Good morning. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. And those of you who are live streaming with us, onlining, all that kind of stuff, would you stand with us as we worship? Join me in prayer. Father, we thank you for this opportunity as we gather this morning to worship you in song and study your word. Father, be glorified this morning. We thank you that you're our strength,

you're our shield, you're all that we need, Lord. Without you, we're nothing. And we thank you that we can trust you and look to you. Blessed now, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Father, we just thank you as we are just singing about giving thanks to you. You've blessed us so much. We can trust you with everything, Lord. We give you thanks. Lord, you're not finished with us yet. You made

us, you formed us, and we're going to be right here on this earth, on topside, until you take us to glory. Thank you, Lord. We love you. We thank you. Accepting that forgiveness, we're declared justified, righteous in you, not because of works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to your mercy, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Continue to bless our service in Jesus' name.

Amen. Good morning. Glad to be back this morning. Grab a bulletin. We'll go over a few quick announcements. First of all, on the left-hand side of your bulletin, everything's going on this week. So there's lots of spots to get plugged into. Locate one of those spots. And if you have any questions, you can talk to me after the service. Center section of the bulletin. Just a reminder that we do keep everybody updated, at least to the

best of my ability, of what's going on in the body with prayer requests and things like that through Flocknote. And so if you're interested in getting signed up, the information is right there. And then the last thing to announce, well, actually, there's two more things to announce. Usually we do prayer in the agape room, which is the room at the other end of the building. We do

that about a half hour before first service. We do it at 8 a.m. Well, I know a lot of people are coming to first service, and so I decided we're going to start doing a prayer time at 10 a.m. as well. So that is going to be starting up next week. I obviously will not be leading it because I will be finishing up in here, but I think Lewis is going to lead that for me. So

there will be a 10 o'clock prayer time available as well. And then we're making one other slight change. We stream all of our services through Facebook, but we also, over the past few weeks, have experimented with streaming our services through our website. So if you run into issues on Facebook, because, well, we just don't know what's going to happen, am I right? That's one of the things I'll talk about here in just a minute. We just don't know

what's going to happen. So those also stream through our website, calvarychapelarccity.org. And then those are usually available the next day to watch as well on the website and listen to. So those are the things you kind of need to be aware of if you would make sure that your mobile devices are silenced. And for our responsive reading, this morning, we are going to be, actually, it's going to be a unison reading this morning. We're

going to be at Psalm 54, Psalm 54. And for that, we'll be looking at the New American Standard Bible. If you don't have one, there should be one in your row. And there's tons of rows up here that have Bibles available. So if you need to grab one, you can grab one of those and turn to Psalm 54. And if you would, as you're turning to Psalm 54, stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

And this time, since my buddy isn't with me, you will just read along with me. Psalm 54.

He will recompense the evil to my foes. Destroy them in your faithfulness. Willingly, I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from all trouble, and my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies. And Father, I do thank you that you are the God who saves. Lord, you are not only the God who

saves us from eternal destruction. Lord, you are the God who saves us from all the calamity that surrounds us. And Lord, right now, it feels like the potential for a lot of calamity surrounding us is pretty great. And so, Lord, we are asking for that salvation. We're asking for that deliverance. Lord, I thank you that whatever is coming, Lord, your word will never be chained.

And so, Lord, we thank you and we praise you and just ask that you would speak to our hearts this morning as we get into your word. Teach us, instruct us, guide us, convict us, and comfort us. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you will, turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Well, a lot has happened in the world in the two weeks that I've been gone. So, I'll paint the scenario

for you. So, two weeks ago on a Saturday, my wife used her favorite hand soap, her favorite scent of and she washed her hands. And she went, uh-oh. So, she comes to me and she goes, Ryan, can you smell this? I'm like, ooh, smells great. I love that soap. She goes, that's what I was afraid of. I can't smell. I'm like, well, that's not good. And so, sure enough, we got her up to the urgent care

up in Winfield. And yep, she had the Rona. So, we went through all of our protocols. And that was the only thing that happened to her that none of the rest of us got it. We all got tested. We were and the only thing that happened is that she couldn't smell. And so, I got to just hang out at the house for two weeks, which I've learned that I'm not made for quarantine. Like, I just, I'm a

people person. And so, for those of us that are people people, we do not handle being stuck at home very well, right? So, I was on the phone constantly texting everybody. Everybody was texting me. It was great. So, anyway, but a ton has happened in the world. Now, I really thought about putting a little slideshow together of the comedic things that have happened in the world

but I decided Facebook would shut me down. And so, if I'm going to get shut down, I want it to be for the gospel, not me being funny. But I am going to share with you some of the things that have taken place in the world since I've been gone. We still may get shut down. If Facebook shuts me down, go to calvarychapelarccity.org, okay? So, here's what we've learned. We've learned that if anybody

can screw up a prayer, it's going to be a congressman, even if they have reverend in front of their name, right? Amen? And a woman. We've learned that. We've learned that the village people are no longer at the YMCA. They were actually at the national capital a couple of weeks ago. So, that was kind of a crazy thing, right? I wonder if you can buy that headdress now on Amazon, right? Is that thing available? We've learned that big

tech will censor you if you don't agree with them. I actually read a C.S. Lewis quote on Facebook and it got fact-checked. I'm like, you've got to be stinking kidding me. They fact-checked it. C.S. Lewis quote? So, if you don't agree with big tech, they're going to censor you. We learned that. We saw inaugurated the new president of the United States, Joe Biden, as well as his

running mate, Kamala Harris. And I had a joke about that that I felt like was inappropriate, so I'm not going to make that joke. But what we learned more than anything is that in a shocking twist of events, the thing that will really unite the country is a picture of Bernie Sanders and his wife. And I knew that was going to happen. I literally, like yesterday, no, day before, I'm

scrolling through and my wife is like, what is wrong with you? And I'm like, I am looking at every meme of Bernie Sanders with his mittens on and I can't keep my business together, right? I just, I couldn't hardly handle it. I wanted to put that picture up there. It seemed like a bad idea. Actually, it seemed like a great idea, but it probably wasn't a great idea. And so, that was

that was kind of a, kind of a... Matter of fact, when I watched the inauguration live and I watched them pan to him sitting just like that, and all I could think was, that's a meme waiting to happen, right? Like, I can't wait for what the internet is going to do with this. The only thing that wowed me more about the internet was when Colin Kaepernick made the Nike ad and what the internet did with that. So, every now and then, the internet just really

amazes me. So, it's been a crazy two weeks, but the good thing is that with all of those things, I also know that one thing did not change, and that's that God is still in control. That nothing has changed about that, that he is still God, still sovereign. None of these things have, have caught him off guard. So, we're looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 16. We're going to finish up the book of 1 Corinthians today. So, there's a lot

to cover, and the title of this morning's message is... I don't know whose that water is. I'm scared I'm going to drink it. It's not mine that I'm aware of. So, give a little distance there. So, the title of the message is In Conclusion, because that's exactly what we're going to do. 1 Corinthians has been quite the book, has it not? We've learned a lot in the book of 1 Corinthians.

Very, very corrective. He dealt with this on division, division within the church, and that the only true cure for division within the church is a return to the gospel, a return to the heart, the simplicity, and the true workers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He dealt with the aspect of immorality within the church, which again continues to be an issue today within the church, that immorality cannot be tolerated, that sexual immorality cannot be allowed, that we can't go around suing each other all the time, but instead should rather take the harm ourselves instead of laying that out on everybody else around us. He dealt with this on the issues of marriage and

what marriage is really supposed to look like, what roles of men and women are supposed to look like within a biblical marriage relationship. He talked to us about Christian liberty and how we use our Christian liberty, not in a way to stumble our brothers and sisters in Christ, but in a way instead to build them up, at times even foregoing our liberty in order to build up the body of Jesus Christ. He talked to us about order in the church and how authority is important, how the way we handle ourselves at the Lord's Supper is important, and how we use the gifts of the Spirit, not in a way to draw attention to ourselves, but again in an effort to build ourselves up in the body of Christ, to build each other up and to point each other to Jesus.

And the last thing he dealt with was the resurrection, the fact that because Jesus is alive, we have hope. Because Jesus is alive, we are well aware of the fact that we have that same kind of hope because he was the first fruits of those who would be resurrected. And so we know that this place is not our home. That's why right now we can still be okay knowing that maybe we don't agree with everything going on in Washington, D.C. right now, but we can know and understand that we

were never citizens of earth to begin with. We were never citizens of the United States first to begin with. We were always citizens of heaven. Once we became, born again, your citizenship changed, and though you should be the absolute best citizen of the nation that you live in possible, we understand that our hope is not in this earth. It is in something beyond here. And now he's going to wrap all of these things up in this concluding chapter.

Remember, this is a letter that Paul is writing. A real man wrote a real letter to an actual church in Corinth, to real people, to give them instructions. And so as he closes out this letter, because he knows them, he's going to tell them some things. The first thing he's going to deal with is the collection for the saints. Second thing he's going to do is he's going to tell us about his travel plans.

And then the third thing he's going to do is give some exhortations, some greetings, and a benediction. So we pick up in chapter 16, verse 1. It says, Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, collections may be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you approve, I will send them

with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem. And if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me. Now, the church in Jerusalem at this point in time, where the church actually began, had fallen on some very hard financial times. For whatever reason, there had been a famine there, persecution, the different things that had happened. The church in Jerusalem had

come across a very difficult financial time. Because Paul was so full of love for this church in Jerusalem, understanding that this sacrifice of finances was an important thing to do, he was calling on all of the churches to give above and beyond what they would normally give, and give as the Lord led them to help out this church in Jerusalem. The church has always been known as a place of good works. The church has always been known as a place that supports those that are in need. And our church is no different. I want you

to know that every, of every dollar that's given to, this church, 35% of it goes to help out people in the community and throughout the world. Because we feel like we do not receive money here so that we can become rich. We receive money here so that we can use it for the ministry of the gospel to those that are around us. So we give to different organizations, and that's exactly what he's telling them to do. To use their finances in such

a way to help out this church in Jerusalem. And as we look at what he has to say here, he gives us three principles for giving. Now, the first principle is to give. And the first principle is to give. The first principle that he gives us is this idea of planning. Notice what he says. On the first day of the week, each of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper that no collections may

be made when I come. Now, I'm going to preface this with something. When it comes to you giving to Calvary Chapel of Arkansas City, Kansas, or whatever church you give to, you need to realize something. You should never give because you think I need money. You should never give because you think the church needs money. You should never give because you think the church needs money.

You should never give because you feel forced to give. As a matter of fact, if you feel forced into giving money to a church, I would ask you to stop giving money to the church. If you give because you think if you don't give, the church is going to go broke, I want you to stop giving to the church. If you give because you feel like you're going to let somebody down because you don't give, then I want you to decide not to give any kind of money whatsoever to a church or a church. If you give because you don't give, then I want you to stop giving to a church. If you give

because you don't give, then I want you to stop giving to a church. If you give because you don't give, then I want you to stop giving to a church. If you give because you don't give, then I want you to stop giving to a church. If you give because you don't give, then I want you to stop giving to a church. If you give because you don't give, then I want you to stop giving to a church. If you give

because you don't give, then I want you to stop giving to a church. If you give because you don't give, then I want you to stop giving to a church. If you give because you don't give, that everything that you have comes from the Lord, and you are going to worship him with the things that you have received by giving back to him a percentage to do what he wants to with it. All of my finances belong to the Lord. All of the things that I have received belong to

him because I have received them from him. And so as you do this, as you gain this understanding that everything is from God, you should begin to realize that I can also use my finances just like I use my talents, just like I use my time as a worship unto the Lord. And so it should start with prayer. You should pray, Lord, what do you want me to give? What do you want me to give to

this organization in order to support them in the work that they're doing there? Because I guarantee if you will give it to the Lord, if you will say, Lord, what do you want me to do? Then you won't feel bad about giving, nor will you find yourself doing it in a begrudging sort of way because you will be serving the Lord. Not mad. And so it starts off with prayer. And then he says, make sure that you base it on your

income. God would never have you give so much money that you can't pay your bills. That's not who God is. God loves you and he cares about you. So he gives this first principle of giving, which is planning. The second principle that he gives is obedience. This is an important aspect of it because sometimes we can pray and God can say do, and we can say no. Now here's what you have to

know. When we tell God, no, we're ultimately hurting. We're ultimately hurting ourselves because I guarantee if you give to the Lord, as he calls you to, he will give you above and beyond what you have given to him because God will be a debtor to no man. But we are to obey God and what he tells us to do. And we're not to give out of compulsion. Like I said, if you feel forced to give by anybody in this church, don't give. If you feel forced to

give by a missionary organization, don't give. It should be a act of the heart in an act of worship. The third thing he tells us about giving, is that there should be accountability. Notice what he says. When I arrive, whomever you approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem. And if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me. With all of the giving that takes place, there should be accountability.

There should be accountability for you, but there should also be accountability for those who the money has been given to so that they handle it in a way that is proper. So there's accountability that's involved there too. There should be a system of checks, and balances. And so he talks about this collection that's to be taken up for the saints. Now we move on from there to talk about Paul's travel plans. I want you to notice

what it says in verse five. But I will come to you after I go through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia. And perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may send me on my way wherever I go. For I do not wish to see you now just in passing, for I hope to remain with you for some time if the Lord permits. But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide

door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. He says, this is my plan. I'm going to go through Macedonia. Remember, he's on one of his missionary journeys. He's currently in the city of Ephesus. And he says, I'm going to travel through this area of Macedonia, and then I'm going to come to see you guys. And when I come, I don't want to come and hang out

for just a little while. I want to come and hang out for some time. Because Paul wanted to really spend time with them, because he's just written them a very difficult letter. And he wants to be able to discuss through these things with them. And he says, these are my travel plans. But I want you to notice how he closes this aspect of a travel plan for himself. He says, if the Lord

permits. Now, there's a great deal of freedom in that statement, is there not? How many of you made plans in 2020? And as you talked about them, you said, at least that was my plan, right? You decided this is what I'm going to do. At least that was my plan. I'm going to close every aspect of plans that I make now in that way because of last year. I will say, this is what I'm going to do. At least that's my plan right now. Because I don't know what's

going to happen. And there is great freedom when we live our lives with the aspect of, if the Lord permits. Chuck Smith in his commentary was saying, if we learn to surrender ourselves to the Lord's disturbances, then we will never really be disturbed. Isn't that amazing? We can say, you don't understand. I decided I was going to do X, Y, and Z today and I didn't even get to X. And he

goes, but you got to exactly what I wanted you to. But you don't understand. This was my plan. And he goes, wasn't mine. And if we will learn in our lives to submit our plans to him and say, this is what I have in mind. What do you have in mind? Then God is really faithful to say, well, this is what I've got in mind. And if we allow God to disturb our plans and say,

all of my day, all of my life, all of my things belong to you. Then all of a sudden, I don't get stressed out when my day doesn't go according to plan. All of a sudden, when I had determined to do 15 things today, and I only got two of them done, because those were the two most important things for me to get done, because they usually involve me talking to people. They usually involve me talking to the people that need to hear from me. Then I've learned that's okay.

I've learned that office hours help. I think so. So, after every conversation here at five in the OK Hurาม has me, I'm on the scene. He's onudism.E Lehrer figure? find me, E Goodness, the guy that the husband does not like to send me to the store by myself in an evening, because she knows I may not come home for a while. And I had to learn this, because I like to talk to people, but also can get a little focused on in a specific俺 is today what I need to do. And I've

with people in the Walmart that are times for ministry that I would have never had any other way. And so she hates sending me there because she knows I'm going to submit myself to the Lord's plan to the best of my ability. And it's going to take some time, but you know what? In the will of God, I want you to listen closely to this. In the will of God, you have nothing but time.

Listen, I tell young people this all the time because they are so set on, but I need to find the person I'm going to marry and I need to make sure that I get into the exact right school so that I get the exact right job so that I can get to the exact right place. And I'll say, no, you don't. You got all the time in the world in the will of God. You got all the time in the world when you are willing to submit to what God has for you. You understand if I don't do something now,

I'm going to miss my only opportunity. And I'll say, no, you're not. No, you're not. Because God is able to do what God is able to do. And it may look like you missed the opportunity the first time, but it's because he had something better for you the second time. And if we will learn to submit ourselves to that, then all of a sudden there's so much freedom.

And I don't work according to the world's timetable. I work according to God's. I just think sometimes if I had learned that lesson a lot earlier, how much more hair would be on top of my head right now, right? It would be a miracle. He says, this is what I'm going to do if the Lord permits. But take note of this next thing that he says, because I think this speaks a lot to our culture right now. He says, but I will remain

in Ephesus until Pentecost for a wide door for effective service has opened to me. And there are many adversaries. That's such an interesting set of verses right there. He goes, but you need to know I'm going to hang out in Ephesus for a little while longer. I'm going to hang out until Pentecost. Now Pentecost is an early summer. So this is probably in springtime, maybe even winter,

when he's writing this. He says, I got to hang out in Ephesus for a little bit longer. Why? Two reasons. Number one, because there is an effective door for ministry that's really wide open. If you remember anything about his time in Ephesus on that second missionary journey, you know that great things were taking place, but it started with some difficult times. But as he was in Ephesus

for over two years, it says people from the entire region came and heard the word of God. And the word of God spread to every city. And he said, I'm going to hang out in Ephesus for a little bit longer. And he said, I'm going to hang out in Ephesus for a little bit longer. And he said, I'm going to hang out in the area. An effective door for ministry was open in Ephesus and God was using him powerfully. So

he says, I've got to stay because there's an effective door for ministry. But he says the second very interesting thing. He says, and there are many adversaries. Literally what he says is there are many who are entrenched against me. Now, one would think that those are two mutually exclusive statements. There's either an open door for ministry or an open door for ministry.

or you've got many that are entrenched against you. How do the two go together? Paul puts the two together because he says, because there's an open door for ministry, there's also many that are entrenched against me. And notice what he says, so I can't leave yet. How many of you have found yourselves wanting to leave here lately? Because you have seen that all of a sudden

there's many adversaries against us. Because we as the church are beginning to understand something. And that's that the administration that just came in again, if I could shut down, it's calvarychapelarccity.org. Because as this newest administration has just come in, they are opposed to the church. You need to understand that. This newest administration that has just come in

doesn't like you because you support the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because you support the truth. And this truth commission that they want to plan won't have anything to do with truth. It will have everything to do with propaganda. And we have a decision to make. Will we decide? I'm just going to hold up in my bunker where I've got my food storage

and I've got my weapons stored until the whole thing blows over. Or am I going to continue to do the work of the gospel? I read a very interesting article the other day. And I want to read a few excerpts from it. It was written by a guy named Michael Brown. He actually wrote this back in December. But after everything took place on January 6th, he decided to publish this article.

And it's called, Why a Biden, Presidency Could Be Good for the Church. One of his opening lines is, I believe that the election of Joe Biden might be in the best interest of the church of America. He says, How can I say such a thing? Simply stated, it's because many of us as Christian conservatives have begun to put too much trust in a man. I believe that statement.

I believe that many of us began to align ourselves more with a president. We began to align ourselves more with a political party. We began to align ourselves more with a manly leader, a worldly leader than we did with Jesus Christ. And that's not the way that we're supposed to be. He goes on later in the article to say, As for the church, the more we realize that we cannot look to the White House

or Congress to do our bidding, the more we will get back to the gospel basics. And it is those basics alone that can save a nation. To quote the words of the Psalms, it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put our trust in princes or presidents. You see, friends, there are many that are entrenched against us, but we can't leave because there's also an effective door for the gospel.

He closes out the article like this. An adversarial presence in the White House could be the best thing that happened to the church in American years. Maybe this is what it will take to wake us up because an awakened church remains the hope of the nation. Friends, the world's in need of hope right now. There's an effective door for the gospel because everybody knows one thing.

Something ain't right. Everything in the world right now feels wrong. Everything in the world right now feels scary. Everything in the world right now feels like there's imminent danger around us constantly. Do you realize that though the news hasn't reported it, there have still been Antifa protests in both Portland and Seattle? Do you realize these things are still going on?

You know why? Because they're happening. Because they will not be content until every aspect of a Christian influence has been removed from the nation. And the rest of the world around us that doesn't belong to a church and has half of a head on their shoulders is going, something's not right. And they're crying out for hope. And we cannot be a church who says

there's many adversaries against us and so I can't stay. Instead, we need to be like Paul who says there's many adversaries against us and I must stay because there's also an effective door opened for the gospel. Because my friends, you know as well as I do that as believers in Jesus Christ, we offer the only place of hope and that is in the gospel of Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us to save us from our sins. He says I gotta stick around in Ephesus for a little bit longer because there's an amazing door open for the gospel and there's many adversaries.

Now he goes on from here to tell us a little bit more about these travel plans and he starts to talk about Timothy. And he says, now if Timothy comes, see that he's with you, verse 10, see that he's with you without cause to be afraid for he is doing the Lord's work as I also am. So let no one despise him but send him on his way in peace that he may come to me for I expect him with the brethren. Now if you don't know very much about Timothy, Timothy was a pretty timid sort of a guy.

I actually find that I relate the most with Timothy when I read about him because Timothy would get really nervous. As a matter of fact, Timothy had some stomach issues because of it. He was told to take a little wine for his stomach because he needed to settle it. He probably had some sort of an ulcer because he worried so much. And I can tend to be kind of like that.

I get nervous to make really bold stands. There's a reason why it took me years to want to go online because I get nervous about that kind of thing. I don't like to think that I've made people upset. And so when he talks about Timothy, he says, hey, if Timothy comes, make sure there's no reason for him to be afraid. You know why Paul said that? Because the people in Corinth were mean.

That's why he had to tell them so much about love. They were not always the nicest people on the face of the earth. And he says, and let no one despise him. Literally what he says is, let no one treat him of no account. In other words, don't disrespect Timothy. He's a good man and he does a lot for me. And so make sure you take really good care of him while he's there.

Then he goes on to talk about Apollos. Notice what he says in verse 12. But concerning Apollos, our brother, I encouraged him greatly to come to you with the brethren. And it was not at all his desire to come now, but he will come when he has opportunity. Now, there's everything amazing about this verse. If we hadn't studied the first part of 1 Corinthians,

it wouldn't make much sense to us. But we realize that Paul truly had no party spirit in him. He really didn't care who was doing the work of the gods. He didn't care about the gospel as long as the work of the gospel was taking place. Because remember what had happened in Corinth? Some had said, I am of Paul. Some had said, I am of Apollos. In other words,

he was someone that some people respected more than Paul. And yet Paul says, our brother Timothy, or our brother Apollos, I asked him to come too. He doesn't think it's the right time right now. But if he feels like it's time, he'll come and visit you. How do you say that if he's the guy that everybody was following instead of you? Because you don't care about who gets the credit.

You don't care about who does the work as long as the work takes place. It's an interesting lesson for us each to pay attention to in a world that is constantly looking for credit. In a world that is constantly looking for attention. To say, I don't care who gets the credit. I don't care who you're paying attention to as long as Jesus is the one that's ultimately glorified.

Now, these last few verses, he's going to give us the exhortations, the greetings, and the benediction. And this is where we're going to camp out for just a little while. Verse 13 says, Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Now I urge you, brethren, you know the household of Stephanas. First of all, it's a great name.

They were the first fruits of Achaia. And that they have devoted themselves for ministry to the saints. That you also be in subjection to such men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors. I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus because they have supplied what was lacking on your behalf or on your part. For they have refreshed my spirit

in yours. Be on the alert. Be on the alert. He gives five exhortations here. Number one, he tells them to be on the alert. Verse 13. Be on the alert. Literally means to keep a watchful eye ever open. Or if I was to put this in really plain language, I would say, be ready. Be ready. Jesus told us about being ready in Matthew chapter 24 when the disciples came to him

or the sign of your coming and the sign of the end of the age. He gave them all of the things that they need to pay attention to. And he closes out that section with this. Be ready. You don't know the day or the hour. Now listen, we've all gotten pretty geeked up here lately, right? Because we can sense the fact that things are coming to a close very quickly.

I believe wholeheartedly that Jesus is coming at any point in time. It could be today. It could still be a hundred years from now. We don't know what all we're going to have to go through. But we do know this. We need to be ready because we don't know the day or the hour. We need to constantly be prepared. Now what does that mean for us? What does it mean for us to be prepared?

Well, I think it means three things. Number one, we need to keep our heart right with the Lord. We need to keep our heart right with the Lord. Now that means there's two different aspects of that. If you're here this morning and you've never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior then today's the day to do that because that's the only way that your heart can be right with the Lord.

That's the place that we've got to start. We have to start with salvation. And so if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus then it's time to repent and give your heart to Him because my friends, these things that are coming the things of the Bible that are playing out right in front of our eyes they're really happening. Jesus is really coming back and we really have serious things that we have to face and so our hearts have to be right with the Lord and what would destroy me more than anything is to think that I would end up going in the rapture and people that I minister to were not going with me.

I want to take as many people with me as I possibly can because I love you all so much and I want your hearts to be right with the Lord and so if this morning you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you've never come to a point where you've admitted that you're a sinner and realized that He's your Savior then today's that day for you. But for those of us that have done that keeping our hearts right with the Lord means that we are laying aside the sin and the weight which so easily besets us. When you look at that verse in Hebrews where He says let us lay aside the weight and the sin that so easily besets us there's two different words that are used there one is talking about when He says a weight He's talking about those general things

that just weigh us down the cares of the world that weigh us down the cares of the world that pull us away from God that distract us from the things of the Lord sometimes those things are entertainment sometimes those things are materialism sometimes those things are sin but they're weights that are simply pulling us down in our walk with the Lord and we need to start what is it of this world that makes you not excited about the world to come what do you find yourself going I don't want to leave this behind that my friend is the weight that is easily besetting you but He also tells us to lay aside the sin because while some of us simply have the distractions of the world that are pulling us down some of us have sin that we're living in

sins that we have allowed to stay there sins that we have justified in our own mind we have allowed to be there and it's time for us to get those things right with the Lord because I cannot be focused on Jesus and living in sin at the same time that's why He tells us to look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith because as we look unto Jesus we have to look away from all of the other things around us I have this beautiful ability to not multitask it's a beautiful ability that God has blessed me with I try every now and then to multitask and you know what happens when I try to multitask nothing you know why because I can't focus I can't focus on other things and I'm a one track minded sort of a guy right which is why when I drive

and I look at deer I then start to follow the deer with my car and my wife has to say hey Ryan you're going off of the road I praise God that they put the braille strips along the sides of the road right I always tell my wife that's why those are theirs for guys like me guys like me that drift a little bit because I'm a one track minded sort of a guy and you know what that's the way our faith should be He says lay aside that sin get your heart right with the Lord I can't be ready if I'm too tied to the sins of this world so number one we got to get our hearts right with the Lord number two we need to be in the word I will beat this drum until the day that I die you have got to be in God's word you have to be in God's

word for a lot of reasons first of all because it's going to tell you all of the things that were going on I was having a conversation with somebody right before church today and they said man I read Psalm 24 this morning and it's like it literally told us everything that was going on in the world right now and I said I know I read that one too I was debating between responsive reading of Psalm 24 and Psalm 54 and I chose Psalm 54 because I thought it was really good too and just a little bit shorter because as you get into the word you realize it tells you all the things that are going on and it causes you to be prepared so there's an educational aspect to it but there's also the relational aspect to it this is what we have to reveal God to

us and my hope is that when you get into the word not only do you learn the things that you need to learn but that you meet with God when you show up here on a Sunday morning I hope you don't just show up to hear some really neat things and to sing some good songs I hope that you show up here to meet with Jesus because if we're not meeting with Jesus then we may as well not gather if your heart is not prepared to come meet with Jesus then you're just showing up to a social club and my friends if this is only a social club shut it down we're here to meet with Jesus and when you show up to see what this has to say then you should be showing up to meet with Jesus because these aren't just words on a page these are words from the heart of God

these are the things that he not only wants to tell you to be prepared these are the things that he wants to tell you to reveal himself to you and I want you as geeked up about these words as you are about the playoffs and I'm pretty geeked up about the playoffs we need to be in the word and number three we need to be in prayer I've been telling you about these books that I've been reading about prayer and they just keep telling me the exact same thing my friends if we don't pray then we're not meeting with God we can read the Bible as much as we want to but if it's not coupled with prayer and I'm not talking a quick little prayer that's thrown up to the Lord I'm talking about desperate crying out to God I'm talking about hearts that are constantly

laid bare before God where we are telling him all of the things of us and we are asking him to deal with all of the things that we see in the world and when we are communing with the living God who loved us and gave himself for us true prayer where I am meeting with him where I am communing with him where I am talking with him and where I am laying my heart out before him you see if I am going to be alert if I am going to pay attention then I need to be in prayer because as I pray and lay out my heart before the Lord he then responds by giving us revelation and insight into the things that are going on he says you need to be alert the second thing he tells us is this we are to stand firm in the faith stand firm in the faith

what does he mean to stand firm in the faith well there's three different places in scripture there's probably more than that but three specific ones and I stole this from David Guzik three specific places in scripture areas where he tells us to stand firm in other words take a strong stand allow your feet to be solid in these things the first one is in our liberty we have this freedom in Christ freedom from the penalty of sin but freedom to live as God has called us to live we can stand firm in that liberty in other words I don't have to live my life constantly fearful about whether or not I'm good enough to be accepted by the Lord here's the truth I've got news for you you're not enough apart from Christ you're not enough there's this

real movement right now saying you are already enough and I've got news for you you're not already enough apart from Christ you're a sinner bound for hell but in Christ he is your sufficiency he is your righteousness and because of that you can stand firm in that liberty not because of who you are but because of who he is and you can stand and you can say I belong to him and I am free in him the whole rest of the world can tell you you're not free they can take away every freedom we've got known to man but you will still be free in Christ because though the world may decide that they want to chain us the word of God can never be chained and the truth of the word of God can never be chained stand firm in the liberty that you have

in Christ we are to stand firm in unity and my friends if there was ever a time we need to be unified the church is so fractured right now over all of these political things and we have forgotten about the one thing that binds us all together and it's not our political affiliation it's not even your denominational affiliation and it certainly is not a picture of Bernie Sanders wearing mittens although that was fun wasn't it the thing that truly binds us all together is the fact that we have all been saved by Jesus Christ if you have given your heart to him if you have admitted you're a sinner and accepted that he's a savior you have the unifying fact of Jesus Christ living in your life and because of that we can all be

brothers and sisters in Christ even though we look a lot different even though we smell a lot different even though sometimes we act a little different we're still unified in Christ and we are to stand firm in that unity and the third thing that we stand firm in if you look at scripture it says in the apostles doctrine but let me simplify that for you the truth of the word of God we stand firm in the truth of the word of God and my friends that is what keeps getting attacked right now it keeps getting attacked on every front possible that's why you've got to be in the word so that you can stand firm on the truth of the word I was given a hard time for the fact that I criticized the Reverend Emmanuel Cleaver for saying a man and a woman

but you know what I don't care who criticizes me for that because that needs to be dealt with somebody said well Congress didn't teach you about the things of the word of God and I said true but he bears the title Reverend meaning that he is a Methodist minister and has been for years and as a congressman he should do the research to know that is a gender neutral word that simply means so be it or let it be done but second of all as a Reverend he should know that that's the truth and may I also say as a Reverend he should know that there are only two genders and he should be willing to stand on that even if the rest of the party he follows with even if the rest of the people he serves with don't believe it it's good to be back

dude I've been holding this in for two weeks okay like my wife is tired of hearing it from me we've got to stand firm on the truth of the word of God and I guarantee it will make you unpopular because most of the world doesn't want to hear it but my friends it's the only place where there's freedom it's the only place where there's hope and it's the only source of love he says stand firm in the faith and then he goes on to say I'm putting these two together be strong and act like men be strong and act like men what does he mean by that he means do the hard things you see I was taught growing up that if you're going to act like a man it means you got to do the things that men do and men do hard things real men do the hard things they make

the decision that's the best decision even if it's not the easiest decision they wake up and go to work even when they don't feel like going to work they put the work boots on even when they don't like their job because they're men and it's what I do and ladies I know the world says act like men in a completely different way but sometimes we just have to do the hard thing and right now as we walk through life we're going to be faced with a lot of hard decisions especially over the next few years and we're going to have to decide if we are going to be strong and do the hard thing do the hard thing that may mean some sort of a sacrifice in my job do the hard thing that may mean some sort of a sacrifice of my friends

do the hard thing that may mean sacrificing the social media that I enjoy being on so much we're going to have to do the hard thing he tells them to do that because in first Corinthians he's laid out a lot of hard things they have to do and he says now it's time for you to do the hard things unless we forget the tender aspect of it number four let all that you do be done in love it is impossible to over emphasize this point there has been so much anger and hatred flowing in our culture right now and I'm not just talking about from one side I'm talking about from every side each of us has been guilty of not showing love and we are to be strong to stand firm and to be alert but as we do those things we can't forget that they're all to be done in love

because the people that we disagree with are not the enemy the administration that you are not a big fan of perhaps is not the enemy Donald Trump was never the enemy none of these things are the enemy we have one enemy and that's the prince of the power of the air and we need to remember that we're told we're not to wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in high places and we need to remember who the enemy is that's why I posted what I did earlier this week on Facebook is that we need to remember that we are called to pray for those in authority even the king and bear in mind when Paul wrote that the king didn't really like Christians that much he still said you need to pray for those in authority

we need to remember who the real enemy is and as we deal with people that we disagree with do so with love and tenderness because that's how God dealt with you he says let all that you do be done in love and then he gives a fifth exhortation and that's to submit to godly authority notice what he says in verse 15 now I urge you brethren you know the household of Stephanas that they were the first fruits of Achaia and that they devoted themselves for ministry to the saints this household of Stephanas along with the men that are mentioned down here man I keep wanting to say Fortunaticus and that's not his name you know and Achaicus gosh I hate when the speaking part doesn't work very well it's like I have one job talk and when I can't do that

well it's a real bummer gosh those three guys first of all Stephanas it was probably his house he was one of the first ones to come to the lord in that area and it was probably his house where they were actually having church at that point in time it was his house that they were probably mostly meeting at it was a central hub for the church in Corinth but those three guys are the ones that took a letter to Paul to not only let him know of the issues that were going on in the church but also the questions that the church had so he's sending them back and he says these are good guys when he talks about this household of Stephanas I want you to notice how he refers to them he says verse 15 you know the household

of Stephanas that they were the first fruits of Achaia and that they have devoted themselves for the ministry to the saints I love the old King James translation of this because it translates that word devoted with the word addicted it says they had addicted themselves to the ministry and I thought that's what I am I remember watching an old pastors conference one time I found a YouTube video of Gale Irwin if you've never listened to or read anything by Gale Irwin you need to go listen to him and read him because he's great I've got a bunch of copies of this book called the Jesus style in my office if anybody wants to to borrow one of them I'm happy to let you have it but there was a question and answer session it was talking about pastors having

to have secular jobs and in the way that only he can he goes well you know we as pastors sometimes have to work to support our addiction and I thought what a perfect way to put it sometimes we have to work a secular job to support our addiction because quite frankly I can't do anything else not only can I not do anything else but I can't do anything else this is the thing that I was made to do I used to say for a long time I was put on this earth to do two things mow lawns and teach the word of God and now I realize I was put on this earth to do one thing teach the word of God that's why I made Facebook videos while I was in quarantine because I can't not do it the word burns in my heart I could decide today that I was going to quit and quite

frankly last year there was a couple of times where I kind of wanted to but I knew I couldn't because this is what I was created to do and I'm addicted to it not only because I love the Lord so much but because I love his word so much and I am so well aware that the word of God is the only thing that can heal the word of God is the only thing that can change hearts the word of God is the only thing that can offer hope the word of God is the only thing that can really do the work that needs done in our culture today and it's because it's more than just words on a page it's the words of God written to us empowered by the Holy Spirit and when they jump off the page at me and smack me around a little bit and give me a message God says

now tell it to other people and a couple of things I've said so far this morning I said no I don't want to and he said you have to and I said fine addicted to the ministry and he says hey you need to submit yourselves to these guys notice what he says be in subjection to these men and to everyone who helps in the work and labors and I rejoice over the coming of Stephanas and the guy whose name I can't pronounce Anakaiakos because they have supplied what was lacking on your part for they have refreshed my spirit and yours why do they need to be in subjection to them because they are men who were called by God they serve faithfully and they brought the true refreshment that can only come from the word of God and now he comes to the closing greetings

notice what he says verse 19 the churches of Asia greet you Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord with the church that is in their house all the brethren greet you greet one another with a holy kiss and of course he talks about these different individuals he says hey all these guys are excited to to see you someday they're greeting you and then he closes with this little part that says greet each other with a holy kiss now that's pretty abnormal for the 21st century especially in the old United States of America there's nothing holy about a kiss in the United States of America especially with Covid right like that would be the worst thing in the world if we started greeting each other with a holy kiss we can't even shake hands

but that was what they did back then and it was a way that they showed love to each other now there came a point in time where the church started being accused of immorality so it began to fade out but this idea still remains greet each other with a loving sort of way now we give each other holy hugs or holy handshakes when I was a youth pastor to avoid all aspect of of anybody accusing me of anything I used what was called the holy high five and I high fived everybody and I remember somebody saying one time why do you high five everybody and I said because I don't ever want there to be a question I don't ever want anybody to be able to say anything and so I high fived everybody and you know what that holy

high five translated into something really fun again this can't be allowed during COVID but we went to Silver Dollar City and I had a kid in my youth group that determined to high five everybody he came across and there's this huge long line as you're getting ready to go to the concert and he literally high fived everybody in that line I bet there were 300 people in that line and he high fived all of them and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world I was like holy high fives all around and so that's what we started doing with everybody but you know what it was more than just fun for me with the kids it was my way of saying I love you and I'm so excited to see you and when I high fived them on the way out the door they knew that was my way

of saying I can't wait till you come back I can't wait till you come back here as a matter of fact I've already told my wife that when I die I'm to be cryogenically frozen in the high five position with a big smile on my face and she can position me right by the front door and when people come in they can still give me the holy high five I don't think that's too much to ask right science by that point in time will be able to do it I believe it he says greet each other with a holy kiss and then Paul gives his own greeting notice what he says verse 21 the greeting is in my own hand Paul now why does he do that well Paul had a vision problem and so it was harder for him to write these things out but I think there was an even greater reason why

Paul didn't write his own letters he had his secretary or somebody jot down the letter for him because I think Paul was sort of a geeked up kind of a guy I don't know how you picture this but I picture Paul pacing back and forth in his living room and getting really excited and fired up as he's dictating this letter and every now and then the secretary going whoop okay go on that's how I picture that letter being written out so Paul just sits down and says okay I want to make sure they know it's from me that there's something authentic about it so I'm going to write my name and everybody knew what his signature looked like because he didn't write very well right everybody knows what my signature looks like once they've seen it one time because you

can't read it you're like oh that's got to be Ryan's because it makes no sense you can't actually form real letters with what he did there and so he says in my own hand I'm going to write this greeting and then he gives a little bit of a greeting from himself he says if anyone doesn't love the Lord he is to be accursed what that's harsh language yes but sometimes you have to use harsh language to get people to understand he says there can't be people walking around half hearted if they don't love the Lord let them be accursed and then he gives one amazing word and the word is Maranatha may not mean much to you if you've never heard the word before but the word Maranatha means oh Lord come oh Lord come because even in Paul's day as he was seeing what

was coming down the pike with the Roman Empire he could probably start to see that the Roman Empire was about to turn against Christianity that there was going to be persecution that would arise and he didn't want anyone to have to go through it he knew what he'd been through he knew what he had gone through and he didn't want other people to have to go through it and so he says Maranatha but do you know why else he says Maranatha because he so longed to see the God that he loved and served he so longed to see him that he says oh Lord come and may I say right now I'm at a point where I'm like oh Lord come because I'm ready for Jesus to come back but I don't want him to come back until everybody that's going to know Jesus knows Jesus

but in the meantime Maranatha and he closes with two things the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you and my love be with you all in Christ Jesus amen he says the grace of God be with you because the only thing that can empower us to obey the things that he's given us in this letter is the work of the grace of God in our lives and he reminds them how much he loves them because he had to be a little bit harsh with them and sometimes when you have to be harsh you have to remind people just how much you love them and then he closes out with amen so be it the end of the letter but may I remind you when you read something in scripture the end is really just the beginning it's the end of the instruction but it's the beginning of obedience

you see my friends if we take this letter and we say a lot of really good things in there packed with a lot of information and I learned some really good lessons and then we walk away and don't live them out we are of all men the most foolish we're that guy that James talks about in the book of James where he says we're like men who look in a mirror and then walk away and completely forget what we look like the end is the beginning and so now look back over the things that we have studied in the book of first Corinthians and begin to decide where do I need to obey God what are the areas he's speaking to me about so that I can obey him amen let's all stand I'm not sure what everybody has going on in their lives right now

I don't know where everybody is in their walk with the Lord right now or the things that you've been battling the areas where your heart needs to be right with the Lord but as this last song is played I just want you to take some time of reflection and allow God to do the work in your heart that needs to be done because my friends whether we're prepared or not the challenges are coming we have to make the choice to be prepared so allow God's word to sink deeply into your heart and let him prepare you Father we come before you and just thank you for today thank you for what you've done thank you for the work that you are doing in our hearts and in this church and Lord I thank you for the word of God and Father I just want to

pray that you would use your word as you see fit in our lives Lord that you would convict us where we need convicted comfort us where we need comforted and instruct us where we need instructed Lord draw us near to you I pray and may your Holy Spirit just continue the work that he's begun here this morning in Jesus name Amen