If you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 15 verses 14 through 16, I'm going to be reading that. I'm just going to give you a heads up. I'm not going to go into too much detail today, but I'm just letting you know that we're switching to the NASB.

I know most of you probably are using the ESV. How many of you using the ESV? Okay. All right. How many of you are not using the ESV? How many of you use the NASB? Okay. So you guys are safe. So we're not saying that everybody has to use the ESV, but we're just letting you know, again, I'm not going to go into too much detail that throughout the years we've come to the conclusion, at least in the pastoral staff and the leaders that we prefer the NASB because it is closer to the original language and we felt like they did a better job as we were studying through it to translate it to get us to better meaning.

So whatever translation you use, I mean, ESV is a good translation, but I'm just giving you a heads up that starting from next week, I'll be reading out of the NASB and the verses that we're quoting and the Bible that I will be reading out of is the NASB.

Okay? All right. But today's the last day I'm going to be reading the ESV, but the passages on the screen will be in the NASB. So if you get confused, just to confuse you today, that's what I did. Okay. I forgot to bring my NASB Bible at home. I was all prepared to present and then I forgot to bring it.

So I'm using the ESV to read today. I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Let's pray. Gracious God, we thank you so much for the privilege that we have to worship you. Help us, Lord God, to recognize the gift that we have, that our worship, our service, our giving, our fellowship, all of it may be a reasonable act of worship. We pray, Father, that your word, what you have ordained to bring your church to salvation, to sanctify us and ultimately redeem us, will fulfill its purpose this morning.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Again, as you know, as we're starting through the book of Romans, typically when we get to chapter five where we are now up to the end of the chapter, chapter 16, it's kind of like the conclusion. This is why Paul wrote it. This is what he's doing.

And then it kind of concludes. So typically we think of the meat of the book of Romans is in the first eight chapters, and in particular chapter eight. And then starting from chapter nine through chapter 11, it's kind of like the, you know, it gives you an outline of redemptive history in the nation of Israel and what he's planning to do in the future.

He's going to bring in the Gentiles and later on the Israelites are going to be grafted in. And then chapter 12 is the imperatives. In light of all of that, what should we do? And so some of you lean more heavily toward the imperatives. You don't have the patience for the indicative.

These are the doctrines, so therefore this is what we ought to do. So I know that just from talking to you. Some of you guys just want to tell me what to do. Like all the whys and the foundation, that's great, but tell me what should we do? So that's chapter 12.

How should a Christian respond to this tremendous grace? But by the time we get to chapter 15, just kind of like one big gigantic sermon, this is why he wrote the letter and then the end and then you move on. And so many people have asked me already, I think mindset-wise, I've already kind of like, we're concluded.

What other book are we going to get into? These are legitimate questions, but chapter 15, where we're at up to the end of the chapter, I'm actually taking a bit more time than normal because what is contained in here is actually Paul's application of everything that he's been teaching.

This is his own description of his ministry, of his life, and why he wrote this letter and what he's trying to conclude. So chapter 1 through chapter 11 is about the gospel of Christ. Chapter 12 to chapter 15 is about the application of it in the church. And then chapter 15, where we are at to the end, basically Paul is describing himself.

He's describing how he's applying the very things that he's been teaching. And so I'm taking a little bit extra time and our focus this morning is going to be on verse 16, a part of verse 15. And I'm not going to go this slow throughout the rest of the chapters, but I think it's important enough for us to realize the application of it because it has ramification on all of us.

I know that reading Christian biographies is probably often recommended, and I highly recommend it because it encourages us and men and women of faith that have gone before us and who set an example of what we ought to do. So a lot of times we think of Christian life and then we have these ideas, but we don't know what it should look like in the life of an average Christian.

But sometimes the danger of reading these biographies is that they highlight certain extra special moments in their life. And then after you read it, you think, "Wow, these are super Christian. These are people that are not normal or average. They didn't have a nine to five job." So it's hard for us to relate.

In fact, I don't really like reading biographies for that reason because oftentimes it's highlighted and they sound like superhuman. I remember early on as a Christian reading about Martin Luther and how he would wake up at three in the morning and spend three hours in prayer. And then when he was busy, he would pray four hours.

And then during the day he preached five sermons and then how he wrote all these books and commentaries. And after you read that, your first response is challenge. And then second response is despair. Right? Because what? He did what? You talk about missionaries, how they left everything, went into the jungle, ate one meal a week and you know what I mean, drank crazy things.

And then they became Christian and they planted 50 churches all over the world. And you read that, it's like, "Wow, that's great." And then second response is, "Okay, I can't, that's never going to happen to me." Right? So a lot of times you read these biographies and then you highlight and sometimes exaggerate it.

Like these are superhuman beings that a few select people were able to experience that most Christians wouldn't even be able to relate. But the thing that I love about the scripture, the scripture, if you read every character in the Bible, they're all flawed human beings. Every single one of them.

Every single one of them. You see, even David is a man after God's own heart. You look, examine his life carefully. He had all kinds of flaws. Abraham, you know, even though he was a man of faith, he's afraid that he's going to get killed because of his wife and then say, "Hey, lie that you're my sister so that I can save my neck.

Maybe they'll take you but not me." I mean, every single human being is completely flawed. Even the writers of the New Testament, you know, a lot of people reject the Bible and they say, "Oh, this is written by man for their own advantage." Humanly speaking, it makes absolutely no sense because the writers of the New Testament made themselves look bad.

When Jesus was resurrected, the authors who wrote about it described themselves as cowards and unbelievers and they weren't the ones who first ran to the grave. And in fact, even after they saw him, some of them doubted, "How could this be?" There's no human being written in Scripture that comes out perfect.

And that's part of the reason why I love the Scriptures because it's honest and it's just the actual presentation of what happens. So the only individual that comes out glorified is God and God alone. The reason why I mention all of this is we were just at a retreat and we said the first and most important vision of our church, what we're trying to work toward is God-centered worship where we don't scan the church, we don't scan our society, we don't scan our generation to find out, you know, what is an itch that our generation has and then we start to scratch that itch and then more people will come to our church.

That is not our goal. Our desire in our church that every church ought to have based upon Scripture is God-centered. Is God glorified? Is God pleased? Is the Word of God being taught? Is He being magnified? And the reason why this is so central to the church is if you build a church, trying to scratch the felt needs of the church is no different than giving a child candy at 11 p.m.

They'll be happy for the moment but long-term you know his teeth are going to get rotten. Long-term you know you're raising a child who thinks that the universe revolves around them and they may be, the parents may be able to put up with that but as soon as he steps out of the house, no one's going to tolerate that.

So you're not actually doing them a favor. You're actually creating a child who's going to be rejected everywhere he goes. So to build a church based upon what makes you happy actually ends up ruining you. They're not doing you any favor. That's why when Christ is exalted and we are reminded that the goal of our life and the church is not you but God.

Not only is He glorified but when He is glorified we experience true life. Not the superficial life, not just superficial scratching of our back because it's itching but when we recognize the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as the Lord of our life, we experience what God intended from the beginning of creation.

That we are meant to be image bearers. That when God looks at, when people look at us, that they are to see Christ glorified and when we do that, we live. I mention all of this because Apostle Paul was a man who understood this very clearly. He was so deeply affected by what happened to him that it affected everything that he did, everything that he said.

Every sacrifice that he made was directly affected by what happened to him when he met Christ on the road to Damascus. This morning I'm going to be looking at the short passage in verse 15 and 16 how Paul describes his own ministry. So the first thing that he says, mentioned in verse 15, he says, "But on some point I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder because of the grace given me by God." And I know it's a passing thing that he says but it's important enough for us to stop and take a look because he says this almost every time he mentioned his ministry that his ministry was not by his works but by the grace that he was given.

Now why is this so essential? Not only to Paul's ministry but to our daily spiritual life? Because once we forget that the only reason why you and I are here is because God was gracious to us, we begin to grumble. We begin to look at what we have, what we don't have, and we begin to compare and covet and all of a sudden grumbling begins to creep into our hearts.

And we become cross-centered. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.10, "According to the grace of God which was given to me like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it, but each man must be careful how he builds on it." He sees himself writing this excruciating letter and he recognizes that his ministry to them was by God's grace.

It wasn't simply out of obligation but God's grace. Again in 1 Corinthians 15.10, "But by the grace of God I am what I am." It wasn't because he had potential. It wasn't because he was a diamond in the rough that was sitting there that nobody noticed other than God.

Everybody else bypassed him but this diamond that was sitting in the rough, he somehow picked it up and he dusted it off. That's how the Bible describes us. The Bible describes us as dead in our trespasses. Dead in our trespasses. It wasn't like a diamond in the rough that everybody bypassed.

We were blasphemers. We were idolaters. We were completely dead in our trespasses. And the only reason why you and I are here is because he had complete mercy on us. Everything that we have, the reason why you're able to sit here and even listen to what I have to say is because of the grace of God.

You didn't will yourself. You may say, "Well, I woke up. I put on my clothes. I brushed my teeth. I came here." But the only reason why you were even attracted to Christ, why you're here listening and understanding what I have to say is because God opened your ear.

It's because he softened your heart. He put certain people in your life to bring the gospel to you and it was by the mercy of God. It is the kindness of God that led you to repentance. If there's somebody in your life that cared enough for you to bring you to church or share the gospel with you, that wasn't your doing.

That was God's doing. It was by his mercy. Everything that we have, even our ministry, even our hardship was by the grace of God. It's because he was gracious to us. A Christian who lives his life in continual grumbling is like an individual who wins a free ticket to the greatest playoff ever.

You know, the Lakers are playing against the Warriors and LeBron James, you know, performs a miracle. We get to the seventh game and this is the sellout ticket. You know, the Warriors are looking like they're going to finally lose. Right? It may happen, right? So this happens. We're in the seventh game, they're in the Staples Center and somehow you win the ticket and you're elated that you got the ticket, but the whole time you're headed toward the Staples Center, you're complaining about how far the Staples Center is.

And when you get there, you're complaining about how the parking is horrible. And then when you get there, you're complaining about how long this line is to get in there. And then when you get in there, you're complaining about the location of your seat. And then when you get to the seat, you're complaining about how hard the seat is.

And then when you get there, you complain about how nasty the food is and how overpriced it is. And the whole time you're experiencing this free ticket to get to this game, you're complaining about everything about it. And you forget about what it is that you have. See that's a Christian.

That's a Christian who won the greatest lottery and we spend the rest of the time complaining about the church, the people, our surroundings, what we have, what we don't have, air conditioning. I mean, the kind of stuff that we grumble about in the context of what it is that God has given us when we lose focus of what it is that we have in Christ.

Apostle Paul was beaten for his faith. In fact, eventually he dies because of his faith. He is head beheaded, but he never forgot what it is that he had in Christ. As difficult as his life was, because he met Christ, he understood this as his grace. The reason why he's able to be in a position to teach other people about the love of Christ is because he was given that love of Christ.

Not only does having a proper perspective of what it is that we have in Christ, his grace, it keeps us humble because it is by grace. It's not anything that you've done because our natural tendency is, you know, you walk into a room, you measure people. You say, "Oh, you know," not to be judgmental.

We're all judgmental. You walk in, you know exactly who's taller than you and shorter than you. I don't have to ask you. You've already measured it in your head. You already know, right? Who's good looking, who you don't think is good looking, who's athletic, who's not athletic. You have it all in your head already.

You just may not say it, right? We all have a tendency that if we think we're a little bit better or if we've done a little bit better, if we've read a little bit more, we have a tendency to think that, "Oh, this is what we have." And so our natural tendency in the church is when you're doing well, you come to church and you measure everybody based upon what you think you're doing well.

And then if you're not doing well, you kind of draw back. "Oh man, you know, I don't want to be here at church and everybody's judging me." And then we have communion table inviting people to come. It's not by your merit. And then you say, "Oh yeah, but I don't deserve it." You never deserve it to begin with.

That's what the whole purpose of this table. The only way that we can be reconciled to God was by His mercy. There's nothing that you could have done. And that's what the gospel teaches us at its core. It humbles us that no matter how high you are, no matter how low you are, the gate to get in is the same.

And so recognizing and understanding that grace not only causes us to have a different attitude toward everything, it humbles us. Romans 12.3 says, "For through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allowed it to each a measure of faith." Not to think of yourself more highly.

The scripture says we've been saved by grace, not by works. For what purpose? So that no one may boast. A Christian who boasts is contradicting the very core of what he professes. A Christian who boasts about his righteousness, about what he is doing, what he has accomplished, goes directly against the very core of what he professes.

Because what he professes is, "I was a sinner in need of his mercy, and God had mercy on me. Instead of striking me dead, he sent his only begotten Son to save me." So an individual who begins his walk with God with that confession, to be filled with boasting is a contradiction.

First Corinthians 4.7, "For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" Any boasting as a Christian, for any reason, goes directly against every song that we sing, every passage that we study.

See, Paul was a man who God used tremendously for his work. And if there's one thing that God was concerned about this man, it was pride. And in Corinthians it says God deliberately put a thorn on his side. For what purpose? To keep him humble. To remind him that it is only when he is weak, Christ is strong.

So the fact that Paul describes his ministry as the grace of God, not because of his talent, not because of his Roman citizenship, not because of his great education, but why? In 1 Timothy 1.15.17, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.

He wasn't saved because of this. He was diamond in the rough that everybody bypassed. He said he was saved because he was a sinner. Verse 16, "But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life." Not to highlight Paul, not to look at this diamond in the rough that was claimed for God's purpose, but if God can clean that filth off of that man, it's to highlight his grace.

It's to highlight Christ, not Paul, not his ministry, not his work. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. If we put our confidence in anything else but Christ, it's just a matter of time that you're going to get disappointed.

If we think in any way that we add to anything that Christ has done, it's just a matter of time he will humble us. Again, he says in 1 Corinthians 3, 5-7, "What then is Apollos and what is Paul? Servants through whom you believe that even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one, I planted Apollos' water, but God was the one who caused the growth." So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth.

So at the center of our walk with God is the emptying of ourselves. And even in the way that we are sanctified at times, if we're not careful, we get sanctified by adding. We become more disciplined, we become more this, we become more that. And all of these things in and of itself is not bad.

In fact, it is commanded in Scripture. But the central calling of every Christian is to empty himself. Is become nothing. And just like Christ said, "He who finds his life will lose it." How much of our energy, how much of our life, how much of our decision do we confess one thing at church on Sunday and live the rest of our lives trying to be somebody?

Think about that. Think about how much of our life we profess to have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer us that lives, but Christ who lives in us. These are the songs that we sing. This is the word that we read. This is the fellowship that we participate in.

And then Monday through Saturday, work hard to become somebody. No wonder Christians are frustrated. Because at our very core of our life, we're living a contradiction. The gospel not only causes us to celebrate, it causes us to be humbled. Secondly, Paul's ministry was an act of worship. In Romans 15, 16, Paul says, "To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest, the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit." What does that verse remind you of?

This is a test to see how many of you are thinking critically. What does that verse remind you of? We've been studying through the book of Leviticus. That's a hint. What scene do you get when you read that verse? I know you're all thinking it. Leviticus, right? This is what we've been studying.

This is the temple worship. So Paul's describing his ministry as a priest offering up sacrifices to God. That's how he describes it. In fact, the very word that he uses here for minister is the word "letruo." Some of you guys may remember that from previous sermons that I gave.

So some of the verses translated that word, "letruo," as worship in Romans 12, verse 1. "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." The word worship here is "letruo." It's the word that is used here in verse 16 to minister.

So Paul is saying his ministry of grace is an act of worship that he gives to God. And then the Gentiles that he's preaching the gospel to are the sacrifice he's offering to God to be acceptable. What does it mean for a sacrifice to be acceptable? If you remember the book of Leviticus, in order for an animal to be offered to God, what was the first criteria?

Without blemish. It had to be without blemish, without defect. So does Paul mean that he's looking to the Gentiles to see who's perfect, who's got the straight nose, whose back doesn't hurt, who has clear sight, 20/20 sight? Is that what he's talking about? No. We know, even just from the book of Leviticus, that the only way that a sacrifice in the new covenant can be made perfect is by the blood of Christ.

So he's describing his gospel ministry as giving and offering to God. Ultimately, again, not only is our salvation initiated by God's grace, his whole ministry is an act of worship that he gives to God. And that's how he describes it again. He says, "Ministering as what? As a priest." So his whole description is like a priest who has come to worship God.

The Gentiles to be offered as a sacrifice. First Thessalonians 2, 19-20 says, "For who is our hope or joy, our crown or exaltation? Is it not even you? In the presence of our Lord Jesus that is coming, for you are our glory and joy." Paul was pursuing joy. When we think of worship, again, in the context of religion, in the context of Christianity that you grew up in, when we think of worship, we think of Sunday, right?

And typically, it shouldn't be, but typically, we think of worship and we think of like, "Oh, I wonder what sermons are going to be given today. I wonder how long it's going to be." You know, I wonder, and then we kind of get in the habit of just critiquing worship.

It was good, it was bad, I liked the songs, I didn't like the songs, you know, and we think of worship in that way. In every other context, when we say, "You worship something," what do we mean by that? It means you are obsessed, that's what that means. You worship the Lakers.

You're getting kind of carried away, right? You put too much attention. You talk about it too much, you invested too much in that. You fall in love with a girl, like you worship that girl, right? It means that you're thinking about her too much, you're investing too much, you're sacrificing everything for her.

That's what that word means when we say worship. Something that is very valuable to you, that you're willing to give everything in exchange. So the word worship in and of itself, even the way we use it in plain language, in English, it means to adore something. It is never done grudgingly.

In fact, when we say, "You should stop worshipping that," "We should stop worshipping her," it means you need to hold back. But when we think about worshipping God, we think about a time, we think about an activity, we think about an event or a sermon or songs or how we open up our mouth and how things are organized.

That's what Jesus meant when he said there's going to come a time when he's going to be looking for worshippers who will worship in what? Spirit and in truth. True worshippers. When Paul said, "In view of this great mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable act of worship based upon this grace," that's exactly what Paul was doing.

Paul was worshipping God through his ministry. He was glorifying and honoring God. Why is this so important? Because God did not send his only begotten son and die for our sins. Was crucified and resurrected and interceding on our behalf, depositing the Holy Spirit just so people who don't go to church can go to church.

He didn't do all of that so that people who don't pay can pay. People who aren't generous could be generous. People who aren't involved with church to be involved with church. He didn't have to send his only begotten son and absorb our sins to do that. The whole point of his sacrifice is to restore the worship that was lost.

So the thing that God desires more than anything else in view of this mercy is to worship him. Let me ask you, when was the last time you really worshipped God? I'm not talking about when's the last time you came to church, when's the last time you read your Bible.

When did you last time worship God? The way we use that word for any other purpose, in every other context, the way we would use that word to describe the way you are obsessed with sports, where you are obsessed with vacations. When was the last time you worshipped God biblically?

You adored him. Where somebody told you, "Wow, you are really obsessed with your God." See, that's what God desires, and the reason why recognizing his grace is so crucial, so central is because until we recognize his grace in our life, worship is manufactured. Worship is meant to be inspired.

Not something that you determined to do, not something because you tried hard or you showed up early or you gave more money. But when you recognize what it is that you have in Christ, you worship. Philippians 1, 21-24, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

If I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, and for that is very much better." You know what Paul just said?

He's sitting in prison, instead of writing to this church and saying, "Hey, can you guys organize a campaign to get me out of here? It's hard, you know? The food is not good. I'm chained to this Roman guard. This guy stinks, doesn't take shower." I mean, none of that.

He's writing as he is chained, as a prisoner, saying, "If it was up to me, I'd rather die. I'm ready to go." He knew Christ so intimately. He knew Christ so intimately. He said, "For to me, to die is gain, because that means I get to go to Him, and I'm ready to go." He got a taste of God's goodness, and he was so consumed.

He was so consumed with the things of Christ that even if he died preaching this gospel, he said, "I'm ready, but the only reason why I will stay is because God is not done with you." He says, verse 24, "Yet to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith." Paul was not a better man than us, humanly speaking. In fact, he calls himself the worst of sinners. He was not more determined than us. He was not more benevolent than us.

Paul met the resurrected Christ, and his eye was opened, and he was never the same. His desire to be with the Lord, which caused him to worship, caused him to ultimately give his life. What God desires is worship, not to put in our time, and you know the difference.

When you come to worship, you have a certain allotment of time that you allow in the church, because it's a necessary burden that you have to bear. So Sunday you come, I'll tolerate an hour and a half, if you're good. If you're good. If I like your sermons, I'll give you 10 more minutes.

If the worship is great, maybe a couple more songs. If I go longer than that, how dare you? You had to put in more work than you needed to. But when it's worship, it's different. When it's worship, you can't have enough. When it's worship, you get generous. When it's worship, you can't help but to be around other people worshiping God.

Because when you really worship, it creates joy. It creates joy. It's not just something you do. When you're not worshiping, it's just putting in your time. Do what you need to do. You pay your tithe and you're done. But when you're worshiping, it's not enough. That was the early church.

They got together and they said daily, they were breaking bread. They're hanging on to the words of the apostles. They were praying. And it wasn't mandated. They were just selling their stuff and giving it to the church people, sharing with one another. There was no mandate. There was no discipleship.

There was no modeling. It just happened. Because they met Christ. And they became generous. And they became worshipers. Paul is not a different man. He genuinely met this Christ. Third and finally, Paul's primary ministry was to preach the gospel. His primary ministry was to preach the gospel. Second Timothy 4, 1 and 2, it says, "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing, His kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction." So in verse 16, it says, "To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God." Paul says it repeatedly over and over when he describes his ministry, that he's a minister of Christ for the gospel of Jesus Christ, over and over again.

And almost every time he describes his ministry, it's for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we can get carried away thinking like the primary role of the church is to take care of sick people, or the needy people, or the poor people. Those are things that God commands us, that they should be the character of a Christian.

But the primary purpose of the church is to preach the gospel. Paul says, "I charge you." It's a command. This is a military term that a commanding officer uses to his subordinate. I charge you, I command you in the presence of God, of Christ Jesus. Just in case my authority is not enough, I command you in the presence of God, Jesus Christ, who is the judge, the living and the dead.

The God that you're going to have to stand before, and by his appearing and his kingdom, the King of kings and Lord of lords, I command you, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. In season, it's easy. When you preach the word in season, you're a genius.

You're doing something right. Something great about your sermon, something great about your ministry, because it's in season. The testing is how much you believe about the word when it's not in season. I can tell you that in almost 30 years of ministry and preaching, there are more years that I can tell you was not in season than in season.

There are more periods when people were not interested. And again, every field has their own challenges. Some of you guys who are lawyers, doctors, or engineers, you all have specific challenges in your career. As a pastor, one of the most excruciating things that I have had to do is preach and teach in front of people who could care less.

I've experienced that. Whenever at this church, I have to qualify that to protect myself. I've been in Bible studies where, "Hey, let's turn to Romans." And they're just staring at me. It's like, "Romans? Can you turn to Romans?" I poured out studying this passage and putting it into Bible study format illustrations.

And I poured my heart into it, and they're looking at me like, "Hey, it's kind of going long." I've given sermons, I poured my heart out in tears, begging the church and preaching the gospel. And the first guy comes up to me, he's like, "Man, you were loud." And then he'd walk out.

And that's not unique to me. Every pastor who's been preaching for a long time has experienced some of that. Why would anybody preach out of season? And the temptation that we have when it is out of season is to say, "Well, it's not working. Let's try something else." And I keep hearing, sadly, that more and more churches are moving away from studying the Bible because people are not interested, which is true.

I had a conversation not too long ago, a couple years ago, as I was preaching through or teaching through Isaiah on Wednesday Bible study. He got word that somehow a lot of young people were coming to our church. And so he was in his late 50s, and he's been in ministry for a while, and he's struggling in ministry, but somehow he heard that our church was growing.

And so we got together, and he was asking me about our church philosophy, how I teach, and what we do. And so he knew that we were teaching the Bible, so he actually came on our website. He listened through some of our studies through the book of Isaiah. And when we sat down, the first thing he said to me was, "They actually come for that?" That's what he said.

"They actually come for that?" He's like, "You're just straight teaching Isaiah. Who's interested in studying Isaiah?" That's kind of how he thought. I said, "Yeah, they're coming." And then he shared with me, the reason why he wanted to meet with me was he wanted to know how we do it.

What are you doing, because he can't just be teaching the Bible, because there must be something, so he wanted to find out. So I'm sitting there telling him, he's like, "No, I mean, that's not it. Our ministry is very simple. We just teach the Bible, and then we just try to practice what it says.

That's it." And he was just kind of nodding his head. And then he told me that he was considering switching his ministry philosophy, that he was doing all this market-driven stuff, and it's not working. So he wants to go and just maybe because if I start teaching more heavier stuff, that maybe people will come.

And that's what he asked me. He said, "Do you think they'll come?" And I told him, "No. I don't think they'll come." Because the first six, seven years of the church, they didn't come. They didn't come. And the general atmosphere, general spiritual atmosphere, especially where we live right now in Orange County, yeah, I mean, if you meet an average Christian, is there a hunger for God's Word?

No, that's not an average Christian, right? So if you're planning to do this to attract people, don't do it, right? And he said, "All right." And he said, "You know, I got to be honest. It's hard because he's a struggling pastor, and his livelihood and his identity is all tied up with this church.

And he's afraid that if he goes down this path, I mean, right now he's trying to change his ministry philosophy because he's losing people. And if I change my ministry philosophy, what if we lose more people?" And he said, "This is hard. So if it's going to lose more people, I'm not sure if I can do it." So I told him, "If you choose to do this because you think that this is somehow going to bring more people, don't do it because you're doing it for the wrong reason.

You have to first be convinced that this is what you need to do, in season or out of season. And the odds are people will leave. Odds are people will leave. If people came in looking for candy and you're going to all of a sudden give them broccoli, there's going to be a lot of people who got used to candy who's not going to want to stay, right?

But are you convinced that this is what God called you to do? In season and out of season." The scripture is clear that the only hope for mankind is Jesus Christ. This is not unique to Berean. Anybody who reads the scripture, anybody who pays any attention to anything that they're reading in scripture, the only hope is Jesus Christ.

And the moment we begin to think, "Well, you know, that doesn't work, so let's try something else." We try teaching the Bible, it doesn't work, so let's try this program. Let's maybe focus our attention on evangelism. Let's maybe focus our attention on social justice or whatever it is. It's not working, so let's try something else.

There's a reason why he says to preach in season and out of season, because Paul, when he is writing this letter, is out of season. It wasn't like the Philippians. It wasn't like when he was writing Romans. People were beginning to fall out. They were leaving. And the last letter that he writes to Timothy is telling him, "Do not move from what you have already received.

Do not move. Even if everybody leaves, you stay the course." That's why he says, "I command you in the presence of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead, who is the king over all things, I command you, preach the word in season and out of season." Sometimes it bears fruit.

Sometimes it seems like it's going nowhere. But you and I do not have any other hope except Christ. The problem of loneliness is not community. We have people who are staggering from church to church looking to connect with people. Loneliness did not come in because of lack of people in our lives.

Look at scripture. Loneliness is a result of sin. As soon as sin came in, shame caused people to hide. And that's why you can be in a room filled with people and feel absolutely alone. The problem of loneliness is not lack of community. The problem of loneliness ultimately is sin.

Until our vertical relationship with God is restored, our horizontal relationship with God will always be superficial. The problem of relational issues is not communication. You can have all the tools to properly communicate and then not do it. Everything that we communicate comes through a sinful filter. So if somebody asked you, you know, they cooked a meal for you and then you don't like the food and they say, "Oh, what do you think?" You may be salty, you may not like it, but you're already thinking in your head, "If I say this, they're going to get angry." Right?

You clearly, you know what's in your head, but now you're thinking, like, "If I say this, what are they going to think? And they're going to get mad at me. And if they get mad at me, they're not going to invite me again." And, you know, you're thinking through all of these things before you say, "It's all right." Everything that we communicate comes through a sinful filter of self-protection, self-preservation, my reputation, what are you going to think of me?

It always comes through some kind of sinful filter. So you can have all the tools of properly communicating, but until the sin in us is rectified with the blood of Christ, communication is just having all the tools but have no hands to use it. The problem with world hunger is not food.

Anybody knows who does any kind of work, any kind of research knows that there's enough food being produced every year to feed the whole world over. You know that. Look at our trash cans. It's just concentrated and hoarded by a small group of people, which is us. So the problem with hunger in this world is not lack of food.

It's a sin in the world that causes some to hoard and see the needs of the rest of the world and not care. So God has given us enough food. So it's not simply like, "If we could just produce more food, people would be better." Every single human problem that you and I can think of, it came in because of the fall.

To think that somehow a problem that was started by sin, that we're going to somehow solve it by human ingenuity, is human arrogance. The only solution that you and I have for this sin that came into our lives, into this world that ruined everything, it ruined our marriages, it ruined our children, it ruined our community, it ruined our economy, it ruined our family.

The only remedy to that is Christ. And the only way to get to Christ is through his blood. That's why he said, "Preach it in season and out of season." Preach it in season and out of season, because it is the only solution to all of man's problems. Let me read this one passage and then we'll wrap up.

1 Corinthians 1, 17-25. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God, for it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever will set aside." Where is the wise man?

Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of this message, preached to save those who believe.

For indeed, Jews ask for signs, Greeks are searching for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Until the church recognizes that the solution is not man, is not our money, is not our hard work, but when we meet Christ. That's why the first and the most important vision of our church is Christ-centered worship, God-centered worship, because all the things, even the things that we don't connect with our sins, know it or not, it is connected.

Your marriage problems is connected to sin. Problem with our children, it's connected to our sins. Feeling of loneliness is connected to sin. Even our illnesses, that was not intended in the Garden of Eden, it came in as a result of sin. They are all connected. You see, when you have people who love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and we adore Him, and we are affectionate for Him, fellowship happens.

It happens. You fill a room filled with people who love Jesus. You don't have to tell them, "Hey, why don't you talk about this, these three questions. Why don't we talk about that today?" You have a room filled with people who love Jesus. They're generous. They see the needs, they offer.

We'll do it. You fill a room filled with people who adore Jesus, you could play music with one guitar, tambourine. You have the best worship experience ever. You fill a room filled with people who are in love with Christ. You can get somebody who's stuttering, who's at least educated in communication, and if he mentions Jesus, if he reminds anything about Christ, they want to listen.

So much of what I say right now is contingent upon your heart. Now I've learned through the years. People come up to me and say, "Oh, you know, I really enjoyed the sermon," and they were so affected, and then the same sermon somebody would say, "That was long," or "You yelled a lot." And I've come to realize that more than what's happening up here, if you come in with fertile hearts to worship God, the Word of God will bear fruit.

If you come in to worship God, you will sing louder, with more passion. We don't have to manipulate the lights. You don't have to have the best sounding music. You don't have the most loudest and the best, beautiful, most vocalist. Church just happens when you fill it with true worshipers.

That's why all this, like, you and I are so blessed with money, with air conditioning, this nice room, with people, with education, with Bible translation. We have all of this, but it also functions as a distraction. It functions as a distraction. That's why sometimes when you travel and you go to a remote part of the world in villages, worshiping in a room crammed, 105 degrees, sweating, and you come back thinking, "Wow, that was worship," and you want to do that again.

That's what we want at this church. That's what we want. I want you to know this Jesus. I want you to have a relationship with this Jesus. Not through me, not through the testimonies of other people. But if somebody asks you, "Who are you?" That the first thing that comes out of your mouth is, "I'm a worshiper of Jesus Christ." When was the last time you worshipped him and somebody said, "Wow, you are obsessed with Christ." I pray that that would be our testimony more than anything else, that we would be a room filled with people who love Jesus.

Let's take some time to pray. Again as our worship team leads us, let's take some time to consider all that we have because of his grace, that as a response to that, that we live in worship, and then ultimately that all of this would lead to God's glory, that his name may be magnified.

So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.