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Thanks my helpless soul on thee Leave I'll leave me not alone Still support and comfort me All my trust on thee is stained All my help from thee I bring Cover my defenseless head With the shadow of thy wing Thou, O Christ, art all I want More than all in thee I find Raise the fallen, cheer the faint Heal the sick and lead the blind Just and holy is thy name I am all unrighteousness Violent, full of sin am I Thou art full of truth and grace Plentiest grace with thee is found Grace to cover all my sin Let the healing streams abound Make and keep me pure within Thou of life the fountain art Freely let me take of thee Spring thou up within my heart Rise to all eternity Amen. Great singing this evening. Brother Sean Harrington, can you bless the offering for us? Dear Jesus, thank you so much for this day, Lord. Thank you so much that we come here to hear your word preached. I pray that you would fill Pastor Thompson up with your spirit, Lord. And that he would edify your block. I pray that you would bless this offering, Lord. Bless both the gift and the giver. In Jesus' name, Amen. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, everybody. Let's bow our heads together for prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for the ability and privilege to come to you in Jesus' name. And, Lord, I just pray that you'd watch over every single mother that's with child in our church, Lord. Ms. Rachel Woods, Ms. Crystal Acorda, Ms. Candice Yefimoff, and Kylie Thompson. Lord, we just want to praise you for Alex's wife, Mary, being able to go home. And, Lord, we pray continuously for her health to improve and, Lord, that she would start to eat again and things like that. And just pray that you put your healing hands upon her, Lord. And also a prayer for all those who are facing possibly being vaccinated by force. I just pray that you would watch over the situation that they're in and their workplace. And for Brother Temo, he's especially being badgered because of the fact that he's in the healthcare industry. And for Ms. Annie, urgent unspoken for her. For Ms. Sarah Holmes, again, we just pray for her family as she's lost her mom and pray for comfort for her and strength and for all the unsaved that will be at the memorial service. We just pray, Lord, that you would go before with the Holy Spirit and speak to their hearts, Lord, about their need for salvation. And for Matt Marshall's mom also, Lord, who's been having some issues, post-concussion issues, pray that you would help her. And for Brother Robert Alcorta, let's pray that the man that he met out soul-wanting would get back into church and start serving the Lord. And also for Ms. Nia's upcoming appointment, she'll get some reassuring answers. For Ms. Sheila's son, Ricky's, living situation for Sheila's health and pain that she's been going through and for your provision, Lord, while she waits for her disability. Also for Ms. Sarah Miller that she'll take or get the right job offer that she's been looking for and she'll be able to figure out how to include Matthew in that. For Ms. Jessica's grandma, Pat, and her upcoming surgery on her eyes. And, Lord, we just pray that you bless our church and, Lord, pray that you would be with us, Lord, put a hedge of protection about this church, Lord, and all of our church plants. Lord, pray for all the church plant leaders and their wives and their families and also the members that go to those churches, Lord. And, Lord, the devil's always on the attack. I just pray that you would protect us and bless us, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. Good evening. Come with me to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. If you don't have a Bible, if you'd raise your hand, someone will bring you one. We really need a pull-out step stool. It's pretty tall here. 1 Corinthians, chapter 11. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now, I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ and the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head. For that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head. For as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so the man also by the woman, but all things of God. Judge in yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him. But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. Now in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you, and I partly believe it. For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. For in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in, or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it, and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood, this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another, and if any man hunger, let him eat at home. Ye come not together unto condemnation, and the rest will I set in order when I come. Brother Timo, would you pray for us? Amen. All right, we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. We're getting along pretty far in this Bible study series. So, I did want to say something about last week. So, last week I was talking about kosher things, and I think I went a little too far with what I was saying, okay? Kosher pickles are not of the devil, right? So, I just, you know, sometimes you've got to walk back things that you're saying, and I realize that, you know, kosher salt is not, like, inherently evil, okay? So, but it is used for, like, Jewish religious practices, you know, so. But when something has been sacrificed in the name of another god, that was my point, is that if it was meat sacrificed unto another god, then obviously people believe that the Jews worship the same god that we do, but if they don't have the son, they don't have the father. So, then, so what does that mean, that they don't believe in the same god that we do? So, same thing with Islam. They'll say Islam has the same god, Allah is the same god as the god of the Bible, that's not true. Their book teaches something completely different. And so, they actually literally do point their goats, or whatever they're slaughtering, to Mecca. They're required to do that with every halal slaughter that they do. And, you know, they do some scripture reading, or whatever, from their unholy book, and then they sacrifice it in the name of Allah. So, to me, if you knew that something was halal, and you know that that's what their practice is, and that's what I was saying, is that if you know it, if you eat it knowingly, if you don't know, then you don't know. I think the Bible's really clear about that. So, I just wanted to walk that back a little bit, and just say, you know, I was talking about scraping the salt off the sacrifice, or whatever, but I went a little too far, okay? So, I apologize about that. And, you know, at least I'll admit when I'm wrong, okay? So, anyway, I think I just went a little too far with it. So, but as far as things sacrificed unto idols, we're not supposed to eat things knowingly sacrificed unto idols. That's what I believe. So, anyway, let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and I guess if I was to title this sermon, it would be Biblical Ordinances. And so, look at verse number 1. It says, Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, so much for the chance to study the Bible tonight. Pray, Lord, that you'd help us, that you'd fill us with your Spirit, fill me with your Spirit as I begin to preach. Lord, I pray that you fill me with boldness and power. And, Lord, I pray that you would, Lord, just let the people have ears to hear what your Spirit says to the church tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, so, right off the gate it says, Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now, a lot of times people say, hey, you're following a man. But what does this verse say right here? Right out of the gate it says, be ye followers of me. This is the apostle Paul talking here. He's the apostle of the Lord, and he was the apostle picked out of due time. He did more works than all the apostles. He outworked them all. He did more than all of them. And he's saying, hey, be followers of me. Because, you know what, Christ was gone up into heaven at this point. And he says, even as I also am of Christ. So, does the Bible teach it's wrong to follow a man? No, it says, be followers of me. As long as that man is following after Christ, then there's nothing wrong with following a man. Was it wrong for the children of Israel to get up and follow Moses? No, as a matter of fact, you saw when people tried to go against Moses, what happened to them? We've been talking about it for a couple of weeks now. That they were literally dropped into hell for rebelling against Moses. And going against what the Bible says, what God told Moses to do. Who took over after Moses died? Joshua, right? And he led the children of Israel into the promised land. So God always chooses a man for us to follow. There's nothing wrong with following a man. Jesus Christ is up in heaven right now. And obviously we follow Christ, but God always puts a man in charge to follow. There's nothing wrong in the world with that. People just like get all crazy over stuff like that. But if that man is following God, if that man is following Christ, then there's nothing wrong with following that man. Because God has put the people in place that he wants in leadership and that's just the way it goes. So, you know, you think about people like Gideon, and Samson, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and David. And Jesus Christ himself was also a man. And people followed him, didn't they? And Peter, and Paul, and John, etc. All these different people that God has put in place. And God gave us pastors, evangelists, teachers, apostles to follow. And it's not so that we, you know, people just have church mixed up these days. They really do. They think it's like this congregation of people that all vote on what the pastor should do. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. The pastor is supposed to follow the word of God and preach the Bible. And the pastor is supposed to lead the people. Moses led the church in the wilderness. And it was millions of people. He had a hard job. He had to divvy it out to different guys. But there's nothing wrong in the world. You know, modern day I would say some guys that were good people to follow. How about J. Frank Norris? You know, obviously you might not have ever heard of him, but he was a great preacher. He was a great Baptist. Jack Hyles, he was a great preacher. There's been a lot of great preachers. There's always a great preacher in a generation that we can get behind and follow. You know, my life changed a lot when I started listening to the preaching of Pastor Anderson. You know, and I follow what I hear as truth. You know, if someone's preaching the Bible and they're preaching truth, what's wrong with following that person? But then people would say, well you're in a cult. Was Paul a cult member then? Because he's the one saying, be ye followers of me. Who's he talking to? He's talking to this church in Corinth that's messed up. The one that he planted that church. He's the one that started that church. You can follow the story in the book of Acts. And then some of these people, this church is messed up. What is one of the main things that why this book is written is because this church has a lot of problems. And we're going to see some of those problems in the Bible study tonight. But I just get so tired of people saying, you just follow a man. And it's like, you blindly follow a man. That's not true. You know, if I say something wrong in the Bible, like I said something wrong last week. And you know what? I'm a man. I make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. So, you try getting up here, you know, three times a week and never saying anything wrong. Okay. Now if I'm saying like the Trinity isn't true, or salvation is not by faith alone. Yeah, then you got a reason to be alarmed. Or I'm just done with soul winning. I just don't think it works anymore. You know what? We're going to start going with CCM disco lights and fog machines and purple lights and smoke. You know, we're going to have a worship leader. You know, if I start going like that, you know, we're going to get a drum set right here. Whatever it is, you know, obviously you should follow me as I follow Christ. And I don't think, you know, getting rid of the old fashioned hymns and stop singing psalms or whatever. I don't think that that's the way to go. The Bible tells us what to do. The Bible has ordinances and rules and laws in there for a reason and we are still supposed to keep them. It doesn't matter if we're in the New Testament or not. I thought it was Jesus that said, if you love me, keep my commandments. Not my suggestions, my commandments. But he also calls us friends because he works alongside of us. We are workers in his vineyards, but we are laborers, co-laborers together with him. So, but he puts men in charge. There's nothing wrong with that. Following a man is biblical, okay? So, as long as they're following Christ like the Apostle Paul says. Look at verse number two. It says, Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. So, at some point in time, the Apostle Paul gave them ordinances and delivered those ordinances unto them and they've gone astray from the way that he told them to do it. So, what is an ordinance? Well, it's an authoritative order or decree. It's something that you're, you know, it's really close to a law. It basically is what that is. There's really not much of a difference. And when you're talking about the Bible, you know, and sometimes ordinances picture something. So, we have two ordinances that picture something in the Bible. What are they? Baptism, the Lord's Supper. Those, what do they picture? They picture the death of Christ. They picture the death, burial, resurrection of Christ. So, there's lots of ordinances in the Bible, but there's only two that picture, that we're supposed to keep, that picture the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ or the body and blood of Christ. So, and that's what will be talked about. The baptism is not going to be talked about necessarily, but we just have to understand that not all ordinances are the same. Sometimes they picture things. In the Old Testament, there's a lot of ordinances that pictured a lot of different things, but most of those ordinances pictured Christ. And so, when Christ fulfilled the law, he did away with a lot of that stuff because he fulfilled those things. But he still said, hey, he, you know, the Passover was basically changed. It was changed into the Lord's Supper and because he was the Passover, right? Christ was the Passover lamb, you know, the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. And so, and then also we have baptism, which is symbolic of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And so, we're, you know, and there's a certain way that you do ordinances. And so, the Apostle Paul is going to lay out some things for us. And, you know, some of these things are hard truths. Some of the things I'm going to be talking about are very controversial. You know, it's funny that to, in 2021, that the Bible is controversial to Christians. It's like, you're the Taliban because you say women should have long hair or wear dresses or something. It's like, how is that the Taliban? Oh, you're a Pharisee. No, the Pharisees said it was okay to divorce for any reason. We don't believe that. So, who's the real Pharisee? Anyway, it says we're supposed to keep the ordinances as I delivered unto you. And we are, so we're going to look at three different types of ordinances tonight in this chapter. And all three are continuous rules to be followed in life. Now, obviously, if you get saved once, you only need to be baptized once, okay? So, baptism is one of those things that you don't have to keep doing. It's just a one-time thing. Now, obviously, there's reasons why you would get re-baptized. So, say you weren't saved. That's a good reason to get baptized. If you actually get saved and you weren't saved before, then that's a good reason because you're not supposed to get baptized until after you get saved. If you believe with all your heart, thou mayest. That's what Philip told the Ethiopian eunuch. So, yeah, so we have an order rule here. Tonight, we're going to look at the order of God, Christ, man, and woman. Basically, what the home is made up of. You know, and obviously, there's children and then they have, you know, their own families. But God is always the boss, all right? He's always the head over everything. God, the Father, right? And he's always the boss, and man is the head of the woman. God, the Father, is the head of Jesus Christ. You're like, well, isn't Jesus God? Yeah, he is. But see, in the Trinity, they do follow like a hierarchy within the Godhead. The Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, okay? They're set in that order for a reason. Doesn't mean that they're not God. Doesn't mean that they're not all powerful. They're all co-equal in power. They're all co-equal in glory. But they just have this relationship where they give, one gives credence to the other. So the Son obeys the Father. He obeyed everything that he was supposed to do, right? So that he could obtain everlasting salvation for each and every single person on the planet. And then, of course, the Holy Spirit obviously, you know, indwells the believer and speaks of Jesus so that people will get saved. He goes and convinces people of their need of salvation. And obviously in the church, his power came upon the church and they were able to do miracles and speak in all these different tongues. They weren't rolling on the floor and barking like dogs, okay? I always have to say that. But the miracle was that they heard what the other person said in their own language. That was the miracle of tongues, okay? So we're going to talk about hair length. And, you know, hair must be maintained in accordance of whether you're male or female. And there's a certain way that you're supposed to keep your hair. Now, we all have different hairstyles in here today, all right? But ladies, you know, are supposed to have long hair, okay? And then men are supposed to have short hair. Well, how short? Well, it doesn't say. So, but you know what short is. You know what? If someone's head's covered, that means that their head is covered with hair. So the back of their head is being covered. But if you had it a little bit long, like, you know, mine's not long. I don't think it's long. I need a haircut. I feel like I need a haircut. But, you know, men, if you want to look like God wants you to look, then you're going to cut your hair. And they're like, well, I don't think the Bible really says that. Well, we'll see. We'll see the Scriptures here in just a minute. Number three, we're going to look at the Lord's Supper as an ordinance we're supposed to keep as a believer. And it is a continuous thing. And the Bible instructs us how to keep it. You know, and Jesus, of course, is the example. You know, Paul tells us how to keep it. Paul tells us what our hair length should be. Not the exact quarter inch or whatever like that, but like he tells us it's an ordinance. So why is he talking about ordinance if it's not an ordinance? You know, so we need to understand what the Bible says and follow the ordinances as we've been shown, as has been demonstrated to us what the Bible actually says. If you're a Christian, then what's the problem with following the Bible? Why always argue against it? Well, I don't think it says that. Well, you know, let's read it. I'm not going to just, like, make it say what I want it to say. I'm going to read it as it says. Look at verse 3. For I would have you know, the head of every man is Christ. So who's our boss? Christ. The head of every man. And the head of the woman is the man. This will shake foundations at some churches in this town today. It gets people upset. But what's the Bible say? It says the head of the woman is the man. Right? So did I say something the Bible didn't say right there? Well, that's what the Bible says, right? Does it say, you know, oh, men can be just jerks whenever they want and all this other stuff? It doesn't say that, but, like, you better be careful who you marry. So, you know, you better be careful. It goes both ways. You know, it goes both ways. But how should a believer keep their hair? You know, if you pray or prophesy, we should be doing both. We should be praying and prophesying, right? Each the woman and the man. So the Bible's going to tell us here, you know, it's already told us, like, what the position of the man and God and Christ is and the woman. But it's also going to show us how we should be doing it. Because it does matter, just like it matters how we dress. People say it doesn't matter how you dress, you're just being a Pharisee. Well, what did the priests have to wear? Did the priests have to wear particular things? Why? Why did they have to do that? Because God said so, that's why. And so what's wrong with dressing nice? And I'm not saying that you have to wear a shirt and tie to come to this church. We don't have a dress code here. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that if you were coming to meet the President of the United States, I'm sure you would have dressed nice. You know, so, maybe not. Maybe not this President, I don't know. Or my wife beat her shirt, no. But I'm just saying that there's nothing wrong with dressing nice and looking nice. And how our manners are, how we communicate with people. Even just last chapter, it's talking about how you should be when someone invites you and puts something before your face when they invite you out to eat. Eat what's put before you. Don't go, I don't really like that. That's rude. If some poor person in the shambles or whatever gives you something, I've had, you know, when I actually, when someone offers me something when I'm out soul wanting, I take what they give me. You know, are you thirsty? Can I get you a glass of water? Yes. You know, obviously if they said, here, we just sat down for dinner, let's eat. I mean, I really wouldn't even have a problem with that necessarily, but. But you know, there's appropriate times to do appropriate things, you know. But I'm just saying that we should be polite. We should have manners, you know, of how we do things. But look at verse number four, it says, Every man praying or prophesying, but what is praying? Obviously it's talking to the Lord. Prophesying, that means you're preaching. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're like saying in two years, Donald J. Trump is going to be the President of the United States again, but you better believe it. That's not what prophesying is. Now, can that be prophesying? It can be, but you know, you'll see like prophecies in the Bible. But prophesying just means that you're preaching. Okay? And so it says, Every man praying or prophesying, having his head, look what the word says, covered, dishonoreth his head. And we'll get to what all that means here in a minute, but like, who are you dishonoring? If a man has his head covered, he's dishonoring his head. Who's your head? Christ. Okay? So it says, But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonereth her head. Who's the woman's head? The man. So if your head's uncovered, then you're dishonoring the, you know, your husband or whatever. It says, For that is even all as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. That word just means your head shaved, right? But if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. Now, we're talking about when you're, this is a church thing. This could also be at home. I mean, people pray at home. People pray at church. You prophesy, like women don't preach in the church. So where would they be prophesying at? Someoneing at the door, right? So it says, For if a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Uh-oh. It's going to get into some dangerous territory here. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. I'm not explaining that verse because I don't fully understand that, but I just wanted to let you know. So anyway, nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman, but all things of God. Judge in yourselves. Uh-oh. We're supposed to judge. The Bible says we're supposed to judge. Oh, judge not. I mean, judge in yourselves. Is it comely? What does that word comely mean? It means pleasant to look at or attractive. Judge in yourselves. Is it comely? Is it pleasant to look at? Is it attractive that a woman pray unto God uncovered? And it says, Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is what? A shame unto him. So the Bible is teaching here that it's finally come out with it saying long hair is that covering. It's the covering. So it's a shame for a man to have long hair. Okay? And so that's when you're uncovered. You're supposed to be uncovered. So if a man's preaching, if a man is prophesying or praying and they have long hair, then they are dishonoring Christ. Is that what it's saying? And it says it's a shame. What's a shame? Well, a lot of people don't know. I mean, you can tell in 2021 that a lot of people just aren't ashamed about a lot of stuff. But a shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. Let me read that again. Shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior. So it's a shame for a man to have long hair. You're like, Pastor Thompson, what about Samson? Okay, so you're going to use one example out of the Bible and tell me that this isn't authoritative right here? Samson was born as an exception to the rule. God told him he was not allowed to cut his hair. So there's a difference between when God says to do something, you just do it. And the Nazarite vow was put into place for people that had a vow. They were going to do something. They said they were going to do something. They would let their hair grow. They wouldn't eat grapes and things like that. So there was all these different rules for the Nazarite. But I'm not talking about that. A lot of people say that Jesus had long hair. So here's the question for you. If Jesus had long hair, then why is he saying it's a shame that you have long hair? Because if Christ had long hair, wouldn't it be a glory to him? Like why would that be wrong? That doesn't make sense. Because you know why? Because Jesus didn't have long hair. So all those pictures you see of white Jesus painted by Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are fake. The Caesar Borga, the guy that was the Pope's son or whatever, he painted that picture of himself or his homo lover painted it for him or whatever it is. That's not what Jesus looked like. He didn't look like some effeminate, lily-livered, soy boy. He was a man. He had a beard. And he had short hair. Because if he didn't, why would the Bible teach this right here? Look at verse 15. It says, But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering. What is the covering? So there's so many people that teach that women are supposed to wear head coverings. But is that what it's saying right there? No. It's saying that her hair is given to her for a covering. You have whole religions where women are walking around with things on their hair. It doesn't say what it's supposed to look like, this supposed head covering. It doesn't say what it's supposed to look like, what color it is, how long it is, how much of her hair it covers. You see women and they're covering their heads with a piece of cloth, with short hair. That's not what the Bible teaches. It says what it says. Don't get mad at me because of what the Bible says. So it's a glory. What does that mean? It means magnificence or great beauty. When you see women with long hair and their hair is brushed, it's all did up and stuff, it looks pretty. It's a glory to them. But when you see a dude walking behind someone and all of a sudden there's a guy and he's got long hair, it looks like a lady and then they turn around and you're like, ah! I mean, what's really funny is when you're walking and then you see the woman has super short hair and then the guy she's with has super long hair. It's like in 2021, we need to have a difference. Why does God make this rule? Because there should be a difference between that which is holy and that which is not. God wants us to look different. He wants us to dress different. He wants men to wear pants and women to wear dresses. You're like, where does it say that in the Bible? Well, you're not supposed to wear that which pertaineth unto a woman if you're a man. It's called cross-dressing. So, if I came in here in a dress tonight, you all would have got up and walked out. Our visitor would have said, what is going on in this church? She would have walked up and walked out. And I don't blame them. But if women walk in wearing pants, it's just like, ah, it's just normal. We have a topsy-turvy world today. We need to make a difference. And that's why God makes this rule, because he wants there to be a difference between men and women. There's different rules for men and women. Who's the head of the woman? The man. Who's the head of the man? Christ. Who's the head of Christ? God. And so, why are people bucking against the system that God put in place? Do you think that rule's that hard? It's not, but it's something that we, cutting your hair can be a show of submission to God. And it's something you always continuously have to keep up on. So, it's like a continual obedience. It's a continual ordinance. You know, Rylan lets his hair look like Frodo Baggins. It's time for a chop, right? So, he's in the, sorry Rylan. I'm picking on Rylan today. I got him in a headlock earlier too, so. Anyway, but you know, the Bible says what it says. Let's just, let's not, why do people bristle at stuff like this? You know, it's not like I'm just not reading what the Bible says. Look at verse 16. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. Now, people will take this verse and they'll go, that just totally destroys everything that was just said. Why would Paul go through and take up this verse 16 and say all this stuff and say, who's supposed to have long hair, who's supposed to have short hair? And he's like, but never mind, we don't have any customs like that in this church. It's like, no, that's not what he's saying. He's saying, we don't have customs where men are preaching with long hair and women are prophesying or praying with short hair. We don't have those customs in this church. So that's what it's saying. If you want to be contentious about it, we don't have that custom here. And, you know, why is he saying this to this church at Corinth? Because they have so many problems. This is like the picture of the problem church in the Bible. There's two huge epistles written to this church. And, like, almost every chapter he's just like, this is where you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, do this right, you're doing this wrong. And this chapter is just like another example of where the Apostle Paul is having to get on to them about the things that they're doing wrong. And, hey, you had a question about whether you should grow your hair out, Pastor? No. Keep your hair short. So, and, obviously, now, I've got to just caveat this a little bit, okay? If a woman has cancer and all of her hair falls out, I'm not going to be on her like, why is your hair short, you know? I'm not ridiculous, okay? That's understandable, you know? So, but that's not usually the case. So, usually it's like when a woman turns like 60 or something, it's like time to, you know, look just like her husband or something. I don't know what the deal is. But they cut, they chop their hair real short like a man because they just don't want to manage that hair or whatever. It's just something that the baby boomer generation kind of brought in. And it needs to die out because you should look like a woman and you should look like men. Anyway, let's look at verse number 17. Now, in this that I declare unto you, I praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse. For, first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear there be divisions among you and I partly believe it. So, he's being nice here but I'm sure he really believes it. So, he's saying there's divisions among them. What does that mean? Well, they're believing different things. They're doing things different than they're supposed to. Everybody's doing something different than what they're supposed to be doing. They're having a division. So, divisions on doctrine are not good. So, we should be unified as a church in our core beliefs at this church. Salvation is by faith alone. That's not negotiable. That's not something that we're going to bend on. It's not something I'm going to put up with. If someone believes something, you know, that you have to repent of all your sins and, you know, make Jesus the Lord of your life, that's not what the Bible teaches. So, we're going to defend the position of salvation. We're going to defend the position of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Three persons, one God. And yeah, I said persons. So, because that's what the Bible teaches. So, you know, there's things that are just not negotiable. Now, if we have a difference of opinion on little things, that's fine. But there shouldn't be divisions about it. It shouldn't be something that we're fighting and have all these schisms in the church over. You know, we should be unified. You know, one purpose, one body, you know, one mind. You know, the Bible teaches that in the book of Acts that they were all of one mind and one body. And they had one purpose and they were doing things together. So, that's the way churches should be. They shouldn't be divided, they should be united. So, it says in verse 19, For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. So, he's saying that because there's divisions there must be heresies. And what is heresy? Well, heresy is a belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious doctrine. So, and I'm not saying orthodox church. I'm just saying what the general accepted definition of that doctrine is. So, like, we believe baptism is by immersion. Why? Because the Bible says that they went down into the water and they came up out of the water. Right? They're baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. So, what is the heresy on baptism? Well, dunking a baby by their leg three times in a pool of water. That's what the orthodox church does. I mean, what was that wrestler guy's name? Or Jesse the Plantist or whatever? He's like, you know, he just dunked someone three times and power slammed them. You know, you don't dunk them three times, you dunk them once. So, I mean, there is, you know, you're like, well, you're splitting hairs. I'm not splitting hairs. You know, the Bible says how to do stuff. That's how we should do them. So, if you're saying that it's done by someone just sprinkling water on a baby's head and that's baptism, that's not baptism. First of all, a baby can't choose to believe. So, why would you baptize them? And baptize literally means to dunk underwater. So, that's why the orthodox who are basically Catholics, they still baptize because they know that that Greek word means to dunk underwater. And the Roman Catholics, they just don't care and they just sprinkle people with water. That's not baptism. So, there's heresies that are just regular heresies like, you know, I can't even think of an instance that wouldn't be. So, there's a difference between heresy and damnable heresy. Damnable heresy is where you believe something that shows that you're not even saved. Denying the Trinity. Just flat out denying the Trinity is true. Every Jehovah's Witness that comes with that garbage and says that Jesus is a God, which John 1 does not say, they change it to a God when it's actually that he was God. In the beginning it was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So, Jesus Christ is God. He's not a God. So, we believe the Trinity because that's what the Bible teaches. There are three that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one. That's what the Bible teaches. So, there's heresies that were among these guys, but not necessarily damnable heresies. He's not saying damnable heresies. But there are other places in the Bible where it talks about damnable heresy. Another damnable heresy would be about salvation. If you think that your good works or a balance of you doing something right and wrong, weighs up, and then God just is like, okay, well you did more good stuff than you did bad, so I'm just going to let you into heaven. That's a false doctrine. That's a damnable heresy because nobody's going to get into heaven that believes that. Nobody's going to get into heaven that believes that. So, there is a difference between heresy and damnable heresy. Heresy basically just means you're wrong about something in the Bible. Well, here's an example. How about the pre-trib versus the post-trib rapture? Somebody's wrong, folks. And guess what? It's the people that have all the scripture on their side. If you don't even have one single clear verse that teaches your doctrine, then that doctrine is kaput. It's done. Where's the verse that says that Jesus comes back before the tribulation? I'll wait for y'all to look it up real quick if you want to look it up in your smartphones, but the Bible does not teach that. It actually teaches very clearly that Jesus comes back after the tribulation, immediately after tribulation. There's several different verses that you can go to that teach that. So, what this church is doing, what Paul's pointing out to them, is that they're doing stuff wrong. They're divided. And so, he's talking about a certain ordinance of the Lord's Supper. And so, there's people that have different opinions about this, but whatever. I'm just going to teach what I believe the Bible says, and you can look at it for yourself. I'm not going to go deeply into it because I preach a sermon every year about the Lord's Supper before we do the Lord's Supper, so I don't want to just take a long time on this, but I'm just going to show you some things real quick. So, look at verse 20. It says, When you come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. So, people will take that verse and they'll say, well, you're not supposed to eat the Lord's Supper when you gather together in one place. But, I don't think that's what it's saying. I think it's saying that this is not what they're doing. So, this is where Paul starts to begin. He's telling them what they're doing wrong. Alright, so look what it says. For in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper, and one is hungry, and another is drunken. So, what are they doing? They're basically bringing food to church, and then they're one person, you know, they're bringing their own stuff, and one's hungry, one doesn't even have anything to bring, and the other one is eating so much that they're full. Right, drunken, they're overeating. What have you not houses to eat and drink in? So, what does this tell you? That the Lord's Supper is not something that's supposed to be this big meal that you eat. It says, Or despise you the church of God, and shame them that have not. What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. So, he's praising them not. Why? Because they're doing the Lord's Supper wrong. And it says, For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you. Let's look at that one more time. This is a really key verse right here. It says, For I have received of the Lord. So, what did he receive? He received the doctrine that he's about to deliver to them, right? He received that of the Lord. What does that mean? Jesus taught Paul this doctrine, okay? And it says, That which also I delivered unto you. So, Paul's already taught them this doctrine. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. So, he's about to tell us the story of what Jesus did when he did that first Lord's Supper. That Passover turned into the Lord's Supper. Look at verse 24. It says, And when he had given thanks, he'd break it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. So, what is the purpose of it? It's to remember Christ. It's to remember what he did. And so, he's telling us how he performed this. He took. He gave thanks. He break it. He broke the bread. And then he said, And he said, Take and eat. So, he's telling us how he did it. What the purpose of it was. Look at verse 25. After the same manner also he took the cup. When he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. So, the Lord Jesus took the bread. He broke it. He said, Take, eat. They ate. It's for to remember him by. And then the same thing with the cup. And it says, This do is oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. So, what is the purpose of the Lord's Supper? The purpose of the Lord's Supper is to remember that Jesus bled and his body was broken for us. And it says we're supposed to do it as often as we do it. So, I'm not going to be dogmatic about how often you should do it. I personally believe that because the Passover was done once a year, that we do the Lord's Supper once a year. And so, that's what we do at this church. I'm not against people that do it more. I'm just saying that that's what I believe and that's what we practice at this church. So, look at verse 26. It says, For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. So, this ordinance is a picture ordinance. It's saying you show the Lord's death. This is a picture of what he did for us. And we're supposed to do it until he comes. Right? So, has he come back yet? No, so we continue to do it, right? It says, Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Now, this is where he starts warning us if we're doing the practice wrong that there's consequences to doing it wrong. So, what did he just get done telling them? You're not doing it right. You're bringing it. You're acting like it's a buffet. You know, one's drunken and the other one has not. You're bringing it for yourselves. But what Paul's saying is that's not how it was done. You know, and so he tells us how Jesus did it, what the purpose of it was. And so now he's going to tell us, hey, if you do this unworthily, you shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Does that mean you're not saved? No. What's it mean? Well, unworthily actually means not acceptable, especially from someone with a good reputation. So, it's something that's unacceptable. It's a person's action or behavior that's unacceptable. Unworthily. Now, we're all not worthy of salvation. Okay? But sometimes some people are not worthy of partaking in certain things. You know, you've got to get something right with God. And that's what I believe it's talking about. It's talking to believers. It's not talking to unbelievers. Who's Paul addressing here? Is he talking to the reprobates? Is he talking to the Roman Catholic Church? No, he's not. He's not talking to the Jews. He's talking to saved believers here. And this is the actions of what they're doing, and this is what's going to happen if they don't do it right. It says in verse 28, But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. So, we're supposed to examine ourselves. Are you worthy to partake? Maybe there's some gross sin in your life. And I would say, and I'm going to show you in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 here in just a minute, what I think that those sins would be that would exclude you. Obviously there might be more than these ones that I'm going to show you, but I think if you're in gross sin, first of all, if you're in the sins that it's about to talk about, you're supposed to just be kicked out of the church. You're not even supposed to be here. So, I think that sometimes these people stay in church when they, and they're, you know, because I don't know what everybody's doing outside. You know, I know we're accused of being a cult sometimes, but when's the last time, like, I checked the cameras at your house, guys? I mean, I don't have cameras at your house. We don't have speakers that hook up to your, I don't say, hey, what are you guys doing? What's for dinner? You can't eat that! You know, I mean, I don't run people's lives at this church, and I don't want to. But there's things that you can get into that would make you unworthy to eat the Lord's Supper, and I think that those are gross sins that you should just exclude yourself from it. You know, maybe you just don't have the courage to, maybe you want to get things right. But, like, while you're into these gross sins, I think that you should pass that cup and pass that bread and not get yourself into trouble with the Lord, because He will chasten you according to these verses right here. So, look what it says. It says, let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. Now, again, this is not talking about damnation that you're going to get thrown into hell for not eating the Lord's Supper right. Because, you know, just like the word saved has different meanings, the word damnation does have different meanings too. Now, of course, damnation, we think of being cast into hell. We think, that person's, you know, they're damned. They're going to hell or whatever. But, it can also mean, you know, damnation is the action of sending someone to hell. However, this word can refer to other forms of being condemned. Being sentenced to prison is a type of damnation. Being disgraced in public is a type of damnation. Anything that dooms you is damnation of a sort. Often, damnation comes from our own actions, obviously. So, damnation can mean just that, you know, you have a big, you know, you're being chastened, basically. You know, and God will chasten you in this instance. So, you're like, well, I don't know if I'll ever take the Lord's Supper again because maybe I'm just not worthy. Well, I think that people, that's why it says you're supposed to examine yourself. If you, for some reason, think, well, I'm just not feeling like this is a good time for me to do this. You know, maybe there's something you're involved in that you shouldn't be or whatever. But, if you're saved and you take the Lord's Supper unworthily or insincerely, you don't lose your salvation. It's not that kind of damnation. But, I do want to connect this with wicked sins because it's actually spelled out for us in 1 Corinthians 5. Turn to 1 Corinthians 5, 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It's a couple pages back in your Bible there. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 says, Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? So, when you've got someone that's committing some kind of wicked sin, it's going to permeate into the church. It's going to cause problems. It's going to rub off on other people. It says, Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. So, you see how it connects it to the Passover here? Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So, see how it connects it to the Lord's Supper, that feast that it's talking about? And so, God doesn't want us keeping company with all these wicked people. He wants those people to be gone, so He can punish them outside of the church. But, if they're in the church, and we don't know that that person is committing fornication, it's a secret, only they know. Well, God does have a way of finding out those things. Obviously, He's God. He knows everything. So, then you're in church, you know you shouldn't be, and then you're taking the Lord's Supper. Well, what's going to happen? Well, God's going to punish you. That's what's going to happen. Look what it says in verse 9. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to keep company with fornicators, yet not altogether the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters, for then must the needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such and one know not to eat. You're not even supposed to eat with them. You know, that's like seven sins or whatever. There's other sins that would cause someone to probably need to be kicked out. If someone just refuses to work, that's the Jimenez Doctrine. You should be thrown out. And, uh, causing division. That's another reason, you know, there's people that have been kicked out of our church or marked because they've committed these sins. And, you know, people get upset about this. Like, what do you mean kick someone out of church? What does the Bible say? It's saying it right here. It says, for what have I do to judge them that are without? Do not you judge them that are within? So, look, when they're out of the church, God's going to take care of them. But, you know what? He's also going to judge them inside the church if they're partaking of the Lord's Supper when they're not supposed to be. Look what it says in verse 13. But them that are without God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. If you know they're wicked, you put them out. Put away, what does it say? Is this me reading a cult classic here? It's the Bible, okay? But them that are without God judgeth, therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. That's the leaven. That's the leaven. That's the, you know, the fretting leprosy that needs to get out of the church so the church can be good and healthy. Because you don't want, you know, leaven. Leaven represents sin. You don't want the leaven in the church and you don't want a sickness, a putrefying wound to just fester into this church and corrupt it. You know, sometimes God just gets people out for us. You know, we don't always know what's bad, who's bad and who's good or whatever. Sometimes God just says, hey, well, you know, apparently they're not figuring it out, so I'll just make sure that they're gone. Or whatever. I mean, that's just how it goes. But, like, what I'm saying is that, you know, if you know that you're doing something that you should be kicked out for, then you should not partake of the Lord's Supper. I mean, does that seem like that's what it's saying to you? I mean, you know, if you're not even supposed to be here, then why would you be partaking of the Lord's Supper when God says this? Look at verse 30. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. Now, is this a term that would be used to talk about somebody that's, like, you know, not saved? No. For this cause many are weak and sickly. Sometimes people get sick, some people are weak, and then it says many sleep. This is something that you can die from. It's very serious. And so it says, for if we would judge ourselves, then we would not, we should not be judged. See, God has mercy on people to judge themselves. If you know you're doing something wrong and you do an about-face and you're like, hey, I was wrong, I'm sorry, God's going to have mercy on you. Now, does that mean he's not going to punish you at all? Not necessarily. You know, when Nathan the prophet said, thou art the man to David, he said, what? I've sinned. Right? And he said, thou shalt not die. So, but what did he, what happened with David is that, you know, he just went through a lot of pain and suffering. He still got punished for what he did, but God still forgave him and didn't give him the death penalty for, because he deserved the death penalty for that, right? For committing adultery. So, you know, if we don't identify the leaven, God can and will. If we don't identify the leaven, God can and will. And that's why many are sick or many are sleeping or whatever. And when it's saying sleep, it's not saying that they're taking a nap in the service, okay? It's talking about, you know, a Christian passing on. It's talking about a Christian dying. Obviously, anybody that believes in Jesus is never going to die, but the body does die, okay? So, it says, if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. So, God has to chasten sin. When the devil says, hey, so and so is fornicating in this church, did you see this, God? And God's like, well, I do now. I mean, he always knows. But anyway, God's going to punish that guy. And that's just the way it is. That's how God works. And he chastens you. Why? Because he loves you. He chastens you because he wants you to get it right. It's not like God just waiting with a sledgehammer every time we do something. He's like, okay, I know. He's about to do it. But he will chasten us for wicked sins, you know? And he'll chasten you for any sin. Look at Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6 says, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. That means everybody. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. So if you never get chastened, you never get in trouble with God for any reason, then you're not even really saved. That's what it's saying, right? You're a bastard. You're not a true son. There's a lot of bastards around, aren't there? And we don't know who the bastards are necessarily. I'm not just gratuitously trying to say bastard, but like, bastard's a Bible word, it's not a cuss word, okay? So the difference is, between a true son and a fake one, is the fake one's a bastard, right? So you're not a son if you don't get chastened. And everybody sins. Everybody in this room sins. Probably every day. And, you know, the holier-than-thou people will act like they're the ones that never sin. You know, and apparently people think that pastors never sin too. Do you think that that's true? But yet people hold a pastor, obviously a pastor's held to a higher standard, but to say that a pastor, so what sin is it that's not in the qualifications that would disqualify me from being a pastor? Like, if you just, say I just lied to you about something, does that disqualify me automatically as being a pastor? Do you think it does? I mean, I don't know, but there's people that think that, you know, anything that a pastor does wrong is disqualifying. Even though they're doing something ten times worse than what they've done. It's weird. It's holier-than-thou. You know, I don't remember in the qualifications where it said that I have to be sinless perfection. Did you see that in the Bible? Because I didn't. Or that my kids have to be sinless perfection. Did you see that verse in the Bible? No, they're supposed to be in subjection. My wife is supposed to be in subjection. I'm just joking. I would never hit her. But, you know what I'm saying? It's just like, people just have this weird, it's like a false balance. People have a false balance and sense of their own self. They think that they're so good, they're so great, and everything that they do is okay, but everything that you do is wicked and unforgivable. It's a weird way to think about things. I mean, I just don't understand. You know, people want to talk about grace. People want to talk about mercy. Look, I love grace and mercy. We need grace and mercy every single day of our lives. But it's funny, the people that always cry about grace and mercy the most are the least graceful and the least merciful people that I know. Sickening. It is a holier-than-thou, ultra-spiritual attitude is exactly what it is. You never sin. You are bad. You are evil. Anyway, so, look at what it says in verse 9. Furthermore, we've had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness. Why does he beat us? Why does he chasten us so that we can profit for our profit? It's not for his pleasure. He's not like, ha ha, I finally get to beat the snot out of Eli. He's been walking that line. I've just been waiting to get the slap down on him. That's not how God is. You know, we might do that. Like, sometimes, like, I'll just be honest, there's been times when I've spanked my kids and I was like, they needed that, and I enjoyed that. I know that sounds bad. Not very often I've felt that way, but you know when they're just being super brats and it's like, they won't listen to anything. They're just like totally out of control. It's like, all right, you've had this coming all afternoon, and you spank them. You know, sometimes we might not have the greatest, you know, reason for, you know, we don't look at things the way God does sometimes. So God is always doing it for our profit. God is always doing it so that we can be partakers of his holiness. That's why he's doing it. You know, so we're not, we're humans. We're mankind. Every single parent in this room I'm sure has flew off the handle at some point with their kids and probably didn't give them the spanking that they should have. Let's just be honest, okay? I'm not saying they're, like, abusing your kids or something. I'm just saying that everybody's lost it with their kids in one way, shape, or form. But it says, Now no chastening for the present seemeth joyous but grievous. Nobody likes to go through getting chastened by God. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Isn't it funny when you spank your kids after they've been really bad, and then they're just at peace with you? I love you, Mommy. I love you, Dad. I love you, Dad. You know, it's just like, Man, why didn't I do this, like, two hours ago? You know, it seems like it rights the ship, and that's the same thing that God's just telling us. This is how he deals with us, too. It doesn't seem good when you're getting chastened by God. It doesn't feel good. Nobody likes the spanking, but for some reason that spanking, that chastisement, makes us right with God. And we have that peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby. You know, God exercises us out, and we get corrected, you know? So, Paul, let's go back to our text real quick. In verse number 33, I'm almost done, okay? And so, Paul, you know, he tells them how they're doing it wrong, he tells them how to do it right, and then now he's going to finish on how to do, how to complete this, you know, and people will say at the very beginning, it says, you know, you come, this is not to come together for the Lord's Supper, right? But what's it say in verse 33? It says, Wherefore, my brethren, my brethren. Notice that it's talking about saved people. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry one for another. So, yes, you do do the Lord's Supper together. That's what I believe. We do it at the church for a reason. And why do we do it at the church for a reason? Because it says, when you come together to eat. To eat what? The Lord's Supper. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home. What's he saying? Don't bring your meals to church. This is not a meal. This is not a potluck. This is the Lord's Supper. It's different. This is how you do it. You take the bread, you break it, you pass it out to the other members. You pray for it. You do it in remembrance of Jesus. You're not eating your wife's meatloaf and saying, I just remember you, Jesus. That'd be weird, wouldn't it? It's bread and grape juice. Fruit of the vine. It says, If any man hunger, let him eat at home. That ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come. So Paul's saying, hey, there's some other things I've got to set in order when I come. This is just one chapter, right? He's set in order a lot of things, but like in the whole book, he's already set in order a lot of other things. So, you know, if we follow the Bible and do what it says, and we just go by what the apostles, you know, the foundation is Jesus Christ and the apostles, and we follow the man that's in charge at the church we go to. That's what we do. And so, and that man's not perfect, by the way. Their kids aren't perfect, by the way. Nobody in this church is perfect. Nobody in this church is sinless. And, you know, the only one that's sinless is Jesus Christ. We're all sinful people. So it says, you know, I will set in order these things when I come. You know, and everything in church should be done decently and in order. And we'll get to those chapters later on, but like the church is about order. There's ways that you do things. There's a way you do the ordinances. There's a way that we come together. We come together with singing. There's Bible preaching. You know, we do all these things in order for a reason. We have an order of service. Why do we do that? Because when you come to church, there shouldn't be a free-for-all where nobody knows what's going on. Everybody's coming up and preaching at different times. You know, Paul said, I'm going to set these things in order. And you know why? Because he was the man of God that was in charge, and he said, you know, I'm going to set it in order. And as the man of God here, it's my job to set things in order. And that's the way it's going to be done, you know. So that's why God made pastors. That's why God made leaders so that they could make sure that things were set in order. So it's not wrong to follow a man as long as he's following Christ. You know, in fact, we should all be following the authorities in our life, not just, you know, at church, but at work too. If you have a boss, follow that authority. You know, we should always be following the authorities unless they're telling us to sin, right. And we also need to follow the ordinances as the Bible teaches them, and not just however you want. We don't baptize however we want. We do it a certain way. Every ordinance, every rule that we do is because it's got to be done the way the Bible says, right. And if there's any gray area, you know, what's bound on earth is bound in heaven, okay. So, you know, there's little things that aren't in the Bible, and sometimes we have to make rules for that, right. So there's many ordinances in the Bible, but only two that picture the death of Christ. Baptism, the Lord's Supper. And there needs to be order in the church. It's not a free for all. So, and it never should be. It never should be someone standing up and interrupting me in the service. I saw a really good video one time where somebody tried to interrupt the pastor in the middle of the service, but it didn't go too well for him. You know, that should never happen. That's because, you know, the man of God is the one that's supposed to run the church services, you know, or the song leader, whoever's there. But it's not a free for all. People can't just walk up and start preaching that we don't even know. You know, it's got to be order. So, anyway, all right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, so much for this great chapter in the Bible. Lord, I pray you'd help us to understand the ordinances and rules and how we're supposed to keep them, Lord. And, God, help us to just be obedient people, Lord. And, Lord, help us to be merciful people. Help us to have grace with people. Lord, help us to just be a church that has a desire for people to be saved and, Lord, to fulfill the Great Commission, Lord. But in doing that, Lord, that we would not have divisions in our church and that, Lord, we would have a heart that's knit as one. And, Lord, I just pray that you'd strengthen our church right now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Send our service with song number 226 in your green hymnals, page 226. I've Found a Friend, page 226. I've Found a Friend, sing it out with me on the first. I've found a friend, oh, such a friend, he loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cords of love and thus he bound me to him. And round my heart still closely twined those ties which knock in sever, for I am his and he is mine forever and forever. I've found a friend, oh, such a friend, he bled, he died to save me, and not alone the gift of life but his own self he gave me. Not that I have my own I call, I hold it for the giver. My heart, my strength, my life, my all are his and his forever. I've found a friend, oh, such a friend, all power to him is given to guard me on my onward course and bring me safe to heaven. The eternal glories gleam afar to nerve my faint endeavor. So now to watch, to work, to war, and then to rest forever. I've found a friend, oh, such a friend, so kind and true and tender, so wise a counselor and guide, so mighty a defender. From him who loves me now so well, what power my soul can sever. Shall life or death or earth or hell know I am his forever? Man, thanks for coming out tonight and great singing. Brother Alex, can you end us with a word of prayer?