Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North Sermons - Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North

Jeff Miller
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  • CHRISTIANITY
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Weekly sermon notes and audio recording from Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North.

  1. 5D AGO

    What If I'm Not Content?

    Introduction: Introduction: What Should I Do If I’m Not Content? (1 Corinthians 7:17-24) I should recognize THAT MY CALLING IS A GIFT. (1 Cor 7:17) 1 Timothy 6:6 - But godliness with contentment is great gain, I should resolve to OBEY NO MATTER WHAT. (1 Cor 7:18-19) John 14:23-24 - Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 1 John 5:3 - For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. I should remember WHO I AM IN CHRIST. (1 Cor 7:20-23) Philippians 4:11-13 - Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I should rejoice THAT GOD IS WITH ME. (1 Cor 7:24) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! AUDIO TRANSCRIPT 00:36-00:40 Please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 17 through 24. 00:41-00:45 1 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 17 through 24. 00:47-00:53 Have you ever stopped to consider how much of your life is beyond your control? 00:55-00:57 And some of you are thinking, no, because that sounds very depressing. 00:57-01:00 It doesn't sound very fun at all. 01:00-01:02 And I get that, but just go with me for a second. 01:03-01:07 Did you have any control over when you came into this world? 01:08-01:17 You had no say on who your parents were, how much money they had, what hospital you were born at, what doctors delivered you. 01:18-01:21 Did you have any control over your genetic makeup and DNA? 01:23-01:32 You had zero input into what you would look like, what inherent talents you would possess, and what natural personality you would receive. 01:33-01:35 Are you able to control the weather? 01:36-01:39 Are you able to keep snow storms and frigid temperatures away? 01:41-01:44 If you're able to do that, you have failed us these past two months. 01:44-01:47 What have you been doing if you're able to control those things? 01:47-01:48 Where were you last night? 01:50-01:54 Are you able to control every single situation that pops up in your life? 01:55-01:59 Are you able to keep all forms of pain and suffering away? 02:00-02:06 I assume not because if you're able to do that, you'd be a billionaire right now because you sold your secret methods to others. 02:08-02:11 So much of your life is beyond your control. 02:13-02:18 Discontentment comes when you fail to acknowledge and submit to this basic truth. 02:19-02:27 And at its core, dissatisfaction, discontentment, is you not being happy with what God has given to you. 02:28-02:34 you being dissatisfied with who the Lord is and the life he has entrusted to you. 02:36-02:41 So many of your problems come from trying to control the uncontrollable. 02:42-02:50 Guys in the room like me who are under six feet tall, I'm sorry, those exercises, those stretches will not add any inches to your height. 02:50-02:52 Those height-boosting shoes aren't fooling anybody. 02:54-02:56 We're just gonna have to enjoy the view from down here. 02:58-03:03 So many of your frustrations find their root in trying to stop the inevitable. 03:05-03:09 Ladies, I'm sorry to say it, please don't pelt me with tomatoes and other produce. 03:11-03:15 You're going to get older, and there is going to be signs of aging. 03:16-03:19 Okay, good. (laughs) No produce, phew. 03:20-03:22 It's impossible to avoid. 03:23-03:29 Instead of resisting this, accept that your meaning is not bound up what you look like on the outside. 03:30-03:32 What truly matters is what you look like on the inside. 03:34-03:39 So many of your disappointments come from an unwillingness to accept your limitations. 03:40-03:50 And I'm sorry to burst your bubble, I'm sorry to ruin all the lessons you learned from Disney movies growing up, but you cannot be whoever you wanna be and do whatever you wanna do. 03:52-03:54 I see some of you not agreeing with me internally. 03:55-05:21 I'm sorry, but it's not every boy's future athlete. It's not in every girl's future to be a famous celebrity or singer. There are things that you are good at and you should work on honing those natural talents and abilities. But there are other things that you stink at and no matter how hard you try you'll never rise above mediocrity when it comes to those activities. At this point you may be thinking, "Taylor, this is my favorite sermon so far. Are you saying that I have no control over my life at all? I'm actually not saying that. You do have some control over your life, but you do not have as much control as you would like. You cannot control the life you receive from the Lord, but you can't control what you do with the life you receive from the Lord. You cannot control the calling that you are given from the hand of God, but you can control if you are discontent or content with the calling you have received from the hand of God. Which best describes you in this season of life? Discontent or content? Dissatisfied or satisfied? Unfulfilled or or fulfilled. 05:23-05:28 I don't think it would take much introspection for some of you to realize that you are not content right now. 05:29-05:31 That you lack true joy. 05:33-05:37 That you wake up with a sense of dread that you have to be you. 05:38-05:40 And that you have to deal with what's in front of you. 05:42-05:44 You feel like your life is stuck in limbo. 05:44-05:47 You feel like things will never get better. 05:47-05:50 feel like things will never improve. 05:52-05:55 You may be wondering, what should I do if I'm not content? 05:56-05:59 What should I do if I'm not content? 06:01-06:11 We're towards the beginning of the Q and A section of 1 Corinthians and that is the exact question that the Apostle Paul answers for us in 1 Corinthians chapter seven, verses 17 through 24. 06:12-06:25 And just like the Corinthians, you need to be reminded that true contentment is not found in your circumstances, which are always changing, true contentment is found in Jesus Christ, who never changes. 06:28-06:30 Let's go to the Lord in prayer and ask for His help. 06:30-06:37 Please pray for me, that I'll faithfully proclaim God's word, and I will pray for you, that you will faithfully receive God's word. 06:41-06:49 Father, we thank you for yet another opportunity to worship you together, sit under your word together as your people. 06:49-06:52 Lord, this is a subject that touches every single one of us. 06:53-06:58 There isn't a single person in this room who isn't struggling with a sense of discontentment on some level. 06:59-07:02 I pray you'd use your word to comfort us. 07:03-07:06 You would use your word to challenge us. 07:07-07:10 You would use your word to point us to Christ. 07:11-07:14 We ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. 07:16-07:21 The first Corinthians 7 is mainly about marriage and singleness. 07:21-07:29 Two weeks ago, Pastor Jeff preached on two gifts, the gift of sex and marriage and the gift of contentment and singleness. 07:30-07:34 And last week, you heard four sermons for the price of one. 07:36-07:41 If you are single and you want to stay single and remain single. 07:42-07:46 If you are single and do not want to remain single, get married. 07:47-07:50 If you are a Christian couple, stay married. 07:52-07:56 If you are married to an unbeliever while you are a believer, stay in that marriage. 07:57-08:01 Do not cut and run once you become a Christian. 08:01-08:06 God may use you to save your unbelieving spouse. 08:07-08:11 You can only control yourself in that situation. 08:12-08:14 You can control if you stay. 08:14-08:19 If that unbelieving spouse chooses to leave you, that is on him or her. 08:20-08:22 You cannot control what they do. 08:22-08:25 You can only control what you do. 08:26-08:28 And this kind of marital situation is hard. 08:28-08:29 I don't wanna sugarcoat it. 08:29-08:32 It's not easy or simple on any level. 08:32-08:37 It's painful, but according to this text, that will be used by God for his purposes. 08:38-08:43 No matter your relational status, it is not your job to figure out what God is up to. 08:44-08:49 It's your job to submit to the life that God has given to you. 08:50-08:56 It's your job to play the cards you've been dealt instead of throwing them down and walking away from the table. 08:57-09:02 This principle for marriage and singleness applies to every other area of life as well. 09:02-09:08 your social status, your family, your finances, your career, and the list goes on and on. 09:09-09:18 In verses 17 through 24, Paul jumps off the main highway of marriage and singleness to explore a much needed detour. 09:19-09:23 So let's return to our main question for this morning that s

  2. FEB 15

    What If I'm Not in a Biblical Marriage?

    Introduction: Matters of Marriage: A Word for Each of You. (1 Corinthians 7:8-16) Singles: Enjoy the GIFT of SINGLENESS or GET MARRIED. (1 Cor 7:8-9) Single & Want to Get Married? 3 Don'ts: Don't SETTLE. Don't Look for the RIGHT PERSON. Don't Seek MARRIAGE – Seek LOVE. Married Christians: STAY MARRIED. (1 Cor 7:10-11) Married to a NonChristian (Who Wants to Stay Married): STAY MARRIED. (1 Cor 7:12-14) Married to a NonChristian (Who Wants to Leave): LET THEM GO. (1 Cor 7:15-16) Romans 7:2 – For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Matthew 19:8 – He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce...” Matthew 19:9 - “And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! AUDIO TRANSCRIPT 00:36-00:39 Open up those Bibles, 1 Corinthians chapter 7. 00:41-00:42 Chapter 7. 00:44-00:47 We're in the third section of 1 Corinthians. 00:48-00:51 Chapters 1 through 4 is about unity. 00:52-00:54 Like church, get it together. 00:56-00:58 Chapters 5 and 6 are about purity. 01:01-01:08 And then when we get to chapter 7 verse 1, you see that Paul is addressing some questions that they had. 01:10-01:17 And the first subject of this Q&A session is marriage. 01:20-01:22 So that's where we are. 01:22-01:24 We go where the text takes us. 01:24-01:33 I'm going to ask that you would please just quiet your heart before the Lord for a moment and pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's Word. 01:33-01:44 This is a passage that is going to get a reaction, and it's not about really my opinion or your opinion, it's what did God actually say? 01:45-01:46 That's what we're going after, right? 01:48-01:52 So pray for me to be faithful to clearly communicate what God said. 01:52-01:57 I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is that God said. 01:57-01:59 All right, let's just take a moment and pray. 02:02-02:16 Our Father in heaven, I know that many times in my life I've had strong opinions about things that have had to change because of what your Word says. 02:22-02:26 Because at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what any of us think, Father, It only matters what you think. 02:27-02:42 So I just pray that you would give us wisdom, that you would eliminate any distractions in our hearts and minds so we can just lock into what your Word has to say here. 02:44-02:45 It's for the glory of your name. 02:46-03:00 We pray in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, "Amen." If you've been with us at all through our series in 1 Corinthians, we've seen that everything was a mess, right? 03:00-03:06 So now Paul's talking about marriage and no surprise, marriage was a mess. 03:07-03:09 We talked about this last week. 03:09-03:16 There were people strong on the single side and there were people strong on the marriage side. 03:16-03:17 Which one is good? 03:17-03:21 And the answer is both of them are good. 03:23-03:28 Marriage was a mess in Corinth, and if we're going to be honest, we're not doing so hot here today either. 03:31-03:38 As I was preparing this, I get an email that has just short news articles in it and updates and things like that. 03:39-03:42 And I just read this on Friday, I wanted to share part of this article with you. 03:43-03:50 This is the newest craze, I haven't heard of this one, maybe you have, but the newest craze is divorce rings. 03:51-03:52 Have you heard of divorce rings? 03:53-03:54 Raise your hand if you've heard of divorce rings. 03:55-03:57 Okay, a couple of you have, all right. 03:58-04:04 This is new as far as this article told us, but I just want to read part of it. 04:04-04:18 It says, "The diamond ring Alex Weinstein," that's a female, "wears every day is a reminder that once upon a time she said, "I do," these days she happily says she does not. 04:20-04:45 Weinstein got divorced last March and tossed her engagement ring in a drawer for a few months. Then the Tampa, Florida-based content creator decided to make herself a divorce ring. She reset a radiant three-carat stone from her ex- husband into gold, turning it east to west in a bezel." I should have looked up what that meant. 04:45-04:46 Anybody know what a bezel is? 04:47-04:48 Okay, nobody? 04:49-04:50 All right, I shouldn't have said anything, huh? 04:51-04:53 I was safe until I just said that. 04:53-04:55 All right, noted. 04:55-04:56 That helps me for the second service. 04:58-05:07 The shame and stigma, the article goes on, "The shame and stigma of divorce has been replaced for some women with empowerment and celebration. 05:10-05:17 While diamond rings have long been a cultural signifier of marriage, some women are also choosing to mark the end of their matrimonies with a little bling. 05:21-05:26 Weinstein says, "I'm not proud of getting divorced, but I am proud of putting myself first. 05:28-05:34 Why shouldn't I celebrate this chapter of my life?" Why am I sharing this article with you? 05:36-05:49 Because I think if anything sort of personifies how far we have drifted as a culture from God's ideal, I think this kind of nails it. 05:50-05:53 We are celebrating divorce. 05:55-05:56 We are celebrating it! 06:00-06:04 You know, we look at Corinth and we're like, "Man, those people were messed up." Us people are messed up. 06:08-06:20 Back to Corinth, though, some would say...some in Corinth had said, "Excuse me." Some said, "You know, being single is actually being more devoted to God." And they actually had married people get a divorce. 06:21-06:36 Like, "Hey, you'll be more devoted to God if you get the divorce." And then there were some that said, "Look, if you want to be devoted to God, you can't have intimate relations with a woman. 06:36-06:48 So if you want to stay married, just don't have any intimacy." Those were some of the thoughts they had in Corinth, and both of those are wrong. 06:50-06:54 In the previous passage, again, Paul said, "Staying single is good. 06:54-06:56 Marriage is good. 06:56-06:59 And intimacy in marriage should be a regular thing. 07:03-07:05 But what if I'm not in a biblical marriage? 07:09-07:12 What I mean is, what if I'm not married to a Christian? 07:13-07:29 I mean, you could go through the last couple of messages and say, "Oh, that's well and good for two people who love Jesus Christ, have the Word of God as their authority, and Oh yeah, like easy for them. 07:31-07:33 But what about me, Paul? 07:34-07:38 My spouse isn't a believer, so what am I supposed to do? 07:40-07:41 Should I just get a divorce? 07:44-07:44 What should I do? 07:46-09:17 Well, in this section we're looking at today, Paul clarifies matters of marriage addressing everyone in the church. Literally everyone in the church and everyone in this church. So this is kind of a good news/bad news thing. We're not having one sermon today. You're like, "All right, we are having four sermons today. All right, four sermons." Because each of these are very specifically addressed to a different group. So first up, matters of marriage, a word for each of you. You can take notes on the other ones if you like, but pay attention into the category you fall. Number one, singles. Singles, a word for you, here it is. Enjoy the gift of singleness or get married. Enjoy the gift of singleness or get married. All right, so if you're here and you're single, if you're streaming and you're single, if for you. All right? If you're single, enjoy that if it's a gift or get married. Look at verse 8. Paul says, "To the unmarried and the widows, I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am." Unmarried for any reason, right? Paul, once again, this is a We're going to go through this quickly. 09:18-09:19 We talked all about this last week. 09:19-09:21 Paul said being single is good. 09:23-09:23 Right? 09:23-09:24 Being single is good. 09:24-09:26 Why is he circling back to that? 09:26-09:34 Because there were Jews in Corinth that said, "You couldn't be holy unless you were married." That was a common Jewish mindset in that day. 09:35-09:36 You couldn't be holy unless you were married. 09:36-09:41 Paul's like, "That's not true." All right? 09:41-09:43 It's a gift for some people. 09:45-09:47 And Paul listed himself as one of those people. 09:48-09:50 Paul here very clearly says that he was single. 09:51-09:52 Like what happened to Paul? 09:52-09:52 Did he get a divorce? 09:53-09:54 Did his wife leave him? 09:54-09:55 Is he a widower? 09:56-09:57 We have no idea. 09:59-10:03 We don't know the details, but we know from this verse that he was single. 10:06-10:07 Okay, so single people, listen. 10:10-10:27 not denying that there are pressures to being single that married couples do not have. Things like loneliness, things like trying to manage a household yourself. 10:28-10:34 The

  3. FEB 8

    What About Sex and Marriage?

    Introduction: Genesis 2:24 - Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Enjoying Your Gift from God. (1 Corinthians 7:1-7) Married? Enjoy God's Gift for MARRIAGE. (1 Cor 7:3-5) 3 Laws of Marital Intimacy: The Law of DEBT. (1 Cor 7:3) The Law of OWNERSHIP. (1 Cor 7:4) The Law of HIATUS. (1 Cor 7:5) Single? Enjoy God's Gift of SINGLENESS. (1 Cor 7:6-7) Matthew 19:10-12 – The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.” Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! AUDIO TRANSCRIPT 00:36-00:41 Open up those Bibles to 1 Corinthians 7. 00:43-00:51 And as we said last week, it's going to continue for the next few weeks because we go where the text goes. 00:54-01:00 And today we're going to be talking about the relationship between a man and his wife. 01:03-01:44 discretion advised. We are going to be direct, but you know some pastors want to be like edgy by kind of pushing the envelope there and that's I don't think that's cool, but I do think we need to teach the Bible straightforwardly. So we are going to be direct but not explicit, okay? So whether you're sitting here or streaming this from home, parents you decide. If you saw last week's message that would be a good gauge as to whether or not your kids should hear this one. 01:44-02:01 But again I'll remind you that somebody's talking to your kids about this. I think you should really consider you know whether it's time for them to hear this from God, what He says about these matters. 02:02-02:17 Alright, so with that said, let's just bow our heads. I'm going to ask that you would please take a moment and pray for me to be faithful to clearly communicate what God said and I will pray for you to receive what it is that this passage teaches today. Let's pray. 02:23-02:28 Father in heaven, we are once again turning to Your Word for wisdom. 02:33-02:38 And we're dealing with what is going to be for many here a sensitive subject. 02:38-03:05 And I pray, Father, against distractions, and I also pray that our hearts and minds are open to what You actually say in Your Word. Not our opinion or not what we think your word might say about these matters, but to examine what it is that you have said, and that we would be faithful to apply. 03:08-03:53 Come meet us now, Lord, through the proclamation of your word, we pray in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, "Amen." Amen. Many years ago, I was leading Bible study the prison, and one man raised his hand. He said, "I have a question. I have a question about what happens when we die." Well, I was ready for this. You should have heard. You should have heard the sermon. It's probably the best sermon I ever gave. It was just both barrels, and I explained to him, "Okay, first of all, let me explain how death came into the world. We went through Genesis chapter 3. Death We need Jesus Christ. 03:54-03:56 Jesus died on the cross to take our sin away. 03:56-03:59 He rose from the dead to give us eternal life. 03:59-04:00 We all need the gospel. 04:00-04:05 And if you've received Christ, when you die, the Bible says you are in the presence of the Lord. 04:05-04:10 Okay, and someday he is going to come and he's going to take his people to be with him. 04:10-04:12 John chapter 14, we talked about the rapture. 04:13-04:17 But if you have not received Christ, I talked about the tribulation that's coming after the rapture. 04:18-04:21 There's seven years of just hell on earth. 04:21-04:26 and then Christ returns, and I talked about all the millennial kingdom, right? 04:26-04:41 And then after the kingdom, there's the great white throne judgment, and at that point, you know, if you die and you're not in Christ, you do go to a place of suffering, Luke 16, but then you're thrown into the lake of fire at the great white throne judgment, and you should have heard it. 04:41-04:44 It was comprehensive. 04:47-04:49 So I got done, it was about 20 minutes. 04:50-04:57 I got done and I said, "So, does that answer your question?" He stared at me blankly. 04:59-05:01 And he goes, "No." 05:02-05:03 (congregation laughing) 05:04-05:25 I said, "Why not?" He goes, "I just wanted to know "if we become angels when we die." And I said, "No." He goes, "Okay, thanks." And I learned that day to answer the question that's being asked. 05:27-05:30 Well, the Corinthians, they had a lot of questions. 05:31-05:35 They had a lot of questions about marriage, about idols, about women in church, about the Lord's Supper. 05:36-05:38 Look at chapter 7 verse 1. 05:39-05:45 Paul says, "Now concerning the matters about which you wrote," stop there, we're entering a new section, okay? 05:45-05:49 He talked about the church unified, chapters 1-4. 05:50-05:55 He talked about the church purified, chapters 5-6. 05:56-05:58 And now you can see there's a shift. 05:59-06:06 He says, "You sent me questions and I'm going to give you answers now to the questions that you sent me." Do you see that? 06:07-06:09 And first up, marriage. 06:12-06:13 You're going to be shocked. 06:13-06:14 I'm glad you're sitting down. 06:15-06:17 But the Corinthians had a lot of problems when it came to marriage. 06:20-06:28 But you know, the problems that we bring into marriage are our own doing, because the Bible was clear on marriage. 06:30-06:34 Genesis 2.24, this is the most important verse in the Bible about marriage. 06:34-06:38 I know this because when asked, this is the verse that Jesus quoted. 06:39-06:42 When writing about marriage, this was the verse that Paul kept quoting. 06:42-06:55 The most important verse in the Bible about marriage says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." It's clear. 06:55-07:00 You leave, you join to your wife, and then the two become one. 07:02-07:10 Jesus was asked about marriage, divorce, all these matters, Matthew 19, we're going to talk about this later, but Jesus made, it was very clear. 07:11-07:15 Jesus said marriage is between a man and a woman. 07:15-07:19 Jesus said in a marriage, it's two people that are brought together by God. 07:19-07:24 Jesus said it's two becoming one, and He said it's meant to be unbroken. 07:24-07:25 That's God's design. 07:28-07:32 Bible's clear about marriage. 07:32-07:38 But in Paul's day, the Corinthian culture, there were basically four different ways to get married. 07:38-07:51 I'm just gonna, I don't usually like to preach my homework, But this might be helpful to give us some context as we go through this section, because there are a lot of ways that people got married in that day, all right? 07:52-07:54 So one way was for slaves. 07:54-07:56 Slaves weren't considered people, they were considered property. 07:57-08:02 So for slaves, the owner had the right to just pronounce them married. 08:02-08:08 If there were two slaves that wanted to get married, it's like, okay, you two are married, so you go stay over there or whatever. 08:09-08:09 And that was it. 08:11-08:14 There was also, in that day, common law marriage. 08:14-08:20 People that were living together unmarried for a year were considered married at that point. 08:21-08:23 A third way is a father selling his daughter. 08:26-08:30 And then the fourth way was the sort of the official Roman way. 08:32-08:37 Interestingly, it's through the Roman customs where we get our customs for marriage. 08:37-08:38 Did you know that? 08:39-08:44 from veil to flowers to vows to ring to cake, all came from the Roman culture. 08:47-08:49 So here's the point of all that. 08:50-08:57 In this section, Paul is teaching the sacredness of marriage no matter how you got there. 08:57-09:07 Okay, because there's going to be a lot of people that could raise objections, "But I was married this way, but I..." Paul's like, "However you got there, we're dealing with from here forward. 09:08-09:10 Let's talk about the sacredness of marriage. 09:12-09:14 They were a culture that had a high divorce rate. 09:16-09:28 They were a culture that had homosexuality, a culture of affairs, a culture of, believe it or not, feminists, and a culture of - we talked about this recently - prostitution. 09:30-09:32 So it's a culture a lot like ours. 09:32-10:03 There's nothing really new here as far as the kind of sin that they had to deal with with the same stuff. So the question is, "Well, what about sex and marriage?" Well, again, you're going to be shocked, and I'm glad you're sitting down, but the Corinthians had something else that they were divisive over, and that is this. Should you get married, or should you be sing

  4. FEB 1

    Don't Excuse Sin

    Introduction: 4 Things to Say To Yourself When You're Tempted: (1 Corinthians 6:12-20) I can't EXCUSE sin. (1 Cor 6:12-14) I am ONE with Christ. (1 Cor 6:15-17) God says to RUN from sexual sin. (1 Cor 6:18) My body BELONGS to God. (1 Cor 6:19-20) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! AUDIO TRANSCRIPT 00:43-00:45 What kind of a church is this? 00:46-00:48 We are a church that sits on four pillars. 00:50-00:53 We proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology. 00:55-00:58 We lift high the name of Jesus in worship. 00:59-01:01 We believe firmly in the power of prayer. 01:02-01:05 And we share the good news of Jesus with boldness. 01:09-01:19 Speaking of that first pillar, we're going through a series here Corinthians, and we go where the text takes us. 01:21-01:23 And today we're going to talk about sexual immorality. 01:26-01:28 I'm going to be direct but not explicit. 01:28-01:33 The question comes up, "Should my child listen to this?" But parental discretion advised. 01:33-01:36 Again, direct but not explicit. 01:37-01:44 I would encourage you parents, whether you're sitting here or whether you're streaming somebody's going to be talking to your kids about this. 01:44-01:54 You should be, but they're going to be hearing a lot of different opinions regarding matters of marriage and sexuality. 01:54-01:56 I think it might do them good to hear God's opinion of it. 01:58-02:10 So I'm just going to ask you would please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word clearly, and I will pray for you to have your heart open to receive what He wants to tell us today. 02:17-02:30 Father in heaven, let this not just be another sermon sat through, but let Your Word transform our hearts and minds. 02:30-02:36 Father, give us the faith to believe and act upon what You have already pronounced to be true. 02:39-02:41 Let this be the day of repentance. 02:42-02:52 Let this be a day of joy and celebration and truly embracing Your gifts. 02:53-02:55 Your Word says every good and perfect gift comes from above. 02:56-02:57 Father, we believe that. 03:01-03:04 And I thank You, Father, ahead of time for the work that You're going to do. 03:05-03:12 We pray in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, "Amen." Amen. 03:12-03:33 1 Corinthians chapter 6, we're in a series through 1 Corinthians called "Unified and Purified." Unified, that's the first four chapters, unified, where Paul says, "Church, collectively, get it together." Right? 03:34-03:53 In this next section that we're in, the church purified, Paul says, "Each of you, be who Jesus saved you to be." And today we are going to be talking about sexual immorality. 03:54-04:14 And those of you who have been going through this series with us might be saying at this point, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, maybe the cold is affecting your brain, but didn't we talk about that guy two weeks ago?" Oh, you think there was just one person in that church struggling with it. 04:16-04:18 Did you hurt your head when you fell off the turnip truck? 04:19-04:19 No. 04:20-04:32 There wasn't just one person at that church dealing with it, and I guarantee you there's There's not just one person in this church dealing with it. 04:32-04:34 Look down to verse 18. 04:34-04:36 This is the sermon. 04:38-05:10 Verse 18, Paul says, "Flee from sexual immorality." "Flee from sexual immorality." See, in Corinth, they were famous for their temple to Aphrodite, And their priestesses were actually prostitutes, and they would by those means help men worship according to their religion. 05:12-05:14 That was their context. 05:16-05:20 But the principles in this passage aren't limited to that. 05:20-05:22 And you have to get that. 05:23-05:37 You know, we don't want guys sitting here going, "Well, I'm doing pretty good because I've never been with a prostitute." Flea, sexual immorality, that word sexual immorality covers it all. 05:38-05:54 Whether it's an affair, or pornography, or one of these apps that allow you to meet up with people, it's anything outside of God's design for marriage and sexuality. 05:55-05:59 And look, there is nothing new under the sun. 06:00-06:06 The problem that this church had is the same problem that the church has today. 06:06-06:07 We touched on this a couple of weeks ago. 06:08-06:08 Here's the problem. 06:09-06:13 It's not viewing sex as sacred. 06:14-06:14 That's the problem. 06:17-06:24 We've turned this gift from God into some gross form of self-gratification. 06:27-06:30 So what is the purpose of sex? 06:31-06:32 What is it? 06:33-06:38 Well, what is the purpose of everything that God created? 06:41-06:44 The purpose of everything that God created is to glorify Him. 06:46-06:48 So what is the purpose of marital intimacy? 06:50-06:51 You're like, "Really? 06:51-06:53 To glorify God?" Yeah. 06:54-06:54 Yeah. 06:55-07:01 Need I remind you that the whole idea of marital intimacy was God's idea. 07:01-07:08 The whole idea that this was to be a pleasure shared between a married couple, that was God's plan. 07:10-07:12 He designed that, right? 07:12-07:15 Genesis tells us male and female, He created them. 07:16-07:19 The two shall become one flesh, Genesis 2.24. 07:20-07:30 That's the purpose of intimacy, but what's the objective of sex? 07:30-07:33 What's the objective of sexual relations? 07:34-07:45 Well, some would say, "Well, the objective is procreation, that's it." That's not the primary objective. 07:47-07:55 And for some, they would say, "It's pleasure." There's that, but that's not the primary objective of sex. 07:56-07:59 The primary objective is intimacy. 08:03-08:05 And you need to learn this statement from God's Word. 08:08-08:10 Intimacy is for those in the covenant. 08:13-08:15 Intimacy is for those in the covenant. 08:18-08:26 See under the new covenant, God desires the closest relationship possible that He can have with His people. 08:26-08:27 So what does He do? 08:28-08:31 He lives inside the heart of a believer. 08:34-08:40 And the Bible tells us that marriage and sex is a picture of the gospel. 08:41-08:45 The man representing Jesus, the woman representing the church. 08:45-08:47 Ephesians 5, you can read that later. 08:48-08:49 Same point though. 08:51-08:54 God's relationship with man, man's relationship with his wife. 08:55-08:58 Intimacy is for the covenant. 09:01-09:05 And sex is the physical manifestation. 09:05-09:08 It's the illustration of such intimacy. 09:13-09:19 Because in the covenant of marriage, the man representing Jesus is initiating a love relationship. 09:20-09:28 And the woman representing the church is receiving an intimacy that the two exclusively enjoy. 09:29-09:39 And the fact right now that people would hear something like that and start to snicker and start to giggle shows you the problem. 09:41-09:43 That the whole idea of sex has been perverted. 09:45-09:47 Like obviously, right? 09:48-09:49 Like how did that happen? 09:52-09:56 Well the Bible tells us when Adam and Eve sinned, they immediately noticed what? 09:58-09:59 They noticed that they were naked. 10:00-10:01 Isn't that strange? 10:02-10:06 Because up until that point, they only ever saw each other naked. 10:07-10:15 Now all of a sudden that sin is in the world, now they cast a whole new light on this. 10:18-10:22 But all of the sudden they had to cover themselves up. 10:28-10:33 There is a shame associated with sexuality because of sin. 10:37-10:46 God's wedding gift to men and women has been misused and abused and perverted. 10:48-10:58 And like the Corinthians, the world's profane, disgusting view of sex has been brought into the church. 11:02-11:10 And like them, there are many people here that are indulging in some form of sexual sin. 11:15-11:18 So what's it going to take to get you to break free? 11:18-11:18 What is it? 11:21-11:23 I've been doing this a long time. 11:23-11:24 I know how sermons work. 11:24-11:27 This is the part of the sermon where you get the stats, right? 11:28-11:36 You get the statistics on pornography and usage in the church and out the church. 11:37-11:39 That doesn't make a difference to people. 11:41-11:49 Or this is the part of the sermon where I can tell you the effect that pornography will have on your marriage and your relationships. 11:49-12:05 And I can get, you know, line graphs up there or quotes from brilliant scientists talking about the effect that it has on your marriage and the effect that it has on your brain, and that's not going to move anybody. 12:07-12:11 We could talk about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. 12:15-12:24 I don't really think any of those things are very effective to get people on track with God's design for marital intimacy. 12:25-12:27 What we need is the power of the Holy Spirit. 12:28-12:31 What we need is the wisdom that comes from the Word of God. 12:33-12:37 So on your outline, that's what we're going after today. 12:38-12:50 That when you find yourself in a place of temptation, through this passage you're going to see, there's four things that you need to say to yourself when temptation shows up. 12:52-12:52 Alright? 12:52-12:55 Number one, break this down, I

  5. JAN 25

    Deal with Disputes

    Introduction: In a church dispute? Remember your Relationship… (1 Corinthians 6:1-11) To OTHER BELIEVERS: we RECONCILE. (1 Cor 6:1-5) 1 Corinthians 5:12 – For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? To THE WORLD: we REPRESENT. (1 Cor 6:6-8) To SIN: we RENOUNCE. (1 Cor 6:9-10) Genesis 2:16–17 – And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Titus 2:11–12 – For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, To JESUS CHRIST: we are RENEWED. (1 Cor 6:11) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! AUDIO TRANSCRIPT 00:43-00:47 Well, good morning, wherever you are today. 00:47-00:47 Welcome. 00:48-00:49 My name is Justin. 00:49-00:51 I'm one of the elders here at Harvest. 00:52-01:03 And as we get started, I would just like to ask that you would pray for me to faithfully and clearly communicate God's word, and I will pray for you to have hearts to receive it. 01:05-01:05 Amen. 01:06-01:14 Well, today we're going to be talking about dealing with disputes, disagreements, beef, as the kids say. 01:15-01:17 Do the kids still say beef, Pastor Jeff? 01:17-01:19 Okay, confirmed. 01:20-01:28 I too was young once, but as a college student, one thing my roommates and I never had beef over was where to order pizza. 01:29-01:32 Listen, four guys in an apartment, that's a big decision. 01:33-01:34 But we found our place. 01:35-01:42 Piazza's Pizza, home to the largest pizza that I've ever seen, the Big Piazza. 01:43-01:46 It was the best price-to-food ratio in the city. 01:48-01:51 The box was so big, it didn't even fit through the door. 01:51-01:54 You had to tilt it just to get it inside. 01:56-01:58 It would feed all of us for a whole weekend. 01:59-02:05 And actually, one of those weekends, a few of my friends from home came up to visit. 02:05-02:10 And so, of course, we wanted to treat them to a big piazza. 02:11-02:12 But there was a dispute. 02:14-02:33 My roommates and I tried to explain to them how enormous this pizza was, but my friends kept insisting, "Look, we need to order two." And we're like, "Guys, you haven't seen this pizza." And they're like, "Guys, you don't know how hungry we are. 02:33-02:35 We need at least two. 02:36-02:37 Okay? 02:38-02:42 So eventually, we gave up, and we ordered two big piazzas. 02:44-02:50 And, you know, after dinner, I couldn't believe it, but we actually finished half of one. 02:52-03:06 And that's when the real dispute started, because we tried to tell them we just needed one, but the problem is, according to them, we didn't eat our share, because they insisted we needed to. 03:07-03:14 So then wild claims started flying around both sides about how many slices each side ate. 03:15-03:21 And this morning, I'd actually like to present you with some evidence so you can draw your own conclusions. 03:22-03:26 Exhibit A, this is the big piazza. 03:27-03:30 And even that, I tell you, the photo doesn't do it justice. 03:31-03:43 But I added some analysis to this photo because one member of the opposition has repeatedly stated that he alone consumed 25 slices. 03:45-03:47 Exhibit B, this is his claim. 03:49-03:51 And I'm telling you, I was there that night. 03:51-03:57 If he ate that much pizza in one sitting, we were going to spend the night in Rochester General Hospital. 03:58-03:58 Okay? 03:59-03:59 Church. 04:00-04:00 It was crazy. 04:01-04:09 Now, we are close to the 20th anniversary of that meal, and the battle is still raging on. 04:10-04:22 As far as I'm aware, this is the longest-running dispute I've ever been a part of, debating it, step-by-step, recounting what happened, and of course, laughter. 04:24-04:29 Because this dispute, though still being disputed, It didn't threaten our friendships. 04:30-04:42 It's a silly dispute, but I share it with you because the way that we handle disputes, that often depends on our relationship to the other side, true or false. 04:44-04:53 When we are in a dispute, our relationship to the person or our relationship to the situation, that determines our response. 04:54-05:00 Best friends can accuse each other of pizza malpractice for decades and be totally fine. 05:02-05:05 But for real disputes, think about it. 05:06-05:08 Which ones are the hardest to resolve? 05:09-05:15 The ones within a family, or with a close friend, or someone you looked up to. 05:17-05:23 It's far more difficult to deal with offense from someone that you know deeply than from someone that you don't know at all. 05:24-05:30 An argument that escalates, a disagreement grows into something much more. 05:31-05:32 Most of us have been there. 05:33-05:37 And that can even happen here, within the church family. 05:38-05:41 How do we deal with those disputes? 05:43-05:48 Well, if you have your Bibles, you can open them to 1 Corinthians 6, where we're going to dig into that. 05:50-05:54 We deal with disputes because we're going after a church unified and purified. 05:55-05:55 Amen? 05:56-06:02 And last week, Pastor Jeff taught how to get purified when there's sin in the church. 06:02-06:10 When someone claims Christ, yet is living in unrepentant sin, and they refuse help, they want their sin to be accepted. 06:11-06:13 What do you do with that person? 06:15-06:25 The Bible says, "Let him who has done this be removed from among you." And you might think, harsh, that doesn't sound like a thing a church should do. 06:26-06:31 Well, if you missed it, read 1 Corinthians 5 and listen to the sermon online. 06:32-06:35 You'll find out that's what the church must do. 06:36-06:50 Now this week, we read Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, discussing disputes within the church and just like arguments about pizza, we have to remember the relationships involved. 06:51-06:58 So on your outline today, in a church dispute, remember your relationship. 06:59-07:03 Number one, to other believers, we reconcile. 07:05-07:07 So 1 Corinthians 6, are you there? 07:09-07:10 Let's read the first verse. 07:12-07:28 It says, "When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?" So Paul is calling out the Corinthians for dragging their disputes out into the court system. 07:29-07:43 He says, "Church, why are you going before unrighteous, corrupt courts for this?" But please understand in this passage, Paul is talking about civil cases, not criminal cases. 07:44-07:49 This is not about someone breaking the law and being charged with a crime, OK? 07:50-07:57 This is about a private dispute between two parties, and they just can't figure it out. 07:58-08:01 So they end up taking each other to court over something trivial. 08:03-08:06 Now, we see trivial lawsuits today, don't we? 08:08-08:13 Have you ever seen those courtroom shows where they give you the rundown up front? 08:14-08:18 He's here suing for a $67 cell phone bill. 08:20-08:25 You hired a lawyer and got on a plane to Los Angeles over $67. 08:27-08:29 You're going to take someone to court over that. 08:30-08:31 Same idea. 08:32-08:35 You'll see the trivial part as we pick up in verse two. 08:37-08:40 It says, "Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? 08:41-08:47 And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 08:48-08:50 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? 08:51-08:54 How much more then matters pertaining to this life? 08:54-09:00 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 09:01-09:02 I say this to your shame. 09:03-09:09 Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers? 09:10-09:11 We'll pause there for a moment. 09:13-09:17 Paul is saying we should be able to resolve these disputes internally. 09:19-09:21 He's saying we are called to judge. 09:22-09:32 If that sounds familiar, we saw it in 1 Corinthians 5, where verse 12 says, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? 09

  6. JAN 18

    Deal with Sinners

    Introduction: Get Purified: When There's Sin in the Church... (1 Corinthians 5:1-13) RECOGNIZE sin. (1 Cor 5:1-2) Ephesians 5:3 - But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. REMOVE the sinner. (1 Cor 5:3-5) Proverbs 22:10 - Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease. Titus 3:10 - As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him... What do we hope to accomplish by throwing him out? In His heart: We hope He's ASHAMED. 2 Thessalonians 3:14 - If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. In His head: We hope He LEARNS. 1 Timothy 1:20 - Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. In His body: We hope He SUFFERS. In His Spirit: We hope He REPENTS. REMEMBER the purpose. (1 Cor 5:6-8) RESTRICT discipline to believers. (1 Cor 5:9-13) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! AUDIO TRANSCRIPT 00:45-00:46 Open up those Bibles. 00:47-00:49 The book of 1 Corinthians 5. 00:51-00:54 1 Corinthians 5. 00:59-00:59 Imagine a scenario with me. 01:00-01:10 You go to the doctor because you have a suspicious looking spot on your skin, and the doctor gives you the news you don't want to hear. 01:11-02:00 have skin cancer. So for the good of the body, for the health of the body, what needs to happen with that spot? You have to remove it, right? Right? You have to remove it. Or if you go to a doctor and they find out that you have cancer in your kidney, for the health of the body, what do you have to do? You have to remove it, right? If it's on your skin, for the health of the body you remove it. If it's on your kidney, for the health of the body you remove it. And what if there's cancer in the church? All of a sudden the Brakes got pumped a little bit, didn't they? 02:03-02:04 Same principle. 02:06-02:13 For the health of the body, it has to be removed. 02:16-02:18 We're getting back into 1 Corinthians. 02:18-02:23 Remember the first four chapters, one message really. 02:23-02:24 It was get unified. 02:27-02:32 Paul pointed out the Corinthians had a lot of problems with pride and boasting and factions. 02:33-02:34 Get unified. 02:34-02:35 Knock it off. 02:36-02:37 Alright, next subject. 02:38-02:40 Takes us to our next section here. 02:41-02:42 Get purified. 02:44-02:48 There was another problem in the church. 02:49-02:56 There was someone who claimed to be a Christian but was living in flagrant, unrepentant sin. 03:00-03:01 What do you do with that guy? 03:03-03:04 Let's just pause for a moment. 03:04-03:06 I'm going to ask you to please pray for me. 03:08-03:14 To be faithful to communicate what God's Word says, I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive it. 03:15-03:16 Let's pray. 03:19-03:20 Father, be glorified. 03:23-03:25 Be glorified as we spend this time in Your Word. 03:25-03:38 glorified in the hearts of every one of us, that we would be very quick to disregard our opinions and have a heart to embrace Your truth. 03:43-03:45 We thank You ahead of time, Father, for what You're going to do. 03:46-03:50 Whatever that looks like to us, I guess doesn't really matter. 03:53-04:21 what you do, Father. We pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, "Amen." So what do you do? What do you do when there's someone in the church who claims to be a believer, but they're living in obvious, flagrant, unrepentant sin? What do you do with that person? We're going to get right into it on your outline. Get purified. When there's sin in the church, What do you do? 04:23-04:27 First of all, number one, write this down, recognize sin. 04:28-04:29 How about we start there? 04:31-04:32 Look at verse 1 in chapter 5. 04:35-04:46 Paul says, "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you." Stop right there for a second. 04:49-04:50 What is sexual immorality? 04:52-04:53 What is that? 04:57-04:58 I know what the words mean. 05:00-05:07 I don't need a definition, but in our day, can somebody give me an example of what is sexual immorality? 05:10-05:13 Because it seems like we live in a day that anything goes. 05:15-05:19 So how can we say anything is immoral if everything is okay? 05:23-05:24 What even is that? 05:28-05:29 Well, he goes on. 05:30-05:31 Look at the rest of verse 1. 05:34-05:42 He says, "It's reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is is not tolerated even among pagans. 05:45-05:58 For a man has his father's wife." Okay, now, I'm not going to bore you with the homework, but according to the Greek text, here's what's going on. 05:59-06:05 There was a man who married, had a kid, and his wife dies. 06:06-06:16 and he remarries, probably a much younger woman, and his son has the hots for his stepmother. 06:18-06:20 And they start a relationship. 06:21-06:31 And the man ends up divorcing the wife, the stepmom, because the Bible doesn't say they committed adultery, it says they committed fornication. 06:31-06:42 So the man divorced his second wife, but his son continued an ongoing sexual relationship with his stepmother. 06:47-06:49 Pretty shocking sin, isn't it? 06:51-06:54 But not as shocking as the church's reaction. 06:57-07:07 Paul's like, "What are you doing? What are you doing?" Even pagans would look at this and be like, "You're sick, bro! What are you doing? 07:07-07:17 You're sleeping with your stepmother?" Paul's like, "Pagans are gagging at this thought. 07:18-07:21 Church, what are you doing? 07:21-07:29 You're just allowing this to happen?" You know, the church today is just like Corinth. 07:31-07:34 We church, we live right in the middle of Sodom. 07:36-07:53 And sin in general, and sexual sin specifically, we have - I don't need to sell anybody on this - we have very quickly moved from tolerating it, which is bad enough to applauding sexual sin. 07:57-07:58 What do you think about that, Paul? 07:59-08:00 Look at verse 2. 08:01-08:03 He says, "And you are arrogant. 08:03-08:06 Ought you not rather to mourn? 08:07-08:15 Let him who has done this be removed from among you." Paul's like, "What are you doing? 08:15-08:17 This should grieve you as a church. 08:17-08:21 Having one of your members be in sexual sin. 08:21-08:24 You should be sad about this. 08:25-08:27 He goes, "You're so arrogant. 08:27-08:31 You're so full of yourselves." That's what he was talking about in chapters 1-4. 08:35-08:38 Constantly spraining their arms, patting themselves on the back. 08:43-08:46 See, so sick. 08:46-09:05 In Corinth, we saw this in the first four chapters, they made a big deal out of who the best preacher was, and then they make a very little deal out of flagrant, unrepentant sexual sin. 09:09-09:10 Not much has changed there. 09:10-09:12 The church is great at that, aren't we? 09:12-09:13 We're great at that. 09:14-09:16 We will make a big deal out of nonsense. 09:16-09:21 Oh no, we'll fight about little points of doctrine that will never get figured out. 09:21-09:22 We'll fight about that. 09:22-09:30 But one of our members can be living a destructive, sinful lifestyle and we're like, "Oh, what can you do?" And we'll ignore that. 09:34-09:44 Just like Corinth, Paul tells them and us how to deal with the sinner. 09:44-09:58 But I think first we've got to make sure that we recognize what sin is, because I think in the landscape of the church today we've forgotten that such a thing even exists. 10:02-10:03 Do we recognize sin? 10:06-10:19 See, in Corinth, we're going to talk more about this here in a couple weeks, but the Greeks saw sex as a merely biological function. 10:20-10:21 That's all it was. 10:22-10:23 Sex was just a biological function. 10:24-10:25 It's like this. 10:26-10:28 You're hungry, you eat, right? 10:28-10:29 That's just natural. 10:30-10:32 and you're thirsty, you drink. 10:33-10:34 That's just natural. 10:34-10:44 And you have those urges, you just do it because it's just natural to do that. 10:47-10:51 You know what the problem was in Corinth and in our church today? 10:51-10:52 Same problem. 10:53-11:01 We have lost the idea that marriage and sexuality are sacred things. 11:02-11:03 We've lost that. 11:03-11:05 We have completely lost that concept. 11:08-11:17 There is no idea around this is a holy and sacred and precious thing that needs to be protected. 11:18-11:20 We become a bunch of dogs. 11:24-11:26 You study God's Word. 11:26-11:30 Do you know how sacred marriage and sexuality is? 11:30-11:31 I mean, this is God's picture. 11:32-11:35 God says, "I have this." And this is all the way from creation. 11:35-11:36 God says, "I have this design. 11:37-11:47 I'm gonna take a man and a woman, and these two are going to enter a lifelong covenant with each other." They're gonna make this lifelong commitment, this covenant. 11:48-11:54 They're gonna have a relationship wit

  7. JAN 11

    We Worship in Song

    Introduction: John 4:23–24 - But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Why Should I Sing on Sundays? (Colossians 3:16) Because singing works the WORD INTO MY HEART. (Col 3:16a) Because singing encourages the HEARTS OF EVERYONE WHO HEARS ME. (Col 3:16b) Ephesians 5:19 - ...addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart... Psalm 34:3 - Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! Psalm 107:32 - Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Psalm 100:1 - Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Because singing voices my HEARTFELT THANKFULNESS TO GOD. (Col 3:16c) Ephesians 5:19 - ...addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart... Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! AUDIO TRANSCRIPT 00:41-00:44 Return your Bibles to Colossians chapter 3 verse 16. 00:45-00:48 Colossians chapter 3 verse 16. 00:49-00:56 Have you ever gone to someone else's house and witnessed family traditions that didn't make sense to you? 00:58-01:05 You had a friend in college, I went to visit his family once, and he's a part of a family that kisses each other on the lips whenever they say hello or goodbye. 01:08-01:10 And that's not my experience at all in my family. 01:11-01:14 And to be clear, I'm not judging you, that's how your family does greeting time. 01:15-01:17 You are loved and we're moving on from that, okay? 01:18-01:20 I also had another friend I grew up with. 01:21-01:25 His family drank milk with every single meal they ate. 01:25-01:29 Three meals a day, three glasses of milk a day. 01:30-01:34 And they thought it was really weird that I didn't want to drink milk with my pizza. 01:35-01:39 And I thought it was really weird but they wanted me to drink milk with my pizza. 01:40-01:46 Have you ever visited a different country and been surprised and thrown off by the customs they have? 01:46-01:56 In Netherlands, the person who's throwing a birthday party congratulates every single person in the room, not just the person having the birthday. 01:57-01:59 In Japan, it is not customary to tip. 01:59-02:04 If you try to leave a tip, the server will probably be very offended by that. 02:05-02:15 I've talked to a lot of people who've visited or immigrated to America who are really thrown off that we use how are you not as a genuine question, but as a throwaway hello. 02:17-02:26 I've been to Kenya twice, and the first time I was there I was surprised that as I walked from village to village talking to a certain man, he would hold my hand as we walked. 02:27-02:28 Now guys, will we do that in America? 02:29-02:31 That's never happened to me stateside. 02:31-02:33 But in Kenya, it's a sign of friendship. 02:34-02:38 It's a sign that person is really listening to what you have to say. 02:39-02:44 Many traditions and customs seem to be a bit random and mysterious. 02:45-02:49 When you press people on why they carry out these traditions, they usually don't know why. 02:50-02:51 They don't know the origin or rationale. 02:52-02:53 I don't know, this is what we've always done. 02:53-02:55 We've always had milk with our pizza. 02:55-02:58 We've always eaten Funyuns at Thanksgiving. 03:02-03:05 One tradition that doesn't really make that much sense, but I'm glad you enjoy it, Pastor Jeff. 03:07-03:15 Traditions and customs can become mechanical, can become rote, if you don't know why you're doing them. 03:16-03:20 It can become a mechanical process of going through the motions. 03:21-03:24 And the same can be said for Christians in the church. 03:24-03:36 If you pull many professing believers as they exit a Sunday morning service and ask them to provide the biblical rationale for why they did what they just did, I think you'd receive a lot of blank stares. 03:37-03:39 You would hear a lot of uhs and ums. 03:39-03:41 You'd hear a lot of hemming and hawing. 03:42-03:42 Why is that? 03:44-03:48 Because they are engaging in worship without thought or intention. 03:49-03:52 They are going through the motions. 03:53-04:00 The traditions and customs that God has laid down in his word for the family gatherings of his people may seem strange. 04:01-04:04 Hard to explain and a bit random. 04:05-04:06 I mean, think about it. 04:06-04:12 Why do we gather once a week to listen to a guy like me talk about the Bible for 30 to 45 minutes? 04:13-04:16 Every few months, why do we watch people get dunked in water? 04:18-04:22 At the end of this service, why will we eat a cup of bread and a thimble full of juice? 04:23-04:24 Why do we do that? 04:24-04:28 Why do we spend almost half of the service singing together? 04:29-04:41 And that final question is particularly hard for some Christians to answer because they don't like to sing on Sundays, they don't want to sing on Sundays, and they don't even know why we sing on Sundays. 04:42-04:43 They don't really see the point. 04:44-04:49 And maybe you are a part of the demographic that isn't really down with singing. 04:49-04:51 Maybe this biblical tradition seems odd to you. 04:52-04:53 It seems mysterious. 04:53-04:56 You don't know why you have to do it. 04:57-04:58 So what do you do? 04:59-05:04 As Pastor Jeff and Pastor Rich have said in previous sermons, you barely sing above a whisper. 05:05-05:06 You tune out. 05:08-05:11 You mouth the words until you're told to sit down. 05:12-05:20 Or maybe you arrive intentionally late to skip the singing portions of the service, or you slip out early to skip the final song. 05:21-05:24 You just don't get singing, so you just don't sing. 05:25-05:30 This is the final sermon in a series called God is seeking worshipers. 05:31-05:37 In John chapter four, verses 23 through 24, Jesus makes it clear what kind of worshipers God's on the lookout for. 05:38-05:40 Let's listen to what Jesus has to say. 05:40-05:58 He says, "But the hour is coming, is now here, "when the true worshipers will worship the Father "in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking "such people to worship Him." God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. 05:59-06:04 God is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. 06:05-06:15 Two weeks ago, Pastor Rich dug into what it looks like to worship God according to the truth of his word, and last week, Pastor Jeff focused on worshiping God in spirit. 06:15-06:18 You're to have passion and not cold detachment. 06:19-06:24 And this morning, we're gonna focus in particular on the importance of congregational singing. 06:26-06:33 Whether you can't wait to sing, or you can't stand to sing, I wanna help you answer one question this morning. 06:33-06:34 Just one question. 06:35-06:37 Why should I sing on Sundays? 06:38-06:41 Why should I sing on Sundays? 06:42-06:49 There are a lot of places to turn to answer this question, but there is no place that is clearer and more concise than Colossians 3:16. 06:49-06:50 Just one verse. 06:51-06:54 Before we continue any further, let's go to the Lord and ask for His help. 06:55-07:00 Please pray for me, that I'll faithfully proclaim God's Word, and I will pray for you, that you will faithfully receive it. 07:03-07:07 Father, we come to you and we thank you for this most important appointment of the week. 07:09-07:16 This isn't a throwaway time that we can take or leave, for it is the time we come together to worship your holy name. 07:17-07:26 to come around your word, to be challenged, to be convicted, to be encouraged, to be lifted up, to be pointed to your son, Jesus Christ. 07:27-07:29 We thank you in advance for what you will do. 07:29-07:38 And we pray more than anything that you would be pleased with what we do today, that you would be worshiped in spirit and in truth. 07:38-07:41 We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. 07:42-07:50 So Colossians is a New Testament letter written by the apostle Paul, and it is focused on the supremacy of Christ in all things. 07:51-07:54 Christ is better than anything or anyone. 07:54-07:58 Life is from him, life is through him, and life is for him. 07:59-08:06 In chapter three of Colossians, Paul calls the Colossians to live in light of who Christ is and where he is seated. 08:06-08:13 Christ is Lord and he is seated in heaven, so we are called to submit to his heavenly standards. 08:14-08:18 To be able to put on new clothes, you have to take off your old clothes. 08:19-08:23 Well, to put on the new self, you are to put off the old self. 08:24-08:32 You are to put off old, ungodly attitudes and behaviors so you can put on new and godly behaviors. 08:32-08:37 In verse 12, Paul says the Colossians are to put on compassionate hearts. 08:38-08:49 And in verse 15, he says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." And th

  8. JAN 5

    All In On Spirit

    Introduction: John 4:23 Psalm 138:1 - I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart... Psalm 45:1 - My heart overflows with a pleasing theme… Deuteronomy 6:5 - You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 3 Reasons I'm “All In on Spirit” in Worship (2 Samuel 6:12-23) My worship is FOR THE LORD. (2 Sam 6:21a) My worship is PERSONAL. (2 Sam 6:21b) 2 Samuel 12:20 – Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Job 1:20 – Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. My worship is a CHOICE. (2 Sam 6:22–23) Psalm 146:2 – I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Audio Transcript 00:42-00:48 Open up your Bibles to the book of 2 Samuel 6. 00:50-00:52 While you're turning, let's just pause. 00:52-01:00 I'm going to ask if you would please pray for me to clearly and faithfully communicate God's Word. 01:00-01:09 At the same time, I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us from His Word today. 01:10-01:12 Just take a moment, please, we'll pray. 01:16-01:23 Father, I believe this is a message that the church needs to hear. 01:24-01:30 God, I believe this is a message this church, this is a message Harvest Bible Chapel needs to hear. 01:30-01:39 So I just ask God that You would please let Your Spirit move in the hearts of Your people. 01:39-01:43 This would be a time of self-examination. 01:46-01:54 And that You would continue Your work in us to make us the people that You've already pronounced us to be. 01:55-01:59 Thank You, Father, ahead of time for everything that You're going to do. 02:01-02:08 Because Your Word tells us that You always accomplish the purposes for which You send Your Word out. 02:09-02:10 We believe that. 02:14-02:16 In Jesus' name, Amen. 02:18-02:20 2 Samuel chapter 6. 02:20-02:20 Are you there? 02:22-02:27 I grew up attending a little Methodist church. 02:28-02:44 And worship in music time was sometimes, most of the time, how should we say, unenthusiastic. 02:46-02:51 But often it would sound like this. 02:53-03:08 If ever I loved thee Lord Jesus 'tis now ♪ And imagine that times like 70 or 80. 03:10-03:21 I remember one Sunday in particular, during the music time, the pastor actually stood up, and he goes, "Stop, stop, stop singing, stop singing. 03:23-03:32 I'm not going to let you ruin another one." I mean, unpack that statement. 03:34-03:47 I just remember the organist was like, like, "What do we do now?" And he's like, "Write into the sermon, like, I'm not going to let you ruin another one." We were shocked. 03:49-04:01 And you know, I didn't really get it then, but I get it now. 04:04-04:07 Like, what are we doing? 04:09-04:16 What are we doing when it's time to worship our almighty savior. 04:19-04:21 We come in 10 or 15 minutes late. 04:23-04:24 What are we doing? 04:26-04:31 What are we doing when it's time to express our love for God? 04:33-04:49 And we're just kind of looking around and kind of half singing the words What are we doing? 04:52-04:59 Can we really be content to call that worship? 05:00-05:01 Can we? 05:01-05:09 Can we be content to come in late and mouth a few words and sit down and be like, "Well, I worship today." Can we call that worship? 05:09-05:10 Really? 05:11-05:13 Let me ask you this. 05:15-05:22 Do you consider yourself to be a worshiper? 05:29-05:29 Do you? 05:32-05:34 Could we rightly call you a worshiper? 05:37-05:41 Or would you say, "Yeah, that's not really my thing. 05:42-05:47 Yeah, the music and worship thing, we're talking specifically about music. 05:47-05:49 Pastor Rich made that clear last week. 05:49-05:58 That's what this series is about." But are you like, "Well, this worship and music, it's not really my thing." Well, that's a problem because it's God's thing. 06:00-06:01 Okay, it's God's thing. 06:02-06:03 Like, well, how do you know? 06:03-06:05 Do you know what the second biggest book of the Bible is? 06:06-06:08 It's right smack in the middle. 06:09-06:10 The Psalms, you know what the Psalms are? 06:11-06:12 Israel's songbook. 06:15-06:17 Right in the center of the word of God. 06:18-06:24 Heaven is described as a place of worship, right? 06:24-06:30 And Jesus Christ himself said, God is seeking someone. 06:30-06:33 God is, God himself is looking for someone. 06:33-06:35 Who is God looking for? 06:36-06:38 Jesus tells us, here's who God's looking for. 06:38-06:54 John chapter four, verse 23, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. 06:55-07:02 For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him." You see that? 07:02-07:10 Again, this is a conversation Jesus was having with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. 07:12-07:17 And this statement, spirit and truth, spirit and truth. 07:18-07:25 Understand for the Jews, the Jews had the Scriptures. 07:25-07:27 They had the information. 07:28-07:29 But you know what they didn't have? 07:29-07:31 They didn't have heart in their worship. 07:32-07:32 I mean, read your Old Testament. 07:33-07:34 Their heart wasn't in it. 07:34-07:38 through the motions, they had the truth, but their heart was not in it. 07:39-07:43 You see, the Jews, they had the truth, but there was no spirit. 07:44-07:46 But the Samaritans, did you know this? 07:46-07:48 The Samaritans were passionate worshipers. 07:49-07:49 They were. 07:49-07:53 They were extravagant, passionate, emotional worshipers. 07:53-07:54 Well, there's a little problem. 07:56-08:03 They didn't believe in the scriptures, except for the Pentateuch, but the rest, they just did not believe. 08:04-08:14 So the Samaritans, like the woman Jesus was speaking to, they had spirit, but no truth. 08:16-08:21 And Jesus says to this woman, "Hey, God wants both. 08:23-08:25 Truth and spirit. 08:26-08:32 He wants both." And in our day, it's obvious, right? 08:32-08:36 We see either unbalanced extreme, don't we? 08:38-08:42 There are many churches that are like the Jews, truth without spirit. 08:43-08:58 You can go to many churches where there is a liturgy where they will recite creeds with no emotion at all behind it. 08:59-09:04 This is true, this is true, this is true, this is true, this is true. 09:07-09:08 Truth without spirit. 09:09-09:14 And you can go to other churches and you can find spirit without truth, right? 09:14-09:18 You can find people doing all kinds of bizarre things in churches. 09:18-09:23 They're babbling and they're barking and they're falling over. 09:23-09:29 and it's a lot of spirit, but there's no truth in their worship. 09:32-09:38 See, last week, Pastor Rich gave the message all in on truth, right? 09:38-09:43 And we learned you don't just worship God any old way you feel like it. 09:46-09:49 It has to be according to his truth. 09:50-09:52 Today, I'm gonna look at the other side of that. 09:52-09:56 all in on truth, yes, but today, all in on spirit. 09:56-10:03 And church, listen, we are equally dishonoring God when our hearts are not in worship. 10:07-10:09 So write this down at the top of your outline. 10:11-10:12 Emotion is expected. 10:13-10:14 Just write that down. 10:16-10:18 Emotion is expected. 10:21-10:30 For example, Psalm 138 verse one, I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart. 10:32-10:33 That's emotion. 10:34-10:40 Psalm 45 verse one says, my heart overflows with a pleasing theme. 10:40-10:43 That's where the emotion comes from, the heart. 10:43-10:50 My heart is so full of the goodness and love and gratitude towards God. 10:50-10:54 It's just overflowing that spirit. 10:57-11:03 And how about probably the most famous verse in the Old Testament to the Jews? 11:04-11:16 Deuteronomy 6, 5 says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." And do you know what that includes? 11:18-11:19 Your emotions. 11:20-11:22 That's why we worship in music. 11:23-11:29 Music allows us to love God with our emotions. 11:32-11:43 And there is no one better to learn from when it comes to worship than the man who wrote so many of the Psalms, King David. 11:45-11:53 Last week, Pastor Rich talked about David wanting to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. 11:53-11:54 Remember that? 11:54-11:56 If you didn't listen to the sermon, you need to get on the website. 11:56-11:59 Not now, later, but you need to catch up. 11:59-12:07 David wanted to bring the Ark to Jerusalem and they made a previous attempt and they decided to do it. 12:08-12:11 They were going to move the Ark like the pagans. 12:11-12:13 It was supposed to be carried on poles. 12:14-12:15 Hi. 12:16-12:18 But they're like, no, we'll put it on a new cart. 12:19-12:20 A new cart. 12:21-12:23 What do I gotta do to get you in this new cart

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Weekly sermon notes and audio recording from Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North.

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