The half carnal life

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to "Try Jesus!" If this is your first time joining us, it’s great to have you with us. I would like to thank all the new members for joining "Try Jesus."

I would also like to welcome those in Nevada, California, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Kentucky, Iowa and Michigan. It is a pleasure to have you with us today. The Lord continues to expand his word!

"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD."  (Psalm 122:1 KJV). The Lord is indescribable and uncontainable. We gather to seek him above all today. He is an amazing God!

Our Lord continues to pave the way for the righteous. Authentic born-again believers shall not be moved from his mighty guiding hand! The Lord is our rock and our salvation this morning! He is our defense against ungodliness.

What a thirst quencher from last week that never runs dry in our soul. The question this morning is, does your spiritual fire-hydrant have enough to bring streams of living opportunities for those in your community who are thirsty

God continually desires to flood our hearts with a deluge of his presence. Just as Jesus was willing to share this living water with the woman at the well, are you willing to share your living waters with others or see them stay dry in the dark evil spiritual desert?

Let's pray. "Heavenly Father, thank you for leading us to come to the fountain of life. Thank you for being merciful and showing your loving kindness to us throughout the week. Thank you for being faithful when our faith is weak.

Thank you for giving us your peace that the world and its unbelievers can never duplicate or imitate. Thank you for being Lord of all in our lives. Help us to trust in you alone this morning. You continue to be our rock and our shield.

As we pray each week, Lord, as we open your word today, we ask that you would silence every voice but your own. The winds of life are loud, and the voices around us are unrelenting, but we look to you, our ultimate great shepherd.

Lord, you are the only Savior who mends the brokenhearted. Holy Spirit, please tug on curious hearts this morning. Father, cause those with the measure of faith they have, to cry out for your help. Help our unbelief, Lord!

Lord Jesus, thank you for guiding visitors to this digital doorstep today. May your deep peace quiet any stress, anxiety, noise, or worry in their heart right now. Lord, open eyes to see your great love, in Jesus’ name, Amen."

Have you ever liked someone so much you tried to imitate parts of their personality? You admire them so much, you start to mimic things about them. And here's the funny part.

When others point out that you act or sound like your friend, you completely deny it. There are many comedians who can voice mimic famous individuals. But in truth, they cannot live in their shoes. This is similar in the spiritual world.

Although the consequences of doing so are more devastating. You see beloved, you can wear the jersey of the Kingdom, but if you are still playing by the rules of the world, you aren’t suffering from a lack of grace, you are suffering from a love of the flesh.

You can look like a sheep, but if you’re acting like a wolf, you'll be the one eaten up by something much. Here's a quick example before we briskly move along. (Acts 19:11-20). These individuals were lovers of the flesh, Half-hearted.

Imagine a brilliant, elite navy vessel designed to navigate deep, treacherous oceans, weather massive storms, and carry out vital rescue missions. It is built with thick steel and a powerful engine.

But instead of sailing out into the open sea, the crew anchors it permanently in a shallow, stagnant, muddy harbor. Over time, they stop looking at the horizon. They stop maintaining the engines.

Instead, they spend all their energy fighting each other over who gets the best bunk, who gets to sit at the captain's table, and who gets credit for cleaning the deck. The ship becomes a joke to the surrounding city.

It has all the power to change the world, but it is entirely grounded by internal, petty squabbles. The immaturity is quickly noticeable. This is exactly what Apostle Paul found when he looked at the church in Corinth.

Let's jump into our main scripture text this morning. Please open God's love letter specifically meant for you to (1 Corinthians 3:1-9). Please read his love letter aloud back to his heart. God is so good to us.

1} "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2} I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

3} For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4} For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

5} Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6} I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

7} So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8} Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

9} For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." (1 Corinthians 3:1-9 KJV).

[Paul called the Corinthians infants in Christ because they were not yet spiritually healthy and mature. The proof was that they were quarreling like children, allowing divisions to distract them.]

[Immature Christians often act “like people of the world” and are controlled by their own desires. Mature believers are in tune with God’s desires. Tragically, the believers in Corinth had split into factions, pledging loyalty to different teachers.]

Some of you might conclude before we move any further into today's message that every church has spiritual immature believers in it. Yes, this is true, but immaturity has a growth ending point at some time.

"When I thought as a child, I spoke like child, I understood things like a child, I did childish things, but when I became a mature man, I put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11). How much time does the church have to mature?

Are the babies in Christ running the asylum? Carnality left alone to fester in any church can leave devastating damage and open the door for Satan to bring all kinds of immorality in the door. This can spread out to our communities.

You see beloved, the church in Corinth had the Holy Spirit, the gifts, and the message of eternal life. Yet, they chose to stay anchored in the shallow mud of human pettiness, jealousy, and division. Have you ever been to a church like that?

Again, some of you may say, "Pastor Todd, the church is like a hospital, this is where sick people come to get well, some take longer to get well than others. Again, my response would be "yes, but the sickness should not hinder the whole hospital."

That is, the sickness is isolated. It does hinder the whole operating process of getting the hospital's goal to get people healthy to go home. We've heard the phrase, "Nice place to visit, but wouldn't want to live there."

The church is supposed to be a place that you keep wanting to love and support and see spiritual babies mature into spiritual adulthood. Amen? The people in the Corinthian church were acting like people who didn't even know God.

These half-surrendered brothers and sisters were trapped in carnal Christianity. You see Paul uses the word "Carnal" in the first four verses. Before we get to its full understanding, let’s look again at verse 2.

Have you ever tried to feed a one-month-old baby a thick juicy Ribeye steak? We all know it's digestive system could not handle all that. You've also never seen a mother at the grocery store buying Similac formula for her 15-year-old son.

Paul discerned that the people were immature. It was embarrassing at this stage in their development. Milk figuratively stands for elementary Christian instruction, and meat refers to advanced doctrine feeding. (1 Peter 2:2).

What can stunt your spiritual growth in life? Do you think being carnal can contribute to it? Paul knew it was hurting the Corinthian church. The word carnal in the Greek translation is (sarkikos-(kinos).

It is used to describe a person who is "fleshly" or controlled by the sinful nature. It has a liberal mind that says, "it doesn't matter, do it." It represents a state of being that is immature, worldly, or in direct opposition to God's spiritual kingdom.

This kind of nature represents (and is likened to unbelievers), in that it replicates fallen humanity that operates according to fleshly, worldly desires rather than the Holy Spirit. I have been to a few churches that operate under this nature.

Paul says here's how a carnal mindset reacts to God. 5} "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6} For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7} Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." (Romans 8:5-7 KJV).

Some churches (depending on the size) have many pastors. These pastors may have different styles of approaching the gospel and how they feed God's sheep. That's all we'll and good for the sheep.

But who is the great shepherd that gives these pastors the only manna that the sheep can feed and grow? That's what verses 4 through 8 are speaking about. Preachers are just messengers of what the Holy Spirit has directed them to say.

Paul made it quite clear that someone plants, someone waters, but who gets all the credit? God, the Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen? Churches should never put pastors on peddle's.

I have heard many different denominational leaders say, "I'm of this denomination and it ranks above all others. I heard one individual state leader say, "I was born ______, I was raised ______, and I will die _____.

No statement was ever directed to what the blood of Jesus had done in washing away his sins long before he sat under a title. This is what Paul was saying in verse 7-8. The carnal mind can show up in many doctrines.

The word Enmity in (Romans 8:7) refers to a profound, often divinely ordained hostility or opposition between parties, particularly between the righteous and the wicked, or between humanity and God due to sin.

The old priestly system was not based on a "carnal commandment." (Hebrews 7:15-17), but on the power of an endless life in Christ. This is the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. To be carnal is to be preoccupied with transient earthly things.

This always leads to death for the unbelieving fleshly mind. (Revelation 20:10-15; 21:8). But the spiritual mind (Holy Spirit led) leads to life and peace. (Isaiah 26:3-4).

Paul makes it clear that all preachers and teachers should emphasize God’s message, which is much more important than any human messenger. We can hear Paul's serious tone further in verses 19-23 of chapter 3.

Paul speaks to the carnality of our nature in that the carnal mind and its wisdom is foolishness with God. There are two Old Testament scriptures that speak to this world's way of thinking. (Job 5:12-14) and (Psalms 94:7-13).

Let's move to our final scripture text before we close for this morning. Please back up a couple chapters to (1 Corinthians 1:10-15). Please read God's loving word's into your still thirsting soul from last week to today.

10} "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly