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1 Corinthians chapter 16. I know
we got some visitors here to see that and thank you for coming.
I appreciate you for being here. And some of you have your own
churches and you chose to be here with us tonight to see John
Ross getting baptized. We thank you for that. And we
don't take that lightly. We thank you for coming. 1 Corinthians
chapter 16. I want you to look at verse 13. Read down to verse 16. We'll
pray and then I'll bring you a few thoughts the Lord's laid
on our heart for tonight. Verse 13, the Apostle Paul writing
to this church at Corinth, and he says, Watch ye, stand fast
in the faith. Quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with
charity. I beseech you, brethren, you
know the house of Stephanus, that it is the firstfruits of
Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of
the saints. that ye submit yourselves unto
such and to everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth. Notice the apostle Paul says,
I beseech you. In other words, I beg you brethren.
I'm talking to save people. Paul's talking to save people.
He's talking to brethren. He's calling them brethren. We
call brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so, brother so-and-so.
That means we're brothers and sisters in Christ if you're saved.
Those of you that are saved, I'm saved. We're brothers and
sisters in Christ. And so Paul refers to these,
he says, I beseech you, I'm begging you, brethren. You know the house
of Stephanas. That it is the first fruits of
Achaia and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of
the saints Let's go the lord word of prayer. Heavenly father.
I pray you'd bless now just for the next few minutes Lord, we
thank you for an opportunity and a privilege that we have
to read the bible Lord as the psalm was just saying there's
a lot of people that was martyred And uh give their life so we
can have a bible a lot of people died because they was trying
to give us a bible Thank you for them. I pray that you'd bless
our time together in Jesus name. We pray amen Everybody knows
if you studied first Corinthians at all the Church of Corinth
was a carnal church they wasn't the Picture perfect church and
by the way, there's not one I've always been said if you ever
find the perfect church don't don't join it. You'll mess it
up. I There is no such thing as a perfect church, but the
church of Corinth was a carnal church. It was full of a bunch
of baby Christians. They argued, they fussed, they
bickered, they fought about everything. Every time they got a hangnail,
they was fussing and carrying on. You know, that goes on in
churches. They were arguing over, in 1
Corinthians 1, they were arguing over who baptized who. Well,
so-and-so baptized me. Well, I was baptized by Jesus
Christ. Well, I was baptized by the Apostle Paul. Well, I
was baptized by Stephen. And they were arguing about who
baptized them. And Paul said, Christ didn't send me to baptize
anyway. It isn't even part of the gospel. I mean, it's not
even part of the gospel. But he said, in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, he said, I do remember baptizing the household of Stephanas
that we just read in 1 Corinthians 16. We got this church here,
baby Christian, carnal Christian. In chapter 5, I won't go very
far with this one, but there was fornication going on in the
church at Colorant. In chapter 5, there was confusion
about spiritual gifts. In chapters 12 and 13, false
doctrine, heresy was going on in this church. And so one of
the reasons they were divided, one of the reasons they were
carnal, one of the reasons they were baby Christians is because
they made the ministry all about themselves. They made the ministry
all about them. The ministry, it's all about
me. And what I'm doing and what I'm
going through and it's all about me and the focus should be on
me, the ministry. We got 300 some odd, sometimes
400 some odd people here and everybody thinks they're the
most important thing in the whole world. I hate to break it to you. I'm
going to try my best to let you down easy. But the ministry of
Holy Israel Baptist Church ain't about you. So if you come tonight with your
feelings on your sleeve, just get ready to do this. Because the ministry is not about
you. You are not the focal point of
the ministry. It causes confusion, it causes
division. They had a breakdown in leadership. Now 2 Corinthians was written,
thank the Lord. The church halfway got right
with the Lord and that's what 2 Corinthians is about. But 1
Corinthians talks about all the things Paul had to go in there
and straighten out. But then he says this. He says
in verse 13, he's ending up the chapter. He's finishing up. He
is drawing a conclusion at the end of 1 Corinthians. And he says, this is what I need
y'all to do, church. Watch ye. Be on the lookout. See, listen,
I looked this up. Somebody told me they're trying
to vote out now. They're trying to vote to where
it's against the law for you to go into a restaurant and bow
your head and pray over your food. They're trying to vote
that to where if somebody sees you bow your head and pray over
your food, that's gonna be illegal. They'll take you off to jail.
They'll just have to take me off to jail. I'm praying for
my food. I ain't getting sick for nobody. I'm praying over
food. Give thanks for your food. Don't
do one of these numbers like I see a bunch of people do. They'll
bow their head and go... Buy your head and pray. And I'm talking about sometimes
if you've got some people listening, I mean pray loud too. Dear Lord, I just want to say
thank you for my food, thank you for my salvation. Everybody
in here that ain't saved, just let them know Lord they can call
on you, trust on you. All preacher, I would never do
that. We'd call you a chicken. Watch he stand fast in the faith. That's what it's all about. You
know why we're in the shape we're in today? This ain't the message,
I ain't got there yet. But you know why we're in the shape we're
in today? Because Christians won't stand fast in the faith.
We're a pushover. They wouldn't be getting away
with some of the stuff we're getting away with. And I got news for you.
We wouldn't have the leadership voted in if the Christians wasn't
voting for him. It's the Christians that put
him in. Yeah, don't climb up on me now Well, I wouldn't say that well,
that's why the Lord called me to preach and not you Watch you
stand fast in the faith. And then it says the old King
James says quit you like men Y'all ready? Here's what that
means Act like me Men act like me Set an example. Be a leader. Conduct yourselves like men.
Stop being sissies. Stop being pushovers. Don't act
like a bunch of juvenile delinquents. Quit you like men. Stand up for
what you believe in. Stand strong. Be strong. Have
a backbone about you. Don't be a sissy. Don't be a
pushover. This is going over better than
I thought. Quit you like men. Be strong. Let all your things
be done with charity. Now, all those things I just
mentioned, you have to put some charity on it. Say, what's that?
Love. Put some unconditional love on those things. Do those
things in love. Charity. Then this is what he
says, verse 15, get down to the message, this is what he says,
I beseech you, I'm begging you brother, I'm begging you Holy
Hills Baptist Church, I'm begging you brothers and sisters in Christ,
I'm begging you. I'm begging y'all. Matter of fact Paul, you
see that little parenthesis right there in the Bible? This is what
Paul says, hey church, Holy Hills Baptist Church, I'm begging y'all.
And it's what Paul would do, he'd go, matter of fact, I got
a good example for you. What I'm trying to say, I got
a good example for you. Y'all remember the household of Stephanas? Y'all remember them? That's what
he said. I'm begging you, brother. Hey,
y'all remember the household of Stephanas? Y'all remember
that that was the first people that got saved in Achaia? They're
the first fruits of the resurrection, or the first fruits of Achaia,
rather? They're the first fruits. They
were the first ones that I led to Christ when I was in that
area. They were the first family to
get saved. This is what I'm trying to get
y'all to be about. I'm begging you, brother. You
remember the household of Stephanus? Y'all remember how they were?
The first family that got saved in that little area? You know
what they did? They addicted themselves to the ministry. That family is the family Paul
is saying, hey, if you want to be, if you want to act like men,
if you want to stand firm in the faith, be strong, watch ye
therefore, stand strong, then you want to model your family
after the household of Stephanas. Let me give you three things
about the household of Stephanas. Number one, it was a saved family. A saved family. You know the
most important thing that you can do? Listen to me real good.
The most important thing you can do is not win an award somewhere. The most important thing is not
to get your name in the state gazette or get your name up in
lights. The most important thing you
can ever do is make sure your family is on its way to heaven.
Stephanus made sure, he's a leader in his family. He said, I'm gonna
make sure my family is a saved family going to heaven. Acts
16 and 31, Paul and Silas in jail. The Philippian jailer said,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And it goes for your whole
house too. That means the same gospel that
saved you will save your wife, will save your husband, will
save your kids, will save your aunt, will save your uncle, will
save your grandparents. Most important thing you can
do. If you were to rip this carpet up right here under this altar
right here, before we laid the carpet down here, many of you
that have joined lately wouldn't know this. Before we laid the
carpet, this was still just all in its construction. No carpet. We took one Wednesday
night, prayer meeting time, we took a bunch of permanent markers. And all over, from that wall
all the way over to that wall, up around us under this altar
right here, under the carpet, are names that were written about
people we were concerned about, about getting saved, people we
wanted to see get right with the Lord, their family put back
together. And did you know we have seen some of them come to
light and come to fruit because people have prayed for them? We need a saved family. Amen. You can't take your money
to heaven with you. You can't take your cars to heaven
with you. You can't take your homes to
heaven with you. You can't take your 401k to heaven
with you. You can't take your education
to heaven with you. But one thing you can take to
heaven with you is your family. Make sure your family is on its
way to heaven. What a joy it was to see when
John Ross and some of them, we was having revival that night.
And when he was out in his park, him and his dad was out in the
parking lot. Come back in the church and I can't leave the
place, I gotta get saved. Amen. Say later on the same night,
his sister and several weeks before that, her husband. God
saved a family. Get saved. That's wonderful,
that's patterning ourselves after the household of Stephanus, a
saved family. But number two, not only a saved
family, but the household of Stephanus was a steadfast family. Steadfast family. You mean, what
do you mean preacher? Steadfast family. Well, this
family was a part of a carnal church. Remember I told you that.
This family was a part of a baby Christian church. This family
was a part of a divided church and a bickering church and a
fussing church. And when everybody else was divided,
when everybody else was a fussy, when everybody else was a carrying
on, when everybody else was carrying on false doctrine and heresies,
the household of Stephan was faithful and steadfast. When all this other stuff was
going on, they were stayed with the stuff. Household of Stephanus
stayed with the stuff. They were faithful. They were
steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord. For you know not that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Steadfast. They stayed in when
it would have been easier to leave. They stayed with it, stayed
with the stuff. Steadfast. Faithful. That's what
kind of families we need. Holy Hills Baptist Church. Some
families that will pattern themselves after the household of Stephanus.
Be a saved family. Be a steadfast family. They were somebody you could
count on, somebody you could rely on. They were somebody that'd
be there. They'd be there, no matter what.
They'd be the first ones there, they'd be the last ones to leave,
they were steadfast. You could count on them, they'd
be there. They'd be the first one to volunteer for anything
you wanted to start in the church. Hey, what about our family? Oh,
we'll take care of that. We'll take care of that. What
about us, we're gonna start, hey, we'll do that. We'll do
that, we'll take care of that. We don't see that much anymore.
Most people want to be an observer. Just want to be onlookers. We
need people. He said in this church of Corinth,
Paul said we need some people that is a saved family. We need
some steadfast people, unmovable, faithful in the faith. That's
what we need. Be steadfast. Not only a saved
family, I'm moving real hurriedly, saved family, a steadfast family,
but here's one I want to labor on. Third one was a serving family. Household of Stephanus. You say,
how'd you get all of that in? It's a household of Stephanus.
You studied there, household of Stephanus, they were a serving
family. How do you know there was a serving family? Watch what
it says about them. First fruits of Achaia, that
they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the sons.
Let me ask you a question. What are you addicted to? What
are you addicted to? You addicted to video games?
Are you addicted to sports? Now listen, hey, there's nothing
wrong with sports. I like sports. I like hunting. I like fishing.
I like playing golf, hallelujah. Love it. I'm for it. That's my release. Having trouble
out of a church member. I got balls. I've got church
members face on. Oh, that went 400 yards. Hallelujah. What are you addicted to? Verse 15 says they were addicted.
They have addicted themselves to the ministry. Addiction. Addicted
means devoted by customary practice. They were devoted to it. It was
going to happen. They were going to do it. People that are addicted
to drugs and alcohol, they're going to do it. They'll get the
shakes if they don't do it. Where are the people that get
the shakes when they don't get to minister to the saints? Where
are the people in the church like Stephan that gets the shakes
and gets withdrawals when they don't get to be addicted to the
ministry? They don't get quiet on me. We got this idea that would say,
well, if you're in the ministry, that means you're a preacher.
No, everybody's in the ministry. Man, woman, boy, girl, makes
no difference if you're saved. You are in the ministry. You may not be doing a frazzling
thing, but you're in the ministry. What are you addicted to? You
know about the ministry of Judas Iscariot. He failed the Lord
and he denied the Lord. And so there were 12 disciples
and Judas left, you know, read, you know the story. And so in
Acts chapter 1 verse 25, he said, we need to find someone else
that we may appoint to be a part of this ministry. Wouldn't it
be a joy just to be a part of this ministry? To be a part of
the ministry. Acts chapter 6. The congregation
began to grow and grow and flourish. And so the preachers, they had
to get together and say, hey, we've got to elect some deacons,
we've got to get some deacons, some helpers here. We've got to get
some people. And the Bible says in Acts 6, 4, it says, but we
may give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry
of the Word. The ministry of the Word. Sometimes
you got to have help. Got to have help. Got to appoint
some people. Hey, get in the ministry. Get addicted to the ministry.
Now this may not go over very well. But the household of Stephanas
got addicted to the ministry and Paul commended them for it,
so I thought it'd be a good thing for us to do. Get addicted. Ephesians 4, they appointed some
apostles, prophets, evangelists, I got them all out of order,
pastors, teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of
the ministry. There's a ministry going on around
here. There's a ministry going, a bunch of ministries going on
around here, and some people need to get in and get addicted
to the ministry. Let me say this, your kids will
be addicted to something. Your kids, you don't have to
believe this preacher, you just gotta listen to me for the next
10, 15 minutes. Your kids will be addicted to something. They're
either going to be addicted to sports, pleasures, drugs, some
kind of hobby, video games. They're going to be addicted
to something. And nine times out of a ten, they'll be addicted
to the same thing their parents are addicted to. They'll be addicted to the same
thing. How many people you know, alcoholic, and it'll pass on
down to the kid. This don't happen all the time,
I'm not saying, but most of the time, majority of the time, all
that stuff passes down to what? Why? They'll be addicted to whatever
their parents are addicted to. They see what you're addicted
to and they become addicted to that. What are we addicted to? What are we addicted to? We're
addicted to the ministry. Are we addicted to ourselves? It's all about me, the ministry.
Y'all ought to be focusing on me. No, what are you doing besides
absolutely nothing? Now, when I do like this, I'm
looking for... I don't have anything wrong with
my ear, I just... What are we addicted to? People
are addicted to a lot of different things, but the household of
Stephanas, I can tell you this, they were addicted to serving
God. They were addicted to serving God. Stephanas made sure his
kids heard the Word every Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday
night. He made sure of it. He made sure, he couldn't save
them, but he sure could keep them under the sound of it. Parents,
you listen to me. I'm just 40 years old, but I'm
telling you this. It is most important for you to keep your
kids in a Bible-believing church. Somewhere they'll preach the
truth no matter who it offends. Preach the Bible. Keep them kids
under the preaching of the Bible. Not out of some catalog or some
quarterly that we get from Nashville somewhere. I'm talking about
preaching the Bible. That's what God gives us to preach.
That's our ministry. Ministry of the Word. He made
sure his wife heard the Word. He made sure his kids heard the
Word. Be an example to your kids. Be an example. They'll be addicted
to what you're addicted to. I'll be honest, I want to see
my kids addicted to the ministry. I have no, all I can do is what
the Household of Stephens did, keep them under the sign of God.
I can't call them to preach, I can't do all of that. God has
to do all of that. We got enough mama called preachers. We got enough daddy called preachers.
The only reason they're in there is because daddy called them
or mama called them. My daddy told me when I went
to him and said, hey, I think God's calling me to preach. He
said, try to get out of it if you can. He said, that wasn't good advice.
It sure was. Because he said, if you can get
out of it, he ain't calling you. But if you can't get out of it,
he's calling you. Addicted to the ministry. I'm
thankful. Listen, he's sitting here. It
don't make any difference. I'm gonna still say it. I'm addicted
to what he was addicted to. I'd rather be in church than
anything in the world. When I leave town, I'd rather
be in church. I like going to camp meetings.
I like going and doing revival. I like being in church. I'm addicted
to it. I can't help it. And still, there
are people out here, they're, fuck, right, you haven't gone
too much. You haven't gone too much. I can't help it. I get
the shakes if I don't do it. Sometime I'll be up here preaching,
and you see me like this, well, he needs to go do a revival. Get the shakes. Listen, I understand that. I
appreciate it. I want my preacher here. Yes, I appreciate it. Ministry
don't make the ministry selfish about you Ministrate about you
and your selfishness Don't shout us down while we're preaching
good now Some of you think the ministry is just in these walls
Some of you just thought the ministry just dealt dwelt right
here and hovered over here like a glory cloud over 475 highway
51 bypass Brother John, two years ago,
had a desire to go and start a church in Truman, Arkansas.
You know what we did? Some of us got behind him. Not
everybody, but a bunch of us got behind him and said, yes,
we're in the ministry together. We want to support you. Some people don't know when we
can cut him off. We're in the ministry together. Stop being
selfish about, oh, this ministry's just about me and Holy Hills.
I done went in third gear now. Don't you count it a blessing,
don't you count it an honor that a church in Millsfield, Tennessee,
there's a thousand and forty-two churches in Dyer County. I don't know if that number's
right, but it makes for good preaching. A thousand churches, a church
on every block. Church of Millsville, who'd they
call? Holy Hills Baptist Church said, hey, will you come help
us? I didn't ask. We didn't call for a vote. We
didn't ask for no, uh, you know, gotta have business week, uh,
have business week, third Sunday of every Sunday night. And we're
all in favor of it. No, we're in the ministry. Yes,
we're going to help. Why? Because the ministry is
not about 475 Highway 51 bypass. We're in the ministry of the
Word. We're addicted to it. Now you
ain't gotta like it, but I sure am involved in it. Amen. Mark's been out there. Brother
Eric's been out there. We like it. That's just my heart. We need some people, watch ye,
stand fast in the faith. Quit you like men. Start acting
like men. Get a backbone about yourself.
Get addicted to something. Get addicted to the ministry.
We got Sunday school ministry. Some of you Sunday school teachers
need to get addicted to your Sunday school class. Just get
addicted to it. It's more than, hey, them kids
right there, one of these days are going to be out here. One
of them kids, just like I was, I was a holy terror in Sunday
school. Their Sunday school teachers,
if I would allow them to give testimony, they would say, that
boy will never do nothing for the Lord. And they never thought
to this day that the guy that was standing in the middle of
the Sunday school room table, jumping up and down, causing
havoc all over the Sunday school table, one day would be their
pastor. And you don't know which one
of them kids out there in them classrooms is going to be your
pastor one day. get addicted, give them the word.
They're listening more than you think they are. Now yes, some
of them need a good beat. Some of them need a good belt
whooping. On the internet, a belt whooping. Dr. Phil, a belt whooping. Timeouts had never worked for
nobody. We got a ministry around here
the ladies sometime. We have a death in the family sometime
with These ladies have babies and stuff take food over the
ministry. We're in the ministry get addicted
to the ministry Usher's got these ushers come around and they do
certain things. Sometimes they do stuff and we don't even know
what's going on The greeter door graders out there watching on
the TV right now door graders out there watching the door making
sure we're safe in here Getting the ministry I hope they're watching. They're supposed to be. Bus minister, Brother Jerry,
Brother Dan, some of these ladies, van minister, they go pick up
people, some of them in the van, some of them on the buses. Get
involved. Get addicted to something. Get addicted to something. Got
the jail ministry. They're Tony Lawrence, Charles
Kellett, many of you, others, Charles Runyon sometimes goes.
And he's been sick lately, we need to pray for him. But several
people, go to jail, go to prison, Tiptonville, Tennessee, and preach
to them on Monday nights. We're in the ministry here. The
ministry of the saints to see people helped. That's what it's
about. Special music kind of getting
up there and saying some of these others say mark and listen mark
should have to have saying every Sunday Get addicted to something if
you say get addicted to saying Aggravate him to death Mark can
I say can I say mark? Can I say Nixon? Can I say Nixon
tonight? Can I? Yeah I mean, is this helping anybody? Visitation. Putting these things
out. Get addicted to something. Make you sleep better. When's
the last time you had to shake because you hadn't passed out
of John and Romans yet? Children's Church. You got Junior's
Church. Children's Church. Them ladies
are all over this place. Nursery. When I leave on Sunday morning,
get done preaching, I go out that door, walk down that hallway,
and they always got the door open in the nursery because they're
watching on TV, they know when we get done, and they're in there,
they're going, they look at me when I come around the corner,
they're watching the corner, they're making sure when I come around the corner,
they go... It takes addiction to do the
nursery ministry. It takes somebody addicted. Men's
fellowship, ladies' fellowship, nursing home. Oh, Brother Glenn
out there, he's watching this door over here. Brother Glenn
went to the nursing home today. A lot of us didn't know that.
I didn't know it till I asked him. Why, he's addicted to it. That's what he does. He's addicted
to that. You couldn't tell him not to go. He's going. He goes
to two different ones. Every month. Sometimes twice
a month. Goes to the nursing home ministry. Swat ministry. First Wednesday
night, every month. There's some people that are
addicted to that. They love it. They can't wait to get here.
Some of these kids put their swat shirts on. They're addicted.
They're just part of the program. But there's other people that
are involved in that and different ones that get together, make
copies and play games and activities and they're addicted to that.
That's what it takes to grow a church, get addicted to ministry. Music, youth. Blake Michelle
doing a wonderful job. Rusty Christie did a wonderful
job doing the youth ministry. Brother John did a wonderful
job when he was here doing the youth ministry. They were addicted
to it. They get addicted to it. I'm done, but I say this. I'm talking to myself too. What
are we as a church? What are we addicted to? The
household of Stephanas was addicted to the ministry. Now I'm not saying you've got
to be down at church every day. Our brother Jeremy wanted us to be
a bunch of holy rollers. No, no, no, no. I ain't talking about
that. Boy, we're down at church every day. From 8 to 5, we've
got to be down at church. No, no, no. I ain't talking about
that. I think you know what I'm talking about. Get plugged in
somewhere. If you remember, get plugged
in somewhere. Say, hey, that's what I want
to do. Ms. Mary, where's Ms. Mary at? Right over there, Ms.
Mary. She sends, matter of fact, she's got a stack of missionary
cards on Ms. Marsha's desk ready to mail out.
Put stamps on them, mail out. You know what she does? Every
month, she goes through all her missionaries. Birthday, anniversary.
She sends them a birthday card. If it's a birthday, her anniversary
card. If it's her anniversary or somebody's sick, she goes
through there, sends them. A lot of times we didn't know
that going on. Maybe a lot of you didn't know that went on.
And I'm not saying, but I'm saying that it's a part of the ministry.
Get plugged in somewhere. And remember this, in closing,
your kids will be addicted to something. You're going to be
addicted to something. And you're addicted to something
right now. But the household of Stephan says, for me and my
house, we're going to serve the Lord. At this day and age we
live in today, when times are getting like they are now, we
need people serving the Lord. Amen. Heavenly Father, Lord,
I pray that helped somebody. God, you know my heart, it come
from my heart. Lord, our church is a great church,
great church. All these ministers, I left some
of them out, Lord, I didn't do it intentionally. A lot of them
I left out. A lot of things that goes on
around here we fail to realize in a minute. Lord, help us to
get addicted to the ministry of reaching people, helping people,
hurting people in Dyersburg, Tennessee. There's people that
need to be saved. They're hurting. Their homes and their lives are
being destroyed by the devil. Lord, it's our ministry. Help
them. Watch over them. Lord, I pray
that you'd help us. Somebody in here is not saved.
A family member is not saved. I pray that you'd save them tonight.
Lord, I thank you for our church. Thank you for them being good
listeners. You help us in the invitation now. In Jesus' name
we pray. Why don't you stand to your feet. If you need to
come to the altar, you can come. In just a few minutes, we're going
to have baptismal service. Matter of fact, John Ross, you can go
ahead and back. Go back there and get ready. While you're coming
to the altar, if you need to pray about something, get addicted
to something. Get addicted. Lord, help us to get addicted
to the ministry.
Addicted To Ministry
Are you addicted to Ministry?
| Sermon ID | 123131640327 |
| Duration | 34:53 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Corinthians 16:13-16 |
| Language | English |
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