Celebration CA '23 - Session 4

CELEBRATION CALIFORNIA

a family camp with our family of churches

May, '23 @ Hume Lake

Better Together with Bo Noonan

Scripture References: 1 Timothy 4, 3 John 3-4, Romans 1:16, Psalm 19

Intro:

This sermon, based on 1 Timothy 4, addresses the importance of holding fast to sound doctrine and living a life that reflects those beliefs. The speaker emphasizes the need for courage in upholding truth, even when it's challenging or unpopular, and the danger of neglecting doctrine in favor of mere functionality. It also highlights the need for the church to address sin and maintain a robust theology.

Key Points:

• Warning Against Deception: Paul warns Timothy about the dangers of false teachings and deceiving spirits within the church. This calls for courage and a commitment to truth.
• Importance of Doctrine: The sermon stresses the significance of sound doctrine and its connection to how we live. Doctrine isn't just a set of beliefs but shapes our actions and our lives.
• Life and Doctrine as One: The speaker argues that life and doctrine are interconnected; what we believe influences how we live, and vice versa.
• The Church's Responsibility: The church is called to remove rot and address issues while preserving its core beliefs. This includes teaching and preaching the whole counsel of God.
• The Gospel's Power: The gospel includes the reality of sin and God's saving grace. The speaker asserts that understanding sin is crucial for appreciating God's love and living a transformed life.
• Avoiding Deconstruction: The sermon suggests that deconstruction can happen when faith is unable to hold up in the face of new realities, emphasizing the importance of a robust faith.

Conclusion:

The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of holding onto sound doctrine and preaching the whole council of God. The sermon encourages a return to the truth of the gospel and a commitment to living lives that reflect those beliefs.

Call to Action:

The call to action is for believers to be intentional about understanding and embracing sound doctrine, to live lives that align with their beliefs, and to prioritize the gospel in their lives and ministries.

Transcript

As we're kind of pressing in together in worship this morning, there's a couple of things that we just felt God highlighting on our heart. And the first one is this: that we don't want to waste God's word. We don't want to waste his promises. Not that it's up to us, but our part is opening our hands and receiving what he has for us. So just this sobriety of God's word being fulfilled through our obedience. And there's just a couple of words that came this morning that we want to share. And it just touches on this point of us receiving God's call for us as a people.

 So the first song, I think it was the bridge. That talks about the tree branching out. And it brought me back to, I think the first celebration, maybe the second. And I think it was Tom Shaw that had the word of being pruned and that we were going to be pruned. And I remember rating it. We did go through this hard season, but then I see us now. Like how many branches have grown out of that pruning because of you guys, because you've led all of you. Who are pastors of those churches, you're leading, you answered the call. And so I just wanted to remember that and to remember that the word that God spoke over us, although it was hard, look at the fruit that's come out of it.

 Amen. Yeah, I just felt like God put on my heart yesterday and he kind of wrestled with it all night. Five. So I felt like I wanted to share it this morning. I just had this picture of the church standing firm. And even though there's turmoil and darkness around, and I feel like maybe there's someone that came up this weekend that said, 'God, this is the last chance I'm giving you; meet me up here.' And I just want to press upon you that God is meeting you here and not to bail out on him, to stand firm with him and not be shaken. And the second thing I really felt like, if maybe you can relate on the way up here, I thought, 'California.' Yeah.

 Is there really anything to celebrate here in California, right? And so I just started to wrestle that and pray. And God gave me just insight that, yes, He is doing an amazing work in here in California. In this room alone, souls have been saved. Families have been restored. Prodigals have come home. And so if it's your heart for this mission field of California, let's go boldly forward together and praise God for the victories that He will do here in this mission field that He has called us to. Amen. Yeah, I've just come here and feel like the table has been set for us. This has just been such a treat and such a delight. And God has been so kind to set this table where we can just feast on him.

 And at home, we actually built a kitchen table or dining room table. And when people come, we have people in this fun tradition where we have people sign under the table. I've eaten there. But I just felt like as we were coming into this place, God said, 'Actually, the table is much bigger than you would imagine.' Here, actually, there's names under the table that aren't going to sign it once they're here. They're already written under the table. I've got a lot more names for this family. I've got a lot more names written on the table. And I just think God wants us to press into that and pray for that day that more people will come, more people will be added to his family here.

 Hey, just for a moment, let's just lean into that word. It's funny. It's funny how the Lord just brings all these things together. And if you're new to these environments, we open up the mic because we believe when God speaks, he also moves. That we don't just do this so everybody gets a chance to play. We do do it so everybody gets a chance to play. But we do it because we believe God wants to speak through you. He wants to use you. And just the through line of that word is almost believing God's word. And the thing that's just been pressed on our heart this morning is that believing God's word and have it in your heart is activated by faith.

 And just as we listen to these guys share this morning, there's just this sense of almost a holy angst. Of like God calling us back to the original calling. To love him first and foremost. But out of that love for him, he's called you on mission. And man is. It's been a hard couple years. And in our hearts, there's mission drift. And I just think in this moment, what the Lord wants to do is activate that word in your heart by faith. Saying, Lord, did you really say? Lord, did you really speak? And what I want to do, just for a moment. We're from San Diego, so we do things a little different. What I want to do is I want to lean into that not just as a general word, but a specific word.

 So if you're in here, and you feel like, man, maybe that call. I feel like I've lost the call. I've lost the thing God's asked me to do. I feel like I feel a shift. I feel a drift from it. I just want you to. I want to invite you to be brave this morning. God loves bravery. God loves those that are willing to step out and encourage. If you just feel like, man, I feel like I've lost the call. Or the call's gotten foggy. I've got drift in my heart. If you feel brave enough, just to raise your hand for that, what we're going to do is we're going to trust God at his word. That he's not just speaking, but he's speaking to do something this morning.

 That he wants to speak a fresh word of faith. He wants to bring breakthrough afresh. That you didn't come up the mountain just to have your life changed. But actually the Lord called you up the mountain to set you back on mission. So that's you. Why don't you just stand up where you are. Just put your hand up. And just guys, if you're around somebody with their hand up. There's hands across the room. Just lay hands on them. Come on. And just with your eyes open, just look at them. And ask the Lord, what are you up to? What do you want to speak to your kids?

 I believe there might be a couple here that kind of early in your relationship there was this call to South America. And the stresses and pressures of life has just made you forget the call. You got kids. You're wondering how it all works. And I just wonder. And if that's you, just give me a wave real quick. Where are you at? South America. A fellow called to South America early in your years. I might be wrong. That's okay. Over here. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Just receive. Just keep your eyes closed. Just come Holy Spirit. You haven't missed it. You haven't missed it. The Father doesn’t look on your life and think, Oh, there was a better one for you. You haven’t missed it. But Lord, we thank you that Your word doesn’t return void. Your spoken word, Your written word doesn’t return void. So Holy Spirit, just come afresh right now in our friends.

 And I just want to invite the rest of the room if you're not laying hands on someone or standing to receive this is your moment to intercede, this is your moment to push in and pray that God would speak clearly, that God would encourage, that God would bring comfort, that God would strengthen this morning because the way this works is when one gets blessed we all get blessed when one gets called we all get called.

 Let's just take one more moment. Hey, and I just want to invite you: just take a risk, take a risk! I feel like the Lord might be saying, 'Give it.' Every disclaimer you need, but it's infallible to me to think that that we would be in this moment and God wouldn't give fresh prophetic words. So just take a risk; a little risk goes a long way in the kingdom of God.

 Lord, You and You alone, Lord, You and You alone have our affection. Yes, You reign, and You rule; You reign, and You rule. And you're good and you're faithful and you're kind, you're so kind that it causes us to turn away from sin to follow after you. Thank you that you didn't shame us into this; it was your kindness that led us into this. We thank you for the outpouring of your Holy Spirit. You didn't leave us with water guns storming hell, but you gave us the very spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. Thank you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Probably should sit down before the kids' workers find out what we're doing. Can I borrow your music stand or somebody's? It's fine.

 alright well my name's bo i'm from to to um from tacoma washington yep yep it's that kind of place it's that kind of place mixed reviews i'm super super honored uh to be with you all i was at the first ever celebration and i have the t-shirt and i just totally forgot to pack it but um it may die out of the way but i'm going to be with you all for the rest of the week so thank you a little bit in our house nowadays, but it's a good shirt. And it's an honor to be with you. I love, I love, I love being with you all. I had the privilege of being down at Commonwealth earlier this year, and then I was in Sanctuary a few weeks ago, and just love, love what God's doing in California.

 We love California. You know, we do whatever California's doing in Washington, so we love you guys. Travis tasked me to do two things at this conference. One is to speak, which I'm about to do, and the other was to design this set. And so I found some driftwood and some recycled cans when I got here. I had a Pinterest board, and I don't know, maybe you like it, maybe you don't, but that's what I came up with. Open your Bible to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy chapter 4. How many of you-this is about to get sad-how many of you know somebody who used to walk with Jesus and no longer walks with Jesus? Yeah. Look, I mean, just take a quick glimpse around the room.

 It's sadly, sadly not uncommon, is it? Some people call that being backslidden, turning from their faith. The new word that we're using is they've deconstructed. And I want to talk today about the fact that we're in a world where we're in a world where we're in a world where we're in a world where we're in a world where we're in a world where we're in a a bit about being churches that hold fast to the truths, to the doctrines of the church that have been handed down to us for over 2,000 years, and that it matters. It matters to us that we believe in the doctrines of the church, that we don't want to just be people who gather for friendship.

 We don't want to just be people who gather to sing a few songs and to hear some clever teaching, but we're rooted in something. We've been added into something. We've been added into a faith. I think it's also why it's important to mention that we've been added into a faith. That it's Pentecost Sunday, that globally churches around the world, cross denominations have to stop and consider the fact that the Holy Spirit has been poured out. That we're not just added into Celebration California or even Confluence or even New Frontiers, but we've been added into a global family that reaches back, reaches way back, and will reach forward as well. Well, and so 1 Timothy chapter 4, Paul is giving some instruction to Timothy. He's giving instruction to Timothy.

 He's the young guy coming through to lead forward, and he gives him some instruction to be aware of a few things. He gives him some warnings and some encouragements, and so let's read the word of the Lord. The Spirit clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits. And things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good. And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

 If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales. Rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the Lord. Living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech and conduct and love and faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your Godliness.

 Be diligent in these matters. Give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Timothy, watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Jesus, we thank You for Your word. We trust in Your word. We build our lives upon Your word. And we just say, Jesus, come and illuminate to us Your word by the gift of Your Holy Spirit, who comes to give us truth, to reveal truth. Lord, I just pray you'd move among us this morning, revealing truth to us, revealing areas of our life where we've not applied truth, but we've believed lies. Lord, I just pray you'd move among us this morning, revealing truth to us, revealing lies. Set us free from those lies this morning.

 We thank you that you are such a warrior that you come to fight for us. And we just ask that even as we look at your word this morning, you would be fighting for us. For your name's sake, for your renown, for your glory. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said, amen. Well, here we see in this chapter, Paul's passion for the next generation. His passion for the church. I'm excited that we have teenagers in the room with us today. I'm excited that we have youth leaders in the room with us today. That the warnings to the church are found throughout the New Testament. There's a lot of warnings given to the church, in fact, and warnings that are interesting. Some of the warnings are about, hey, look out for those outside the church who may persecute the church.

 But there are also a lot of warnings about those inside the church. And I'm excited that we have teenagers in the room with us today. I'm excited that we have the church. Be careful. There's danger, actually, from within the church. I mean, think about how fragile it must have felt. Jesus ascends into heaven. He gives his Holy Spirit, and they're off. They're doing the stuff, right? And then Paul encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus, and he starts some churches. And it's like, what is going on, really? Like, what is holding this thing together? There's no headquarters. There's no website. You know, there's no Instagram. There's just nothing. There's nothing. There's nothing. There's nothing. There's nothing. There's nothing. There's just, you know, some apostles laying foundations in churches.

 I think this is going to work. I mean, this is what Jesus said to do, so we're doing it. But I love how Paul, you know, amongst the warnings and the persecution and all of that, Paul goes to work on a worthy cause, the church, the bride of Christ. And he goes to work teaching them, encouraging them, laying in foundations. Warning them, correcting them, rebuking them. He is single-minded with a white-hot passion for the church. And he says in chapter 4 that the Spirit clearly says that in later times, some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. I mean, pay close attention, Timothy. This isn't for the faint of heart, Timothy. This isn't just gather some people, throw a few funny lines at them, tell them a story from the scriptures, get the kids in Sunday school class.

 Off we go. It's going to be super simple, Timothy. No, he says, look, people will follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Where? In your church, Timothy. Pay close attention, Timothy. This is a call to the Lord. This is a call to the Lord. This is a call to the courageous. And not the kind of courageous that pick up a sword and run into battle, but the kind of courage, listen, the kind of courage that stays and says, this I believe. Here I stand. I can do no other. This is what I believe. When no one in the outside of the church believes what you believe, and even when the people inside the church start to doubt what you believe, he says, Timothy, take up courage and remain in this place.

 Truth. Takes a lot of courage, doesn't it? Takes a lot of courage. The warning is right here. Paul is not unaware of the challenges the churches face. At our celebration last year, I preached a message called, what did you expect? I mean, there's warnings given to us throughout. He's not overly romantic about it. You guys are going to love each other. You're going to find, you know, just this community where you just come alive. And it's going to be amazing. No, he says, look, watch out, watch out. Specifically, he says, 'Watch what you believe, watch your doctrine and watch the way you live.' You know, each generation in the church is called to remove the rot from the church.

 There's always rot in the church, but there's not, it's no need to remove the load-bearing walls in the church, but there is a need to spray the bleach occasionally. Change out the drywall occasionally, but not the load-bearing walls. It's our turn to remove the rot. And young people, it's going to be your turn to remove the rot because the rot is promised to us. What did you expect? See, Timothy in his single-minded devotion is; he's got this courage under fire, this willingness to lay down his rights, to lay down the benefits of his church. And he's got this courage under fire. And he's got this courage to lay down the benefits of his life, lay down the comforts of this world. Because after all, people, we're not a comfort-bearing community.

 We're a cross-bearing community. We so long to be a comfort-bearing community. And often we make the mistake as church leaders, please forgive us, to try to create a comfort-bearing community for you. And we forget to create a cross-bearing community for you. Timothy, watch your life and watch your doctrine. Because Paul was right. Paul was right. Liars infiltrated the church. Some have abandoned the faith. Some are following deceiving spirits and demonic teachings. It's not new to us. It's not new to past generations. Dare I say it's been present in every generation since Jesus has ascended. And we can look forward, and we should look forward. It's a beautiful thing, to gather at a celebration like this, and to look forward together.

 But it's also helpful for us to look back, to look back to see how the saints of old battled the lies, and the saints of old removed the rot in the church. That the saints of old didn't tear down the load-bearing walls but continued to build the church. Because it's been said, it's always darkest before the dawn arrives. I mean, how many of us, I'm getting to that age where I start to sound like my dad and my grandfather. This generation coming through. Really going to screw it all up. I mean, are we hearing that or no? Yeah? I mean, and yet we look back to the hand of God on generations screwing everything up and saving them, redeeming them, restoring them, and building his church. Don't lose heart. Don't lose heart.

 If you're a youth worker here, don't lose heart. If you are an elder in the church, don't lose heart. His hand is long enough to do that. Don't lose heart. Don't lose heart. Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose heart. Church history tells us of one rebuilder in particular, a defender of the faith, a man by the name of Francis of Assisi, who was a son. He was a son of a wealthy merchant. He had all the privileges he could imagine, all the wealth he could imagine. And he squandered his youth living off of his dad's money and living a very sinful life. And he had this dream that he would become one day a great military leader. That he would walk in front of the troops with the biggest of the swords.

 And he would lead the army. And he would lead the army. And he would lead the army. He would lead the troops into battle. And well, it didn't go so well for him. In fact, his army duties led him into becoming a prisoner of war. And one day when he was released, he walked into a dilapidated church building, an old dilapidated church building that was in ruins. And he heard God say to him, Francis, go repair my house, which you see is falling into ruin. And he responded rightly to God. He immediately went to, sell off some of his belongings and raise money to repair this physical building, this infrastructure, this church building. And it was not that God was saying just to repair a building, but he was saying, come on, think bigger than that.

 There's rot inside the church. The people have gone. And so he gave himself. He gave himself to the rebuilding of the church. And his father was enraged because he was selling his dad's possessions. That he thought were his to raise money, to rebuild the church. And there was this classic church history showdown where publicly Francis stripped off his clothes, completely stripped off his clothes in a sign to say, I do not belong to my earthly father. I belong to my Father in heaven. And Francis did this amazing, amazing symbol and went on to build and remodel the church. Greater reformation happened because of this life devoted to rebuilding the church. He took on the sins and the hypocrisy that were in the church in those days to remove those things and to rebuild the church.

 And yet he never despised the church and his rebuilding. His passion and his love was for the bride. He was a deconstructor with the vision of reconstructing. There's a big difference there. He didn't tear down the church. He didn't tear down the load-bearing walls of faith. He was just spraying the walls with bleach. He had an ache. Anybody know that feeling like an ache? Just an ache for the church. He didn't have any unrealistic or idealistic views of what it would be like to serve Jesus. He had an ache. His call to serve the church came with an ache. A passion, if you will. That word passion, we often think of it as a passion. We often think of it as a very positive term these days, but it actually means to suffer, to endure, to bear, to ache.

 The passion of the Christ, his ache for you. This is the call on us and our call to teach and the next generation to come through and to teach is to have an ache for the church. And I want to specifically lean in today to this call in 1 Timothy 4:13-16. Again, it says, until I come, devote yourselves to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy and the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters. Give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress. Timothy, watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere. Because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. It's a lot at stake here.

 It's a lot at stake here. Watch your life. Watch your doctrine. Why should I? Because if you do, you'll save yourself, but not only yourself, but those who hear you, those in your small groups, those in your household, those in your workplaces, they too will be saved as you watch your life and watch your doctrine. I mean, in terms of watching your life, I mean, I believe this is a direct connection to the fear of God in our lives. I mean, sometimes you hear these massive collapses, right? Of Christians that have just kind of, and bring down a whole infrastructure with them. And the thing that always comes to mind is like, don't you know that God is watching? I mean, don't we have a fear of God in our life that should stir our hearts to live right before Him?

 Not just so you don't get caught by your own fear, but so that you don't get caught by your own fear. And so, I mean, I'm not a man. I mean, I'm not a man. I'm not a man. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. I'm a woman. Not just so that you don't get embarrassed by your church. God Almighty is watching. And we live with a fear of God in our life. Again, knowing he's good, knowing he's kind, knowing he's gentle with us, but folks, it's real. And it should spur us on to a life lived before him.

 Primarily, my role in life is to live it out before God. Not to avoid being caught by human beings doing something wrong, but to live it out before God. To live my life as an offering to the Lord. So you know these things, is living your life out before God is an answer to the call that He's given you. It's not like you're doing that to earn His love and respect. He loves you. He first loved you. Therefore, we live out this life before Him. He called you and accepted you. Therefore, we live out this life before Him. So watch your life, church. Church, watch your life. Watch your life. And for some, it may be a day today where it's a turning away from all the fear of getting caught by somebody.

 That's why I'm careful with what I do. To just simply laying it all down and saying before you. It's like when David, David sinned with Bathsheba in the whole story. And he says, Lord, before you and you alone have I sinned. The reality of living out this life before God and the fear of God. May it grow in us as we move forward. But then he says, watch your doctrine. See, we have much in the arena of church building. I mean, some of you know this in church leadership. Some of you might not care about it, nor should you. There's a lot of philosophies and strategies to doing church these days. I mean, endless, endless amounts. Endless amounts of strategy on how to build church. How to grow a church.

 How to do mission. How to do justice. Not just growing a church. And it can be so helpful. And folks, we should learn from that. We shouldn't despise those things. We should try to grow in those areas. But what about your doctrine? What about what you believe? What about the truths that have been handed down to us from generation to generation through the Holy Scriptures? What are people being saved into in your church? A nice ministry philosophy? Or a belief? A rich, tried and true belief? Isn't that what it means to mature? It never says in the Scriptures, 'mature' means numbers. Mature means your church is breaking through these growth barriers. Mature is unity in the church. Mature is being rooted in the faith. Mature is the foundational teachings of the apostles.

 Mature is being filled with the Holy Spirit. One author puts it this way. Too many well-intentioned Christians pit deeds against creeds. Deeds against creeds. Meaning, it's not really what we believe. Don't worry about all that. Don't get caught up in that. It's just actually what we do. We're just here to love, man. We just want to love people. That's what San Diego people sound like. Man, we're just here to love, bro. Right? Maybe a little slower. Sorry. We're here to love, bro. It's what you do that matters, not what you believe. The Scriptures speak of doctrines as something actually, though, that we confess. That's a doing. It's a posture that we adopt with our whole heart and with our whole mind and with our whole body. It's not just a belief.

 It is what we're doing. It is a deed. Doctrines are something we walk in. Something that form us and shape us. Doctrines are something we abide in. The gospel is something we obey. There is no separation between deeds and creeds. Think 3 John, verses 3 through 4. John says, It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about, your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. But hey, we can all go around and tell about churches we know that are really good on creeds. Not much deeds going on. And then we can all go around. I could tell you stories about churches in Tacoma. Really good on deeds.

 But really bad on creeds. Folks, we are a deed and a creed people. There was no room to divorce the two. They're the same thing. What you believe affects the way you live. Walking in truth. Not just believing truth. Walking in truth. I'm not so sure Paul was teaching Timothy like, 'Hey, watch your life.' And then when you get your life sorted out, then watch your doctrine. It was like a good golf swing. One continuous thing, right? You saw that? Yeah, chop wood. Life and doctrine. Boom. 350. It's one thing. It's one thing. What you believe is how you live. It's true. And if you want to find out what you really believe, let's look at how you live. That's the way it goes. It's the way we're built.

 Each part affecting the other. A life deeply affected. By doctrine. We've heard it throughout this whole weekend. That we can wake up knowing that we are fully accepted. That changes your Monday. That doesn't just help me explain something in a small group environment where I sound like I know what I'm talking about. It affects the way when I'm rejected by my boss at work. When my spouse is giving me a hard time. When my kids are disobedient. Hallelujah. Like, you know, I'm in. I'm in. And I can live like that. I don't have to live insecure. I don't have to go around trying to get everybody to like me. Because the one who calls me son approves of me. Jesus teaches us this. He lived a life of complete obedience to the Father.

 Think about this. He believed something about his father that compelled him to live a life of submission and obedience to him. Come on. Hold on a second. He believed something about his father that compelled him. To live a life of submission and union with the father. So the father didn't say, 'Hey, I need you to go to this village.' And he's like, 'This is going really well right here. I'll stay here.' He had complete faith that his father was good and loving and caring. And that his life was safe in his father's hands. That he could go to the next village and leave behind the success of the previous village. His belief about who the father is formed his life. Folks, this is the root of discipleship.

 This is the foundation of discipleship to believe what Jesus believed. Discipleship isn't just learning to read your Bible, learning to pray, learning to sing songs, learning to attend church meetings. It's actually to believe what Jesus believed. And if you believe what Jesus believed about his father, you become a very, very secure person. Life and doctrine. Not two separate things. Yet it's not hard for us to find in church this idea, though. There's right doctrine. And I want to argue right doctrine. Everybody knows that person in the church, right? Just want to argue right doctrine. Sometimes spitefully. That doesn't make sense. To talk about a God of love, who's kind, and to tell you off for not believing in him like I do? Doesn't seem right. Paul says, Timothy, line these things up.

 Match them up. Life and doctrine. By doing so, Timothy, you will be saved. And not only that, save those who are listening to you. Verse 13 again said, Until I come, devote yourself, Timothy, to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching, and to teaching. Don't despise the public reading of Scripture in your church. Don't despise the moment they get up to preach. Like, this is the boring part. When I get up to preach and I read the Scriptures, it is the most true and important thing I say when I get up to preach. It's the Word of God. Not my clever little jokes about disobedient children. The Word of God is being proclaimed in our churches. So how important is it to you? How important is it to you to have orthodox theology?

 Good foundational doctrine. How important is it to you? A better question maybe is, how important is that to you to get into the heart of your 15-year-old in your church? How important is it to you to get that into the next generation? I heard Jen Wilkin. Anybody know who Jen Wilkin is? She's amazing. She recently said on this interview I was listening to, that she heard about a church that was intent on training the next generation in the church's doctrines. And they had a plan. They had an intentional plan to take kids from middle school all the way through high school to give. To give them a grasp of the Old Testament, to give them a grasp of the New Testament, and then to give them a grasp of systematic theology.

 Can you imagine? Middle school through high school. And she's saying this and I'm pulling up on Google waiting for her to say the name of the church because I'm ready to just email that church. Say, give me everything you've got. We want in on this. And she says that church is the Mormon church. What a gut punch. I mean, they're preaching. They're passionate. Intentionality on giving the next generation their beliefs. Which isn't good news at all. Like how much more should we be intent on handing to our young people good doctrine, good foundations, because we've got good news. And we can be so intentional about making a relevant environment for everybody. You know, talking about the hot topics that everybody else wants to talk about.

 Creating environments where new people or non-believers, I don't think we're allowed to call them that anymore. Not yet, believers. Come into the church and check it out and drink the coffee, eat the doughnuts, drop their kids off in a safe environment. And if you're new, we won't put your kid's number on the screen. We're just going to hold them tightly until you come back for them. But how are we doing? How are we doing with equipping our churches and the next generation in the tried and true doctrines of the Christian faith? How are we doing? We can fall. Listen, and this is a confession. We can fall into the trap of caring more about what works than what's true. When we find something that works, trust me, we're like a dog on a bone.

 This works. This works. Is it true? I don't know. And I don't really want to know. Please don't tell me anything you know about this. If our teaching is more about what works than what we believe to be true from the scriptures, let me ask you this: What happens when it stops working for people? What happens when all the feel goods don't feel good anymore? What happens when their life falls apart and they have nothing to hold on to? Suffering, leadership failures, surprised by your own capacity to sin. This isn't working. Folks, we have a robust. We have. We don't need to create. We don't need to make up. We have a robust and rich faith that says a lot about suffering. It says a lot about leadership.

 Leadership failures say a lot about your own sin and capacity to do so. But then we fall into believing the parts of Christianity that just work well for me. My life verse, my coffee mug verse, my mirror in the morning verse. And then we just fall right off the cliff when that stops working for us. So devote yourself, he says, to the public reading of scripture and to teaching and preaching. I mean, what do we need? What do we mean by the scriptures? Well, of course we mean the Bible, but what Paul means by the scriptures is what's called the whole council of God. The whole council of, don't you want to be counseled by God? Well, I have a therapist who's pretty helpful. The whole council of God. Therapists are good.

 Please hear me. Christian ones are better, but listen, what do you mean by the scriptures? We mean the whole council of God, which by the way, is not the next sermon series in your church. Yeah. It takes too long. It's not a seven week series. It's the theology or the study of God. And listen, if you guys are like, man, this is Sunday morning at camp. I didn't sleep. My kids have been running around. Listen, theology is the study of God. Christian theology is the study of God revealed in Jesus. We're endeavouring to answer the question that Jesus asked, who do you say I am? That's what we mean by the whole counsel of God. We're answering the question in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Who do you say I am?

 So through the Old Testament and the New Testament, we're working together in our small groups, in our Sunday gatherings, in our life on life together. We're answering this question. Who do you say I am? We're not just trying to, as it says in the scriptures, be good ministers of Jesus Christ, just so we get a pat on the back. We're not just trying to avoid heresy. Sometimes we think, well, the church is just trying not to tell lies like heresies, but we must avoid being nonchalant in our doctrine. Listen, here's what's at stake. We don't want to be nonchalant about it. Like, yeah, some people in my church kind of believe that, but I'm not sure. Because being nonchalant can be an indication of lovelessness. Being nonchalant about what you believe about Jesus could be an indication of how you feel about Jesus. Us. So we can be so intent on just preaching what works, and we drift into a lack of love for the one who first loved us. Can you imagine those of you who are married saying to your spouse, 'No elbows right now, please. Yeah, they're functional

.' That's not what we're saying about the gospel, folks. It's functional. It's a philosophy that helps me through life. Let me ask you this: What does that say to the next generation? Yeah, it's all right. It's functional. Or do we absolutely adore the gospel? Which is not what is the gospel is; it is who is the gospel is-Jesus. Can we hand a doctrine down to the next generation that allows them to look at our mistakes, which we have plenty of, to look at the world around them and all the corruption that's there, to look at the sin that's present in the church and the church history, and still say, 'I'm giving my whole life to the bride and to the bridegroom, because the gospel is that compelling and good?' See, deconstruction happens when there's a breakdown or where there's a crisis, which we just have had many years of that.

 When your faith is unable to hold up in the face of a new reality, that's when deconstruction happens. When your faith is unable to hold up in the face of a new reality. In other words, all the functional teaching I received in the church, all the this works teaching that I received in the church, it no longer explains this. Oh, and if it doesn't explain that, then maybe it doesn't explain these core load-bearing wall doctrines that the church believes as well. And we begin to knock down the wrong walls. Willie knows something about knocking down the wrong wall. When they started the church, they met in a building. Is it okay to tell this story? That's too late. Anyways, they met in a building and they were remodeling it and they knocked down a load-bearing wall.

 They were remodeling it and they knocked down a load-bearing wall. The whole thing collapsed. So we're going to pass the offering plate around. It's been paid off, right? We're good? Yeah. Okay. We know where the walls are now? Okay. It's crazy, right? Like it's frightening to think that my faith can't hold up in the face of this new experience that I have in life. As if my faith doesn't speak to all the things I could experience in life. Have you read the Psalms? It speaks to everything you could experience in life. It holds up, folks! If you're here today and you're like, 'I don't know about this Christianity thing.' I want to tell you wholeheartedly this morning, it holds up in the face of anything this world can throw at you.

 Throughout the history of cultures that have been influenced by Christianity, things like America or England, everything that's been influenced by Christianity, everyone knew what sin was. Historically speaking, that's why Billy Graham was so effective in his ministry. He simply said, 'come on, you remember, you're a sinner.' And they're like, oh my gosh. And they came down in droves, right? And there was this thing that was embedded in culture, in nations like ours that have these Judeo-Christian values within them. But now folks, people are wondering what sin is. See, in the old days, they knew what sin was, but they didn't know how to get saved. They didn't know how to repent from that sin. Nowadays, salvation is assumed. Have you noticed that? Salvation is assumed and sin is like, I don't know what that is.

 People today assume salvation and wonder what sin is. So it's our job not to shy away from teaching about things like sin. And you think, no, we're just about the love. There is no love if we don't first understand what He has loved us out of. Have you ever considered that having a robust doctrine of original sin can actually create a wonderful environment for flourishing in your church? That's not on the banner, is it? We're flourishing in our original sin. Joy, peace.

 The orthodox belief about original sin is this, if you're not familiar, all human beings are born into sin with a nature inclined to sin. So I didn't hit like eight years old and then decide to lie and be like, ah, I always had such a good run.

 It's not super popular to say this in our world today. In our world, that's the doctrine of our world is you be you, boo. Human flourishing is found in human individual expression. That's the doctrine of our world, isn't it? So don't worry about sin. We don't know what sin is. We know what salvation is. Salvation is human flourishing through individual expression. But this is a foundational belief in the church. And if we don't set this as a foundation for our world, then we're not going to be born into sin. So if we don't set this stone, this foundational stone in our churches correctly, everything will slide right off of it. So if we shy away from this truth that we are born into sin because our first father, Adam, sinned, everybody born into the human race that is the son or daughter of Adam has been born into sin.

 If we don't set that stone in right, everything slides off. And you know what will slide off of that? The wonderful cross of Jesus. It will not slide off. It will not slide off. It will not slide off. It will not hold up if we don't have in place the doctrine of sin in our churches. It's not popular, but folks, the church has never really been popular. Americans thought it was.

 We thought we had a powerful voice.

 The San Franciscans are like, yeah, man. Christianity insists on us understanding that all of us, from peasant to king, from slave to free, from male to female, from young to old, are all in need of saving from the very same thing, our sin, our rebellion. No one is saved on their own virtue or righteousness. No one. Not one. This is what we're going to do. We're going to do it. We're going to do it. We're going to do it. We're going to do it. This is why Christianity thrives. This is why it thrives among the poor and the needy. This is why it struggles among the rich and the wealthy. This is why it struggles around the white picket fences with two cars and 1. 7 children and all the stuff.

 It struggles in that environment. I was talking to a friend recently who was praying for a family member, and they're just like, 'I'm flat out praying that something goes wrong in their life, because nothing seems to be going wrong in their life from a worldly standpoint.' The bank account is abundantly full. The cars are gassed up. The boat is full. The RV is full. The lake house is full. The refrigerator is full. We all have the same disease. We all carry the burden of our father Adam until. But God. But God, being rich in mercy, took us out of Adam and put us in Christ, the only ever fictitious and righteous son. He calls us to say, 'My burden is light.' Come, trust me. Come live here. Come live here.

 Come out of Adam. Come alive in Christ. See, understanding sin helps us to see the world rightly. Many, you know, many of the bloodiest revolutions in the world, people say like, oh, religion is the reason for all the wars. Many of the bloodiest revolutions in the world were caused by this idealistic view that humans are actually inherently good. So if we can just get rid of the bad ones, then we can all live this inherently good life. And beware, church. We just got to get rid of those people. Hello. Hey, come on. We just got to get rid of those people and everything will be fine. Someone in my church recently said, 'We just got to put them on a boat and ship them out' to, what are you talking about?

 But by the grace of God, we are in Christ Jesus. There was a utopia, they believed, by just removing the bad people. Understanding sin helps us not to love this world. Don't love this world. Hope in Jesus and his kingdom come. It helps us to be more loving and patient toward humanity. This is flourishing, folks. I see them with a problem that I, too, suffered from until Jesus broke into my life. And they, too, can have Jesus break into their lives. We understand ourselves better. You know, the world that's preaching self-love, we can love ourselves better by understanding sin. We learn to name our struggles correctly. And once you name it correctly, you can get the correct cure for it.

 There's nothing worse than going to the doctor and them saying, 'We have no idea what's wrong with you.' It's a horrible, horrible, frightening place to be. We've never seen this before. Oh, my gosh! You want them to name it and cure it. And that's what the gospel does. Name it, sin; cure the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. Before the throne of God, I have a strong and perfect plea. A great high priest who ever lives and pleads for me. I mean, this is a massive implications for how we define the mission of California. What is the mission of California? Move to Nashville. Sorry, sorry. We have it, too. We have it, too. Ours is called Idaho.

 You can't set aside the doctrines for the sake of mission. Because you don't know what you're on mission for if you don't have the doctrines. So our mission isn't just to go out and be kind. Imagine the prodigal son coming home and the dad saying, 'Man, you look hungry.' Here's a meal; now on your way. Now he puts a robe on him, a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet, kills the fattened calf, and says, 'Let's celebrate, my son who was dead is now alive. Who was lost is now found. He was dead in his sins and transgressions. Not just hungry in need of a sandwich. Our theology and our doctrines help us to understand what it means to love people and love God rightly.

 Does that ring a bell to anybody? The greatest commandment? Love God, love people.' It helps us to distinguish true love, agape love from sentimental feelings. I want to have Tiffany come up. She's got something to say. I'm going to end with this. Romans 1. 16. It's not on the screen. Romans 1. 16 says, 'For I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.' Folks, the gospel includes that you are dead in your sins and transgressions, but God, but God. I just, I just want to say this. I heard this word and I felt like the Lord showed me where I've had a quiet. It must be nice in my heart.

 As I've watched other believers or other leaders abandon the doctrines that are more difficult. There's been moments where I've sat in the quiet of my heart. It must be nice to get rid of the parts that offend people, to get rid of the parts that are difficult to navigate. Like Jesus with the rich young ruler who drew a line he couldn't step to. And I just, I want to repent of agreeing with that lie in my heart. Because it's not nice to go without the life-saving doctrines that we need. And just, I want to close out of Psalm 19 by just declaring that it must be nice to have perfect truth that revives the soul. It must be nice to have words from the Lord that are sure, that make the simple wise.

 It must be nice to have doctrines that are right, that cause our hearts to rejoice. It must be nice to have truth that is pure, that enlightens our eyes. It must be nice to walk in the fear of the Lord that is clean, that lasts and endures. Forever. It must be nice to have rules that are true. That keep us plumb and straight. That are righteous all together. It must be nice to have something more desirable than gold. Even better than much fine gold. Old. It must be nice to have something sweeter than honey. It must be nice to receive warning from the Lord that leads us into life and out of death. And in keeping them is great reward. Jesus, we love, we love you. We love the gospel and we love the whole counsel of your word. And we repent, Lord, in any points of our heart where we have stepped off to the side and agreed with lies. We return this morning to you and we thank you again for these life-saving, load-bearing walls that have given us life and pulled us out of the miry pit of death.

 Did you say amen or did you just hand that to me? Sorry, I was talking to Bo. Okay, well, amen.

 Hey, Bo, you gave us something very valuable and very weighty. That was gold, man. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to be chewing on that for a while. Hey, I want to let you know just the way this is going to go for the rest of our time together. I want to ask you to keep pressing in. There's more. I know that you're like, 'oh, man, I couldn't.' There's room for that, for just a little bit more. This afternoon will be the most important thing I think we'll do together. And I'm not just saying that because that's what preachers do to get you back. What we're going to get is an update from all of you. We're going to get an update from all the churches and an opportunity to stand with one another and pray.

 So it's going to be a beautiful time of connecting together through prayer, which is something that we value. So, look, I know you've had a lot of conversations. Let's keep pressing in. And it's not just about what you get and what you need. We need you here and we need you to show up. So, keep contending with us. Tomorrow morning, we'll have like a recap video. Jared Turner is going to exhort us. We'll take communion together and we'll head down the hill. So, let's keep going. We'll keep eating three square meals a day. What in the world? We'll eat again, and then we'll try to row it off. There's all kinds of stuff going on with youth and volleyball. So, please don't tap out. Keep contending for more. There is something God has for us here. See you guys this afternoon.