The preaching of the Cross 04-20-2023

The speaker starts by talking about a beautiful wedding they attended and how they were moved to tears. They then transition to discussing the importance of sharing the gospel and how some people dismiss or ridicule it. They read a Bible verse from 1 Corinthians that talks about how the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but the power of God to those who are saved. They explain that those who reject Christianity are perishing in sin. The speaker emphasizes the need to understand the spiritual discernment required to comprehend the Word of God. They discuss the importance of teaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified in church and not being focused on entertainment or worldly things. They talk about the need for the church to be led by the Holy Spirit and not limited by schedules or programs. The speaker highlights the importance of having faith in the power of God rather than the wisdom of men. They mention that true wisdom comes from God and not from the rul Good morning, good morning, Brother Ray, good morning, good to see you, man, good to see you, friend, good morning, good morning, good morning, good to see you, everybody, this little voice, good to see you, the wedding was fabulous, it was, you know, friend, I tell you what, the wedding was, it was beautiful, I had to fight off tears, I have to say, I have to admit, I was a professional, I went through the whole process of the wedding, and I did not cry, but I tell you what, the next day, I just sat on the couch, and I just, my eyes just filled with tears, I was so overmoved, but I wanted to be, you know, professional, you know what I mean, I wanted to get through the officiating part, and I did, and I praise God for that, but I tell you what, it was tough, but there's something so beautiful about a wedding, because I believe a wedding displays our obedience unto God between the marriage of a man and a woman, and I tell you what, it was fabulous, my son, when he got up to give his speech, he got up and says, I give honor to God for bringing me here to this point, and I was just overmoved by tears, but the wedding was fabulous, so Mr. Abram and Mrs. Abram are on their honeymoon right now, they're on a cruise, and I'm excited for them, so yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, it was beautiful, man, guys, gals, I've got something for you today, 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, let's get started, 1 Corinthians, how many of you have shared the gospel, the Bible, your faith, something about your church, you shared something about your belief system, and folks sort of gave you the side eye, or the turning of the head, or just sort of dismissed you, I want you to turn your Bibles, I read it yesterday, but I was reading a little bit more last night, turn your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1.18, 1 Corinthians 1.18, agape, unconditional love, I love it, agape, I love that, 1 Corinthians 1.18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God, let's look at that again, thank you for putting that up, Brother Ray, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, let's stop right there, those that are perishing, those that have not received Jesus, those who not accept the word of God, they are definitely in a situation where they are perishing, those who regard Christianity as foolishness, rejecting and perhaps even ridiculing God's word, thereby prove to others that they are perishing in sin, think about that, Brother Nate, how are you doing this morning, they are perishing in sin on their way to destruction or hell, perishing, think about that, so when we start talking about Christianity, when we start talking about the cross, when we start talking about our faith, when we start talking about God and Jesus, folks start looking at it sideways, they consider it foolish talk, foolishness, how many people have come on this app and they have said, oh, you guys serve a sky daddy or it's make-believe or it's not real, but you've got to understand, they're perishing, they can't comprehend it, they do not understand it, good morning, Miss Kim, they do not understand it and refuse to understand it, but let's read it again, for the preaching of the cross to them that perish, it's foolishness, but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God, see we understand where our hope comes from, we understand that God sent his son to save us, we understand that, but for those who are perishing, they are not filled with the spirit and they do not understand what we say, they do not understand our excitement, our hope, our faith, the word, they don't understand it, they are perishing, they are perishing, but so, then let's look a little bit further, let's go over to 1 Corinthians 2 14, let's look at that a little bit more, 1 Corinthians 2 14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, wait a minute, for the natural man, what do we mean, the man in his naturality, in his carnality, the natural man is one that is not born again, remember as a Christian, we are born again, we are born from above, we are born from within out, meaning we are born again believer in covenant with Jesus Christ, with God, but read it again, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, see the natural man can't receive this, the natural woman cannot receive this, it's gibberish to them, when you share with somebody in the naturality, they are operating in the flesh, when you talk about Jesus, they don't comprehend it, when you talk about God, they don't comprehend it, when you speak of the church and salvation and regeneration and all these theological terminologies, people look at you like you're speaking nonsense, watch this, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, you folks, you've got to remember that we are filled with the spirit and we have the ability to discern the word of God, we have the ability to understand, now I'm not saying that we understand the full counsel of God's word, but we understand that we are saved by grace, we understand his mercy, we understand that the reason we woke up this morning, why, is because God allowed us to wake up this morning, when we read the word and we see it, we understand it because it is the spirit of God that reveals it to us, once again, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them because they are, what, they must be spiritually discerned, this is why when we say something of God, most of you say, amen, amen, why, because you have discerned it spiritually, but when you were in the world, when you were operating in the flesh, you didn't care about these things, your objective was things of the world, but then I started like, well, wait a minute, wait a minute, let's look at this one from the very beginning in chapter 2, because I was really thinking this was a powerful thought, right here, watch this, watch this, verse 13, let's look at 2.13, Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches us, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now let's think about that, Brother Nate, thank you so much, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, and comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. Now I find it very powerful that Paul is writing to the church of Corinth, and that he's breaking down carnality and spiritual things. I love that he is, good morning Lambril, I love when he lets us know that the natural man cannot comprehend the things in the Bible. You know, not too long ago, I had two young men in front of our house here, and they were from the Mormon faith. Now watch this, watch this, and all of a sudden, I read the whole Bible. I said, well, if you read the whole Bible, surely you must understand the doctrines of the Bible, and that you are in a false religion. He said, but I read the whole Bible, I know the Bible. I said, do you? Well he can't possibly know the Bible, because why? He's not filled with the Spirit. Now, he can read the words, she can read the words, but there's a difference between reading the words versus discerning the words. Let me read this again. Which things we also speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. See, he read the Word of God, but he had no way to comprehend the Word of God, because he was not filled with the Spirit. He was operating in the natural. I'm so sorry. This is why verse 14 says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, the natural man cannot and will not receive the things of the Word of God, because he or she is operating in the natural. To really comprehend the Word of God, you must be filled with the Spirit. This is why God gave us the Spirit, to lead us in truth. Now though, let's start from the beginning in chapter 2 to get some backstory with regards to what Paul was talking about. He says, And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimonies of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I love that Paul says, I came to you and my only objective was to teach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was his only objective. I'm sorry, we are in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 1. So Paul says, I didn't come to you with persuasive speech. I didn't come to you with $5 words. I didn't come to you with a theological, overwhelming dialogue. He goes, I came to you and all I preached was, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He says, I was determined to know nothing. I wasn't a sports expert. I wasn't a market expert. I wasn't a real estate expert. I wasn't a philosophy expert. He says, I came to you and I taught Jesus and Him crucified. You know what? If the church would get back to that, we'd be doing a lot better. I repeat that. If the church would get back to what? Teaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we would be doing a lot better. If we would get out of our head that we have to have, you know, a special musical group, we have to have a sound stage, we have to have flat screens, we have to have entertainment. If the church would get back to teaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we'd be doing a lot better. We place more emphasis on entertaining people at church versus teaching people at church. Paul says, I didn't come to you with any other thing other than teaching the Word of God. Verse 3, and I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. So Paul is saying, what I was doing, I wasn't comfortable. What I was doing, I wasn't relaxed. He says, I came to you to preach Jesus and Him crucified, and I was not comfortable. Matter of fact, I was weak, and I was in fear, and I was cold. I was in a situation that wasn't comfortable, but what did he do? He proclaimed God, Jesus, and the cross. Folks, let's think about it. Too many times we're looking for comfort. Too many times we're looking to be entertained. A lot of us, I had a person show up at our church one day, and he says, you know what? I like your church, but there's one thing missing. I said, what is that? He says, a coffee bar. I said, did you really say, church was good, but there's one thing missing? A coffee bar? See, my mind is this, if all you can find, if all, let me, how can I word this? If you go to church on a Sunday, and all you got out of it is the lack of a coffee bar, you were at church for the wrong thing. Let me repeat. If you went to church on a Sunday, or any day, and all you can find that the church didn't have a coffee bar to meet your caffeine needs, you're in the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reason. Folks, we need to go to church and get serious about being students of the word. We need to go to church that we can be edified, that our faith can be intensified. We need to go to church, and this is another thing. I say this with true love. Do not go to church expecting to be entertained. Do not go to church expecting to be entertained. Allow the pastor, the preacher, the minister to preach the word of God relentlessly. Not rudely, but with full transparency. You know, I'm going to tell you something, and I don't mention this a lot, but many years ago I had an opportunity to meet Louis Farrakhan. How many of you know who Louis Farrakhan is? If you don't, look him up. Louis Farrakhan. How many of you know who Louis Farrakhan is? Louis Farrakhan. You might know him of the name Minister Farrakhan. You might know him as the head of the Nation of Islam. But look him up. Louis Farrakhan. He's been interviewed on 60 Minutes. He's been interviewed by Barbara Walters. A list of people have known him. I got an opportunity to meet with him a few years ago, myself and my father. He wanted to meet with me. That's neither here nor there. But in our meeting and in our conversation, he moved upon me something that I found very powerful. He looked at me and said, young man, do you know why I am able to preach and teach the things I do? I said, no. What is that? He said, I'm able to preach and teach the things I do because the Nation of Islam gives me the liberty to. It allows me to. Now what does that mean to you and I as a Christian? Well, I don't support Louis Farrakhan's theology, and I don't condone his teachings. But I do say this. Allow your preacher, your minister, your teacher, your pastor to preach the Word of God relentlessly. Allow him. Go to church. Yes, he's a Muslim. Go to church. Not to look for a coffee machine. Not to be motivated. Not to be, if you will, hear good sweet stuff. But go to church to hear the Word of God as it is written in the Word of God so that we can grow in the Word of God so that we can be powerful disciples. Paul says again, he goes, Brother, I came to you not with excellency of speech or wisdom declaring to you the testimonies of God, for I determined not to know nothing or anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We should be going to church to learn of Jesus, learn of the cross, learn of God, and Him crucified. That's all we should be going to church for, that we grow in the knowledge and understanding of Jesus Christ. Once again, those who do not get it, watch what it says. Once again in the Word, it says, But the natural man, in verse 14, But the natural man, or the natural woman, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. See, those of you who go to church and the only thing that you can take home or the only thing that you took away was the lack of a coffee bar, you are not spiritually discerning. You are of the world. Think about it. And folks, I'm not here to minimize or to ridicule or be negative towards churches that have coffee bars or great entertainment programs, but what I'm saying is you, you, as a Christian and follower of Christ, you should demand that you get thorough teaching. You should demand that you get biblical teaching. You should demand that you get the full counsel of God's Word. You can go to a movie and get entertained. You can go to a theater and get entertained. But you go to church that you may grow, that you may be edified, that your faith shall mount up. This is why we go to church. I love this, what Paul is saying. Watch what he says in verse four. In my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of spirit and of power. So when Paul leaves Athens, he comes to Corinth. Now Corinth was a very wealthy city. Matter of fact, I would liken Corinth to our modern day San Francisco. It was a very wealthy city. Immorality was probably over the top. You probably could have seen things or done things. It might have been like a Las Vegas. What goes on in Corinth stays in Corinth. But Paul says right here in verse four, And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words, a better word, persuasive, with persuasive words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of what? The Spirit. The Spirit of God. But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. See, we're not teaching the Word of God in power, and we are not being led by the Holy Spirit in church these days. You know what scares me about church these days? Let me take a sip of my coffee. We operate on a script. We operate on a script. We say church starts at 10. We have a clock. And don't get me wrong. I want church to start on time. But we have a clock that starts at 10 o'clock, the countdown at 9.55, and it clocks down. And when it's 10 o'clock, boom, we're ready to go. And all of a sudden, it's like a movie director says, action. And all of a sudden, we go. And that praise and worship comes out there, and they've got eight minutes to do what they need to do. And then we have announcements, and that's another three minutes. And then we go into the sermon, and we must wrap up church by 11, because why? We've got another service, and we don't want to be led by the Spirit because we've got a schedule to keep. This is what church is turned into. Now, I'm not, once again, mocking churches that want to be on time. I'm not mocking churches that have a program. I'm not mocking churches that have multiple service and have to stay within that schedule. I'm not doing that. And I'm saying that the church must be led by the Spirit. I say again, by Paul, he says what? He says, and my speech, in 1 Corinthians 2, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. How do we demonstrate the power of God's Word if we are limited by a clock? How do we demonstrate the power of God's Word through the Holy Spirit if we are limited by a program? Watch what he says in verse 5. He says, and this is very powerful. He says, this is why I was teaching in power and truth. He says in verse 5, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. This is a problem with a lot of people. Our faith stands in the wisdom of men. If man said it, we believe it. If TikTok said it, we believe it. How many conversations have you had recently based on information that you saw on TikTok? How many of you have had incredible conversations over a cup of coffee with your spouse, with your family, with your neighbor, with some information that you got on some platform somewhere from someone you did not know? Think about it. But what does it say? Paul says, I was preaching with power. I was preaching with the Spirit. I didn't use elegant words or persuasive words. But what did he say? He says, and I didn't preach that way because what? I want your faith to stand on the power of God, and not the wisdom of men. That's what he says. That our faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. That's exactly what it says. He says in verse six, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Perfect means mature, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor the princes of this world that come to not. Princess means rulers. Let's read it again. How be it we speak wisdom among them that are mature, yet not the wisdom of this world. Because we didn't speak the wisdom of this world. We spoke something that had to be spiritually discerned. We were preaching something that had to be spiritually discerned by people filled with the Spirit. This is why we say amen, because when we hear this, it rings with our Holy Spirit. It rings with the Spirit within us. Do you know this is the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in us? Let me share something with you all real quick. I trust God with every aspect of my life. I trust Him with my family. I trust Him with my health. I trust Him with my finances. I trust God. I've had some things come down here in the last month that would just blow you away, but I'm trusting in God. And we should always put all our eggs in one basket when it comes to the Lord. Now how do I trust? It's because the Spirit allows me to discern that God's Word is true. The Spirit that dwelleth in me allows me to understand that God is faithful, that He's not like man, that He should lie. And I will not put my trust in man or woman, but I will put my trust in God. I will stand on the Word. Verse 6, Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, that are mature, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, that come to nothing. Now that verse right there is very powerful. True wisdom centered in Christ existed in the hearts of God before the world began. Let me repeat that. True wisdom centered in Christ existed in the heart of God before the world began. This wisdom that God gives us only comes through the Word of God, and it's only revealed through the Holy Spirit. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way. Before His works, I was of old. I was set up for it from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul. All they that hate me love death, Proverbs 8. When we find Jesus, we find life. When we find Jesus, we find power. When we have Jesus, now we start to live. But to get Jesus, you must repent. To get Jesus, you must confess that you are a sinner. To receive Jesus, you must acknowledge and have faith in Him. And then we are filled with the Spirit, and we are born again, and we are born from above. Verse 7, But we speak the wisdom of God in mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. See, this is a mystery. This is why when you speak to people, not all of you, but some of you, when you speak to folks, and you start telling them things about the Bible, and they scratch their heads, and they look at you, and it's foolishness to them. Watch again. We said from the very first verse, verse 18. 118, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. For those that are perishing, the preaching of the cross, the word of God, it's foolishness. It doesn't mean anything to them. But to you and I, watch what it says, but to us which are saved, it is the power of God. Foolishness. There's people with all kinds of religious organizations or different faiths. Look at the Muslims. They think us teaching and preaching Jesus Christ being the God and the Son of God, they believe it's foolishness. You've got another religion who won't even talk about the cross. They say, no, no, no, no, we don't want to mention the cross. We don't want to mention that. But without the cross, how do you understand the fullness of what Jesus did? Without the cross, how do you even celebrate Easter? Because it was the power of the cross that Jesus went to, that saved us, that redeemed us, that paid the price and pulled for us. If you dismiss the cross, you dismiss everything. It's foolishness. We looked right there in verse 14. But the natural man received, if not the things of the Spirit of God. See, in naturality, you can't receive the things of God. In your carnality, that's why when you share the love of God, the love of Jesus, the cross, the death, burial, and resurrection, sin, and all that with someone, and they scratch their head and look at you and they consider it foolishness because they're operating in carnality. They're operating in their flesh. And don't you for one moment get on your pedestal and think you've been righteous your whole life. I want you to always remember who you used to be before you had Jesus. Let me talk about that for a bit. You know, some of us, we get so self-righteous. Come on now. I know I'm talking to someone here. You know before you became a Christian, you were in the club. You know that before you started following Jesus Christ, you were smoking the weed. You were caught up in sexual activity out of marriage. You were drinking and clubbing, and you were doing all kinds of things, and you didn't want to hear anything about Jesus. You remember that. You might have been doing things that I didn't even mention, but you were doing them, and you weren't phased one bit. You were doing them. Why? Because you were operating in your carnality. But now that you've got Jesus, oh, now you're on the mountaintop looking down on creation thinking you're better than someone. Oh, now that you've got Jesus and you're a born-again believer in covenant with Jesus Christ, now you want to judge some folks. Now that you've got Jesus and you're a born-again believer, you go to church every Sunday, know a few verses, you want to send everybody else to hell. I want you to always remember where Jesus took you from. I want you to always remember where God carried you from. I want you to always remember who you used to be, but what God has brought you to what you need to be. I want you to always remember that, and I want you to give praise and glory to God. I want you to honor God that He spared you, even when you were living that life of sin, that He showed grace and mercy on you and delivered that. Don't get on your high horse and get all arrogant, but always give praise to God that He showed you grace and mercy. Thank you, Father. I love that response. Thank you, Father. Don't forget that. Let's get back to our lesson. Verse 8, 2-8, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8, verse 8, Which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would have not crucified the Lord of glory. If the princesses and the rulers and the religious elite understood who they were dealing with, they would have never crucified Jesus. Me and Miss Debbie were in front last night, and we were talking. She says, honey, explain to me the difference between a Messianic Jew and an Orthodox Jew. I go, the Messianic is a longer word, or I should say Messiah comes from Messianic. Messianic means the promise of God, the promise of the Holy Anointed One to come. That is a Messianic Jew who is accepted whom? Jesus. She says, now what's going to happen? What's happening in Israel? She said that the Jews are outlawing Christianity. I go, I'm not mad at the Jews. They have denied Christianity from the day that Jesus Christ resurrected from the grave. They've denied Him. They will not accept Him. I'm not mad at them, because why? They're God's chosen people. With that being said, but Jesus is coming back, and He's going to take His church, and we're going to meet Him in the sky, and the Jews will be left here doing what? The tribulation. And God will use them in a powerful way. And they will know God, and they will know Jesus, when He comes back upon His return. Now my point of telling you that is this. They would not accept the message of Jesus. Why? Because Jesus did not fit a warrior king criteria. How can anything could come out of Nazareth? The son of a carpenter? This is the warrior king? This is the Messiah? We refuse to accept that. Why? Because we're operating in carnality. Back to what I said on verse 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can they know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The Jews do not have the Holy Spirit, and they do not discern who the Messiah is, and they do not understand. The Messiah has come, and He has gone, and His name is Jesus, and He's been given all authority. Verse 9. But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. I love that verse. I want you to really hear what it says. I want to say it slower. But as it is written, our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. The reference comes from Isaiah 64.4, but Paul has interpreted it. We can't even imagine what God has for us. We can't imagine New Jerusalem. We can't imagine eternity, and heaven, and a world without pain, sadness, and suffering. We can't imagine. Once again, our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard, neither have we entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for us. We can't imagine it. But with all that being said, you are unable to discern any of this if you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. And let us not abuse the Holy Spirit. I know some of us walk around here, and we mandate, we know the reason that you are filled with the Spirit, you're speaking with tongues, that's abuse. We know that some people say, well, you know, you've got to have the Spirit to do this, that works. But the Spirit enters you the moment that you turn to Jesus. The Holy Spirit takes residence in you and seals you when you confess, and you believe, and you repent, and you turn to God. It's that simple. And the moment that you get serious about your walk with the Lord, the Lord starts revealing His Word to you. Now you say, Amen, because you know what you know. Now I'm not saying that you know the full, the fullness. I'm not saying that you know every depth, because we are finite creatures. We can't understand an infinite God, we're finite. But the moment you start allowing the Spirit to lead you, He starts revealing to you the elementary disciplines of God. And then when you read a verse like this, verse 9, 2-9, But as it is written, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the hearts of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. And you read that, and you say, My, my, my, my God, my God. Folks, we have to spiritually discern. The only way we can spiritually discern is if we're filled with the Holy Spirit. See, the Spirit knows the things of the Spirit. The Spirit of man knows the things of the Spirit, lowercase s, the Spirit of the world. We know that. We've got that. But to understand who God is, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Think about it. Think about it. Verse 10, But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. He's revealed these things to us. By what? The Holy Spirit. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit, the uppercase S, the Spirit searches all things, yet the deep things of God. Did you hear that? I don't think y'all caught that. Hang on. Lambrel, I want you to hear this. I want you to hear this. All of you. Verse 10. Well, let's read 10. Let's read 9 and 10. All right? But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the hearts of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. All right? Before you got Jesus, before you were filled with the Spirit, before you accepted the Lord, you didn't understand. You couldn't see it. You couldn't hear it. Matter of fact, back to 118. For the preaching of the cross to them that perish is foolishness. You thought it was foolishness at one time. You thought it was nonsense at one time. You didn't want none of that Jesus stuff. You didn't want none of that church stuff. You didn't want to talk about it. We had a young lady here on yesterday. She said, I didn't even want to talk about this stuff. Why? She felt it to be foolishness. Foolishness. Now then we jump over to what? 15 or 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. That's how you and I were. But then we jump to the verse in verse 9 that we're reading. It says, But as it is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. But look at verse 10. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. Now Lambrail, this is really what I need you to hear. Lambrail, I'm just saying your name, but I want all of you to hear this. You know what I mean. I do this at church. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. This is when it gets deep. We're about to go to the deep side of the pool. For the Spirit searches all things. Yeah, the deep things of God. The deep things of God. The Spirit knows the depthness of God. The Holy Spirit knows the depthness of God. And now the Holy Spirit resides in us. And it searches all things. And it reveals to us the depth of God. But remember, we are finite. We cannot contain the infinite God. But God reveals to us as he desires. But we have to put ourselves in that position to operate in the Spirit and not carnality to receive the things of God. Now you can glean across the screen. There are people that are saying things. I'm not mad at them. They're saying things that oppose Christianity. But once again, let us read. Don't be mad at them. Don't be mad at them. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. This person or these individuals are operating in carnality, in the natural. They are not born again. They do not understand. And you want to get mad at them, but you need to pity them. You need to pray for them. For they do not have the Spirit of God. Think about it. Watch this. But God has revealed them unto us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yet the deep things of God, for what man knoweth the things of man, save the Spirit of man, which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. In other words, man knows the Spirit of man. Man knows the Spirit of the world. Man knows that because he is limited, because he has what? His naturality, his carnality. But to understand the deftness of God, you must have the Holy Spirit. To understand the word of God, you must have the Spirit of God. That's the bottom line. This is what the Word says. Let me read it again. Verse 11. For what man knoweth the things of man, what man does know, he knoweth the man. That's all he knows. He knows no more. Save the Spirit of man, which is in him. Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. The only way that you are going to comprehend and know God, and understand God, and receive revelations of God, is that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. That is the only way. You can read the book. Once again, the young men that were in front of my house, oh, I've read the Bible. Have you? But you could not discern the word of God because you were not filled with the Holy Spirit. So you just read it like you read any other book. Verse 12. But we have received not the Spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. See, we as believers are filled with the Spirit of God. We are sealed. The deepness of God is revealed to us as God desires. Finite creatures filled with the power that created the heavens and the earth. The finite creatures that we are filled with the Spirit of God, and we are led by the power of God through His Holy Spirit. Verse 13. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spirit. Let me stop right there. I'm telling you, and I said this to our church yesterday. Are you ready for this? Quit operating in the spirit of fear, and start walking in the spirit of faith. Because fear and faith cannot coexist. We look at the news. We hear the messages coming down the pipeline. We hear the message of humanity, what the world's going through, the crisis, the universal dollar, this, that, and so on, etc. And we find ourselves operating in the spirit of fear. But you know, and I know, that who sits at the right-hand side of the Father and has been given all authority? Can anyone tell me who sits in on the right-hand side of the Father and has been given all authority, above, below, and beneath? Who is that? Can someone answer that? Please. God does not give us the spirit of fear. Amen. Amen. Jesus. Jesus. So if Jesus sits at the right-hand side of the Father, and if Jesus has got authority above, here, and below, why are we getting overly consumed by what we see on the news, what we see coming down the pipeline, what we see on TikTok, Instagram, or any other platform? Why do we not stand on the Word of God and be moved by the Spirit of God and say, I stand on the foundation of God's Word. I shall not be shook. Your foundation is not on sand. Your foundation is on Jesus. That is in the Word. And discern what you see in this Word through the Spirit of God, and not the wisdom of man. I go back to what Paul said. He says in verse 5, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men. There are some of you that your faith stands in the wisdom of men. You move when the news says move. You take when the news says take. You do when the news says do. But stand on the Word of God and say, My King sits on the throne, and My King is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. I move when God says move. And I will fear no man, or woman, or person, or event, or circumstance. For Jesus Christ has been given all authority, and I trust in Him. But, but, verse 14, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him or her, neither can he or she know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Not everyone is going to understand the things that you understand, and not everyone is going to celebrate Jesus like you celebrate. Why? Because they do not have the Spirit, and you do. Verse 15, But he that is spiritually judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no man. When you have the Holy Spirit, you are not concerned with the verdict of the world towards you. I don't care what people think of me. I only care what the Lord thinks of me. I only care what Jesus thinks of me. I'll read it again. But he that is spiritually judges all things. When you have the Spirit, you can discern. When you have the Spirit, you have the ability. The Lord gives you power and insight. Yet he himself is not judge of no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. So what? We must decrease and allow the Lord to increase. We must stand on God's word and move by the power and the authority of the Holy Spirit. Some folks aren't going to catch this. This is going to be over their head. That's not an insult on their intellect. It's an insult on their lack of receiving the Holy Spirit. Let me leave you with this. There are people in church sitting up in church today that are not filled with the Spirit. There are people that are sitting in church today that are not filled with the Holy Spirit. They are going through the motions. They look like Christians. They quote some verses. They dress. They give. They do. But they have never repented. They are not filled with the Spirit. Externally, they look good. But internally, they are corrupt as ever. I read the verse one more time that I started from the very beginning. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Amen. Folks, we love you. May God bless you. May He watch you. May He take care of you. And may the Lord bless the reading of His word. I've got to get ready. But I thank God that you allow me to come into your mornings to share a cup of coffee and the word of God. Please, go on our website. Get registered. Know that we want to stay in contact with you. If TikTok goes south, so be it. So be it. We will figure out another way. Little did I know four years ago that X amount of people would listen to me in the morning on TikTok. God made a way. So if TikTok decides it's going to go south, God's word will get out. If it's not me, it will be someone else. But please, let's somehow stay in contact, go on our webpage, get registered so that we can get the information to you where we'll be able to speak and talk and so on, etc. Last thing, I ask for a prayer again to pray for our ministering church. I've come to the conclusion, and let me say this first because I didn't do it yesterday, but let me say it first today. I've come to the conclusion that our church will never be a big, multicultural church. That our church will be a small, loving church. And I've made my peace with that. That we will not have 400 or 500 or 2,000 unless the Lord decides otherwise. I've accepted that. I want you to pray for me in that. But let me also say, I never realized that God would allow me to speak into 400,000 plus people, 200 this morning. I never expected that. But what I am going to do, I want you to pray for me because I am going to trust in God. If only 8 people show up in church Sunday, or 28 people, or 38, I'm going to trust in God. And God will use us that we may be loyal to Him and teach the Word of God relentlessly with love, gentleness, and kindness. If you could pray that for us in the ministry, I would truly, truly appreciate it. All right? So God bless you. Have a beautiful day. Let the Lord use you. But most importantly, I haven't said this in a while, but I think it's important for me to say it. I want you to do this. Can you see that? I want you to do this. I want you to choose love. Everything that you do, everything that you think, everything that takes place, I want you to choose love. Will you do that for me? If you could do this, if you could figure this out, to operate as a Christian in love, to love each other, to love God, to love relentlessly, if you could do this in your walk, you've probably overcome an incredible obstacle. If you could do that. All right? All right, everybody. We love you. Let me pray over all of you. Father God, thank you. Lord, there probably were prayer requests that I did not see. There were probably questions I did not answer. But Lord, I pray that you would just bless those, that they would open their word, that they would search, that they would look, that you would reveal that to them. Father, I thank you that if you would bless my day, that you would use me in a powerful way, that I may encourage, that I might love. And Father God, I pray for our church and our ministry. Lord, I've come to the conclusion, if it never grows, I'm going to still honor you. If it's only eight people, I'm going to honor you. I'm going to praise you no matter what. I'm going to be relentless in teaching the word. And Lord, I pray for those on TikTok. Father, while our physical church might be small in numbers, our platform on TikTok is a big church, a big ministry. And Father, we thank you for both. But Lord, I pray that you use us in a powerful way, that we love, that we teach the word, and that we be realistic, that we be transparent, that we be kind, that we be full of love, that we be full of gentleness. Father, we thank you, we praise you, and we ask all of this in the name of Jesus, amen. All right, everybody, God bless you. Have a beautiful day. Lord will, and we'll see you tomorrow morning.