Fruit That Remains | Glorious Mess | John 14:15-17 | Arik Hayes

Amen. All right, man. I welcome the 2819 church beloved. Good to see y'all today. My name is Eric Hayes. I'm one of the elders here. Amen. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Don't you get me started. I got to get this word. Oh, man. Don't tell me that. It's going quickly right in front of me. But I'm here because he saved me and he's still cleaning me up. Amen. Amen in heaven. We are a church that continues to be a house of prayer, presence and proclamation. I want to welcome our online community, digital disciples, those that are across the camera, those that are in the room in the overflow. Welcome. Welcome. We love you. And we also want to welcome the unbeliever.

Amen. Amen. Why they shout? Why they clap for me? Because this is the place where you can belong before you believe and guess what? The gospel is for you. Amen. You can also be pricked to the heart by the Holy Spirit and run into the strong tower and be safe from calamity and eternal judgment in Christ Jesus. And any time you choose to, and I want to honor the pastor of this local ecclesia, Philip Anthony Mitchell, at this time. No pressure, just want to call about time if you would like to. We have a culture showing honor, giving honor to whom it is due. And we consider him worthy of honor. Amen. Amen. Okay. Beloved. Amen. As a church today, we're actually continuing this summer, sermon series, fruit that remains. Anybody been blessed with it? Blessed by it. It's blessed to me. And I've been preaching some of it. Amen. And today I will preach the next installment that has been titled, "A Glorious Mess." "A Glorious Mess." I just want to pray one more time. God have your way with this assignment, with your people, by your precious Holy Spirit and your design plan.

In Jesus' name, I pray, amen. Please bring up my picture. Now, family, you probably know this, and it's many variations as a fish symbol. Some of you may have seen, sometimes they have a cross in it and you see it on bumper stickers, but according to tradition that is, ancient Christians during their persecution by the Roman Empire, they were really being persecuted. In the first few centuries after Christ, they used to use this fish symbol to mark meeting places and tombs or to distinguish between friends and foes. According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christian sometimes drew an ark, drew one ark of the simple fish outline in the dirt, and they would wait to see if the other person would do the same, okay? So way before it was on shirts, it was on necklaces, I mean, if you were, that's cool, but I just want you to know the origin. Our brothers and sisters in ancient Christianity were getting persecuted. So when we come in here, we clap and we don't have to hide. We can sing out loud. That was not their case. And their brothers, that actually brothers and sisters that listen to these messages, and they're still getting persecuted in other places on the planet. They're a part of our body. We should think about them. We should pray for them. We should consider them. Hallelujah. Sometimes we get spoiled with our convenience. You can bring a latte in here, and everything is cool, and they're actually risking their lives to spread the gospel that we count as common. And we need to love them and consider them, but they would actually go and they would draw one part, and they would just watch, because it was a secret and see what they did.

And it was only if they completed the fish symbol like we saw up there, then what they would know, this is my brother. This is my sister. I can trust them. They are my community. It meant something. So I need to know if you were in the secret place that you really believed or I risked everything you could grab me, my wife, my children could be snatched up. If you just had a bad day and felt like telling. And beloved, we're in a place where it's harder to tell who your real community is. It's tougher, like please don't think that. And listen, man, maybe it's tough for me to say maybe it's not. Just don't think just because the person sitting next to you is clapping and jumping during the loud music. You should not automatically assume just by that that they are a part of your real community. Since it doesn't cost as much. I thought as we were talking about community and before we get into how we should walk together I thought it would be a great idea if we could talk about what are some of the major things that we could rally around as community. How do I really know you're my community? We should believe the same things. And if we believe the same things it will lead us to acting the same way. AKA walking like Jesus. So I don't want you to take us as a statement of faith

as an exhaustive list of all the things that we believe. That's tough, man, people have a statement of faith. I'm like how do you get that down to seven sentences when we got the whole Bible? That's my statement of faith. The word, it's more, right? But I understand this is useful just so you, again, you can distinguish what they really believe. So let's walk through the scriptures here. Some things that we can rally around. We can rally around Christ in the comfort or take me to John 14, 15 through 17th verse. Christ in the comforter. John 14, 15 through 17, ESV. If you're still turning you can actually look on the screen. This is Christ speaking. He says, "If you love me you will keep my commandments, stop." Christ is Lord. That means what he says goes. That means what he tells us to do, we should be doing. And as much as we holler and jump about him saving when it gets to him being Lord and telling us what to do, he said my commandments, not just his father's commandments. People say he didn't say he was God. Doesn't that sound like he's God? I have commandments and you should keep them. And unfortunately, beloved in the West, we are already the fracture community right there. Too many of us just look at the red words where Christ is speaking as Lord, not just Savior.

And we just treat it as a suggestion. Or as I said in previous sermons, we just kind of disregard it. See how quiet it is here? I know why it's quiet because many of us don't treat him as Lord. And that's one of the major reasons the West looks so raggedy when it comes to Christianity. I can stay here for five minutes. I'm really okay with that uncomfortable silence because why in the world are we jumping around and saying I love you and I love you and you are king and then we step out of here in a hot 45 minutes and we look at his words or don't look at them and we'll not do what he said. Fake questions. Fake. I'm not talking about being perfect either. The perfect one has already come, lived, died, rose on the third day, ascended, sits on the right hand side of the Father. He's the only one that's perfect. But if you actively deny his lordship, you can't be a part of the real community. Lord and Savior come together in the same package. I held her a few sentences ago. He's talking about we are now bond servants of Christ. And when we say that, we know it gets cold in the room. That's why our community is weak. He continues. He says, "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper

to be with you forever, say forever." It is even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. No, no, it really bothers me when we earn the church, and we look for the approval of the world, and it tells you they don't know him nor see the Holy Ghost. That's the way we take it, our culture cues from them, when they don't know him nor see him, the very Spirit of God. But I want to point out, beloved, those that belong to Christ, I want you to see how thorough the work of the cross is. In the Old Testament, they would run from the Holy Spirit. They would run from the presence of God. But Christ says in us, He will be in us. So let's take us, which is in the future, then, but in the past for us, to the upper room when the Holy Spirit landed on us. Joseph, it will pour out on all flesh. So let's just make it plain. It took our raggedy selves and cleaned us up so much that the Holy Spirit could actually live on the inside of us. That's the power of the friend who's finished work. So when he says, don't call her. Don't return that text. Do you know that many times that's the actual Holy Spirit? Hanging around our raggedy selves with a sin nature? How do we just overlook that beloved? We say, I want a new car when you have the Holy Spirit. Not the wrong with the new car, but do you prize it more important?

Because we get the car, we say, thank God for the car. Once the last time we said, thank God for the Holy Spirit. Save it as some danger, sing and unseen. [CHEERING] Talking about things, the real community rallies around. Communion and the New Covenant, Matthew 26, 26 to 29th verse. For the sake of time, beloved, you can just look on the screen. Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread. And after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it with you in my Father's kingdom. It gave us communion, holy communion. It actually says, don't drink it in an unworthy fashion, or you drink damnation or death unto yourself. It is a holy thing that only true believers should partake in. Amen. But beloved, the drink represented the New Covenant. Let me read verse 28 in the Amplified. He says, for this is my blood of the new and better covenant, which ratifies the agreement and is being poured out for many as a substitutionary atonement. Let me stop there, right? So when I was in school, I didn't really like school a lot. I was smart, but I didn't like school. I liked the way they did it.

That's another conversation. But one of my least favorite subjects was government, history. They just-- they made it boring. Anybody with me? OK, so when I said ratified, you didn't really know. I'm taking you back to like grade school at that point, right? So ratified means to sign or give formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid. Say, it's official. He made the new covenant official. When he instituted the breaking of bread in the shad of mine, communion, all right? Now, you're quiet, because you may not know what the new covenant actually talked about it. He talked about it in Hebrews 812. It's not going to come up on the screen. But this is what I want to read. Hebrews 812, when it speaks of the new covenant that Jesus is the mediator of, it says, for I will be merciful toward their iniquities. And I will remember their sins no more. You can clap, and what I love about the gospel, it's still good, because we hear these things, but it's not until we apply them to our lives that it's real. Like, do you approach God like he remembers your sin no more? O me don't have reverence for God. No, I have reverence for the sacrifice of Christ that killed my sin debt and my beliefs and what he did in the finished work of the cross.

Now, I can run boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy in my time of need, because the new covenant says he will remember our sins no more. That's the gospel. That's the good news. That's what Jesus was bringing to us. This is what he accomplished with his life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the right-hand side of the Father. We should be rallying around that. Take that again. The real community, we are rallying around that. Take you to 2 Corinthians 5, 16 through 20. We can rally around the new creation. 2 Corinthians 5, 16 through 20. I can't believe it for the sake of time. I want to go and start. You can look on the screen. Verse 16 says, "From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh. We regard him thus no longer. Therefore, a very familiar scripture says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. It says, all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. I want to stop right there. You are a new creature if you believe in Christ. You know, the problem is we don't feel like it.

When we sin, we let sin lie to us and say, you identify with me. When we always should identify with Christ. And you knew all the light. You feel as though, when you got saved, you were supposed to get the Holy Ghost Shakes. Right? You felt like-- I don't know how the Lord is supposed to come upon you in a whirlwind. He was supposed to turn around. He was supposed to just fly around and see some angels. And then he would shut the curtain. And then you would come back down. And then you would say, now I know I'm saved. [LAUGHTER] That ain't nowhere in the Bible. But if you believe in him, you can only believe in him by the power of the Holy Ghost. And he's in there. And I'm talking to young, maturing believers. The Holy Ghost lives on the inside of you. And because of that, you are a new creation. Now you also believe that if I was a new creature or a new creation, then that means I shouldn't struggle with sin. namely, your sin nature still likes sin. It's hard for you to identify with Christ and beloved. I'm telling you before I was up here on the stage, 20 years ago, I was in the throes of that very same battle. And you know how I won? I went to the Bible more than I went to my feelings.

[APPLAUSE] So let's talk, right? Right? Can I talk like we family? All right, so you see a girl, and you keep looking at her. And you keep looking at her. And you keep looking at her. Don't get quiet on me. You keep looking at her. And you know what you start thinking? Something's unholy. And you're like, man, I messed up again. And you're like, oh, man, I'm always going to keep doing this lie. I'll never get away from this lie. Then you start letting it talk to you. He doesn't love me, lie. I'm not really safe, lie. I don't have the Holy Spirit, lie. I'm talking about real Christianity. I look at them, and I look at them, and I look at them, and I start thinking, oh, man, I did it again. Last thing. But now I go back to the Bible. Oh, man. It's a slow walk, too beloved. It's a slow walk. Am I in the building, or am I in the building? I'm going to tell you why it's a slow walk.

You can't believe that a Holy God wants to hear from you after this lesson after a woman. You can't believe that a Holy God wants to commune with you. After you looked at that, I porn. You can't believe that a Holy God wants to commune with you after you did your fill in the blank. That's why we must continue to renew our minds to what the truth is. And it can look like this. I know I did it, God. I'm so sorry. So sorry, God. Forgive me, God. I don't want to do it. Don't want to do it. I just want to keep fighting, lose, and lose. I lose, I win someone, I lose one of those guys. Oh, God. Who will deliver me? Who will deliver me? Jesus. And continually to walk out the commandments by His grace, you did not earn it. His unmerited favor, you did not earn it. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, when sin and temptation is presented, the scripture says he will always present a way of escape. That's how I got out. I ain't going to hold you.

You know who taught me that? I think it was Ty. Ty Trippet, he said his last name, I always mess it up. Him. He said, he was preaching that. I look in the middle of a praise, and worship, he said, he taught me from the scriptures. It says, in the scriptures, when temptation is presented, there is always a way of escape presented as well. You just got to look for the way of escape. I'm caught by, but I know you try to get the out of this. Where is it? Where is it, God? Caught from my brother. Oh, man, I'm so glad you called. I was about to go over there again. Is anybody in the pit on it? Get rescued, my God, and his only ghost. [APPLAUSE] I renewed my mind not to what sin was telling me, but I was like, all right. It also said, temptation is presented to me. He would not present it stronger than I am able to bear. So if it's in front of me, he's already vetted it, and I can win. I'm trying to get somebody free today. I'm trying to get somebody free. He said he would not allow temptation to get in front of me that I cannot beat. [CHEERING]

I'm from the '80s, we used to fight. We used to knuckle up. Hey, I don't want some, and I don't want some. But ain't nothing like ready to knuckle up, and you know you're about to beat this dude. [CHEERING] Ain't nothing like it. And I can walk in his-- I'm here. We in the building. We in the building. We in the building. We just talking about Jesus and his Holy Ghost. Ain't nothing like it in a fight. You know it's already in your favor. Got that s on your chest now, don't you? 18. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciles to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. They're explaining further in verse 19. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world, say the world, to himself not counting their trespasses against them. And it's trusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors, say ambassadors. Ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. This is what is tragic about hell and tragic about the world. If you ask the average unbeliever, he thinks God is just waiting to pounce upon him with wrath and judgment and shame and guilt and punishment. That's what they think. Right here in the Scriptures, it tells you that is not true. I'm going to read 19 in the Amplified. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them, but canceling them. Right? Right? Cancelling them. Unbelievable. If you're in here, you're listening. In Christ, your sin debt is canceled. Talk about a good deal. And also, he is your only hope. I'm talking about the gospel, the good news. Let me finish this. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. That is, restoration to favor with God. That's pregnant, beloved. I ain't got time to get into it like I want to, but we're going to spend a little time and hang out. We, as believers, the real community have been restored to favor with God. If I told you you were restored to favor with a billionaire, now all that he has, you have access to, you lose your mind. Hey, I'd be happy to. But when you look at the creator

of heaven and earth, the creator of the Garden of Eden, creator of male and female, we're made in his image. We were recreated in Christ Jesus. He gave us the blueprint for life. Christ said, "I am going to prepare a place for you. If it were not so, I would not tell you." His Holy Spirit has been sent, and he lives on the inside of us, and he has given us community to each other. And at the culmination of all things, he will set things in place. Guess who will be in place with him? See, you want favor with man right now, and I get it, but at the culmination of all things, you have favor with the righteous judge forever and ever and ever and ever and ever thanks to the blood. Just going through the You don't have to wait till Sunday or another man again. He wants to give revelation to you. Give us things to rally around, right? Rally around Christ in the Comforter, communion and the new covenant and the new creation. Now, let's talk about how we can work together and walk as a real community. Give me Ephesians 4, 1 through 6. We're going to talk about unity in the body of Christ. Ephesians 4, 1 through 6. Just in the interest of time, beloved, I want to start. You can look on the screen if you would like. Verse 1 says, "I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord," says Paul speaking. "I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called." How? Verse 2, "With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." There is one body and one Spirit. Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is overall and through all and in all. If we walk like this, where's the church mess at? Where's the church split? Where's the dishonor for the leaders? Where's the dishonor for the servant leaders? Where's the dishonor for your colleagues? Where's the dishonor for the staff? I teach premarital, and I've been really just, this Lord's been dealing with me when I look at the fall of man, when I look at the garden, and I look at what he's made us in Christ Jesus, he's giving us glory, and we're still dealing with mess. Let's see the glory that he's given us that we can walk in around him. And I say, "Look at the blueprint. Things go wrong when we scrap the blueprint." I'm going to give it to you in the Amplified. So I, the prisoner for the Lord,

appeal to you to live a life worthy of the call into which you have been called. That is leaning in beloved to live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature, say mature, mature behavior. A life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation. You see why we make time for the blood? Yes. Verse two, "With all humility," he's explaining how to do it. "For sake, self-righteousness," let me stop here. Can I just get on the soapbox for a little bit? I can't stand. Hold on, let me catch my words. I can't stand when a saint acts in a self-righteous manner. I can't stand it. So you get sex work and a prostitute coming and you just snub your nose off. Look at what you got on. Look at what you got on. Got on hate and india jealousy and pride and arrogance. You look at the hub, everything you wear steaks in the nostrils of God. Get somewhere and shut up somewhere because the ocean won't come back and hear the gospel. We should never act like that. He had to reach way down low to get me. He had to live delivered me from the pit out of a mighty clay out of depression in 2024. Recently, as an elder, I was fighting for my life with depression. I hear self-righteous as if your resume would get you into heaven, lies. Take your resume and throw it in the trash and that's good for you. Throw it away. Pick up the resume of Christ, the perfect one. Show that one. access granted! - For taking self-righteousness and gentleness, maintaining self-control with patience, bearing, say bearing, bearing with one another in unselfish love, stop beloved. The Scriptures say disciples, not cute Christians, can nothing about your church attendance in the sense of maturity. It can help, but if you're not wrestling this stuff

to the ground, we're just performing on the stage for y'all. You said we should be known by that love, unselfish love. Real community is marked by that. We should grow into that. Maybe you come from a selfish background. It could be because nobody really gave you anything, and now you're in a situation where you wanna hoard everything to yourself. I'm not here to condemn you. What I'm saying is we believe that he is our provider, he is our Lord, we'll be taken care of. We should not worry. (congregation clapping) I'm talking about where faith hits, the world meets the road. I'm not here to judge you, I'm saying, but you're into that. Instead of identifying with the lack, currently say, I know that you love me. I know you've called me to be generous. I know you called me to be loving. I know you called me to be kind. And by your grace and your Holy Spirit, I should be maturing into this. And say, you fail, just like anything else. You lean back into it and say, God, I need your help. I blew it this time. I blew it this time, God, I need your help. I need your help. Holy Spirit, help me.

His name is the helper. He's been sent to help us do everything we've been commanded to do. It's not so much that you're not strong. It's because we haven't depended on His help. (congregation applauding) I'm talking about real Christianity, beloved. Make every effort to keep oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Each individual working together to make the whole successful. Each individual working together to make the whole successful. Each individual working together to make the whole successful. There is one body of believers in one spirit. Just as you were called to one hope when salvation, when called to salvation, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all who is sovereign over all and working through all and living in all that believe in Jesus Christ. Point to the insignificant Christian. Point to them. Where they at? To the one who believes in Jesus. And some of you may be internally rolling your eyes and pointing to yourself. And I can't find that in the Bible. See why he leaves the 99 and goes toward the one. You see how when we just try to use the big name

preaches and everybody up front the two rows, they're the important people. I'm not lies. He dies for us all, all of us. If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are significant in his sight and you will always be your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. You know what that also means beloved? Everybody that is in the community, the real one, is significant to God and we need to act like they're important to us. Not when Pastor Elder had come around, oh man, it's all this honor. And then if you're not on the stage or you're not carrying the mic, you treat that person like trash. That's enough for that. Enough for that. That's not what you're saying to scriptures. And that's not what we're gonna promote. Shoot everybody with humanity and dignity and respect and love and kindness because of what the cross gave to us, all of us who believe in Christ. That's how you build a real community. I don't care what you look like. I know in the A, what you do. I don't care what you do. You my brother.

[BLANK_AUDIO] You belong to Jesus? Can I tell you something that hurt my heart? It was back in like 2010. I was hoping, I think it was a place of all called fitness connection in Durham. And I ran into a Muslim brother. And he had a conversation with me, we were just talking, and I don't know how we got in it. And it was 13 years ago, and he said, man, when we're in a mosque, he said, I don't care what that person is, we in here together, and he said, you're my brother. And I reflected on our community. And I had nothing to say. Idol God, stronger community, we should be ashamed. And we should work to change it. Race, ethnicity, gender, whatever. One family. And then Christ deserves it. All right, it was the last set of scriptures, tight as 2, 2, 2, 6, all right? And I'm going to say a word that begins with an O, and you better not check out on the Eva. It's in the scriptures, all the ups I love it, we are known as a young church. Young in existence, 2018, 19, going on four years, and I saw a bunch of young people. It was crazy, so we should get a lot younger, right? But this is here as well, Paul saying to Titus, told him to teach good doctrine, sound doctrine, and in verse 2, he says, older men are to be so reminded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Before I go any further, I was looking, when he said older, I was like, how old is he talking about? I want to know, right? Because I want to be able to say a number, it doesn't say.

Right? But what I think I can, I think I have license to say within that is, if you're 30, you can shed some wisdom with a 20-year-old brother, right? You're 35, brother's 25. You got three children, a mother with a newborn, you can shed something, right? And y'all better not throw nothing at me, either. He's going to read the Scriptures like we've been doing, okay? Verse 3, it also says, older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, you know what that's the same thing we don't even talk about. One of them cubes in is that nobody talks about, he says, don't do that, nor slaves too much wine. Didn't I say you could not drink wine? He said, do not be slaves to it. They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled, pure, working-at-home kind and submissive. I'm in trouble. I'm already out here. Now everybody say it again. It's that kind and submissives to their own husband, not another husband. And while I'm out here with myself going to get in trouble, listen, listen, listen, listen to Pastor Phil, but your husband should have a word too. I know it got quiet. I knew it would. I said to the other side, you're not married to Pastor Phil or anybody up here preaching on this stage, it didn't just say submissive to the elders, that's another scripture. It said to your husbands, and I know why it's quiet in here, because there's an ideology that is rampant through our society that says everything I just talked about is trash. But not just in the world, beloved, also in the church. - Yeah, yeah. - And woe unto them.

And you should not. I like talking about the godly patriarchy, all up in first feet of three, one through seven. Reading the Amplified, come talk to me. It talks about the type of man and how he should be treating his wife. Loving, nourishing, protecting. And the Amplified treated her with great gentleness and tact. I'll be getting convicted on that. I'll say, great gentleness and tact. I may have some tact, I may have some gentleness, but great gentleness and tact. Beloved it, we shouldn't be taking our cues from the world, man. And just because someone has sinned against you doesn't mean we throw the baby out with a bath water. - Aww, that's real. - And again, it's noticeably quieter here, ain't it? Now, haven't I just been reading from the scriptures just like the rest of the survey? You see how that is fractured our community? She's out here, it's fractured our families? I'm not setting anybody up for abuse. Everybody should be loved and taken care of. But the mere thought of me reading what is in the scriptures, in the church, makes the heart cold. These things ought not be so. Well, they don't deserve it. They may not.

Christ does. Still talking about godly, biblical community. It's not just about, if you're married, single. Are you forgiving? Are you kind? Are you tender-hearted? Are you walking in humility? It's not your tearing down our community. I don't care around what corner. I may not say you, but God does. All of us have been called to walk in this way towards each other, whether single or married. Yes, amen. Verse five. To be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, I want to finish that verse. But this is why. It tells you why. Put up verse five for me. Right? To help you translate this, I want to put a soul in front of that, that, right? To be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God may not be reviled. In the Amplified, it says, so that the word of God, the gospel, will not be dishonored. Check it out, slow it down below it.

What it says is we can do all of this giving, all of this outreach, all of this jumping, all of this shouting, all this preaching of the gospel and your lifestyles, undermine it. Men and women alike. It's like we're playing for the wrong team. I used to play soccer. Like, listen, when you play soccer, it's not a lot of scoring. Like, high score, it's like two-one. You understand what I'm saying? It's like, you're supposed to be defending, you just turn around and you just kick it in your own goal. You score on your own basket. Like, you know how your team looks at you? That's a tough halftime. They better love you. Get this new out of here. When we let our lives, men and women alike, just run rampant in sin and reject the word of God, it's like we're scoring for the wrong team. Where I live in ways that cause the word of God, the gospel, the only message of salvation and hope, gets maligned and dishonored. That's what, when we do that, that's what we do. And Christ don't deserve that, beloved. He deserves a faithful bride, amen. All right. And verse six, it says likewise urge the younger men

to be so controlled. Let me stop. Because unfortunately, like so all of our grandparents, they're probably married around like 18, 19, 2021, right? All right. I'm not picking your timeline in marriage. What I am saying is, what is happening is, now there is like an extended decade between like 17, 18 when you graduate high school to like 28 to the age, the average age of the first marriage. And in this decade, young men have been swallowed up. They've been lost. Lost to incessant porn. Just overindulgence of video games. Just nothingness, just no aim. And I'm telling you, you should redeem the time for the days are evil. And you're not too young to give your life to the Lord today. It says that they should, in the amplified, it said they should be taking life seriously by behaving wisely. Young men, that is your call. All right, and I'm closing, beloved. Now with this, I want to be able to give you what I would call some shepherd talk. And once was Paul, he would actually address, he would address, you know, on different churches. I think as elders, it's wise of us to take time out and address things that we may see here, right? So I want to be able to tell you that yes,

we are supposed to be in community. But very few of us were actually taught how to vet community, right? So usually you're in a ditch on both sides of the road and you need to come towards the center, which is healthy, right? So right now you have maybe some of you guys in here and you are hyper independent. You're saying, man, I don't need nobody, man. It's just me and the Lord, man. I'm good, man. I don't need nobody, man. I don't need to get in a small group. I'm just good, man. It's over just me and the Lord, right? And I want to debunk a myth. 'Cause somehow we've let it go in Christianity where you just think you so deep with the Lord and you have Christian tea time and all the podcasts and you got all the merch and you are all the spots and you got the new Christian R&B and you got it and you got all of that and then you ain't got no Christian friends. You ain't got nobody that know about your business. You ain't got nobody that know what you're alive. You ain't got nobody, right? You're like, I don't deal with them. I don't like them. I just want to tell you first, John says, if you say that you love God and then you hate your brother, he says you are a liar.

He said, I don't hate him. But listen, man, how we love Jesus so much and didn't disrespect his bride? That don't go together. It says he is sovereign and in all. They don't have like three or four alls, go back to back all. To follow Christ is to be a part and in community in some way with other believers. And then on the other side, on the other side of the road and it did, you are those that I want to be very sensitive in. You don't know how to vet community because you may not have a very good sense of self-worth. You may have been dropped. You may have been abused mentally, physically, maybe sexually. By a family member, by intimate partner. And because of that, at the slightest sign of somebody showing interest in you, you just go all in. And when you do that, beloved, you're vulnerable. And we don't want that for you. There are weak and tears in the church. So I just want to teach you a little principle about building community, actually too real quick, right? So you never spend the whole hundred. You spend a dollar with somebody. You spend another dollar. You spend another dollar. They handle that, right? Give them five. Give them another five.

Give them another five. We're in the rush here, are we? Spend some time and they can handle the ten. So on and so forth. Me and Elder Milton, we talk. No longer, I've been knowing him for like 11 years. Before he was an elder. It's 11 years worth of knowing him. Take your time. Take your time. You may not feel like you have a lot of worth. But God feels like there's a lot of worth in you because he's seen his son to die, to reconcile with you. In God's eyes, you are worth the cross. He doesn't feel like he overpaid with the cross. You are worth it. OK, and another thing, beloved. As we are building-- as we're building the bridge of community, right? Say you had, like, two rocks, right? Two mountains, right? You were building the bridge. When they do stuff like that, if they're wise, and they're building something way higher, they make sure that they're anchored into something that is immovable, right? And as they're doing the work building the bridge, they're in safety. You know why? They're always anchored in.

When you are building godly, healthy, vibrant, dynamic community, you always have to hold God's hand harder than you hold man's hand. I don't care if it's my hand. You have to make sure that you are always anchored in while you're building the bridge of community and taking your time. So if something, somebody shows their sin nature on purpose or not on purpose, you don't fall to the ground. And two million of us have actually gotten a relationship with people, romantic or platonic, and we let go of God's hand. And we got on the bridge, and that bridge fell out. But beloved, if you're always anchored in here harder, more devoted, more intimate with God, you can be on the bridge, it can fall out completely, and I always have a lifeline. This is how you build healthy community. This is how you don't let church take you out for a decade. Check me out. You could be sad about the fact that it didn't work, but my whole life didn't dash the pieces because I'm anchored in Christ and God more than anything. And if you fall out on me, I'm still good. (congregation applauding) Okay, so now with that, because I'm still good and my life isn't shattered, and you fall out, I can say, man, you may have been immature, or maybe you let Satan lie to you,

or whatever, I can pray for you, and you know what I can do? I can keep building the community. That's how you navigate here. I just wanna eat alone or land here. So with that being said, if anybody's trying to use God or religion or spiritual authority to demand unquestioning, just like lording over you, we don't endorse that. We always tell you to go read for yourself, don't we? Anybody trying to manipulate you through fear of going to hell or curses or spiritual consequence, trying to manipulate you with those? We don't endorse that. Anybody trying to just rule over you with shame or any pockets of people that have come here and they develop small ministries if they're trying to treat you this way, come out of it. It reeks of spiritual abuse, the opposite of what Christ ordained, what He supports here in scripture and what we're supposed to be walking in. Anybody trying to cover up wrong doing by claiming it serves the higher spiritual purpose of trying to gaslight you when they're standing against you, come away from it. We wanna be a balanced house.

So yes, engage, but don't get abused. We wanna be a house that builds like solid, vibrant, healthy, biblical community. And so we fall asleep or we cracks this guy. Buy your head, let me pray for us, holy father. God, I thank you just for your goodness, God. I pray that you would take this message and it would touch the hearts that it's supposed to touch. I pray God, for anybody in unhealthy community, God, that they would come out or try to try to get wisdom, God, from the spiritual care team, from the prayer team, let somebody know, find an elder, find somebody. If you're not called your sheet to be abused, you've called us to thrive in biblical community. Where Jesus is Lord and Savior, where your grace is given, where we have a new covenant, we are part of a new creation. We take communion, we have Christ. And all the things you've given to us in the kingdom. Help us walk in it, buy your grace and buy the power of your Spirit. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. I love you, beloved, God bless you. (upbeat music)