There we go came up. All right. Well, it's great to see as always and Let's see those that are visiting don't know this but I wasn't here last week one of the first times in a while and I was out in Kansas. Now. We kind of think we're out in the cornfields folks. We were out in the cornfields where I was I mean population 900 in the city we were in. And the church, it's about half this size, but it's built exactly the same. They got a little overflow over here and all the pews here. So I felt right at home, except the wrong people were there instead of you. But we had a great time. I preached nine times there in three days. We had a pastor's conference on Monday. So it was just, it was a great time being able to share the prophetic word with the folks there. And they're so appreciative. I mean, it's like nobody goes out there. It's like, takes you 16 hours just to find the place. And, but it was great. And the Lord blessed and they had a full crowd, which I know made them happy. And thanks for letting me go on occasion to do these conferences. Now, a couple of quick things. You can take your Bible and start turning to 2 Corinthians 1. Just for the deacons sake we'll be doing communion at the end of the service today I do have a book that I'd like to give out I know I met at least three visitors this morning and Lots of little ones that came with one family. So we got a free book that we want to give to you So if you're here for the first time, there we go in the back anyone else. I know there's a we're showing it We're at Sean Over here, I know we got a visitor with Sean today. Thanks for being here. Anyone else over here? Over full first time? I think I know everybody there. How about here? Anyone else? All right, I think we got everybody that I saw at least. So thanks for being here. And it's a little book about, a little bit about who I am and most importantly about the gospel message. It was written for a group of politicians, back when I was a sheriff of Milwaukee County, and you say, how's a pastor end up, or how's a sheriff end up being a pastor? Well, read the book, and it'll explain it. A couple other things. Now, because we have Jerry Fry's gonna be here, and you don't wanna miss this, folks. If you're familiar with the answers in Genesis, Jerry Fry is in that caliber. He's a great supporter. of Answers in Genesis, knows Ken Ham personally, works with him, but he's on his own, so he wanted me to make sure that I said that. He's independent of AIG, but he's right on the same wavelength, so you don't wanna miss that. Combined Sunday school, except for the really young ones, today and next Sunday. Now, we have quite a few folks that are looking to be new members here. I've met with you, but you need to meet with the deacons. Because we have the special Sunday school Coming up these two weeks. We're actually the new member folks that have already met with me We're gonna meet you have you meet with the Deacons the last Sunday of the month, so I'm sorry for the delay But that's the only way we can work it out So last Sunday of the month those that already have talked with me about new membership You'll meet then if you're here if not, we'll figure out how to get you met and The other thing is baptism. We had a great baptismal service a couple weeks ago, and we are gonna have another one But it's going again because of the Sunday school issue the next two weeks. We're going to do baptisms in December So I know one person was here ready to go today. I apologize for that, but we'll do those in December which means that if you've not been baptized after you've trusted Christ as your Savior, we can get you in, and I'll meet with you the last Sunday of the month sometime. But if you've been saved, you've never been baptized by immersion since you've trusted Christ, please sign up in the back or call me personally, which is always fine, and we'll get you through the class and get you baptized next month. Last thing, let's see, where's... Mrs. Lee brought up to there you are and she brought up that though We got a not we kind of a kind of we corporately have a brand new DVD That's coming out from VCY America. It's called destiny of America Dr. Jimmy DeYoung before he passed away actually started the documentary. There's quite a few individuals that are in politics and Because I was the sheriff of Milwaukee County for a couple of years. I'm on it with a couple of segments I also approach it I got a segment on it given the gospel towards the end, but it's really good now Vcy dot TV. So if you want to see it, it's for free on Vcy dot TV You go up to that website and it sounds weird. It's not a normal URL if you will, but it's Vcy dot TV. You can go there It's about an hour and a half documentary is out there And again, you'll see Dr. DeYoung, my good friend, who's with the Lord now, and quite a few others that are involved in that video. Destiny of America, basically is America, how long is she gonna be around? And we don't know, but you watch the video, Dr. DeYoung will let you know, okay? All right, let's go to 2 Corinthians. End chapter one and we're going to get through because we have communion today And uh, it's been a great morning. Well, i'll tell you that uh the song that we sang before Uh the special the special was wonderful. Thank you so much bonnie. And uh, let's see who else was doing that jack and uh arlene well well done, uh Only a holy god. I mean that one I hate to cry, folks, I really do. And boy, that one, it just gets to you. Just a beautiful, beautiful song. And I love the words, only a holy God. Before, oh, where's Brad? I almost forgot, we have a brand new ministry that's gonna be starting in January, and I'm gonna give up a couple of minutes here. What we're going to start, and I've been praying about this since I got here over two and a half years ago, and it's called Simple Steps. It's going to be an addiction recovery ministry. I'm not gonna say what it is. I'll let Brad kind of explain it. I'm not kidding, he has been working tirelessly to get this thing up and running, and it's ready to go. I mean, we could probably do it next month, but we're gonna do it the right way, and I'm gonna have him come up and explain. The reason I want him to tell you about this is our deacon's offering that we're gonna take after communion. 100% is gonna go for the startup costs of simple steps. It's going to take about $1,000 to get everything set up, get the curriculum set up, get all the different things that are needed. But this is an investment in, and I'm just going to say this and I'll have Brad come up. This came out of a church down in Illinois, and it's a big church. They stated to me, and when I went to the training probably six, eight months ago, it is the best evangelistic tool in their big, giant church. And we're not a big, giant church, we're a solid church, but it's just amazing what takes place. So I'm excited, I've been praying about this, and Brad, the Lord's brought Brad into this, and I couldn't be more pleased with that. So before I preach a message on simple steps, come on up, Brad, Brad Johnson. Thank you, everyone. The church that God's love is building, it's real here. It is real here. And how we show love to different people It's amazing. It's something that Barbara and I experienced when we first started attending, and I hope you all, too, feel that way. But this ministry that we're gonna be starting is another example of sharing God's love with people who really need it. We all need it. Simple Steps is a faith-based addictions program And it uses a relationship with Christ to show struggling individuals how to overcome addictions. So when we hear the word, addiction, it brings to mind a dependency on drugs, alcohol, pills, tobacco, and that's all true. But addictions can also include struggles with anger, anxiety, food addictions, pornography, any stronghold that's keeping you down that you can't let go. So at Simple Steps, we define an addiction as a worship disorder, anything that is interfering with our relationship with God. So the Friday night program, which is gonna start January 6th, not that far away really. We're gonna have a Friday night program. It's gonna start out with food and fellowship, always like that. We're gonna have testimonies, we're gonna have a nightly challenge from God's word, and then we break into small groups. This is where the real life change occurs, in the small groups. People will be in small groups where they can share, will get instructions, encouragement, and challenges. We have simple steps, they are steps. Steps that we feel will help anyone to grow in their relationship with Christ and replace that relationship from what their stronghold is. It's a safe place. So who should attend simple steps? People who need a safe and confidential place for support, guidance for their longstanding struggles. People who are hurting for various reasons. People who've tried everything. They've tried to break free from the things that are holding them down. The key verse at Simple Steps is John 8, 32. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. This is a place where people can break free from the strongholds through a relationship with Christ. Other people who should attend, believers who need this program to learn how to replace their longstanding stronghold. Galatians 2.20 says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. This group is also for family members and friends who are hurting because of a loved one's struggle. Everyone is welcome. Just show up when we start. So this is a huge commitment for our church. And as the ministry continues to grow, we're going to need more commitment from the church. And I'm thankful for all of the funds that are coming in. the offering that's gonna be taken today, but we're gonna need people, too. We have food prep. We're gonna have childcare. We're gonna have small group leaders. We have small group leaders to start with, but as we grow, we're gonna need more small group leaders. And we need participants. In the weeks to come, I'll have some really nice promotional cards that you can use to invite people that you know should be here on Friday nights. Better yet, if you know someone who should be here, give them a card and say, I'll take you. I'll do it with you. Everyone who attends can benefit from this program. It's basically a discipleship program. It shares the gospel, it's going to get those who are not believers to finally make that faith step to believe in Jesus Christ for eternal life, and then walk through the steps to help them grow in their walk. January 6th, it's coming up before you know it. A month and a half away. Looking forward to see people here, be a part of this program. Thanks. And of course, you all know Barbara, his wife. She has her Tuesday morning Bible studies, been a very integral part here with our ladies. And this couple's just, they've gone out of their way to serve the Lord here, and we're just so thankful for what they're doing. So keep that in mind. I'm very, very, very much in support of it. It sounds kind of weird, but you need to be addicted to Jesus. Does that make sense? I mean, that's the answer. It's the only answer, being addicted to serving the Lord. I just appreciate that so much. Well, welcome to the church that we like to say God's love is building, as was already stated. Now, there's many churches, of course, that the love of God is present, but boy, I just appreciate you so much, and I just enjoy it. And I'm sorry to say this with the visitors here, but the visitors got mugged this morning. I mean, just folks were around them and being kind to them, and I just appreciate that so much. and just a loving church and visitors again, thanks so much for being here. Trust you'll be blessed by the message and our time together this morning. What we're gonna talk about quickly to get to community in a few moments, godly sincerity versus worldly wisdom. Godly sincerity versus worldly wisdom. Let me ask a few questions this morning before we get started. And here's one that's not up there. Do you have a conscience? And it's really what we're going to be seeing mainly in this text this morning is What happens specifically, and again, most of you here this morning have put your faith and trust in Christ. If you haven't, we'll invite you to do that later in the service today. But you put your faith and trust in Christ, and the thing that happens when you place your faith in Christ, what immediately happens the moment that you receive that free gift of eternal life? Well, 1 Corinthians chapter, 12 verse 13 says you are immediately placed into the body of Christ by what? The Holy Spirit coming and dwelling within you. So the moment that you trusted Christ, somebody came to dwell within you. You may not have felt it. I've never felt it, although I feel it in one way. And you know how you feel it? It's when all of a sudden you're thinking about doing something that maybe is not exactly right and all of a sudden you start to feel a little queasy inside and a little weird and your head starts saying, man, I know better than that, I shouldn't be doing this. Or maybe you did something that you know you shouldn't have done and all of a sudden your conscience begins to bother you. When you look over history and then just looking for children and young people and in a home, all of a sudden they've done something they know they shouldn't have done. One of our men came up to me the other day and said, you know, one of my children came up to me and he said, you know, Dad, he said, I was bad in a particular class today. And he fell on the sword. And that's the, why? Because his little conscience was bothering him. It's like, man, I shouldn't have done that. I messed up. And the teacher's gonna come, probably talk to you. And I just want to kind of confess it out front, let you know where I messed up. Why? Because his conscience was bothering him. Now, those of you that are a little bit older than that, you don't have to maybe tell daddy that you messed up, but maybe it's at work, maybe it's at home, maybe it's in a different situation, and all of a sudden, you know you messed up. And it's like, ah, I wish you wouldn't have done that. Why? Because you have an ethical and moral system, if you will, that comes from the scriptures and the Holy Spirit's in there working and knocking at the door and saying, ah, you shouldn't have done that. and then all of a sudden you gotta deal with it, and that's what we're going to be looking at a little bit this morning. How much your perception of others determines how much you're going to listen to them? Now, most of us, if we don't particularly like where somebody's coming from, or their position, or their philosophies, we might tend to tune them out. The Apostle Paul actually faced that issue, which we're going to see this morning. The Apostle Paul faced it. How were you perceived by others? Did they look at you as a kind, loving, open-armed kind of person that you can talk with freely? Or, Are you kinda rough and gruff and just, I mean, you kinda, you make people bristle when you're around them, or maybe you see people like that. How do you respond to that? Well, the Apostle Paul had to deal with this too. Do you only listen to others who support what you already know, or are you open to at least listening to a different perspective? That's a huge issue. That's called, do you have a teachable spirit, basically? You say, Pastor, you've been around the block a few times and been involved in an eclectic career and church and all that other stuff, and it's like, do you think you know it all? Well, some people think I think I know it all, but I don't. I have to be teachable too. Folks, I spend hours and hours every single week studying the word of God, listening to other messages. And I've been at this quite a while now, but every single day it's important to be teachable. and we're going to see that as we go into the scripture this morning. So we're gonna examine a couple of biblical principles this morning associated with appropriate Christian communication. So let's go to chapter one, verse 12. We're only gonna do one verse. We've been going through 2 Corinthians. Now, some of you are gonna say, you know, man, it's gonna take you years to get through this book. Well, I don't know if that's true or not. But what I want you to catch is we don't stick right within 1 Corinthians or 2 Corinthians, we're moving around, we're picking up other passages that help support what we're looking at. So even though we're using that as the main text right now, you're going to get a lot of different biblical passages that help support what we're looking at. So 2 Corinthians 1, verse 12, The Apostle Paul says this, for our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God and more abundantly toward you. Father, I pray now that as we open the only book you've ever given us to read, the holy precious scriptures, Pray that you'd speak to our hearts this morning Lord. We need an encouragement from you We need some conviction at times from you And of course we every single week we need to be motivated to go out and serve you heartily throughout the week So I pray that you do it only you can do this morning as we like to say we pray that you'd revive the saved and saved and he lost you this morning and we commit this to you in Christ's name and Amen. We start out with, he says, for our boasting. Now that's kind of a weird word from a Christian perspective. Many of us would say, well, as Christians, we need to be humble, not boasting. Well, we have to understand the context of what's being used here. Now, some of you that use Logos software, they have little charts that do word studies, and this is kind of the chart you get. But I wanted to bring this up, because here's, when we look at the Greek word that's translated in English, boasting, it also can be stated to be glorying in something, or to be rejoicing in something. He's like, I'm boasting about this, I'm rejoicing in it, I'm glorying in what we're going to be looking at. So he says, our boasting is this. And now he's gonna talk about what the testimony of our conscience. Well, that's another interesting thought. I wanna take us again to Jeremiah chapter nine, which touches on this issue about boasting. And here's what Jeremiah said, the prophet back in the Old Testament times, for our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in godly sincerity. My slide jumps, so we're back to Jeremiah. Thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast or glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory or boast or rejoice in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. Now he's gonna say, well, here's what you ought to boast about. Here's what you should glory in. But let him who glories, do what, or boast, glory in this, that he understands and knows me. Now think about that from your testimony. No matter where you are, no matter whether at work, school, out in the streets, with your friends, with your relatives, it says, listen, if you wanna boast about something, here's something you should boast about. It's your relationship with Jesus Christ. You see, that's everything. Now you come here to church Sunday morning, it's like, man, you know, we need to hear something from the Lord. Well, the Lord is basically saying this, listen, when we leave here this morning, when we go to our different places around our community, here's what I want you to do this week. I want you to boast about your relationship with the Lord. I want you to boast about who God is. Folks, there's not... you say, well that's kind of weird just talking about the Lord all the time. Well, you can talk about other things. But he's like, if you want to glory in something, if you want to boast about something, it's like, wow, there's a sale at Walmart today. Poetic pause. Hey, you get on the phone. You know about the sale coming up at a store, and it's like, man, this is a great sale, and we get excited about it, we boast about it, we tell others about it, and God says, okay, you know, that's all fine and dandy, but how about talking about me? How about talking about me? How about boasting about your relationship with the Lord? How about boasting about who God is and what he's done for you and how he saved you from sin and how he's given you a new life in Christ? Boasting that. And that's what he's saying, glory in God, glory in who he is, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord exercising lovingkindness. Again, we go back to that basic concept, the church that what God's love is building. It's a church and God loves people. And that's what we want people to know. And you do it every week here, every single week. You love on people, you promote the Lord with people, you show his love. The Bible says that they will know we are Christians by our what? By our love, it's loving others. Now you say, well, does that mean there's no accountability and you're loosey-goosey here and there's no standards? No, not by a long shot. We have standards, we have accountability. But folks, if you don't start with the love of God, you'll never have accountability. If we come up to somebody and say, ah, you're a dirty rotten sinner, you need to get right with God. Yeah, you're probably gonna have a little hard time relating to them and they're probably gonna do what? Thanks so much for your input. Hasta la vista, bye bye. Done. And 11 people, that I am the Lord exercising loving kindness. Judgment, oh, there it is, there it is. Yes, God's loving, but does he also exercise judgment? Folks, what is one of the main things we do here? What is one thing you do when you go out and talk to folks about the Lord? What do we always start out with? Well, it's kind of a negative thought. Well, let me, I wanna share something with you. I had a individual in my office yesterday after the workday, and by the way, thanks to all those that were here and the things that got done. And they were in my office, One of the individuals there had zero church background. I mean, zero. He'd been to church once in his life, and we're talking an individual in his 20s. So I was very nice to him, very kind to him, and for what we were going through, and I said, listen, can I share something with you? He said, you know, and we went through whatever the subject matter was, and I said, you know, I said, here's something I'd like to share with you. I said, I know you don't know, you've never been to church much, you don't know the Bible at all, it's like all this stuff's foreign to you. But I said, I wanna share something with you. And I started out with that wonderful concept that we go through in the Romans Road, that you're a sinner. That's not a good way to influence people and win enemies, but they got to know they're a sinner. If they don't understand they're lost, if they don't understand that there's eternal punishment, if they don't understand that Jesus came, why? Because we're sinners. So you always start there. It's like, and you can be kind and you can be loving and non-offensive, but it's like, hey brother, you know, I'm a sinner, you're a sinner too. We've all done wrong. And then you go to the next part of the Romans road and you tell them not only are you a sinner, but you deserve to spend eternity in an awful place called hell. Well, that's not real palatable either. But it's like, listen, here's the good news. Yeah, we're sinners, yes, we deserve eternal punishment, but guess what? Jesus Christ, God's son, loves you enough to come and to die to pay for your sins. And I got, of course, I got crosses all over the place in my room and up front, and he's like, that's why we have crosses. It reminds us of what Jesus did for us. Folks, this was like foreign news to this guy. And we went through the gospel, he wasn't ready to trust Christ, but it's like, you gotta plant the seeds. Yeah, some of it's negative, it's gotta be negative, because if you don't know your loss, why should you get saved? Right, makes sense. So he says, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness, or to be in a right standing with God and the earth, for in these I delight, says the Lord. Let's talk about the conscience. What does the conscience do outside of drive you nuts sometimes right? I mean It's there and the conscience does one of two things It either affirms what you're doing is good or right Or it condemns what we're doing. That's tough The conscience says After you do something good, you do something kind, and it's like, you know, man, that was, do you ever sometimes, you just do something really special for somebody, and you know, you get a good response, and it's like, man, that was just wonderful. And it sticks with you for a little bit of time, and it's like, man, that was just really great. You gave somebody a special gift, or maybe you saw somebody who was hurting, and you went up to them and helped them, and it's just like, I don't like using these words, but it feels good. It just does. But then you get in a fight with somebody in your home. You get in a spat with your spouse. The kids get out of sorts and you come down hard on them. And maybe a little too hard sometimes. And all of a sudden upstairs starts to ring and the conscience starts to bother you and it's like, oh man. And then you gotta do the toughest thing on earth. You gotta go up to that person, apologize for what you did. Oh, that's hard. I don't like doing that. But you apologize for what you did, ask for their forgiveness, and then all of a sudden, your conscience does what? It goes out of high gear and God takes it down to a reasonable level where you can exist again. Folks, we're gonna take communion in a little bit. If your conscience is bothering you right now, you've got about 15 minutes to get your conscience right with God. So if you got something that's there that you know is wrong, that the Lord's been going, knocking on your heart, knocking on your brain, so to speak. get it right with God, you're actively aware. He said, listen, this is our boasting, our testimony, the testimony of our what? Our conscience, being actively aware. That's what the Holy Spirit will do in your mind, that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity. So what are we talking about here? So we're talking about Paul saying, listen, we're rejoicing in this, we're glorying in this. And by the way, Paul was under severe attack. severe attack in Corinth, and he's making a bit of a defense for his ministry. So he's being openly attacked, and he's like, listen, here, and he's responding to the church and those that literally have attacked him, and he's saying, our boasting is this. Here's the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves. He's like, despite the fact we were being attacked, despite that people didn't care so much for what we were doing, he says, here's how we conducted ourselves. Did he fight them? Did he call them a bunch of nasty names? Did he go after them? And he says, well, here's how we conducted ourselves. Here's the example that we had. Folks, do you ever get attacked? Does somebody ever come after you does somebody ever give you a hard time and it's like well, how do I respond to that? Well, most of us when somebody attacks us, what do we do we immediately get come on man, let's do it Back off and we push back and they keep pushing back and we keep pushing back You know what happens when both people keep pushing back. I you got a bad outcome, right? And God's saying, listen, here's how we conducted ourself. And he's like, here's our example. Now folks, you're a special group. You say, what do you mean by that? You're special. You know why you're special? Because every single person here that's placed their faith and trust in Christ has a testimony in this world. You have a testimony with your family. You have a testimony with those that you come in contact with, and your example is watched. Folks, I can't, and of course, I'm a little more public than some folks with TV and radio and internet and all that stuff, and been around the block a few times and the politics and all that stuff. Valerie and I, she's like Rich. She reminds me all the time, she's like Rich. careful what you say and what you do. We're going into a public place, she's like, people know who you are and they're watching you. And I mean, it's just kind of like, yeah, right. Then all of a sudden we're in a store and somebody will come up and say, hey, I know who you are. And I'm like, okay, is this gonna go good, bad or ugly? And it's like, is it political or is it Christian? And they're like, ah, yeah, you know, and then they'll say they saw me on television or they saw me when I was a sheriff. And fortunately, I've never had somebody come up and say, man, I really did not like you. And I'm sure it's gonna happen, but you can fill in for that, okay. And I always gotta have somebody to keep me humble. But the issue is, folks know who you are too. Now, you may not be on TV and radio every week, you may not have been in public office, but people know who you are, they watch you. Every time you go into the place that you live, work, fellowship, or whatever, go to the stores, and somebody understands that you're a Christian, they're watching you, and they're going to watch you. And Paul says, listen, we're gonna conduct ourselves because our example counts where? in the, what? In the world, in the cosmos, everywhere we go, every place we attend, every person we come in contact with is watching us. Now, they may not know you're a Christian, but they should, right? I mean, after some time, when you get to know folks, they should be able to pick up on that. Paul wrote to Timothy, he said, this charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies, I like that word, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. Now that sounds pretty active, right? Wage of Warfare. Folks, I hate to tell you, but we're in a battle every single day of our life. From the moment you get out of bed to the moment you go to bed, you are in a spiritual battle. We're told about the spiritual armor of God in Galatians 6. Folks, it's no joke. Every single day you are in a spiritual battle and Satan wants to do everything. The demonic army wants to do everything. The world wants to do everything they can to squash you and to put you in a cancel culture. I said that on purpose. That's what they wanna do, cancel us out. Put the media out there to make fun of Christians. Put politicians out who wanna squash what we do here at Union Grove Baptist Church and other like-minded churches across the country and the world. They have no use for us. I'm not gonna get into what just happened in the elections, but to me it was an absolute indicator of where our country is at. lawlessness, hatred of righteousness, going against biblical principles. That's what's controlling the world. I'm gonna talk about that more usually on Wednesday nights. We talk a bit about globalism and current events in Bible prophecy as well as study the book of Acts. But folks, it's rampant, it's tough. And Timothy says, according to the prophets, what? Having faith and a what? A good conscience which some have rejected. He's talking about Christians now, this is a great verse. He said, now Christians, some of you got a really good conscience, it's working, you obey it, you follow it, because it's really the Holy Spirit working on your heart. And he said, some of you have a good conscience, but some Christians reject what God is doing in your mind, in your heart. And here's what he uses as term. He says, you're a shipwreck. A lot of us use the term, what, trainwreck? Have you ever heard of that? Man, that, boy, their life is just a trainwreck. We don't often use the word shipwreck, but Scripture uses it. You're a shipwreck. And God says, listen, the tough times have come, and instead of doing what's right, instead of following the Holy Spirit, instead of allowing the conscience, if you will, to control you and do what's right, You've rejected it and what happens? It results in what? It results in a shipwreck in your life. And that's kind of, I mean, the picture kind of says it all. You're capsized, you're on your side, you're taking on water, things are not going well, why? Because God said, and Paul's making this statement, he's like, listen, Christian, if you reject what God's trying to do in your life, if you reject his word, if you reject what he's put very plainly in this word, you're gonna get a shipwrecked life. You wanna wreck your family? Don't listen to God's word. You want to wreck your career? Don't listen to God's Word. You want to wreck your relationship with your family? Don't listen to God's Word. That's what he's saying, and it's harsh, it really is. And he's saying, listen, do you want to be a shipwreck of a life? Well, here's how you do it, and here's what he said. Just do this, just reject what you know to do is right, and this will be the results of shipwreck. That's pretty negative. Let's try and put this around to a positive place. You can be a beautiful sailing vessel. I should have put up a picture of a nice ship right now. You can be that beautiful vessel. You can be a vessel that brings happiness and peace and helps folks. And your vessel can be running, I mean, spot on, everything shined up, beautiful, sailing down the sea of life, if you will, in an absolutely wonderful, glorious condition. But Paul's saying, listen, if you reject my word, if you don't do what I'm asking you to do, if you don't obey the conscience that God has put in your head for a very specific reason, if you don't walk with the Holy Spirit every single moment of every single day, then you can't have shipwreck. But that's the opposite, of course, of what we want. So he says, for our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world, in what? in simplicity. Now there's two words that you'll find with this particular thing. Some talk about simplicity. The other word that's used here is holiness. So we're talking about singleness of heart, passing the strictest scrutiny. And that's what Paul's saying. He says, listen, our conscience that we conducted ourselves basically what? Knowing that we are under extreme scrutiny. We allow that to control how we deal with people. Folks, it's so important. Every single one of you is a beacon of light in a very, very dark world. You're the beacon. You are, you say, well, Jesus is the light of the world. You're absolutely right. Jesus is the focus of everything and he is the light of the world. But guess how that light is shown or shines? Know that little song the kids sing and I probably messed it up here because I haven't done it in 100 years, but Hide it under a bushel. No, I'm gonna let it Yeah, you know the song, I don't remember the rest of it, but it's like we don't wanna hide that light. We wanna take it up, take that bushel off of it, if you will, take that cover off the light and let it shine. Shine at home, shine at work, shine at school, shine at the grocery store, shine when somebody cuts you off on the freeway. which happens every minute of every hour of every day. I'm tired of going down to Milwaukee to go to VCUI. I love going to VCUI, but I hate the getting there. I mean, it's just like you take your life in your hands the way the traffic is down there. But he's saying, listen, with simplicity, with singleness of heart, passing the strictest scrutiny, And now we come to the last part, he says, and what? And godly sincerity. Now, of course, there's a small G there because they don't capitalize it when we're talking about God, if you will, in a sense to describe something, but he's talking about good godly sincerity. What does sincerity mean? Hold, it's like this, and here's what it literally means. So I'll pretend that we have our little pottery piece here. So what the word literally means is the person who formed the pottery holds it up to the light to see if there's any flaws or any light getting through, and if there is, it's flawed. And he's like, listen, in godly sincerity, we look, we try to examine ourself, we try to see if there's any flaw in the pottery, and if there is, we gotta fix it or redo the pot. And that's exactly what he's saying here. So he says, we conducted ourself in simplicity and godly sincerity. Well, very quickly, we'll finish with this. Caustic communication, what happens? It's when we communicate in the flesh. Galatians says, walk in the spirit. In other words, every moment, every day, walking with God, keeping him in mind, allowing your conscience, if you will, which is really the Holy Spirit working in there, walking with Him. Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill what? The lust of the flesh. In other words, you'll go away from worldly wisdom, you'll follow godly wisdom. For why? Because there's a battle going on in every single one of us every single day. You say, Pastor, you're a pastor, you don't have to go through that spiritual battle every day, do you? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Every day, every moment. By the way, if you're, the bigger your testimony, the more you try to serve God, who's gonna attack you more? Yeah, gonna come after you. What does he say? For the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish. We lose the battle sometimes. We feel bad about it and our conscience pricks us. and he tries to pull us back in. Now, we're not gonna go through all this, but here, let's go to this, Galatians 5. Here's where we should be, the fruit of the Spirit. When you're walking in the Spirit, when you're walking with the Lord, it's what? It produces love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There's no law against that. That's what God wants for you. But you gotta walk with Him. Good conscience, walking with God. Those who are Christ have what? We put to death the flesh. We've crucified the flesh. The old nature, if you will, we pushed it down with its passions and desires. Folks, every time you're tempted to do wrong, Those are evil passions, evil desires, and God says, I'll give you the strength, if you will, through the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome those things. But by the way, if you're not walking with Him, if you're not spending time with Him, guess who's gonna win? Right? I mean, you gotta spend time with the Lord. You gotta walk with God. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. So let's finish out with this. We don't wanna communicate the flesh, not with fleshly wisdom, but by what? The grace of God. That's where we wanna head. Folks, we're gonna take communion in just a moment. I wanna prepare our hearts for that. Where do you stand with the Lord today? Now we went through a bunch of concepts pretty quickly this morning. I'm actually gonna end on time because we got a special speaker coming in. But I want us to get real serious with God in the last moments here. Christian, where do you stand with God? How's your conscience been? Is it good? Well, if it is, praise the Lord, thank the Lord. But if you've been suffering and doing some things that you're like, man, I certainly wouldn't want to make this public, but man, I've been struggling. I've been going some places I shouldn't have gone. I've been going on the internet and going to places I shouldn't go. I've been treating my family in ways that I shouldn't treat them. I haven't had a testimony at work the way I know I should have a testimony at work and with my schoolmates and I've kind of messed up. Well, folks, let's make it right with the Lord right now. should turn it over to Him. I'm not here to spank you, to chastise you. God already took care of that. For whom the Lord loves, He what? He chasteneth even as a father, a son, in whom He delights. So I'll let the Lord do that. I don't need to do that. If God's saying, listen, my dear friend, you kinda messed up, let's make it right. Would you do that right now? There's others I wanna share very quickly before we take communion. The Bible makes it very clear that communion is for Christians and Christians only. Doesn't matter if this is your first time here, you're welcome to take communion with us, but under one circumstance. See, the Bible makes it very clear that communion is basically the Lord's Supper is a time when God's people, Christians, come together to rejoice in what Jesus has done for them. You say, well, what did he do for them? Well, Bible says that Jesus Christ, why we take communion is because he died. He was crucified. He literally gave his life to pay for our sins. The gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 says, Paul says, moreover, brethren Christian, I declare to you the gospel, the good news, which I preach to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved. Now that saved is kind of one of those Christian kind of words. What does saved mean? It means I'm saved from what? I'm saved from my sin and I'm saved from the penalty of sin, which is an eternal lake of fire in that politically incorrect place in today's vernacular called hell, the lake of fire. So he says, the gospel by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. Now here's the gospel. If you're here this morning and I ask you this question, if you were to die right now, do you know 100% for sure if you died you'd go to heaven? If you cannot say yes, please listen. and definitely listen before you take communion with us in a few moments. Here's the gospel. Paul says, I deliver to you first of all that which I also received at Christ. Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. When he's saying according to the scriptures, he's talking about the Old Testament scriptures where it was laid out what Jesus would do when he came to this earth. Isaiah 53 talks about Jesus going and suffering, why? To pay for our sins. Not only did he die, not only was he crucified, but they buried him. You know the tomb story. He was buried, but here's the great news, that Jesus Christ, the grave couldn't hold him. Three days later, he was raised from the dead victorious over death. That's the gospel. You say, what must I do then in order to go to heaven? Please listen. Here it is. Do you understand you're a sinner? Yes. Do you understand, because you sin, Romans 6.23 says that the wages are what we've earned because of our sin is death. That death just doesn't talk about physical death, it's talking about spiritual death. We're all gonna die physically. That's part of the curse, if you will, for man and the many, but there's a second death. Revelation chapter 21 verse eight said, listen, here's what the second death is, it's the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the what? The second death. In other words, if you've never placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and you died in the next moment, you would endure the second death, which is eternity in the lake of fire. You say, well, that's not very appetizing. That's not very pleasing. No, it's not, which is why we wanna tell you, because we don't want you to go there. And by the way, God doesn't want you to go there either. He loves you and he cares about you, and he wants to take you to heaven. You say, well, then what? I get it, I'm a sinner. I don't deserve to go to heaven. I understand what Jesus did, and I believe he did that. What do I have to do to get to heaven? All right, here it is, final one. Ephesians 2, 8, 9, then deacons will pass out the cups for those that don't have it in just a moment. Ephesians 2, 8, 9, for by grace, God's free unmerited gift are you what? Are you saved, saved from sin, saved from the penalty of sin. For by grace are you saved through what? Faith, faith, faith alone. For by grace are you saved through faith and it is not of yourself, it is the gift of God Not of worthless than any man should boast. See a little bit earlier today, when the books were handed out, how did people take a gift? They just reached out and took it. They didn't pay for it. They didn't have to do a single thing to get it. It's a free gift. It's there. Just take it, receive it. And they took it and they received it. That's what heaven is. The Lord Jesus said, I love you this morning. I love you folks this morning. I love you folks this morning. Have you placed your faith and trust in Jesus? Every head bowed, every eye closed, please. Father, I pray in these last moments, if there's anyone here that, first of all, they've been saved, they know that Christ is their Savior. Lord, have we been walking with you? Have we been having a good conscience and a good testimony towards others? If not, Lord, I pray that we take a moment, that we get right with you this morning before we take the cup and the bread as we remember what Jesus did for us. This morning, if that's you, make it right with the Lord. Let's fix it right now. If you're stuck in some kind of sin, why don't you get unstuck right now? Let's get out of the mud, let's get out of the mire, and let's turn over to the Lord and say, Lord, just please, I'm sorry for what I've done. Help me to get right with you and to stay right. Give me the tenacity to walk with you. If you're here this morning and never placed your faith and trust in Christ, you didn't know for sure if you died when you walked in here, if you go to heaven, You can do that right now as well. You say, well, what do I have to do? Again, do you understand you're a sinner? Yes. Do you understand because you sin that you don't deserve to go to heaven but an awful place called the Lake of Fire? You say, I don't like it, but I understand it and I believe it. Do you believe that Jesus Christ, God's son, came down from heaven, died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and three days later rose again to completely 100% pay for your sins? You see, I actually do believe that. All right, then, by faith, by faith alone, receive that free gift. Reach out and take the free gift of salvation right now. We're gonna say a prayer. The prayer is not what will save you, but if you wanna trust Christ by faith, you've already done it. But let's tell him exactly what you've done and thank him for it. If you're ready to receive that free gift, Right there we are, just reach out and take it. And let's thank God, and maybe you wanna say something like this as we pray silently. Dear Father, I understand I'm a sinner, and I understand I don't deserve to go to heaven, but this moment I'm receiving the free gift of eternal life by placing my faith and trust in what Jesus did through me through his death, burial, and resurrection. Thank you for saving me and promising to take me to heaven when I die.