(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So this evening is going to be a little bit more of a Bible study than what I normally do. Oftentimes I do topical sermons on Sundays for both services, but tonight I'm actually going to spend, we're going to spend quite a bit of time in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 and chapter 4. So instead of doing a normal Wednesday night Bible study, we go verse by verse through one chapter, there's a particular theme found in chapters 3 and 4. So I might be skipping over some of the other parts, but I want to deal with the pertinent parts here, but we're going to be spending the vast majority of our time in chapters 3 and 4. And if you would, go back to this chapter 1 real quickly, because this is going to, you know, kick off chapter 3, which goes into much more detail about this. And if you know, you know, when you read the Bible, especially the book to 1st, you know, to the church at Corinth, I brought this up before the church at Corinth is one of the churches that seems to have had more problems just with the way they held their service doctrinally, things like that. There's kind of a lot of things going on, and the apostle Paul is giving them a lot of correction and oftentimes being real stern with them. And they had a lot of things they need to get needed to get right. But thank God that this is included in scripture, because obviously not every church is perfect and right and great on everything, and we need to see the rebukes as well as the praises. We need to see all the different epistles so that we know how we need to conduct ourselves as a church. But the the point I want to make here in the kind of the main focus of the subject matter, it starts in verse number 12 in chapter 1, where it says, Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. And I baptized also the household of Sefanis, besides I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with the wisdom of words, not with the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. And it goes on and on. But what he's bringing up here, and I think it's interesting because he brings this up like right at the beginning of his letter to the church at Corinth, to the letter of the Corinthians. It's one of the first things that he brings up is that within this church there are factions of people that are, you know, congregated in this church. And you've got some people saying, Well, I'm of Paul, right? And I'm of Cephas. Cephas is Peter. It's another name for the Apostle Peter. And others saying, Well, I'm of Apollos, right? Now, these are all great men of God, right? All those names that are listed there are people who have, you know, markedly, definitely saved men, apostles, great men of God, great leaders, great people to follow, right? None of them are these false teachers. None of them are just teaching heresy or anything like that. Look, they're all good people to follow. But the problem he's having is that the people are getting too focused on being followers of those individuals. Because you've got some people saying, It's Paul. No, I'm Paul's, man, I'm Paul's disciple. I'm one, you know, it's like, and then you've got some people saying they're of Christ. And he's saying here, you know, Is Christ divided? Verse 13, Was Paul crucified for you? You know, you're gonna go as far as to lift up. And, you know, he's talking about himself. Like, was I crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? And then he goes on to say, like, I thank God that I didn't do a lot of baptizing, because I don't want anyone thinking that I came in, you know, basically preaching myself and lifting myself up and trying to get followers after me. One of the things that we see here, though, is that obviously there are, there were influences within the church of these other apostles within that church. So there were these great leaders and the believers in the church at Corinth were obviously listening to and kind of getting guidance from and leadership from these other great men of God. And, you know, that's fine and great. But the problem is that the people there were carnal, and we're putting too much stock into these men, as opposed to just being able to receive teaching from various men of God, various people who are able to give instruction and teaching and leave it at that, and not become part of a clique and not just, you know, be so focused around one person. Now turn, if you would, back to chapter 3, because chapter 3 goes into this a little bit more detailed. Between chapter 3 and 4 we get a lot more information kind of about what's going on with this subject. And this is an important subject, okay? And, you know, the fact that they're all great leaders is really important also to understand. It's easy for us to see when someone, when people are following some false prophet, you know, hey call that out, right? We don't need to be, you know, so many people unfortunately get caught up in cults of personality and just lift up and exalt, oh man, this person, it's like they're the second coming of Jesus Christ or whatever. But just as much as that's easy to spot or seems easier to spot, and we need to stay away from that, even when you have really good men of God, you can, you have that potential for people to start following in that same way and exalting people above where they ought to be exalted. Now great men of God like the Apostle Paul, like Peter, they ought to be respected, right? They ought to be people that you could look to for guidance and look to for leadership and someone that you can respect their opinion and treat them as, you know, as a father, as an elder, but they're still a man. And you have to remember that and especially, you know, the Apostle Paul was someone who's greatly used more than any other as far as, you know, receiving all of this great scripture, being used mildly of God, making all these travels, winning so many people to Christ. You can see how it could start to be easy where people just, any word that comes out of the Apostle Paul's mouth, man, I'm just gonna believe what he says because he's doing all this great thing. It's like, hold on a minute there. You need to take a step back and not just blindly follow and become a follower where you're just saying, I am Paul's disciple because you've got your priorities mixed up. You ought to be, I'm Christ's disciple. And these men are gonna help me, right? These men, God has put in positions to help me to grow, to learn more, but you know what they're gonna help me to teach? To follow Christ. John the Baptist knew this real well. He wasn't trying to, because he did get a lot of followers. He got a lot of disciples following John. He started baptizing people. He had a lot of people following his ministry. He made a big stir. He made a big commotion. There's a lot of people talking about his ministry and a lot of people joined to his ministry, but you know what he did? He says, hey, it's not about me. Follow him. Hey, behold the Lamb of God. Hey, that's who you need to be following. Follow Jesus. I'll help you follow. Yeah, there he is. Go. Follow him. He must increase. I must decrease. That was the message of John the Baptist. And you know what? That's the same heart and attitude that the Apostles had, too. It's not the Apostles' fault. It's not Peter's fault. It's not Paul's fault that people are trying to lift them up and exalt them. They're just preaching the Word of God with power, with the Holy Ghost. They're doing what's right. They're getting a lot of success. They're doing a lot of great works for God. It's the people that are being carnal and choosing to exalt someone. So first of all, we can't blame Paul. We can't blame Peter because other people are doing this stuff. It's not their fault. They're doing what they're supposed to be doing. And you can't control what other people do. It's the people that need to realize, hey, I'm not gonna allow that to happen. We're actually having a really good discussion with Brother Mark before church today or after church this morning. And just talking about how whoever, whether it be your favorite pastor or me or someone else, you can't just rely on what someone's telling you to be true. You can't just get caught up behind what someone does. And he made a fair point. And I'm gonna repeat this because I'm not in the business of trying to deceive or trying to withhold any truth or information. And it's not flattering the way that we talked about this, but there's truth. Preachers have experience in preaching the Word of God, and one of the goals and intents when you're teaching, when you're preaching God's Word, is to persuade. I have a particular belief that I hold strongly in Scripture, and tonight it just happens to be about this subject, about lifting up men of God, lifting up preachers, and just causing division and having stripes because you're exalting one person too much. And I'm trying to teach this, so what I'm gonna do is use my knowledge of Scripture and support that doctrine and try to persuade you. And you know what preachers do? You're gonna avoid areas that you think might cause some confusion or doubt because you're trying to teach something, right? People who teach false doctrine are gonna try to do the same thing. And sometimes good people unknowingly are teaching false doctrine. It happens. I mean, because look, none of us are perfect, right? So I'll just take, I'm not gonna use anyone else's example. I'll take myself as an example. You know, if I'm teaching something to you, I'll tell you right now, I wholeheartedly believe it. I'm not gonna teach you something that I don't believe, but you don't know that for a fact. I know that because it's me, right? But let's say I'm an error on something. I'm just wrong. I've been wrong before, and I'm not claiming to be perfect right now. But I am attempting to do my best to try to only teach the things that I am really confident of and I'm sure of because if I'm unsure, then there's no point in being a teacher on it because if I don't know it, then how can I teach on it? Either way, though, let's say if I'm wrong about something, you know, you have to realize that that's possible. Or anyone else. I mean, whether it's me or anybody, anyone teaching the Word of God to you, that's why it's so important for you to, one, when you come into church, realize, hey, I'm ready to receive. I'm ready to learn. I'm ready to get some instruction. I'm ready to hear what the pastor has been, you know, working on and studying and going over, and I'm gonna hear what he has to say, and I'm gonna take what I hear, and I'm gonna judge it based on what I already know about Scripture to see if that lines up. And I'm not saying you need to just be like completely shut off when you hear preaching and not let anything in. You need to be ready to be instructed, but it's still gonna be your responsibility to determine whether what you're hearing is right, whether it's the truth, or whether it's not. And look, I've advocated this from day one. You need to know the Bible for yourself. Because I'm not perfect, because I'm just a man, I'm gonna do my best to help you along the way. I'm gonna try to help educate you with what I've already learned, where my knowledge is, from my study, I'm gonna try to give you everything that I have and everything that I can, but you know what? This knowledge that I have didn't come from me. I've received it from someone else. And you have to remember that, too. Any preacher that you're hearing, these aren't just all these great things that they come up, because if they are, if you're just hearing a bunch of stuff that just some person just comes up with completely on their own, watch out for that, because you have a very, very strong likelihood that that's cultish, where it's just this one person just coming up with all these things on their own. You know what? There's nothing new under the sun. Bible's been around for a really long time. Now you may have a slightly different way of explaining something or looking at something, that's fine, that's not a big deal, but we're talking about, you know, you start coming up with all kinds of weird, crazy doctrines and things that just, starting with you, and you've got a number of them, right? You've got some person who's just got a number of brand-new doctrines starting with you. Watch out for people like that. Those are the ones that go off and start their own religions. And realize, too, you know, these people, anybody in this position, we're gonna try to, I'm gonna try to persuade you and show you, because I believe it to be true. We go out soul-winding and preaching gospel to Jesus Christ. What we're trying to do, persuade people to put their faith in Jesus Christ, because we believe that to be true. We're trying to do that. It's the same thing when you come in here, so when you hear preaching, just remember that, and you know, study a matter out for yourself. If anyone doesn't agree with with what I preached this morning, you don't have to agree with me on anything also, that's another thing. I'm not expecting ever to be lifted up and exalted above being a brother in Christ in a position that I believe God has me here to try to help and minister to you. That's it. And that should be all that any man of God or preacher or pastor is in that same position. Now, let's start reading here through chapter three. Verse number one, the Bible reads, and I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. So he's talking to this church, like, I can't even speak about, you know, real serious spiritual things. I've got to get just real carnal with you, because you guys are carnal, because you're like, you're just like little babies in Christ. You're brand new, and it's like you don't know anything about Scripture, about God. You know, I have to just start teaching you. Now, they're saved, right? He's not saying they're unsaved, but he's just saying, basically, you're like a newborn. We're starting from scratch, and we got it, we got to cover some basic things. Verse two, I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able to say, and you know what? I've been giving you the milk of the word. I've been trying to keep things nice and simple and easy for you, but you still are not ready for meat. You're like a little baby that just, you have no teeth yet. You don't know how to chew up some real meat, so I'm gonna have to start giving you more of the basics, and then he's gonna explain that, because everything about this, the church is gonna be receiving this, going like, man, he's calling us all a bunch of babies. Imagine if I just came up here to say, you guys are just all a bunch of babies. You think you know something about the Bible, you don't know anything. I mean, you really are just like a bunch of babies, and this is what, this is the letter to the Church of Corinth. Now, he's not doing this because he's so proud and lifted up in his own knowledge. He's doing this to get through to them, and honestly to help them, which is why he wrote this whole epistle, giving them the Word of God, because if they're in error about something, they need to know about it, they need to be corrected about it so they could grow, and he goes on to continue to explain why he thinks that they're still like babies, why they're still carnal, why they're still just just worried about fleshly things and not about actual spiritual things that really matter. Verse 3, for ye are not, for ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? He's saying, as long as I know that within your church, you've got people envying other people, you've got fighting going on, and you've got all these divisions and all these factions, you know what? I know that you're carnal, and I know that you're just like babes, because if you're that carnal, you haven't grown very much spiritually, and if you have all these types of problems, these just real basic envy and strife and divisions, you're not thinking spiritually. You're not grown very much. You're walking in the flesh, because this is what the flesh brings. It brings strife, it brings division, and then he brings up again what we saw in chapter number 1, verse number 4, for while one sayeth, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Paul, are ye not carnal? This attitude alone, oh well, I listen to this pastor, I believe, you know, you're being carnal, because it's not about the messenger, it's about the message, it's about God, it's about Christ, it's about truth. These ministers, as all they are, they're a minister. They're there to help, not to be lifted up, not to be getting their own separate little following, whatever, or big following, it doesn't matter, to have people follow them. Verse number 5, who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? So basically they're saying, well, who are we? All we are just ministers that preach the Word of God to you, so that you can believe and get saved. God gave ministers to every man, and we just happen to be two of those people, that's all we are. Verse 6, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase, saying, yeah, we're out working, we're laboring, I'm planting, Apollos is out there watering, you know, we're doing this work together to reach you, but you know what, ultimately, God's the one who gets the credit anyways, God's the one who provides the increase, we're doing everything that we can do to help and to get things going, but you know what, at the end of the day, it's gonna fall back on the Lord. Verse number 7, so then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that gave it the increase. So lesson number one of not being carnal in this area is, you know what, how about you just start putting the focus on God and not on the men who are doing this labor? The laborers may be able to teach you how to be a laborer, right, because they've been laboring for a long time, but you know what, they're gonna tell you the focus still needs to be back up on God, because that's who you're working for. It's like the, you know, when you have a laborer that becomes this supervisor, right, over other laborers, those laborers are working for that supervisor, but ultimately, and then you can think about this in any job setting or anything like that, you've got middle management or whatever, you got a bunch of people working for someone else, they're not just working for that one person, they're working for, at the end of the day, you know, the top, they're working for, you say the company, but the main boss is who everybody is working for. So you can't just be so focused, well I'm just working for this person, you know, like no, you're actually serving the person all the way at the top, and when we're laborers for the Lord, you know, the Bible talks about how then shall they hear, except they preach, and how they shall they preach, except they be sent, you know, we're a church that sends people out, I set up soul winning times to help send you guys out to go out and preach the gospel, but it's not like you're working for me, we're all working for God. That makes sense? I mean it's, I know it's a real, it's a real simple concept, but unfortunately, when people become carnal, they start exalting men as opposed to exalting Christ, and Apostle Paul is doing his best here to show like, look, we're nothing. I'm a laborer. Why would you exalt, I mean, just think about that, like, I'm just a guy planting seeds, and here's a guy watering. Why are you trying to exalt me and lift me up? That's all I am, right, having a humble approach. Verse 9, for we are laborers together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon. Now, this is where I get, I'm gonna go through some of this as well, because this gets into the work that we do, you know, ultimately the foundation that's laid for our life is Jesus Christ. That's the foundation. Our eternal life is based on that. Our everything that we do going forward, after your salvation, hey, that's the foundation. Being saved is a foundation. What you do after that is everything that gets built upon that. The Apostle Paul is a wise master builder, right, he's gonna help people to build on all of their foundations. He's, one, he's helping to pour the foundation when he's preaching Christ to people. Christ is the foundation, but he's, you know, helping the people get that foundation set up in their heart by preaching and teaching them the Word of God. And then by continuing to teach and exhort, you know, you choose what you're gonna build on that foundation personally as the wise master builder is trying to instruct you, hey, here's how you can build this building and make it strong and you do this and you do that, this is gonna last, this is gonna have eternal value, you know, hey, do it this way, do this, this is gonna be something that'll last at the judgment seat of Christ, but it's up to you to make that decision for yourself. Let's continue on here, verse 11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile a temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for as written he taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and again the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain, therefore let no man glory men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come, all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's. And he lays it out there, I know we read through that kind of fast, but I don't want to get too involved in all of the work of the temple and all the building and stuff, but he transitioned from being this laborer to putting it back on the individual of how you build they're on, and you get the advice from the teachers, from the wise master builders, from the people like Paul and Cephas, but at the end of the day you have to to remember verse 21, again, therefore let no man glory in men, don't let anyone glory in the man, in whoever the man is, he says whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, he says all are yours, this is all here for you, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's, so follow the order and put the the attention in the focus where it belongs at the top, not in the middle, not, you know, at the top. Verse 4, let's continue on here, because he continues in this same with, you know, just because we have a division here of a chapter, this same thought and this same subject continues on through chapter 4. Verse 1, let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God, so he's saying now again account of us, he's referring to him and Apollos and Cephas as a minister of Christ and a steward of the mysteries, God has given them these revelations of the mysteries of God, and he's a steward of that knowledge and that information, so he's trying to convey that. Verse 2, moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, but with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment, yea I judge not mine own self, for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. So at first he's basically saying here that he doesn't care what they think about him. He says it's important, it's required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Now we can see the Apostle Paul is obviously found faithful, and he demonstrates that, and he's living the way he ought to live, and living a very faithful life, and basically what he's saying here, he's like it's a small thing for me that I should be judged of you, it doesn't matter to me what you think of me, because he's here telling them they're babes, right? But his faithfulness is going to speak for itself, he's saying I don't care, it's not a big deal to me that you judge me, go ahead and judge me. You know, and any faithful steward ought to be able to have that same attitude and say go ahead and judge me, search me, go ahead, try me, because if you're a faithful steward you're not going to have anything found that's going to be like oh man this is just destroying your, you know, his testimony or whatever. He's saying go ahead, I'm not worried, and he's like I judge not my known self, for I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God. And again, you know, people will give slanders or whatever else, Apostle Paul is saying, you know, I don't care how you judge me, because there's coming a time that God is going to bring to light the hidden things of darkness, so the people who, you know, oftentimes the people who want to throw the dirt and throw the stones at men of God who are doing a good work, they've got something hidden. They've got their own sins that they want to hide, and they want to shift attention off to someone else, right? There's wicked people that have dark things hidden, and they're gonna try to slander the guy doing the good things, and he's like, you know what, I don't care, just wait. He's saying just wait, judge nothing before the time, because he knows that his own faithfulness is going to shine in the end. So you have that patience. He says, you know, until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God. He said, I know I'm gonna receive my praise of God because he knows my heart, he knows what I'm doing, and he knows the the darkness of other people who may be trying to say bad things. And this was also going on in the Church of Corinth also, by the way, is that there was people there that had no respect for the Apostle Paul, and partially probably because they were lifting up someone else. They're saying, who's the Apostle Paul? I'm following Cephas, or whatever, you know, whatever, and getting carnal about this. And you can see how this happens. We don't, you know, obviously this is somewhat speculation, but we know from Scripture that the Apostle Paul was stood Peter to the face on an issue. He used to be blamed. He was wrong about something. He was rebuked for it. And as far as we can tell, he took it just fine. And that was an issue between two leaders, two men of God, where one was right, one was wrong. But think about how that might have impacted the people who were following those guys. And in the Peter camp versus the Paul camp, and how you can get some strife and division. Oh man, that Apostle Paul, he thinks he knows everything. What does he think he's doing standing up to Peter? You know, the Peter camp is over there getting all upset about what Paul is doing, and then the Paul camp's going like, this Peter camp. These guys, you know, they don't know anything. They're so screwed up, you know, whatever. You have this division. It's like, look, you're both working for the same master. You're both supposed to be working for Christ. And the problem wasn't with, like, Paul and Peter having their problem or whatever. The problem then filters down to the people who are carnal, who just make it about a cult of personality and make it about a person, instead of, hey, yeah, okay, sometimes people are wrong about things. Whatever. I'm gonna do my work. I'm gonna continue working for the Lord and not let that, and not let myself get carnal about, you know, one person or another person. I'm gonna stay focused on doing what I need to be doing in my work, in my job. Verse number six here, Bible reads, In these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes, that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. And again, the fighting and the strife seems to come when people lift up men higher than they ought to be lifting them up. When you elevate someone to a status that is just too high, in your own mind, and you're lifting that person up to the point to where it's like, man, whatever they say, I'm just gonna listen to whatever they say, that's when you start to get upset if someone says something different or contrary. It's like, no, they can't ever be wrong about anything. Hold on a minute. Yes, they can. And I would say, you know, I have a lot of friends, a lot of people I respect and enjoy, and I think of a lot of wisdom and are great men of God, but at the same time, you know, if I could see the Apostle Peter be wrong about something, all the people that I know can definitely be wrong about something, because look at what these guys went through, and I still say it's nothing compared to what anybody in the United States of America and the present day is going through or suffering. I'm not saying people don't go through tribulations or hard times or whatever, but we are not at the level of what the Apostles were going through and, you know, what they had to do to teach and preach Jesus Christ and their faith at this time and how many enemies that were there then and how much power the enemy had to inflict on the the men of God. So it's not the same trial that we have today, and I'm not saying people wouldn't won't stand, it's just we're not facing that. So I have a lot of respect for the people who have gone through that, like Paul, like Peter, like Apollos, like, you know, all these these other great apostles and disciples, but when I see that being possible, you know, hey, again, don't think of men above that which is written, so that you're not puffed up for one against another. For who maketh thee to differ from another? I'm in verse 7. And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? This is extremely important when it comes to knowledge and receiving wisdom, and I have seen this time and time and time and time again, when people get excited, you know, they start hearing some preaching, they start getting gaining a lot of wisdom, a lot of information, a lot of learning that maybe they haven't had for years and years and years, sometimes for people, maybe even decades or whatever, you know, you're going to church like, man, I'm not being fed, you finally come across a good church or you hear a good person like, man, this guy is really just just just teaching things, I like the way he explains things, and I'm learning so much, I'm growing so fast, and then you end up talking to people who, maybe your peers, your friends, that don't know all the things that you know, and that's where people can end up getting puffed up because you have this knowledge, and oh man, now I know so much more than all these other people do, and start looking down on people because they don't know what you know, but the foolishness of that, what's being taught here, is that what do you have that you didn't receive? That knowledge that you have, someone gave that to you, you learn that from someone else, why are you getting all puffed up as if you just came up with all this stuff on your own? You didn't, someone else helped you, someone else taught you, so don't think that you're so great and mighty because you have all this knowledge now that other, these other poor imbeciles don't know, look, you received that, you have nowhere to glory, and at the end of the day, even for people like the Apostle Paul who are shedding light on scripture and on things that people didn't have light on in the past, you know what, he didn't get that of his own mind either, because that was given to him of the Holy Ghost, that was given to him of God, that wasn't his own mental prowess and his own wisdom and in his own heart coming up with this stuff, God gave it to him, so how can he glory of something that was given to him for free? It's the same reason why we can't glory in the fact that we're saved as if we did anything for that, Jesus gets the glory, he gets the honor, he gets the credit, he did all the work for us, we just got a free gift, we can't glory over that, the same way you can't glory over the knowledge and all these other things that you may have over some of us, don't let that get you puffed up, because it can happen, it happens very easily, I've seen it happen way too many times, I've seen it happen to the point where people start railing on pastors who are good people that have, you know, led people to Christ and doing a good work for the Lord, just because they don't believe the same doctrine or maybe they're wrong about some doctrines or whatever, I've seen people who like, they're saved less than a year and they're just calling out all y'all, man, this guy, he's not doing this and he's not doing that, it's like hold on a minute, slow down there buddy, seriously, slow down a little bit, why don't you worry about the work that you're doing for the Lord, not worry about bagging on other people and bringing them down, when you've been saved for less than a year and they've been saved for 40 years and running a congregation for a 30 or whatever, you know, like, like, hold on a minute, they may be wrong in certain areas, but you know what, you need to learn how to be humble and not allow yourself to get lifted up, because you know what, whatever you have, you didn't have that six months ago, someone gave that to you, so don't glory and how much you know over someone else, maybe that other person, they didn't have the advantage of hearing some of the things that you've heard and that's it, that's not because they're stupid, but you would have been in the same place that they were if you didn't hear it from somebody, don't forget that, verse 8, now ye are full, now ye are rich, you have reigned as kings without us, and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you, for I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last as it were appointed to death, for we are made a spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men, and as we get into this, this is another one of the reasons why I'm saying that like, the amount of respect I have for the apostles is just, is really high, and one of the reasons why I don't want to lift men up now, you know, especially, I won't even lift them up as high as an apostle, because when we start reading this, it's like, do we see this actually happening today with people that we know? Look at verse number 10, for we are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ, we are weak, but ye are strong, ye are honorable, but we are despised, verse 11, even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certain dwelling place, I don't know anyone who's going through that in order to preach God's Word. Hungry, nowhere to stay, you know, all of these physical problems, everybody that I know is going home and has a safe, secure place to stay, food to eat, food, you know, clothing on their back, everything, and he's saying, you know what, we don't have all that. They're laboring night and day, they're working, but they're also going through all of these other problems and things along the way. Verse 12, and labor, working with our own hands, but look at the attitude that they still maintain through all of this. Being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we suffer it. He's saying, we don't, we allow it. When people start persecuting us, okay, you don't need to always defend yourself. Let yourself be persecuted, go ahead, suffer it. Verse 13, being defamed, so someone's trying to defame you, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world and are the off scouring of all things unto this day. Men of God that we see so many great stories of, it's understandable how you might want to lift up a person like that. It's understandable, but it's still wrong, and we need to guard against this type of an attitude, because you know what, people are people, and people have always done this, and people will always do this, but we need to guard ourselves individually not to get sucked into that carnality of lifting someone up above that is white and above that which is written, and the people who may be being lifted up or may be in these positions, you know, if you ever find yourself in a position of leadership, just remember, and even if not, if you know, be a fool for Christ's sake. Follow these, the things that are being mentioned here. If you're reviled, right, bless. When you're persecuted, suffer it. When you're defamed, entreat for it. You don't have to go to war with everybody. Verse 14, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. And again, the motivation behind writing this, as I did before, from the very beginning, he's calling them little babes. You guys don't know anything, and he's saying, I'm not writing this to just bring shame on you for not being right, but I'm telling you what's going on. I'm warning you, hey, if you continue down this path of just lifting people up and just being divided and having a church that's divided, you're gonna continue to have these strives, you're gonna continue to have problems, and you know what, it's not right. And I like how he finishes this, because he's still giving them this last instruction, which I think it's overlooked and also isn't taught very much, but is also important. Because he kind of has given an answer here, which primarily the answer is, hey, Jesus is at the top. You know, Jesus is the one that we're working for, so don't worry about all these other ministers. But look what he says in verse 15, because he says in verse 14, I write not anything to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. Apostle Paul's stepping in, writing in the Church of Corinth here, as his sons in the faith. He's calling them his sons because he led them to Christ. Verse 15, for though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ, Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. This is an important point. I want to spend a little bit of time developing a little bit further, because, and as he says in verse 16, wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. There's a lot of instructors, and there's a lot of people that you can gain wisdom from, and there's a lot of teachers out there, but he's saying, you know what, I'm your spiritual father, in the sense that I'm the one who led you to Christ. This is an important point, and people ought to remember this, you know, especially when you've got all these different choices and all these other people and all these different instructors and stuff. Well, it's like, you know who you know, and you can be sure if you know the person who led you to Christ, if you know that, like, if you're saved, then they've got to be saved, too. I mean, they're the ones that led, you know what I'm saying, like, they're leading you to Christ. You don't have many fathers, you can have many instructors, but not many fathers, and then he goes on to say, you know what, then be followers of me. This is the same type of thing that we try to teach when we bring the gospel to people that are already going to church somewhere, right? Unsaved people that are going to a church, they've been going to church for 10 years, 5 years, whatever, their whole family goes there, whatever. We bring them the gospel, they weren't saved, they didn't have their faith in Jesus Christ, they get saved. They put all their faith in Christ, but then they still just want to go back to the other church, to some other teacher, to some other instructor, and it's like, look, they didn't care enough about you to make sure that you had eternal life. I'm here trying to teach you and give you eternal life. It only makes sense, you know, you don't, you could have many instructors, but you don't have many fathers, right? And I have no problem using the terms getting someone saved, I mean, that is so mild compared to what we see in the Bible here, like, like, I've begotten you, he's saying, you know, you're my son, and I'm your father, spiritually speaking, because I, like, help give birth to you by laboring and travailing and preaching to you and doing everything that I could to help you, right? These are the words that are inspired by the Holy Ghost and, you know, written by the Apostle Paul coming through here. We need to remember that and remember that also, not just for other people, but even for ourselves, right? When you have that mentor, that instructor that has done so much for you, someone else may come along and just, you know, sound real cool or sound great or so, you know, kind of get a lot of attention and gather some great following after them, but don't forget where your roots are. That's important, don't forget the roots. Now, it doesn't mean that you have to blindly follow a man, that's not what the Apostle Paul is saying, that's not what I'm saying, but there's a warning, as he says, as my beloved sons, I warn you, there's a warning for the people that can lead away and distract and come along and have all this flashiness or whatever. I've seen this happen with the likes of, what's that guy's name, Paul Washer, right? You can have people that are saved and all of a sudden they start hearing this guy and he's preaching and it's like, man, I don't hear that, you know, you'd be going to maybe a more of a watered-down type of church, you're not getting fed, you're not hearing a lot of preaching, and it's like, oh man, this guy is really, really ripping on sin or whatever, you're starting to hear this stuff, and people in here, I think, have had testimony of, at one point, listening to his preaching, because you're thinking like, man, I like the way he's doing this, and you start, you know, this guy comes along and it's like, well, hold on a minute though, don't get too carried away with him, because that guy's teaching damnable heresy. That guy's teaching a works-based salvation, you have to turn from all of your sins, and if you sin, you know, like all this other nonsense is lordship salvation garbage. Remember where you came from, and this is where he says here, be followers of me, he's kind of settling this matter, trying to get the the church unified. Verse 17, for this cause have I sent unto you to Mothius, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, again, he's calling him, that's not his physical son, he's not, Paul wasn't married, and didn't have children out of wedlock, the Timotheus is someone he won to Christ, he won to the Lord, that's why he's calling him his beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ. So, every time we see the Apostle Paul telling people to follow him, he's saying, follow me as I follow Christ, and he's gonna bring you, you know, he's gonna bring you back into remembrance, remember, because the Apostle Paul was there with this church, getting the people saved, excuse me, before he went on somewhere else, so now he's writing this letter, because he's not with them, that's why he's writing to them, right, sending him this letter, saying, you know what, I'm gonna send Timothy, because I could, he's faithful, I know you could trust him, he's one of the fruit of my labor, right, I've begotten him through the gospel, and he's gonna bring the ways that I already taught you once, to bring you back in remembrance, remember, when Paul was here, this is, this is the way you're supposed to be doing things, and he's gonna go help bring order back to this church, who shall bring you in remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, not all of his ways, if there's any ways that aren't in Christ, but he's like, you know what, the ones that, that are right in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church, and verse 18 speaks to what I had mentioned earlier, now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you, so these are the people, oh that Paul, he's not coming back, he's not gonna do anything, he's a blowhard, or whatever, right, they're, they're just kind of spouting off, verse 19, but I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power, what will ye, shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness, so he's, you know, he's basically saying, I'm coming, it's up to you to decide, am I gonna come here and just correct, like with the rod, and just, and just have to lay down law, and get you right, or are you just going to go ahead and fix the things that are, that are screwed up right now, and then I could just come in love, and we can just enjoy a good time of fellowship together. Now my last point just has to do with, you know, being followers of people, as I mentioned at the beginning, you know, I think it's great that you can have, you know, like the apostle Paul says here, 10,000 instructors in Christ. You can, you can follow up, you can learn a lot from different people, there's a lot of people to listen to, or read, or whatever, get some education and learning from, but first of all, keep it on giving the right level of lifting up, which is not too high, of just recognizing, hey this person's smart, hey this person is a good labor, this person I can learn from, great, but don't allow that person then just to become so lifted up in your mind, that like they could never do wrong, or never say wrong, that's weird, and scary, and cultish, okay, don't be that guy, but also, I would, I also recommend, even from any, because we have things like the internet, that makes it a lot easier to just see all, like in here, and receive teaching from all different types of people, we've kind of lost the ability, or what people should be doing, of judging prophets and their ministries by, and when I say prophets, I'm talking about preachers, because that's kind of, that's the way that the Bible uses that term, it's not someone who's just bringing all these, you know, new revelations, or something like that, these preachers that you could prove their ministry, right, that you can, you can actually prove what they're doing, not because you see some videos of it, but like you've been there, you've worked with them, you've seen that, you know, you've been, you've attended the churches, you know, the actual fruit of the ministry, because that's what the Bible teaches us in Matthew 7, is how you can determine whether or not someone's a false prophet is based on his fruit, right, because a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit, and that's talking about false prophets, that's not talking about every single person, or every single believer, or whatever, that's talking about people who are supposed to be getting converts, and winning people over, and, and, you know, leading a group of people, that's how you judge them, is are they bearing good fruit, so the Apostle Paul tells Timothy, in his epistle of Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4-5, he says, But watch thou in all things endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. So he's saying, you and your ministry, you have to make proof of your own ministry, how? By just being consistent, doing the work, enduring afflictions, staying, you know, staying true, and then people can judge your ministry and your work, you're making full proof of your ministry, and before you take too much heed to what all, you know, a bunch of different people are saying, because people can say some real good things right up front, but you don't really know anything about them, take it with a grain of salt on the teaching, right? It's best to be able to see things locally, or, you know, like in person, go visit places, and, and see for yourself what's going on, and make the judgment call, if you want to continue to receive instruction from people, and, and that will, will help you out, and, you know, obviously people move around and stuff, but I would say, you know, whatever church you're into, support the leadership there, right? So you're in our church, you can listen to a lot of different people, and you know, maybe you have a different opinion on some things, and maybe you believe different on doctrine, you know, that's okay, because when I was a member of a church, and not pastor of a church, I had things that I believed that were a little bit different for my pastor also, and that's fine, there's nothing wrong with it, because overall, on the vast majority of things, we were in full agreement, and it didn't matter, because you know what, if you're looking for someone to believe everything exactly the same as you, you're gonna have a hard time finding that person, let alone pastor or church, that's gonna have every single box checked of everything that you could think of as a doctrine that you believe, right? We're laborers, nobody's perfect, support the, you know, where you're at, and, and be another laborer, and don't get caught up in divisions and stripes over one personality or another, or one man of God, or another, or whatever, let's do our work, and you know what, it shouldn't affect you that much if there are problems between people, like there was between Apostle Paul and Peter, shouldn't really affect anyone else, that was between them, and it was dealt with and done, and the only other people are gonna be affected by are the people who already lifting people up too high than they ought to, and we don't need to worry about that. God has given us all individually enough work to stay busy with, to not be concerned about the dealings and goings-on with everybody else, and what anyone else is doing, you know, let's focus on doing the work at hand here, let's continue to work at building a really strong church together, a great church family that's here for one another, to love one another, to encourage one another, to exhort and provoke unto love and good works, as the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, that's why we're here, and let's do the most amount of work we can for the Lord, and hey, you know, I'll listen other people, but at the end of the day, let's, let's keep our focus on doing the job that God has for us to do within our church. SpotRides have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we love you, we thank you so much for all the great wisdom that you provided for us in Scripture, Lord. I pray that our church would be one that you can be proud of, and that we can learn from all the teachings you've given us, especially from all the various churches and the epistles, Lord, so that we wouldn't find ourselves in a situation where we need to be heavily rebuked or corrected for something that we're doing, Lord. Continue to work with us, and give us knowledge and instruction, and Lord, at the end of the day, we're working for you. I pray that you would please help us, guide us as your laborers, as your husbandry, dear Lord. We're offering ourselves up. Please, please help and bless every single member of our church here, and, and Lord, build our church, help us to reach more people, and just to do a great work for you. We love you, it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.