1 Corinthians - Final Charge: Standing Firm in Faith & Strength

["Just That Girl"] ["Bless the Lord, O My Soul"] ♪ Can't count all the reasons to give you my praise ♪ ♪ Like beauty for ashes and joy in the rain ♪ ♪ The world didn't give it, can't take it away ♪ ♪ We're singing oh, oh, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ We're singing oh, oh, oh, my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ Sometimes you are giving or taking away ♪ ♪ No matter the season, I'll give you my praise ♪ ♪ Oh, hands up to heaven, I'll dance in your presence ♪ ♪ I've never seen you wrong, you are worthy, worthy, worthy ♪ Sing it! ♪ Oh, oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ Bless this holy day. ♪ Oh, oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ ♪ All day, all night, I will bless the Lord all time ♪ ♪ All day, all night, I will bless the Lord all time ♪ ♪ Oh, I will bless the Lord all time, all day, all day, all night ♪ ♪ All night, bless the Lord, I will bless the Lord all time ♪ Yes, I will. ♪ All day, all night, I will bless the Lord all time ♪ Just sing it. ♪ Oh, oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ Come on, choir, come on. Sing it. ♪ Oh, oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ Let's sing it again.

♪ Oh, oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ Come on, let's sing it. ♪ Oh, oh, my soul, oh, bless the Lord, O my soul ♪ Come on, go ahead and bless Him, bless Him, worship Him. Come on, oh, we give you praise, come on, come on, come on. You bless the Lord, O my soul. Come on, I will bless the Lord all time. ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul, remember what He's done ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul, He's been so good to us ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul, remember what He's done ♪ ♪ Bless the Lord, O my soul, He's been so good to us ♪ Clip of Life ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, I can go on and on, mm ♪ ♪ Sing about all my God has done, yes I could ♪ ♪ Forever's even not long enough ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm out of time, could add it up ♪ ♪ As long as I got breath in my lungs ♪ ♪ I know nothing's gonna stop me from ♪ ♪ Giving you praise, praise, praise, praise ♪ ♪ On and on, I'll be singing all my days ♪ ♪ Giving you praise, praise, praise, praise ♪ ♪ Jesus, cause I'll be lifting up your name ♪ ♪ Giving you praise, ooh, ooh, ooh, praise, ooh ♪ ♪ Listen now, in my lowest low you're red to me ♪ ♪ Red to me, mm-hmm, you picked me up, put me on my feet ♪ ♪ Turned my life around, now I believe ♪ ♪ I will testify, I'm alive, I've been set free ♪ ♪ I'm giving you praise, praise, praise, praise ♪ ♪ Praise, on and on, I'll be singing all my days ♪ ♪ Giving you praise, praise, praise, praise ♪

♪ You're a king of love, so I'll be lifting up your name ♪ ♪ Giving you praise, ooh, ooh, ooh, praise, ooh ♪ ♪ You've been so good to me, I count the times you brought me through ♪ ♪ You've been so good to me, there's only one thing left to do ♪ ♪ You've been so good to me, count the times you brought me through ♪ ♪ You've been so good to me, there's only one thing left to do ♪ ♪ God, I'm giving you praise, praise, praise, praise ♪ ♪ On and on, I'll be singing all my days, giving you thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks ♪ ♪ The kingdom comes, I'll be lifting up your name ♪ ♪ Yeah, you've been so good to me, count the times you brought me through ♪ ♪ Yeah, you've been so good to me, I'm giving you praise ♪ ♪ I'm giving you praise ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ The strength in my bones, the breath in my lungs, it's the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ It's the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ The light in my eyes, the peace in my mind, it's the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ It's the joy of the Lord ♪ ♪ I've got joy deep, deep down in my soul ♪ ♪ Hope wherever I go, love's so good to lead or hold ♪ ♪ I've got joy deep, deep down in my soul ♪ ♪ Hope wherever I go, love's so good to lead or hold ♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Regarding events each week, we need to stay in mind of the various issues Whoever is in the lead cannot come out in the eyes of anyone

No matter who's in the front No matter of who's on the fare If this continues, the targets... Good morning, Crossgates! We're so glad to have you in this place this morning We're here to lift high the name of Jesus so get on your feet Let's give God all the glory in this place this morning He is worthy of our highest praise Here we go! This is the day you made So I'll rejoice and be glad Rejoice and be glad in it This is where I believe You are more than enough More than enough for me You are faithful to Your promise You are strong when I am weak When I'm standing in Your presence I have everything I need The joy of the Lord The joy of the Lord is my strength The joy of the Lord says The joy of the Lord The joy of the Lord is my strength Oh my soul Bless His name All that is within me say The joy of the Lord The joy of the Lord is my strength

Jesus, come what may You are worthy of all You are worthy of all our praise You are faithful to Your promise You are strong when I am weak When I'm standing in Your presence I have everything I need The joy of the Lord The joy of the Lord is my strength We believe that in this place this morning The joy of the Lord The joy of the Lord is my strength Oh my soul Bless His name All that is within me say The joy of the Lord The joy of the Lord is my strength Let it rise up Like a river Overflowing Holy Spirit Let it pour out With no limit Overflowing Holy Spirit Let it rise up Like a river Overflowing Holy Spirit Let it pour out

With no limit Overflowing Holy Spirit The joy of the Lord The joy of the Lord is my strength The joy of the Lord is my strength Oh my soul Oh my soul Bless His name All that is within me say Oh my soul Bless His name All that is within me say Oh my soul Bless His name All that is within me say The joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord is my strength. Oh, we give you worship in this place this morning, Father. There's no greater joy than to know you, Jesus. Yeah. Come on. Amen. Come on. Well, listen, we are absolutely thrilled that you're here today, more than anything, because we need moments like this that we remind our soul to bless His name, right? I don't know about you, but I have some moments where my soul sort of drags along, and I have to remind my soul that I have much to rejoice in. So before we get to anything else, can we just take a moment and praise the Lord? Can we just bless Him for who He is? Come on.

Amen. Well, listen, we are absolutely honored that you are here this morning. If you're a visitor with us, and we're having so many visitors that are coming this last by the way, thank you for coming to the 1030 service because the nine o'clock was awesome, but it was packed out. So praise God for His drawing people. That's not just true in our church. That's true all over our nation right now, because Jesus is on the move in powerful, powerful ways. The best. But what we want to do is we want to help you in your spiritual story. We want to be a part of that. So if you're a visitor with us today, the one thing we ask, we ask this every Sunday, would you just take a few moments, fill out one of these connect cards, seat back in front of us so that we can just get to know you're not going to hassle. You're not going to show up at your house, but we do want to help you in your spiritual journey. So if you'll fill that out and then turn it in, when you leave red buckets will be there. Some people holding them at the end, drop it in there. And as always, and you should see the stack of prayer requests that came out of the first service. You know the truth. Everybody in this room needs somebody to pray about something in their life, right? And we're making a commitment week by week. If you'll put it down, we'll pray for it. So if you've got a prayer request at some point in the service, you'll fill it out. We would love, love, love to pray for you. And a lot of that, I know some of you might've been worried. I saw somebody that had to step out. She's fine.

They're just taking a moment to make sure she's doing well. If you could do us a favor, I want to do something real quick. Could you just sit down for a second? I love rhythms. I'm a new season kind of guy. I love seasons. And I know a lot of ways the school year, it sort of sets our rhythms. And so we're walking into a new season in our community. And this is what I want us to do. Make sure we don't miss a moment with this. It seems like school gets started earlier and earlier. Does it not? The kids in their house like to help preach brother, preach, right? And here's one of the things you got to know for a society and a culture to flourish. There are certain arenas that have to be led well. And the education system is one of those. And what God does sovereignly is he plants teachers, administrators, educators, those in every realm that might help with that, from public schools to private schools to home school, that he strategically gives people roles to play to help raise up future generations. And listen to me. And us as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, those that come from our faith family, we're sending them, right? We are commissioning them into that environment. So what we want to do this morning is make sure to take a moment to pray for any that might be in that arena. So if you're an educator in any way in the school system, like I said, public, private, home school, whatever that is, would you give us a moment to pray for you? So if you would, if you are an educator, would you stand for a moment? I know you don't want this, but I'm asking you to come on now. Let's give a second to tell them how much we appreciate you.

Wow. Stay standing, stay standing, stay standing. Now for the rest of us, I want us to recognize where they are in the room, recognize who they are. And the rest of us, let's stand and we're going to pray for them. If somebody's near you, maybe you just want to put a hand on their shoulder and just pray for them. Stretch your hand out toward them. You can do that as well. Don't wait for me to pray. Start praying for them. Father, I thank you for divine assignments in this room. God, I thank you how you strategically placed so many of the men and women in this room, Lord, to be teachers. administrators, educators, Lord God, to come alongside the future generation, to teach them things that will help them comprehensively as they engage in this world, but also to be a lot, to be a beacon, to be an example, Lord. So I'm asking in the authority of Jesus name in a new season, new anointing, new courage, father, maybe some of them walk into this next season already I ask that you would bolster their strength, give them clarity of mind, convictional courage, God, the right spirit and which Lord to stand forth, Lord, and be a disciple maker where you are placing them, Lord God. So help them. I pray. And I pray that you would use them to be a witness to how much you love future generations. So we love you. Thank you. Now we turn our mind toward this moment we're in and we ask Lord, glorify your name, glorify your name, Lord. We want to crown you as king of Kings and Lord of Lords, not because you need us to, you already are because it's the only right way to respond to you. So be worshiped. We welcome your work. Spirit of God speak to us. We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. Let's continue to enter into worship. Amen. Church family. Let's rightly acknowledge king of Kings, Lord of Lords, that Jesus is worthy to be exalted, to lift him up. Let's worship him. Let's declare him king of Kings, Lord of Lords. Your Lord of all, let every throne before him fall. The King of Kings, O come adore our God who reigns forever more. O crown him the Lord of life, who triumphs over the grave. And rose victorious in the strife for those he came to save. So his glory now we sing. Who died and rose on high. Who died eternal life to bring and lives that death may die. O majesty, you are Lord of all. Let every throne before him fall. The King of Kings, O come adore our God who reigns forever more.

O hail, Redeemer, hail. For he has died for me. His praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity. O hail, Redeemer, hail. For he has died for me. His praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity. ♪ Throughout our lives, throughout eternity ♪ ♪ So we sing, majesty, you're Lord of all ♪ ♪ Let every thrall before Him fall ♪ ♪ He's the King of Kings, O come, adore our God now ♪ ♪ Who reigns forevermore ♪ ♪ O majesty, you are Lord of all ♪ ♪ Let every thrall before Him fall ♪ ♪ The King of Kings, O come, adore our God who reigns forevermore ♪ ♪ Yeah, He's God who reigns forevermore ♪ ♪ You're the God who reigns forevermore ♪ Let's praise the King of Kings Church. He is worthy, He is faithful, He is good, He is near to the brokenhearted, and He is always who will always be, He has always been faithful and true, so let's worship Him for that this morning. ♪ I call you faithful for the promises you've kept ♪ ♪ And every need you've met ♪ ♪ And Lord, I'm so grateful you were with me every step ♪ ♪ And I never will forget ♪ ♪ And when I think of how you've blessed me ♪ ♪ How your hand has never let me go ♪ ♪ You've never let me go ♪ ♪ You have been so good to me ♪ ♪ God, I can't believe how you love me ♪ ♪ What a friend you have been ♪ ♪ You're so good to me ♪ ♪ God, I can't believe how you love me ♪

♪ What a friend you have been ♪ ♪ Oh, what a friend you've been, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, what a friend you've been, Jesus ♪ ♪ And I call you Savior ♪ ♪ For the blood that washed me clean ♪ ♪ For the rocks that you redeemed ♪ ♪ And I know you're able ♪ ♪ And my eyes will have to see ♪ ♪ One more reason to believe ♪ ♪ When I think of how you've blessed me ♪ ♪ Out of your head and never let me go ♪ ♪ Never let me go ♪ ♪ You have been so good to me ♪ ♪ God, I can't believe how you love me ♪ ♪ What a friend you have been ♪ ♪ You're so good to me ♪ ♪ God, I can't believe how you love me ♪ ♪ What a friend you have been ♪ ♪ Oh, what a friend ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Never let me go, Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ For every morning, for every open door ♪ ♪ I call you faithful and I just wanna thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ For every mountain, for every time you brought me through ♪ ♪ I call you faithful and I just wanna thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ For your forgiveness, for how you never turned away ♪ ♪ I call you faithful and I just wanna thank you Lord ♪ ♪ For your salvation, you paid the price I couldn't pay ♪ ♪ I call you faithful and I just wanna thank you Lord ♪

♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh, I just wanna thank you Lord, oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ You have been so good to me God I can't believe ♪ ♪ God I can't believe how you love me ♪ ♪ What a friend you have been, you're so good to me ♪ ♪ God I can't believe how you love me ♪ ♪ What a friend you have been ♪ ♪ Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh ♪ So Father we stop and we recount your faithfulness to us. The faithfulness of God displayed just in this room. We could spend the rest of our lives and never give you the glory you so rightly deserve Lord. That you've been faithful in hard seasons, you've been faithful in great seasons, you've been faithful Lord in the forming of our very lives, in the forming of our families God, you've been faithful to open doors when they needed to be opened God, you've been faithful in the mountains, you've been faithful in the valleys Lord, you've been faithful in your salvation, you've been faithful in your sanctification, you've been faithful Lord God in every season and we just wanna say thank you Lord. We express gratitude and say what kind of God is out there like you that can provide and take care of to be a father and a friend. So we thank you for your friendship. We thank you for your goodness and your grace toward us and now we ask by the power of the spirit

would you speak in such a way that every person here is exactly what needs to be heard today. We welcome the wind, welcome the rivers of living water in this room. We pray it in Jesus name. All God's people said amen. Can we give him praise one more time, come on. Amen. If you got a Bible you can turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16 because we are finishing up this letter to the church in Corinth today man. It has been a privilege to do. As you do that, just a couple quick notes. I wanna let you in on and I would ask for you to really listen specifically this verse. If you so happen to work, this is open to anybody but if you so happen to work in the Jackson metro area during the week, meaning like if you go and work in a bank downtown or your occupation finds you down there, I would love for you to consider being a part of something on the first Wednesday of every month at the Jackson Leadership Foundation is something called United Prayer. And it's from 12 to one at the JLF building. If you actually put the tap tag right now, if you put it on you can get that information or you could ask any of our missions department team, they'll let you know where it is. And on the first Wednesday, this is the heart behind it.

Not Crossgates Church, not any church but followers of Jesus Christ coming into the city of Jackson on the first Wednesday of every month to pray for the Lord's blessing on the city of Jackson. That God would do a supernatural work. He's already doing things but listen to me, we have no right to complain about things if we're not willing to cry out. And so what we're believing is that God would rally an army of people that give an hour every month to just pray for the blessing of God on the city of Jackson. If we ever hope to be what we wanna be here in Rankin County and beyond, see our state function and flourish, it needs to start in our capital, right? In our capital city. So I'm asking you to make a decision right now. Mark your calendar this Wednesday. So see, and if you come, we're gonna purely pray. I'm telling you, the Lord meets with us. If you don't know what that is like, it's a little intimidating, I promise you it's not. We'll help guide you through those times. You'll get to know some brothers and sisters in Christ from other churches and then we'll put a box lunch, a really good box lunch in your hand so that you won't be hungry, all right? So you can go back, have something to eat. So that's this Wednesday. Y'all better watch out, I'm in a really good mood, okay? So that's this Wednesday.

Please come be a part of that. Also, anybody grateful, Life Groups are back, baby. Come on, that's right. And we're starting a whole new season, man. So many awesome things that are happening in our faith family and this is our charge, we hope, in every season of your life. that you have a group that you're a part of. And there's no one group that's better than any group, but you need to find the group that fits you, and it's good for you in this spiritual journey that you could be a part of. Equipping season's gonna come back in September. We're gonna have some awesome Wednesday nights where we gather together and seek the Lord, and then we'll start a new equipping season. Most of our groups are open to anyone in any season, but there are a few that you have to sign up so that we can prepare to shepherd you, one of which is re-engage, and the way that we say this is if you're to the married couples of our house, it's not when, it's not if, it's just when. When are you gonna go through re-engage? Re-engage is not for families that are marriages that are falling apart per se, it's for marriages that wanna get a little bit better. Now, you might be in a tough season and you need something like this, awesome, but what we're saying, before we get to that tough season, how about we make a good investment through re-engage?

I think we got like 10 couples spots open right now. Even if you don't get in this time, if you put your name in, it puts you in the queue for the next time, so go ahead and sign up to be a part of that. Now, today, in 1 Corinthians 16, we're sort of landing the plane in what God has been saying to the church in Corinth through Paul, by the power of the Spirit, and I'm gonna ask for a little liberty specifically from the ladies of our house today. We're gonna see in this moment that Paul's gonna speak specifically to men, and there's a reason for that. God knows that, listen to me, when there's things that are not rightly aligned, that there's problems on every level, and in this moment right here, in light of the things that are happening in Corinth, meaning the sin issues that are being addressed, the kind of things that's coming out of this church, you got believers that are suing one another, you got all kinds of sexual immorality, you got slander, you got gospel, gossip, you got the way that they're speaking to one another, there's a lot of dysfunctional things that Paul addresses, or he brings clarity to, the way that they're operating and the gifts, there's a lack of decency and order, but there needs to be this alignment

so that power might flow, and when Paul, you gotta think about this, the momentum of this letter, when Paul lands in this last chapter, he gives a bunch of personal goodbyes, I love you, some sweet nothings all around it, but then he levels the crosshairs to say one last thing to the men in Corinth, because he knows if the men don't spiritually lead, they'll find themselves right back in the same place, and so he's gonna give them four imperatives, like four commands specific to the men, and then he's gonna give them the spirit behind it. Now, all these principles, most of these principles can be applied to the ladies of our house as well, so God's gonna speak to you, but what I pray it does, it gives you a way to know how to pray for the men of this house, maybe men in your own family. So let's jump in the word, verse 13. It starts with two words. I'm not gonna give you principles, I got one principle at the end, because I can't make it clearer than the word makes it today. The first two words in verse 13 is be watchful, be watchful. In many ways, the church in Corinth had lost sight. In the midst of what was happening there,

the reason they were spiritually sick is because people stopped seeing things as God sees them. The reason they find themselves in this situation is because they had lost spiritual awareness, the ability to look within and the ability to look within the body, within their own lives and within this own family, and to see things in their true spiritual state. Listen to me, I've never met a person, I've never had a moment where somebody came up to me, said, you know what, I was spending time with the Lord this morning, and I think I've really made a decision. I'd like to ruin my life in the next season. Nobody does that. If you do that, you're really discouraged and I wanna hug you, right? But nobody comes to a place in their life, you know, like, you know, I think, if I could string a few bad decisions together, I think it could lead to the ruin of my life. But what most people do is over time, our eyes are dulled. Our eyes are closed that we become, listen to me, calloused in nature and heart or blind in sight. And we don't rightly see the situations around us. We don't see the temptations within us that we lose that watchfulness, that awareness spiritually. That's what Paul says to young Timothy, a pastor, when he says in 1 Timothy 4, 16, he said, Timothy, watch your life and doctrine closely.

I love that. Now, I'm gonna tell you why, because nobody was bigger on doctrine than Paul, right? Nobody. The reason we have the doctrine of our faith is because the spirit of God gave clarity to Paul so that we would know how the gospel of Jesus Christ truly works and operates and functions, how the kingdom comes. But when he looks at a young pastor, he says. He doesn't say, hey, Paul, watch your doctrine first. He said, watch your life. Because the truth is this, more men are disqualified from their manner of life than having bad doctrine. Many of us will come to bad places, seasons in our life, and it's not because we got a doctrinal issue, and doctrine does matter, listen to me, but because we lost sight of what the enemy was luring us toward. We lost sight of the temptation, the bent within toward things that would destroy us. And so in this moment, in 1 Corinthians 16, he's looking at him and he's saying, listen to him, to not get back to this place, church and Corinth, you gotta be watchful. You gotta be aware of what's going on within, aware of what's going on around you. And there's a call to men to be watchful, to be watchmen, to watch over the work of God, to watch over your family, man, to watch over the church,

to watch over a city, man, to watch over a state. There's something about that God intends to go, no, that's not of the Lord. That's not of my Father's kingdom. I see that, and I'm calling it out. I see it in here, and I'm calling it out. And I'm aware of what's going on in the war within. So one way to be watchful is, listen to me, is the war within. I got a newsflash for everybody in here. You're a walking war zone. Can I get a witness? Right, come on. You not feel that within? That you got the Spirit, man, if you're a follower of Christ, you got the Spirit of God, and you got the flesh, and you got the enemy in me. Got the flesh, got the devil, you got this world trying to move you, and there's a war that is waging. Are you watchful, are you aware? What's the one thing that God would wanna show you? And that's for everybody in this room. What's the one way that the enemy is tempting you? What's the one way that your flesh is gravitating toward things right now that you need to be watchful, aware, and then you need to do something with it? Some need to be aware of what you're watching, because it's lending itself.

You need to be aware of where you're, listen, positioning yourself. Be watchful, that's one way to be watchful. Another way is sanctification. Another way is, listen to me, is not being just spiritually aware, but listen, but being spiritually aggressive. Isaiah 62, verse six and seven, it's one of my favorite passages on prayer. It says, on your walls, get this now, I'm telling you, if you believe this, this will change the way you pray forever. On your walls, this is not gender specific, this is for both men and women. On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen. All the day and all the night, they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. What it's saying, listen to me, in the sovereign scope and work of the kingdom of God, do you know what God decided to do? He's decided to give you a post in prayer that nobody else can pray. Come on now, right? God's assigned you a role, a vantage point, listen, that you might pray. Now bring it back to the church in Corinth in this moment. Guys, listen to me.

Men in the house that you have a role in prayer that nobody else has, nobody can pray like you can, dad. Nobody can pray like you can, coworker. Nobody else can pray like you can, classmate. God sovereignly placed you at a vantage point that you might say, kingdom of God, come here. Kingdom of God, come now. Kingdom of God, come to my family. Kingdom of God, come to our church. Kingdom of God, come to our city. Kingdom of God, come to our nation. I love, let me tell you what I love about this passage. God gave us permission to pester him. That's awesome. I got one of them kind of pestering personalities anyway. So when God says, give him no rest, what? What? God's saying, look at that passage again, verse seven. Give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. God's saying, wear me out with your request. Pray that my kingdom might come to your family, that my kingdom might come to your children, that my kingdom might come to your grandkids, that the kingdom of God might come to this church and to this area, that it would bring about generational change. Wear me out, God says, until I establish my name as a praise in Jackson. Wear me out, God says.

Because it didn't wear God out anyway, it warms his heart. He's like, I'm coming. And he might be glorified. Let me tell you some of the severest rebukes God leaves for those that stop watching. Isaiah 56, verse 10, he says, "'Israel's watchmen,' he's specifically talking about the priests, "'are,' what? "'They're blind. "'They all lack knowledge. "'They're all mute dogs. "'They cannot bark. "'They lie around and dream. "'They love to sleep.'" That's a rebuke right there, dude. That's God looking at the priests, the Levites, the leaders of Israel, that have, listen to me, that have went asleep and are no longer aware, they're no longer spiritually awake, they're no longer watching. And what it says is they lost their bark. There's something, listen to me, and I'm telling you, there's a masculine tone to this, and I hope men hear me, there's something about a man of God that still knows how to growl. That knows how to growl, knows how to lay hold of God.

That stands his post in prayers and growls over his family. When the enemy comes, he goes, uh-uh. When the deceiver comes, he's, I stand in the authority of Jesus. There's something about a man of God that learns how to bark. To invite, listen to me, the power of God, God's got the bite. But we got a post to pray in that, man, it's not playing a game. Spiritual war zone that God has welcomed us and placed us and called us to pray in. That every man has a post. Oh man, and God rise, you say, Kyle, I don't know how to. Okay, learn how. No way to learn how to pray outside of praying. To be bold enough to take your wife by the hand today and say, hey babe, I just wanna pray for our family. Listen to me, for some, she might pass out. When she wakes back up, pray. And wife, when he prays and he says amen, do not correct his prayer. That's a word. Just go, you a stud, right? Like, encourage him a little bit, right? Build him up a little bit. But listen to me, I'm gonna let you in on a secret. Men or women of God are not microwaved, they happen over time. They learn how to travail, they learn how to pray,

they learn how to seek his face. That's the first imperative, we gotta hustle. You ready? Be watchful. What? Stand firm in the faith. Now the picture here is a man 10 toes down. But listen to me, and guys, let's be real, we love take the stand kind of stuff. You sell a lot of T-shirts around the take a stand, you know, kind of mentality. We love moments, movies, man. Every movie's about some dude that finally said, here I stand, I can do no other, right? We write country songs. You gotta stand for something or you'll fall for anything, right? Don't start singing it in your head now, okay? But the truth is this, there's something even inside of God's hard wiring in the masculine spirit of a warrior that you know that there's times you gotta stand. We love moments, alamos, when people willingly would stand even unto death. But that's not something that the world gets or wartime gets. Listen to me, that's a principle of the kingdom of God. We're not in this room if men didn't stand. I don't have this Bible. If men like Martin Luther didn't look into the face

of a king and say, here I stand, I can do no other. We don't see change happen if men like Martin Luther King Jr. doesn't say things like this. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. To be willing when a man would stand forth and represent the kingdom of God. That's a principle of the kingdom of God. To stand forth and represent the kingdom of God regarding whatever's happening in culture and time. And fortunately, here's the truth, and it was true for the men in Corinth. And fortunately, many men stand for things that matter very little. And miss standing for things that will matter forever. So the question is, what does it look like to stand firm in the faith? What does it look like to be a man? I'm gonna tell you what I love. I'm gonna give it to you simply today. It starts with being watchful in prayer. And listen to me, in a second, there's no such thing as a man of God that's not anchored in the word of God. You see this, I love Psalm 1, verses 1 through 13. It says, blessed is the man who walks. It's not in the counsel of the wicked or stands in the way of sinners

or sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. He is, he is like a tree planted by streams of water that yield its fruits in its season, its leaf does not wither, and all that he does, he prospers. There's something about, listen to me, and this is a principle of the kingdom of God, that when a man of God, listen to me, stands watchfully anchored in the word, and when, listen to me, and when the times start changing, he goes, I'm standing right here. I can't change. I can't change based off personality or culture or any of those things, that I'm gonna stand anchored in this, I'm gonna stand on behalf of my family. I'm gonna stand on behalf of future generations. I'm gonna stand right here no matter what comes by the power of the spirit. Listen, I'm rooted and bearing fruit. You let a man of God like that rise up in any family, in every church family, and those, listen to me, those that are part of it will find shade in the shelter of that. Now, it's not bravado, it's not the loudest person.

I know I'm one of those loud guys. I get on my own nerves, don't worry, okay? But it is the one that listens to me over time. It's been deeply rooted, dude. So when the hard seasons come, he goes, listen to me, he's never been anything but faithful, and I can't imagine he'll stop now. I just wanna thank you, Lord. Not easily moved. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith. Be watchful, stand firm in the faith. And then I'm telling you, listen to me. This is eyeball to eyeball moment. Paul to the men in Corinth, and he says, act like men. Some translations translate it, be courageous. I know what they're trying to get at in that because it's synonymous. Courage and manhood are synonymous. True manhood, true biblical manhood. I love my really good friend, by God's grace, Chris Harper, the leader of the Better Man Movement. He said something profound recently that I just haven't been able to write off from. It just resonates in my mind and heart. He said that the world would want us to believe that the opposite of masculinity is femininity. That's not true. Both of those things are God's good design. Masculinity for men, femininity for women. That's God's good design.

So the opposite of masculinity is not femininity. That's like saying that an airplane's not a train. Those are two different things, completely distinct and different. The opposite of biblical masculinity is immaturity. The opposite of biblical masculinity is a 40-year-old boy. Because being a male doesn't make you a man. Maturity makes the man. So when Paul calls in this moment, act like men, he's not saying beat your chest, get loud. He says, have the kind of maturation that knows what's needed in the moment. Know what kind of shepherding, what kind of love, what kind of care rise to the moment in your maturation, in your maturing. Don't stall. In many ways, we've lost those rite of passage moments in our day. Moments that launch young men, boys into their manhood. We've made a decision as a church, we're gonna reclaim those in Jesus' name, right? We're gonna be, and we mean that on both sides. We're gonna rightly launch people into biblical manhood and womanhood. We're gonna take people on journeys that they might rightly understand the design and order of God. Robert Lewis said really, really well, you can't become what you can't define. You can't become what you can't define.

Meaning, and I've seen this, I remember this. It's the dad standing at the ballgame yelling out at his eight-year-old son, be a man. And if the eight-year-old son had like the moxie, to say, what do you mean? The dad most times would be speechless. Because manhood is not merely something we scream. Listen to me, it's something we learn to live. And the Bible gives us that. And what we made a decision as a church is that we're gonna empower future generations of men with a biblical definition that they're gonna need the Spirit's power. to live so let me give it to you real quick for my better man guys here's our rock Chazak moment okay to the ladies of our house this is a way that you can pray and believe for us to become these kind of men a real man courageously follows God's Word a real man it's our definition that comes out of Genesis courageously follows God's Word meaning that when when men often shrink back a real man steps forward the one thing Adam didn't do in the garden the thing that the church that men and Corinth didn't do when the enemy came to camp they didn't step forward hold the sword of the word and take it to the snakes head but a real man courageously follows God's Word a real man loves and protects God's woman hmm the beauty of biblical manhood it never diminishes a woman and that's what culture would say listen they start talking all that manhood stuff they're going to diminish the role of woman that ain't in the scripture because let's do biblical manhood loves care sacrificially dies for the betterment of women Jesus modeled it perfectly he comes and pursues loves cares for launches them into flourishing so a real man God's man loves and protects does whatever it takes to help women flourish as a whole and then specifically if God gives you a wife that you lay down your life for

hallelujah right which is one of the greatest witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ there can be Ephesians 5 a real man courageously follows God's Word loves and protects God's woman and a real man excels at God's work this is one of my favorite ones honestly because when a man of God filled with the spirit of God shows up in any work environment it should be different that day come on right because we do things different as followers of Jesus Christ man we have integrity man we have convictional courage man we lean in we shut down gossip and hope that our boss listen to me loves what how we work and a real man excels at God's work and listen to me that's one of the gifts we need to give the next generation listen to me is a right biblical work ethic and not yell at them because they don't know what to do instead teach them how to how to rightly apply a real man courageously follows God's Word loves and protects God woman excels at God's work work and then betters God's world that anywhere a biblical man shows up in the power of the Spirit it gets better in their home in the church in our city in our community listen to me in anywhere where there's the absence of that role it opens a door for the enemy hey the more you lean into the scripture the simpler this becomes that there's structure in which God intended to bring the blessing of God and we all have a part and responsibility inside of that so I just gave you a biblical definition of manhood that if you will learn to live you'll act like a man it walks into the next part of it says be watchful stand firm in the faith act like men be strong now I'm a dude that loves those kind of statements but I know my strength has a limit right and what Paul's not saying is be strong I want you to learn how to bench press 315 right them days are long beyond most of us in this room if not yet it's coming for you dog it's coming for you like a freight train so he's not talking about learning how to be strong in that sense but what Paul says here and he says over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again in every letter is to learn how to be strong in his strength feet and we give you another example Ephesians 6 verse 10 we says finally be strong in the Lord in the strength of his might so it's not

a call to cowboy up it's not a call to pull yourself up by your bootstraps what it is a call though is to cooperate God is absolutely opposed to us earning anything and you ought to be grateful for that hallelujah can't earn you can't earn sonship me and you can't earn daughterhood ladies you can't receive it through the gospel of Jesus Christ man you received you made a part of his family some of you need that I stood with a guy that needed that a few minutes ago hallelujah right he needed more than he could do for himself he needed to be made alive on the inside he needed God to take that which is dead and make it alive Now, on the other side of receiving what we cannot earn, God is not opposed to effort. God is not opposed to us actually cooperating with him in his work. I got a statement for you. One principle. Ms. Laurie, you can go ahead and come. Supernatural strength is provided to those that strongly cooperate. Isn't that great? I love this. What are you facing today? This is true, man or woman. Specifically, though, I will say to the men of this house in light of the context of 1 Corinthians 16, what are we facing? What are we facing out there in this world right now? What are we facing in opposition to get the good news of Jesus to as many people as possible? What are you facing in light of leading your family to flourishing as God intended?

What are you facing, man, to be a light and a witness in the workplace? And what God is not saying is, man, just sit around and eventually I'll pick you up off the spiritual couch and make you do it. Ain't the way it works. God's saying, you know what I've said? Well, you run toward the line. It's like David, you gotta love moments in the scripture. I'm gonna preach this one day. But there's so many moments. Of course, you know the story of David and Goliath, this ruddy boy that had the hand of God on him. And he comes and he hears this giant, nine foot, pagan worshiping, God mocking giant defile the God of Israel. And he walked in and he says, yeah, he don't get to do that. He don't get to do that. Not while I'm here. So he signs up and says, I'm running toward that. And I love when it says he finally gets permission from the king who he's not big enough to wear his armor. And he runs, it says, towards this giant with a sling in his hand, some stones in his pouch. And in his strength, he runs toward him and somewhere along the line, God's powers poured out on him. That there was more to David in the slinging of that stone. But he don't find that out unless he runs toward the giant. And what most men unfortunately do spend most of our life

not willing to wade into the war and see how powerful our God truly is. If you're wanting to see the miraculous, if you're wanting to see the power of God displayed is not gonna be in the next Bible study. Grateful for them. We need to learn those things that help build our faith in that. But listen to me, the power of God is found in the mission of God. I mean, you get out there, you need to see the power of God and you say, Kyle, I don't know, I ain't got no nine foot giant facing me. Well, let me tell you what the nine foot giant in your home might be, is kindness toward your wife. And instead of doing the circular thing y'all do every time, is that you step forward in faith and go, hey, I'm sorry. And when she wakes up, you know what had happened? You had a sling in your hand and you took the stone to the head of the enemy in your house. And God gave you the power to now not just stop it, I'm sorry, but to move beyond that, to say things that need to be said, do things that need to be done, to win wars on every level of your life through the power of God's strength. But you gotta strongly cooperate.

Then the last thing it says, then set the spirit of it so that we don't get this bravado that's out there, guys. And I'm gonna tell you, listen to me, man, I'm gonna say something to you specific. I am grateful for the voices that God is raising up in our day to men. All of them though are not from him. So watch who you're listening to. Y'all hear me? Because if what you listen to doesn't foster with the spirit of what I'm about to say, you need to cut it out. Verse 14 says, and let all that you do be done in love. Love. So a watchful man, listen to me, he's not some dogmatic, militant kind of person, man. A watchful man is. I love God. I'm watching my life because I love my family. I'm watching over my my family because Because I care about the things of the church and the work of the kingdom of God because I actually love To be a part of this and it's a love I know it's not where it needs to be But it's a growing love because of that i'm going to fulfill the commandments These four imperatives i'm going to lean into out of love Then you got to get the spirit of that thing, right Because if not It can end up being harsh and hurtful Dogmatic and demanding But man when the spirit of it is as strong as courageous And everybody gets better I'm looking into the eyes of a whole lot of people this sunday morning in both services And i'd ask for the ladies of this house

Would you pray that we'd be a factory that by the spirit's power sees those kind of men rise? And i'm looking in the eyes of my brothers and saying none of us have arrived And all of us are in different places and seasons question is Would you just engage this next one better than you did the last one? Take some steps to become that kind Of man will help you do it some of that is you need to get in a group with some other men You need to there's ways that we're going to talk about that even next week that You could find some family to help sharpen the edge of the sword in your life to become the man of god You were always intended to be Because i'm tell you this I love running with real men Because it makes me run better run strong Now i'm gonna close with this a lot of this listen Might not have anything pertaining to anything you got going on in your life. There's some hurting people in the house Let me tell you what we do every service. We pray over people regardless of what the topic of the message was What's the topic of your life today? Need some help new provision. We'd love to pray with you about anything going on in your life I'm gonna say this again clearly all these things were addressed to the church in corinth meaning Specifically these were two men that had been saved by christ if you've not been saved by christ yet. This ain't the first step The first step is to be saved by christ Then he'll give you the power to be watchful stand firm in the faith act like men be strong You need jesus to save you before you can do any of this. So just bow your heads for a moment What's god saying to you this morning our prayer leaders are going to come If you need to be prayed for anything man, if you're hurting today don't walk out of here hurting all by yourself If you need god to rescue You to provide for you if you need god's healing power, man, don't carry those things by yourself If you need to come just get guttural before god. You're welcome to come kneel at this altar If you need a fresh start a new season What's god saying to you today?

Anybody in the room? But I would ask specifically today if you're here and you Sense god's activity in your life. And what you know is this if you were to stand before god today, you're not ready You know that You're like kyle i'm just not ready i've not i've not had a season where i've come to really believe this gospel This good news that jesus died for my sin defeated death in his resurrection And really wants me to be a part of his family, but I want to I want to If you're here today and you want to receive the gift of salvation that you cannot earn I'm, not going to embarrass you but you got to be bold for a second If that's you this morning what i'm going to ask you to do right now You want to receive the gift of salvation? I'm going to ask you to look at me right now and raise your hand Just say kyle right here right here, right? You gotta be awesome Others man, look be bold. You gotta say kyle. That's me. I'm saying it That It's me I need that this morning. I need jesus to save me make me new others in the room Well raising your hand won't save you you can put it down Crying out to jesus. Maybe you're here with a friend a family member that's going to help you in this conversation Make sure you understand what all this really means But if you're here today, and you know, that's you Right there, why don't you say something like this? Jesus here I am I'm confessing my sin I'm turning from it I am putting trust in your work on my behalf You say this jesus saved me I want to follow you If you'll do that if you'll say that he'll save you Now if that was you this morning nobody else looking around nobody else looking around if that was you this morning If you looked at me earlier raised your hand or not. I'm gonna ask you to look at me now All if you just prayed that minute.

When you leave here, your next right step is this simple, and we have people every Sunday take it, is you just need to come by, if it's you, look at me, you just need to come by the Next Step Center. All you gotta walk up to somebody there, we got great folks that are there, just say, hey, I need a box. And if you will say that, we'll take it from there. Now for the men in the house listening to me that do know Christ, I want you to ask the Lord to help us become these kind of men, help us. Lord, thank you for your presence here today, thank you for speaking to us, and now I pray, Lord, that you administer in whatever ways is needed right now. And I pray in Jesus' name, amen. Hey, let's stand together, we're gonna worship, now's not the time to leave, it's time to engage the Lord. You give us the privilege, we'd love, love, love to pray with you about anything in your life. Amen. ♪ When darkness seems to hide His face ♪ ♪ I rest on His unchanging grace ♪ ♪ In every high and stormy gale ♪ ♪ My anchor holds within the veil ♪ ♪ My anchor holds within the veil ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord, cornerstone ♪ ♪ Weak made strong in the Savior's love ♪ ♪ Through the storm, He is Lord ♪ ♪ Lord of all ♪ ♪ Oh, He is Lord ♪

♪ He's Lord of all ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ the Lord, cornerstone ♪ ♪ Weak made strong in the Savior's love ♪ ♪ Through the storm, He is Lord ♪ ♪ Lord of all ♪ ♪ Oh, Christ the Lord, cornerstone ♪ ♪ Weak made strong in the Savior's love ♪ ♪ Through the storm, He is Lord ♪ ♪ Lord of all ♪ Church family, please extend your hand to receive this blessing. Church family, please extend your hand to receive this blessing. In 1 Corinthians 16, 9, Paul writes, A wide door of effective ministry has opened for me, yet many oppose me. Church family, by faith we're anticipating and expecting a wide door of ministry to open here in our church. church, our city, the surrounding counties, and in our state in the days ahead. That's why Paul's commands are so imperative to us this morning. Paul knew that opportunity is often accompanied by opposition, and that's why he implores us to be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, and be strong. So I bless you from James 1.22, to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. And as doers of the word, I bless you with perseverance from James 1.25 that says, 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. So Crossgates family, be blessed in doing the next right thing as the spirit leads this week. You're dismissed.