July 17, 2025 • 25 mins
A study in the book of 1st Corinthians.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to K Wave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
of our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased
to bring you the Bible teaching ministry of Andrew Carter,
lead pastor of Royal City Church in Inglewood. Royal City
Church meets each Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at 226
South Market Street in Inglewood. For more information about.
(00:21):
The visit their website at royal Church.org. Today, Pastor Andrew
continues his series in the Book of First Corinthians as
he's revealed this letters from Paul the church planter to
one of his previous church plans who had drifted away
from his teaching. Here's Pastor Andrew Carter now with today's
study in 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
We have been preaching through the book of 1 Corinthians
chapters 12, and 3. We ain't done. So I've weaved
this into the message we're gonna pick up in 1
Corinthians chapter 4.
Verse one.
It says this
Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ
(01:04):
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
But with me, it is a very small thing that
I should be judged by you or by a human court.
In fact, I do not even judge myself. Verse 4 says,
for I know of nothing against myself, yet I am
(01:25):
not justified by this, but he who judges me is
the Lord. I share that and we'll stop right there
for just a second and talk about this. It's because
as we've.
Been unpacking First Corinthians. This is a letter from Paul
to the Corinthian church. And again, he's talking about, hey,
the leaders aren't important, right? We have a job, and
don't get me wrong, I'm not taking away anything that
(01:47):
we're doing. But some days I feel like I should
stand down here and preach. Because what I don't want
it to ever come off as is that I'm on
a pedestal or I'm higher than you looking down at
you guys. Because in the eyes of God, I am
a man and a servant, just like every single one
of you.
There is no pedestal. Our culture has put pastors on
(02:08):
these pedestals and almost made them untouchable. I hear about infidelity,
moral failures, marriages falling apart, and these men still have ministries.
They're living duplicit lives. They're living lives that don't line
up with the scripture. They're not serving, they want the
best seats, they want the honor, they want the praise,
they want the glory, and that's not the way that
(02:28):
this was ever meant to be.
And so I try to live with a sense of humility,
a sense of being a servant. I love what Paul says.
Let a man so consider us, verse one, as servants
of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God.
I am just a servant of the gospel.
I am just here to help. It's a point, to guide.
(02:50):
Anybody work at the airport, right? You know what I'm
talking about when it with the, the, the people who
are guiding the planes, there's these big planes coming in,
and they've got the little light sabers, and they're like,
come this way. No, this way. No, no, back it up. Wait, stop,
go this way. That's all I am in the spiritual.
I'm just a guy who's guiding you guys. Hey, go
this way. This is right. No, this is wrong. No,
(03:11):
immorality wrong. Stop cheating on your wife. Stop doing this.
Stop getting drunk. Stop staying out so late.
I'm here pointing at things, leading and guiding. OK, no,
that's the way. This is the way. Jesus is the way.
I am no different from any of you. I still
have struggles. I'm still tempted. I still have bad days.
Some days I might still use sign language on the freeway.
(03:37):
And if any of you ever run into me and
I do that, I apologize in advance. I'm working on it.
It's a work in progress.
Pray for me.
We're servants of Christ, not to be exalted. This isn't
gonna be on the screen, but the first verse that
I think of is Matthew chapter 20, verse 28.
(04:01):
Just as the Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve and to give his life
as a ransom for many.
As a pastor, as a leader, whether, and listen, whether
you're a leader in your home, a leader in your workplace,
a leader in your school, a leader on your sports team,
whatever it is that you're doing, if you want to
be an effective leader, then you have to serve.
(04:22):
I get here at 7:30, maybe 7:45 today. It's supposed
to be 7:30. We had a little snafu with our babysitter,
but I got here at 7:45 this morning.
And there's not one job that is above me. I
will sweep. I guarantee people have seen me sweep. I
make coffee. If it wasn't good, I didn't make it,
but if it's good, I did.
OK, that I, I'm here lifting things and carrying things
(04:42):
like there's no job. I'm not a pastor who's just
gonna sit in a green room while everybody else does
the work because I've been called to serve. Jesus didn't
come to throw stones. He came to wash feet, and
that's what we're called to do as well, to wash
feet and to serve, to serve one another.
Programs
Isn't the point of what we're doing here? To have
(05:04):
another good outreach, to have another good fund, another good, uh, uh, uh,
fundraiser like people is the purpose. People is what this
is about. Loving people is what this is about. Introducing
people to Jesus. Life change, it's about people.
Verse 5 of 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
(05:26):
says this
Therefore, judge nothing before the time.
Until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of
the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.
We need to stop putting our stamp of finality on people,
(05:49):
on careers, on relationships, and things that we don't know about.
Everything that you see is not everything that is.
We have a, we have, we have so much short-sightedness.
We will walk into somebody's life and not realize what
chapter we're walking in on. We might try to end
their story when God's just getting begin. He's just beginning.
(06:12):
What we might do is we will put a period
where God's just trying to put a comma. We are
so quick to judge people based on where we walked
in on their story.
We've got to do a better job. Listen, therefore, judge nothing.
Judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who
will bring to light the things that are hidden.
Everything done in the dark will be revealed. It's not
(06:34):
a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
If you are not doing your taxes right, it's not
a matter of if you will be audited one day
and you will have to pay for that.
If you're cheating on your spouse, it's not a matter
of when, you might be real good at it. It
can go 1015, 20 years. You're, you're gonna get caught.
I pray you get caught. I can't wait for you
to get caught.
(06:55):
I'm not a hater. I'm just saying you can't find
health and restoration and redemption and forgiveness and peace and
purpose until those things that are done in the dark
are brought to the light.
So I can't wait for you to get busted. I'm
literally preying on your downfall.
(07:16):
We're judging prematurely and not realizing where we see a life.
That looks like it's at the end, but God is
just getting started. We have to be slow to judge.
We are so quick to judge situations. I'm guilty of it.
We judge people from the jump. You see somebody come
in and you're like, oh, I got them figured out.
Do you? Like, you got it like that?
(07:39):
You know everything.
We got to do a better job.
We got to do a better job.
Verse 14 through 16. Again, 1 Corinthians, I was just
There's a lot to unpack and uh we didn't have
enough time, but I didn't want to not go through it.
Some of the things that he talks about is being
a fool for the sake of Jesus.
(08:02):
And how spiritual success is not equal to worldly success.
What we judge success by is not what the world
judges success by.
I think of the prosperity gospel.
And we'll come back to that verse. We can put
it back because I'm gonna go on another tangent over here. Um,
the prosperity gospel says, if you have faith and if
you believe, then God's gonna bless your situation.
(08:25):
I, I call, I, I was gonna say some I call.
No, I called BS.
I do. Um, if that's the case and what you're
telling me is that my brothers and sisters in Uganda
have no faith.
They have no faith. When what I saw was more
faith in a grass hut and a mud floor than
we have in the biggest, nicest buildings. More faith. So
(08:50):
if for one moment you think that God doesn't hear
you or he doesn't love you, or he's not with
you because your situation doesn't reflect what it is that
you're praying about, you couldn't be further from the truth.
Your faith is not dependent on your blessings. Your faith and,
and God's goodness isn't dependent upon your circumstances and what
he's done in your life and for your life, because
that's what we like to do. Well, well, God's good
(09:11):
on the mountaintops, when that tax return comes in, all
praise Jesus, he's good, right? Got an extra 5000. I'm
gonna throw some rims on my minivan and get a
TV from Walmart.
A 70 inch.
God's good in those moments. God's good when the diagnosis
of the health scare comes back negative. God's good when
(09:32):
he restores my marriage or relationship, right? God's good in
these moments, but I'm here to tell you that God's
good when the tax return comes back and you owe.
He's still good.
God's still good when the health scare turns out to
be worse than you thought. He's still good. When the
relationship doesn't get worked out, he's still good. God is
(09:53):
just as good on the mountaintops as he is in
the valleys, and what we have to do is stop
relegating his goodness based on our circumstances. We've got to
do a better job of that.
Verses 14 and 15.
They say, I do not write these things to shame you,
(10:14):
but as my beloved children, I warn you. Just to
recap again, this is a letter from Paul. Paul is
a church planter. He planted this church in Corinth. First
Corinthians is a letter from Paul the church planter. He's
writing to the church. He's gone to plant another church
because that's what he does. Every book that most of
the books that you're reading here, uh, Colossians, that's a
church plant that Paul planted, and he's writing to the
(10:35):
church of Colo Colossus, and he's, it's a.
He's writing the book to the Colossians, um, Thessalonians. He
planted a church in Thessalonica, and he's writing to the church.
So here he's writing to this church that he's not
at right now. He's actually in Ephesus, the book of Ephesians.
So he's sitting in Ephesus writing this letter to the Corinthians,
(10:56):
and he's saying, look, I'm not writing these things to
make you guys feel bad, but as my beloved children,
I
Warn you as a leader, if I'm saying something that
you're like, oh, that don't feel good, that don't feel nice, like, oh,
that actually is talking to my situation. It's not because
I'm trying to shame you. I'm trying to warn you.
I care for you. I wanna snatch you out the fire.
If anything that I share pulls you back to reflect
(11:18):
at your situation and doesn't and doesn't allow you to
keep charging forward into sin, then that's a good day
on my behalf.
I'm here to warn you.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
ministry of Andrew Carter, lead pastor of Royal City Church
in Inglewood. You can learn more about Pastor Andrew's Church
at Royal CityChurch.org. Now here's Pastor Andrew with more of
his study in 1 Corinthians chapter
4.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So I'm gonna share some things. Verse 15 says this.
For though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet
you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus,
I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore, I urge
you to imitate me.
He's saying, you, there's a lot of people out there
who you guys are listening to. You're, you're listening to
a lot of this, and I think that this resonates
(12:07):
with today's church because many people are on YouTube. I,
I'm watching a little Verdic. I'm watching a little Todd.
I'm watching a little Stanley. I'm watching a little bit
of this and that. Well, I listen to a little
bit of Frank Turic, and I listen to a little
Billy Graham, and I listen to a little Tim Keller,
and I listen to whoever.
And there's nothing wrong. I'm not, I'm not here saying
anything's wrong with any of those people. But we have
(12:28):
too many instructors. We've got too many voices that none
of you are actually rooted or grounded in truth. You
have no authority, you have no accountability, and you have
no spiritual father. And so how can anybody speak into
your life when some of the things that I'm speaking, well,
that's not what, that's not what he said over here.
And what we've done is created this smorgasbord of spirituality
where we pick and choose what tickles our ears and
(12:50):
what makes us feel good.
And I'm calling you guys higher to a place like, look,
you've got a lot of instructors, but you don't have
enough fathers.
Find some roots, find an anchor, drown out some of
the noise of some of those opposing voices, and commit,
commit to a church, commit to a family. Stop bouncing around.
(13:15):
Stop bouncing around. And it don't even got to be here.
This isn't my, this isn't me trying to, I need
you guys here. No, I don't want anybody here who
doesn't want to be here.
Find a place where you can get a spiritual father
who will speak into your life and will start to
help guide you and warn you and lead you and
hold you accountable.
(13:35):
As a Christian, that's all that I want for you.
I want that for you. And so Paul wants this
as well. He wants this for the church in Corinth.
He's saying, hey, look, you don't have many fathers, but
in Christ Jesus, I've begotten you through the gospel. He
planted that church. He was the primary voice in that place.
He's like, so that's, that's kind of like me. And
if that's me for you, then he's saying, what? Imitate me.
(13:59):
Do what I do, live like this.
What I love about this is he says this again
in Corinthians 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11
verse 1 says this. Watch this. He says it again,
imitate me. But he adds something, he says, just as
I also imitate Christ. So he's not saying just follow
(14:19):
me wherever I go. He's saying, follow me as I
follow Jesus, because that's what we should be imitating. That's
who we should be looking to. And we want to
have lives that do the same thing.
We wanna live lives where we say, hey, follow me
as I follow Jesus. Isn't, isn't that all that any
of us are here doing? Doing our best, trying to
imitate him and to get other people to imitate us
(14:41):
as we imitate him? Each one reach one. Each one
teach one. Each one of us, do your best to
follow Jesus.
And some of the teachers and some of the people,
some spiritual fathers, and we'll all pursue him. And then
I'm gonna bring some of you guys, and then you
guys bring some people, and all of us, we've got
our eyes on Jesus and we're following him.
(15:02):
It's a beautiful picture of discipleship. It's a beautiful picture
of community, and a beautiful picture of what it looks
like to be the family of God. Amen.
I'm not perfect, but I know someone who is, and
his name is Jesus.
You might be asking yourself, well, how did Jesus live?
(15:25):
How did Jesus live?
I want to turn, and I think we were here
a few weeks ago, to Micah chapter 6. I love this. I,
I absolutely love this verse.
Chapter 6 verses 6.
Through 8. It gives us insight and how Jesus lived.
Verse 6 says this, and it's kind of smart Alec, right?
(15:46):
Who likes a little bit of sarcasm here. I know
some of y'all cause I've talked to some of you guys, smart.
You're quick with it.
But he says this, With what shall I come before
the Lord and bow myself before the high God? He's like, what, what, what,
what should I be doing? What do I bring to
bring in front of God? What is it that he
wants me to do? And he says some things. He goes,
(16:07):
shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with a calf,
a year old, with the Lord, with the, will the
Lord be pleased with 1000 rams, 10,000 rivers of oil?
He
He says, shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? You,
can you feel the snark in that? It's like, what
does God want from me? Does he want me to
(16:27):
fast for seven days? Does he want me to give 100%
of my income? Like, what does he want? He wants
me to go, a life of celibacy, never to have
sex again. He's, he's sitting here like, what is it
that God wants? What does he want from me? Because
I'll gladly give it. I just want him to tell me.
And he does in verse 8.
(16:49):
He says he has shown you, oh man, what is good?
How could God show us?
He came as Jesus and lived a life and set
the example and set the precedent, and then gave us
His Holy Spirit so that we can accomplish this. He
has shown us how to do it. He says he
has shown you, oh man, what is good, and what
(17:10):
does the Lord require of you, but to do justly,
to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
To do justly, he means, hey, do what's right.
It's that simple.
When you have the Holy Spirit in you, you know
the difference between right and wrong, whether you want to
admit it or not.
(17:31):
To do what's right.
To love mercy means to have compassion and forgiveness. To
have mercy means that I am well within my right
to do something, to take retribution, to enact punishment, but
I choose not to.
Oh, I can let my spouse have it. She's wrong
about this one. I even Googled it and I know
(17:52):
that she's wrong about this. I got the receipts. And
so I stomp in there, you know what, as a
matter of fact, it says,
But to have mercy, right? I know some of y'all
know exactly what I'm talking about, but to have mercy
is to have compassion and to have forgiveness, and not
to take that upper hand and not to take advantage
(18:13):
of those situations so that you get the last word
or so that you're right, or that you really showed them.
That's not what Jesus did. He was well within his right.
To smite every Pharisee and sodey that stood up against him.
He had every right to just demolish the Roman soldiers.
He had every right, but he had mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.
(18:35):
And then lastly, it says, to walk humbly with your God.
To have a low regard of who you are. There's
only one person who deserved all the worship in the
history of creation, and that was Jesus. And like I
said in Matthew 20 what did he do? He came
to serve.
Not to be served.
If anybody had the right to boast or to walk
(18:57):
around like a peacock or to have their chest poked out,
like that was Jesus, but he didn't. He showed us
how we should live. You're, well, what should I do? Hey,
do justly, do what's right. Love mercy, have compassion and
forgiveness with people, and to walk humbly with your God.
So the bottom line of what I'm preaching because we're
(19:18):
talking about Uganda, we're talking about service, we're talking about missions,
we're talking about serving, we're talking about Jesus, we're talking
about all of these things. Listen, it comes together like this,
how you live matters.
And what you live for matters. What are you living for?
Is the newest car? Is the newest house, the biggest house,
the newest shirt, the nicest belt buckle. None of those
(19:40):
things are wrong. I wear a size 13 if you
wanna shoot me some kicks. Not even gonna lie.
But life is about so much more.
How you love matters. Global missions are just as important
as local missions.
The way that we spend our time here on this
earth is of the utmost importance.
(20:02):
And I'm talking to Christians, right?
Because what I shared with you in Micah chapter 6,
that's not how you get saved.
And you get saved only by confessing with your mouth
and believing in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord.
That comes by faith.
But I'm talking to a bunch of people who have
put their faith in Jesus, have made that decision, and
(20:23):
now are wondering what to do with this life.
This is the path to sanctification. This is what we
do after we're saved. This is what we do once
we're in relationship with Jesus. This is out of Proverbs
chapter 10. I've got 10 of these that I want
to share with you. The first one is this.
This is verse 7. It says the reputation of the
righteous becomes a sweet memorial to him while the wicked
(20:45):
life only leaves a rotten stench.
The reputation of the righteous how you live makes a difference.
The legacy that I want to leave is not necessarily
a legacy of money and funds and endowments and, and,
and different organizations. I wanna leave a legacy of loyalty
to the Lord. I want my reputation. I wanna be
(21:06):
known as somebody who was a man of his word,
who followed through, who finished well, who didn't compromise, who
didn't change up when things got good. I want to
leave a legacy that points people to Jesus, and the
reputation of the righteous is a sweet memorial to him.
While the wicked life only leaves a rotten stench, Verse
8 says the heart of the wise will easily accept instruction.
(21:30):
But those who do all the talking are too busy
to listen and learn. They'll keep stumbling ahead into the
mess that they created. Are you willing today to be corrected?
Are you willing today to hear instruction?
Or are you too busy doing this?
And not enough of this, right? God gave us two
ears and one mouth because we should be listening twice
(21:52):
as much as we speak.
Verse 9 says, the one who walks in integrity will
experience a fearless confidence in life.
But the one who is devious will eventually be exposed.
We talked about integrity and everything done in the darkness
will come to light.
But when you're living a life, listen, I, I'm not
(22:14):
looking at pornography. I'm not in the bathroom doing things
that I shouldn't. I'm not swiping. I could, I'll give
you my phone and you can look at my search history.
You can jump on my search page on Instagram, and
you know what you're gonna see? You're gonna see cats,
you're gonna see sports. Listen, don't laugh. I like cat videos.
You're gonna see sports, you're gonna see workout stuff, and
you're gonna see Christian memes.
(22:36):
You're not gonna see Instagram models and, and all that stuff.
I live in integrity. I'll invite you into my home.
The way that I treat my wife in public is
the same way I treat her in private. And because
I live in integrity, you know what I have? I
have a fearless confidence.
Because when you don't have that fearless confidence, you're waiting
to be exposed. That is a terrible way to live.
(22:59):
That is horrible. You're waiting for somebody to stumble upon
your search history, right? I mean, it's even a joke. Like,
if I die, bro, delete my search history. Like that's
a whole thing. And people love that because they recognize
that they're looking at things and doing things and living
a duplicit life. They're doing things in the dark that
they would never want people to see.
The one who is devious will eventually be exposed. Hear
(23:22):
that correction.
You're being warned.
You're going to be exposed. Change the way you're living.
Start living with integrity. Stop lying about everything.
Christians, oh my God, Lord, help me Jesus, Holy Spirit.
People will lie to get out of things that they've
made commitments to and then think that's OK.
(23:45):
Listen, if you don't wanna go to brunch, just say that.
Stop lying. How many times is your grandma gonna die, right?
How many times, like my grandma died? That's like she
died 3 weeks ago. How is this constantly happening? How
many times are you going to lie and make excuses?
That's not integrity. As Christians, we gotta do better. And
it starts with even the small things. Next verse, verse 12,
(24:08):
hatred keeps old corals alive, but love draws a veil
over every insult.
And finds a way to make sin disappear.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
And with that, Pastor Andrew Carter brings our study for
today to a close. We invite you to join us
right here at this same time tomorrow as Pastor Andrew
continues his study in First Corinthians right here on Kwave's
Pastor Spotlight. Pastor Andrew Carter is the lead pastor of
Royal City Church, which he helped to found in October
of 2021. Royal City Church stands on 1 Peter chapter 2,
(24:43):
verse 9, which says, But you are a chosen people.
Royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you
may declare the praises of Him who called you out
of darkness into His wonderful life. The church focuses on
teaching and preaching the word of God so that those
who attend start to understand who they are and begin
walking in the fullness of their identity, which will inspire
(25:06):
them to tell others about the good news of Jesus.
You and your family are invited to come and worship
this next Sunday morning at Royal City Church. The Sunday
service time is at.
10 a.m. they're located at 226 South Market Street in Inglewood.
For more information, visit their website at royal Church.org. Well,
that's all the time we have for today on Pastor Spotlight.
(25:26):
We invite you to join us right here tomorrow at
the same time for more of the Bible teaching ministry
of Pastor Andrew Carter, lead pastor of Royal City Church
in Inglewood. Pastor Spotlight is a production of Kwave Radio,
sharing life, delivering truth, giving hope.
Welcome to K Wave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
of our local Southern California pastors. This week we're pleased
to bring you the Bible teaching ministry of Andrew Carter,
lead pastor of Royal City Church in Inglewood. Royal City
Church meets each Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at 226
South Market Street in Inglewood. For more information about.
(00:21):
The visit their website at royal Church.org. Today, Pastor Andrew
continues his series in the Book of First Corinthians as
he's revealed this letters from Paul the church planter to
one of his previous church plans who had drifted away
from his teaching. Here's Pastor Andrew Carter now with today's
study in 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
We have been preaching through the book of 1 Corinthians
chapters 12, and 3. We ain't done. So I've weaved
this into the message we're gonna pick up in 1
Corinthians chapter 4.
Verse one.
It says this
Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ
(01:04):
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.
But with me, it is a very small thing that
I should be judged by you or by a human court.
In fact, I do not even judge myself. Verse 4 says,
for I know of nothing against myself, yet I am
(01:25):
not justified by this, but he who judges me is
the Lord. I share that and we'll stop right there
for just a second and talk about this. It's because
as we've.
Been unpacking First Corinthians. This is a letter from Paul
to the Corinthian church. And again, he's talking about, hey,
the leaders aren't important, right? We have a job, and
don't get me wrong, I'm not taking away anything that
(01:47):
we're doing. But some days I feel like I should
stand down here and preach. Because what I don't want
it to ever come off as is that I'm on
a pedestal or I'm higher than you looking down at
you guys. Because in the eyes of God, I am
a man and a servant, just like every single one
of you.
There is no pedestal. Our culture has put pastors on
(02:08):
these pedestals and almost made them untouchable. I hear about infidelity,
moral failures, marriages falling apart, and these men still have ministries.
They're living duplicit lives. They're living lives that don't line
up with the scripture. They're not serving, they want the
best seats, they want the honor, they want the praise,
they want the glory, and that's not the way that
(02:28):
this was ever meant to be.
And so I try to live with a sense of humility,
a sense of being a servant. I love what Paul says.
Let a man so consider us, verse one, as servants
of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God.
I am just a servant of the gospel.
I am just here to help. It's a point, to guide.
(02:50):
Anybody work at the airport, right? You know what I'm
talking about when it with the, the, the people who
are guiding the planes, there's these big planes coming in,
and they've got the little light sabers, and they're like,
come this way. No, this way. No, no, back it up. Wait, stop,
go this way. That's all I am in the spiritual.
I'm just a guy who's guiding you guys. Hey, go
this way. This is right. No, this is wrong. No,
(03:11):
immorality wrong. Stop cheating on your wife. Stop doing this.
Stop getting drunk. Stop staying out so late.
I'm here pointing at things, leading and guiding. OK, no,
that's the way. This is the way. Jesus is the way.
I am no different from any of you. I still
have struggles. I'm still tempted. I still have bad days.
Some days I might still use sign language on the freeway.
(03:37):
And if any of you ever run into me and
I do that, I apologize in advance. I'm working on it.
It's a work in progress.
Pray for me.
We're servants of Christ, not to be exalted. This isn't
gonna be on the screen, but the first verse that
I think of is Matthew chapter 20, verse 28.
(04:01):
Just as the Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve and to give his life
as a ransom for many.
As a pastor, as a leader, whether, and listen, whether
you're a leader in your home, a leader in your workplace,
a leader in your school, a leader on your sports team,
whatever it is that you're doing, if you want to
be an effective leader, then you have to serve.
(04:22):
I get here at 7:30, maybe 7:45 today. It's supposed
to be 7:30. We had a little snafu with our babysitter,
but I got here at 7:45 this morning.
And there's not one job that is above me. I
will sweep. I guarantee people have seen me sweep. I
make coffee. If it wasn't good, I didn't make it,
but if it's good, I did.
OK, that I, I'm here lifting things and carrying things
(04:42):
like there's no job. I'm not a pastor who's just
gonna sit in a green room while everybody else does
the work because I've been called to serve. Jesus didn't
come to throw stones. He came to wash feet, and
that's what we're called to do as well, to wash
feet and to serve, to serve one another.
Programs
Isn't the point of what we're doing here? To have
(05:04):
another good outreach, to have another good fund, another good, uh, uh, uh,
fundraiser like people is the purpose. People is what this
is about. Loving people is what this is about. Introducing
people to Jesus. Life change, it's about people.
Verse 5 of 1 Corinthians chapter 4.
(05:26):
says this
Therefore, judge nothing before the time.
Until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of
the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God.
We need to stop putting our stamp of finality on people,
(05:49):
on careers, on relationships, and things that we don't know about.
Everything that you see is not everything that is.
We have a, we have, we have so much short-sightedness.
We will walk into somebody's life and not realize what
chapter we're walking in on. We might try to end
their story when God's just getting begin. He's just beginning.
(06:12):
What we might do is we will put a period
where God's just trying to put a comma. We are
so quick to judge people based on where we walked
in on their story.
We've got to do a better job. Listen, therefore, judge nothing.
Judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who
will bring to light the things that are hidden.
Everything done in the dark will be revealed. It's not
(06:34):
a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
If you are not doing your taxes right, it's not
a matter of if you will be audited one day
and you will have to pay for that.
If you're cheating on your spouse, it's not a matter
of when, you might be real good at it. It
can go 1015, 20 years. You're, you're gonna get caught.
I pray you get caught. I can't wait for you
to get caught.
(06:55):
I'm not a hater. I'm just saying you can't find
health and restoration and redemption and forgiveness and peace and
purpose until those things that are done in the dark
are brought to the light.
So I can't wait for you to get busted. I'm
literally preying on your downfall.
(07:16):
We're judging prematurely and not realizing where we see a life.
That looks like it's at the end, but God is
just getting started. We have to be slow to judge.
We are so quick to judge situations. I'm guilty of it.
We judge people from the jump. You see somebody come
in and you're like, oh, I got them figured out.
Do you? Like, you got it like that?
(07:39):
You know everything.
We got to do a better job.
We got to do a better job.
Verse 14 through 16. Again, 1 Corinthians, I was just
There's a lot to unpack and uh we didn't have
enough time, but I didn't want to not go through it.
Some of the things that he talks about is being
a fool for the sake of Jesus.
(08:02):
And how spiritual success is not equal to worldly success.
What we judge success by is not what the world
judges success by.
I think of the prosperity gospel.
And we'll come back to that verse. We can put
it back because I'm gonna go on another tangent over here. Um,
the prosperity gospel says, if you have faith and if
you believe, then God's gonna bless your situation.
(08:25):
I, I call, I, I was gonna say some I call.
No, I called BS.
I do. Um, if that's the case and what you're
telling me is that my brothers and sisters in Uganda
have no faith.
They have no faith. When what I saw was more
faith in a grass hut and a mud floor than
we have in the biggest, nicest buildings. More faith. So
(08:50):
if for one moment you think that God doesn't hear
you or he doesn't love you, or he's not with
you because your situation doesn't reflect what it is that
you're praying about, you couldn't be further from the truth.
Your faith is not dependent on your blessings. Your faith and,
and God's goodness isn't dependent upon your circumstances and what
he's done in your life and for your life, because
that's what we like to do. Well, well, God's good
(09:11):
on the mountaintops, when that tax return comes in, all
praise Jesus, he's good, right? Got an extra 5000. I'm
gonna throw some rims on my minivan and get a
TV from Walmart.
A 70 inch.
God's good in those moments. God's good when the diagnosis
of the health scare comes back negative. God's good when
(09:32):
he restores my marriage or relationship, right? God's good in
these moments, but I'm here to tell you that God's
good when the tax return comes back and you owe.
He's still good.
God's still good when the health scare turns out to
be worse than you thought. He's still good. When the
relationship doesn't get worked out, he's still good. God is
(09:53):
just as good on the mountaintops as he is in
the valleys, and what we have to do is stop
relegating his goodness based on our circumstances. We've got to
do a better job of that.
Verses 14 and 15.
They say, I do not write these things to shame you,
(10:14):
but as my beloved children, I warn you. Just to
recap again, this is a letter from Paul. Paul is
a church planter. He planted this church in Corinth. First
Corinthians is a letter from Paul the church planter. He's
writing to the church. He's gone to plant another church
because that's what he does. Every book that most of
the books that you're reading here, uh, Colossians, that's a
church plant that Paul planted, and he's writing to the
(10:35):
church of Colo Colossus, and he's, it's a.
He's writing the book to the Colossians, um, Thessalonians. He
planted a church in Thessalonica, and he's writing to the church.
So here he's writing to this church that he's not
at right now. He's actually in Ephesus, the book of Ephesians.
So he's sitting in Ephesus writing this letter to the Corinthians,
(10:56):
and he's saying, look, I'm not writing these things to
make you guys feel bad, but as my beloved children,
I
Warn you as a leader, if I'm saying something that
you're like, oh, that don't feel good, that don't feel nice, like, oh,
that actually is talking to my situation. It's not because
I'm trying to shame you. I'm trying to warn you.
I care for you. I wanna snatch you out the fire.
If anything that I share pulls you back to reflect
(11:18):
at your situation and doesn't and doesn't allow you to
keep charging forward into sin, then that's a good day
on my behalf.
I'm here to warn you.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
You're listening to Kwave's Pastor Spotlight featuring the Bible teaching
ministry of Andrew Carter, lead pastor of Royal City Church
in Inglewood. You can learn more about Pastor Andrew's Church
at Royal CityChurch.org. Now here's Pastor Andrew with more of
his study in 1 Corinthians chapter
4.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
So I'm gonna share some things. Verse 15 says this.
For though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet
you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus,
I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore, I urge
you to imitate me.
He's saying, you, there's a lot of people out there
who you guys are listening to. You're, you're listening to
a lot of this, and I think that this resonates
(12:07):
with today's church because many people are on YouTube. I,
I'm watching a little Verdic. I'm watching a little Todd.
I'm watching a little Stanley. I'm watching a little bit
of this and that. Well, I listen to a little
bit of Frank Turic, and I listen to a little
Billy Graham, and I listen to a little Tim Keller,
and I listen to whoever.
And there's nothing wrong. I'm not, I'm not here saying
anything's wrong with any of those people. But we have
(12:28):
too many instructors. We've got too many voices that none
of you are actually rooted or grounded in truth. You
have no authority, you have no accountability, and you have
no spiritual father. And so how can anybody speak into
your life when some of the things that I'm speaking, well,
that's not what, that's not what he said over here.
And what we've done is created this smorgasbord of spirituality
where we pick and choose what tickles our ears and
(12:50):
what makes us feel good.
And I'm calling you guys higher to a place like, look,
you've got a lot of instructors, but you don't have
enough fathers.
Find some roots, find an anchor, drown out some of
the noise of some of those opposing voices, and commit,
commit to a church, commit to a family. Stop bouncing around.
(13:15):
Stop bouncing around. And it don't even got to be here.
This isn't my, this isn't me trying to, I need
you guys here. No, I don't want anybody here who
doesn't want to be here.
Find a place where you can get a spiritual father
who will speak into your life and will start to
help guide you and warn you and lead you and
hold you accountable.
(13:35):
As a Christian, that's all that I want for you.
I want that for you. And so Paul wants this
as well. He wants this for the church in Corinth.
He's saying, hey, look, you don't have many fathers, but
in Christ Jesus, I've begotten you through the gospel. He
planted that church. He was the primary voice in that place.
He's like, so that's, that's kind of like me. And
if that's me for you, then he's saying, what? Imitate me.
(13:59):
Do what I do, live like this.
What I love about this is he says this again
in Corinthians 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11
verse 1 says this. Watch this. He says it again,
imitate me. But he adds something, he says, just as
I also imitate Christ. So he's not saying just follow
(14:19):
me wherever I go. He's saying, follow me as I
follow Jesus, because that's what we should be imitating. That's
who we should be looking to. And we want to
have lives that do the same thing.
We wanna live lives where we say, hey, follow me
as I follow Jesus. Isn't, isn't that all that any
of us are here doing? Doing our best, trying to
imitate him and to get other people to imitate us
(14:41):
as we imitate him? Each one reach one. Each one
teach one. Each one of us, do your best to
follow Jesus.
And some of the teachers and some of the people,
some spiritual fathers, and we'll all pursue him. And then
I'm gonna bring some of you guys, and then you
guys bring some people, and all of us, we've got
our eyes on Jesus and we're following him.
(15:02):
It's a beautiful picture of discipleship. It's a beautiful picture
of community, and a beautiful picture of what it looks
like to be the family of God. Amen.
I'm not perfect, but I know someone who is, and
his name is Jesus.
You might be asking yourself, well, how did Jesus live?
(15:25):
How did Jesus live?
I want to turn, and I think we were here
a few weeks ago, to Micah chapter 6. I love this. I,
I absolutely love this verse.
Chapter 6 verses 6.
Through 8. It gives us insight and how Jesus lived.
Verse 6 says this, and it's kind of smart Alec, right?
(15:46):
Who likes a little bit of sarcasm here. I know
some of y'all cause I've talked to some of you guys, smart.
You're quick with it.
But he says this, With what shall I come before
the Lord and bow myself before the high God? He's like, what, what, what,
what should I be doing? What do I bring to
bring in front of God? What is it that he
wants me to do? And he says some things. He goes,
(16:07):
shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with a calf,
a year old, with the Lord, with the, will the
Lord be pleased with 1000 rams, 10,000 rivers of oil?
He
He says, shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? You,
can you feel the snark in that? It's like, what
does God want from me? Does he want me to
(16:27):
fast for seven days? Does he want me to give 100%
of my income? Like, what does he want? He wants
me to go, a life of celibacy, never to have
sex again. He's, he's sitting here like, what is it
that God wants? What does he want from me? Because
I'll gladly give it. I just want him to tell me.
And he does in verse 8.
(16:49):
He says he has shown you, oh man, what is good?
How could God show us?
He came as Jesus and lived a life and set
the example and set the precedent, and then gave us
His Holy Spirit so that we can accomplish this. He
has shown us how to do it. He says he
has shown you, oh man, what is good, and what
(17:10):
does the Lord require of you, but to do justly,
to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
To do justly, he means, hey, do what's right.
It's that simple.
When you have the Holy Spirit in you, you know
the difference between right and wrong, whether you want to
admit it or not.
(17:31):
To do what's right.
To love mercy means to have compassion and forgiveness. To
have mercy means that I am well within my right
to do something, to take retribution, to enact punishment, but
I choose not to.
Oh, I can let my spouse have it. She's wrong
about this one. I even Googled it and I know
(17:52):
that she's wrong about this. I got the receipts. And
so I stomp in there, you know what, as a
matter of fact, it says,
But to have mercy, right? I know some of y'all
know exactly what I'm talking about, but to have mercy
is to have compassion and to have forgiveness, and not
to take that upper hand and not to take advantage
(18:13):
of those situations so that you get the last word
or so that you're right, or that you really showed them.
That's not what Jesus did. He was well within his right.
To smite every Pharisee and sodey that stood up against him.
He had every right to just demolish the Roman soldiers.
He had every right, but he had mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.
(18:35):
And then lastly, it says, to walk humbly with your God.
To have a low regard of who you are. There's
only one person who deserved all the worship in the
history of creation, and that was Jesus. And like I
said in Matthew 20 what did he do? He came
to serve.
Not to be served.
If anybody had the right to boast or to walk
(18:57):
around like a peacock or to have their chest poked out,
like that was Jesus, but he didn't. He showed us
how we should live. You're, well, what should I do? Hey,
do justly, do what's right. Love mercy, have compassion and
forgiveness with people, and to walk humbly with your God.
So the bottom line of what I'm preaching because we're
(19:18):
talking about Uganda, we're talking about service, we're talking about missions,
we're talking about serving, we're talking about Jesus, we're talking
about all of these things. Listen, it comes together like this,
how you live matters.
And what you live for matters. What are you living for?
Is the newest car? Is the newest house, the biggest house,
the newest shirt, the nicest belt buckle. None of those
(19:40):
things are wrong. I wear a size 13 if you
wanna shoot me some kicks. Not even gonna lie.
But life is about so much more.
How you love matters. Global missions are just as important
as local missions.
The way that we spend our time here on this
earth is of the utmost importance.
(20:02):
And I'm talking to Christians, right?
Because what I shared with you in Micah chapter 6,
that's not how you get saved.
And you get saved only by confessing with your mouth
and believing in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord.
That comes by faith.
But I'm talking to a bunch of people who have
put their faith in Jesus, have made that decision, and
(20:23):
now are wondering what to do with this life.
This is the path to sanctification. This is what we
do after we're saved. This is what we do once
we're in relationship with Jesus. This is out of Proverbs
chapter 10. I've got 10 of these that I want
to share with you. The first one is this.
This is verse 7. It says the reputation of the
righteous becomes a sweet memorial to him while the wicked
(20:45):
life only leaves a rotten stench.
The reputation of the righteous how you live makes a difference.
The legacy that I want to leave is not necessarily
a legacy of money and funds and endowments and, and,
and different organizations. I wanna leave a legacy of loyalty
to the Lord. I want my reputation. I wanna be
(21:06):
known as somebody who was a man of his word,
who followed through, who finished well, who didn't compromise, who
didn't change up when things got good. I want to
leave a legacy that points people to Jesus, and the
reputation of the righteous is a sweet memorial to him.
While the wicked life only leaves a rotten stench, Verse
8 says the heart of the wise will easily accept instruction.
(21:30):
But those who do all the talking are too busy
to listen and learn. They'll keep stumbling ahead into the
mess that they created. Are you willing today to be corrected?
Are you willing today to hear instruction?
Or are you too busy doing this?
And not enough of this, right? God gave us two
ears and one mouth because we should be listening twice
(21:52):
as much as we speak.
Verse 9 says, the one who walks in integrity will
experience a fearless confidence in life.
But the one who is devious will eventually be exposed.
We talked about integrity and everything done in the darkness
will come to light.
But when you're living a life, listen, I, I'm not
(22:14):
looking at pornography. I'm not in the bathroom doing things
that I shouldn't. I'm not swiping. I could, I'll give
you my phone and you can look at my search history.
You can jump on my search page on Instagram, and
you know what you're gonna see? You're gonna see cats,
you're gonna see sports. Listen, don't laugh. I like cat videos.
You're gonna see sports, you're gonna see workout stuff, and
you're gonna see Christian memes.
(22:36):
You're not gonna see Instagram models and, and all that stuff.
I live in integrity. I'll invite you into my home.
The way that I treat my wife in public is
the same way I treat her in private. And because
I live in integrity, you know what I have? I
have a fearless confidence.
Because when you don't have that fearless confidence, you're waiting
to be exposed. That is a terrible way to live.
(22:59):
That is horrible. You're waiting for somebody to stumble upon
your search history, right? I mean, it's even a joke. Like,
if I die, bro, delete my search history. Like that's
a whole thing. And people love that because they recognize
that they're looking at things and doing things and living
a duplicit life. They're doing things in the dark that
they would never want people to see.
The one who is devious will eventually be exposed. Hear
(23:22):
that correction.
You're being warned.
You're going to be exposed. Change the way you're living.
Start living with integrity. Stop lying about everything.
Christians, oh my God, Lord, help me Jesus, Holy Spirit.
People will lie to get out of things that they've
made commitments to and then think that's OK.
(23:45):
Listen, if you don't wanna go to brunch, just say that.
Stop lying. How many times is your grandma gonna die, right?
How many times, like my grandma died? That's like she
died 3 weeks ago. How is this constantly happening? How
many times are you going to lie and make excuses?
That's not integrity. As Christians, we gotta do better. And
it starts with even the small things. Next verse, verse 12,
(24:08):
hatred keeps old corals alive, but love draws a veil
over every insult.
And finds a way to make sin disappear.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
And with that, Pastor Andrew Carter brings our study for
today to a close. We invite you to join us
right here at this same time tomorrow as Pastor Andrew
continues his study in First Corinthians right here on Kwave's
Pastor Spotlight. Pastor Andrew Carter is the lead pastor of
Royal City Church, which he helped to found in October
of 2021. Royal City Church stands on 1 Peter chapter 2,
(24:43):
verse 9, which says, But you are a chosen people.
Royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you
may declare the praises of Him who called you out
of darkness into His wonderful life. The church focuses on
teaching and preaching the word of God so that those
who attend start to understand who they are and begin
walking in the fullness of their identity, which will inspire
(25:06):
them to tell others about the good news of Jesus.
You and your family are invited to come and worship
this next Sunday morning at Royal City Church. The Sunday
service time is at.
10 a.m. they're located at 226 South Market Street in Inglewood.
For more information, visit their website at royal Church.org. Well,
that's all the time we have for today on Pastor Spotlight.
(25:26):
We invite you to join us right here tomorrow at
the same time for more of the Bible teaching ministry
of Pastor Andrew Carter, lead pastor of Royal City Church
in Inglewood. Pastor Spotlight is a production of Kwave Radio,
sharing life, delivering truth, giving hope.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.