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.