TRANSCRIPT | Wed, Oct 7, 2020 | The Lesson of Two Kinds

 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Hey 3trees, man what an honor to get to be with you tonight. We have enjoyed so much having the chance to hang out with you on Wednesday nights, every Wednesday night, 6:30pm Central, 7:30pm Eastern, either on Facebook or on Youtube. We get the chance to go into just a time of discipleship. Listen, our church is focused on three things right now, seek the lost, make disciples, and meet needs. And these Wednesday nights are all about trying to be effective in making disciples, and we want to just help to equip you in the Word. I believe that if you are equipped by the Word, it sets you up to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. So here is what you can do; you can go to ericgilbert.org, and when you go there, you’re going to see just scroll down just a little bit, or even in the top right-hand corner, there are two places, you’re gonna see a thing that says “click here for discussion guides.” You just click on discussion guides, and then you can go to tonight’s service, and you can choose discussion guide, you can choose message notes, you can print those off, download those, and you can have those available. Keep in mind, we’re also going to do communion at the end of the service today. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I am really glad to have with me tonight our folks from Columbia. These are several of the coordinators from our Columbia congregation, and we appreciate the way that they serve and the way in which that they have made it happen. Columbia was birthed in March of 2018, and God has been so gracious in this town, and we believe that there are greater things that are yet to come as we attempt to walk that out and the calling that He has put on our lives. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, were looking at 1 Corinthians, and we’ve been moving through it chapter by chapter. Tonight, we are in 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 3. We’re talking about the subject “what in the world,” and the reason that we’ve titled this series through 1 Corinthians that is because the Corinthian Church had become increasingly worldly. Paul had been with them for about 18 months. He had planted that church. He had helped to get them started, but then after he left, man, they got crazy. The world got into their life. They started struggling with things like sexual perversion. They’re struggling with things like drunkenness. They’re even starting to behave in childish ways with how they’re bickering amongst one another. They’re wrestling with pride. I mean you name it, these people are struggling with the world showing itself in the church. And so Paul writes this letter to try and not only encourage them and to lead them but to correct them. And so we’re not going to read all of 1 Corinthians 3 tonight, although there’s some really potent verses in this passage. In fact, like when I look at 1 Corinthians 3, there’s verses that stick out to me like really, really solid verses I’ve quoted a lot through years of preaching. Verse 6 says “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” That may be a verse that you’ve heard a lot. It’s a really encouraging verse. There’s another place in here where Paul describes himself as a master builder, such a great verse, especially for people who are trying to figure out how to grow a church. Pastors, it’s very encouraging to us to know that God can give you that kind of insight. It’s also a verse, 16 is the place that the verse is recorded “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that you are to be a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.” I mean some really solid stuff in this chapter. And so I want to take your attention, though, to the first three verses, and I’m going to be reading from the ESV translation, and we will read those first three verses in just a moment. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Here’s the thing I want to point out to you. When you’re going through chapter 3, Paul starts painting some pictures, and he starts using some visual elements in regard to his wording, and if you look at it close, and you kind of try to break this chapter down into some categories, what you're going to see is the first thing that Paul does is he paints a picture of the church as a family. And, he shows us in verses 1-4 that the church is to be like a family and that the goal is that family is going to have maturity. Then, verses 5-9, he actually begins to paint a picture of the church as a field, and that the goal is quantity. It’s more harvest related if you will. And then, in verses 9-23, the remainder of chapter 3, he paints a picture of the church as a temple, and he talks about that the goal is quality. And honestly, I would love to focus in on all three of these things tonight, and we could just kind of categorically walk through that, but we would probably still be talking about it sometime tomorrow because there is some really deep things within these categories. My main focus tonight is going to be this one, that the church is a family, and the goal is maturity. And what I want to point out to you in that vein, is that there’s a place later in Scripture where that Paul actually comments to the Church at Corinth and says to them that they need to understand that they have many teachers, but they have few fathers. And the thing he says in that regard is that he is like a father to them because he helped birth them in the Gospel. And he then points out that he wants to be like a spiritual father in their life. I think he’s even making it clear that churches need, in realm to ministry, more than just good teaching, but they need the heart of a father in leadership to where that people are discipled, and they are matured because the father cares enough to be a part of trying to make that happen. And so, I think all pastors should pray that they would have a heart of a father and that if they see childish ways in their congregation that they’re going to want to be a part of maturing that. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so, we will move forward because I do want to also point out to you that as he’s moving through chapter 3, he also paints a picture of the Word of God. So we’ve already drawn the analogy that he looks at it like a family, he looks at it like a field, and he looks at it like a temple, and he talks about what should happen with those, but then it’s that the Word of God, he paints a picture of how the Word of God should interact with the Church of God. How the Word of God should interact with the Church. And so, if we’re a family, then He’s going to be the food for that family; and if we’re a field, He’s gonna be the seed for that field; and if we’re the Temple, He’s gonna be the materials for that temple. And so, I just again, I want to make it clear to you these are not just things like that I am saying would be a good idea out of chapter 3, like they’re in there. He points that out to us. You can spend your own time kind of studying that further. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I want to read through 1 Corinthians 3. Would you look with me at these three verses, verses 1-3. “But I brothers could not address you as spiritual people but as people of the flesh as infants of Christ.” Now, here’s what he’s saying, “When I was with you, and I was preaching to you for 18 months, I could not address you as people who were spiritual and mature in their spirituality, but I had to like talk to you as people of the flesh because you were infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not with solid food. Some translations here say “not with meat.” “For you were not ready for the solid food,” you were not ready for the meat, “and even now, you are still not ready.” So, think about what he’s saying here, is there was something more that I wanted to give you. Like, there was something more that I wanted to reveal to you, but I wasn’t able to do it because you weren’t ready for it, and he said “and quite frankly, I still want to do it, but you’re still not ready for it. So, there’s a difference between milk and solid food. For you are still of the flesh, that’s why you're not ready for it. You’re still behaving in the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way, only behaving in a human way. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, here’s what I want to point out to you if we could kind of summarize what I believe he’s saying in these first three verses. It’s this, there are two kinds of saved people, two kinds of saved people, okay. Previously, he’s already pointed out there’s two kinds of people, saved people and unsaved people. He’s already pointed that out earlier in 1 Corinthians. Now he’s telling us there’s two kinds of saved people. He’s telling us there’s two kinds of believers that hang out in churches. The mature ones and the immature ones. The mature ones and the immature ones. I wonder which one are you. I wonder which one am I. Here’s the thing about the mature ones. A Christian matures by allowing the Spirit to teach him and direct him as he feeds on the Word, that’s what a mature Christian does. But, an immatures Christian lives, and you just saw this a minute ago, Paul was pointing it out, they live for the things of the flesh, and they have little interest of the things of the Spirit. It’s almost like that they just refuse to ever leave certain elements of the world behind even though Jesus has paid the price for them to be delivered from it. They don’t desire to go to that next level in their relationship. And so, maybe what you're wondering right now is well how do I really know if I’m a mature believer, or if I’m an immature believer. Wouldn’t it be great like if there was some marks that you kind of size yourself up with and be like okay this is how I know I’m mature, and wait a second, this might be how I know that I’m immature. Because when I’ve been studying this and spending several hours even in this chapter, even today, one of the things that I noticed about immature and mature, even the concept of milk and meat, there was some different meaning there than I was even anticipating. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, think about this. There’s two types of saved people, mature and immature. So, what is a mark of maturity; your diet, your spiritual diet, that’s a mark of maturity. Paul said it, you're either on the milk or you’re on the meat. You’re either on the milk or your’e on the solid food. And so the milk, what it represents, most usually, when you hear this brought up, like a lot of us grew up in church, right? We like hung out in church; who grew up in church? Anybody grow up in church, been hanging out in church? Praise God for heritage, right? When you’re in those church settings, or even if you’ve just been around preaching, a lot of teaching and preaching, when this subject comes up, milk or meat, typically where our mind goes is that milk represents like the easy things in the Word, that the milk represents the easy things in the Word, and the meat represents the hard doctrine, right? That’s typically how we process it. Like, milk’s easy, and meat is like if I’ve got something like really hard I’m trying to figure out, but that’s really not what Paul was getting at. What he probably meant is that milk represents what Jesus Christ did on earth while meat, solid food, concerns what he is doing now in Heaven. So, we’ve so often just thought well if it’s milk, it must mean it’s easy, cause we think about the baby thing, right? We think about, like the baby he starts out on milk, and then he nurtures him forward, and then he starts taking some solid food, and then that diet increases in his ability to digest it as his body grows. And so we think that just must mean easy versus hard to understand things about the Bible. But when you see Scripture in context, one of the things we have to learn about Scripture is that any text without context is a con, amen? And so you have to have the context of Scripture, and it’s not just the context sometimes of one chapter or the verse before it and the verse after it, sometimes you have to take the whole counsel of God. So when I really started digging into this concept of milk and meat, what I discovered is that there’s some really interesting things in Scripture that really start to back up. Maybe what Paul is saying is that milk represents, I was able to tell you what Jesus did on earth. Like, I was able to tell you He healed people. I was able to tell you that He raised dead people back to life. I was able to tell you that He raised up some disciples that lays hands on the sick. I was able to tell you that He was crucified, and He rose from the dead. He was able to talk about all those earthly things. But Paul, he seems to be implying that when he gets to the meat stuff, he’s talking about what Jesus is doing now that He’s in Heaven and why it was important for Jesus to go back to Heaven and that those are the mysteries and the hidden things of the Word that it’s super important for you to get. Paul even later goes on in other texts of Scripture to imply that if you ever really understand what Jesus is doing in Heaven today, it will totally transform your walk to the point that places where you once slid away, it’s not nearly as easy to slide away. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, here’s what I want you to see, Hebrews 5:10, Hebrews 5:10, “Being designated by God,” he’s talking about Jesus, and we don’t know who wrote the book of Hebrews. Most people believe it’s Paul, but Jesus “being designated by God, a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, about this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing.” Like most Christians have no clue who Melchizedek is. Okay, anybody want to give the definition of Melchizedek? Okay. So, we don’t have a really good understanding of him. We don’t even know what significance he plays in Theology in most instances. The writer points out, “but about this, and this concept of a High Priest, we got much to say, but it’s hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though, by this time, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk not solid food.” So he’s saying, like I want to talk to you about some deep stuff going on in Heaven about Jesus being the High Priest and hanging out in the heavenly version of the Tabernacle of Moses and taking the blood offering and offering it there at the altar where the 24 elders are at. He said “I would’ve give you all of that, but you just were having to focus on the basic principles of what Jesus, like we’re still in the Beatitudes. Still going through the Beatitudes, still talking about Jesus putting the mud in the guys eyes, and that’s not to be belittled in way, shape, or fashion, we need to know those things, Amen. But he’s saying I got something more for you, you need milk not solid food. I’m having to give you milk because you’re not ready for the solid food. Verse 13, “For everyone,” and I guess we’ve got these on the screen, I could just kind of show y'all, you got them there? So, “you need milk, not solid food, everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the Word of Righteousness.” The right standing before God. That’s what righteousness means. He’s saying anybody who lives on milk is unskilled, and what righteousness even really means since he is a child. He’s immature, he’s not been fathered, but solid food is for the mature. “For those who have their powers of discernment, trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” He goes on, this is into chapter 6, but when he wrote it there would not have been chapter divisions, verse 1 of Hebrews, “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go onto maturity.” Did y'all know the Bible said this? “So let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go onto maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God and of instruction about washing and laying hands, and resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.” He’s saying like it’s great to know all of that, but that’s the milk. Do you know how many people don’t even understand the elementary doctrine? Like, how many people that if you were to try to get them to explain to you eternal judgment probably could not even walk you through it.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

 Like, I sat down with my kids the other day, we were having dinner. We sat down at the table, and I said “Tell me about the government of the United States. Tell me about the Legislative Branch.” They had no clue that Congress makes up the Legislative Branch. I said tell me about the Executive Branch. They had no clue that, that’s the president. I said tell me about the Judicial Branch, they couldn't even name the Supreme Court, didn’t know what it was. They’re 13 and 15. I hope your kids can talk about it. I hope they have an understanding. I can tell you mine can do it now. We went through it, we got it. But here’s my point, like, somehow along the way, like they never got that aspect of even how our United States Government functions, and I bet you there’s a lot of people who couldn’t tell you how the Kingdom of Heaven’s Government functions. That we don’t have an understanding of things that the writer of Hebrews is saying “this is milk.” Like, it’s milk that you have not been able to move past even the foundation of repentance. Like, you know one of the things we have to preach all the time in church is repentance. Why? Because people living like the world. I can’t get no help up in here. You have to preach repentance because people are living like the world. This is exactly what’s going on in Corinth man. They’re living like the world. He’s having to revisit the milk. He’s having to revisit the basic stuff. He’s like we should be past this by now. See it’s one thing to be on the milk because you’re a new Christian, you’re a baby; it’s a whole nother thing if like if you’re still sucking on your thumb when you're 15 years old. A whole different story. Like at some point you gotta grow up. Hallelujah. You gonna help me or not Trammell? Huh? I’m getting rowdy, and I can’t even get no help. Can you handle some more? 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, here’s the thing we talked about earlier that one of the things that Paul does in 1 Corinthians 3 is he points out that we’re a family, and the goal is maturity, right? And, when you think about we’re a family, and the goal is maturity, and that when we talk about the Word of God is like food for us, and so as we’re taking that food, like we eventually move past just the basic elements, and it’s not just about what Jesus is doing on earth, it’s about what Jesus is doing in Heaven. You know how many people have the revelation of Jesus on the Cross but do not have the revelation of Jesus on the Throne? And the reason they live a life of a spiritual pauper is because they still see a crucified Jesus instead of a glorified Jesus. Like, how many people are beat down by the devil and can't stand up to the demons that are scratching on their backdoor because they still see a bloody Jesus instead of a resurrected glorified Jesus. Like, I don’t know who I’m trying to help, but I feel like somebody, you’ve been saying like I just want, I just want to be fed. I just want more of the Word. And the only thing you ever want is somebody to tell you how to fix your marriage. The only thing you ever want. I didn’t mean to be this rowdy tonight, but the only thing you ever want is somebody to just give you these little basic principles and call you back to repentance because you need to be revived again, and you need to be refreshed again. I’m not belittling you for that. Praise God for it. There will be a time, and a place and an unction, and an anointing for that. In fact, Scripture says that when you repent, it comes with a time of refreshing. Praise God we all need that from time to time, Amen. But at some point, you got to get the revelation of Jesus Christ on the Throne, and you will realize man sin don’t look the same to you because you see the glorified version of Him with eyes like fire and a sword proceeding out of His mouth, and a vesture dipped in blood. And Paul’s like, I want to tell you about all of that, but we’re having to focus on the milk. We’re having to focus on the Bible story instead of the Bible Doctrine. We’re having to focus on the earthly Jesus instead of the heavenly Jesus. And Paul’s saying man when you get mature, a mark of maturity is you can tell me something about the Jesus in Heaven. Like, a lot of Christians won’t even read the book of Hebrews, the passage that we just referenced to try to understand 1 Corinthians 3, why because it’s complicated. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it. And you get intimidated from a revelation that could absolutely change your life. Like, a lot of people stepping into things even like tithing, and they will say well I don’t think tithing is a New Testament principle, why, because they are intimidated by the book of Hebrews, and they never even get there to understand that the book of Hebrews says that when you tithe, you literally spiritually lay it at the feet of Jesus Christ in Heaven. That will change your perspective on tithing for sure. But that’s what happens, we get stuck on the milk, and we don’t see the meat. We get stuck in that place where we just see the earthly Jesus, and we don’t understand the heavenly Jesus. Man, I want those deep things because I want to be spurred to understand stuff like that when I’m giving God a tenth of my income, it’s not just because some church thought it was a good idea, but it was because I might be dropping it in an offering bucket, but I’m literally laying it at the feet of the Throne of Jesus Christ according to the heavenly revelation. I still can’t get no Amens. Curt, can I get an amen. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Alright, here’s the thing, I told you I was going to give you one more thing. We talked about the food thing. I’ll get back to where I was supposed to be at. Let’s look at this next slide. So, what we need is a balanced diet in the Word of God. And, this is just some scriptures, there’s actually more than this. This is a handful of New Testament scriptures that points out to us like what the Word of God is supposed to be in our life. It’s supposed to be milk. It’s supposed to be bread. It’s supposed to be meat. It’s supposed to be honey. It’s a balanced diet. And we can kind of just get settled in on just one aspect or the other. It’s so easy to do that, and I just wanted to point that out that when we’re eating, we are meant to have a balanced diet. Milk, bread, meat, and baby we got dessert. Okay. Alright. So, 1 Corinthians 2:6, it says “Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it’s not a wisdom of this age. But, we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God.” So, we’re in chapter 3, right? This is in chapter 2. And so in chapter 3, what we are learning is Paul was saying “I wanted to give you more, but I wasn’t able to then and quite frankly I’m still not able to.” And so when you revisit chapter 2 before getting to chapter 3 you realize he is saying like there’s secrets; there’s hidden wisdom that’s available, and it doesn’t come from the rulers of this age, or they wouldn’t have even crucified Jesus. And so, take that back a second, I don’t want to go there yet. So, you following me? Does that make sense?

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, what we want to do is we want to become mature Christians, and it’s one of the reasons that we as a church are putting an increased emphasis right now on just going through a book like Corinthians and just going through it chapter by chapter. It’s the reason that we have staff that are working hours putting together discussion guides and putting together message notes and working on blogs. Right now, there are hundreds of blogs that are being written behind the scenes that is content that we want to release to you over a period of time, that just to kind of help you go to those next levels in God. And listen, we’re not all at the same level, and this message is not, I know I have been a little rowdy, and I’m sure at times my tone’s gotten a little aggressive. I’m just passionate about this because I don’t want you to settle for the immature ways. I want to encourage you. Man, I want to be that coach that comes up behind you and is like quit settling man, you got incredible potential, you got incredible ability, quit settling. Go to that next level. And so, I hear Paul out of this bygone era 2000 years ago trying to get the Church of Corinth to realize like hey guys lets stop with the whole sexual perversion thing. Hey guys, let's stop with the whole drunkenness thing. Even in chapter 3, he calls them out. He’s like yall sound like a bunch of kids because every time you get together this one’s saying Apollos can outpreach Paul, and Paul can out preach Apollos, and hey Peter’s better than all of them. He’s like you sound like a bunch of kids. You’re even arguing over who baptized who, as if that was a big deal or something. At the end of the day, we’re all saved, and the baptism just signifies that I was dead but now I’m alive in Christ. He’s calling them out on all of that. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

And so, what we’ve focused on tonight is that there are two kinds of saved people. There are the immature, and there are the mature, and we want to be fathered in Christ. I want to give you this final thing. Not only are there two kinds of saved people, but when you’re in the church, and you’re a saved person, there are two kinds of works. I want you to see this with me. Two types of building materials. So when the Church is being built, when the church is being put together, and this kind of focuses on that part we talked about at the beginning of the Temple part. But when the Church is being spiritually constructed, there's two kinds of materials. There are works that can be burned, and there are works that cannot be burned. There are works that can be burned, and there are works that cannot be burned. And so, for that sake of emphasis, I think it would probably be good for us to read this out of 1 Corinthians 3, 1 Corinthians 3:13, “Each one’s work will become manifest for the day will disclose it. It will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss though he himself will be saved but only as through the fire. Do you get that? Does that make sense in this room? So, when you think about being saved, what that means if you're going to escape the eternal fire of Hell, Amen? And there’s no work you can do to receive that. Only the work of Jesus Christ can save you. Only the submission to the Gospel and the belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ can save you. That’s what gets you out of Hell and gets you into Heaven. But what Paul just taught us in 1 Corinthians 3 is that your works of ministry will also pass through the fire. So the sin is covered by the blood, right? So the sin, thank God, it gets washed away by the blood of Jesus. But what Paul is saying is that every single one of us are works of ministry are also going to pass through that same fire. And what it says is your work can be burned up, and you will suffer loss, and the record of your works will not come into Heaven with you because they were the wrong thing. Even though you yourself will be saved; that’s a verse for the mature people. That’s a verse that doesn’t get preached or taught very often because that’s a verse ain’t nobody wants to hear. And the point that Paul is making is that even when we’re building a church, and we’re functioning as a church, it’s gotta be something more than about a man. It’s gotta be something more than a denominational fiasco. It’s gotta be something more than just going through the motions of religious formality. That it's gotta be something that is built on the truth of God’s Word and for the cause of making Jesus Christ famous, and that is the only thing that will survive the fire. And if it survives the fire, that previous verse says, the previous verse, “He will receive a reward.” He will receive a reward. “If anyone’s works burned up, though himself will be saved, the work goes away.” So, the builder’s escape with personal salvation but with the loss of their work, and they miss the reward, because they were building the wrong thing and building with the wrong stuff. Let’s get mature so the work goes with us and we get the eternal reward, Amen? For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body whether good or evil. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

So, tonight, we get a chance to take communion together. What I’m going to do, I’m going to ask these guys if they will to kind of move this thing back out of the way, this TV. I’m going to ask the band to come. I’m going to ask them to get into place. My wife is going to help me. She’s going to prepare the elements of Communion for me, and I hope you have the elements with you there as well. I will say this to you, if you don’t have them, you can supplement that with maybe a cracker or some juice there at your house. Or on Sundays, we’re offering little packets at each of the locations. Usually, it’s near one of the main entrances or there in the lobbies. You can pick up those elements for Communion. And what we want to do is we do want to just focus for a minute on the Cross of Jesus. We want to be thankful for the Cross of Jesus. At the same time, we want to thank God for what He’s done on earth, that’s the Cross. We also want to celebrate what He is doing in Heaven. He’s preparing a place for us. He’s making Heaven for us. But at the same time, there are so many mysteries that are unfolded for us in the places like the Book of Revelation, places like the Book of Hebrews, and God wants to just bring us into those places where that we have that depth and we grow up in the Lord. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I hope you’ve been able to receive the Word tonight. And you know, Scripture tells us that when we do this, we do it to honor Jesus. We do it to honor Jesus. So those of you that are here in the room with me, I’m going to ask you if you would just to break the bread. There, at home, if you can break the bread, break the cracker. It’s a symbolization of Jesus broke His body. I want you to understand Jesus broke His body so you could know Him in a way other than just the Hollywood version walking down some dusty streets in Israel. He broke His body so you could see Him as something more than just crucified. You need to see that. You need to know that. You need to be thankful for that. But He also has got so much more for you that He wants to unveil and release to you. So, I’m going to ask you tonight just out of reverence for Jesus and what He means and represents in your life, I’m going to ask you to take and eat of the bread. The cup represents the blood that was shed for the remission of sins. The blood that gives us salvation, the blood that does the work to get us into Heaven, what a sacrifice, what a sacrifice. But that blood has also given us Jesus and the heavenly version of Him. It gives you access to Him. Scripture gives you access to Him. Scripture tells us in the Book of Hebrews that the blood being shed, the Body of Jesus being torn gives you access to go into the presence of God spiritually speaking. Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve sensed the presence of God. Maybe it’s been a while since you’ve just known the nearness of God, and even right now there’s a conviction on your life about, man, I’ve settled for the milk, I’m ready for some meat. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Father, I thank you that you’re gracious with us and you’re merciful with us, and you give us chance after chance. And even the Church of Corinth God, as worldly as they were, you just kept pulling them forward. And I thank you God that the pen of Paul pulls us forward tonight, myself included, Father, thank you for it, in Jesus’ name. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I’m going to ask you to take and drink the cup. Hallelujah. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to have a moment of just reverence before the Lord. Jaron’s going to sing. Right there where your at, come on, lean into worship. Let the Holy Spirit seal in your heart the Word of God tonight. Take a moment.