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There is choir practice after the service tonight, and we recognize if you can't make it, we will try to get an audio of each of the parts so you can, and we'll send them to you, whoever can't make it, so you can practice that through the week, and then the following week. So, we are excited about the start up of the choir. And we look forward to our first practice. So that's following the evening service tonight. By the way, for those who don't know, the evening service is not a repeat of the morning service. We actually preach a different message through a different book. We're working through judges in the evening. So it's not just a repeat of that. Turn your Bibles over to 1 Corinthians 9. I really appreciate this passage. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9 we're going to be looking at Paul's passion for souls and how it impacted his life. The topic really is living a disciplined life. Living a disciplined life for Christ. I don't know what level of discipline you have in your life, I do know that discipline is difficult for all people. And to think that a piano player, well, they were a gifted pianist. Well, I don't care if they're gifted or not, if they're not disciplined to practice, guess what? They're not going to be able to play piano. There has to be the discipline to regularly go to the keys and get practice and practice and practice so it becomes muscle memory and they are able to play without thinking. It takes a lot of work to get to the point that you can play out of a hymnal. By the way, thank you, Hannah, for all the work. because it didn't happen today. There are many years that were put in to getting you to the point that you could play like that on this day. Tabea, same thing. It doesn't just happen. Many years of discipline. By the way, thanks mom for being determined enough to keep them working when they didn't want to be disciplined. You were disciplined enough to keep them working. Anything that is accomplished that is God honoring in our life takes discipline. These people that want instant gratification, they want instant spiritual maturity, just add water, take a pill, add water, and all of a sudden you're this great mature Christian. It is a fantasy. It's deception. To grow as a Christian is hard work. And you have to be disciplined to do it. So these people that say, well, you know what, I prayed and asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior and he saved me, but he really didn't change my life because I don't read my Bible, I don't go to church, I don't work at getting corruptive behavior out of my life, but Jesus didn't really change my life. Well, how disciplined were you at living the life God called you to live? See, there's a part by which we have to be involved. Paul was a very disciplined man. And when we come into chapter 9, verse 19 and following, he gives you insight as to his biblical priorities. Now, I want to ask you something. What are your goals in life? What's your short-range goal? Okay, I don't want you to shout it out. What's your short-range goal? Okay, what's your two-year goal? What's your five-year goal? What's your ten-year goal? If you plan for nothing, you will get nothing. Moms and dads, when those little offsprings come, you better have a One-year goal, a two-year goal, a three-year goal, a four-year goal. You better have an 18-year goal. Once they're out on their own, you still better have a goal of being the parent, godly grandparents you need to be to be able to stay in their life and to be pointing those grandkids to Christ. But there are goals, priorities by which should drive our daily choices. What you value most will drive your daily choices. That's a fact. So if you love God the most, it will guide your daily choices. If you love yourself the most, it will guide your daily choices. And those choices, you will discipline yourself to them. I love myself, so I'm going to discipline myself to get what I want, no matter what the cost, whenever, however, because I want it. But if you're saying, oh, I want Christ and I want to please Christ. And so I'm going to discipline my life to make sure that everything I do brings honor to him, pleases him. Then I'm going to have to deny myself a lot of things because myself wants many things that God doesn't want. And the only way I can do that is by discipline in my life. By bringing some discipline in. We need to know our goal. A distressing thing is the obvious aimlessness of the lives of so many people. They are drifting anywhere instead of going somewhere. They are drifting anywhere instead of going somewhere. Quote from the letters to the Corinthians. I like that. If you do not have biblical goals, then you are the one who is drifting to anywhere instead of going somewhere. You have to have biblical moorings to anchor you to his truth. The deepening love for the spiritual welfare of others was the model of Paul. If we follow Paul's model to expect Christian heavenly rewards, we must follow these two steps. We must have a deepening love for others spiritual welfare. And we must be bringing our bodies under discipline. How do you care? And how do you show that care? How much do you care? And how do you show that care for the spiritual welfare of others? This week, let's just take this week. What did you do to invest in the spiritual welfare of another person this week? If you come up with zero, then it's not a priority of yours. Okay, let's give you a break. How about the last two weeks? Oh, we'll even go a month. In the last month, what have you done to speak into somebody else's life, to touch their life so that they could be encouraged to turn to Jesus? Or they could be encouraged as a Christian to give themselves back to Jesus. to help somebody get saved or to help somebody who has gone off the rails, who has backslidden, who is not living for Jesus, and you have spoken in their life to point them and encourage them to come back to Christ. If you come up with zero in a month, you don't have a burden for the spiritual welfare of other people. You don't. And if you don't, then you do not have the heart of Christ. Because Christ came, and He gave what? His life! So that all men might be saved. So let's look at Paul's words here. 1 Corinthians 9, 19. 19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain them more. 20 And unto the Jew I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jew. 21 To them that are under the law as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law, to them that are without the law as without the law, being not without the law of God, but unto the law of Christ, that I might gain them that are without the law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Love this passage. Love to remind myself of it. Love to, it's one of those, one of those North Star compass setting passages. If I could just keep my mind here, I'm sure I'd be making great and biblical choices. Paul developed a deepening love for the spiritual welfare of others. He declares his freedom from bondage of men and man's laws. He is free from all men. I am not obligated to do this just because you tell me to do it. I'm not controlled by pleasing you. I'm not out to please you. I'm not controlled by these things. I am free to make my choices because I'm a Christian. And I serve God, not man's laws. But, he goes on, Paul declares, what he will do with this freedom, he will use this freedom to be a servant to all men. You know, there's a movement within Christendom that says, I will not allow you to control my freedom in Christ. So you don't be telling me I can't drink. Don't be telling me that I am free to drink alcohol. I am free to get tattoos from head to toe. I am free to listen to whatever music I want. I am free to go to the bars if I want. I am free. I'm free in Jesus. And I'm not under the law. And Paul says, that's exactly what I am. I am free. But here's how I choose to use the freedom. I choose to be a slave to all men. In other words, I choose to make choices that are going to help other people, not just for me. All my choices are about helping other people. They're not about exercising my freedom. So I choose to rein in my freedom. But the churches are saying, don't you dare take away my freedom. This is between God and I. You're a legalist! You ever hear that term? You ever been called a legalist? If you're living holy and you're saying, I won't do this because I think it's a bad testimony for Jesus, then you're called a legalist. You will not get that attitude from this passage, will you? Paul says, I'm free to do a lot of things, but I won't do them. Why? Because I become a slave unto all people. The term servant here is the term adolosa. The root word doulos, meaning to be under obligation to someone. Though he had no obligation, he brought himself under obligation because of the love for their soul. I have no obligation, I'm not under your authority, but I'm going to place myself under your authority because I don't want to do anything that would cause you to look evil at Jesus and God. In other words, the gospel is so important, Paul said, that I will control every aspect of my life to make sure that it speaks well of the gospel and it helps other people love or consider Jesus Christ. Are you that serious about your life choices? Because we are to live a testimony to others. Because if they do not get saved, they are damned to hell for eternity. Salvation of their soul is the most important thing on earth. We have all sinned. We have all offended God. And God said, I will pour my wrath out on mankind. He did it several times throughout the Old Testament, didn't he? Tower of Babel, Noah, and the flood. He destroys the earth and starts over again. He's going to do it in the book of Revelation. Seven years of tribulation. And as he goes through that, he's going to pour out his wrath upon the rebellion and the hate of mankind. And many, will be cast into hell. Hell is real. And if you believe hell is real, then shouldn't you make a priority of saving people from hell? How many of you, if you saw a burning building, you're driving home, you see a burning building, and you know who's in that house. And you just drive on and say, well, it's not my job. Or how many of you would stop and do everything you could to get in there and rescue that family from dying? I would like to think that you would do everything you could. You'd pull that car in. You'd call 9-1-1. You would run in and if you could get into that house without it collapsing, you would run in and wake them up. You would pull them out. You would do whatever you could. And you wouldn't worry about offending them or violating their privacy. Because there's a higher priority. What is it? Their life! So can you understand then? This is how it should be about our fellow mankind. That their souls are in danger. They're going to hell if they don't hear the glorious gospel. And you need to be willing to give up your lifestyle that's offensive, that's not, that's self-centered, So that you can speak into the lives of others. That's what Paul says, I become a slave to all. Paul was not hypocritical when he says I become all things to all people. He wasn't like a camele. I've seen people do that. They'll get in with one group of people, and they'll act a certain way, and then they get in with another group of people, and then they'll deny the very things that they said they believed with that one group, and then they'll start acting another way. They act a different way for whichever group of people they're with. That's a hypocrite. That's the lowest of the low. That person stands for nothing. That person's a selfish individual who's only looking out for themselves. But Paul says, I become all things to all people. In other words, I enter into their world and I appreciate their culture. I spend time with them. I enter into their world and become like them so that I may win them. For illustration application's sake, if you aren't a hunter, you'll become a hunter. You'll rip the guts out of a deer. just to be alongside of an unsaved deer hunter who loves deer hunting and asks you to come along. And the reason you're going along to be a deer hunter is not because, and you may even buy all the outfit. The scent free camo. You may even get a rifle. Just so you can go spend a week at a hunt lodge that you don't even want to be at, but you're going to go in there because you know a week alone of uninterrupted time, you're going to get to do what? Talk to that person about Jesus and they invited you to come Is there any sin in hunting? No As long as it's not your God But I don't like honey, whoa Do you like souls I've played more board games than I'll ever choose to play in my life. I I'm not a board gamer. I don't like board games. But I like being around people who I have an opportunity to build a relationship with. And if that's what it takes, I'll go play board games. And you know, I am very comfortable with horse manure, cow manure all over me. Not a problem. I go down there. I can hang out with the boys and really enjoy myself. But you know what? They're bored again. I'm not really, I mean I'm building friendship, but I'm not really building for the gospel. Paul's saying, I'm going into these people who don't know Jesus, and I am entering into their life. A computer nerd. Hey, you know what a megabyte is, and a kilobyte, and a kilobyte, and a quark, and a quirk, and a... I don't know what any of that stuff is, but you know what? If I run into a non-believer who is big-time nerd, I'm gonna get out computers for dummies, get the language down, sit down and spend hours with him on a computer because that's his love. And I'm not going to enjoy it a bit, but I'm going to enter his world and understand him. You know, I, I, I've shared this before. I was, I told my wife, if I get old enough to call golf a sport to shoot me, I'm calling golf a sport. But you know what? The reason I'm calling golf a sport, and to be honest with you, I think I played one game, maybe one game, maybe two games, before I met Mike and Jordan. These two guys. And it was probably 15 years ago. He was just a little dapper. Maybe 10 years old? Nine, yeah. And he could play better than me. At nine, okay? And it hasn't changed. But anyway, there was a Christian sponsorship to go out and go into this charity tournament to raise funds for Pilgrim Baptist Bible College. And we went down. And you know what? The point was, it wasn't about playing golf. It was about spending time with Mike and Jordan. And it was a great investment in time. And they got to know me. I got to know them. And that's a parallel. Guess what? As I hung out with them, I got introduced to a golf game. Now I know how complex it is. Now I know what the fun is. Now I know. And I have used golf many times to be able to take an unsafe person and talk to them with the gospel. And I have grown to actually enjoy golf. I can actually say I like it now. All right. I'm not a lover of golf, not like these guys. You guys are lovers of golf. But I'm a liker of golf. I really am. But I never would have known that. Now you guys see me with a fishing boat. I grew up commercial fishing. The last thing I wanted to do was go out and sit in a lake. When I was used to bringing in 14,000 pound of fish and fishing was always work for me. But when in Rome do as the Romans do, have you ever heard that saying? If you want to get to know the locals, you better figure out how to fish because 50% of the locals are really into hunting and fishing. Right? When I go to the coffee shop and I can tell, yeah, I was down on the river and we got a 28, we got a 25-incher. For some of you, that means nothing, right? Right? Doesn't mean a thing, does it? You know what that means to a fisherman? You know my world, I'm going to let you in. So what kind of graph you got? Oh, I got this. What kind of boat you got? This is what I got. Oh, I got. And it's their world. They love it. And you're like, OK, I'm in their world. Fishing can never become an idol for Shane Belding. But fishing will always be a tool to reach into the life of unsafe people and spend time with them. I become all things. to all people so that I may win, how many? Some. I got to spend a lot of time with a lot of different people in their life, in their world, to show them that I care enough about them to spend time with them in things they really love, they really enjoy. Teens, how many of you are coming to camp? Put your hand up. Please put your hand... You know what, I'm getting old to the point that I'm having a hard time keeping up with you guys. You're faster now than me, you're stronger than me. So what makes an old man, 55, 52, I'm sorry, 52, what makes a man want to go up there and spend a week of high energy output with you guys, endangering every limb? I'll tell you what. Number one, I like your energy. But two is your soul. I care so much about your soul that I'll endanger every limb. And if I come home with a broken limb, and by the way, it is, you don't think of that when you're younger, but honestly, at 52, I can go up there and break a leg or an ankle pretty quick. So that's why I'm getting back to you on the tube. So when I get you on the tube and I take you and whip you at 50 mile an hour and you go, Right, Wellen? The point is, that's really not, it's kind of a young man's game, Camp. But it's not. I'm okay with it. Why? Because it gives me an opportunity to take a week and speak to these young lives and point them to Jesus. And some of them you need, some of you may need to just be saved. You may need to figure that out and and make sure you're going to heaven when you die. You need salvation. Some of you need just a wake-up call to give, get back, be in discipline for Jesus and living for Him. But it's worth it. Why? Because it's eternal. That's the most important stuff in life. Talking to somebody about Christ. Investing in their life. I know Jacob and John, your dad, has hired people on the farm for this very specific reason, right? Bring them on the farm and let's work with them. They don't know Jesus. We hope by the end they know Jesus. That's using what you have to invest in the life of others for the gospel. Paul says, I do it. This is not a case of being hypocritical, one thing to one, one thing to another. The man who can never see anything but his own point of view who never makes any attempt to understand the mind and heart of others, will never make a pastor, an evangelist, or even a friend. Well, I'm not a mechanic, so I don't care about anything. Well, you know what? I don't care if you're a mechanic or not. If you want to get into that life, that friend of yours life who's a mechanic, you go over there and you get your hands greasy and you help him out. You get really excited about that new block that he's putting in. You get really excited about that. The restoration of that antique car that he's doing. How many of you can even imagine spending all your spare time on that? It's like what? Grinding and it's like that motivates you like nothing, right? That motivates you like snail soup. Just you're not into it. But what about his soul? If the only thing he spends time with, and you're needing to get into his world, the only thing he spends time with is in that garage, grinding and painting, and guess what you need to do? Well, I'm going to learn a little bit about restoring cars. So that I can at least know what he is, come into his world, and even get excited about it. You know, we got VBS coming up. Okay? PBS is designed to speak into children's lives whose families don't come to church. And we reach out to them in areas which we know speak to them. There are three, two areas that speak to every child. Fun, food. Fun, food. And we use fun, food, come into their world, we can become a child, So that we may win a child to Jesus. What else are we gonna do with the fun and the food? We're gonna give the gospel. And so we do fun, food, the gospel. That's coming up in July. July 16th through 20th. We're gonna do it in the evenings. Hey, some of you can do the fun part. You're just nuts, you're just like, Brandon, he's really good at leading kids. He gets into them, he animates, he makes it exciting for the kids. So I'm hoping you can be there. I didn't mean to buttonhole you, but you did a great job last year. So he may do the fun part. Some of you are like, I'm really into the food part. Well, if you like food and kids like food, then maybe you'll oversee the food part for the week. And then some of you may say, you know what, I really love to talk about Jesus, especially at a kid level. Guess what? I don't want to do all the preaching. I want you who are gifted, who want to speak into kids' lives, you do it. I'll be there, I'll help organize, I'll help oversee, but man, you do it. Why? Because that's souls. But I don't really like kids. I don't care if you like kids. You need to not care whether you like kids or not. You need to spend time investing in the souls of people. What kind of people? Well, he said, to the Jew, I became a Jew. To those under the law, I command the law. Those not under the law... In other words, what is he saying? There was no limit. To a kid, I became a kid. You will see your pastor out there and you will be embarrassed of him. I'm sure you will. Because I become a kid with the kids, I do. We have lots of crazy fun. That's the point. What prohibits us from doing so? The sacrifice it'll take, the time, the energy, and the sacrifice of your personal pleasures, your comfort zones. I don't know what your comfort zone is, the place you just like to be all the time. I know my wife's. My wife's comfort zone is home. Oh, she likes home. But you know what? My wife's comfort zone is not a lot of people, but you know what she did? Out of sacrifice and love for souls, she became using her home as the place where kids collected. And believe me, a lot of kids collected and she'd feed them. And then I would have families over and she would make meals and we would fellowship over the dinner table. And that wasn't, you know, that was out of her comfort zone. But she did it. Why? because souls of people are more important than our personal comfort zones. Paul established that. What prohibits us? That sacrifice of time, energy, and personal comfort. The discipline lifestyle. We're going to have to look at the discipline lifestyle next week. We're already at the top of the hour. We got one point. We'll do the second point. The disciplined lifestyle. If we are going to be invested in the eternal, we have to invest in the souls of other people and we must bring our body under subjection. We must beat it down and control it. It doesn't get to do whatever it wants to do. It only does those things which glorify God and are used to invest in building and helping other people. So always ask yourself, Decisions you make this week, does it please glorify God, and does it help me help somebody see Jesus or come back to Jesus? Life choices. We must practice discipline. Anything that is going to be accomplished that's worth anything takes discipline. We'll look at that next week. How are you doing on the love for the souls of men? Are you willing to come out of your comfort zone, do things that you really don't like, just so that you can have opportunity to let an unsaved person see Christ in you by your lifestyle and by your words of the gospel? If you're not a born-again believer here today, we call upon you. Please consider becoming a Christian for two reasons. One, so your soul will go to heaven when you die. But two, so the Holy Spirit can come in you and give you the power and the peace of mind to be able to live victorious in this world. This world is a hard place without God, without Christ. It's just a terrible place. People are evil. People take advantage. The world's not fair. And it can get incredibly discouraging and depressing just as an individual trying to live without. But when you do face this world with Christ, old things pass away and all things become new. And then all of a sudden God gives you a peace that passes all understanding. And then he declares that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. That you can make the right choices. You can have a joy when there's no reason for joy. You can have peace when there's no reason for peace. Because Christ is working in you to give you the right perspective. And he's working in you to give you hope. So if you're not a born again believer, would you consider confessing your sin to Christ? Lord, I know I'm a sinner. I know I've offended you with my sin. Asking him forgiveness. Lord, please forgive me for that sin. And then trusting that he died on the cross and rose again the third day and will save you. for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. God, please forgive me of my sins and please save my soul. I know you can because you died and you rose again and you sit at the right hand of God. He offers salvation to you. Don't put it off. If you are a Christian who you remember praying that prayer but your life is undisciplined You've been living for yourself, not for Him. Therefore, you don't have victory. It's like that piano player. I really want to be a piano player, but you never practice. But I really want to be a piano player, but you never practice. But I really want to. Your want isn't enough. You have to discipline yourself and get doing it. So if you're one of those Christians who say, you know what, I did pray and ask Jesus into my life, and I know I'm a born-again believer, but I'm not a victorious believer. I've got things that are shameful in my life. It's because you're not working at it. God will give you the strength and the power, but you've got to surrender your will and say, Lord, you can tell me how to live my life from this point forward. Would you do that? Would you surrender that? If you've been convicted in your lack of love for souls, would you give that to the Lord? I'm just going to take a time of silent prayer. And I'm going to bow my head. I ask you all to bow your head. Just talk to Christ about the message. And then when I pray audibly, that'll be the end of the service. Dear Lord, thank you so much for friends and family that are here today. We ask that you would help us to hear the message and then apply it to our individual lives. We know what you're saying to us. We know how it applies. I pray you would help us to care for the lost and the dying. And Paul said that He became all things to all people so that he may win some, meaning that he faced a lot of rejection. Only a few would take time to hear him. Only a few would get saved. But he counted that worth the investment. Help us, Lord, to be committed to that investment. For those who may be here today that do not know you as Lord and Savior, pray that they would be saved today. for those who are not disciplined in their life and not surrendered, that even today they would make a choice to let you be the boss of their life. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
Become all things to all men
Series 1 Corinthians
Identificación del sermón | 415181320371 |
Duración | 36:49 |
Fecha | |
Categoría | Servicio Dominical |
Idioma | inglés |
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