Paul Says, "Grow Up!"

Good to see all you guys here, too.
Wow, good to see you.
But as we were talking earlier, guys, we need to be kind and affectionate, one to another with brotherly love.
And here's a verse, one that we've learned to put into practice after a couple of decades of ministry, and it's found, 2 Timothy 2.
2 Timothy 2, this is a good verse.
It's verse 24. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, Paul says.
That's a meaty verse.
Think about that, guys.
If you're a servant of the Lord, don't strive.
That's not the lane for you.
Be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, be patient.
You see, some use their liberty, as we mentioned earlier, as an occasion to the flesh, as Paul warned, and he did so in Galatians 5:13.
For brethren, over there he says, have you all been called unto liberty? Then use not the liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but to love and to serve one another.
See, some blame the devil for everything.
Ever notice that, Faith?
Yes.
Somehow, that's supposed to justify their poor behavior.
They blame all their ministry woes on everyone else.
And it's the devil's fault, always.
It's never them.
And, hey, I tell you where you go if you want to see who's responsible for most of your woes.
Go to the mirror.
Yeah.
You know, the saying, everything happens for a reason.
The flip side of that is sometimes the reason is because you're stupid and you make bad decisions.
That's right.
So.
I mean, that's basically what I was just saying.
That's what made you, what you made me think of whenever you said it's the mirror.
Look in the mirror.
I mean, that is absolutely right.
There's circumstances in life that we have no control over.
But what comes from us, we have control over.
I mean, that's what temperance is about.
It's self-control.
It's being able to control ourselves.
I think that's something that it doesn't seem to be highlighted enough.
But the fact is, again, going back to our ambassadorship.
That's right.
Ambassadors should have self-control.
To be able to bear all things, as Paul says in verse 7, to bear all things, believe all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Now, here comes the key to all this.
Verse 8, charity never faileth.
Hear that?
I don't think we're really listening to what Paul is trying to tell us.
Charity never faileth.
Hey, charity is batting 1,000.
In baseball, that's an excellent batting average.
I wish I had that when I played.
Charity doesn't work half of the time and then fail the other half of the time.
No, charity never faileth.
Listen to Paul.
Charity never faileth.
Pow!
That's so powerful.
And if you drop down to, let's see, drop down to verse 13.
See that?
Yeah.
And now abideth faith, hope, what?
Charity.
These three, but the greatest of these is charity.
Yep.
Charity is to what Muhammad Ali claimed to be to the boxing world.
The greatest.
If we follow after charity, just watch all the puzzle pieces that used to not fit.
Watch how they start to fall in line.
Right, right.
Amen?
You know, beware of those who claim that they are taking over.
They're taking over this.
They're taking over that.
Well, the Lord is the only one qualified to take over.
And once we allow his word to work effectually and go through us and let that, as we work out our own salvation, once we allow that to have preeminence, then everything else in the puzzle piece just flows.
It fits.
But see, some lack in that charity department because they are full of themselves.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You got to get pride and ego out of the way.
Guess what?
What charity can rule and reign in your heart if you do that.
Now, I'm not here saying I've got this thing down perfectly.
I'm a work in progress.
But this is what Paul's telling us.
Well, if we're honest, we're all a work in progress.
I mean, nobody has arrived.
Paul even said, not that I have attained.
I mean, if Paul hadn't attained when he wrote Philippians 3, then surely we haven't.
You know, I would never act like I'm more than him.
Amen.
But something that came to me while you're reading 1 Corinthians 13:8.
Hey, charity never faileth.
Well, if you ever begin to think that you're a failure, looks like you could probably just begin to try more to walk in charity.
The thing is, is that if we're walking in that charity, and that charity never fails,
then we're not going to fail as long as we're walking in that charity.
And allowing the word to effectually go to work in and through you, I might add.
Right, right.
Johnny says, me too.
No one has arrived.
No one has it a thousand percent right.
That's right.
Dan, always striving towards the high calling.
Amen.
Right, right.
1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 7.
Faith.
There's where our apostle says, Things without life giving sound, whether piped or harped, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
There's where charity comes in.
And without charity, you're going to sound like a tinkling cymbal.
You're going to sound like a sounding brass.
There you go.
Out of harmony, out of step.
One of the worst things is when you're listening to a song and they're out of harmony.
We've got to always keep our eyes peeled, peeled back and stay on high alert.
Keep that discernment turned up.
That way we'll recognize that man when he's opening up his Bible and preaching from the scriptures, but seems to be allergic to charity.
You'll recognize him by his fruit.
Anybody that associates themselves with that ministry, you'll notice it's kind of spilling over on them.
And you know what will happen?
Sooner or later, family members, close acquaintances, they'll start to see that too.
This change in this person.
Not love, not somebody who's bearing all your burdens and helping you along and doing as Paul do, they'll see you start to change and be hateful, and your words, your, your nomenclature, the things that come out of your mouth will be different.
Right.
Right.
Well, you'll have a different attitude and it all spills over from that man who you supposedly are studying under, and he should be studying alongside you.
Right.
Not you're not under him.
No, he's not above you.
No.
Well, and, and, and just, I noticed too here in, in chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians in this chapter that everyone refers to as the charity chapter Paul says, When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
That's maturity matured in the word, right?
And, and charity is what a mature person shows.
An immature person is not going to be walking in charity.
Right.
So it's, it's, it's fitting that that verse is there actually, because we're seeing a lot of times when you see a lack of charity or when I do, I'm looking at, I wish, you know, first thing that comes to my mind is grow up, please grow up.
Um, and, and so that's why this caught my eye whenever I saw it.
We're over here in the charity chapter.
And Paul is saying, grow up.