In the sermon 'Attributes of a Mature Church' by Douglas Campbell, the speaker examines Romans 15:1-14 to identify three key attributes of a mature church. A mature church is described as one that is 'full of goodness,' 'filled with all knowledge,' and 'able to instruct one another.' The sermon explains that being full of goodness is linked to the fruits of the Spirit and living a life that reflects Christ's character. Knowledge is essential for understanding God's word and applying it in life, while the ability to instruct one another involves mutual admonishment and counseling based on biblical principles. The sermon emphasizes that these attributes are not reserved for church leaders but are responsibilities of all church members. By embodying these qualities, the church can effectively disciple its members and be known for its faith globally.

Amen. This morning, if you could turn to Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15, and Mr. Matthew is going to read 1 through 14. And so if you would all stand for the reading of God's Word and let's read together Romans 15, 1 through 14.

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up for Christ and not please himself, but as it is written, their approaches of those who reproach you fell on me, for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in the cord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify God, the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the Patriarch And in order to the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy as it is written.

Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again it is said, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people, and again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him. And again, Isaiah says, the rule of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles in him will the Gentiles hope may the Lord of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing says that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may have found hope. I myself am satisfied about you my brothers that you yourself are full of goodness filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. Amen.

You can be seated. This morning, as we find ourselves again in the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to the Church in Rome. This morning as we come to verse 14 in chapter 15, we come to a shift in this letter. Last week we began to talk about it. It's almost as if we find ourselves in the the PS section of the letter.

And you and I, if we had received a letter from someone whom was dear to us, We can sometimes, if this letter has a PS section, we find ourselves in the PS section interested in sort of a parting shot or a final thought that the person is giving to us. So we we take joy in the PS section, but also within that section there's a sadness that this letter is drawing to a close. It's where I find myself. As we've spent much time in Romans, many years in Romans, I'm thrilled at what the Apostle Paul through the Holy Spirit gives us, not just to the church in Rome, but also to God's church. But there's a sadness in seeing the end of Romans coming close.

So this morning we take a little bit of a shift, and Paul is is reassuring, or Paul is once again building up. If you remember all the way back in Romans 1 verse 8, it says, First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world." The Roman Church seemed to be a church that was, or the Roman Church was a church that was talked about, not just in Rome, not just through the neighborhoods, but all through the world they talked about the church in Rome, about their faith. And here we come to the end of the letter, and Paul once again reminds them or reassures them or builds them up. In Romans 15, 14 specifically, at what I'd like to look at today, it says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. As we come to this section of Scripture, I believe that Paul is in his letter telling the Church of Rome that you are a mature church, that you are matured in Christ.

And so this morning as we look at this verse, I believe that we find three attributes of a mature church. Before we go into those three attributes, we have to understand the final couple of words in that verse. Let me read it again. It says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. These last words about being able to instruct one another clarifies what could be some confusion as to who Paul is addressing.

We understand if we're to be able to instruct one another that Paul isn't simply addressing the leadership in the church. He's not simply addressing the elders in the church. In our day and age we would call the person that comes forth this morning and proclaims the word of God as being the pastor of the church. But in the early church, he was simply another elder who was called out amongst the elders to do this very thing. But in essence, in the leadership structure of the church, the pastor is but just another elder.

And this morning, nothing has changed in 2, 000 years. I stand before you and tell you that the pastor is just another elder who was given to studying God's Word and proclaiming it. So, but this morning when we look at Romans 15-14, it's not addressing the pastor. It's addressing every one of us. If we're able to instruct one another, it means that Marilyn is able to instruct Barb, and Barb is able to instruct Kim, and Kim is able to instruct, I should switch to the guys, but Kim is able to instruct my wife, and Jake is able to instruct Caleb and Luke, and Luke is able to instruct Mr.

Dave sitting in the back. But to instruct one another means that we are all spiritually mature to come to a level to where we're able to instruct one another. So this morning before we go into these three attributes, we must understand that it's not just specifically the church leadership that are called to these attributes, but it is each and every member of the church. So this morning, let's look at the first attribute. Let me read once again Romans 15-14.

I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness. Hear that, full of goodness. So the first attribute is that all those members of the church in Rome were full of goodness, or at least, let's just stay with that, those members were full of goodness. This morning we must clarify what does it mean to be full of goodness. We find in Galatians 5 22 through 23 the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of one who is regenerate in Christ.

It says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. If you are born again today, if you are redeemed, If you are in Christ, you should increasingly be seeing these fruits evident in your life. Now we have to look at though, what does it mean to be good? What does it mean to have goodness?

And many of you are saying, or maybe even thinking, wait a minute, Pastor Doug, we've caught you. Because you've told us over and over and over again, there are no good people. How could these people be good? I thought you said there was no good people. In fact, if you remember four or five years ago in Romans chapter 3 verses 9 through 12, we looked deeply into it.

It says, What then? Are we Jews better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greek, are under sin. As it is written, none is righteous, no not one.

No one understands, No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. So this morning, Do we find ourselves in contradiction?

Have we discovered within the Bible that something is not lining up? How could there not be even one good? And yet in Romans 15, we find the church in Rome, Paul says they are noted by their goodness. We have to, we can simply understand or resolve this tension by reading just a little more in Galatians 5, 19 through 24. Let's back up just a little.

It says, Now the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I have warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against these things there is no law.

Now pay special attention to this next verse. And those who belong to Jesus or to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. This morning, Paul can look upon the Roman church and say, you are full of goodness. Back earlier in his letter, he said, there is none who are good. And we understand rightly that Paul is talking about those who do not know Christ, to those who will stand before God in their own works.

That if you are this morning to stand before God without Christ, you will stand with your own goodness and you will quickly find as you compare yourself to the character of the eternal God that you are wicked and beyond anything that could be comprehended as good. But this morning if you have turned from your sin and put your trust in Jesus Christ, if the great exchange has happened in your life where your sin is placed upon Christ upon the cross and His goodness is placed into your account, you will find that every day you will be more and more like Christ. Every day you will display more and more goodness until you come to spiritual maturity or come to a point where you then as a born-again believer who is in Christ, the world will look at you and they will note you as someone of goodness. But it's not you. It's Christ who works within you.

It's you being conformed to the image of Christ. So this morning as we read this, we understand rightly that Paul is saying this. The Roman church knows Christ. They are changed by Christ. They're not good because of who they are.

They're good because of whom they are being changed into. The Roman Church was a Christian church. They were a believing church. They were, in fact, a new creation. Those who were members of the Roman Church were noted as being a new creation.

And this morning the question is, is does your life portray goodness? Could Paul say these same words about you? And interestingly, this man came up in our conversation this morning, but in James Montgomery Boyce's commentary, he goes into this a little bit. He says, we must constantly be asking, am I such a person as Paul describes here? Am I filled with God's goodness?

Would anybody ever use Paul's words to describe me? If we cannot answer yes to those questions, it's time for self-examination and for doing what Peter had in mind when he wrote almost immediately after having spoke of the need for goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love amongst among the Christians. He says, Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This morning is your life marked by goodness.

The people that you work around, would they say you are a... I don't even want to say that. He's a good person. Now, let me back up just a minute. Now, good, if you remember, means morally perfect, moral perfection.

If I ask you if you're a good person, our society just says, huh, he does more nice things than the not nice things, so he's a pretty good person. But in Scripture, in the Bible, it's noted that good means moral perfection. If someone looks at you and knows that you're a Christian, are they overwhelmed with your goodness? Not just that you're a good guy, but left to the decision, you will in their mind always pick to do what is morally correct. And what is morally correct, it is to the moral standard, is the Ten Commandments.

It is God himself. Not just that you will help your neighbor plow his field if he gets sick, not just will you do nice things for different people, but given even to small decisions, even to, I used this a couple weeks ago, If you were to go to the bank with your friend and you were to pull away and realize that you have taken the pen from the bank, would your friends see it agonize you to the point of going back around and waiting in line to give them back their pen. That sounds ridiculous, but what you won't do for small things, you'll struggle with big things. Does your friends, do your co-workers, do they look at you and see not just worldly goodness, but goodness that lines up with the character of God? Do they see God as being what is most important to you?

The pollster George Gallup, this was back in 1991, he has described America as rightly religious but ethically impoverished. In an interview with Reformed Theological Seminary Journal, he said, religious belief is remarkably high, certainly the height of any developed nation in the world. At the same time, American religious life is characterized by a series of gaps. First, an ethics gap exists between Americans' expressed beliefs and the state of the society they shape. While religion is highly popular in America, it is, to a large extent, superficial.

It does not change people's lives to the degree that one would expect from the level of professed faith. In ethical behavior, there is very little difference between the churched and the unchurched. Is that true of us? See, the mark of the mature Christian, the mark of the mature church, is one that's known for not just its profession, but for its life. In America, and I'm sure you've all heard it and we've said it plenty of times, in America you look inside the church and even at the divorce rate, and it's similar if not identical, and some would even say even worse than the rate of those who are outside of the church.

With that statistic alone, we can come to the very terrifying realization that either the church in America is incredibly immature, or it's not the church at all. Are we marked? Is the church in Elveston? Are we marked by our goodness? If people knew what church you went to, would you be known by that, or would we be known by negative things?

This morning as a mature church, we need to be known as a church, and not just known, but really practice goodness. Really practice being a new creation who cares more about Christ than what our flesh and sensuality and all those things, what it desires. If we desire Christ, we will have goodness. We will be conformed to Christ. The next attribute, Romans 15-14, again he says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

You'll notice the second attribute is that everyone inside of the church membership was filled with all knowledge. In Romans 10, 2, we find the pitfall of a church who is not filled with all knowledge. It says, "'For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. In fact, you and I, we can look out our doors and we can see those of false religion. We can see those of cults.

We can see the zeal that they have to knock on doors and to do good things for people. And yet, because of their lack of knowledge, it is simply a work of the flesh. It's a work of deception. The church of God is to not only have goodness, to not only have works, but also be filled with all knowledge. And this morning, as you and I live in the nation of America, we have much liability in this section.

While we look across the world and we find people in China getting a Bible and tearing the pages out so that they might send them in all different directions that different places, different churches, different gatherings might even have one page of the Word of God that they might know Him better. And you and I sit as if we just ended our thanksgiving feast with food all around us and yet no desire to partake in any of it. We have Bibles sitting on our shelves gathering dust. We have the feasts set all around us. I have in my computer so much information, so many books, so much that I could learn about God, that you could pay me 80 hours a week to simply read it, and I would never come to the end of it in my lifetime.

Spiritual food is prevalent, And yet, we're pervashed, we're famined, we famine ourselves, we subject ourselves to it. In that same article by Gallup in a 1991 poll, it showed that half of those who say they are Christians do not know who delivered the sermon on the Mount. This morning I hope that you giggle, well not giggle, I hope that you think that that's silly because that's an easy question. But if you don't know the answer this morning, I also pray that you would understand you are famishing yourself, you are starving yourself. 50% That was in 1991.

I believe there are many reasons for this. I believe that as I've seen evidence in my life that many who would attend church even every Sunday are not regularly in the Scripture, they're not regularly reading. There's some context in which you could read your Bible, maybe every day. You could spend a half hour reading every day, and yet you're also being, you could also be famished because God has set up the church in a way to accelerate your learning. Maybe I would illustrate it as this.

None of us would go to, I don't know, an electrician's class where the guy teaching class was the guy that just passed his electrician's test. Jake would you be signing up for that class? No. People who teach electricians, they don't just pass the test, but they go on and they master it, they learn it. And so when Jake or whoever's taking, Jake is probably the guy that could teach this class, but they, when you have a question for them, they can answer it with a context that's well beyond what you've just learned.

They can give you an overview. They can point you in the right direction. They can teach you things that you might not normally come to for a long, long time. And in fact, I believe that if you have an instructor or a teacher that's like that, you can learn very quickly about electricity, much more quickly than if you just had a book to read. The same is true as to why God has—one of the reasons why God has set people apart, who has given us elders who are able to teach, that he has set up a system in where all of you, and I am deeply, deeply grateful and thankful for, that God has called all of you to support myself and my family, that I might set apart time that I can deeply go into the Word of God.

It doesn't mean that I'm smarter than you, but I have advantages that I can spend my time mastering the subject. And in turn, we can talk about the Sermon on the Mount. We can talk about so many different things that would give you a background that that you would go into Scripture understanding the big vision as well as right where you're at at that point. Where am I going with this? Because of different pitfalls the church has found itself in throughout history, we find throughout a big chunk of history the church would want to, or false religion would want to build up the position of pastor to the point where we would we would call it a priestly role, to where I would be the mediator between God and man.

And as we go to Scripture, we understand that Christ is our mediator between God and man. He is the high priest. And so as we put, falsely put pastors into that position, we begin to think that he's the guy that takes care of the church. He's the guy that mows the yard. He's the guy that makes the lights work.

He's the guy that just takes care of everything. We come once a week and we put in our time. He does his thing and we're back to living how we want. That is heretical. That is false religion.

Across America, pastors are trying to fill that role, not in every church, but in a lot of churches. And because they are filling this role, they're not understanding and they're not digging in, and they're not comprehending the deep things of God which are necessary to help you to move along, to come to this point that we find the Roman Church, that you possess deep knowledge of God. They are, in essence, they're like Barney Fife shooting himself in the foot. It's giving them a disadvantage. We also find there's no desire.

Jake could be the best electrical instructor in the world, and if you never went to him, if you never asked him a question, he does you no good. In the last 20 years, we have seen churches that used to do three services a week dwindle down to Sunday morning only. Why? Because people are too busy for the rest of it. In turn though, has left them famished, has left them starving scripturally, has left them not filled with all knowledge.

Look at 1st Timothy 3, 1 through 7. This is the qualifications of an elder. But this morning, I want you to understand that this isn't a special qualification. In that, I mean this. This doesn't just apply to elders.

Essentially, this is the measuring stick of a mature Christian. Apart from the point where we come to able to instruct or able to teach, these credentials or these qualifications apply to Brody. They apply to Ethan, they apply to every person in this room. That in essence, this isn't just for pastors, this isn't just for elders, That every born-again believer should aspire to live in the way this lays out. If you've been a Christian for more than, rough throwing it out there for more than 10 years, and you're not fulfilling this very closely, there is something wrong in your walk with Christ.

There's something wrong in your life. Let's look at these qualifications just briefly. 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 7. The saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires the office of overseer, this word overseer could also be elder, bishop, it's an interchangeable Greek word, he desires a noble task.

Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach. The husband of one wife, sober minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not a not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil." Now, with that understanding, let me take you to where I feel we are in America with 1st Timothy 3, 1 through 7. See, we don't apply, we tend to, because of this priestly idea where the priest is or a pastor is the mediator, this false religion, it's caused us to also think that it's only the pastor that has to be the nice guy. It's only the pastor that shouldn't be spending a night on the town. I tell you, that is a deception of the devil. If you are a member of this church, if you are a born-again believer in Christ, this should be your aspiration to become like Christ.

Now in 2020, I will tell you that most churches don't even expect this of the pastor anymore. Do you know how I know? Because five or six years ago, I started to look at the job postings for pastors again. I started to see that I'm not qualified for most of this. Why?

Because, let me tell you, listen close, church. I'm showing you my papers, but pretend it's the Bible. That's the Scripture. If something happens to me tomorrow, and you need a new pastor, this is your job description. This is more important than how old he is or how young he is.

It's more important than how good he is with the children, or how good he plays the guitar, or what his outreach looks like. It's more important than all of that. But we don't find pastors fit this anymore. Why? Because they shouldn't be pastors.

They're not mature Christians. This is the description of a mature Christian. How can we put someone in the pulpit who is not a mature Christian and understand I am not perfect in this and I have a long ways to go. I'm not building myself up this morning at all. But if you're looking for a pastor, this is primary.

Everything else is secondary. You can have the greatest guitar player in the world thoroughly destroy this church if he doesn't fit these. If he's so off from it, we don't even want to talk about it, he's not a pastor. The New Testament speaks of him very often. If someone desires to be a pastor and they don't fit these qualifications, he's a false teacher.

He's a heretic. He is, At best, he's an immature Christian who in no way should be in the pulpit. Look at the job descriptions. Look at the thing that churches want in a pastor. I've seen all kinds of stuff.

They want somebody who's married, they want somebody who's not married, they want somebody with kids, they want somebody without kids. That makes it easy for me. You want that stuff? Glad I didn't waste my time there. Understand, the leadership of the church is putting these advertisements out there.

Amen? We not only have to expect this from our pastors, but also from the people. Look at Romans 8-29, for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. This morning, it's not just the job of the pastor to be conformed to Christ. It's all those who are in His kingdom, all those who are in Christ.

I was talking with someone this week about this—you don't have to waste four years of your life crying and pleading to God to show him his will for your life. It's right here in Romans 8-29 that God's will for your life is to be conformed to the image of his Son. That is his will. That is what he desires unless you're not in Christ. This morning you in America, you know and understand as much about God as you have desire.

Are you filled with knowledge? Are you taking advantage of what He has given you? On to the last attribute, Romans 15, 14. I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Understand again, this isn't talking just to the elders, not just to the deacons, not just to the leadership, but to each in the church who are a member in the body of Christ, you're able to instruct one another.

And now you're getting ready to say, I can already hear some of you, wait a minute, Pastor Doug, we just read the qualifications of an elder And you said not all are able to teach. That's not something that we have to do. So let's look at that. Number three, it's the third attribute of a mature church, is we are able to instruct one another. Understand when we read that scripture about the qualifications of the elder, the Greek word for the ability to teach is maybe even better put, he must be didactic, or he must be characterized by teaching and parting or knowledge to someone, especially the ability to do it well.

So the qualification of an elder to be able to teach simply means I'm able to stand at this pulpit and preach. I'm able to be in a Sunday school room and teach and to do it well, to not leave you confused, to not be going down so many rabbit trails that your mind's going a hundred different ways, but to be able to teach and to do it well. Now we come to this verse in Romans 15-14. It says that you, all of you, are to be able to instruct one another. This word instruct is a different Greek word, and this is where the confusion comes.

To be a pastor or an elder, you must be able to teach. But this word instruct is the Greek word nuthodo. I'm not very good at saying that. But essentially what it means is to admonish. Some of the definition would be to warn or counsel in terms of someone's behavior.

It's essentially this. The elder teaches in public. We proclaim, we teach. The church member, the Christian, is able to instruct one-on-one, is able to confront. In America, we hate this idea.

In America, all you have to do is say, come to this verse, Romans 15, 14, that you are to instruct one another. You are to confront one another. That makes the American hair on our necks stack up, right? Because our first reaction is one of pride, American pride. Pride will always come back and say, but the Bible says judge not.

Paul Washer has a really good comeback to this. He says it also says twisteth not scripture lest you be Satan. You better understand what that means before you take a verse out of context and defend your pride with it. Amen? We are to be able to confront, instruct one another.

You are to know the Bible well enough that when your brother or sister is going through a hard time, you can instruct them. You can counsel them. In fact, this word is completely tied to counsel. If you've ever heard of nocetic counseling, it comes from this Greek word. It essentially means that I can use the Word of God to help you through any problem that you have.

This morning, if you are here and you have anxiety attacks, Paul says, I'm to be able to instruct you through that. He doesn't just say that I'm to be able to do it, he says that you're to be able to do it. If your brother's wife, if they're having marital problems, especially if you're a Christian and you're married, you are called to be able to counsel. You're called to know Scripture well enough that you can join with your brother and show him in Scripture how he must react and what he must do. It's not just the pastor's calling, it's your calling.

Do you know the Scripture well enough? To illustrate this idea that Paul sets forth in this to be able to instruct one another, I actually went to Wikipedia to get the definition of New Thetate counseling. They obviously understand Wikipedia is not Scripture, but they do a very good job of explaining it. It says, Newthetic counseling, Greek for nutheto, to admonish, is a form of evangelical Protestant pastoral counseling based solely upon the Bible and focused on Christ. It repudiates mainstream psychology and psychiatry as humanistic, fundamentally opposed to Christianity, and radically secular.

And to that I say, amen. There is nothing—understand this, refocus if you're thinking about something else—there is nothing that your brother or sister is going through, that they're going to be better off by paying somebody a hundred bucks an hour to say nothing to them but repeat back what they said. There's nothing you, there's nothing that that can do that you can't do with the Word of God. See, the Word of God is different from modern psychology, because psychology, essentially, they want you to learn about Sigmund Freud and all these different people, otherwise you're not qualified to help people through deep problems. But in actuality, Freud's ideology was very secular.

It's essentially your problem is your conscience. And Freud taught you have to help people subdue their conscience. God gave us our conscience. The answer is to do what's right. It's not to not feel bad about it anymore.

This is what modern psychology believes. And if you can't get over your conscience, we'll give you a pill to help you do it better. If you can't get over the Holy Spirit pounding at you for doing something wrong, we'll give you a pill. That'll, that'll, you'll be happy as a lark. Now this morning, I am not a doctor, and I'm not telling you to stop taking pills if you're taking those pills.

That's something you need to work through with your doctor, but I would tell you if you're taking pills because of a psychological problem, the answer to fix it isn't here, And I am more than happy to help you find it. But more than that, this morning as we look at the church in Rome, the person sitting next to you should also be more than happy to help you find it. That's a great failure, I believe, in the Church in America today. We don't love each other as we should. We don't have the ability to help each other as we should because we don't have the knowledge that we should.

We've believed the secular society that says you have to have lots of letters after your name before you can help somebody. Even when we see the absent positive results of what they're doing. I've helped, I've taught classes in the drug rehab. You should look into the statistics of those in drug rehab who will be back. It will make you wonder why we spend our tax dollars doing it.

It doesn't work. Modern psychology, for the most part, does not work. It's founded on a godless understanding of the human culture. The late Jay Adams, who is a founder or one of the founding people of bringing us back to biblical counseling, he's quoted as saying, I don't care what problem you face, it has no power to defeat the cross of Christ. Think about that.

Whatever problem you face, it has no power to defeat the cross of Christ. And yet, it's easy for us to say that, and all of us would say yes to that, but when times get tough, what does our culture do? It says, well, that guy is just supposed to teach me about the Bible. I got other problems. That's not true.

Every, almost every psychological problem is a sin problem. It could be that they don't understand it as that. It could be that they don't recognize it as that. But it's essentially a sin problem, whether it be not doing the right thing, or whether it be choosing to do wrong things, or whether it be not doing the right thing. Maybe it's neglecting the Word of God.

Maybe it's not hiding His Word in our heart. Maybe we don't behave properly when we're outside of the church. Maybe our faith isn't where we think it is. I will tell you firsthand as someone I've dealt with post-traumatic stress, dealt with it for years. It sent me to the hospital with anxiety attacks.

I woke up countless times from nightmares. Do you know what the root of my problem was? First off, I thought I could play the fence in Christianity, And I knew that things weren't right between myself and God. But secondly, I didn't understand his sovereignty. And that's really a problem of a pastor's not spending enough time in their study, if they don't grasp God's sovereignty, if they can't teach it, it leaves us essentially dangling in the wind.

When bad things happen, I can't explain it apart from God's sovereignty. Because if God is not in control of everything, and He can change some things, I have to start asking, why didn't He change this? Why did I have to see that? Why did this happen to this family? Why did I pull this baby out of a ditch?

Why did I have to see its face? Why did he or she have to die? That's where not believing in God's sovereignty leaves us hanging. But if I believe in God's sovereignty, I can go to Romans 8.28 and know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. I don't understand what He's doing, but I know that it's for my good and it's for your good.

Is God sovereign in our mental problems And our hardness, is he sovereign in that or do we need an outside answer? And this morning I would tell you it's even more than just coming to see your pastor. God has called you to live in such a way. One, that the world sees your goodness. Two, that you know God, that you know His Word.

And there are many people in this room that will tell you, if you desire God, I will spend hours and hours and hours with you. And it will be, there will be hardly anything that will give me greater joy. I deeply desire that you would know Him and know Him deeply. And I know the elders in this church are the same. And three, are you admonishing others?

Do you have the knowledge to do so? Are you willing to do so? The church is to be marked by discipling. I'm called as a father to disciple my children, but I'm also called to disciple those inside of the church. And if that's true, if that applies to this scripture, if Paul is calling them out and saying, I am satisfied about you because you are able to instruct, you are in essence, you are able to disciple each other, who this morning are you discipling?

Are you discipling your family? Are you discipling those inside the church? In conclusion, let's read that verse again. Romans 15-14 says, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, full with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. This is the calling of the church.

This is the calling of the church member. This can't be done in your own power. You have to come to Christ in repentance and faith. If you're not measuring up this morning, turn to Christ. Repent and trust in Him.

He'll in no way cast you out. And finally, when we're at church, when we look around the room and we look and everybody is pursuing goodness and everybody is pursuing knowledge and everybody is exhorting each other. That doesn't mean if Jake cuts his hair and there's a hair sticking out, I'm not going to jump all over him over it. This instructing is loving instructing, right? I don't have to worry about him growing long hair, I don't think.

Doesn't mean that I'm judgmental in the fact that you never want to be around me because I'm just gonna harp on you about something. But it does mean if you're going down a wrong path, I'm gonna say, Hey brother, I love you. I don't know if you see this, but this is what the Scripture says about something you're doing. It's very anti-American, but the church suffers when this doesn't go on. It suffers when we don't love each other enough to have that deep of a relationship where I can be brutally honest, it suffers.

And that's where we find ourselves in America. The church is suffering. It's suffering because we don't demonstrate goodness. We have more knowledge about the last contestant on Survivor than we have about the Bible. I don't even know what that show is about.

And we also, we think it's the professional's job to disciple, to help those with problems. It is the pastor's job, and it's your job. Amen? Let's aspire to be conformed to the image of Christ. If the church is conformed to Christ, if we're full of goodness, if we're filled with all knowledge, if we're admonishing each other.

I believe what was true about the church in Rome in Romans 1 8 will be true of the church in Elveston. And that is my deep desire. And once again, Paul says, First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. Elveston seems very small, but I'm telling you, if just the people sitting in here right now, if just you and I, if we embrace this, if this was true of us, Elveston would be a world-known town. It would be because of the faith of the church in Elveston.

Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we humbly this morning humbled by your Word. Father, as I read this verse, Father, I am reminded I have so much growing to do. And Father, we should be reminded, Father, that we need to reflect the true Church of Christ.

That in essence, we aren't the Elveston Church. We're the body of Christ, the one who saved us, the one who redeemed us, the one whom will take on the sin of myself and all who come to him, take the punishment on my behalf and credit righteousness to my account, the God who saved me, the God who gives me eternal life. How could we not but choose to glorify you, Father? Father, I pray this morning, this wouldn't just be another sermon, Father, but this is something we would ponder upon. That God, we would begin to show your goodness.

Father, we would begin to dive in to your Scripture that we might know you deeply, that we might be able to help our brother or sister who is struggling, that we might be able to disciple our own children, that we might be able to disciple our grandchildren, that we might be able to disciple our own children, that we might be able to disciple our grandchildren, that we might be able to disciple the children who Come here this morning, Father. We're so blessed to have children here. But Father, if they're here and they're only enduring and no one is discipling them, it seems that it may just be but a season. So Father, put that upon our hearts, I pray. Put it upon our hearts to glorify you above all else this world tries to distract us with.

Help us to be your servants. Conform us, Father, we pray, we beg. Conform us to the image of Christ that we might glorify You. In Jesus' name, Amen.