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All right. Amen. Well, we're going to go ahead and finish up the book of first Corinthians this evening, and I'm going to call this how God opens and closes doors. Basically we've spent the last 15 plus weeks looking at the rebuke that Paul has given the Corinthian churches and all the stuff that he wants them to change and apply. And really one of the themes that flows through this chapter here is opportunity. So the idea is as long as they're ready to implement these things, take them to heart, make the changes that need to be made, opportunity doors will be open. And so we're going to kind of get into that a little bit in just a few minutes. There's a lot of different things in this chapter. It starts off talking about giving, things like that. Then it talks about the salutations and then the greetings and stuff. We'll get to all that. We'll go through all of these verses this evening, but look down at verse number one. So the Bible says this. It says, Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. So what can we learn from this first verse here about giving? It was a whole lot of different things. First thing I like to say, I don't like to talk about money a lot. I think I've preached maybe one tithing sermon since I've been a pastor, and the whole reason I even preached that was because somebody had threatened to kill me. Somebody sent me a message, or it was an email, it was a couple emails if I remember correctly, and it was like basically, hey, if you don't stop talking about money, I will kill you. I will come down to Boise and I will stab you, this and the other thing, and I was like, okay. Well I went in and preached a sermon on that and I still haven't seen the guy. It was a couple years ago. So got that off my chest, no big deal. But if you look at the verse here, okay, the last thing that he talks about here, he says, now concerning the collection for the saints, and you're going to see these are the saints over in Jerusalem, he says, I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. So what you see there is that Paul is establishing order. Remember we're supposed to do things in church decently and in order. We learned that in chapter number 14. And he's letting them know, like it's not just you guys that I'm asking for help for the saints, it's the churches in Galatia and I would assume others as well. So, with that being said, I'll just make a few comments here. You know, giving is probably one of the most abused subjects in Christianity. There are lots of churches. I've been to a lot of them. I've been to Baptist churches where, I mean, as soon as the music starts playing, okay, like there's money signs flashing on the wall. No, not really, but I mean, from the time the announcements start, it's like, let's make sure that we're not going to be able to do that. It's like, let's make sure, you know, good morning, guys, or good evening, you know, guys, let's make sure we have a great, you know, offering today. By the way, here's all the announcements and just woven through even all the announcements, just money, money, money. And by the time the sermon starts, it's, you know, whatever topic it is, it always reverts back to money. I don't like that. I think that's wrong. I don't like to do that. You'll see why here in just a few minutes, but I was studying this. I remember a story that a pastor told me a long time ago about pledges. Has anybody ever been to a church where they say, hey, we're going to have a pledge and, you know, we want you guys to commit to giving a certain amount that you know you can give, okay? I'm not, you know, to each his own on that. If that's what they want to do, that's fine. I'm not knocking them for doing that. But I will say, this pastor had told me a story about how that can become a legal binding agreement, okay? And strangely enough, that actually stems back from a court case back in, I think it was 1981, over in Minnesota. So there was a synagogue over in Minnesota, believe it or not, okay? And they had done that. They had said, hey, we're, you know, we've got this building project, we've got these things going on. We're going to send out a pledge. We want you guys to just write down, you know, whatever the Lord has, you know, spoken to you about. And so several people obviously committed a pledge, $100 a month, $200, you know, different things like that. Well, okay, during the process of time, you know, they start gathering up the money, like they do. They start looking at things like, wait a second here. Here's what we've had pledged. Here's what we have. This ain't matching up. So what do you think the old rabbis did? Think they went and clipped some coins? No, what they did is they actually sued their own congregation. And guess what happened? They actually won. They actually won in court. Even people who had quit the synagogue left, they went after them and the court said, yeah, you guys owe and they forced those people to pay. Take that for what it is, whatever you will. I don't know if any of our friends do pledges. I have no idea. I'm not knocking that. If they do, I'm just saying it's just kind of weird. It's just something to be aware of. And, you know, that's kind of a silly thing. But churches do stuff like this all the time where they guilt trip their people. Hey, money, money, money, we got to get this stuff. And to us, you know, who are about the truth. And when we look at the mega churches, we see the jets and the buses and the elaborate suits that they wear and things like that. You know, we're looking at their people like, how could you be so gullible to fall for this? Right? Like, don't you understand what's going on here? But those people are in a snare of the devil. They have no idea. They really believe in their hearts that they're giving to the kingdom of God. And they say, Oh, our pastor, Jesse Duplantis, he's flying all over the country and all over the world, delivering food to people. And that's preaching the gospel to millions. He's going to have millions in eternity. No, he's gonna have millions of flames in eternity. The guy's definitely a false prophet. And there are many, many, many like him. If you don't know who he is, old time guy. It's been on TBN forever. But he's not alone. And the unfortunate reality is there are a lot of people that like to extort and make merchandise out of people. Now, one of the things that we constantly get bombarded with and accused especially by the sodomites is money. Hey, there's not a week that goes by where I don't get something saying, how's it gonna feel when your income gets cut off? How's it gonna feel when we take all your money? Well, I don't know. I don't see it. It goes into that box, right? And at the end of the month, it gets counted, goes to the bank and goes right to the landlord. That's how it works. You know, that's basically what happens. Do the money. They don't get that though. They're just like, they think that I've got like, you know, millions of dollars coming in from all over the place. And that's just not how it is. When we have money left over, obviously it goes back to the church. It goes to getting invites and resources and things that we need to preach the gospel or to edify people to help people out. That's what it's for. But enough of that first thing right off the bat that Paul does is he establishes order. Okay. He establishes order. Now look at verse number two. This is a huge slap in the face to guess who. You know, your old seventh day crowd, the old, you got to go to church on the Sabbath crowd. Look at this verse two. Upon the first day of the week. Well, that's weird. I thought I was going to go to hell for going to church on a Sunday because I've been told that several times actually. Okay. Upon the first day of the week. Is that Monday? No, Sunday. Sunday. Oh, what's going on here? What's going on on the first day of the week that involves Christians gathering something? Well, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him that there'll be no gatherings when I come. Okay. So the first thing here I see is that, you know what? It's okay to go to church on the first day of the week. And of course we've been through this and we've broken this down and we've smashed the seven days and the Ellen whites and all of these clowns. They're already messaging. It's that fast. Okay. Look, these people are already with, oh, they watch everything we say and do. Yes, I said it. We can go to church on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and even skip Saturday if we want to. Okay. Get over it. Stupid people, man. But anyways, I want to give you three quick reasons here why they're giving to the churches or I'm sorry, the saints over in Jerusalem. Okay. Have you ever, ever wondered that you've ever read through this, you know, like what was going on over there that, you know, these guys had to actually supplement the church in Jerusalem. Weren't they doing good? Did they have all things in common? What's going on here with that? So keep your place here in first Corinthians chapter number 16 and go over to Acts chapter number two. And so the first reason that I would say from studying this out that they needed to send money, send resources over to the saints in Jerusalem was because they were in financial distress. Okay. They were in financial trouble. They had had a, and you're going to see this here in a second. They'd had basically, you could almost call it like a Christian commune kind of thing going on. Okay. Let's take a look at that. It'll make more sense when we read it. Look at verse 42. Okay. Look at verse 42. It says, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. So obviously Acts chapter two, everything is just kind of starting up here. People are getting saved. The apostles are preaching the word of God. They're doing signs, confirming all these things that we've learned about recently. Okay. So verse 43 and fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. Verse 44 and all that believed were together. And had all things in common. Okay. Now I don't know about you, but I've had somebody say this to me before. Okay. And on more than one occasion say, well, the reason why I don't go to church is because we don't do church like they did in the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, they all pulled their money together and they all fed each other and they all basically didn't have to work. They just kind of lived together and it all worked out today. Preachers steal the money. Okay. If you haven't had that said to you, you will. You definitely will not. They're out there. They're alive and well. Okay. Look at verse 45 and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. Sounds great. Sounds like a very good thing. Now, obviously let me just make this remark. Before we go any farther, you know, if, if I ever hear, and when I do hear that somebody, you know, that saved needs help, you know, I do whatever I can to help that person out. Okay. We, we do what we can to help believers out. This is not an open Sesame street, you know, kind of operation here where random people, you know, come in and say, well, you know, I don't want to go to church. Okay. You come in here asking for money. I just want to know if you're saved. Okay. And if not, I'm gonna try to give you the gospel. If you're not interested, you're going to have to leave because my job, and I don't have time to break this down is to take care of the saints first. The world can worry about the world, but more on that another day. And, and of course it's a case by case basis and things like that. Look at verse 46 says, and they continue daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Of course, verse 47, praising God, having favor with all the people and the Lord. Added to the church daily as should be saved. Sounds great. Okay. And people cherry pick this out, right? And they're like, well, that's not exactly what is going on today. Therefore, I don't need church because man has polluted and corrupted church. Well, go over to chapter six real fast. And so you might be thinking, why do they need financial support from all the Gentile churches? If this is the situation, and well, by the time you get to Acts chapter six, you're going to start to see something unfold here. And then as that is basically a deterioration of what you just read in chapter two. Look at verse one, act six, look at verse number one says, and in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Okay. Do you see that? So now there's this tension. Okay. So remember the Hebrews, you know, they grew up in the old system and they just kind of, they grew up in the old system. And they just kind of had this mindset that it's us for and no more. They're having a difficult time basically coming together and putting aside their ethnic differences because they've been brought up that way. And so now there's this fighting and there's these issues here and the Greeks are like, hey, you know, some of our widows are being neglected and you guys are favoring the Hebrews. Okay. Kind of a different mentality than what you read in Acts chapter two. So you start to see that breakdown. Okay. Look at verse two says, then the 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. And of course they go on and proceed to choose out seven men full of the Holy Ghost to take care of these matters. Now, um, you can go to actually go to Acts chapter number 11. And so basically all of that to say this, that, you know, anytime people try to set something like Acts chapter two up and these types of things pop up all the time around the country, you know, these Christian communes and they don't really last very long. You know, you might get a couple of years out of them because what winds up happening is more people start to show up for the material instead of the spiritual. Okay. You don't even have to have a commune set up to get that. Okay. You'll see that in any church as it grows, you will start to see more people come in for the material than the spiritual. I'm not even saying it's a majority, but you'll see it happen. Okay. And so we can see that's kind of what's going on here. The mindset has deteriorated. Okay. So instead of the Greeks and the Hebrews just coming together and saying, Hey, you know, let's just figure this out real quick and not have it to be a thing. It became a thing. It became a big problem. Why is that? Well, because people can revert back to the old man and the flesh takes a hold and the next thing you know, you're caught up in the materialistic things instead of spiritual and it just, it turns out to be an absolute mess. So really, I would say the first reason why they need to send money over there was just because of a deterioration in that culture, in their finances. Okay. Their decision making, if you will. Number two is pretty obvious and it's famine. That's probably one of the main reasons here, which is famine. Look at verse 27. It said, and in those days, or in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. Verse 28. And there stood up one of them named Agabus and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Verse 29, then the disciples, every man, according to his ability determined to send relief unto the brethren, which dwelt at, or I'm sorry, in Judea. So you've got financial troubles. You've got, you know, the Hebrews and the Greeks are kind of beefing a little bit and obviously they, they, they settled down, but it still took a toll and you can still see the mindsets, not as it was in the early days of Acts chapter number two. Fast forward. Now you have this famine in the land in Jerusalem. Now go over to Hebrews chapter number 10 and we'll look at number three. Number three, another very obvious one, which was persecution and persecution. So as the Roman empire was ending their patience, if you will, with the Southern kingdom or another Southern king with Judea at this point in time, they're getting ready to basically go into Jerusalem and overrun them. Okay. They started persecuting the Jews. They started taking their possessions and the writer of Hebrews again, who I think is Paul here briefly touches on this. Look at verse 32. So Hebrews 10 verse 32, he says this, remember he's writing to the Hebrews and he says, but call to remembrance the former days in which after ye were illuminated, he endured a great fight of affliction. Okay. After you were illuminated, after this all made sense and you believed after you got saved. Verse 33 partly whist ye made, or you were made a gazing stock both by reproaches and afflictions and partly whilst you became companions of them that were so used. Now look at this here in verse 34 for you had compassion of me in my bonds. And that's another reason why I believe that Paul wrote this because he constantly used that phrase being in bonds. But he says in my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and enduring substance. So what, again, what had happened, and I think one of the things that also sparked this because they knew that some, you know, that Rome was just done, right? They had already commanded the Jews to depart from Jerusalem. Things were getting bad economically in Judea. And so I believe Paul wrote this and he mentions this in there and he's like, hey, you know, I heard that when people or when the Romans were coming in and they were actually taking your wealth, taking your resources, taking your properties and things of that nature, that at the first you guys counted it all joy that you were doing this for the Lord and he's trying to exhort them, hey, not to lose that mindset. Don't go and revert back to the physical and things of that nature again. So you've got this Christian community in Acts chapter two falling apart as more people come in. And of course, God's trying to get these disciples, right? He's trying to get them out of Jerusalem and into the world. And if you know the Bible and you read the Bible, you know, it took a while for that to happen. You know, it took a while for God to disperse that, you know, he had to use these things to get that to happen, to get the gospel to go forth. And of course, the famine assists in that, you know, so you got the famine, you've got the incoming of a lot of people and they're just not able to get along. And then you have persecution. So you've got those three reasons right there, which really put the saints in Jerusalem in a pretty decent bind. Now, Paul being the peacemaker that he is and was, and I mean, you read the gospels, you read the epistles, what is he constantly saying? In Christ, there's neither Jew nor Gentile. He spends a lot of time telling each of the churches that. So what does he do? He asks for support from the Gentile churches. He's going to bring that back to Jerusalem in hopes to blur the lines between, you know, a saved Jew and a saved Gentile. That's my opinion. That's what I think is going on here. Now back to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. So back to, you know, just a couple of, I guess I'll give you three more quick insights on offerings, giving and things of that nature. And the first one we've already mentioned is pretty obvious. When's it done? It's done verse two upon the first day of the week. Now, is it wrong to give online? Is it wrong to, you know, give on a Wednesday? No, it's not wrong. You're not going to lose rewards because of something like that. It's not a violation of scripture. Paul's trying to lay out order here. That's the main point. And his point is, you know, do it on the first day of the week. The whole point being that there's no gatherings when I come. So he doesn't want to show up and be like, all right, raise your hands if you got 50, you got 100, you got 30. You know, he doesn't want to put people on the spot. Okay. He wants people to do this orderly so that people can reflect and say, well, here's how God has prospered me. Here's what I can do without. Here's what I can afford to give to these guys. So that's kind of the principle there. Now, the second thing, if you look in verse two says upon the first day of the week, let every one of you. Okay. So this is the apostle Paul saying every one of you. So that would also include the pastors. That would also include the deacons, the elders, the leadership as well there. Okay. Let everybody give for this cause. And another thing I would just say here and from studying, just giving and things like that, giving your time, giving to the brethren, giving to the mission of God is it's really a heart check. You know, you guys know this. It's, you know, you say, well, why, why give? What's the reason for that? What does it do for you? Well, obviously I believe you help the mission of God. You're earning rewards for yourself in heaven. It helps the mission drive on. You know, all these different things that are pretty obvious, but really what it does is it confronts selfishness. And that's what it does. It confronts selfishness because we want to hang on to what we have earned. Not all of us do. It's just ingrained in us. It's what we do. And so God's saying, Hey, I love a cheerful giver. You know, somebody who gives from the heart. Okay. So when you have this mentality, well, I love the truth. I love what we do. I love the vision that we have and then the goals and the plans that we have coming up here. I want to give to that, you know, that God loves that and it's a sign of maturity. Okay. So that's pretty much it in a nutshell. Well, one more here. Go to Mark chapter number 12. Mark chapter number 12. We'll take a look at one more quick thing here. Mark chapter number 12. We're going to go towards the end of that chapter there. It's 44 verses. So a lot of times, you know, when people do want to have a sit down, they want to talk about money and say, Well, you know, the New Testament doesn't talk about tithe and prove to me that I have to tithe. I say, I'm not going to play this game with you. I'm not going to play this game with you at all. You know, in fact, what I'll say is I'll say, what did Paul tell the Corinthians about giving? What did he say? I don't know because I don't read the Bible. Okay, well, let me just fill you in. He told them to give as the Lord has prospered them. You know what that really means? You want to play this game? You know what that really means? Let's say I make $100,000 a year. If I can live off of 70 comfortably, well, 30% might go, and I'm not saying that for you guys. I'm just saying that that's basically what that principle means. You know, if it's in your heart and you can live that way. And so I'll say, so what sounds better to you? The 10% or that principle? Well, you know, hold on here. You know, that's not what that means. There's a miscommunication. There's a misunderstanding. No. Paul told the churches in Galatia. Paul told the Corinthians, the first day of the week, let every man lay aside as God has prospered him. So if you want to play this game about, like, oh, the tithe sucks and this and that, it's robbery, you're robbing the flock. I ain't robbing nobody. I don't put a gun to anybody's head. There's a box over there, either give or you don't. It's between you and God. I don't care. Okay? But the people that really want to just come at us with this, I'm just like, really, if you want to apply what Paul said, it's more. Well, then I heard this one time. Well, that was just for one specific time in, you know, for the saints of Jerusalem. And we don't have to support them today. I'm like, oh, you don't love Israel? You know, I guess it's usually that crowd, right? And they're just like, oh, you can't win with you. You're just a jerk. So just something kind of fun that you can get on somebody with if you need to. Mark chapter 12. Verse 42. So there came a certain poor widow and she threw in two mites which make a farthing. Look at verse 43. It was kind of like two pennies. If you want an example of what a mite looks like, there's a real one, a real widow's mite back there that brother Bill from Sure Foundation gave us. It's under the glass over there. You can feel free to take it out and look at it. It's pretty interesting. It's really from from about this time, he said as well. Verse 43, it says, and he called unto him his disciples and sayeth unto them, verily I say unto you that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury. You say, well, how is that possible? She gave like two pennies, like two cents. And we honestly don't know how much a mite is, but it was it was a lot to her. Verse 44, for all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Now go back to First Corinthians 16. I'm definitely not telling you to do that. What I'm simply saying here is look at what Jesus observed about her. And I'm bringing this up because sometimes people are like, well, I would come to church, but I can't afford to give. I said, come anyways. You know, we're not the Mormon Church. We don't audit you. You know, we're not like, oh, hmm, you didn't give your 10 percent? Well, I'm going to take it. It was a group of people in the Old Testament that that where they would take the offerings from people. And the Bible says they were reprobates. They were Satanists. They are basically they cause people to hate the offering of God. And I want to get into that. We've got to get moving. But hopefully you get the point. God loves a cheerful giver. There's really that's what the main point is. And what does that do? That opens doors, that opens doors and opportunities for the saints. By them following this, the saints in Jerusalem are going to get love, peace, and they're going to have comfort. Remember the mission of the church, the body of Christ. It's to edify and to evangelize the lost. So verse three says, And when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. So it's like, look, I'm not going up there for 20 bucks. I'll go for two million. No, I'm just kidding. That's not what he's saying. He's just basically if it's suitable, if it works out, basically if God allows me, I will go with them. But notice he's not like I have to control the money here. Like I'm showing up, I'm counting. He's like, hey, whoever you guys approve, it's up to you. You're autonomous, you know, whoever you send, we'll roll with that. And if I'm able to go, I will go and help. Because, again, Paul wants to blur these lines between the Gentile saints and the Jewish saints. It's all throughout the New Testament. He's the one preaching. We've got to get over this Jew worship. And what do you have today? You've got people trying to bring us back to that. Oh, Jewish Christians are superior. Have you ever heard of the Messianic Jews? Oh, man, I go to the carnival every year and I just bow down in front of their little stand because I just love them so much and they're the apple of God's eye. They're double blessed. That's the mentality that a lot of people have today, and it's sickening. Remember, look, simping for Semites is a disease. It's a toxic disease and a toxic mentality that needs to be driven out of Christianity. Guess what? Paul didn't simp for Semites. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Just don't ever forget that. Now, let's move on here. Verse 5 says, Now I will come unto you when I shall pass through Macedonia, for I do pass through Macedonia. Verse 6, And it may be that I will abide, yea, in winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. I want you to kind of think about how Paul's writing this, about how this is coming out. Paul's like, if it's possible, if it works out, this is what I'm going to do. Look at verse 7, For I will not see you now, by the way, but I trust to tarry awhile with you, if the Lord permit. If the Lord allows. That's his mentality. What's the mentality of the Pentecostals today? What's the mentality of a lot of Christians today? Oh, well, God told me. I was on my way to Fred Meyer to get a bag of chips, and then God told me in a vision to go to Walmart and save money because it was cheaper. And then God told me to go get gas, that shell, instead of Chevron. And guess what? I met somebody there, and I was able to talk. Beware of people that have that attitude. Not even the apostle Paul has that. He's like, hey, look, I'm definitely filled with the Holy Ghost. I'm definitely doing signs and wonders. But yet here he is like, hey, if the Lord allows me, I'll come over there and do X, Y, and Z. We'll fellowship, we'll get things straight, or what have you. Okay? So again, the mindset here is what a lot of people are missing today in Christianity. Verse 8, he says, But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. So you can see he's already there in Ephesus while the writing of this is going on. So by the time in your Bible reading you get to the letter to the Ephesians, just know that that stuff has been taking place during the writing of this letter here. Okay? Verse 8, he says, But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. Verse 9, For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. Now another reason that I wrote the title How God Opens and Closes Doors is because especially in the West here, you know, we often have these sayings. Like, okay, you know, well, God had a door open for me, but he closed it. Well, how do you know he closed it? Okay? Well, a lot of people think because there's resistance. A lot of people think, well, because there's, you know, bad people. Well, I was going to go to Shield Faith Baptist Church, but God closed that door for me because there were these people screaming at me outside and people blowing whistles and a guy dressed up in a costume. You know, that mentality can creep in. Okay? And there are people who have come here who have said things like that. Okay? But my question is, have you ever read this and thought about verse 9? What is Paul saying here? For a great door, so he knows that this great door is open. He says, For a great door and effectual. Okay? What does effectual mean? Efficient. Okay? Effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. Do you think for one second that God's going to open a door for you and the devil's just going to be like, oh yeah, just walk around with it. Boy, you're blessed by God. No. He's going to do whatever he can to stir people up around you to get you to question that door, to get you to second guess that door, to get you to think, well, maybe I shouldn't go in there because there's resistance, because there are people screaming at me. It's hard. I have to do something. I have to endure something. Okay? So all I'm saying here on this verse is sometimes we need to sit back and think, why do we have adversaries? Is it because of what's being preached? Is what's being preached true? Then guess what? That's okay. We know that that door is open. Sometimes you have to knock some people out to get through a door. It's just the way that it is. And I mean spiritually speaking. I'm not talking physically again. I'm just talking spiritually speaking. Sometimes you've got to race through that parking lot at a high rate of speed to get some people out of the way. I'm just saying. It's just the way that this thing goes here. Okay? But of course you've all heard the saying, you know, when God closes a door, he opens a window. And I think the quote goes, you know, but most people don't even remember to even look at the window. Okay? And so there's some truth to that, obviously. But the question is, do we even think to really analyze the door that is open in front of us? Can we recognize, first of all, that it's open? And can we just understand, just because there are adversaries there, that doesn't mean that it's closed. Okay? If it's open but there's resistance, we need to figure out a way to go through that, to go in that. You know, what does this look like? Well, it could look like the message I got yesterday afternoon. Don't ever come back to my apartment complex again. What you're doing is illegal. I'm going to call the manager. I'm going to call the police. Blah, blah, blah. Okay, there are always people that are trying to harass us and physically threaten our church, which is why I don't ever give locations and too much details about our soul winning anymore. There are always people doing that, okay? But guess what? There's a great door that's opened out here, all throughout this Treasure Valley, from Ontario to Mountain Home and beyond. And this year we have plans to go to many, many, many, many different spots to do a lot of soul winning, just like we did last year. We're going to outdo last year. This year it's going to be much better. But I'm telling you, we're going to have some adversaries, and we already have them. They're messaging right now. They're always watching. They're always listening. They're always trying to stop us, okay? That's just part of the deal. That's just the way that it is. You will have adversaries in your family. You will have adversaries at work. You will have adversaries on your street. You will have people that will try to stop you from coming to this church or a church like this. Why? Because the devil doesn't want you to go through. If he can't physically stop you from doing it, he can certainly try to psychologically get you to turn around, and that's what he defaults to, okay? That's why Paul brings this up. For a great door, and effectual, is open to me. So Paul sees there an emphasis, hey, there's a lot of receptive areas here. There are a lot of people that are starting to wake up and hear the message, but however, if you know anything about the Ephesians, we've already gone through this, a few weeks ago, or a few months ago rather, you know that they had a lot of enemies. They had a lot of people trying to stop them, a lot of people trying to arrest Paul, and so on and so forth, and he said, ah, I'm onto something here. This is definitely the door to go through. See, that's the mentality we gotta have. You know, when we see our mission, we know what it is. It's crystal clear God's given it to us. It's to make sure that we take care of each other, the brethren, and then it's to make sure that the message gets out to the people despite what government says, despite what media says, okay? When we get that and we understand that, we now have to understand that, yes, the devil's going to place adversaries to try to slow us down or stop us. That may look like people out in the parking lot yelling. That might look like people calling the church phone and threatening us. That might look like an individual or two coming in here and pretending to be one of us and then causing trouble. All of these types of things happen for a reason. It's because there's a great door that's effective that is open to us, okay? What the world does and what the weak Christian does is says, oh, it's too hard. You know, there's resistance. There's people yelling, man. This isn't the place for us. We gotta back off. We just can't do it, okay? But God's saying, hey, I'm looking for people that can quit themselves like men, act like men, act like real strong people and say, you know what? I don't care if there's adversaries out there. I'm gonna go ahead and go do that. I don't care if the adversary is the voice in your head saying, hey, another time. Don't do it today. You can put this off. You can put this off. You need to get that guy and grab him by the throat and get him out of the way and go do what you know needs to be done, okay? So enough on that. Look at verse 10. He says, now, if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear, for he worketh the work of the Lord as I also do. I can't read that without laughing. You know, because this group of guys, this group of people rather, these Corinthians, you know, Paul's like, hey, hey, if I sent Timotheus unto you guys, please don't make him afraid. You know, that kind of gives you some insight on how they really were. You know, Paul's worried about his, you know, his protege, this guy that he's training up, you know, going there and fearing for his life or just kind of being like, oh, am I gonna be received here? Am I gonna be allowed to teach? What's going on? He's like, hey, preemptively, I just wanna make sure you don't make him afraid, okay? Don't act like yourselves. Make the changes we talked about so that we can get things going. Verse 11, let no man therefore despise him, but conduct him forth in peace that he may come unto me, for I look for him with the brethren. So again, Paul obviously trained up Timothy and is training him for the ministry, sending him out to do various things here, and he wants to take care of him. He wants to protect him. Verse 12, as touching our brother, Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren, but his will was not at all to come at this time, but he will come when he shall have a convenient time. So again, remember in the beginning of the book, how people were like, hey, you know, we're of Apollos. Like, we're just better than you because we're of Apollos. And other people were like, no, we got Peter. And other people were, we got Paul. Well, we got Christ. You know, and here he's like, I did try to get Apollos to come to you, but he didn't want to. He just figured whatever he's got going on is more important right now, and he'll come to you when he wants. That's just the way that it is. And he wants them to just accept that for what it is. Now here it is, verse 13, watch ye. And you want to talk about doors being opened. Here's one way that we make sure that happens. Watch ye stand fast in the faith. What does that mean to stand? How do you stand fast? Well, you become unmovable. You don't let the world pull you this way, pull you that way, and take you out of what you believe and bully you into things you know are not convenient. So he says watch ye. So be on guard, okay? Observe your surroundings. Make sure you're aware of where you're at, what you're doing, what's going on, who's coming after you. So he says watch ye stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men be strong. Now those words today are trigger words like never before. Okay, like never before. Somebody had sent me something recently about a teacher in Seattle of all places, and I go figure, that is under some fire. And I mean, thank God for saying that, you know, you people out there saying that you're straight, you know, you really offend people. Well, of course they do. Of course they do. You ever read Genesis 19? Of course if you say you're straight and you're normal, the freaks get, you know, all bent out of shape. What do you expect? But that's the society we live in. You go tell people, hey, man up. Act like a man. Take responsibility. Do what you need to do to get the job done. People say, well, why does it gotta be a man? Why can't it be a woman? Of course this applies to women too, okay? Be who God made you, be strong. The point is not to allow other influences and people to move you out of the way of faith. Stand fast, be strong, okay? That is a prerequisite if you want doors to be opened to you in faith. Verse 14, he says, let all your things be done with charity. So again, tie in chapter 13, this love without expectation of anything in return, this love that we grow up in to maturities and let all things be done with charity. So again, that would apply to the giving. That would apply to everything that he has taught them. Okay, don't do these things. Okay, Paul said I gotta do it. So we gotta do it like this. Okay, no, no. Develop a love for the truth and do it. Okay, verse 15. It says, I beseech you brethren, you know the house of Stephanus, that it is the first fruits of Achaea and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints. So you take this individual here, the household of Stephanus. Obviously at one point they were converts, but look at them now. Now they have a ministry, okay. They have this ministry here and they're addicted. They're all in. They are sold out to helping the saints and preaching the gospel, okay. You're not gonna have all these other things up until this verse here, out of whack and be able to do this. That's another point that he's trying to get across here. So he's kind of slipping in some, you know, remember the requirements guys to be a pastor and to be in ministry in these things. Verse 16, that you submit yourselves unto such and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth, okay. So you ask yourself, you know, what's the danger of me, you know, turn it on T.D. Jakes or watching John MacArthur or you know, really just liking these other people. Aren't they Christians too? Well, look at it a little more closely, okay. That you submit yourselves unto such. Who should we submit ourselves unto? You know, if you're in a position where I gotta find a church to go to, I gotta find some place to fellowship, how do you do that, okay? Well, you wanna look for the example he gives you here in verse 15, okay. You wanna look for that Stephanus. You wanna look for somebody who's addicted to these things, who's sold out, who has quit themselves like men, who stand strong, who are unmovable on the truth. That is what you wanna do, okay. That's who we wanna submit ourselves to. That's what he's saying here, that you submit yourselves unto such, so like these people and to everyone that helpeth with us and labors. So again, we're not supposed to just also be, well, we're Shield of Faith Baptist Church and we're, you know, we're not gonna help, you know, another new IFP church. We're just gonna, you know, let them worry about themselves. No, no, no. We can all come together, go on mission trips. We can come together and stand up against, you know, false doctrine and have conferences and do all of these things that we do. There's nothing wrong with that at all because we all labor it, okay. And like we talked about this morning, what is the key component in that labor? Well, it's the Bible. It's the power. Remember, Jesus said, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And that, and we proved this morning that that is, including of the word of God, the Bible that you have in your possession. So verse 17, he says, I am glad of the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus. I wanna call him Fortune, because you know me, I got these nicknames for everybody and that's what I would call him if he was here, you know, if he had a sense of humor, which he probably does. If not, we'd make him have one, okay. So he says, I'm glad of the coming of these guys. And Achaeus, for that which was lacking on your part, they have supplied. So even here in the closing remarks, he gets in one more smack, right, one more rebuke. You know, let's know, hey, you guys were lacking, but these guys made up the difference. So verse 18, we're getting close to being done here. And he says, for they have refreshed my spirit and yours, therefore acknowledge ye them that are such. Okay, so again, you know, your friends, the people that you submit to, that you trust, like, hey, with a question about the Bible, they need to be people that fit this category here, that have addicted themselves to the ministry, that are all about the truth. That's who you want to ask questions to. That's who you want to go to for help and edification. Iron sharpened with iron, right? We all know that. So let's see here, look at verse 19. He says, the churches of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house. And of course, Aquila and Priscilla, they are tent makers that Paul met. We don't have time to go there, but you can read Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18, and learn how that relationship basically got started. And so he's letting them know, hey, they're doing well. They're doing very good. They've got a church in their house. So again, what else does that tell you? There's nothing wrong with starting a church in your house. You know, when this church started, it was started in a house, okay? When we moved here, we moved it to our house and eventually we outgrew that and now we are here in this building. Verse 20, all the brethren greet you, greet ye one another with an holy kiss. Okay. That's another one that gets emailed to us quite often by, I don't even have to say it. You already know who's gonna email that. Now we understand what this means, right? We know he's not saying this is a command that you all kiss each other. So guess what? You gotta do the whole cheek kiss thing that they do in the Middle East. No, we're not doing that here. It's not part of our culture. I'm not doing it. I'll never do it. I'll take the hit. I told somebody recently, they're like, well, you know, the Bible says you're supposed to greet each other with a holy kiss. I bet your church doesn't do that. I say, no, I don't. I'll take the hit. Whatever the loss is, I'll take it, okay? I don't wanna do it. I'm sorry. I wasn't raised that way. I'm pretty sure Paul would be good with a fist bump or a handshake. It's totally fine, okay? But as you all know, there are parts in the world that do that. It doesn't make them sodomized. It's just how it is, okay? It's stupid we even have to bring that up. Verse 21, the salutation of me, Paul, with mine own hand. So Paul's letting them know, hey, I'm not just only speaking this that someone else is copying, but as we close this letter out, I've disengaged, and I am personally letting you know that I care about you and that I greet you. He says, if any man, look at this, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, maranatha, and that means let him be accursed, okay? If someone has chosen, you know what? I don't love Jesus. I don't love the Jesus of the Bible. I don't love the Bible. I think it's all subjective, you know? I think he was a great teacher, whatever. You know, let him be accursed. Don't dwell on it. Don't worry about it. Don't shed tears for them. Don't lose sleep over it. Let them. Okay, look at the verse again. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him. You say, well, you can't prove that. Go read Galatians chapter one. What does he tell you about people that preach a false gospel? Let them be accursed. He tells you that twice. Let them, allow them. Okay, you wanna preach a false gospel? Go ahead, all right, take care, okay? You're gonna get what's coming to you. That is what you are going to get. That is Paul saying that here. And the reason why I bring that up is because so many people will go, I can't believe you're so mean. The church is in the news. You're a no pastor. Go look at your Google reviews. It's terrible. No one likes you. No one respects you. Everybody wants you to leave in Boise. Well, that's not true. There are more people in Boise that like us even though they don't come here than don't. You'll look at those reviews. Yeah, we got a 1.5 and people are using that on us. Like, oh, don't you feel ashamed? Look, what does the Bible say? Either be cold or hot. And obviously we've been hot because the world hates us. Most of those comments are from the freaks on the east side or the east coast. They don't even live in Idaho, okay? But besides, we're not gonna allow comments like that to move us. I had somebody that I work with like, oh, isn't it hard to run a church with a 1.5 review? Like, you know our company is like five star, right? I'm like, you get the same result. Look, you get the same result if you've got a one or you've got a five. Seriously, okay? Because people look at that one, they're like, all right, I gotta see what's going on over here. I gotta check this thing out and see what it is. So we get a lot of questions and inquiries and things like that. A lot of attention. And so it's good, right? It's good because we can use that to kind of springboard the truth off of. So it's a great thing, you know? But when you have the five star, well, everybody's got a four or a five around here. Just about everybody does. You know, we don't wanna be like that. We wanna be different. We're sanctified, right? So our Google rating is sanctified. So thank God for that, okay? Look at verse 23. He says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, my love, be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. And we'll start 2 Corinthians next week. And so obviously that's where the letter closes. And so we'll kind of figure out, well, what happens after this? What do they obey? What do they not obey? What happens? Do we get to see the changes made, so on and so forth? And the answer is yes. We will definitely take a look at that and learn what happened. We'll be constantly reminded of what Paul had said in 1 Corinthians. Did they take action? Did they make those adjustments? What all went down? And we'll learn how that turns out here in the next coming weeks. So with that being said, we're gonna go ahead and have one more song and then we will be dismissed. Let's pray. Thank you so much, Lord, again for this church, for all that you do for us. Just pray that you'd bless a week, Lord. Keep us safe. Bless the fellowship after the service. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.