I'll Be Honest

The religious leaders of Jesus' day were very clean on the outside but very dirty on the inside. Jesus calls His true disciples to have not just external righteousness, but also to have inward purity; and that inward purity must flow from the heart. The heart must be pure and God as its singular object of love and chief desire. Is your heart pure (singular) towards God, or is it divided?

Pornography is nothing short of damnable filth that dishonors God, grieves the Spirit, despises the Cross, and will land someone in eternal hell if habitually practiced and unrepented of. Christian, you can't make any provision for this, and you especially can't make any blameshifting excuses for this. You need to slay this dragon or it's going to slay you.

If you were asked to describe what characterizes a Christian, would "peacemaker" be an item on the top of your list? In the beatitudes, Jesus describes what his people are like, and he includes peacemakers on the list. The greatest way we can be used to make peace? It is by urging the lost to put down their weapons of rebellion and make peace with God before they have to stand before Him in judgment.

I think most people remember when they were first saved. The times that God has given you power over things. Grace in areas. I specifically remember a time where Tim Conway and I were going to a pizza place during lunch. This was shortly after Tim was saved. On the way there this convertible drives by us. All you see is the convertible with the top down and the person’s blonde hair-waving type of things. I don’t even know if Tim remembers this. But we were having a conversation and I think it caught him out of the edge of his eye and he said, “I didn’t have to look!” “I didn’t have to look!” Before he had to. It was an automatic head turn. But God’s grace; he was recognizing the grace God had given him to not look. That’s what God’s grace does, it makes a difference in people’s lives. “I don’t have to look!” Brother and sister, you don’t have to click it! Guess what? You don’t have to do it! Really that’s where I am headed, you have to come to a place where it is not even an option. Pornography–it’s not even an option in my life, it’s not even on the table. It’s not an option. I’m not going there not even thinking about it. It is not going to happen. I’m not doing it, by God’s grace I’m not going to lust. We’ve got to be vigilant, we’ve got to be violent. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take this thing by force (Matthew 11:12). We’re not going cruise into glory, we’re not just going to cruise in rose-colored glasses and just stroll right into heaven. The violent take this by force and you got to get violent about this thing. It’s those who tenaciously lay hold of God and his grace and his promises those are the Christians that make it to the end. Not the ones who make a big splash. Got the great personalities. Got all these wonderful things about them. It’s the people that tenaciously lay hold of God and trust him and cling to him that make it to the end. And there are many snares and many dangers between here and there and porn’s just one of them. One that can destroy you for sure No options. Christian, you got to come to a place in your life where they are just some things you’re just determined to do and things you’re determined not to do. God will give you the grace to do that.

Do you attend a university in the Manchester area? Are you burdened for your soul and for matters pertaining to eternity? Are you interested in Christianity and the Gospel? Are you a believer in need of fellowship, edifying resources, or evangelistic materials? If you have any of these needs (as well as others), we want to make our presence and service known and available to you.

What about that person who does not believe but says they want to believe, and they want to repent? … but they claim to not believe or have repented because God hasn’t given them faith and repentance? That person is in a dangerous place. Why? Because what they’re doing is, in essence, blaming God for the fact they aren’t saved. They're saying it’s God’s fault because God hasn’t given them faith and repentance…and what does that do? It makes that person passive. They sit back. They wait. Where in your bible does it command anyone to do that?

The world we live in is so full of strife, problems, division, and contention. But we need to remember that this doesn't just happen in the world, but it can also creep into the church. And we as Christians need to be on guard against this and combat it. In summary, we need to be peacemakers. Christians are peacemakers, not troublemakers.

Your problem is never that you are too weak. As a matter of fact, what God does in our lives, from the moment we are born again and until we die, is He is constantly working to create weakness in us. The problem is not that you are weak; the problem is that we don't know how weak we are; because that weakness would drive us to prayer. Just as being truly incarnate drove our Savior to prayer. - Paul Washer

What other higher calling can there be than to oversee Christ's Church and be a steward to care for His Bride until He returns? And who more suitable to take on this task than men who are called of God and qualified according to His Word?

Outline:
0:00​ - [Intro - Questions and Answers]
0:55​ - Question 1 - Due to the difficulty of ministry, is it worth the cost?
5:07​ - Almost everything is cured by growing in your knowledge of God.
6:51​ Question 2 - Can you share a little bit on stewardship. The responsibilities of the home and ministry and balancing that?
10:49​ - Question 3 - Can you speak on Catechizing people that are in your flock and investing in them and small groups?
16:51​ - Illustration - How do you, pastor, treat Christ's bride, the church?
22:28​ - Exhortation - The epicenter of world missions is the local church.
25:46​ - Counsel - How to teach your children and family devotions.
27:54​ - [End of Audience Questions]
28:04​ - Minister - Have you ever looked up every reference in the Bible that speaks about what a shepherd is supposed to do?
30:23​ - What a Sunday meeting looks like at Christ Church Radford, the church Paul is a member of.
35:27​ - What is a missionary?
41:38​ - Pastors and a Biblical Church.
51:37​ - Do you love the church more or your ministry?
56:21​ - God will test you to see if you love His bride, the church.
57:50​ - Conclusion and Closing Prayer

Any Christian can say that they love the church, but we need to remember that there's a difference between loving your church and loving your ministry in the church. Do you love your church because you love God's people and want to serve them in any way that God equips you? Or is your love only a pretense because you're really wanting to use them to elevate your ministry?