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Have a seat in the presence of the Lord. Amen. Amen. Welcome to 2819 Church, beloved. Good to see y' all today. My name is Eric Hayes. I'm one of the elders here. Amen. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Don't you get me started. I gotta get this word. Oh, man, don't tell me that it's going quickly right in front of me. But I'm here because he saved me and he. He's still cleaning me up. Amen. Amen. In heaven, we are a church that continues to be a house of prayer, presence and proclamation. I want to welcome our online community digital disciples. Those that are across the camera, those that are in the room, overflow. Welcome. Welcome. We love you. And we also want to welcome the unbeliever. Amen. Amen. Why they. Why they shouting? Why they clapping for me? Because this is a place where you can belong before you believe. And. And guess what? The gospel is for you. Amen. You can also be pricked to the heart by the Holy Spirit and run into the strong tower and be safe from calamity and eternal judgment in Christ Jesus at any time you choose to. And I want to honor the pastor of this local ecclesia, Philip Anthony Mitchell. At this time. No pressure, just want to call about time if you would like to. We have a culture of showing honor, giving honor to whom it is due, and we consider him worthy of honor. Amen. Amen. Okay, beloved man, as a church today, we're actually continuing this summer sermon series Fruit that remains. Anybody been blessed with it? Blessed by. It's blessed me. And I've been preaching some of it. Amen. And today I will preach the next installment that has been titled A glorious mess, A glorious message. I just want to pray one more time. God, have your way with this assignment with your people. By your precious Holy Spirit and your design plan. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Please bring up my picture. Now, family, you probably know this and as many variations as a fish symbol, something you may have seen, sometimes they have a cross in it and you see it on bumper stickers. But according to tradition, that is ancient Christians during their persecution by the Roman Empire, they were really being persecuted in the first few centuries after Christ. They used to use this fish symbol to mark meeting places and tombs or to distinguish between friends and foes. According to one ancient story, when a Christian met a stranger in the road, the Christians sometimes drew an arc, drew one ark of the simple fish outlined in the dirt. And they would wait to see if the other person would do the same. Okay, so way before it was on shirts, it was on necklaces. I mean, if you wear it, that's cool. But I just want you to know the origin. Our brothers and sisters in ancient Christianity were getting persecuted. So when we come in here, we clap and we don't have to hide. We can sing out loud. That was not their case. And there are brothers that actually. Brothers and sisters that listen to these messages and they're still getting persecuted. In other words, places on the planet. They're part of our body. We should think about them, we should pray for them, we should consider them. Hallelujah. Sometimes we get spoiled with our convenience. You can bring a latte in here and everything is cool. And they're. They're actually risking their lives to spread the gospel that we count as common and we need to love them and consider them. But they would actually go and they would draw one part. They would just watch because it was a secret and see what they did. And it was only if they completed the fish symbol like we saw up there, then they would know, this is my brother. This is my sister. I can trust them. They are my community. It meant something. It was costly at that time to say you were a Christian, So I needed to know if you were in the secret place that you really believed or. I risked everything. You could grab me, my wife, my children could be snatched up if you just had a bad day and felt like telling and beloved. We're in a place where it's harder to tell who your real community is. It's tougher. Like, please don't think that. And listen, man, maybe it's tough for me to say. Maybe it's not. Just don't think. Just because the person sitting next to you is clapping and jumping during the loud music, you should not automatically assume just by that that they are a part of your real community. Since it doesn't cost as much, I thought we're going to be talking about community. And before we get into how we should walk together, I thought it would be a great idea if we could talk about what are some of the major things that we could rally around as community? How do I really know you, my community? We should believe the same things. And if we believe the same things, it will lead us to acting the same way, AKA walking like Jesus. So I don't want you to take this as a statement of faith, as an exhaustive list of all the things that we believe that's tough man, people have a statement of faith. I'm like, how do you get that down to seven sentences when we got the whole Bible? This is my statement of faith. The Word, it's more right. But understand this is useful. Just so again, you can distinguish what they really believe. So let us walk through the scriptures here. Some things that we can rally around. We can rally around Christ and the Comforter. Take me to John 14:15 through 17th verse. Christ and the Comforter. John 14:15, 17. ESV. If you're still turning, you can actually look on the screen. This is Christ speaking. He says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Stop. Christ is Lord. That means what he says goes. That means what he tells us to do, we should be doing. And as much as we holler and jump about him saving, when it gets to him being Lord and telling us what to do. He said my commandments, not just His Father's commandments. People say he didn't say he was God. Doesn't that sound like he's God? I have commandments and you should keep them. And unfortunately, beloved, in the west, we already done fractured community right there. Too many of us just look at the red words where Christ is speaking as Lord, not just Savior, and we just treat it as a suggestion. Or as I said in previous sermons, we just kind of disregard it. See how quiet it is in here? I know why it's quiet. Because many of us don't treat him as Lord. And that's one of the major reasons the west looks so raggedy when it comes to Christianity. I can stay here for five minutes. I'm really okay with that uncomfortable silence because why in the world are we jumping around and saying, I love you, I love you, you are king. And then we step out of here in a hot 45 minutes and we look at his words or don't look at them, and will not do what he said. Fake Christians, fake. I'm not talking about being perfect either. The perfect one has already come, lived, died, rose on the third day, ascended, sits on the right hand side of the Father and He's the only one that's perfect. But if you actively deny his lordship, you can't be a part of the real community. Lord and Savior come together in the same package. Our elder a few Sundays ago, he's talking about, we are now bond servants of Christ. And when we say that, we know it gets cold in the room. That's why our community is weak. Why are we gonna sign up for small groups that come and then not do what he says, He continues. He says, and I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper to be with you forever. Say forever, says even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows Him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. You know, it really bothers me when we are in the church and we look for the approval of the world and it tells you they don't know him nor see the Holy Ghost. We take our culture cues from them when they don't know him nor see Him. The very Spirit of God. But I want to point out, beloved, those that belong to Christ. I want you to see how thorough the work of the cross is. In the Old Testament, they would run from the Holy Spirit, they would run from the presence of God. But Christ says, in us. He will be in us. So let's take us, which is in the future then, but in the past for us, to the upper room. When the Holy Spirit landed on us, Joseph said, it will pour out on all flesh. So let's just make it plain. It took our raggedy selves and cleaned us up so much that the Holy Spirit could actually live on the inside of us. That's the power of the friend's finished work. So when he says, don't call her, Don't return that text. Do you know that? Many times. That's the actual Holy Spirit. Hanging around our raggedy selves with a sin nature. How do we just overlook that? Beloved, we say, I want a new car. When you have the Holy Spirit. Nothing wrong with the new car. But do you prize it? More important, because we get the car, we say, thank God for the car. When's the last time we said thank God for the Holy Spirit. Saving us from danger seen and unseen. Jesus, Talking about things the real community rallies around communion and the new covenant. Matthew 26:26, 29th verse. For the sake of time, beloved. You can just look on the screen now. As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat. This is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it with you. In my Father's kingdom. He gave us communion. Holy Communion. It actually says, don't drink it in an unworthy fashion, or you drink damnation or death unto yourself. It is a holy thing that only true believers should partake in. But beloved, the drink represented the new covenant. Let me read verse 28 in the Amplified. He says, for this is my blood of the new and better covenant, which ratifies the agreement and is being poured out for many as a substitutionary atonement for the forgiveness of sins. Let me stop there. Right. So when I was in school, I didn't really like school a lot. I was smart, but I didn't like school. I like the way they did it. That's another conversation. But one of my least favorite subjects was government history. They just. They made it boring. Anybody with me? Okay, so when I say ratified, you didn't really know I'm taking you back to, like, grade school at that point, Right? So ratified means to sign or give formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement making it officially valid. Say it's official. He made the new Covenant official when he instituted the breaking of bread and the sharing of wine. Communion. All right, now you quiet because you may not know what the New Covenant actually talked about it. He talked about it in Hebrews 8:12. It's not going to come up on the screen, but this is what I want to read. Hebrews 8:12, when it speaks of the New Covenant that Jesus is the mediator of, it says, for I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more. You can clap. And what I love about the gospel, it's still good because we hear these things. But it's not until we apply them to our lives that it's real. Like, do you approach God like, He remembers your sin no more, or you don't have reverence to God? No, I have reverence for the sacrifice of Christ that killed my sin debt, my belief in what he did in the finished work of the cross. Now I can run boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy in my time of need. Because the New Covenant says he will remember our sins no more. That's the gospel. That's the good news. That's what Jesus was bringing to us. This is what he accomplished with his life, death, resurrection, and ascension into the right hand side of the Father. We should be rallying around that. Take that again. The real community, we are rallying around that. Take you to second Corinthians 5:16 through 20. We can rally around the new creation. Second Corinthians 5, 16, 20 Again, beloved, for the sake of time, I want to go and start, you can look on the screen. Verse 16 says, from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, very familiar scripture. It says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. It says, all this is from God, who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. I want to stop right there. You are a new creature. If you believe in Christ, you know what the problem is? We don't feel like it when we sin. We let sin lie to us and say, you identify with me when we always should identify with Christ. And you new, old alike. You feel as though when you got saved, you were supposed to get the Holy Ghost shakes. Right? Right. You felt like, I know I'm the only one. Like the glory of the Lord was supposed to come upon you in a whirlwind. You're supposed to turn around and you're supposed to just fly around and see some angels. And then he would shut the curtain, and then you would come back down. And then you say, now I know I'm satisfied. That ain't nowhere in the Bible. But if you believe in him, you can only believe in him by the power of the Holy Ghost. And he's in there. And I'm talking to young, maturing believers. The Holy Ghost lives on the inside of you. And because of that, you are a new creation. Now, you also believe that if I was a new creature or a new creation, then that means I shouldn't struggle with sin. And because you struggle with sin, or a part of you, namely your sin, nature still likes sin. It's hard for you to identify with Christ. And beloved, I'm telling you, before I was up here on this stage 20 years ago, I was in the throes of that very same battle. And you know how I won? I went to the Bible more than I went to my feelings. So let's talk. Right? Right, Right. Can I talk like we family? All right. So you see a girl, and you keep looking at her. And you keep looking at her, and you keep looking at her. Don't get quiet on me. You keep looking at her. And you know what? You start thinking something that's unholy, and you're like, man, I messed up again. And you like, oh, man, I'm always going to keep doing this lie. I'll never get away from this lie. Then you start letting it talk to you. He doesn't Love me, lie. I'm not really saved. Lie. I don't have the Holy Spirit. Lie. I talking about real Christianity. I look at him and I look at him and I look at it. I start thinking, oh man, I did it again. Last thing. But now I go back to the Bible. Oh, let me slow. It's a slow walk too, beloved. It's a slow walk. Am I in the building or am I in the building? I'm gonna tell you why it's a slow walk. You can't believe that a holy God wants to hear from you after you just lusted after a woman. You can't believe that a holy God wants to commune with you after you looked at that. At porn. You can't believe that the holy God wants to commune with you after you did your fill in the blank. That's why we must continue to renew our minds to what the truth is. And it can look like this. I know I did it. God, I'm so sorry. So sorry. God, forgive me. God. I don't want to do it. Don't want to do it. I just. I keep fighting. I lose, I lose, I lose. I win somebody. I lose more than I lose. God. Oh God, who will deliver me? Who will deliver me? Jesus. And continually to walk out the commandments. By his grace, you did not earn it. His unmerited favor, you did not earn it. And by the power of the Holy Spirit. When sin and temptation is presented, the scripture says he will always present a way of escape. That's how I got out. I ain't gonna hold you. You know who taught me that? I think it was Ty. Ty Tribut. Is that how you say his last name? Always mess it up. Him. He said he was preaching that. I think in the middle of a praise and worship. He said he taught me from the scriptures. It says in the scriptures when temptation is presented, there is always a way of escape it as well. You just gotta look for the way of escape. I'm. I'm caught, God. But I know you trying to get me out of this. Where is it? Where is it? God. Call for my brother. Oh man, I'm so glad you called. I was about to go over there again. Is anybody in the building get rescued by God and his Holy Ghost. I renewed my mind not to what sin was telling me, but I was like, all right. It also said if temptation is temp is presented to me, he would not present it stronger than I am able to bear. So if it's in front of me, he's already vetted it and I can win. I'm trying to get somebody free today. I'm trying to get somebody free. He said he would not allow temptation to get in front of me that I cannot beat. I'm from the 80s. We used to fight. We used to knuckle up. Hey, I done won some and I done lost some. But ain't nothing like ready to knuckle up. And you know you about to beat this dude. Ain't nothing like you wanna fight. Okay, okay. I know how that's about to go. Jesus won on the cross and I can walk in his. I'm here. We in the building. We in the building. We in the building. We just talking about Jesus and his Holy Ghost. Ain't nothing like entering a fight you know is already in your favor. Got that S on your chest now, don't you? Eighteen. All this is from God, who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. They're explaining further in verse 19. That is in Christ. God was reconciling the world, say the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors. Say ambassadors. Ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us. We implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. This is what is tragic about hell and tragic about the world. If you ask the average unbeliever, he thinks God is just waiting to pounce upon him with wrath and judgment and shame and guilt and punishment. That's what they think right here in the Scriptures. It tells you that is not true. I'm going to read 19 in the Amplified, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's sins against them, but canceling them. Right? Right. Canceling them. Unbeliever. If you're in here, you're listening. In Christ, your sin debt is canceled. Talk about a good deal. And also, he is your only hope. I'm talking about the gospel, the good news. Let me finish this. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. That is restoration to favor with God. That's pregnant. Beloved, I ain't got time to get into it like I want to, but we're gonna spend a little time and hang out. We as believers, the real community, have been restored to favor with God. If I told you you were restored to favor with a billionaire, now all that he has you have access to, you lose your mind. Hey, I'd be happy, too. But when you look at the Creator of Heaven, and earth, the Creator of the Garden of Eden, Creator of male and female. We're made in his image. We were recreated in Christ Jesus. He gave us the blueprint for life. Christ said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. If it were not so, I would not tell you. His Holy Spirit has been sent and we live on. He lives on the inside of us and he has given us community to each other. At the culmination of all things, he will set things in place. Guess who will be in place with him? See, you want favor with man right now, and I get it. But at the culmination of all things, you have favor with the righteous judge forever and ever and ever and ever. Thanks to the blood. Just going through the book, beloved. It's in there the whole time. Don't you wait until I preach to you to read the word. You don't have to wait till Sunday or another man to get. He wants to give revelation to you. Give us things to rally around. Right. Rally around Christ and the comforter, communion and the new covenant, the new creation. Now let's talk about how we can work together and walk as a real community. Give me Ephesians 4:1:6. We're going to talk about unity in the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:1 6. Just in the interest of time, Beloved, I'm going to start. You can look on the screen if you would like. Verse 1 says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord. This is Paul speaking. Urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. How? Verse 2. With all humility and gentleness, with patience bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. If we walk like this, where's the church mess at? Where's the church split? Where's the dishonor for the leaders? Where's the dishonor for the servant leaders? Where's the dishonor for your colleagues? Where's the dishonor for the staff? I teach premarital and I've been really just. This Lord has been dealing with me when I look at the fall of man. But I look at the garden and I look at what he's made us in Christ Jesus. He's given us glory and we're still dealing with mess. But see the glory that he's given us that we can walk in around him and I say, look at the blueprint. Things go wrong when we scrap the blueprint. I'm going to give it to you in the amplified. So I, the prisoner for the Lord appeal to you to live a life worthy of the call into which you have been called. That is lean in beloved to live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity and mature. Say mature, mature behavior. A life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation. You see why we make time for the blood. Verse 2. With all humility he's explaining how to do it. Forsaking self righteousness. Let me stop here. Can I just get on a soapbox for a little bit? I can't stand. Hold on, let me catch my words. I can't stand when a saint acts in a self righteous manner. I can't stand it. So you get sex worker, a prostitute come in and you just snub your nose off. Look at what she got on. Look. Look at what you got on. Got on. Hate and envy, jealousy and pride and arrogance. You look at the hub. Everything you wear stinks in the nostrils of God. Get somewhere and shut up somewhere. Because of you she won't come back and hear the gospel. Should never act like that. He had to reach way down low to get me. He had to deliver me from the pit out of a miry clay out of depression in 2024. Recently as an elder was fighting for my life with depression. I hear self righteous as if your resume would get you into heaven. Lies. Take your resume and throw it in the trash. And that's good for you. Throw it away. Pick up the resume of Christ, the perfect one. Show that one. Access granted. Forsaken self righteousness and gentleness. Maintaining self control with patience. Bearing, say bearing. Bearing with one another in unselfish love. Stop beloved it. The scriptures say disciples not cute Christians. Care nothing about your church attendance. In the sense of maturity. It can help. But if you're not wrestling this stuff to the ground, we're just performing on the stage for y'. All. Said we should be known by that love. Unselfish love. Real community is marked by that. We should grow into that. Maybe you come from a selfish background. It could be because nobody really gave you anything and now you're in a situation you want to hoard everything to yourself. I'm not here to condemn you. What I'm saying. So we believe that he is our provider. He is our Lord. Will be taken care of. We should not worry. I'm talking about where faith hits the rubber meets the road. I'm not here to judge you, I'm saying, but you're into that. Instead of identifying with the lack currently. Say, I know that you love me. I know you've called me to be generous. I know you called me to be loving. I know you've called me to be kind. And by your grace and your Holy Spirit, I should be maturing into this and say, you fail. Just like anything else. You lean back into it and say, God, I need your help. I blew it this time. I blew it this time. God, I need your help. I need your help. Holy Spirit, help me. His name is the Helper. He's been sent to help us do everything we've been commanded to do. It's not so much that you're not strong, it's because we haven't depended on his help. I'm talking about real Christianity, beloved. Make every effort to keep oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Each individual working together to make the whole whole successful. Each individual working together to make the whole successful. Each individual working together to make the whole successful. There is one body of believers and one spirit. Just as you were called to one hope when salvation when called to salvation. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is sovereign over all and working through all, living in all that believe in Jesus Christ. Point to the insignificant Christian. Point to them where they at to the one who believes in Jesus. And some of you may be internally rolling your eyes and pointing to yourself and I can't find that in the Bible. See why he leaves the 99 and goes toward the 1. You see how when we just try to use the big name preachers and everybody up front, the two rows, they're the important people. I'm not Lies. He died for us all. All of us. If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are significant in his sight and you will always be. Your name is written in sight in the Lamb's book of life. You know what that also means, beloved? Everybody that is in the community, the real one, is significant to God and we need to act like they're important to us. Not when Pastor Elder come around. Oh man. It's all this honor and then if you're not on a stage or you're not carrying a mic, you treat that person like trash. That's enough of that. Enough of that. That's not what you say in the scriptures and that's not what we're going to promote you. Everybody with Humanity and dignity and respect and love and kindness because of what the cross gave to us, all of us who believe in Christ. That's how you build real community. I don't care what you look like new in the A, what you do. I don't care what you do. You my brother, Where you come from, you my sister, you belong to Jesus. Can I tell you something that hurt my heart? It was back in like 2010. I was hooping, I think it was a place called Fitness Connection in Durham. And I ran into a Muslim brother and he had a conversation with me. We were just talking and I don't know how we got in it, but he said something to me, but it was 13 years ago. And he said, man, when we're in a mosque, he said, I don't care what that person is, we in here together. And he said, you're my brother. And I reflected on our community and I had nothing to say. Idle God, stronger community. We should be ashamed and we should work to change it. Race, ethnicity, gender, whatever. One family. Amen. Christ deserves it. All right, this last set of scriptures, all right? Titus 2, 2, 6, all right? And I'm gonna say a word that begins with an O. And you better not check out on me either. It's in the scriptures. All jokes aside, beloved, we are known as a young church, young in existence, 28, 19, going on four years, and also a bunch of young people. What's crazy is we used to be a lot younger, right? But this is here as well. Paul saying to Titus, told him to teach good doctrine, sound doctrine. And in verse two, he says older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self controlled, sound in faith, in love and in steadfastness. Before I go any further, I was looking when he was older, I was like, how old is he talking about? I wanted to know, right? Because I want to be able to say. A number doesn't say right. But what I think I can, I can, I think I have license to say within. That is, if you're 30, you can shed some wisdom with a 20 year old brother, right? You 35, brother is 25, you got three children, lady with the, you know, mother, with a newborn, you can shed something, right? And y' all better not throw nothing at me either. Just gonna read the scriptures like we've been doing, okay? Verse 3. It also says older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers. You know, that's the sin. We don't even talk about one of them cute sins that nobody talks about he says, don't do that. Nor slaves too much wine. Did not say you could not drink wine. He said, do not be slaves to it. They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive. I'm in trouble. I'm already out here. Now I'm going to say it again. It said kind and submissive to their own husband, not another husband. And while I'm out here, we might as well going to get in trouble. Listen, listen, listen, listen to Pastor Phil. But your husband should have a word too. I know. It got quiet. I knew it would. I said to the other side, you're not married to Pastor Phil or anybody up here preaching on this stage. It didn't just say submissive to the elders. That's another scripture they said to your husbands. And I know why it's quiet in here. Because there's an ideology that is rampant throughout our society that says everything I just talked about is trash. Rampant. Not just in the world, beloved. Also in the church. Now I also will say there have been men that have abused that position and woe unto them. And you should not. I like talking about the godly patriarchy all up in 1st Peter 3:1:7, reading the amplified come talk to me. It talks about the type of man and how he should be treating his wife. Loving, nourishing, protecting. And the Amplified treated her with great gentleness and tact. I'll be getting convicted on that one. Say great gentleness and tact. I may have some tact, I may have some gentleness, but great gentleness and tactical, beloved. We shouldn't be taking our cues from the world, man. And just because someone has sinned against you doesn't mean we throw the baby out with the bath water. And again, it's noticeably quiet in here, ain't it? Now, haven't I just been reading from the Scriptures just like the rest of the sermon? You see how that has fractured our community? See how it has fractured our families? I'm not setting anybody up for abuse. Everybody should be loved and taken care of. But the mere thought of me reading what is in the scriptures in the church makes the heart cold. These things ought not to be so. Well, they don't deserve it. They may not. Christ does. Still talking about godly biblical community. It's not just about if you're married, single, are you forgiving? Are you kind of, Are you tender hearted? Are you walking in humility? If not, you're tearing down our community. I don't care around what corner. I may not see you, but God does. All of us have been called to walk in this way towards each other, whether single or married. Verse 5. To be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands. I want to finish that verse, but this is why it tells you. Why put up verse five for me, right? To help you translate this, I want to put a so in front of that. That right to be self controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God may not be reviled in the amplified. It says, so that the word of God, the gospel, will not be dishonored. Check it out. Slow it down, beloved. What he's saying is we can do all of this giving, all of this outreach, all of this jumping, all of this shouting, all this preaching of the gospel and your lifestyles undermine it. Men and women alike. It's like we playing for the wrong team. I used to play soccer. Like, listen, when you play soccer, it's not a lot of scoring, like high scores, like 2, 1. You understand what I'm saying? It's like, it's like you're supposed to be defending each turnaround and you just kick it in your own goal. You score on your own basket, like you know how your team looks at you. That's a tough halftime. They better love you. Get this dude out of here. When we let our lives, men and women alike, just run rampant in sin, reject the word of God, it's like we're scoring for the wrong team. Where I live in ways that cause the word of God, the gospel, the only message of salvation and hope, gets maligned and dishonored. That's what. When we do that, that's what we do. And Christ don't deserve that, beloved. He deserves a faithful bride. Amen. All right. In verse six, it says, likewise, urge the younger men to be self controlled. Let me stop. Because unfortunately, like, so all of our grandparents, they're probably married around like 18, 19, 20, 21, right? All right. But unfortunately, and I'm not saying everybody, I'm not picking your timeline in marriage, what I am saying is what has happened is now there is like an extended decade between like 17, 18, when you graduate high school, to like 28, to the age, the average age of the first marriage. And in this decade, young men have been swallowed up. They've been lost, lost to incessant porn, just overindulgence of video games, just nothingness, just no aim. And I'M telling you, you should redeem the time, for the days are evil. And you're not too young to give your life to the Lord. Today it says that they should in the amplified, it said they should be taking life seriously by behaving wisely. Young men, that is your call. All right? And I'm closing beloved now with this. I want to be able to give you what I would call some shepherd talk. And once it's Paul, he would actually address. He would address, you know, different churches. I think as elders, it's wise of us to take time out and address things that we may see here, Right? So I want to be able to tell you that yes, we are supposed to be in community, but very few of us were actually taught how to vet community, right? So usually you're in a ditch on both sides of the road and you need to come towards the center, which is healthy, right? So right now you have maybe some of you guys in here and you are hyper independent. You're saying, man, I don't need. I don't need nobody, man. It's just me and the Lord, man. I'm good, man. I don't need nobody, man. I don't need to get no small group. I'm just good, man. It's over. Just me and the Lord, right? And I want to debunk a myth, cuz somehow we've let it go in Christianity where you just think you so deep with the Lord and you have Christian tea time and all the podcast and you got all the merch and you all the spots and you got the new Christian R and B and you got it. And you, you, you got all of that and then, and then. And you ain't got no Christian friends. You ain't got nobody that know about your business. You ain't got nobody that know into your life. You ain't got nobody, right? You like I, I don't deal with them. I don't like them. I just want to tell you first, John says if you say that you love God and then you hate your brother, He says, you are a liar. He said, I don't hate him. But listen, man, how we love Jesus so much and then disrespect his bride. That don't go together. It says he is sovereign and in all don't have like 3 or 4 alls go back to back. All to follow Christ is to be a part and in community in some way with other believers. And then on the other side, in the, on the other side of the road in a Ditch. You have those that. I want to be very sensitive here. You, you don't know how to vet community because you may not have a very good sense of self worth. You may have been dropped. You may have been abused mentally, physically, maybe even sexually, by a family member, by intimate partner. And because of that, at the slightest sign of somebody showing interest in the you, you just go all in. And when you do that, beloved, you're vulnerable. And we don't want that for you. There are wheat and tears in the church. So I just want to teach you a little principle about building community. Actually two real quick, right? So you never spend the whole hundred. You spend a dollar with somebody, spend another dollar, spend another dollar, they handle that, right? Give them five. Another five. Give them another five. We're in no rush here, are we? Spend some time now, they can handle a 10, so on and so forth. Me and Elder Milton, we talk. No, I've been no longer. I've been knowing him for like 11 years before he was an elder. It's 11 years worth of knowing him. Take your time. Take your time. You, you may not feel like you have a lot of worth, but God feels like there's a lot of worth in you because he sent his son to die to reconcile with you. In God's eyes, you are worth the cross. He doesn't feel like he overpaid with the cross. You were worth it. And continue to renew your mind to what God says about you. Okay? And another thing, beloved, as we are building, as we are building the bridge of community, right? If, say you had like two rocks, right? Two mountains, right? You were building a bridge. When they do stuff like that, that if they're wise and they're building something way high up, they make sure that they're anchored into something that is immovable, right? And as they're doing the work, building the bridge, they're in safety. You know why? They're always anchored in. When you are building godly, healthy, vibrant, dynamic community, you always have to hold God's hand harder than you hold man's hand. I don't care if it's my hand, you have to make sure that you are always anchored in while you're building the bridge of community and taking your time so that if something, somebody shows their sin, nature on purpose or not on purpose, you don't fall to the ground. And too many of us have actually gotten a relationship with people, romantic or platonic, and we let go of God's hand and we got on the bridge and that bridge fell out. But beloved, if you're always anchored in here harder, more devoted, more intimate with God, you could be on a bridge. It could fall out completely. And I always have a lifeline. This is how you build healthy community. This is how you don't let church. Church hurt, take you out for a decade. Check me out. You could be sad about the fact that it didn't work, but my whole life didn't dash to pieces because I'm anchored in Christ and God more than anything. And if you fall out on me, I'm still good. Okay? So now with that, because I'm still good in, my life isn't shattered and you fall out, I can say, man, you may have been immature or maybe you were you. You let Satan lie to you or whatever. I can pray for you. And you know what I can do? I can keep building community. That's how you navigate here. I just want to eat a land here. So with that being said, if anybody's trying to use God or religion or spiritual authority to demand unquestioning, just. Just like lording over you, we don't endorse that. We always tell you to go read for yourself, don't we? Anybody trying to manipulate you through fear of going to hell or curses or spiritual consequences, trying to manipulate you with those. We don't endorse that. If anybody's trying to just rule over you with shame or any pockets of people that have come here and they develop small ministries, if they're trying to treat you this way, come out of reeks of spiritual abuse, the opposite of what Christ ordained, what he supports here in scripture and what we're supposed to be walking in. Anybody trying to cover up wrongdoing by claiming it serves a higher spiritual purpose of trying to gaslight you when they're standing against you, come away from it. We want to be a balanced house. So, yes, engagement, but don't get abused. We want to be a house that builds like solid, vibrant, healthy biblical community until we fall asleep or he cracks the sky by your head. Let me pray for us. Holy Father. God, I thank you just for your goodness. God, I pray that you would take this message and it would. It would touch the hearts that it's supposed to touch. I pray, God, for anybody in unhealthy community, God. They would come out or try to get wisdom, God, from the spiritual care team, from the prayer team. Let somebody know. Find an elder, Find somebody. You have not called your sheep to be abused. You've called us to thrive in biblical community where Jesus is Lord and Savior, where your grace is given, where we have a new covenant, we are part of a new creation. We take communion. We have Christ. And all the things you have given to us in the kingdom, help us walk in it. By your grace and by the power of your spirit, Jesus name, we pray. Amen. I love you, beloved. God bless you.