Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Man. What a blessing.
Aren't you glad he's there? Amen. Amen. Aren't you glad he's there? Praise his holy name.
Amen. Amen. We say things like, give God a hand clap of praise, and people are like, what do you mean? Will you clap for everybody else? What a shame to clap for people and not clap for the God that made them.
And we thank the Lord. Honey, thank you for the message and song. And Pastor, thank you for letting us come. for treating us so kindly. We are always, always.
so well taken care of when we come to Kerwin. And it's not just the stuff and the things, but the people. and the ones that are praying and the people that we get a chance to see. and that we've met. And that we've had a chance to serve the Lord with, and that our friendships continue with, even when we're not here.
And it's a blessing. You can spend your life Investing in things and events and buildings and ideas. I'm going to tell you something. Nothing, nothing means more than people. And relationships matter, and I'm truly blessed by God to have wonderful friends and I certainly thank the Lord for your pastor, his wife.
They're boys. They are a special blessing. Not just here when we're here, but all year long. And we thank the Lord, and we thank the Lord for all of you, and we're excited about what God is going to do. I'm following the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God.
To deal with a message tonight that is not something normally I would do in a revival meeting, but I certainly believe. In the times in which we live, that this is something important that we need to talk about. And sometimes Preachers talk about everything but what we're actually dealing with. And uh I'm a human being. that will admit that in my flesh There are things I struggle with.
And those struggles, if they are not handled properly, will ruin the relationships that matter the most.
So, take your Bibles and turn to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Would you go there with me in the Word of God and stand to your feet if you can? Feel like it for the reading of God's Word. Thank you for the music tonight from the Morrisons. I know nobody loves me like Jesus does.
And in this day and age, with the onslaught of attacks. of Satan on the family. It ought to be refreshing. and worth celebrating for all of us. that a family stays together and sings together.
And Satan is attacking our homes. We ought to pray for families that travel this country. Endanger themselves. They preach in Baptist churches, which means they're probably starving most of the time. But they do it because nobody loves them like Jesus does.
And I want to celebrate them. We've been together on a number of times. They always do it with joy. And there is a harmony that families have that you just can't put together with other people.
So thank you for what you're doing. and thank the Lord for using you. We're in 2 Corinthians 12, are we there? Let me give you a little bit of context. In verse 14, Paul says, the third time I'm ready to come to you.
And I would not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours but you. Would you read that phrase with me? For I seek not yours but you. Say it again, for I seek not yours. This is not the message, but I do think that we're living in a day and age of so many opportunists that they see somebody and the first thing they see is what they can get out of them.
Paul said, I seek not yours but you. Be careful when you're making friendships with people because you think being friends with them will add something to your own life materially. Paul said, I'm not trying to get something out of you, Corinthians. I'm actually concerned about you. Yeah.
The children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. I will very gladly spend and be spent of you, the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. There's always a risk with loving people that you may be taking advantage of. But be it so, I did not burden you, nevertheless being crafty. Huh.
I caught you with guile. Did I make gain of you in any of them? I sent unto you. Never tried to take advantage of you, Corinthians. I desired Titus.
With him, I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walk we not in the same spirit. Walk we not in the same steps. Understand, Paul spent eight months in Corinth, planted a church there, led those people to the Lord, baptized them.
They formed a body of believers that came behind in no gift. That means every spiritual gift that God gives to the church. Corinthians, they were exercising. This was a church where the testimony of Christ was confirmed in them. He was reminding them that when I dealt with you, I never took advantage of you.
I never did you wrong. And when I couldn't come, I sent people who had the same heart that I have for you. Our friends ought to be able to know that we're genuine. Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you. We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things, all things.
Say the two words, all things, all things. Say it again, all things. Can that be said of you? Everything you do for people is for their edifying. He says, For I fear lest when I come I shall find Not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you not such as ye would not.
Lest there be debates, envyings, wrath, stripes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults, and lest when I come, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall be well. Many that have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. Let the church say, Amen. Our Father, in the name of Jesus, would you meet with us in a special way? Bind the forces of Satan, cleanse me of sin, empty me of self.
and filled with your spirit. We do not seek to run through this service tonight to punch the clock, check the box, and say, we came to church on a Thursday night. We need an encounter with Jesus. We need the mirror of the word of God, the perfect law of liberty to show us ourselves. And we need to leave here without the things that are hindering you from doing what you want to do.
And I pray that this service would facilitate that process. Watch over my kids wherever they are tonight. Although grown, they need your protection. And I pray you bless them. Bless our service.
In Jesus' name. Amen. So he wants to come back and see them again the third time. He cares about them. I'm always amazed at people that say they love people and somehow delete that love out of their hearts like that.
Paul says, I spent 18 months, but there was a bond that was connected between us, that although I'm not there with you in Corinth, you are here with me in my heart.
Someone said to me, what was the biggest change in ministry when you went from a staff member that traveled quite a bit to a pastor that was leading a flock of people? I said, well, when I didn't pastor, I went to churches, and when I preached, I left them there. When I became a pastor, I preach to the people, and when I leave, I take them home with me. It ought to be that the relationships you've established with people go with you wherever you go. I'm here at Kerwin Baptist Church, but I'm thinking about the members of Crosshouse Baptist Church, and there was never a day in my life where the people that God has led me to pastor are not on my heart.
Be careful when people only matter to you when you're looking at them. Paul says, I love you and I want to see you and I can't wait to get back to you. But in verse number 20, he says, Before I come. In my efforts to see you again, There are some things I fear. I'm getting ready to see you, and before I come see you.
I fear, I'm worried, I'm nervous, I'm anxious. There's some things that downright scare me about my. return to Corinth. The word fear, the phrase for I fear, jumped off of the page at me. coming from the mouth of Paul.
Particularly because the chapter prior to chapter 12 shows us just how fearless he was. In verse number 23 of chapter 11, Paul tells us what he encountered as a minister of Christ. Labor is more abundant. Stripes above measure. 23 of chapter 11.
in prisons Frequent deaths of Of the Jews, five times received. I forty stripes saved one. Thrice I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day have I spent in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of the water, in perils of the robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, 27, weariness, painfulness, watchfulness, watchings, hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, nakedness, beside those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the church.
I don't think there's anybody in here who's gone through all of that. And there's no blink in the eyes of Paul in perils. There's no fear in the eyes of Paul when he's stoned. There's no worry in the eyes of Paul when he's in prison. There's no threat to his psyche when he's going through it, when he's robbed, and when he's taken advantage of, and when he has no clothes, and when he's naked, and he's out in the deep, and the boat breaks down.
He never one time mentioned fear in all of those circumstances, and yet he's getting ready to try to go see Corinth again. And he says, This man who's been through more than most of us have been through combined makes the statement, I am afraid. Could I tell you that when fearless people get scared, I'm nervous. When I'm on a plane and the plane starts shaking a little bit and the flight attendants are still moving around and handing out stuff and smiling and I'm going, we must be all right. When they go to their seats and they buckle their seatbelt, I'm about confessing every sin I've ever committed.
Because when people that fly all the time are nervous, the rest of us ought to be nervous too. When a fella ain't scared of getting shipwrecked and getting robbed and getting stoned and getting beat and getting locked up, and that doesn't scare him, when that dude says, I fear, I'm going to tell you something, it scares me too. Tonight for a few moments, I'd like to deal with the things that scared Paul. And I want to tell you that they scared Paul, and they ought to scare every single believer of Kerwin Baptist Church. They also ought to scare anybody who's saved and not a member here.
Listen to me. You ought to be more afraid of these things than you are afraid of most things that we fear. Most of us have phobias. And by the way, I've learned in my life: if I'm afraid of things, I avoid them. And I would tell you that there are many believers that are involved in stuff that they wouldn't be involved in if they were scared of them.
Let me give them to you tonight very quickly and challenge the people of God. Verse number 20:4, I fear. What do you fear, Paul? Debates, quarrels of such nature that they shatter friendships. Paul said, I'm not afraid of being stoned, and I'm not afraid of being shipwrecked.
I'm not afraid of being robbed. I'm afraid that in the church of the living God, where people have been saved, redeemed, washed in the blood, justified, sanctified, God is their Father, Jesus is their Savior, the Holy Ghost is their comforter, the Word of God is their God, heaven is their home, and they're going to spend eternity in the same heaven together with the same Jesus. I'm afraid that there are people in the church who used to be friends and they aren't anymore because of a debate. He said it scares me. And more and more that I'm around Christian people, I'm amazed at how many used to be friendships exist because people had a disagreement that they wouldn't take the Bible and deal with properly.
Number two. In beings. an insidious jealousy over what others are doing. This, my friend, happens so much in the body of Christ. I don't like what someone else has.
I want it. By the way, social media has helped us in our envy so often.
So many comparisons. That ministry, that singer, that building, those finances, that preacher, those resources, those things. Wait a minute, Paul said in Philippians chapter 4, I have learned.
Somebody helped me preach tonight. He said, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Job said, Naked came I out my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave and the Lord have taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I'm not trying to get in your business. I'm just trying to get all up in your business and tell you at some point in time, you're going to have to be content and realize if you don't have it, God didn't give it. If God gave it to you, it's all you need, and you better learn how to be satisfied. Come on, let's take our halos off this morning. Tonight, rather, do you struggle with envy?
Choir member, do you struggle with envy? Do you sing harder when you have a microphone and less when you're in the background? Are you upset when who gets up there and you don't get up there? Do you have a problem when someone's name gets mentioned from the pulpit and your name doesn't get mentioned from the pulpit? You're mad at the person, but the problem is with you.
Paul said, who can, listen, listen, the proverbs say, who can stand before envy? Can I tell you how many times churches have been destroyed, not because of the neighbors on the outside, but because of the bickering on the inside? Number three. Rats. Passion.
Outbursts. of such anger that one mentally contemplates murder.
Some of you say, well, I never thought about murder, but I sure wouldn't mind if they were dead. Personally. Pastor, do you know that the most angry people that I know in my life today are Christians? I'm not saying that all Christians are angry. I'm saying, if you were to ask me who's the most angry person that you know, it's not a lost man.
There's something wrong. We've excused these sins within the body of Christ. And because we think we're right, we think we're right, we think we're so right, we're okay to be wrong. You better listen. God didn't bring you to Kerwin Baptist Church on this Thursday night just to get a massage.
This is not yoga. You want revival. You got to get your sin right. You can wave your hand all you want to. You can sing in the choir all you want to.
You can clap after somebody sings all you want to. You can show up for three services, come for the prayer service, for the praise service, and all the preaching service. But if you've got that anger in your heart, God ain't going to skip over it and give you revival. And he brought a preacher from Northern Virginia to preach a message he doesn't normally preach because he knows you have a wrath problem. Maybe.
Pretty. Number four. Strife. Factions It literally means to cut into pieces what was meant to be a whole. Oh, maybe you don't know the word strike or faction.
Maybe that doesn't sound very familiar or colloquial to you. Let me give you one: clicks. Paul said, I'm not worried about getting stoned. I'm worried about getting to the church that's supposed to be one body and finding out there's several groups, cliques in the church. Yeah, only some people go with some people, and only some people have some things, and oh, I'm having something over here.
Is he coming? I got a party coming. Is she coming? I'm having a meeting over there. Are they singing?
Hey, listen to me.
Some people think like them showing up ought to be a gift to all of creation. Have you ever seen people enter the building with somewhat of an arrival that seems as if somebody told them they were all that in a bag of chips, but nobody told them that Moses was the heir and no chips? Come on now. And they walk in, dun, dun, dun, dun. And it's like the people of God ought to be glad that I'm here.
I hate to bust your bubble. You ought to be glad God knew you were coming and he came anyway. I'll tell you why we can't reach a world. We got too many clicks. We spend more time sizing up.
Where do they go to school? Where do they come from? What camp are they from? What do they do? What do you do?
Where are you on this? What color Bible do you have? What color situation? Good gracious alive. When did it become about that instella?
Have you been washed in the blood? Have you been saved by the grace of God? Were you God called? God converted, God commissioned, God compelled, God constrained? Good gracious alive.
Forget about who trained him, who called him. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Are you a part of a clique? It wouldn't kill you every once in a while to leave your seat and go sit with somebody else.
And God forbid somebody sit in your seat. Oh, my goodness. Do you know how long I've been sitting in this seat? You know, I sit here. Clearly, you don't plan to sit here for the whole service, do you?
I mean folk, I mean visitors come in and good gracious alive and it's like, excuse me, could you scoot up? Excuse me? The last thing you want to do is be at the judgment seat of Christ and hear from the Lord that people didn't get to know him because they couldn't get past you.
Somebody helped me preach tonight. Well, Pastor, I don't think I have enough power and influence in this church to break up cliques. No, but you can break out of yours. Amen. Hey, you can ask somebody out the dinner that you don't know.
During handshaking time, you can shake somebody's hand besides the same five people you shake hands every time.
Somebody helped me preach tonight. Y'all messed up. Y'all got my wife singing before me. I feel good. If we're not careful, we'll be paying our dues to these clicks.
Promoting them. Come on, extending them. Amen. Amen. The best way to shut something down is quit investing in it.
Amen. I'm not going to be a part of something if you're restricting who can be a part.
Somebody help me preach tonight. Paul said, I fear it. Boy, it's getting hotter. Yeah, yeah. Back biting.
To subtly Slander Or defame. Watch this now. That is when you are using the art of deception. Watch this now. to ruin one's character.
Back biting. I said back biting. It's amazing how many Rottwallers we have. with their fingers when they're texting something that become chihuahuas in person. I have zero respect for someone who barks behind somebody's back who won't even make a whimper in person.
God help us. God help us to man up. I said, God, help us to man up. And I'm about tired of men telling me they feel vibes. Ain't no man supposed to feel no vibes.
Women feel vibes, amen? Men, just say what you mean and mean what you say. God, help us to look people in the eye and to say, This is what I have a problem with. This is what offended me. Listen, Jesus said it.
This wasn't some televangelist that said it. Don't bring your gift to me if you're not right with each other. That's what Jesus said. Amen. That's good.
Yes, sir. Amen. Whisperings. Is that what you say about someone that you wouldn't say if he were present? Whisper.
Uh oh, ooh, get started. Oh, ooh, let me take you to oh hey. We were just talking about how much we love you. Thank God noses don't grow like Pinocchios did. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples, and that who wants to join a family that whispers about each other all the time?
Swellings. Mm. The big head. Yeah. Did you hear me sing?
It was good, wasn't it? Be careful when you're baiting for compliments. Be careful, listen, be careful when every good thing you have you got from God where somehow you managed to brag about it. Pride cometh before destruction and a haughty spirit before. I've never seen a day with such self-enebriation and self-absorption.
God help us. If anywhere where we go, we ought to see humility oozing out of people. It ought to be the house of God. But far too often, the house of God is where we see people that are so full of conceit. Good gracious, alive.
Have we ever seen a more stronger breed of Pharisees than we do in 2026? Spell it. And some lost people can't even make it to the cross. Don't get quiet on me. I said some lost people can't make it to the cross because they're too busy getting judged by Pharisees on the way.
Standing at the front of the church and checking people's version of the Bible before they sit down and hear the gospel. Scanning their outfit before they come find out that Jesus died for their somebody help me preach tonight that's swelling. It's swelling. Were it not for the grace of God, your religious self. would burn in the same hell.
Amen. Yes, he would. Amen. Two multiples. Perplexity and confusion.
I don't like drama. And yet there's so much confusion among the body of Christ. Say one thing, do another. Mean something, say something else. Perplexity.
Uneasiness. Listen to me. This ought to be a place where people can sense love and they can sense peace. Listen to me. Listen, your song in the choir loft should not confuse people because it's so different than your post on social media.
How you look in here shouldn't confuse people because it's totally different than how you look out there. God help us to not be church Christians. Help us to be 24-7 Christians. Every time I look at this passage, I'm convicted. Yeah.
that face more trials. As an individual. Then most of us will face as an entire congregation. Yeah, yeah. He's writing Timothy in chapter 4 of 2 Timothy.
And he tells them the time of my departure is at hand. And he says, I'm ready. They were getting ready to chop his head off. And he says, I'm ready. He didn't say, Timothy, pray for me.
Pray that God would give me peace. They're going to cut my head off. And I've never ever wanted to die this way. It's not fair. I've been faithful to God.
I've been doing the truth. I've been preaching the word of God. It's not fair that they're going to kill me. Pray that somebody gets me out of here. Write a letter to the governor to cancel my execution.
He never says that in 2 Timothy chapter 4. He says, I am ready. He says, Buddy, God hath not given you the spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. They can chop my head off. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
For to me, to live as Christ and to die, let them kill me. I'm going to spend eternity with heaven. I ain't scared to die, but I'm afraid. When the body of Christ has this stuff in it. That's right.
Yeah. That's right. In beings. Rats. Strife.
Back biting. Whisperings. Swellings. Tumult. Hey, you young people?
You're living in the day of social media friends, and you claim that your friends are everybody that follows you. I'm going to tell you something, they could care less about you when you get down and out. You better, listen, you can't build friendships on social media. You got to build friendships by loving each other every single day. You better learn to get you some friends that are ride or die.
Let me tell you something. And you better learn to love each other enough to not let some petty debate ruin your relationship. And I'm sad to say it, most of them have learned this foolishness from us grown folks. I don't know what God has for Kirwood Baptist Church. We as churches are building buildings.
We're launching campaigns. We're expanding. We're growing. We're baptizing more. More people are joining our churches.
We've got programs, we've got camps, we've got conferences, we've got ladies' retreats, we've got men's stakeouts, we've got wild game nights.
Well, y'all got wild game nights, we don't do that at our church. Yeah. I'm scared of going in the woods, man. I'm telling you. I ain't stared at the hoods, but I'm stared at the woods.
Okay, that's what it is. I've driven through some towns to preach, and I thought, Lord God, if you'll just let me live to get back out of here, I promise I won't come back again.
Some of them towns look like a place where a black man will die, you'll never find him, all right? And I told our church, I said, I'm not worried about dying, I'm just worried about never being found. I don't want to be an episode of Unsolved Mysteries for the rest of my life. My family deserves a body to view. We've got all these programs in churches, but I'll tell you something, all the programs in the world won't work if the people can't get along.
This stuff scares me. And I'm asking you. If it scares you. Will you avoid it like you avoid the other things you're afraid of? Because when you tell me something scares you and you keep going around it, at some point, I don't believe you.
Could God really be trying to do revival in these last days? Amen. Amen. But be limited. Because the body of Christ.
that is meant to be united. is divided. By these vices. Yeah. That's scared.
The most fearless. Christian. in the Bible. Ah, big. Maybe.
It ought to scare us too. It's about nice clothes. I just want you to be honest tonight. This is night tour revival. And I'm going to ask one question, and then I'm going to ask the people of God.
To mind the Lord specifically about these areas. How many of you say, Pastor, I'm a believer? Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina.
You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web. at Kerwin Baptist Church.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin Broadcast today. God bless you.
