Embracing Authentic Love: A Call to Open Your Heart to God - Sunday Morning - October 20, 2024

Pastor Josh
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Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

Pastor Josh
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My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

Pastor Josh
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I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Pastor Josh
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Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Pastor Josh
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I'd like you to turn with me, if you can, with your bibles, to two corinthians, chapter six.

Pastor Josh
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Second Corinthians, chapter six.

Pastor Josh
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Last week we looked at what it means to be a faithful servant of the Lord, an ambassador, as the Bible calls here in two corinthians.

Pastor Josh
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And we looked at what it means to be characterized by faith and endurance.

Pastor Josh
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How can we be servants of God, characterized by faith and endurance as ambassadors of God, we're called to be faithful to him in the ups and in the downs, in the easy and in the difficult.

Pastor Josh
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Sometimes it is very convenient for us to be ambassadors for Christ when everything's going our way, when everything's going well.

Pastor Josh
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But the true test for us as christians is to stay faithful, as the Bible says here, patient with endurance when the difficulties come.

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Now, I want you to be there in two corinthians, chapter six, and probably just look back a few verses.

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Maybe for you it's one page back, maybe for you it's on the same page, but two Corinthians, chapter five, verse 14.

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Paul explains his motivation behind all of this.

Pastor Josh
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He explains his motivation as being an ambassador for Christ.

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He explains his motivation for faithful servant, for service.

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He explains his motivation to be patient in endurance.

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He says it here in verse 14.

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He says, for the love of Christ, constraineth us.

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What that means is this.

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He says, it's the love of Christ that compels me to do this.

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It's not necessarily a fear of missing out.

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It's not necessarily a fear of judgment.

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But it is God's love that he has demonstrated for me that causes me to be compelled to do this for the Lord.

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And so as he lays out that new thought about being an ambassador, he says, it's because of the love of Christ.

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And then he goes through what that means to experience the love of Christ.

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In verse 17, he says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.

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Old things are passed away.

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Behold, all things are become new.

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And so he says, hey, this is what it looks like to experience the love of God, to be a new creation, to put your faith in the Lord and for him to forgive you for him to free you from the bondage of sin and for him to give you the opportunity to serve.

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And then he says in verse number 20 of chapter five, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.

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As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God.

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So he says, hey, now that you have experienced what it means to be an ambassador for Christ and your salvation, it's your job now to represent him so that others can become ambassadors.

Pastor Josh
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And then he gets into chapter six and he starts talking about what it means to be a faithful servant.

Pastor Josh
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It means to have endurance.

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It means to go through the ups and downs.

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And last week we looked at, he explained some difficulties.

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He says in verse five of chapter six, in stripes and imprisonments, and even before in verse four, he says, in afflictions and necessities and distresses.

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And so he says, there's going to be some difficulties.

Pastor Josh
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Remember, he gave the three groups of three.

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He said, the struggles that you're going to face, that we all face, the struggles that other people are going to bring to you, the struggles that you bring to yourself.

Pastor Josh
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But then he says, hey, there's also blessings in the difficulties.

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And he says in verse six, by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, so he says, by authentic love.

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Then he says in verse seven, by the word of truth.

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Now we're going to refer back to verse seven quite frequently in this sermon this morning, because we have to go back to the word of truth to trust in what God has told us in our lives when we don't see it in front of us.

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So there's going to be times in our life where we are tempted to start to think that, hey, you know what?

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Maybe God doesn't love me.

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Maybe God has forgotten about me.

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Maybe it's not worth it to sacrifice.

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Maybe it's not worth it to preach the truth.

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Maybe it's not worth it to proclaim our thanksgiving to God.

Pastor Josh
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He says, no, you have to go back to the word of truth.

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It's by the word of truth that you can know these things.

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He says, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.

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And so we left off last week.

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In verse seven, he says, it must be by the word of truth.

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It must be by the power of God.

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It must be by the armor of righteousness that we have in our lives, that we are able to stay faithful to the Lord.

Pastor Josh
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And so in the passage we will look at this morning, we'll see how Paul ministered with differing results, but still kept his eyes on the truth.

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He's going to say, there's going to be times where people are going to praise you, but there's also going to be times where people condemn you.

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There's going to be times where people accept you, and there's gonna be times where people reject you.

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It doesn't mean that we quit in the difficult.

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It says here that we stay faithful in all of these things.

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And so Paul explains that this type of inner peace is found in what verse seven says, by the word of truth, by the power of God, and by the armor of righteousness.

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And so Paul keeps ministering in faithfulness because he keeps his eyes fixed on the truth, the truth of the love of goddess.

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And so Paul explains that this type of satisfaction can come in our lives when we open our hearts to the message of God and the move of God in our lives.

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And so the question is this morning, as you are serving God, and that's the assumption, that you're serving God as an ambassador for Christ.

Pastor Josh
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The first question that I want to ask you this morning is, who do we love the most?

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The second question is, what do we love the most?

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These are questions that matter.

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Why?

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Because the Bible says is what we love, is what we're gonna spend time on.

Pastor Josh
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What we treasure in our life is gonna be manifested by what we do, by what we invest, by where we struggle.

Pastor Josh
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Folks, if you love something, you're gonna struggle for it.

Pastor Josh
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If you love something, you're willing to endure.

Pastor Josh
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I love my children with all of my heart, and I know that some of you that are parents can attest to that.

Pastor Josh
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And there are days when I want to look at my children and say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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Oh, I just don't want to be dad today.

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I don't want to discipline today.

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I don't want to go through this struggle today.

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But it's my love for them that trumps my struggle, because I say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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I love them so much.

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I want them to be the adults that God wants them to be.

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So I'm going to invest.

Pastor Josh
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It's not because I feel good that day.

Pastor Josh
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It's not because everything's going well.

Pastor Josh
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It's because of my love for them overwhelmingly overpowers the struggle and the distress that I face in my life.

Pastor Josh
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It's the same thing when it comes to the purpose of God.

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If we love God more than whatever is in the blank here, we will be willing to go through the stresses and the struggles.

Pastor Josh
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There's a passage of scripture in the book of Matthew.

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Actually, it's Jesus teaching.

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In Matthew, chapter six, he teaches this very same principle.

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It matters what we love.

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It matters what we put our affections in.

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He says in Matthew, chapter six, verse 19, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal.

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But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

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So these are things that are going to last for eternity, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

Pastor Josh
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For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Pastor Josh
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The Bible says that what we treasure, what we love, what we desire for in our lives, that's where we're going to spend our time.

Pastor Josh
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That's where we're going to spend our affections.

Pastor Josh
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And so the truth is that as we minister in the message of the gospel, as we minister as Christians, as ambassadors for Christ, there are going to be some really, really good times, times where we feel comfortable, times where we feel exalted, times where we feel strengthened in the truth.

Pastor Josh
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But then there's also going to be times where we're tempted to fall into the trap of thinking that, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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It's not worth it.

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And Paul is going to list a few of those things here.

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He's going to list the paradox or the contradictions of ministry.

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And so I want you to look at verse number eight with me.

Pastor Josh
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This is our main text here this morning.

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And what Paul is going to describe for us this morning in this passage is if our heart is not set on the love of God, the difficulties that we face in our lives will outweigh the blessings that God gives us in service.

Pastor Josh
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So it goes back to the love, right?

Pastor Josh
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If I love God enough, the difficulties are nothing.

Pastor Josh
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If I don't love God, and I love the things of this world, I love my ego, I love my flesh, I love my praise, I love my position.

Pastor Josh
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When the struggles come, it's easy to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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These struggles outweigh the blessings, and I'm going to quit.

Pastor Josh
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I'm going to lose my patience.

Pastor Josh
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I'm going to lose my endurance.

Pastor Josh
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And so you have to remember the context of what Paul is dealing with here.

Pastor Josh
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If you go all the way back to the beginning of two corinthians, the corinthian church was accusing Paul of not loving them.

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That's where this all started.

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They said, paul, you don't love us.

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You say one thing and you do another.

Pastor Josh
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Your ministry doesn't match your heart.

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You are not the type of person that you told us you would be.

Pastor Josh
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You are not a faithful minister.

Pastor Josh
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And so he's facing accusations.

Pastor Josh
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He's actually facing the accusation of not loving them enough to not love them in a proper way.

Pastor Josh
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And so the corinthian Christians loved themselves and the things of this world more than the love of God and his word.

Pastor Josh
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I.

Pastor Josh
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And so they blame the flaws that they find in their own life on Paul and other ministers as an excuse for the problems.

Pastor Josh
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So they have some issues in their life, and they go, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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It's your fault, Paul, that we're not who we're supposed to be because you don't love us enough.

Pastor Josh
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You weren't the type of pastor that we expected you to be.

Pastor Josh
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So therefore, we're in these struggles.

Pastor Josh
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And so they're blaming, they're deflecting their problems on the issues of another instead of looking into their own hearts to see if they've received the love of God in their lives.

Pastor Josh
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And so Paul is going to address their love problem in this passage.

Pastor Josh
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Paul had no expectation of smoothness within ministry, and he doesn't portray that to them.

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And though there are blessings in ministry, there will be difficulties.

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But in the end, the source of Paul's faithfulness and the source of our faithfulness is in the truth of God and in his love.

Pastor Josh
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And so let's look at verse number eight.

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He says, by honor and dishonor.

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He says, sometimes in ministry, you will have honor.

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People will honor you.

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But there will also be times where people dishonor you.

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He says, by honor and dishonor by evil report and good report.

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There's gonna be people that give evil news about you, news that isn't true.

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But there's also gonna be people that give the truth, he says, as deceivers and yet true.

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Some people are gonna call you a liar.

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Some people are gonna call you a deceiver.

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Other people are gonna call you true as unknown and yet well known, meaning some people are going to act like you're an unknown person, and they're going to treat you that way.

Pastor Josh
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Other people are going to give you the respect of being a known speaker or a known pastor or a known christian, he says, as dying.

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And behold, we live.

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And that idea of dying is always being in threat of death, meaning there's going to be persecution around us in the threat of death, but in the same vein, always living as chastened and not killed as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing as poor, yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

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He says there's gonna be times in ministry where there's ups and downs.

Pastor Josh
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That's what he's explaining here.

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He's saying, hey, there's gonna be times where people praise you and give you honor.

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There's gonna be times where they dishonor you.

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There's gonna be times where you have all the things that you ever thought you needed, and there's gonna be times where you feel like you have nothing.

Pastor Josh
00:12:04

It's gonna be up and down.

Pastor Josh
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There's gonna be a time where you feel like you're about to die.

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There's also gonna be a time where you feel like you're living.

Pastor Josh
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And there's all of this, in this contradiction of ministry.

Pastor Josh
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Folks, I wanna tell you here this morning that as you serve God, there will be difficulties.

Pastor Josh
00:12:17

It will not be easy.

Pastor Josh
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There will be high, high blessings, but there will also be low times.

Pastor Josh
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I'm not here to tell you today that you should be like this all the time and emotionless throughout your life.

Pastor Josh
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There's gonna be shadows, and there's gonna be valleys, and there's gonna be difficulties.

Pastor Josh
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But what Paul says is that we can stay faithful to the truth of God and we can be faithful to his love in our life, so that those struggles and those difficulties don't define us.

Pastor Josh
00:12:41

We see here that there were the descriptions of how the world defined him, and there's the descriptions of how God defined him.

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You know what?

Pastor Josh
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If someone comes and tells you something about yourself, it may be true or it may not be true, but they're not the ones that are going to be defining you.

Pastor Josh
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They're not the ones that are judging you.

Pastor Josh
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Ultimately, my concern is, how does God see me?

Pastor Josh
00:13:00

So if someone comes up to me and they're mad, then I'm preaching the truth to them.

Pastor Josh
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At the end of the day, am I concerned about their opinion of me, or am I concerned about the opinion that God has of me?

Pastor Josh
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Have I been faithful to him?

Pastor Josh
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Folks, my goal is to be faithful to the church.

Pastor Josh
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My goal is to be faithful to my family.

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My goal is to be faithful to those around me.

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But ultimately, my faithfulness should be to the one who saved me.

Pastor Josh
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And that's hard because so many times we set our affections on the things of this world, because this is what we know.

Pastor Josh
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We set our affections on the things that we can taste and we can smell, and that we can touch and that we can see.

Pastor Josh
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But what the Bible says back in two corinthians is.

Pastor Josh
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That's not what we're living for.

Pastor Josh
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We're not living for the things of this world.

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We're living for the things that we don't see.

Pastor Josh
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If you go back to second Corinthians 418, Paul has been prepping them for this.

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Paul has been explaining to them that you don't live for what you see.

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Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse 18.

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He says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal.

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That's what Jesus was talking about in Matthew six.

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Those things that you're living for in this world, they're going to be corrupted.

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They're going to be gone one day.

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He says, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

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So Paul says, in your service as an ambassador for Christ, focus on the things that are eternal.

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Focus on the souls of Mendez.

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Focus on the eternal investments that are gonna last forever, instead of the things that don't matter here on this earth, in this world.

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So he says, this is the contradiction of ministry.

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00:14:32

Honor, dishonest, dishonor, honesty, dishonesty, evil.

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Report good.

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Report, deceivers yet true, unknown, yet well known.

Pastor Josh
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Then he gets down to verse number eleven.

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We're gonna pause here right now, because I want you to see, number one, as a Christian, as an ambassador, you can have stability and instability.

Pastor Josh
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Stability and instability.

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What do I mean by that?

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There's gonna be times in your life where you have instability.

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There's gonna be unforeseen circumstances.

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We cannot control the circumstances that are around us.

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So around us, there can be instability.

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But the Bible says that as believers, as ambassadors for Christ, in the midst of instability, we can have stability.

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And that's all of what he's talking about there in verses eight through ten.

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It's the stability and instability.

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Sometimes in the christian life, we will be accepted and loved, but other times, we will be rejected and despised.

Pastor Josh
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And so Paul explains that no matter how we are treated, we find our stability in Christ, not in our surroundings.

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Where do you find your stability?

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Where do you find your foundation?

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Where do you find that center point in your life where you say, you know what?

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Whatever happens to me, I know this to be true?

Pastor Josh
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Well, if we use our circumstances for that stability, guess what?

Pastor Josh
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Our circumstances are going to be up and down.

Pastor Josh
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By honor and dishonor, by the truth and by lies.

Pastor Josh
00:16:03

Folks, I could tell you that there are Sundays that I leave the service, and I'm like, wow, man, that was great.

Pastor Josh
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People came to Christ.

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People joined the church.

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People were baptized.

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And I'm, you know, running out on, you know, not even touching the ground.

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Like, I'm so excited.

Pastor Josh
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But there are also some days that things are difficult.

Pastor Josh
00:16:21

Maybe some people, you know, didn't like what I said.

Pastor Josh
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Maybe there were times that, you know, the Sunday morning service didn't go the way that I expected it to go.

Pastor Josh
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Maybe I couldn't preach myself out of a wet paper bag that morning.

Pastor Josh
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And I'm like, I don't know where I'm at today.

Pastor Josh
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Okay?

Pastor Josh
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The truth is, is that sometimes as a minister of the gospel, I would find my satisfaction, I would find my stability.

Pastor Josh
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I would find my confidence in what was going on around me, how people reacted to my preaching.

Pastor Josh
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Well, if they all said, amen, I must feel good.

Pastor Josh
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And so it's a good day.

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If no one said anything, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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Then it's like, oh, I failed.

Pastor Josh
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Do you know how much of a rollercoaster that is?

Pastor Josh
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And you know how much you can be so devastated when things don't go your way?

Pastor Josh
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I think some of you know that.

Pastor Josh
00:17:04

I think some of you understand that in your life.

Pastor Josh
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The Bible says that our stability cannot be found in our surroundings.

Pastor Josh
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Our stability has to be found in our savior Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:17:13

If you look at Philippians chapter four with me, Philippians chapter four, Paul speaks to this very same principle.

Pastor Josh
00:17:21

He's talking in Philippians chapter four about having joyous and rejoicing in the Lord.

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And we would expect Paul to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
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Rejoice in the Lord when everything's going well.

Pastor Josh
00:17:33

Well, yes, but he also says, rejoice in the Lord when everything is going on a more difficult path.

Pastor Josh
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And so Paul in Philippians chapter four is explaining to us that we should be rejoicing, that we should have joy.

Pastor Josh
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Rejoice in the Lord always.

Pastor Josh
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And again I say, rejoice.

Pastor Josh
00:17:49

That's Philippians chapter four, verse four.

Pastor Josh
00:17:51

But then we get down to verse number ten, and he says, but I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me have flourished.

Pastor Josh
00:17:58

So he says, hey, you guys have taken care of me, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.

Pastor Josh
00:18:04

Not that I speak of respect, of want.

Pastor Josh
00:18:07

Verse eleven.

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For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content.

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Folks, that's what it means to be a faithful minister.

Pastor Josh
00:18:16

I don't care.

Pastor Josh
00:18:17

I'm what my surroundings are.

Pastor Josh
00:18:19

I have learned that whatever situation that I have, I am content in Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:18:23

He goes on to say in verse twelve, I know both how to be abased that means to be brought low.

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I know how to abound.

Pastor Josh
00:18:29

That means I know what it means to be lifted up everywhere.

Pastor Josh
00:18:32

And in all things, I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry.

Pastor Josh
00:18:35

So he says, I face having a lot.

Pastor Josh
00:18:37

I face being hungry both to abound and to suffer need.

Pastor Josh
00:18:41

And then he says, verse 13, you guys are all familiar with this verse.

Pastor Josh
00:18:44

I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.

Pastor Josh
00:18:47

Now, he's not saying I can do whatever I want to do.

Pastor Josh
00:18:49

He's saying I can do anything that God has brought me to in my life because he's equipped me to do so.

Pastor Josh
00:18:55

So Paul isn't talking here in verse 13 of Philippians four about, hey, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:18:59

I want to go do that.

Pastor Josh
00:19:00

So I'm just going to go do it and God's going to bless me.

Pastor Josh
00:19:01

That's not what he's saying.

Pastor Josh
00:19:02

He's saying God has brought this into your life in the ministry, and therefore he's going to get you through it.

Pastor Josh
00:19:08

You can do all those difficulties in Christ because he strengthens you.

Pastor Josh
00:19:12

That's what he's talking about here.

Pastor Josh
00:19:14

Now, it doesn't mean that we're hopeless and that we're helpless.

Pastor Josh
00:19:17

It just means that if God has brought us to a place of victory, he's going to get us through that.

Pastor Josh
00:19:21

If he's brought us to a place of difficulty, he's going to get us through that.

Pastor Josh
00:19:25

And so stability in our service comes from inner peace that we find in a relationship with Christ and his word.

Pastor Josh
00:19:33

And so go back to second corinthians with me.

Pastor Josh
00:19:35

What does he say in second corinthians, chapter six, verse seven?

Pastor Josh
00:19:38

It's by the word of truth.

Pastor Josh
00:19:40

That is where we find our stability and service by the word of truth and by the power of God.

Pastor Josh
00:19:47

That is where we go back to, folks.

Pastor Josh
00:19:50

We have to think about our life as an ambassador, as a life based in the word.

Pastor Josh
00:19:57

Therefore difficulties come.

Pastor Josh
00:19:58

We think about it biblically.

Pastor Josh
00:20:01

Conflict comes.

Pastor Josh
00:20:02

We think about it biblically.

Pastor Josh
00:20:04

Loss comes.

Pastor Josh
00:20:05

We think about it biblically.

Pastor Josh
00:20:06

Folks, the greatest advice that I've ever had from a person who was mentoring me in my life, he says, are you thinking?

Pastor Josh
00:20:13

He asked me this question before and after I bring them all my struggles.

Pastor Josh
00:20:17

Okay, I'll call them on the phone.

Pastor Josh
00:20:18

I'll say, I won't say who it is, but I'll say, brother so and so.

Pastor Josh
00:20:21

I'm going through this and this problem and he goes, are you thinking about it biblically?

Pastor Josh
00:20:25

And I'm like, that's so mean.

Pastor Josh
00:20:26

Why did he say that?

Pastor Josh
00:20:27

He's supposed to tell me, yeah, those people are mean to me and that this is a bad.

Pastor Josh
00:20:30

He doesn't say that, though.

Pastor Josh
00:20:31

He says, I'm sorry that you're going through that, but are you thinking about this biblically?

Pastor Josh
00:20:35

And that's a question that we all have to ask ourselves, because the truth is, is that many times we don't think about struggles biblically.

Pastor Josh
00:20:41

We think about it in our flesh.

Pastor Josh
00:20:43

Well, that person hurt me.

Pastor Josh
00:20:44

That person was mean to me.

Pastor Josh
00:20:46

So you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:20:47

I just.

Pastor Josh
00:20:47

I'm.

Pastor Josh
00:20:47

Woe is me, and I can't get through this.

Pastor Josh
00:20:49

The bible says that thinking biblically about it doesn't mean that I think about it in my flesh.

Pastor Josh
00:20:53

It doesn't mean that I think about it from the perspective of humanity.

Pastor Josh
00:20:56

I think about it from the perspective of God.

Pastor Josh
00:20:58

And what does the word of God have to say about this?

Pastor Josh
00:21:00

And it could be different in different situations.

Pastor Josh
00:21:03

Speaking of loss, you know, what does this loss mean for me?

Pastor Josh
00:21:05

Well, biblically speaking, it means that ultimately God is never gonna leave me with something that I can't handle.

Pastor Josh
00:21:12

You say, what does that mean?

Pastor Josh
00:21:13

It means this.

Pastor Josh
00:21:15

If God has allowed something to happen in my life, he's given me.

Pastor Josh
00:21:17

This is one corinthians, chapter ten.

Pastor Josh
00:21:20

He's given me an opportunity to overcome this in his power and in his grace.

Pastor Josh
00:21:24

And so stability in our service comes from the inner peace that we have with a relationship with Christ and his word.

Pastor Josh
00:21:30

I want you to think about that.

Pastor Josh
00:21:31

So how can I have stability and instability to have a deeper relationship with Christ and his word?

Pastor Josh
00:21:37

And then when struggles come, we begin to think about things biblically and believe in those things biblically.

Pastor Josh
00:21:45

So we have here what it means to have stability and instability.

Pastor Josh
00:21:49

But then I want you to see, number two, misplaced love.

Pastor Josh
00:21:52

Because one of the reasons why we can have instability in our life is having our love appropriated to the wrong place.

Pastor Josh
00:21:59

And that's what Paul talks about here in verse number eleven.

Pastor Josh
00:22:02

He says, o ye corinthians.

Pastor Josh
00:22:05

He's pleading with them.

Pastor Josh
00:22:08

We're going to see later on in the next few verses that he's treating them as his spiritual children.

Pastor Josh
00:22:12

It's how you speak to your child.

Pastor Josh
00:22:13

Come on, oh, Corinthians.

Pastor Josh
00:22:15

Come on, o ye Corinthians.

Pastor Josh
00:22:17

Our mouth is open unto you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:20

He says, we've preached to you the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:22:22

We've given you the truth, because, remember, what are they accusing him of?

Pastor Josh
00:22:25

They're accusing him of not loving them.

Pastor Josh
00:22:28

And he says, I've told you the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:22:30

I'm speaking the truth in love to you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:32

He says, we've opened our mouth unto you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:35

Our heart is enlarged.

Pastor Josh
00:22:37

Now, that's a phrase that we don't use very frequently, but what he's saying here is, he says, I've opened my heart to you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:42

Okay.

Pastor Josh
00:22:43

I've opened my mouth in the truth, but I've opened my heart in love to you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:47

What he's saying here is, I've given you the truth in love.

Pastor Josh
00:22:52

I love you enough to tell you the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:22:55

I've opened my heart to you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:56

And the Bible speaks very clearly that the type of love that God calls us to have for other believers is agape love.

Pastor Josh
00:23:04

A love that demonstrates.

Pastor Josh
00:23:06

A love that proves.

Pastor Josh
00:23:08

Now we know the greatest example of that is Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:23:10

Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

Pastor Josh
00:23:12

He proved his love for us.

Pastor Josh
00:23:14

God proved his love for us.

Pastor Josh
00:23:15

And so, therefore, what Paul is saying here is this, I don't care what you feel.

Pastor Josh
00:23:20

I've already proven my love for you.

Pastor Josh
00:23:22

I've opened my heart to you.

Pastor Josh
00:23:24

I've enlarged my heart to you.

Pastor Josh
00:23:27

And that's the thought that he's giving here.

Pastor Josh
00:23:28

And so then he says, ye are not straitened in us.

Pastor Josh
00:23:32

Now, you would say, what is he talking about here?

Pastor Josh
00:23:34

They're telling him that they're constricted in their love because of what Paul has done.

Pastor Josh
00:23:39

And so he says here, that's a word, straighten.

Pastor Josh
00:23:42

It means to constrict or to squeeze or to stomp out.

Pastor Josh
00:23:46

You're not strained in us, meaning we are not the ones holding you back for your love.

Pastor Josh
00:23:51

We are not the ones that have stopped your love for God and for others.

Pastor Josh
00:23:55

And for us, he says, but ye are straitened or constricted or squeezed in your own bowels, you would say, okay, what are we talking about here?

Pastor Josh
00:24:07

Bowels was a common reference to their affections, their love, okay.

Pastor Josh
00:24:12

In that culture, they didn't always see the heart as the seat of their love.

Pastor Josh
00:24:16

It was their bowels that, you know, you feel it in your gut, is what they would say.

Pastor Josh
00:24:20

A lot of times, the reference to heart was their mind actually different than our culture today.

Pastor Josh
00:24:26

Now, when people say, trust your heart, we mean trust your emotions.

Pastor Josh
00:24:29

But back then, when they were talking about their heart, they were talking about their intellect.

Pastor Josh
00:24:33

But in this case, they're talking about the.

Pastor Josh
00:24:36

The affections.

Pastor Josh
00:24:37

And so what does he say here?

Pastor Josh
00:24:38

So you could say that word bowels could be affections.

Pastor Josh
00:24:41

And so what he's saying here is this.

Pastor Josh
00:24:42

Okay, in everyday English, what Paul is explaining to them is this.

Pastor Josh
00:24:47

It's not our fault that you're not loving.

Pastor Josh
00:24:49

It's your fault that you're not loving properly because of your own affections.

Pastor Josh
00:24:53

Your love has changed from a healthy love to an unhealthy love, an unhealthy love for the wrong things.

Pastor Josh
00:25:01

And so what he's saying here, he's saying this, you've misplaced your affections.

Pastor Josh
00:25:05

You've misplaced your love.

Pastor Josh
00:25:08

Your love for God has been changed to a love for this world.

Pastor Josh
00:25:14

Your love for others has been changed for a love for yourself.

Pastor Josh
00:25:19

It's misplaced love.

Pastor Josh
00:25:22

And so the corinthian Christians accuse Paul of not loving them, but Paul tells them that they can't blame him for the lack of love that they have for the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:25:31

It's their own struggle, it's their own affections that have been changed from the appropriate to the inappropriate.

Pastor Josh
00:25:38

Now, you would say, what did the corinthian church love?

Pastor Josh
00:25:41

Well, by context, we're gonna talk about it next week, they love the world too much.

Pastor Josh
00:25:46

We're gonna talk next week about what it means to be unequally yoked with the world.

Pastor Josh
00:25:50

And so we know by context, the corinthian church loved the world too much.

Pastor Josh
00:25:53

They loved the things of this world too much.

Pastor Josh
00:25:55

They love themselves too much.

Pastor Josh
00:25:58

And so what we see here is the reason why many christians are not where we need to be when it comes to our faithfulness to God and our service to God is because our love has been misappropriated away from him and to the others that he calls us to love to ourselves and to this world.

Pastor Josh
00:26:13

We love ourselves too much to love others.

Pastor Josh
00:26:16

We love the world too much to love God.

Pastor Josh
00:26:19

You say, well, I don't love the world.

Pastor Josh
00:26:21

I love God with all my heart.

Pastor Josh
00:26:23

Go back to that first question that I asked you.

Pastor Josh
00:26:26

What do you love in this world?

Pastor Josh
00:26:28

What you love is what you spend time with.

Pastor Josh
00:26:30

What you love is what you sacrifice for.

Pastor Josh
00:26:33

What you love is what you're willing to suffer for.

Pastor Josh
00:26:35

The true test is not what you say.

Pastor Josh
00:26:38

The true test is what you do.

Pastor Josh
00:26:41

So if you want to really take an account of what you love in your life, look into your life, inspect your life.

Pastor Josh
00:26:47

Well, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:26:47

The first time someone comes against me, when it comes to ministry, I'm gone.

Pastor Josh
00:26:51

Forget it.

Pastor Josh
00:26:52

They don't deserve my love.

Pastor Josh
00:26:54

You don't love God?

Pastor Josh
00:26:55

Then what if my wife came up to me and she said, you know, honey, I think that, you know, you should wash the dishes.

Pastor Josh
00:27:01

You're not really helping me with anything.

Pastor Josh
00:27:02

Well, come on, you don't love me I'm gone.

Pastor Josh
00:27:04

See you later.

Pastor Josh
00:27:06

Do I really love her?

Pastor Josh
00:27:07

No.

Pastor Josh
00:27:07

I'm just looking for an excuse to go.

Pastor Josh
00:27:09

First thing comes up, problem.

Pastor Josh
00:27:10

All right, I'm gone.

Pastor Josh
00:27:11

I don't love her.

Pastor Josh
00:27:12

I'm not willing to do anything for her if I'm not willing to do that same thing with God.

Pastor Josh
00:27:16

If we truly love him, we're willing to go through the ups and the downs and the struggles and say, no, I'm pushing forward for the bigger picture.

Pastor Josh
00:27:23

That's love.

Pastor Josh
00:27:25

So the reason why we love God is because of what he has done for us.

Pastor Josh
00:27:30

The Bible says in one john, chapter four, we love him because he first loved us.

Pastor Josh
00:27:35

We don't start loving him and then receive his love and go, wow, that love's pretty good.

Pastor Josh
00:27:39

No, it's because of his love for us that we even have an opportunity to love him and to love love others.

Pastor Josh
00:27:45

And so we are designed as human beings to love.

Pastor Josh
00:27:49

But sometimes we love the wrong things and therefore miss the opportunity to experience the overwhelming love of God.

Pastor Josh
00:27:56

So go back to second corinthians, chapter six.

Pastor Josh
00:27:59

He says, you are not straitened in us, but ye are strained in your own bowels or your own affections.

Pastor Josh
00:28:05

Now for a recompense in the same I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged.

Pastor Josh
00:28:11

He says, open your hearts to the love of God.

Pastor Josh
00:28:14

And when you open your hearts to the love of God and live in the love of God, you're able to reciprocate that love to him and then ultimately love those around you.

Pastor Josh
00:28:24

And so Paul is explaining to them that your love is in the wrong place, and Paul is showing them love by telling them the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:28:34

That's one of the best things that we can do to someone that we love, is to tell them the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:28:38

And so Paul is right here proving his love for the corinthian church, whether they like it or not.

Pastor Josh
00:28:42

Because when we do things in love, a lot of times people expect it to be like we talked about, I think, last week.

Pastor Josh
00:28:50

Oh, well, it's condoning everything.

Pastor Josh
00:28:52

It's accepting everything.

Pastor Josh
00:28:53

No, the Bible says that that is not the true test of love.

Pastor Josh
00:28:56

The true test of love is, are we willing to tell someone the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:28:59

Now, sometimes we can tell people the truth without love, but when we've proven our faithfulness to somebody, then we can tell them the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:29:07

We do it in grace, we do it in patience, we do it in sacrifice.

Pastor Josh
00:29:12

And so he says, it is now time for you to open your hearts.

Pastor Josh
00:29:16

And so they blame Paul.

Pastor Josh
00:29:18

But the truth was, it was their responsibility to rest in the love of God that drives us forward in our service.

Pastor Josh
00:29:25

And so the real problem was that the corinthian church was restricted by their own affections.

Pastor Josh
00:29:31

They were held back by their own affections.

Pastor Josh
00:29:34

And so it wasn't that Paul, like, didn't love them or didn't love them enough, which was the claim that they had.

Pastor Josh
00:29:41

It was that they loved themselves too much, that they loved the world too much.

Pastor Josh
00:29:47

It was their own affections that restricted them.

Pastor Josh
00:29:50

I want you to see in one John, and obviously one John has a lot to say about love, but if you go to one John, chapter two, I want you to see something about what the Bible says about loving the world.

Pastor Josh
00:30:01

The Bible says that as christians, one of the temptations that we will have is to love the world too much.

Pastor Josh
00:30:07

We're in the world, but we're not of the world.

Pastor Josh
00:30:09

That's what should be our testimony.

Pastor Josh
00:30:12

Hey, I'm living in this world, but I don't love it enough.

Pastor Josh
00:30:14

I don't love it at all.

Pastor Josh
00:30:16

I shouldn't love it.

Pastor Josh
00:30:17

One John 215.

Pastor Josh
00:30:21

This is God's call for us as christians when it comes to loving the world.

Pastor Josh
00:30:26

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.

Pastor Josh
00:30:30

If any man loved the world, the love of the father is not in him.

Pastor Josh
00:30:33

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the father, but is of the world.

Pastor Josh
00:30:39

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof.

Pastor Josh
00:30:42

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

Pastor Josh
00:30:46

The Bible says here that all that is in the world is this.

Pastor Josh
00:30:52

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Pastor Josh
00:30:58

What feels good, what looks good, and what lifts you up, right?

Pastor Josh
00:31:04

Lust of the flesh, what feels good, lust of the eyes, what I want, what I desire, and the pride of life, what lifts me up.

Pastor Josh
00:31:10

And so to be opposite of that would be to not go after the things that feel good, to not seek after those things that catch my eye in selfishness, in covetousness, and then ultimately not what lifts me up, but what lifts the Lord up.

Pastor Josh
00:31:24

So what Satan does, Satan always tries to twist what God has already created to be good.

Pastor Josh
00:31:30

You see that, right?

Pastor Josh
00:31:31

God defines something.

Pastor Josh
00:31:33

Satan twists it.

Pastor Josh
00:31:34

Satan is not a creator.

Pastor Josh
00:31:35

The enemy is not a creator.

Pastor Josh
00:31:36

He doesn't create something new.

Pastor Josh
00:31:38

All he tries to do is twist what has already been created.

Pastor Josh
00:31:41

See it from the very beginning in the garden, right?

Pastor Josh
00:31:43

He was just trying to twist already what was there.

Pastor Josh
00:31:45

Satan tries to redefine marriage.

Pastor Josh
00:31:47

He tries to redefine truth, he tries to redefine sexuality, he tries to redefine all these different things, right?

Pastor Josh
00:31:53

He tries to redefine what the word of God says.

Pastor Josh
00:31:56

You see that back with Jesus in Matthew, chapter four.

Pastor Josh
00:31:59

Satan comes and tries to twist the word to Jesus, right?

Pastor Josh
00:32:02

He tries just to move it just a little bit away from the truth so that there can be sin.

Pastor Josh
00:32:06

And so what we can see here in this case is that there is the opposite of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

Pastor Josh
00:32:13

And that is to exalt Christ, to worship him, to die to our flesh, right?

Pastor Josh
00:32:18

What does the New Testament say that a Christian should do to our flesh?

Pastor Josh
00:32:21

Die to it, mortify our members, put it on a cross, kill it.

Pastor Josh
00:32:25

It's not our desires that we should follow.

Pastor Josh
00:32:28

The Bible says the love of money, the love of covetousness, is the root of all evil, all kind of evil.

Pastor Josh
00:32:36

And so we see over and over again the opposite that the world preaches is what God preaches.

Pastor Josh
00:32:41

The pride of life.

Pastor Josh
00:32:42

The pride of life is essentially this, worshiping yourself.

Pastor Josh
00:32:46

We are beings created to worship.

Pastor Josh
00:32:49

All of us worship something.

Pastor Josh
00:32:50

Some of us worship a celebrity.

Pastor Josh
00:32:53

Some of us worship ourselves.

Pastor Josh
00:32:54

Some of us worship a sports figure.

Pastor Josh
00:32:56

Some of us worship money.

Pastor Josh
00:32:57

Some of us worship whatever it is.

Pastor Josh
00:33:00

But the truth is, is that all of us are created to worship.

Pastor Josh
00:33:03

Really.

Pastor Josh
00:33:03

There's only one person to worship, and that is God.

Pastor Josh
00:33:05

That's the only person, as we sang this morning, that's worthy of our worship and worthy of our praise.

Pastor Josh
00:33:10

Why do we worship him?

Pastor Josh
00:33:12

Well, I'll give you an analogy that I think is the case.

Pastor Josh
00:33:15

And I think this is something that we can say is point number three.

Pastor Josh
00:33:19

We had misappropriated love, and now we see authentic love.

Pastor Josh
00:33:23

How do we prove our love?

Pastor Josh
00:33:25

Why should we prove our love to God?

Pastor Josh
00:33:27

Well, because the Bible calls us to have authentic love.

Pastor Josh
00:33:30

If you go back and look with me to verse number six, what was one of the character traits of being a faithful servant?

Pastor Josh
00:33:36

At the end of verse number six, in two corinthians, it says, love unfeigned, authentic love.

Pastor Josh
00:33:42

And so instead of misappropriated love, there's authentic love that we are supposed to have in our lives for God.

Pastor Josh
00:33:49

Now let me give you a little bit of an example about this.

Pastor Josh
00:33:55

I go to my son's flag football games, okay?

Pastor Josh
00:33:58

And Mike is out there playing flag football, and I'm sitting on the front row.

Pastor Josh
00:34:03

I'm so invested, right?

Pastor Josh
00:34:04

Come on, Micah, get in the play, run the ball, you know, catch the ball, tag this guy, pull the flag.

Pastor Josh
00:34:10

Now if Micah did not play flag football, do you think I would be showing up on a Saturday morning and being like, I want to watch third and fourth grade flag football?

Pastor Josh
00:34:22

Okay, no.

Pastor Josh
00:34:23

So let me give you a hint.

Pastor Josh
00:34:24

Third and fourth grade flag football means nothing to me.

Pastor Josh
00:34:28

But it's because my son, who I love, is playing.

Pastor Josh
00:34:34

And so I get excited at a third and fourth grade flag football game when someone scores a touchdown because my son's involved.

Pastor Josh
00:34:41

It's my love for him that drives my excitement.

Pastor Josh
00:34:45

It's not the actual event itself that drives the excitement.

Pastor Josh
00:34:48

So you say, why do we worship God?

Pastor Josh
00:34:50

We worship God because we love him.

Pastor Josh
00:34:54

Everything that we do in our lives should be an excitement because of what Jesus Christ has done for us.

Pastor Josh
00:34:59

We worship him because of our love for him.

Pastor Josh
00:35:03

We get excited for our children because of our love for them.

Pastor Josh
00:35:06

We get excited for t ball games because of our love for the person in the tee ball game.

Pastor Josh
00:35:11

Now, if some of you guys were like, I like to go out and watch five year old t ball games, they're just so intrigued.

Pastor Josh
00:35:15

No, come on.

Pastor Josh
00:35:17

We do it because we love them.

Pastor Josh
00:35:18

And so why do we worship?

Pastor Josh
00:35:20

Well, we worship because we get together on Sunday mornings and God commands us to worship.

Pastor Josh
00:35:26

Does God command us to worship?

Pastor Josh
00:35:27

Yes, but if the reason why we come in and worship is because God commands us to worship the heart of it's not there, I guess I gotta get up on Sunday morning and worship.

Pastor Josh
00:35:37

This is my 1 hour of worship today, folks.

Pastor Josh
00:35:41

The Bible says that we are to live lives characterized by worship.

Pastor Josh
00:35:44

Whatsoever you do in your life, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all the glory of God, we're to worship him all the time.

Pastor Josh
00:35:51

Well, I gotta go ahead and pry myself out of bed, get my coffee, get to church.

Pastor Josh
00:35:55

And how long is that preacher gonna preach today?

Pastor Josh
00:35:57

We got things we gotta get to today.

Pastor Josh
00:35:59

I get it.

Pastor Josh
00:35:59

I understand, I understand that.

Pastor Josh
00:36:02

But the truth is, is that if we are needing exterior motivation to worship our God, we have an issue with our love.

Pastor Josh
00:36:10

We need to worship him out of a love that God has already given us in one John, chapter four.

Pastor Josh
00:36:16

We love him because he first loved us.

Pastor Josh
00:36:18

And so Paul's call to action for these people was to open their hearts to the love of God, to really understand the love of God, so that we can love him by our worship and so that we can love others as he's called us to worship.

Pastor Josh
00:36:33

So how do we genuinely display the love of goddess.

Pastor Josh
00:36:36

Well, it's ultimately this keeping our eyes fixed on him.

Pastor Josh
00:36:39

And the Bible says in scripture, this is not Pastor Josh's opinion.

Pastor Josh
00:36:43

You can check me on this, but in many passages of scripture, it says that loving God is proven by how we obey him.

Pastor Josh
00:36:51

Okay, the Bible says there's a lot of things that we can do as christians, but the thing that shows our love for him is to hear his word, heed his word and obey his word.

Pastor Josh
00:37:05

Right?

Pastor Josh
00:37:06

That's the true test.

Pastor Josh
00:37:07

Do I love God enough to be changed?

Pastor Josh
00:37:12

Do I love God enough to say this is what his word says?

Pastor Josh
00:37:14

And I'm willing, even though it's not something that I want to do, I will do it because I love him?

Pastor Josh
00:37:19

That's the true test.

Pastor Josh
00:37:21

The true test is not.

Pastor Josh
00:37:21

Well, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:37:22

I come every Sunday, pastor.

Pastor Josh
00:37:24

What else do you ask from me?

Pastor Josh
00:37:26

I could be out at the beach.

Pastor Josh
00:37:28

I could be at the ball game.

Pastor Josh
00:37:29

Well, yeah, this is one step of being here.

Pastor Josh
00:37:32

But we all know that we can be in our place on Sunday morning and have zero love.

Pastor Josh
00:37:37

Just like we know that there can be marriages that a husband and wife can be in the same room.

Pastor Josh
00:37:42

But there could be issues.

Pastor Josh
00:37:45

We know that there could be instances where, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:37:47

I go to work.

Pastor Josh
00:37:48

Every Monday morning, I'm here at work.

Pastor Josh
00:37:51

But how many of us could say, hey, I can be at a job that I don't love, right?

Pastor Josh
00:37:55

So we can actually, at some point in time see our christian faith as a job that I come in and I punch my ticket and I do my stuff and I go home and I'm not, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:38:08

I got this problem and this problem and this problem, and you know, it's that person's Fault or it's that person's fault.

Pastor Josh
00:38:13

Paul says it's not anybody else's fault except for you and the fact that you have constricted your love for God because of your own affections.

Pastor Josh
00:38:22

And so there must be this authentic love.

Pastor Josh
00:38:24

Colossians chapter three says for us to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord, our eyes fixed on the things which are above.

Pastor Josh
00:38:32

I want you to go see that.

Pastor Josh
00:38:33

Colossians chapter three.

Pastor Josh
00:38:34

Colossians chapter three is talking about setting our affections in the right place.

Pastor Josh
00:38:39

Now, there is going to be times in our life where we are tempted to lose sight of this.

Pastor Josh
00:38:46

Like so.

Pastor Josh
00:38:47

For example, when I wake up in the morning as a husband, I wish I could tell you that every morning that I wake up as a husband, I'm like, wow, this is like sunshine and rainbows.

Pastor Josh
00:38:56

It's a movie.

Pastor Josh
00:38:57

It's a love movie every single day.

Pastor Josh
00:38:59

And my wife and I just get up and.

Pastor Josh
00:39:00

Good morning, honey.

Pastor Josh
00:39:01

And everything's just great.

Pastor Josh
00:39:02

No, there is going to be times where I wake up and because of whatever happened this time or whatever's happening in my own life, that there could be a strain on the love that I have with my wife.

Pastor Josh
00:39:12

And some of you that are perfect in your marriage go.

Pastor Josh
00:39:14

We've never had that problem.

Pastor Josh
00:39:15

Okay, well, come on out to the next marriage conference and you could be the speaker.

Pastor Josh
00:39:20

Okay, but here's the thing.

Pastor Josh
00:39:22

As a husband and wife, because many of us know that analogy, it doesn't mean that our love is gone.

Pastor Josh
00:39:27

It just means that our love can be strained for whatever reason.

Pastor Josh
00:39:31

And so there's things in our life as a Christian that even though we know that God loves us and even though we have a desire to love our lord, there can be things that strain that love.

Pastor Josh
00:39:40

And we could say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:39:41

My eyes are not on the right.

Pastor Josh
00:39:42

My eyes are on the fact that, hey, hey, that stuff in the kit, you know, I don't know if any of you guys have ever played this game before.

Pastor Josh
00:39:49

Okay, there's dirty dishes in the sink and who's going to touch it first?

Pastor Josh
00:39:54

Okay, we're just going to keep walking by and go, okay.

Pastor Josh
00:39:56

Hopefully she saw that and we're going to do a stalemate.

Pastor Josh
00:39:59

We're going to see how long it's going to go.

Pastor Josh
00:40:00

Right now.

Pastor Josh
00:40:01

Some of you go, no, we never have that problem.

Pastor Josh
00:40:03

Okay, well, for you it might be something else, but the truth is that there's times in our life where we can say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:40:08

I'm not going to look to the vow that I made to my spouse.

Pastor Josh
00:40:11

I'm not going to look to what they have done over and over and over again by proving their love to me.

Pastor Josh
00:40:15

All I'm going to do is look at that very moment.

Pastor Josh
00:40:17

They hate me because they're not doing that.

Pastor Josh
00:40:20

And the truth is that there's some times in our christian life that we don't go back to the word of truth.

Pastor Josh
00:40:24

We don't go back to everything that we know about God and his covenant to us and his love for us.

Pastor Josh
00:40:29

We go to that very instance of that circumstance and go, no, he must not love me because that's not what he would do if he loves me and therefore, I'm not going to love him.

Pastor Josh
00:40:37

But what does colossians chapter three, verse one says?

Pastor Josh
00:40:39

It says, if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, that's the eternal, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Pastor Josh
00:40:48

And then here it is, verse two.

Pastor Josh
00:40:49

Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Pastor Josh
00:40:57

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Pastor Josh
00:41:02

So he says this, he says, don't set your affections on the things of this world that are pulling your attention away from God, your affections away from God.

Pastor Josh
00:41:09

Set your affections, set your eyes on the things of God and the things that are eternal.

Pastor Josh
00:41:13

Because you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:41:14

It's not going to matter what happens on the day to day.

Pastor Josh
00:41:16

It's not going to matter what happens in the case of the ups and downs of life, because you're going to stay faithful to him.

Pastor Josh
00:41:22

And that's endurance, keeping your eyes fixed on what God has done for you, what he's already proven to you in his love.

Pastor Josh
00:41:28

God has proven his love towards you.

Pastor Josh
00:41:30

First, John, chapter four, verse 16.

Pastor Josh
00:41:35

And we have known and believed the love of God hath to us.

Pastor Josh
00:41:38

God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.

Pastor Josh
00:41:44

I can say that that's maybe the summary verse here this morning.

Pastor Josh
00:41:47

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.

Pastor Josh
00:41:53

At some point in your life, if you're a believer this morning, you have known and believed in the love of goddesse.

Pastor Josh
00:42:01

And we have to know and believe that God is love and that he dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God.

Pastor Josh
00:42:10

He that dwelleth in love, he that is known by love, he that rests in the love of God, is resting and dwelling in God.

Pastor Josh
00:42:16

And so to rest in God is to rest in love, love for God and love for others.

Pastor Josh
00:42:22

And so I would tell you here this morning, the fix is not just try really, really hard to keep loving other people and loving God.

Pastor Josh
00:42:28

It's dwelling in Christ, it's dwelling in him.

Pastor Josh
00:42:31

It's living in that love.

Pastor Josh
00:42:32

It's being bathed by that love every single day.

Pastor Josh
00:42:35

Lord, I know that you love me.

Pastor Josh
00:42:37

I know what your word says.

Pastor Josh
00:42:38

I know what you've shown me in my life.

Pastor Josh
00:42:40

And so therefore, I'm not going to allow these affections of my own flesh to pull me away from the affections that I have for you.

Pastor Josh
00:42:47

I go back to the marriage situation because I know that's applicable for many of us.

Pastor Josh
00:42:54

Even if it's not applicable to you, you can understand the marriage love.

Pastor Josh
00:42:59

If my wife, if I go to my wife and I say, hey, I love you so much, but all I do is spend time with other people.

Pastor Josh
00:43:06

I go spend time with other women.

Pastor Josh
00:43:08

And she goes, well, he says he loves me, but he's showing those people love all the time.

Pastor Josh
00:43:13

What I'm doing is I'm loving, but I'm misappropriating that love.

Pastor Josh
00:43:17

That should go to her, to somebody else, right?

Pastor Josh
00:43:21

I'm taking the love that I should give to her, and I say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:43:24

I'm going to give it to someone else, someone who does not deserve that type of love.

Pastor Josh
00:43:28

That's the exact same thing we do to God.

Pastor Josh
00:43:31

The love that we are to have in worship, the love that we are to have in devotion and sacrifice and service should all go to him.

Pastor Josh
00:43:39

But what do we do?

Pastor Josh
00:43:40

We take little parts of that love.

Pastor Josh
00:43:41

We might not take all of it, but we might take portions of that love and appropriate it to someone else or something else in our lives.

Pastor Josh
00:43:47

So what do we say?

Pastor Josh
00:43:48

We say, well, God, I love you.

Pastor Josh
00:43:49

I give you this much.

Pastor Josh
00:43:50

You should be thankful with this much.

Pastor Josh
00:43:52

He doesn't want part of us.

Pastor Josh
00:43:53

He doesn't want a little bit.

Pastor Josh
00:43:55

He wants everything.

Pastor Josh
00:43:57

He wants us all.

Pastor Josh
00:43:58

He wants us to be completely committed to him in every way.

Pastor Josh
00:44:01

And that is what it means to dwell in him.

Pastor Josh
00:44:04

And so Paul says, that is endurance.

Pastor Josh
00:44:08

That is patience, that is sacrifice.

Pastor Josh
00:44:12

That is what it means to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ, to love him completely and to dwell in him and allow the love of God to compel us to service and to sacrifice.

Pastor Josh
00:44:23

Folks, I'm gonna tell you here this morning, you can set your affections on other things.

Pastor Josh
00:44:30

You have the freedom to do that.

Pastor Josh
00:44:31

God's not gonna strike you dead here this morning.

Pastor Josh
00:44:33

If you love something else, it doesn't make him happy.

Pastor Josh
00:44:37

It doesn't give him joy in your life, but you have the freedom to love whatever you wanna love.

Pastor Josh
00:44:41

But why would we set our affections on anything else outside of the truth of Jesus Christ?

Pastor Josh
00:44:46

That's what Paul was telling the corinthian church.

Pastor Josh
00:44:48

You guys are constricting yourselves because of your affections.

Pastor Josh
00:44:51

Now we're gonna look next week at what their affections really were.

Pastor Josh
00:44:54

It was essentially they were yoking up with the things of this world too much.

Pastor Josh
00:44:58

They were loving the things of this world too much, and they were trying to meld together the world and their faith, and they wanted the best of both worlds.

Pastor Josh
00:45:10

And what the Lord's going to tell us in this passage is that you can't love the world and love God at the same time.

Pastor Josh
00:45:15

It's not going to work.

Pastor Josh
00:45:17

And so next week, I want you to come back because we're going to talk about what it means to be unequally yoked.

Pastor Josh
00:45:22

Some of you might say, well, I know what that means.

Pastor Josh
00:45:23

That means when a husband and wife are not christians, like one is a believer and one's not a believer.

Pastor Josh
00:45:29

That's one instance of that.

Pastor Josh
00:45:30

Yes, we will talk about that, but we're also going to talk about the deeper understanding of what it means to be unequally yoked with this world.

Pastor Josh
00:45:37

And it ties right together with that last phrase that Paul gave.

Pastor Josh
00:45:40

Your affections.

Pastor Josh
00:45:40

You're constricted by your own affections, the love for this world.

Pastor Josh
00:45:44

Now, you would say, well, pastor, do you completely love God and never love this world?

Pastor Josh
00:45:49

No, folks, these are things that we're going to struggle with for the rest of our lives.

Pastor Josh
00:45:52

Why?

Pastor Josh
00:45:52

Because the world is attractive.

Pastor Josh
00:45:54

The world is what we see.

Pastor Josh
00:45:55

The world is what we know.

Pastor Josh
00:45:57

And therefore, that is why we as christians are so attached to this world.

Pastor Josh
00:46:00

But the more we love God and the more we spend time with him and the more we appreciate his love for us, our grip on this world becomes less and less.

Pastor Josh
00:46:09

And eventually that grip hopefully is released, and hopefully we can cling on to him more and more, and those things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

Pastor Josh
00:46:19

And so I want you to think about those three things here this morning, starting out with that idea of stability and instability, and then what missed a place love looks like.

Pastor Josh
00:46:31

And ultimately God's call for us to have authentic love for him and for others.

Pastor Josh
00:46:36

I'm gonna ask if you're able to stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed, as the music plays.

Pastor Josh
00:46:40

This morning, we're gonna have an opportunity to respond to him.

Pastor Josh
00:46:44

I hope that that very first question that I asked you this morning is something you've been thinking about.

Pastor Josh
00:46:50

Who or what are you setting your affections on?

Pastor Josh
00:46:54

Who do you love the most in this world?

Pastor Josh
00:46:59

Many of us, if we were honest, at some point in our lives, we would say, man, I love me more than anything else.

Pastor Josh
00:47:06

I'm willing to do anything to protect me.

Pastor Josh
00:47:09

The truth is, the Bible says that's the pride of life.

Pastor Josh
00:47:13

So I would ask you this morning, who do you love?

Pastor Josh
00:47:16

Who do you love most?

Pastor Josh
00:47:18

The second question is, what do you love most?

Pastor Josh
00:47:20

What things are you loving in your life?

Pastor Josh
00:47:22

What are you spending the most time on?

Pastor Josh
00:47:24

The Bible says it is the word of God that we should base our faith off of, not circumstances.

Pastor Josh
00:47:32

I know it's easy to love those things.

Pastor Josh
00:47:34

But the Bible says that we have to have that stability and instability by having authentic love instead of misplaced love.

Pastor Josh
00:47:40

Maybe you've been misplacing your love here today.

Pastor Josh
00:47:43

Maybe you've been misplacing your love when it comes to your family, when it comes to the Lord, when it comes to your service.

Pastor Josh
00:47:49

Maybe you've been so focused on the things of this world that it's been stealing your love from the things that it should be going to.

Pastor Josh
00:47:54

Maybe you're allowing the world to steal your love from your spouse.

Pastor Josh
00:48:00

Maybe you're allowing the world to steal your love for your children.

Pastor Josh
00:48:03

Maybe you're allowing, most importantly, the love of this world to steal your love away from God and his word.

Pastor Josh
00:48:10

There's no shame in that other than the fact that, hey, I need to get that right.

Pastor Josh
00:48:14

I need to respond right now.

Pastor Josh
00:48:16

I don't want to be like the corinthian christians who have been so constricted by my own affections that I'm not able to open and enlarge my heart to the truth of God.

Pastor Josh
00:48:24

The title of the sermon this morning was essentially this, open your hearts to the love of God.

Pastor Josh
00:48:29

Open your hearts.

Pastor Josh
00:48:30

Be willing to be used by God and allow his love to compel you.

Pastor Josh
00:48:34

Maybe you need to go back to say, Lord, it is your love that drives me to serve.

Pastor Josh
00:48:38

It is your love that drives me to study.

Pastor Josh
00:48:40

It is your love that drives me to sacrifice.

Pastor Josh
00:48:43

It is your love that drives me to a place of submission.

Pastor Josh
00:48:46

To you.

Pastor Josh
00:48:49

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation.

Pastor Josh
00:48:52

Pray that you work in hearts and lives.

Pastor Josh
00:48:54

Pray if there's someone here this morning who does not know you as savior, maybe they have not tasted the love of forgiveness and truth, that today can be the day of salvation, that today can be the day of forgiveness.

Pastor Josh
00:49:06

We thank you for loving us so much that you sent your only begotten son.

Pastor Josh
00:49:09

We thank you for the hope that we can have that when we trust in you, in faith, that we can know you and to live and dwell in you and ultimately know that we have eternal life with you in heaven forever.

Pastor Josh
00:49:20

Because of your forgiveness of our sins and because of your sacrifice.

Pastor Josh
00:49:24

We thank you for conquering death and giving us hope in life.

Pastor Josh
00:49:27

Pray that you be in this time of invitation.

Pastor Josh
00:49:29

Pray that you work in hearts and lives in Jesus name.

Pastor Josh
00:49:31

Amen.

Pastor Josh
00:49:32

As the music plays, come here, the altar this morning set your affections on the things above, not the things which are of this earth.

Pastor Josh
00:49:40

If you need Jesus Christ as your savior this morning, we have some folks standing up here.

Pastor Josh
00:49:44

We can show you in the word of God, what it means to know him and to trust in him.

Pastor Josh
00:49:48

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

Pastor Josh
00:49:52

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

Pastor Josh
00:49:54

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us@middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

Pastor Josh
00:50:04

You can also email me directly at joshmissaro@middletownbaptistchurch.com.

Pastor Josh
00:50:09

if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcasts and updates.

Pastor Josh
00:50:16

Thank you so much.

Pastor Josh
00:50:17

God bless.

Pastor Josh
00:50:18

Have a wonderful day.