not going. Now he says, do not go into the promised land. And what do they say? Oh yeah? Well, we're going. It's the same disobedience dressed up in different clothing. 09:33 They still are not repentant. They still are not changed. They may have some regrets. But they are not truly sorry for their sin. And we see this kind of fake repentance all throughout the Bible. Esau regretted that he sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a stupid bowl of stew. He even put on the waterworks show. 10:03 1217, Esau never truly repented of his ungodly behavior. He never truly changed. King Saul disobeyed the Lord and his throne was stripped from him. Sure, on the outside, Saul looked upset. He looked sad, but on the inside, he was still stubbornly disobeying the Lord. He was not changed. He was not truly repentant. What about Judas? 10:33 Judas betrayed our Lord for 30 pieces of silver. He immediately regretted the worst betrayal in human history, but he didn't turn to the Lord for forgiveness as Peter did when he denied Jesus three times. The Bible is very clear that Judas was not saved. He was not repentant. He was not changed. The mourning of Esau, Saul, and Judas, meant nothing. And it led to nothing good. The Israelites' repentance in this passage, their regret, means nothing. And it leads to nothing good. Listen to what Paul has to say about this in 2 Corinthians 7.10. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads t

Introduction: I Will Doubt... (Numbers 13:1-14:38) If I Am Paralyzed by MY CIRCUMSTANCES . (Num 13:25-33) If I Choose the Comfort of MY PAST . (Num 14:1-4) Romans 6:20-21 - For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. If I Tune Out GODLY COUNSEL . (Num 14:5-10a) James 1:22-25 - But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If I Follow the CROWD . (Num 14:10b-38) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! For Our Example: Ancient Warnings for the Church Today - Do Not Be Doubters Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript 00:48 Well, please turn your Bibles to Numbers chapter 13. Numbers chapter 13. 00:55 Now, as you turn there, I have a question for you. Have you ever been sent on a spy mission? 01:02 Really, nobody. I was sent on a spy mission in college. Do you want to hear about it? 01:09 All right, so in college, I worked for a pet sitting service. I would walk dogs, feed cats, and stay at people's houses while they were on vacation. And one day, my boss asked me to come into her office, and she sat me down for story time. Apparently, she had a client who was a local celebrity, who I won't name here, but this guy was having romantic troubles, to say the least. He and his girlfriend couldn't even be in the same room as each other anymore. And so he asked her to move out and take her stuff with her. 01:45 And I thought to myself, okay. Interesting, but what does this have to do with me? My boss told me, well, our client doesn't want to go to the house to see if his girlfriend has left or not. He wants one of us to do it. He's going to pay us to do it. And you're the only guy on my payroll, and I don't want to ask the women to do it. Don't worry, you're not breaking and entering. We have his garage code. We have his permission. I know this is a lot to ask, but I'll pay After a lot of reassurance, I would not be arrested or stabbed. 02:20 I drove over to this guy's house, and I sat on his street for a while. 02:25 Just like, what am I doing? 02:27 And there was no car in the driveway. 02:30 So I eventually get the courage to get out of my car, walk up the driveway. 02:34 I peek into the garage. 02:35 It's empty. 02:38 Type in the garage code. 02:40 Slip in. 02:41 And I just keep yelling out, hello, hello. 02:44 Don't worry. 02:45 I'm not a burglar. Your boyfriend sent me over. I don't know if that would have really been helpful. Or not. I don't really know. It's what I said. I was really nervous. I wasn't getting sneak attacked or pepper sprayed. But it became very clear that the woman was not there. But here's the problem. All of her stuff was still there. So I had to go back to my boss and our client with a bad report. The woman is gone, but her stuff ain't. 03:15 I knew that my boss and my client would not be very happy with this bad report from my spy mission. This morning we are studying a biblical spy mission. Twelve Israelite spies are sent on an important assignment and most of the spies come back with a report that won't make Moses or God himself very happy. In my case, I simply reported what I saw all those years ago. 03:45 But when it comes to the Israelite spies, the unfaithful Israelite spies, they report what they wanted to see. They report what they saw through the eyes of fear when they should report on what they saw through the eyes of faith. These unfaithful spies experience doubt. And at its core, doubt is distrust in the character, purposes, and promises of God. They allow doubt to cloud their vision and make their decisions for them. 04:23 What about you? You may not be a spy like me, but can you relate to the 10 unfaithful spies at all? Do you ever experience doubt? Do you ever look at your life through the eyes of fear instead of the eyes of faith? 04:46 Do you ever allow doubt to cloud your vision and make your decisions for you? We are taking a short pause on the book of 1 Corinthians to focus on the books of Exodus and Numbers. This is the second week of our latest series for our example, Ancient Warnings for the Church today. Ancient Israel's history of disobedience should be studied for the sake of our obedience. 05:16 today. Throughout Exodus and Numbers, the Israelites set negative examples for us to avoid, and God provides warnings that we should not ignore. Last week, we studied the golden calf incident at Mount Sinai, and we received the warning to not be idolaters. This morning, we will receive another warning from God. Do not be doubters. Do not be doubters. 05:45 You know, heeding this warning, listening to this command from God may be a tall order for some of you. We live in such a stressed out and anxious culture where worry is normalized and excused. Everyone is worried about something. Politics, gas prices, the economy, house projects, young children inside the home, grown-up children outside the home. 06:15 the home, personal appearance, public opinion, the list is endless. You know, worry and doubt are not just problems out there. Worry and doubt are problems in this room. The outside culture has invaded the church. Many professing Christians are just as stressed out and worried as the unbelievers around them. 06:45 of faithful dependence upon God, we can so often be negative examples of disbelief in God and his plans for our lives. Maybe your worry is obvious to everyone around you besides you. Maybe you justify your worry in saying, well, I can't help it. This is my personality type. There's nothing I can do. Or maybe you are very well aware of your anxiety. 07:15 The doubts pile up in your mind, and you don't know what to do next. You don't know how to handle this serious issue. Thankfully, no matter where you fall on the spectrum of doubt, the Lord tells you what to do next in His Word. In Numbers chapter 13 through 14, the Lord calls you to avoid the negative examples of the 10 unfaithful Israelite spies, and He calls you to follow the positive of the two faithful spies. In these chapters, God shines a light on the potholes and pitfalls that will trip you up and cause you to fall into doubt. So before we continue, let's go to the Lord and ask for his help. Please pray for me. I will faithfully proclaim God's word and I will pray for you that you will faithfully receive God's word. Father, you have never once given us a reason to doubt you. 08:18 But we come before you today to acknowledge that we doubt you all the time. 08:23 We worry, we stress, we give ourselves over to anxiety. 08:30 Father, we repent of this and we ask for your help to change. 08:35 May you use your word to transform us. 08:39 May you use your word to remind us of your past faithfulness. 08:44 So the Israelites have escaped slavery in Egypt. They were delivered from the Egyptian army and they passed through the Red Sea. Last week we learned they survived their horrible act of idolatry at the base of Mount Sinai. 09:14 of disobedience, they're finally at the edge of the promised land. They made it. This journey was a lot harder than it needed to be, but they're finally here. It's like when you're driving on vacation in bumper to bumper traffic and your kids are arguing the whole time. The trip was really painful, but it's going to be worth it, right? The trip's going to be worth it. The destination is going to make all that worth it, right? 09:44 of the Israelites. Not so much when it comes to the Israelite family vacation. 09:50 They botched the trip to the promised land, and they're about to botch the trip into the promised land. 09:58 Twelve spies are sent to spy out the land, scope out the enemies that occupy it, and bring back a report. 10:05 Before they head out, Moses gives them a pep talk in chapter 13, verse 20. 10:10 He says, be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land. As you discussed, only two of the spies listen to Moses. Only two of them are of good courage and bring back a good report. Ten of them are cowards and they bring back a very negative report. These men choose to travel down the path that leads to doubt. And their path to doubt is the same exact path to doubt that you and I willingly walk down all the time. 10:45 So what is the path to doubt? 10:49 There a

Introduction: 1 Corinthians 10:6 - Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 1 Corinthians 10:11 - Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. My Idolatry... (Exodus 32:1-35) Disgraces ME and Dishonors the LORD. (Ex 32:1-6) Exodus 20:3 - “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:4 - “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath.” Exodus 20:7 - “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” Exodus 20:14 - “You shall not commit adultery.” Will Not Go UNNOTICED . (Ex 32:7-14) Cannot Be EXPLAINED AWAY or BLAMED ON OTHERS. (Ex 32:15-24) Leads to SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES . (Ex 32:25-29) Can Be FORGIVEN . (Ex 32:30-35) 1 Timothy 1:15 - The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. Titus 2:11-12 - For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age... Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! For Our Example: Ancient Warnings for the Church Today - Do Not Be Idolaters Taylor Brown Download Audio Transcript 00:48 So please turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 32. 00:52 Exodus chapter 32. 00:57 Have you ever been warned against doing something, but you did it anyway? 01:02 Have you ever been given the option between learning the easy way or the hard way and chosen the hard way? 01:11 Every single one of us would say yes to both those questions. 01:16 Do you want to hear about a time when I had to learn the hard way? When I was warned against doing something, but I did it anyway. Well, in 2018, my side of the family planned a vacation to Hilton Head, South Carolina. But there was one problem. The trip went from Saturday to Saturday, and my wife Kate and I were booked to photograph a wedding on that first Saturday. So we were already going to miss a big chunk of the vacation. 01:44 And I thought to myself, I have a great idea. That ended up not being so great. My idea was after working a 12-hour day in the hot sun, let's drive 12 straight hours through the night to Hilton Head, South Carolina. I'll be fine. Every single person I shared that plan with said that's a really bad idea and you shouldn't do it. I heeded none of those warnings and I took a risk. 02:13 And again, I was totally fine until about 5 a.m. At that point, Kate had been asleep for hours, and I was trying to keep myself awake with caffeine and true crime podcasts, but my eyes were heavy. I was trying, I was opening my eyelids, I was slapping myself, I was trying everything. And I kept thinking to myself, this isn't good, this is going to be bad, but then I kept telling myself, just a few more minutes, just a few more miles. 02:43 Everything will be fine. 02:46 As it turns out, everything would not be fine. 02:48 One moment, I was conscious and kind of alert. 02:53 And then one minute, I was awakened by the sound of slamming into multiple traffic barrels on the highway. 03:01 Worst wake-up call in the history of my entire sleeping career. 03:06 Thankfully, I was able to steer away from the traffic barrels and get over to the shoulder. 03:10 I checked on my wife who had woken up and was not very happy with me. And I went out to inspect the damage. Our entire hood was destroyed. There was a traffic barrel shoved under the front of the car. I was able to get it out and put it back where I found it. It wasn't as good as new. It looked pretty bad. But the car was drivable. So Kate said, I'm driving. So I get in the passenger seat while mentally beating myself up while Kate drove the rest of the way. 03:40 And no, I was not able to fall asleep during the rest of the trip. Learning the hard way isn't a fun road to drive on. But many of us willingly drive down it anyway, don't we? Learning the easy way is a far simpler path, but for some reason, it doesn't appeal to us in the moment. It doesn't seem like the best route to take on the journey of life. Thankfully, the Lord knows. 04:10 our destructive tendencies. 04:13 And he fills his words with warnings of what we shouldn't do. 04:17 He fills his word with warnings of where we shouldn't go. 04:23 And many of these warnings take place in the Old Testament. 04:27 As we see the Israelites make the same mistakes over and over and over again. 04:34 A few months ago, Pastor Jeff preached on 1 Corinthians 10, verses 1-13, in which Paul makes it clear that Israel's shady past of disobedience should cause us to be obedient today. We should look to their negative examples and avoid what they did. Listen to what Paul says in verse 6 of chapter 10. He says, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. And he goes on to say, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instructions. The Israelites learned the hard way so that you could learn the easy way. This morning we are starting a brand new series called For Our Example, Ancient Warnings for the Church Today. We will study the books of Exodus and Numbers that we can receive four specific warnings from God Himself. Do not be idolaters. 05:39 Do not be doubters. Do not be fake repenters. Do not be complainers. And this morning we're going to focus on the first warning from God. Do not be idolaters. Do not give other people and other things the worship and love that God alone deserves. Do not put anything or anyone else on the throne of your heart. Do not take God off the top of your priority list. 06:10 I know what some of you are thinking at this point. Pastor Taylor, I don't want to obnoxiously call you out, but Pastor Jeff did preach a sermon on idolatry pretty recently. I guess you weren't paying attention. You know what? Pastor Jeff, you did preach a sermon on idolatry, didn't you? That was a good sermon. Let me ask you, have you committed idolatry since you heard that sermon? You have? 06:39 Me too. Have you committed idolatry many times since hearing that sermon? Yeah, me too. It sounds like we need to hear it again. It sounds like we need to receive this warning from the Lord again. So let's go to the Lord and ask for His help. Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim God's Word while I pray for you that you will faithfully receive it. 07:10 Father, we come before you as your people to acknowledge we so often forget what you say. 07:17 We do not live in light of what you say. 07:20 We've heard this kind of sermon many times, but we often fail to keep it. 07:26 Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to receive, and hands and feet that are willing to do what your word says this morning. 07:35 May your word do your work. 07:37 May you bring transformation and change because I cannot. We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen. So before we dig into Exodus chapter 32, we have to rewind to the beginning of the books that we can understand the backstory. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt. For years they were mistreated, abused, and sentenced to back-breaking labor. 08:07 Pharaoh even commands the Egyptians, yeah, get the Hebrew boys and throw them into the Nile River whenever they are born. They are suffering. The worst fate imaginable. But God did not forget them. God heard their cries for help. He saw their suffering and he raised up Moses to deliver them out of Egypt. He told Moses, tell Pharaoh to let my people go. And Pharaoh repeatedly refused. 08:38 that command. So God sent ten plagues upon the nation of Egypt. And eventually Pharaoh said, fine, get out of here. The people of God pack up and head out. And they are led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And at one point Pharaoh's sitting there thinking, what have I done? My entire workforce is gone. I've made a huge mistake. So he stalled up his army and they went after the people of God. 09:07 Did that go well for Pharaoh? Was that a great plan? No. The people of God pass through the Red Sea by a miracle and then the Egyptians are swallowed up by that same water. And after this divine intervention, the Israelites are brought to Mount Sinai. They're commanded, stay at the base of the mountain while Moses goes up for 40 days and 40 nights to receive the Ten Commandments and other instructions from God. 09:37 Backstory leads us to one of the most depressing stories in

Introduction: Tongues and Prophecy: Remember Their Purposes. (1 Corinthians 14:20-25) The Purpose of Tongues: Sign of JUDGMENT for ISRAEL. (1 Cor 14:20-23) Deuteronomy 28:49 - The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand... Jeremiah 5:15 - Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. The Purpose of Prophecy: MANIFEST God's PRESENCE. (1 Cor 14:24-25) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: What About Speaking In Tongues? - Part 2 Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:36 Open up those Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Do you remember when we got all that snow a few months ago? You remember that? How cold it was? You remember that? Think about that when we feel a little stuffy this morning. Stuffy, that's the counterpart of chili, right? 01:06 14. Please take a moment and pray for me to clearly communicate God's Word accurately and clearly. And I will pray for you to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us in His Word today. Let's pray. Father, I pray that Your Word, as our Lord taught, it's like that seed, Father. I just pray that it takes root in our hearts and reproduces in a way that glorifies your name and a way that advances your kingdom. Father, keep us from any distractions, especially over these next few minutes. Father, let our hearts and minds be laser-focused on you and your word. We pray in Jesus' name. 02:06 And all of God's people said, Amen. 1 Corinthians 14. Recently, at youth group, we had our breakout time with the kids and we were praying. And one young man in our group, in his prayer, was praying for Pastor Taylor and Pastor Chris. Let's stop there for a second. 02:36 0% bothered by that at all. Right? Because there is nobody that mixes up names more than I do. And I thought, I don't know who Pastor Chris is, but maybe he needs prayer more than I do right now. I don't know. But great kid, just wrong name, right? So he's praying. I want to pray for Pastor Taylor and Pastor Chris. And right then in that moment, another young man in the youth group, hollers, it's not his name! 03:11 I laughed about that for three days. 03:13 It was like the ultimate shot block, right? 03:17 It was like, Pastor Chris, it's not his name! 03:20 Knocked into my house, right? 03:26 Like, I could have just let it slide. 03:32 But there was somebody in our group that absolutely was not going to let that slide. Why am I telling you that story? Because when we approach the subject of speaking in tongues, it is easy for us and it is easy for me to sort of adopt the attitude that I had during that youth group prayer. To be like, well, you know what? People believe different things about speaking in tongues and some people may Maybe have this private gibberish prayer language. Whatever. I can just let it slide. And I've got to tell you, through the study of God's Word, especially the last month, God's Word has sort of been like that other kid that was shot blocking to say, that's not what it's for. Speaking in tongues, right? Gibberish before God, right? That's not what it's for. So truth does matter. 04:33 And let's let the word of God block the shot on any lies. Right? People are all over the board. We talk about speaking in tongues. People are all over the board on the topic. One of the biggest churches in the area. It is a regular practice. Speaking in tongues. 05:03 What does the Bible say about it? Well, we've been talking about it a lot as we've been going through these chapters in 1 Corinthians. Speaking in tongues, there's a biblical gift. There's a spiritual gift. And speaking in tongues is speaking in a real language that you never learned. Right? We learned that from Acts chapter 2, Pentecost. People were speaking in languages they never learned. People were hearing in their own language. 05:35 It would be as if I got up this morning, I never studied Mandarin, but I got up and I just started supernaturally. I had the ability to speak Mandarin. That's what speaking in tongues was for, speaking a known language. We're going to cover that today. But the question, before we get to the purpose of the spiritual gift, I think we have to ask, well, you know, this, gibberish thing where people, you know, either in church or in their private prayer language and they just sort of let loose with a, it's not a known language, it's just like gibberish and a bunch of ecstatic speech. Like, what's the purpose of that? And if you ask somebody that believes in the gibberish prayer language, speaking in tongues, if you ask them, like, what's the purpose? 06:34 you'll hear things like, well, it's for prayer. It's for prayer. That's just not taught in the Bible. Not by direct instruction and not by example. You just don't see that. Some people say, well, no, it's like this highly exalted form of praise. Well, if that's true, then why does he tell us that tongues will cease? If it's such a great way to praise God, why would he put an end to it? 07:03 But some people say, no, no, no. Speaking in tongues is about evangelism, right? It's not. Like, later, check this out, Acts chapter 2. Was tongues for evangelism? No. Acts chapter 2 tells you what the people said and what was heard in tongues. What were they talking about? What was the message being communicated? Acts 2.11 tells us they were declaring the mighty works of God. 07:33 about the things that God did in the Old Testament. That's what they spoke. That was what the languages were communicating. What God had done during Old Testament times. And you see, that caught the attention of the Jews. But when it comes to evangelism, Peter got up, Acts chapter 2, he didn't preach in tongues. He didn't preach in gibberish. Like, how do you know? Well, because the sermon is recorded for us in Acts chapter 2. 08:04 And there are some people, and I've had some lively discussions with people about this, but there are people that believe that speaking in tongues is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That's how you know you're baptized in the Holy Spirit, right? That is so easily disproven. Because in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says, we've all been baptized in one Spirit, right? What was that? Verse 13. 08:32 We've all been baptized in one spirit. Then he says in verse 30, we don't all speak in tongues. So speaking in tongues is the evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit. That doesn't wash with what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 12. So, in the first 19 verses, we covered them last week, speaking in tongues, Paul says gibberish is nothing. Even the real gift, Paul said, it's not that important. Look at verse 19. 09:02 This kind of sums it all up. Paul says, nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. And that was the message last week. He says, look, church, something else, when you get together, something else needs to be the focus of your worship services. And he said it, remember, over and over and over. 09:32 What we need to focus on is building each other up. And that happens through prophecy. That's speaking before. That just means preaching. It's speaking the Word of God. Teaching and preaching. That's what we need to be doing when we get together as a church. Well, as we approach the text we're looking at today, he's continuing the thought. Why? Why is prophecy greater than tongues? 10:02 Just very simply in this passage, he says the reason prophecy is greater than tongues is that you have to consider the purpose of prophecy and you have to consider the purpose of tongues. Like, why did God give us these things? So, on your outline, tongues and prophecy. Remember the purposes. Right? Number one, the purpose of tongues. Why did God give that spiritual gift? The Bible. 10:32 is clear on this. It's a sign of judgment for Israel. That is the purpose of speaking in tongues. It is a sign of judgment for Israel. Look at verse 20. He says, brothers, you don't be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil. But in your thinking, be mature. 11:02 He's rebuking them. He goes, you don't understand. You don't understand. And Paul's like, you're thinking like a bunch of children. Do you know how children think? Do you know how children think? Let me give you an example from when I was a child. Alright? Like, this is like second grade. There was a kid in my class. I'm not going to say his name. He might be watching the stream. He's going to be really upset. But there was this kid in m

Introduction: What About Speaking in Tongues? It's Not That Important. (1 Corinthians 14:1-19) Tongues Are FRUITLESS. (1 Cor 14:1-5) Tongues Are USELESS. (1 Cor 14:6-12) Tongues Are MINDLESS. (1 Cor 14:13-19) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: What About Speaking In Tongues? - Part 1 Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:36 Open up those Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. When I was a very young Christian 30 years ago-ish, I had a very strong conviction. I had a very strong conviction that the death penalty was a horrible thing. Why? 01:06 Why in the world should the government determine if someone lives or dies? I thought the death penalty was an absolutely horrible thing. And then someone lovingly challenged me to see what the Bible says on the subject. Do you know what I found? The first man-to-man law that God gave was the death penalty. The death penalty is in the Mosaic law, and the death penalty is after the Mosaic law. 01:36 Law, Romans 13. 01:39 So my convictions about the death penalty radically changed. 01:46 And I'm saying all that to say, look, it's okay. 01:52 It's okay after a closer study of the Word of God to let the Bible change your mind. 02:04 And the subject we're looking at today is the gift of speaking in tongues. And there are some of you that maybe have a very strong conviction about it. And I'm sure there are a lot of you that maybe didn't think very much about the subject at all. But if you've been coming here for any period of time, you know that we want the Word of God to shape our beliefs and convictions. So by God's grace, let's go after His Word today to see what He has to say about it. So just please pray for me to communicate God's Word clearly and accurately, and I'll pray for you to have a heart open to see and receive what it is that the Bible actually says. 03:04 on the subject. All right? Let's take a moment and just go before the Lord together. Father, please open our hearts to what Your Word says. Not to what we experienced growing up or heard somebody say about Your Word, but let's take some time and really look and examine what it is that You actually said. Father, let us shape our convictions on that. We thank You, Father. We thank You for Your Word. And even when it's challenging for us living in a different culture and a different time, the truths of Your Word are eternal. And I pray that You would give us the wisdom by Your Spirit today. 04:05 to really grasp and embrace what it is that you've said here. Thank you ahead of time, Father. For what you're going to do today, we pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, Amen. Amen. We go through God's Word verse by verse. Because context is important in anything you read. Especially. 04:34 the Word of God. And we're looking at one of the hardest chapters in the whole Bible today. This passage is so misquoted. And it is so misunderstood. But we're going to get through this together. Right? So before we look at the text, I want you to jot some things down. This isn't like the outline, but you can write it on your outline. But these are, I just want to give you four truths to help us understand 1 Corinthians. 05:04 14. With context in mind. 05:11 As we approach this, there's four absolute truths here that we have to keep in mind as we go to the text. 05:21 And this is the foundation that sets the stage. 05:26 All right? 05:26 So four truths. 05:28 First of all, we need to remind ourselves of the truth of what is the purpose of the gift of speaking in time? 05:35 It was a miracle, first of all, to affirm the apostles, and it was a sign of judgment against Israel. We talked about that last week, and we're going to talk about it again next week. But remember, tongues were real languages, not made-up gibberish words. They were actual real languages. And this is the way the gift operated in the early church. 06:04 The preacher gets up to preach and there are some unsaved Russians present. Well, the preacher never learned Russian, but he miraculously started speaking Russian. Well, the Russians were amazed. But then somebody else in the church had the gift of interpretation so they could translate what the preacher said for the non-Russian speakers in the church. That's the way the gift worked. 06:34 of tongues will cease. And we talked about that word means they will end by themselves. 06:44 Interestingly, tongues is never mentioned in the New Testament. 06:48 It's not mentioned at all after the book of Acts and after 1 Corinthians, which is the earliest epistle written. 06:58 It's just not mentioned at all. 07:00 But that was the purpose of the gift of tongues in the early church. 07:04 Second thing to help us understand this passage, let's talk about the gibberish prayer language. There are some people that believe the gift of tongues is speaking a gibberish prayer language, words that aren't any existing language. It's just a private, unknown language that you speak to the heavens. Where did that come from? 07:34 The truth is that practice came from paganism. And you can study this, but in Corinth, they had a temple to Diana, and that was how they worshipped. Everything there was about feeling and emotions. It wasn't about truth and engaging your mind. Everything in that worship was about experience and emotions. Right? Remember, the priestesses were prostitutes. It was about feeling something. 08:02 And part of their worship was shouting an ecstatic, gibberish language because they believed that was the way that you communicated to the gods. And church, that is never taught in the New Testament as a gift of the Holy Spirit. It's just not. Well, some people believe there are two kinds of tongues. You know, speaking known languages and them being interpreted and praying a gibberish. 08:32 language. But I can't see anywhere in the New Testament where tongues is redefined. From known languages to speaking gibberish. I just don't see it anywhere. So there was a gibberish prayer language that was part of paganism. All right? Third thing to keep in mind as we approach 1 Corinthians 14 is this truth. The Corinthians messed up just about everything. Have you noticed in our study? 09:02 They were like the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hitting, fielding, base running. Like, was there an aspect of their game that they didn't mess up? Well, if you've been through this study with us, that's what we have seen over and over and over. What the Corinthians did was they dragged paganism and worldliness into the church. That's been our whole year of studying this. Right? 09:32 Everything they did was from paganism and worldliness. Like hero worship, sexual sin, lawsuits, marriage fails, idolatry. Oh, and the pagan use of speaking gibberish language to communicate to the gods. They dragged that into church. Something else to keep in mind, very important. Last one. 1 Corinthians 11-14. These chapters are about church conduct, individual conducts. Do you notice that? People want to take these passages and sort of make them like an individual application, but these chapters are about the church collectively, the body of Christ. These chapters are more about us than me. So chapter 14 was written to correct the Corinthians, and Paul was saying the pagan way, the gibberish language isn't really a thing, and let me tell you how the real gift, the real spiritual gift of speaking in tongues works. Interesting thing to note. You're going to see throughout the passage here that sometimes Paul uses the word tongue singular and sometimes he uses the word tongues plural and he seems to be very specific and I spent so much time this past week studying this. He seems very specific about when it's plural and when it's singular. 11:02 scholars to believe that when Paul uses tongues in the plural, he's talking about the real spiritual gifts, speaking a real language that you never learn. Tongues, plural. Why? Because there's many languages, right? There's many languages, so tongues is plural. But when he speaks about tongue singular, he's talking about the pagan gibberish language because gibberish isn't something that can be plural. So just take a note of that. So this is going to feel like Sunday school today. 11:32 But this is so critically important to our understanding of a very sensitive subject to a lot of people. So on your outline, what about speaking in tongues? And here's the whole sermon. This is the whole sermon. You can leave after this statement if you want, but I'll unpack it for you. But here's what he says in chapter 14. What about speaking in tongues? He says, it's not that important. That's this whole passage. He says, it's not that important. 12:05 See, in Corinth, like in c

Introduction: Love > Any Spiritual Gift. (1 Corinthians 13:8-13) Spiritual Gifts Are TEMPORARY. (1 Cor 13:8) Jeremiah 5:15 - Behold, I am bringing against you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, declares the LORD. It is an enduring nation; it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. Isaiah 28:11-12 – For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the LORD will speak to this people, to whom he has said, “This is rest; give rest to the weary; and this is repose”; yet they would not hear. 1 Corinthians 14:21 – In the Law it is written, “By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” Spiritual Gifts Are PARTIAL. (1 Cor 13:9-12) Deuteronomy 29:29 – The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Love is FOREVER. (1 Cor 13:13) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: Why Do I Love? Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:36 Open up those Bibles with me please to 1 Corinthians chapter 13. While you're turning there, I would again ask that you would please take a moment and pray for me to communicate God's Word clearly and accurately as I should. And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive a very difficult passage, but we are going to get through this together. 01:05 All right? Let's pray. Father, I pray that You would remove any distractions from our minds or hearts right now. All of us. You've called us to love You with our minds, and that happens through the study and understanding of Your Word. And I pray, Father, that Especially over these next few minutes, we would love you with all of our minds. As we lock in to see not what we think your word says or what we heard somebody else say that your word says, but help us all to just lock in and see what your word actually says. And Father, this is a passage where it would be real easy for us to miss the point. 02:05 Holy Spirit, by the wisdom of Your Word, that we would get what it is that You're communicating here. I thank You ahead of time, Father, as You're continuing to make us a church unified and purified. Make us a loving church, Father, we pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, Amen. 1 Corinthians 13, are you there? 02:35 or so, a little boy from our church, I will not mention his name, a little boy from our church after the second service runs into my office and he goes, Pastor Jeff, how do I get the girls? And I thought to myself, well, isn't this just precious? Little Lambie comes into Pastor Jeff's office at such a tender age. 03:05 Wanting relationship advice. Pastor Jeff, how do I get the girls? So I knelt down and I said, the most important thing for you right now at this stage in your life is to always be kind. And he looked me in the eye and he said, we're playing tag. 03:39 And I knelt down again, and I said, you've got to be fast. 03:47 And that little anecdote reminds us of a very important truth about life. Context makes all the difference. I was ready to have this heart-to-heart about something that he had no interest in talking about. 04:05 Context makes all the difference. And it never matters more than when we come to the Word of God. Understanding the Word of God in its context. And we're going through 1 Corinthians verse by verse. And you could sum up the first 12 chapters very simply. Lack of love. That was the problem. That was the bottom line. Lack of love. Paul's like, you're not loving each other the way that you need to love each other. 04:35 So we get to chapter 13 where Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us the solution. And the solution is love. Love. Love each other. We talked about this last week. Agape love. Self-sacrificing love. Yes, there are feelings involved, but it's a word more about doing. Right? And then he talked about 15 ways that real love Love acts. Why is this so important? Well, look at verse 8. He says, love never ends. What Paul's doing here and what I'm trying to just echo in representing the Word of God is church, can we grasp the matter of love. Can we really wrap our minds and our hearts around how utterly essential and huge it is for us as a church to get this? He says love is eternal. It's never going away. Now, through all of eternity. Listen, this literally should be translated, love never ends. 06:02 Some translations say things like love never fails. And that's not what he's saying. He's not saying love always conquers the day. He's not saying that because in that sense, love does sometimes fail. I mean, come on, let's not lie to ourselves. Love does sometimes fail. Have you ever loved a family member? 06:32 and everything went south anyways. Have you ever loved somebody in the church? And you were still met with hostility. In that sense, love does sometimes fail because here's the thing. Love can be rejected. Just ask Jesus. Right? Jesus loved everyone perfectly. But sometimes even in Jesus' Jesus' interactions, his love was rejected. But, that's not what he's saying here. He's not saying love always conquers, he's saying love lasts forever. And he makes that point clear in these subsequent verses. Because their emphasis, we've been talking about this the last, what, two or three weeks or whatever, their emphasis was on the spiritual gifts. They were so, like, obsessed with this. 07:32 Who has the best gift? Who's the most important person in the church? You're not as important as me. And this gift, that's way more important than this gift. And they were so out of joint about spiritual gifts. And Paul's coming along, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. All that stuff, all that stuff's going to be over someday, all right? But you know what won't ever be over? Love. That's what he's saying here. So, on your outline, love is, greater than any spiritual gift. That is the greater sign, right? Okay, thank you. The one person here who knew. Okay, Brian. Brian Krauss, thank you. He knew that one. That is the greater sign. It's been a while. Thank you. He's always got my back. Love is greater than any spiritual gift. That's the point. Number one, spiritual gifts are temporary. That's Paul's first point. He goes, love never ends. 08:32 Love never ends. But look, you're all tied up about these spiritual gifts. He goes, that stuff is all temporary. Look at the rest of verse 8. He says, as for prophecies, they will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away. They're all going to end someday. And Paul gives three examples. They were spiritual gifts that were a big deal. 09:02 church and there are three spiritual gifts that are a big deal in a lot of churches today. 09:07 Do you see them? 09:08 Let's talk about it. 09:09 First of all, he's talking about prophecy. 09:13 Jump over tongues for a second. 09:16 Prophecy and knowledge. 09:18 That's putting those together. 09:20 That's knowing and speaking God's truth. 09:25 It's a big deal. 09:26 It's a big deal in this church. 09:27 It was a big deal to the Corinthians because we talked about this a few months ago. 09:31 In that culture, public speaking was the cool thing. It was competition. It was entertainment. Public speaking was the thing. Right? So prophecy and knowledge, knowing and speaking God's truth. And right in the middle there, he talks about tongues. What are tongues? We talked about this briefly. We're going to really take a deep dive in this starting next week. But what are tongues? Tongues are literally known languages. All right? 10:01 It's not gibberish. Tongues are a known language. The spiritual gift was to be able to get up and speak in a language, an existing language that you didn't know, that you never learned. Like if I got up and all of a sudden I started speaking Mandarin. I don't know any Mandarin, but all of a sudden I start speaking it. That's what the gift was. And there would be an interpreter to have the gift to translate what was said. But it was a known language. Acts 2. 10:31 Look at Pentecost. That's what happened. We're going to talk more about that in a second. But Paul's point here is just simply this. All these gifts, prophecy, tongues, knowledge, they're all temporary. They're all temporary. All right, let's not get too excited about these. Like, they're all temporary. Yes, they have a purpose. Yes, used in the church. Yes, a gift from the Holy Spirit for the edification of the body. Yes, but, but, They are not the most important thing because they do