Will You Please Come With Me

0:00 So let's all stand as we come to this section of the book of Romans chapter 15 verses 30 to 33 and not much but powerful, not much in length but powerful in what is said. And the title of today's message is, Will You Please Come With Me? That's the bottom line of the apostle. When you read this, this is what he's saying. He's saying, will you come with me? He's inviting us. He's inviting those who read this document back then. And for 2,000 years, all of us as believers have been invited to the exact same mission. I love this. We don't have to make it up. Every generation of believers, we don't have to get a new organizational chart. We don't have to get a new purpose for what we've been called to do. Jesus said, go ye therefore into all the world and preach this gospel and do what church?

0:57 And make disciples of all nations. And that's what we're living to do. That's what the true church has been doing for the last 2,000 years. And so this is very, very precious stuff because verse 33 puts an end to the doctrines of the book of Romans. Chapter 16, honestly, when we get to chapter 16, I think maybe two weeks, two weekends we'll be through it because it's all basic say hi to Phoebe, say hi to Andronicus, say hi to Trophimus for me. Paul is just saying bye-bye. But we're not there yet. We're here. And this is, I think, better. Verse 30. Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me. That I may be delivered from those in Judea who do not believe and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. Verse 32, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God and may be refreshed together with you.

2:15 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Lord, we pray that you would be our teacher in all of this. God, that we would leave this building different today, no matter who we are. Those that are watching, those that are listening right now, we pray that wherever they may be, they might sense the power of your Holy Spirit. Father God, we pray that you would do exactly what you promised to do, and that is to inhabit the praises of your people, and to study the Bible is to worship God. And so, Father, we ask you now, may this atmosphere, in fact, Lord, we actually, we're going to pray this too. People that are driving down the freeway right now, that as they approach this building, unknown to them, that they would sense some sort of gravitational pull.

3:11 Not to come to this place, there's no parking left, there's no seating, I get that, but that they would have a gravitational pull to your salvation, to Jesus, to experience the Holy Spirit, to see their great emptiness. People right now driving by the freeway, they may be going somewhere, they may be doing something, they may be heading to work. It doesn't matter. May you grab them. And for that matter, Lord, we pray that you would touch those that are driving on pipeline and those that are driving on eucalyptus. God, that you would seize them, that you'd awaken them. I remember, Lord God, that when Jonathan Edwards preached that gospel, your gospel in 1743, I mean, I don't remember. I wasn't there, but I've read it. that as he read his notes to the congregation, very monotone, looked up twice, people were so convicted and people on other streets of the community of Enfield, Connecticut, began to get off of their horses and out of their buggies and lay flat on the ground and cry out to God for mercy.

4:18 Oh God, Holy Spirit, move in this place today and do the same as we seek to exalt the Lord Jesus. In the power of your word we pray in Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen. You may be seated everyone. In this message today I want to be talking to you guys about the fact that God of course calls all of us to finish our course as a believer and to finish well at that. And so when we look at this message titled, Will You Please Come With Me? The apostle is drafting the love, the care, the concern of the Roman believers. And if he wrote to them, drafting their love and support, there's no doubt that as he writes this book from Corinth, Greece, that he would be drafting their love and support as well.

5:14 It doesn't say it here in the book of Romans, but he probably, while he was in Greece, before he headed off to Jerusalem and then over to Rome that he would have said to the Corinthian believers, let's do this. Come with me on this mission. And this is one of the greatest passions and the driving forces of the believer today is that God has deployed you and I to this exact same mission to fulfill and that is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and to be salt and light in this world. and to love him, and to experience him. And so I just want to encourage you that we'll be talking a lot today about the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of the believer. How was Paul expected to achieve all these things? Well, number one, we'll see this.

6:08 He's not going to do it alone. And the second thing is, together we'll do it with the Holy Spirit. To set your mind in kind of order, I'm going to ask you to look through the screens for a moment. So you get a timeline. Even though it's not dated, this is the chronological order. So we've put this up there. Paul's key stops and travel details en route to Rome by way of Jerusalem. So he's in Corinth right here. Now, Paul spent a significant amount of time preaching and establishing the church in Corinth. It's in Corinth, Greece. By the way, you can visit that city today. Still stands. He's writing the book of Romans. And then Centuria. He's going to be stopping in Centuria. Paul likely departed from Centuria, the eastern part of Corinth, to begin his journey. And then he goes to Ephesus.

7:01 On his way to Jerusalem, Paul stopped in Ephesus. Now, that's not a very direct way of travel, but Paul stopped in Ephesus. And that great city still stands today. It's a tremendous archaeological stop. And on his way to Jerusalem, Paul stopped in Ephesus where he preached and strengthened the church that was already there. Then he goes to Miletus. Paul visited Miletus where he met with church leaders from Ephesus to give them guidance. It's a very moving moment. It's there recorded in the book of Acts. Then he comes to Israel and that's Caesarea. After traveling through the various regions, Paul arrives in Caesarea. It's a seaport. Beautiful seaport today. Listen, for many of you, 500 of you, you're going to be seeing Caesarea soon as we get there. And it's the Newport Beach of Israel.

7:56 It's gorgeous. There's a reason why it's called Caesarea, because Caesar had his place built there. It's right on the Mediterranean, spectacular location. But that's how you would come in and out of the country. And after traveling through the various regions, Paul arrives in Caesarea, where he stayed with Philip the Evangelist. Again, you can read about that in the book of Acts. And then he makes it to Jerusalem. So from Caesarea, you go up by car today, about 45 minutes traffic allowing, about 45 minute drive up to Jerusalem. Not by donkey, but by car. and then finally Paul reached Jerusalem where he faced opposition and was later arrested. By the way, the opposition that hit him and hit him hard was the opposition of the Pharisees and Sadducees because Paul goes to Jerusalem to announce to them, hey everybody, guess what?

8:57 The gospel is getting eaten up by the Gentiles. They love the gospel. They're responding to Christ. the Gentile world is receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. And the church in Jerusalem is listening to this, and they were shocked. And they said, oh my goodness, this is amazing. Clearly, God has opened up the way of salvation to the Gentiles. Church, listen, Isaiah prophesied that that would happen. They were just reminded of it by the ministry of the apostle Paul. But when he preached about the resurrection, the Sadducees and Pharisees became furious and they wanted to shut Paul down. They wanted to kill him. Now remember, what book are we studying, folks? I need group participation. We're studying the book of Romans. Paul says, I want to go. I'm going to come see you. How do you think he's going to do that? Viking cruise ship? How about princess?

9:56 Right? No? Norwegian cruise lines? Oh, no. Oh, he's going to get there by ship all right, but he's going to be a prisoner of the Roman Empire. He's going to be put on an Alexandria-based freighter that is bound for Europe, and he does get to Rome. It's going to take him a couple years, but he gets to Rome on an all-expense-paid trip by the Roman Empire because he's under arrest. He gets arrested in Jerusalem.

10:30 And he's returned now. He goes, watch this. God uses 270. Think about what kind of rabble rouser Paul must have been to those legalists, the Judaizers. The Roman Empire thought that it was necessary for Paul to stay alive and to see court, to be tried, that they needed 270 soldiers, some of them on horseback, some of them bearing spears and swords, to protect one guy. There's 270 soldiers and one little dude in the middle, and his name was Paul.

11:17 Don't you wish that you would be such a Christian that you would have to have 270 bodyguards to keep you on mission because so many people want to kill you because you preached the resurrection? Wow! See, Jack, I don't know if I'd want that or not. Oh, come on, live large. Heaven awaits. This life is evaporating. Let's shoot for heaven, folks. And so watch this. So Caesarea, Paul arrives, after Paul's arrest in Jerusalem, he is taken by Roman security detachment, numbering, or should say numbering 270 armed men to Caesarea where he is jailed and awaits his hearing before Felix.

12:01 Rome, Paul takes his appeal to defend the gospel before the emperor Nero in Rome. When he was speaking to the local Roman representatives in Caesarea, the theater is all there, you'll see it, it's amazing. to his back is the crashing waves of the Mediterranean. You can hear it. And he's speaking to the auditorium. And in the middle are the Roman representatives. And he's saying to them, I know that you believe. I know that what you are hearing from me is not strange to you. Look, I'm in these chains right now for preaching the resurrection, for liberty, for gospel, for freedom. That's why I have been chained by my countrymen. And so the Roman leaders are listening. And Paul makes mention, I know that you believe.

12:58 And he says, I wish that you guys were just like me, except without these chains, of course. And then here's the punch. he says, I appeal to Caesar. What does that mean? You had to be a Roman citizen to appeal to Caesar. And if somebody invoked that, I appeal to Caesar, it is by Roman law that he, whoever appealed to Caesar, had to or gets to appeal to Caesar in Rome. So Paul finds out, I guess I am going to go to Rome after all, not the way that I thought, but the way God has planned. Absolutely awesome at this. So church, we're going to look at the very first point to this, and we'll take it down in our notes, and that is this. Remember the theme of all this.

13:54 Will you please come with me, the apostle is calling out to you. Let's say this to us. We're going to make it as the Bible would have it, to us personally. Will you please come with me? Why? as we continue on together. He is saying to the believers, I am going to go eventually to Rome, but all along the way, I'm inviting you to come. And we talked a little bit about that last time in that one section. But mark it down if you would. It's this, found in verse 30. Confident. Confident. Please write this down. Scan the QR code for your own notes. Confident enough to be transparent. You are going to see some precious things about the Apostle Paul. I think that's why I told Matt, I said, Matt, on Friday, I'm so excited about studying. I've been studying. He called me later in the afternoon. I said, man, I'm just so excited. I got to tell you the reason why. This is the reason why.

14:45 Paul the Apostle gets very personal here with this. This is Paul the Apostle. With all due respect, this is not Paul the priest. This is not Paul the pastor. This is not Paul the pope. This is not Paul the fill in the blank. Like, this is Paul the Apostle, a man that had been captured and possessed by Christ and the Holy Spirit and made a servant of the Most High God. Paul would say, I'm a slave of Jesus. That makes him greater than all the kings, in my opinion, and all the leaders that the world has ever seen. To be a slave of Jesus trumps all things that this world can offer you. And I love how transparent the man is. He's not distant. He's not aloof. He's not removed. He's not so much the apostle that he travels in a long entourage or motorcade of black donkeys with tinted windows.

15:46 he's Paul the apostle he's Paul the servant he's Paul the lover of the souls of men and would to God that all of us starting with me would love the souls of lost men and women when was the last time you wept over someone's soul the Bible tells us that Paul often wept. This great man of God says in verse 30, now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, I am calling upon you to come with me.

16:27 I'm invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm telling you, I'm begging you. And these few words are packed with power. he uses the word beg. He begs them. And then this is confidence. Watch this. Look at the meaning of this word. You're going to recognize it actually. Perakaleo. You've seen this word many times before. Perakaleo is one of the words used to describe the Holy Spirit. The perakaleo, the one to come alongside you and be your comforter. To come alongside you. The point is to come alongside, to be your guide, your comforter, your compass. Listen to what he says. I'm begging you. I'm asking you. The word is to call out to you, to appeal to you, to encourage with great passion and intensity, to entreat, to invite. Do you see why I'm talking about him being transparent?

17:30 The word also has been translated to preach. he is preaching to them saying will you come with me he's not asking them to actually come with him he's not asking them to make more room so that all these people can join he's talking about in spirit now look this verse just comes to my mind right now so you might want to write it down and look it up later see how wrong I am Colossians chapter 2 verse 5 goes something like this Colossians 2 verse 5 says this that though we be absent from one another in flesh, yet we are one in spirit. Think that through for a moment. So we met some sweet people from Idaho. where are you from? Doesn't matter.

18:24 What's the furthest representation today of where you're from in the world? If you're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, we may be absent in the flesh. I may not be able to see you, and you may not be able to see me, but we are one in spirit. That's God's business. That's what God does. Why? Because the mission is so precious, and he's saying that. He's so transparent that he's saying this. He's not too proud to say, I got this, don't worry about it. No, no, no, he's not proud. He's saying, I need you to come with me in spirit. And through, I wish we had the time to do this. Oh my goodness, see that word through? We could spend weeks on this word. I'm gonna tell you the reason why. This word through in the original language speaks about the veil that you go through to go into the holy of holies? It's the word that speaks of the veil. That when the Bible tells us Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, the scripture says that he ascended into heaven and presented his blood, the book of Hebrews tells us, upon the altar in heaven, he went through the veil. And then the Bible tells us that Jesus is the veil.

19:42 his body's the veil and all of that talk goes all the way back to the night of Passover in Egypt that the blood of that little lamb God had determined that your life would be spared if the blood was put upon the doorpost of your house by the way read the Old Testament carefully the blood's put strategically are you guys awake? The blood put on the doorpost of your house, if you go study it, is in the shape of a cross. My Jewish friends, the blood that they, the Israelites, were told to put on their door was the blood of a male, innocent, faultless, perfect, unblemished lamb who you first had to bring into your home earlier that week to become very familiar with it, take it on as a pet, to become very connected to it.

20:44 Sound familiar? Only for the father of the house to act as a priest, to slit the throat of the little lamb, capture its blood. All the little kids, I would think, would be crying because now they're really, you've been sleeping with this little lamb for days. And now its blood is taken, its life is drained out of it, and it just quietly collapses, and then the blood is put on the doorposts, and the lintel of the house out front, not inside, outside, public witness. What happens internally goes public. And the death angel comes through. And all that death angel was given notice by God. Here's what you do. When you see the blood pass over. God didn't say, when you see the blood pass over. But if you come to an Egyptian home that has blood on it, doesn't count, kill him. You know, the Bible doesn't say that.

21:42 Again, this might drive some people up the wall. But the angel was only told to look for the blood. I'm wondering if any of those Jews had some Egyptian friends. And that they might have believed. I want to believe that just because I like how God shakes us up. What if your neighbor there in Egypt was an Egyptian, and they began to believe in your God, and you share with them, hey, you know what, the death angel's coming through tomorrow. Ten of us need to gather together, either come into our home or do this at your home.

22:25 You say, well, Jack, that's stretching it. Am I? Am I really stretching it? Is he? Listen, is he the God of the Jews only? No. But the God of the Gentiles also. And the death angel was to look for love. Oh, my goodness. I'm sorry. I'm getting into the word through. I just, I said I wouldn't do it. It was all about the blood. it was all about the veil. and that's a study for some other day, but that word through in the Greek is through the agency of, through the opening of, or the authority of, through the door or opened authority signifying the way into, what is one of Jesus' names? Yeah, the way, but he is the door. The door.

23:18 And so he's saying, now I beg you brethren through you see this through who the Lord Jesus Christ this is the door Jesus has opened Paul is being obedient he's following I want to read this to you it's a it's something that you guys already have on your notes in a remarkable display of humility Paul makes it undeniably clear that he is not leaning upon his own resources or his own strength to accomplish the task before him. I love that. He is not trusting in his education and his previous lifelong achievements. He's not looking to past miracles or past glories to ensure his future ministry. That's very wise. Don't look to the past and think you're okay regarding the future unless you grow. Paul is laying himself out before the Roman believers and he is pleading with them.

24:22 Will you help me through the Lord Jesus Christ is what he's saying. The picture that Paul paints here is a man walking through a door or a veil. That's misspelled, isn't it? Paul is saying, I beg you, read. I don't know why it says that. I beg you, come over to this side with me in spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see that? Come over here. I'm going. Come on over. But he's asking them in a very, listen, listen. He's asking them not to physically come. He's asking them come via prayer. Prayer. A church will not survive without it. We'll talk more about it in a moment. But this is critical. And very fast about this. Note this.

25:14 The Lord. Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, look at the meaning of the word which you already know, Kyrios, Lord, Master, Ruler, King. to be a Christian is to have the master over your life does that offend some of you?

25:35 to have Jesus over your life he's to be the ruler of your life and if that's not true you're playing games with yourself you're lying to yourself tricking yourself he's king he is the king we're not little kings he's the king he is our lord He's the Lord Jesus Christ.

25:59 Lord Jesus Christ. Lord's not his first name. I just want you to know that. Jesus is not his middle name, and Christ is not his last name. You need to know that. Lord is who he is, and then he's Jesus. And this is beautiful. Isus in Greek, from the Hebrew word, Yahushua. or Yeshua or Joshua, name of the Hebrew Messiah, but Greek, Isus or Jesus. Did you know that Jesus' name, as you and I know his name, Isus, I heard somebody recently tell me, I think it was in Chinese, that Jesus is Lord. I think it was Isus, something like this. Does that sound right? Who knows this? Say it loud.

26:54 Yesu? Yesu? Is it Yesu? Who's Hananim? Hananim. Is it Jesus is Lord? You can hear that original Greek word in that, though. Isus. Greek.

27:16 And then... the word Christ the Hebrew language they don't use the word Christ it's a Greek word Christos they use the word I'll show you in a moment for Messiah means the same thing the anointed one Christ in Greek so the Hebrew Bible refers to as the Messiah being Yehoshua as I said earlier you can say Joshua or Jesus but Yehoshua in scripture put up this Hebrew word if we have this Hamashiach this is amazing look at this Yehoshua That means there's only one Savior, one God, one Redeemer.

28:20 And his name, he's announced his name as Yehoshua. It's shortened to Yah in the Bible. And some of you may be hearing this for the first time ever. But if you dive into this, you will find out from Genesis to Revelation. It's none other that the Yah is the one that is the Yehovah. The one that is Hallelujah.

28:44 That's his name. His actual name. My name's Jack. His name is Yah. The Bible reveals the name of our God. and he's to be praised and he's to be honored and why do I bring this up? Because he's transparent.

29:06 He's open to us and Paul is saying, I'm not going in my own power. You guys are going to send me in prayer but I'm going with God on this. Listen friends, listen carefully. You go with God, you're not shaken by stuff. You understand that? listen I mean this with all love the days are very soon coming and you will experience them when your faith is going to be challenged and you're going to choose to listen to God or to man And as it were, the ground's going to shake underneath you. And I'm not talking about an earthquake. And you'll be called upon to choose whom you will obey. Will it be the Lord Jesus Christ? or will it be something else, or will it be yourself?

29:57 Last night, my granddaughter and I sat down and watched again for the umpteenth time the movie Nefarious. You've got to see it if you've never seen it. and how that demon-possessed man was talking to that psychologist and was saying, you guys, you humans, you guys have been fantastic for us. We're winning this war. And he said, this is a highly kept secret and not to be divulged, but the word is from my master, which would have been Satan, that there's a lot more of you down where we're at than there are those that are with the creator. Because you've done this to yourself. He says in that movie, it's a tremendous film. He says, all we had to do is to get you to keep thinking about yourself all the time.

30:58 And the more you thought about yourself, the more we had you in our camp. confidence comes from being focused on Christ and the things of Christ and to honor him and he's the Lord Jesus Christ there's no other and there's no substitute Yeshua HaMashiach he's the one and then secondly secure listen confident yes and I can be transparent you can be transparent because we're confident in Christ but also this secure. Secure enough to be loved. You say, what do you mean by that? Love. The greatest thing that you and I seek after, if we admit it or not, is love, to give love, and to be loved. Listen, your relationship with whoever it is is handicapped at best if you are not free to express your love or to receive love. It's a two-way street.

31:55 And there's nothing more sad than when somebody in a relationship loves one and the other doesn't. but love's a choice it's not a feeling young people it's not goosebumps up your back love's not a feeling it may start it could start I'm not discrediting feelings it might start with an emotional feeling a lot of people come to Christ with an emotional feeling they feel, they sense something God uses all means you would not have wanted to experience my feelings when I first heard the gospel. I'm not normal. I heard the gospel, and I began to sweat. I began to fear. My life was doomed to hell. I didn't know that.

32:47 I went to a church. Oh, you go to a church, and you accept it, and you're welcome just as you are, and you, you know, everyone loves you, and it's just, oh, stop it. Listen, listen. that's what people's emotions want. The truth shows, listen, when the truth shows up, the truth says, yeah, God says inside of you, not outside, inside. God says inside of you, I don't want any of this in your life anymore. And until you get that repented of, you should know my son is Christ and you're on your way to hell because you will have nothing to do with him. You curse his name. You live against my will. You serve yourself. And I'm just putting you on notice as you came into a church. Because you won't hear it anywhere else. That you're in trouble and you need to be redeemed. You need to be forgiven.

33:41 That's how love speaks. And I was so convicted. If you would have asked me in that moment, do you feel loved right now? I would have said, I feel terrified right now. I feel like if I don't make it from the back of this church to that front end, it's only 100 feet. if I die but here and there I am doomed and I looked around I saw other people they're crying and then some people are just smiling and I'm thinking what in the world did they just hear because I'm telling you right now I had to run forward because I was afraid of the flames of hell catching up behind me I felt as though there was a sword on the back of my neck from heaven above of justice and only the blood of Jesus could take that sword away. Only the blood of Jesus can remove the guilt, the shame, the fear, and the grip of hell.

34:38 I heard a podcast this last week, Driving Home. I listen to this guy's podcast often. And the guy's a new believer. He's very famous. One of the largest podcasters in the world. He recently came to Christ. And he said, I don't know what's going on with me. I was completely fine. I didn't fear death when I was sleeping with everybody. I was doing all kinds of drugs. I had no fear. And he said, then I accepted Jesus, and I've been reading people's books, and I've been reading or listening to sermons, and I've been going to various churches. And he says, no, I'm scared to death to die. I'm scared to death. I'm absolutely paralyzed by fear. And I was yelling. I was yelling in my truck to the podcaster. And here's what I was saying. In fact, I got so frustrated. I had to text all the pastors and I just said, you need to pray for me. I'm listening to this podcast right now. I'm not ready to have a heart attack because the guy that he had with him was not answering the question. Dude, if you've come to Jesus Christ, you've been delivered from the grip of fear and death, that if you trust Christ and him alone, he raised you from the dead, that he has taken the sting of death, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews, away from us.

35:52 Do you understand that? Look, nobody wants needles and tubes and all that kind of stuff in suffering. Nobody wants that. For the believer, death is not a problem. I'll admit, it's getting to that is a problem.

36:13 But the moment we die, the Bible says, God says precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Listen, some of you may not be here next year or next month. Maybe your time is up if you're a believer, if you trust Christ Jesus. Listen, your graduation's coming. And you don't need to fear that. Pastor, don't talk like that. Only a non-believer would be terrified of death. Or, as in this man's case, let's give them a benefit of the doubt. If he came to Christ, notice that his fears came listening to various ministers and reading certain books. Answer to the problem. Stop listening to others and stop reading other books. Read God's book and thereby hear him speak.

37:04 There'll be a great shift, but a lot of people don't want to do that anymore. why pray when we can ask Alexa? Why pray when we can ask chat GPT? And a lot of people today, a lot of young people today get all their answers from AI. They don't pray. They don't need to pray. You think I'm kidding? Only old people think I'm kidding right now. The young people are saying, oh, dude, that hurts. Well, I'm just getting started. God wants you to be secure he says right there in verse 30 and through there it is and through and going through the veil to know the love of the spirit this is a beautiful statement some people are afraid of the Holy Spirit why would you do that? maybe because you went to a crazy church you know oh hey sorry but the spirit of God took over and no, he doesn't do that.

38:06 He's a gentleman. The Bible says he will never speak of himself. Did you know that? The Bible says the Holy Spirit will never draw attention to himself but will exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus said. the Holy Spirit loves you. The Holy Spirit is God. God, the Holy Spirit. And Paul doesn't even flinch to say the love of the Spirit.

38:33 Play along for a moment. How many of you are born-again Christians? Raise your hands. Put your hands down. You know who's inside of you? The Holy Spirit. A couple of you said Jesus. Now, that's okay, but you should be over in the other room with the children's ministry. No, no, you're all correct. You're all correct. It's actually correct. It's all true.

38:59 Because, you know, if you ask the kids in the other buildings across the way, where's Jesus? They'll go like this. And that's cute. But the technical answer is Jesus Christ dwells within you by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, I will not be with you always. I've got to go. But when I leave, I will send the comforter to you, and he will be with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot see, because it seeth them not, nor knoweth them. But I send him to you. He has been with you and shall be in you, Jesus said. Wow.

39:37 Colossians, get ready. Write some verses down. Oh, that's introduction. Here we go. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians 12. Now concerning spiritual gifts, the actual Greek word is now concerning spirituals. It's a single word. Some of your Bibles might say concerning spiritual matters. Doesn't matter. Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.

40:00 You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols. Dumb, he's not being mean. Dumb meaning they can't hear or speak. he's not being like rude. He's not having a bad day. However, you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed. That means to deny or to speak out against the deity of Christ. Nobody can do that by the Holy Spirit. And no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Listen, that doesn't mean if somebody says Jesus is Lord that they're automatically saved. It means this. They can't say that he's Lord and mean it. There are a lot of people who will say Jesus is Lord, but they also believe that other things or people are Lords also in this incapacity.

40:55 Some religions hold Jesus as a great teacher. Watch out for religions who say, He's a great teacher. He was a great prophet. That's deception. Watch out. Well, wasn't he a prophet? Yeah, he prophesied. Wasn't he a great teacher? He was the best teacher. But if you leave it at that, you never get to him being the Lord, the God, the second person of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit exalts, as I said, Jesus. allow me to read this to you it's what I just semi tried to quote a moment ago it's in the old King James when I got saved at Costa Mesa when we were all at Calvary Costa Mesa Chuck taught for years out of the old King James so sometimes I misquote scriptures because in my brain I've got old King James and new King James all bundled up in here if I had it my way we'd all speak Queen's English I just love that I think I was born too late in life but John chapter 14

42:39 He does that by the Holy Spirit. Psalm, you guys okay? Psalm chapter 139, Psalm 139. We all love this Psalm. I tell you what, you guys, David, King David, two people in my opinion this is just my opinion two people in the Old Testament had New Testament relationships with God did you hear what I said? two people in the Old Testament had New Testament relationships with God Abraham and David go search and see how was abraham justified by keeping the law Abraham was justified by faith. Abraham, Moses hadn't even been born yet.

43:33 There were no Ten Commandments. Abraham was declared righteous by God and Abraham had not even yet been circumcised. David? David, you mean the adulterer? Yeah, that David. You mean David the murderer? You mean David the crummy father? Yeah. David whose life had extreme highs and horrific lows? Yeah, that guy. Does that guy's life not embody the human experience? And did God forgive him when he repented? Key word, repented. this is what he says

45:37 Oh, I'm just doing my little dark thing and my little dark space and my little dark part of my life. And God's got a beam on it. And he's going, I see you. In our family, leave the verse up. In our family, it's somebody like, you know, we're living life. People are running around the house. It's life. It's like your home. And somebody says something like, oh, who left the door open? Oh, your dad. Your dad always leaves the door open and he's always in. And I'll say, I can hear you. who brought the mud in on the floor? It's just, it's all over the place. What, which one of you nincompoops did that? Dad did that. And then from the back room, I can hear you. Right now, you may be saying, oh, I've got my life and nobody knows.

46:33 It's, I got a little secret life. We were talking to somebody just very recently where this man claimed to be a Christian. He had his family over here in that part of the county and he had another family on the other part of the county. And I know you'll go to hell for that. I just think you should go to jail before you go to hell for that. Verse 13, for you formed my inward parts and you covered me in my mother's womb. Hello? My mother's womb. God is in. When conception takes place, God's there. In fact, if you want to think romantically, I think God shows up in the womb, so to speak, the second before conception. He's going like this. Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm. Ooh!

47:29 Sorry, I just probably ruined I just realized You should be so glad you don't live with me I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Science backs that up. Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lower parts of the earth. That's a reference to the womb. Your eyes saw my substance. Listen, being yet unformed. What? that means God had a schematic in his mind he had blueprints for your life friends listen anybody pregnant?

48:25 anybody thinking about getting pregnant? somebody might find out they're pregnant tomorrow listen it's not an accident you know oops no, no whoops no whoops pure science, pure God and God says I'm in there I have a blueprint for humanity this is how it works it's amazing Now look, you say, Jack, you're being silly. Am I now?

48:57 That's the definition of DNA. you say well I don't like my freckle over here and I don't like the way my eyebrows are and I don't like the way that my nose yeah well that's the way you were written up and if something's wrong, he'll fix it in the resurrection. I'm sure of it. No one's going to walk around in heaven saying, it's awesome to be here, and you guys are all so beautiful, but my nose. If God can raise you from the dead, he can give you a new nose. He says, how precious also are your thoughts to me. Listen, people. God's thoughts toward you are precious. Oh, God.

49:48 Notice. Oh, God. He knows the Lord. How great is the sum of them. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. And when I awake, this is the miracle. When I awake, I'm still with you. I'm still with you, he says. You could say when I awake, you're still with me. The same is true. When I wake up, I'm with you. Ezekiel chapter 36 why is this true? Ezekiel 36 verse 27 I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes you will keep my judgments and do them 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16 do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Holy Spirit of God dwells in you it's the Holy Spirit They're the word spirit, but he's the Holy Spirit.

50:49 Holy. Speaking of his nature, that word only applies to God. This holy. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19 says, The Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, you are not your own. I don't know about you, but I like that. You're not your own. Some of you are tired. You've been living life and you're burned out. You're tired. You've done all this stuff. You're still empty. You're still hurting.

51:21 Man, I tell you what. Did you guys see the alternative halftime show at that ridiculous Super Bowl game? It was so boring. That was one of the most boring games, so to say. But anyway, so so Kid Rock comes out singing this song and I never I've never listened to Kid Rock so I don't even know I don't know nothing so this guy comes out and I'm thinking and then they pivot and I'm thinking what was that this is an alternative and then they go the next was the wonderful that's the part I wanted to have last was the violin and the cellar or whatever was being played oh my goodness this is great and then ladies and gentlemen what's his name? Bob? Robert? Robert? Ladies and gentlemen, Robert, I don't know what his name was.

52:35 Robert? Richard? I don't know. Bob. It's Richard. No, Robert. Robert Ritchie. Thank you. This guy knows. Robert Ritchie. Who? Ladies and gentlemen, Robert Ritchie. And then people are like going. who's that it's Kid Rock he comes back out different clothing different look different song I encourage all of you to download it he announces in that song that Jesus Christ rescued him from his life set his foot on the rock washed him in the blood of the lamb, and that he's a new person.

53:28 And the reason why he did those two songs is because this was the old man, Kid Rock, and now this is the new man, Robert, that guy, Robert Ritchie. Did you know that, Kid Rock? I didn't know that. I'm going to start buying Kid Rock stuff. Just for that. New, brand new. You say, I don't think I can do that with rock and roll people. Yeah, yeah, he can. He does. He does just fine. God put his Holy Spirit in him. And I know somebody who knows him. It turns out I found out. I said, hey, did you just see that? I text this. Did you just see this?

54:12 And my friend texted back and said, yeah, I was talking to him yesterday all about it. Wow. So next week we're going to have Robert Ritchie give you this. No, I'm kidding. I don't. I'm kidding. John 14, verse 23. Jesus answered and said to them, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and he will come to him and make our home with him. The life of the new believer, the life of the Spirit, the ministry of the Spirit. Paul is saying, Will you come with me in spirit? the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verse 11 Romans 8 11 but if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you that man who was afraid of dying he needs to be reminded this Christian needs to be reminded that's in the Bible Romans 8, 11.

55:22 Last time I checked, which was yesterday, it's still in the Bible. God raises the dead. And the Spirit of God, look, the Bible says the Spirit of God rose Jesus Christ from the dead and the same Spirit will raise you from the dead also. That's the best news in the entire world. Amazing. I have this in notes. It's on page six. And it says, I just called it move in day. Can you say today that the Holy Spirit dwells in you? Don't answer. Don't answer. Can you honestly say, remember, forget about everybody in church. Be all alone for a moment. Can you say to yourself, I know the Holy Spirit dwells in me. I'll tell you how you'll know. if the Holy Spirit dwells in you, he will constantly prod you towards things of meaning, of purpose, of good, of hope, of life.

56:24 Things that matter. You know what? If the Holy Spirit's in you, he will move you toward vision. Vision meaning, I see that. I'm not going to wait around for anybody else to do that. I'm going to go do that. By his power. Just like the Apostle Paul. I'm transparent, I'm weak, I'm nothing, but he is all-powerful God. And then look, he goes on. Or this goes on. Can you say that the Holy Spirit dwells in you? Let me tell you this. If he dwells within you, then you will know it. Nobody moves into our house or their house where you live and you do not know it. When someone's in the home with you, you know it. When you go into a place, you know it. When someone comes into that place where you're at, you know it.

57:22 We know this as humans. Christian, friend, one of the great comforting facts about our lives is that we're not perfect, and we know it. But he is, and him in us causes us to continue on. his presence can be experienced. I'm not going to define how because I'm sure it's in various ways in people's lives. but he's present.

58:03 We'll end with this last thing here. We pick it up next time, next week. Look at verse 30, eager. He's saying, will you please come with me? And as we continue on together, he's talking to us here about being eager, eager enough to change the world. Now, I hesitated in pointing out that sub-point that underlines the main point, but it's true nonetheless. But, you know, we hear about this stuff all the time, but the world doesn't change. Oh, be a changemaker. You can change the world, we tell our kids. You can change the world. And it's all true if, right? It's all true if. if we're focused on the things of God and if we're powered and empowered by God, that you strive together with me in prayers for God for me.

58:57 This man's precious. Do you hear him? How many men, just look, how many people would say this? How many people would say, it's really important to me, I'm asking all of you to determine to go through whatever pains it takes you to please remember to pray for me. Who says this? we are a strange culture. We are a hard people to bless because we're proud.

59:36 I'm proud. 68 years old and I'm so immature that I still get into these loving, cute little debates when we might go out to dinner with friends and I've got to be the one that gets the bill. it doesn't matter what my motive is. My motive could be spectacularly honest and true. I love them and I want to bless them. So I've got a routine and I'll either tell the server or the manager in advance. Sometimes I'll call ahead and say, listen, this is a setup. I love my friends. They have a tendency to grab the bill. Don't give it to them. I'll come in with a code. you know I'm the guy that's the one and it's done from love but then I also I also realize that there's pride in that the danger of that is what here's the danger well gosh i guess you're right pastor jack because there could be pride in whatever i do so i don't want to do that so i'll do nothing Listen.

1:00:56 Together, you guys, listen, together we are so absolutely weak, even together. We're weaker when we're apart, but we're weak. And the Bible says, in your weakness, I will perfect my strength. Only God is the one who can say, you know, you've been a horrific sinner.

1:01:27 Yes, Lord. Let me just show you, Jack, a little brief snapshot of your past. Right. For young people, that was the... That was a... What is it called? See, look, I don't even know. That was the camera, the projector. And it sees you, you know, you're getting into trouble. And God says, I have it all on record. You know, the Bible says it, it writes everything down. And you're mortified.

1:02:06 And just, just listen, just when your chin gets welded to your chest because of shame. he picks you up and he says but I died on the cross for that if you're willing to invite me in I died on the cross, I already paid the price for that but it doesn't benefit you at all Jack the price has been paid but you have no benefit from that price I paid unless you apply what I gave or made available for your own life. Will you accept me? Will you receive? No, that's okay, Lord. I called ahead. I paid the bill in advance.

1:02:52 I told the server to bring it to me. That's human works. I prayed three times. I did this. I prayed five times. I gave this much money. I'm good. Little do you know that the film is still running and God is saying, by the works of the law, you cannot come to me. You can't see me. You could be so pure in your eyes, but I'm talking like him. He said, I already told you in the book of Isaiah that your righteousness is as filthy rags. The word in Hebrew is your righteousness are as menstrual cloths. Yeah, yeah. It's like, really? Really? That's gross. And God says, that's right. So what do I do about this? Take all of this and hand it to me.

1:03:47 Wait, wait. The eternal God, who's pure, who came into this world to show us the way, died on the cross for me, rose again from the dead, to empower all of these promises, you will take it for me? You want me to hand it to you? That's right. I can't believe you would even touch me. I can't believe you would even take this from me. Give it to me. That's the struggle. Pride immediately erupts with stupid things like this. I'll come back next week. I'll think about it. Or I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm going to clean up my act and then I'll give my heart to Jesus. You'll never be saved.

1:04:40 You'll be lost for all eternity that way. have you noticed one of Satan's greatest tactics is to tell you tomorrow you know you're going to clean the garage tomorrow I've been telling myself that for years the thing is if you keep telling yourself that long enough you actually enjoy it Lisa will say the garage looks horrific, but I've told myself so many times I'll do it tomorrow that it looks fine to me today.

1:05:13 Listen, Satan does that. Don't become a fanatic. You don't want to be one of those Jesus freaks, do you? A little later, you're young. There's so much of life to live. Translation, we're terrified that you're listening to the love of God. You better run away from that because, listen, we want to shorten your life as fast as possible by keeping you blinded and suck you into the pit of hell so we can inflict pain into the heart of God because we hate him because he made you humans in his image and he loves you and he redeemed you. And we will do everything to stop that. so they do everything to tempt you to stay drugged, to stay sexed up, to stay pursuing money, whatever the distractions are, trinkets, glitter.

1:06:12 Let's pray. Father God in heaven. I'm asking you, Lord, enough has been said. It's decision time. Lord, I pray for every person that's hearing this message. Only Bible, only verses, only your Holy Spirit.

1:06:34 They're brought into the valley of decision right now. Yes or no for Jesus? You're going to stand on the dock or are you going to get on board? You're going to stand on the platform? or are you going to get on? Are you going to stay in your religion or are you going to meet God? are you going to try to keep convincing yourself that you're okay instead of giving up your life to him. Wherever you're at, whoever you may be, you know enough right now from this message to respond to Jesus.

1:07:18 Tell him right now in your own words, I'm asking you, Jesus, to forgive me of my sins. You know everything that I've ever done. You know the things that I thought I had kept secret. and you're exposing them right now. and I'm mortified. If that ever got out, my friend it's all coming out unless it's covered by the blood of the lamb Jesus died on the cross for you and the only way that you can survive death is by putting your faith in Christ Jesus now to say to him, I believe you died on the cross for my sins and you rose again from the dead.

1:08:17 And I receive you as my Lord and Savior. I decide today to walk with you, Jesus. I want to go with you. And we say to you, come with us. Come with us, brand new brother or sister. come with us for at the end of our journey we enter into his very presence of glory because Jesus has paid it all, and all to him we owe. In his name we pray, and all God's people said, Amen. God bless you, church.