Take your Bible if you will turn with me to first
Corinthians chapter number 16 We had a good time
and I appreciate the men the boys with our church
and I did not know that they had a frog video
there and My frog look like a frog act like a
frog jump like a frog But we had a wonderful
time. I want to start as you turn in first Corinthians
chapter number 16 just talk about the men we
we had a wonderful time of fellowship, wonderful
time with the games, but it was also a time that
was spiritual. And Brother Jerome, this afternoon,
he said, Pastor, it was almost like a revival.
And in a way, he's right. It was almost like
a revival in some of our hearts and our minds
with the preaching, thinking about God. There
was a revival in my heart, and I believe there
was a revival in many of the men and the young
men during this little camp meeting. Now, we
get to 1 Corinthians chapter number 16, and we
look at verse number 13 and 14. If you'll stand
with me for the preaching of God's word, or the
reading of God's word, I should say, and we're
gonna read those two verses together. 1 Corinthians
chapter number 16, starting in verse number 13,
we'll read 13 and 14. Ready? Watch ye stand fast
in the faith. Quit you like men, be strong. Let
all your things be done with charity. Now verse
13, watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you
like men, be strong. Now the theme of our camp,
we sang glory to his name, but I got up and I
preached on Thursday night, be strong, be strong,
be strong. And by the way, strong as far as strength,
praise the Lord for strength, but be strong in
the Lord. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus. We need to be strong in the Lord. Then
Friday morning, we got up and we had a flag.
And the flag right there is a symbol. We live
in America. I'm thankful for the American flag.
I'm thankful that we live in the United States
of America. I'm not ashamed of that. I'm thankful
that the liberty that we have to read our Bibles,
the freedoms that we have, I am thankful to be
an American. But we talked a little bit about
a banner. And sometimes a Christian, we serve
under the banner of Christ or the flag of Christ.
But sometimes we pretend to be Christians, serve
under the banner of Christ. But in reality, we
act more like we are under the banner of the
devil. It's important for us men to not only
say we're Christians, but act like Christians,
live like Christians. We went a little bit further
and we got to Friday night and we looked at a
light, a light. Jesus is the light, walk ye in
the light. Many people don't walk in the light,
they walk in darkness and boy, we need to make
a concerted effort to walk in the light. And
then Saturday morning, It was important, we looked
at the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary
when he said, it is finished. And it is finished.
But tonight, we're gonna look at this verse,
watch ye stand fast in the faith, quit ye like
men be strong. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Dear Father in heaven, we love you. Thankful
for our church this Sunday night. Thankful for
what you did in my heart during those days of
the camp meeting, Lord. And Lord, I pray that
it continues tonight. maybe a little bit of like
a revivalistic service. I pray decisions are
continued to be made, Lord, and help us to have
a service that honors you. We love you, in Jesus'
name. Amen. You may be seated and you know, the
camp meeting ended with a pile of clothes and
we packed up on Saturday and I had so many clothes
with my kids that we filled the back of my van
with just dirty, wet. that nasty clothes. We
got home and we had to get laundry done. But
you know, as we came home with the dirty clothes,
we also came home with a spiritually filled heart,
filled with the word of God. Be strong. Boy,
the Christian banner, that was giving us a banner
to them that fear thee. Walking in the light,
it is finished. And it continues here in the
first verse there, verse 13, watch ye. Say that
with me. Watch ye. What does that mean? The Apostle
Paul writing to the church at 1 Corinthians is
a carnal church. It's a church with many struggles
and difficulties. They had lacked paying attention.
They had really gotten to the point where they
were more interested in themselves, their own
ideas. And Paul says, no, watch ye, watch ye.
Pay attention, stay awake spiritually, be alert.
By the way, the devil is as a roaring lion walking
about seeking whom he may devour. And when we
don't pay attention, when we don't. watch when
we don't, you might say, pay attention or stay
awake spiritually, that devil will devour us
spiritually and destroy our lives. The devil's
not playing games. Sin is not harmless. The Christian
life is not a game. It's real. And tonight, praise
the Lord, this is a tremendous crowd for a Sunday
night, but we need as Christians to pay attention.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter four, it's
wisdom, it says, keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life. Watch ye,
watch ye, watch ye. There was a man who came
to our camp, and I got to talk to him. He's a
contractor for the military. And I spent some
good time with this man, a dear man. And he talked
about the Iran war and how his life has been
very busy helping out the military. And he talked
about when he was in Bahrain, he had stayed at
a hotel. And he talked about the Iranians bombed
the hotel that he had stayed after. And I really
didn't think about. much about it but he said
there's a lot going on behind the scenes and
then all of a sudden he said he went to the base
on Bahrain and he said it was odd when he went
to the base on Bahrain during during the Iranian
war he said there was no guards on duty he said
we just drove on to the base and I said just
drove on to the base say we just drove on the
bay I said that was odd and I don't understand
it all But when you have a military base or you're
at a military post and you don't have a guard,
you don't have a watch, You can allow the enemies
to come in. And when we don't stand watch, we
can allow the enemies of Satan to come in and
destroy our lives. Boy, our church needs to stand
our watchy, our individuals as men and young
men right now, we need to pay attention spiritually.
We need to be alert. We need to not be careless
because being careless, we've become an easy
target for the devil. Boy, as a church here tonight,
young and old men and women, pay attention. Watch
ye, watch ye, keep your heart with all diligence.
And it leads to this, are you paying attention
spiritually or are you just drifting? Are you
like that base set during that Iranian war without
a guard? Makes no sense to me. Look at the next
part right there in verse number 13. Watch ye,
what's this next little phrase? Stand fast in
the faith. Stand fast in the faith. Say it again
with me. Stand fast in the faith. What does that
mean? Stand fast in the faith. Do not move from
what you know is true. Stay anchored in the faith,
even when pressure comes. Stand fast, don't move
away from the faith. Don't move away from the
word of God. Don't move away from the great God
that you love. Now, if I could give an illustration,
Daniel, if you'll come up here, and this is a
young man, and boy, I'm a preacher, and I'm trying
to lead this young man to stand fast in the faith.
Now, young man. I want you to get busy in the
work of the Lord. You have a life lived ahead
of you that can be used in a great way for God's
honor and glory. I want you to stand fast in
the faith. I want you to take this nail, and
I wanna anchor it into the word of God. If you
could just pretend for a moment that this is
the faith, this is the word of God, and take
yourself and anchor yourself in the word of God.
Pick up a hammer, nail that into the... the board
right there, and it's young man, don't be negligent,
pay attention, and stand fast in the faith, drive
it deep into the faith, live for God, live for
God, have a heart for God, have a zeal for God,
have a love for God, hey listen to me, young
man, nail it, drive it deep, because when the
devil comes, when destruction is on your doorstep,
when you stand fast in the faith, you're gonna
be driven deep into the word of God, it's gonna
be hidden in your heart, and you can live for
the king. King of kings and Lord of lords, stand
fast, young man. Do you listen to me? Stand fast,
young man. Did you drive it deep? Young man.
Young man. The devil comes along. He begins to
look at what's going on. And he said, okay, young
man, you're now 16 years of age. You're gonna
be turning 17. You're gonna be turning 18. And
boy, young man. I'm glad that you're real about
this Christianity thing, and he's gonna send
some temptation your way. He's gonna send some
lust of the flesh your way. He's gonna send some
opportunities your way. Young man, listen, the
devil's on your doorstep. He's knocking at your
doorstep. Did you drive the stake deep? Are you
driving the stake deep? That's what happens to
a lot of Christians. Boy, it's not that they
don't have a parent or mom and dad who tell them
to drive the nail deep or stand fast to the faith.
They've got a parent, they've got a Sunday school
teacher, they have a preacher, they have the
word of God especially that says drive the nail
deep. And they look and smile sometimes and they
pound on that nail a little bit. But in reality,
many young men and young ladies and young men
and young women, they have the Bible. It's stand.
You can stand on it. And boy, it's good, the
Christian life. There's nothing better than the
Christian life. But sometimes we don't drive
it deep into there. Young man, boy, praise God.
God is a God of second chances. And listen. Satan
knocked you down, but a just man follows seven
times and rises up again. You've got another
chance. Stand fast in the faith. Drive the nail
deep. Drive the nail deep. Love God. Live the
Bible. Stand fast in the faith. You can trust
God. Go deeper. Boy, know why you believe what
you... The devil comes along and says, young
man, he becomes knocking on your door, but you
drove the nail deep. You drove it deep in the
faith. You know why you believe what you believe.
You've been saved by the blood of the crucified
one. You have an answer from God's word. You've
hit it in your heart. The devil comes along and
says, young man with temptation, oh, now he may
bend you a little bit, but he's not gonna break
you. Come on, man. He tries to hit you this way.
Then all of a sudden, And by the way, resist
the devil and he will flee from you. And boy,
sometimes a young man does not drive that nail
deep in the faith, doesn't drive that nail deep
into the word of God, just rides on the coattails
of maybe mom or dad. No, have your own faith.
Stand fast in the faith, go be seated. Boy, that
one nail that's driven to you, it holds, that
one little nail that's a little tapped in there,
it's loose. And when pressure comes, that deeply
driven nail remains, but that shallow one gives
way. Standing fast is not pretending to be strong
on the surface, but standing fast means you drive
your faith deep down inside. You know why you
believe. By the way, this is interesting. Ephesians
chapter 6 verse 13 says this. Wherefore, take
unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done, not some, but it says having done. all
to stand. The world's going the wrong direction,
and oh boy, the pressure of this sin -sick world
is on the next generation. We need to stand fast
in the faith. It's interesting, I read an article,
this is recent, and this is the title of the
article, the three giants players, the San Francisco
Giants, three giants players attacked. the LGBTQ
community and weaponized the Pride rainbow. And
you begin to read it, here's what it says, three
San Francisco Giants pitchers disgraced themselves
at the team's Pride night. weaponizing the Pride
rainbow and attacking the LGBT community. And
then Leydon Rupp leads anti -gay attack against
LGBTQ pride. Starting pitcher Leydon Rupp and
reliever JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker, who collectively
lost the game in a five to one drubbing, chose
to wear the rainbow pride caps. And please forgive
me, this is just what's written here. And as
a middle finger to the LGBT community, the size
of a Kuwait Tower, they wrote a Bible verse on
their caps. They wrote a Bible verse on their
caps, drenching it with hate. The verse inscribed,
Genesis chapter nine, verses 11 through 16, each
player had a different variation of exactly which
verses. It's supposed to be an empowering gesture
from God, supposed to be an empowering gesture
from God, declaring the rainbow as a covenant
between him and mankind, promising to never flood
the earth again. It's in Genesis. Instead, these
three players weaponized that verse, choosing
the giant's pride night specifically in attempt
to steal away the only symbol the LGBTQ community
has to unite us, the rainbow. We stole that from
the LGBT. We've had that a lot longer than they
have. It's God's rainbow. It's God's rainbow.
And you know what I mean by the stand fast in
the faith because in the world today, have you
ever read the comments? I don't like reading
comments. But if you ever read the comments of
stuff like that, you know one comment said this,
wow. the imaginary man in the sky. And when I
read that comment, I said, well, one day you're
gonna stand before that imaginary man in the
sky, and you're gonna answer them, because of
the point of the one man wants to die, and after
that, the judgment. And so you have to understand,
we need to be men who stand fast like men, who
are deeply driven in the faith in the word of
God. Stand fast. Then look at this, in verse
13, watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you
like men. Amen. Quit you like men. Quit you like
men. What does that mean? That means act like
a man. Act like a man. Be courageous. Be mature.
Be responsible to the men. Be an example to the
young men. Grow toward a manly, godly adulthood
right there. The world has a lot of males, but
it doesn't have very many men. And in our church,
there's nothing wrong with being a man. We live
in a world where some of you ladies, they attack
a godly lady and make you feel inferior for being
a virtuous woman of Proverbs 31. But can I just
tell you the Bible says a virtuous woman, her
price is far, far above rubies. And listen, you're
not second rate citizens. You're greater than
great. You're something that is precious in the
sight of God. But you're a woman. That's the
way God created you. And you women are something
that I am not. God created me a man. There's
nothing wrong with being different. There's nothing
wrong with being a man. And there's nothing wrong
if you're a woman of being a woman, but the world
begins to blend things and mix things. Quit you
like men. And the world has a lot of males, once
again not enough men. Godly men take responsibility.
Godly men tell the truth even when it's hard.
Godly men work hard. Godly men protect what is
right. Godly men control their spirit. He that
hath no rule over his own spirit like a city
that is broken down and without walls. A godly
man is not ashamed of Christ. Quit ye like men.
Quit ye like men. Boy, stand fast. Quit ye like
men. Be a man. Be a man. Well, we need some strong
Christian men. It was interesting at the camp.
I went over there to the Well, I did, I did,
I did, I went to the ice cream shop. Oh yeah,
and I bought ice cream, not for myself, no, no,
no, no. I did it for my son. Now, he shared,
he shared, you know, three scoops, he shared,
you know, he shared two scoops with me. And,
you know, pretty quickly, like, man, I'm gonna
do what a dad has to do, I gotta help him out,
you know, that's what we gotta do. But over there
was a young man that came to our Bible Institute
many years ago, Kerry Charles. and Kerry Charles
came over there. His dad was the pastor of Central
Baptist Church in Yorktown and Kerry Charles,
his dad, preached at our Bible Institute many
years ago. I have the video of that and taught
an amazing lesson and just of being a man of
God and living for God. I'll never forget the
night that he did that. By the way, about a year
and a few months ago, John Charles preached at
our church, Kerry Charles' dad, and dying of
cancer. And if you were here this night, John
Charles, the pancreatic cancer, he came in here
and he was filled with the spirit of God, had
the joy of the Lord, and preached a message that
was powerful and wonderful. At the end of the
message, you were here, there were tears shed
galore. I remember coming down and my heart was
moved, and boy, he preached a powerful message.
Talk to Kerry Charles. And I was reminded of
Kerry Charles as living for God. Kerry Charles
has the joy of the Lord. Kerry Charles, boy his
dad in his 50s moved on into eternity, but Kerry
Charles watched his dad be a man. Watched his
dad in a difficult situation continue on. Watched
his dad dying live for God. And boy, look at
that, and I said, that is a great man, a man
with a trial, with a difficulty, but he followed
the example of the Bible, quit you like men.
Look at this last one, if you will. Watch ye,
verse 13, stand fast in the faith, quit you like
men. What is this last one? Be strong, be strong.
Oh, that was the first message we started with
for the men and boys camp. Be strong, Joshua
chapter one, verse six says, be strong. Joshua
chapter one verse seven says, only be thou strong.
Joshua chapter one verse nine says, have not
I commanded thee, be strong. And then we went
to second Timothy chapter two, thou therefore
my son be strong, be strong. And oh, we had a
strength contest on Thursday night. And we had
some of the weakest men were ended up being the
strongest men. I had a 45 pound weight and they
were to throw it. and the first men, the hulking
ones, threw it and went about, some of them,
seven feet. Then one of the littler guys, I think
one of my sons, rather than throwing it, he rolled
it, and it went way far, and so he won the strong
man's, he was the smart man's contest, I should
say. But be strong, be strong. This is not talking
about physical strength, but spiritual strength.
And it's important, finally, my brethren, be
strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
Well, be strong in the Lord. You know, have you
ever thought about that? I am weak, but thou
art strong. Thinking about my life. My life,
how many times that I have failed. How many times
I've said something that I regret. How many times
I've felt helpless in the will of God. Helpless
in doing the will of God. Now, I know it's the
will of God, but I feel helpless. And then I'm
reminded that that's the way we all are. In reality,
we all are helpless. And it says this in 2 Corinthians
chapter 12. It says, The apostle Paul, and lest
I should be exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelations, there was given
to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure. For this thing I besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And
he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Then the apostle Paul said, most gladly, therefore,
will I rather glory in my infirmities that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I
take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,
in necessities, in persecution, in distresses
for Christ's sake. This is the famous part, for
when I am weak, then am I strong. You know we
are weak, but you know when we're weak and we
realize how weak we are? It causes us to look
up to the great God we have who is not weak at
all. And he is a powerful God, a holy God, a
righteous God, a God that'll help us in a great
way. Like again, what I'm saying, sometimes I
feel weak, very weak, helpless, and struggle.
I look at the responsibility I have as a husband,
as a father, as a pastor, and I say, in my mind
sometimes, I can't do it. But then I realize
I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens
me. And you know, I feel weak, but when I realize
he has the strength, boy, all of a sudden, it
takes a weight off my shoulder. It was a weight
that I was never meant to carry, and I come into
that yoke with the Lord coming to me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. God gives us strength. We're at the
very end. Men, young men, ladies tonight. When
you go home from this Sunday night campout, remember,
watchy, are you paying attention? Are you paying,
are you standing fast in the faith? Young men,
have you driven this deep? Drive it deep. I didn't
drive it deep enough. But it would be a good
thing, you know, you think about that. Stand
fast in the faith. It may be a little bit ridiculous,
but I hope we get the point. When you damage
the floor, I'd rather damage the floor and get
something to remember in our life that won't
damage our life. It's important, stand fast in
the faith. Quit you like men. Boy, be strong.
Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, we love you.
I love the men, the young men. I know you have
a special plan for them, but I pray that you
help us to take seriously your word. I pray that
we watch, that we pay attention. I pray that
we stand fast in the faith. I pray that we quit
ye like men. Help the men to be men and realize
that's okay. Help the ladies to realize that
it can be ladies, virtuous women. That's not
only okay, it's wonderful. God, I pray also that
we're strong, not in ourselves, but in you. I
pray that we drive this home in our hearts and
our minds, and we go home and remember these
truths. We love you, we need you, bless the invitation,
in Jesus' name, amen. Stand with me, if you will.
We're gonna have an invitation. Remember where
we started, Brother Jerome, you said this morning,
Pastor, it was like a little revival. You'd gone
home and you used that thing, be strong, be strong,
be strong. We all should go home. And some of
those things we should say is, boy, I'm gonna
pay attention. I'm gonna stand fast to the faith,
I'm gonna quit you like men, and I'm gonna be
strong in the Lord, do business with God as the
piano plays in the organ.