In this episode, Bob George takes us through the essential teachings of true servanthood in Christianity. Beginning with the Apostles Apollos and Paul, who were proud to be identified not as leaders but as servants of Christ, Bob explores the liberating concept of releasing titles and positions to genuinely serve the Lord and the community. Delve into the power of servitude as an essential part of the Christian faith. Throughout the episode, Bob challenges conventional religious practices, highlighting the importance of a foundation rooted solely in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. He dismantles various legalistic constructs and emphasizes what
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.
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He says, and look what it says, what, after all, is Apollos, and what is Paul? Notice he doesn’t say who. He didn’t say who. After all, who is Apollos? He says, what are they? What are they? And it says, only servants. Well, you see, Apollos and Paul were called apostles, and they could be called pastors. I don’t like somebody called me pastor. I really don’t. Pastor George, come on, just call me Bob. Why? Because those names make it sound like you’re somebody, somebody. And we’re not. We’re not. And so here’s Paul and Apollos and Peter, who were apostles, handpicked by Jesus, who’s saying, what are we? He could have said, well, we’re apostles. Well, we’re preachers and we’re pastors and we’re priests. He said, no, we’re servants. A servant. That’s a person who serves others. That’s a person who washes people’s feet when they’re dirty. A servant. And that’s what he said. And you know what? He’s proud of it. He isn’t sitting there saying, yeah, we’re just servants. He’s glad to be a servant. He’s here serving the Lord. He says, what are we? What are we? We’re only servants through whom you came to believe. In other words, we are serving you and you came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ because of what we came to tell you. As the Lord assigned to each of us the task, he said this was not self-induced. This was following what the Lord told us to do. He said, I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. You go out in your lawn, you plant something, you can plant it, you can water it, but guess who has to make it grow? God. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything. What is… Can you imagine the Apostle Paul saying, I’m nothing? I’m nothing. To me, he’s big, isn’t he? To me, there’s never been a man like him outside of Christ Jesus, to me, as I read his life in the Bible. And he said, nope, Bob, got the wrong deal. Nope, you don’t got the wrong deal. Who are we? We’re nothing. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. But we are God’s fellow workers and you are God’s field and God’s building. We’re all in this together, guys. We are all in this together. And those of you who have decided to worship in this assembly and to follow this ministry are following a movement of God that is bigger than us or you. We have been dedicated for 25 to 30 years of doing nothing less, nothing else except drawing people away from legalism back into the arms of the grace of God. And if you think that is not God’s will, you don’t understand the scripture. Paul says, don’t let anyone put you back under the yoke of legalism, the do’s and the don’ts. And we have been helping. We’ve been on the cutting edge media-wise and book-wise and everything else. We’ve been on the cutting edge. There’s no question about that for over 20-some years of getting people out of that legalism that kills you back into the grace of God that gives you life. We haven’t compromised the gospel. We haven’t added to it. We haven’t told people that you have to be baptized to be saved because baptism is not in the gospel. We haven’t told people you have to speak in tongues because I think, quite frankly, we don’t speak enough with the language we do know. We don’t need a thousand tongues to sing when we don’t use the one we have to speak the good news to people. We haven’t told people that you have to tithe because tithing is not New Testament form of giving. We never had to compromise. We never had to coerce people. Paid this building off in six years. Never told people to tithe. Why? It’s not biblical. What did we ask you to do? Give sacrificially. Give joyfully. Just what it talks about in Corinthians. Give in accordance to what you do have, not in accordance to what you don’t have. That’s biblical giving. And today, we’ve gotten away from biblical giving and said, no, you ought to come tithe. We had a guy call the other day and said, what do you think I ought to do? I said, what do you mean? He said, well, I’m in a church where the pastor demands that we bring our tax report to the church to see what we make so to be sure we’re tithing. And I said, well, I don’t know who’s dumber, the pastor or you, for staying there. That’s what I told him. I don’t know who’s dumber, the pastor or you. I wouldn’t stay in that church for five minutes. And yet a person will sit there and say, well, what should I do? What should I do? Backdoor evangelism. Get out of there. Find yourself someplace that teaches truth. It’s not truth. Tithing is a way of supporting the Levitical priesthood. Tithing was giving foodstuff. So I said, you ought to really surprise them someday. Get a bushel of corn and dump it on the altar. It’s not biblical. And it’s a sin to teach what is not biblical as pastors. We’re told in the scripture that we’re supposed to be ministers of a new covenant, not the old that kills. Levitical priesthood is old. This is new. If any man be in Christ, he’s a new creation. Old things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. Thank God for it. So he says that when you’re following Paul, following Apollos, following Peter, aren’t you just mere men? You’re just man followers. After all, he says, what is Apollos? What is Paul? Only servants. God’s fellow workers. And you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, Paul said, I laid a foundation as an expert builder. And someone else is building on it. Now, guys, a foundation. We’ve talked about this, the importance of a foundation. In California, it was like Texas where pier and beam type of construction was very scarce. It was all slab construction. And you had a lot of mass builders like here in Dallas and other places, people who built hundreds of houses at a time. Well, you had people who would go in and in concrete, if you know how that’s done, you’ve got what they call reinforcing steel. And you have to put the reinforcing steel in. And they would have the inspectors who would come by and solidify the fact that the reinforcing steel has been put in and then move on. And the builder would come in and take it out and move it someplace else. So you had a slab with no reinforcing steel. Thousands of houses like that. It’s against the law. It’s criminal. But they did it. Now, if you had one of those houses, it was concrete. You can’t see there in a reinforcing steel in there, but there wasn’t any reinforcing steel. Guess what happens in about a year? Concrete starts cracking. And if it lasts long enough, your house will fall down. Your foundation in a house, you know that in order to have a house that’s going to remain, it had better have a solid foundation, don’t you? Well, the same thing is true biblical. That Paul says that by the grace given me, I laid a foundation. In other words, I’m going to lay the foundation of Jesus Christ. He is the foundation. And he tells us later on in Corinthians that this is the gospel or this is the foundation that saves you. Death of Christ. burial of Christ, and resurrection of Christ. This is the gospel that saves you. When you come to Christ, you don’t come to get dunked in water. You come to Jesus to get life. Whose life? His life. Who’s available to you? The resurrection of Christ Jesus. The historical event of Christ Jesus’ life when he died for our sins and on the third day was raised from the dead. We can look at that as a historical event and say, I believe that. Yeah, but you don’t believe what he did it for. I mean, he just wasn’t raised from the dead to be raised from the dead because he was tired of being in the grave. He was raised in the dead so that that life that raised him from the dead can raise you from the dead because you’re born dead. You’re not born alive. No man was born alive except Jesus. That’s why his virgin birth isn’t up for grabs. You’re born dead. And if you’re dead, guys, that is not a good state to be in. You don’t have to be a genius to figure that out. That’s kind of dumb to come to understand that the Bible says you’re born dead and say, I want to remain dead. He said, I came that you might have what? Life. I am the resurrection and the life. And whosoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? He who has the Son has what? Life. What kind of life? Spiritual life. Where did it come from? The resurrected Jesus. If you have the Son, you have life. If you don’t have the Son of God, you don’t have life. Which means what? You’re dead. The whole issue of salvation is an issue of life and death. Now, in order to give you life eternal, he had to eternally take away from the eyes of God, eternally, the cause of death, which was what? Sin. That’s why there is no condemnation for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Why? He took it away. God isn’t dealing with man on the basis of sin today. He’s dealing with the basis of new life. The whole issue is, are you in Christ or are you out of Christ? If you’re out of Christ, you’re dead. If you’re in Christ, you’re alive. And we’ve made a big religion out of this. And we’ve made our list of do’s and don’ts out of this. And Christ says, Paul says through his word, the only thing that counts, Bob, is your faith in me resulting in love toward others. Period. Period. Period. The only thing that counts is faith in me and loving one another. Simple, isn’t it? But you see, what do we do with simple things? Make them confusing. So he has given him, he said, he laid the foundation. Each one of you should be careful how he builds. You’ll notice on that foundation there was no baptism, no tongues, no church attendance, death of Jesus, burial of Jesus, and resurrection of Jesus. Are we in that equation at all? Anybody out there have anything to do with that passage? You have anything to do with it? Not a thing. Not a thing. Your deal is accept it or reject it. If you haven’t been born again, it’s because you have not accepted what Jesus has done for you. Some people say, I haven’t been born again because I’m not good enough. You there will be good enough.
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Classic Christianity Radio thanks you for your support of our online and radio ministry. Make sure to visit bobgeorge.net to order a copy of the Closer Look Bible Study Series. A Closer Look Bible Studies features eight in-depth study guides that detail hundreds of Bible verses to help you deepen your understanding of the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. A Closer Look Bible Study Guides are an excellent tool for both individuals and larger Bible study groups. Please visit bobgeorge.net to order your copy of A Closer Look Bible Studies, as well as many other wonderful books, CDs, and study guides. With your support, we can continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Let’s continue now with our Classic Christianity radio program.
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You say, well, you take a Lord’s Supper because if you’re unworthy, you’re going to eat and drink damnation on yourself. I don’t want to tell God news for you. The worthy is the lamb, not the sheep. You never have been worthy, and I haven’t either. I’m not worthy to be saved. I’m just joyful. We have nothing to do with it. This is all Jesus. It’s none of us. He said, I’m leaving you guys out of the equation. I’m going to come and do it all for you. And I’m going to give you an opportunity of accepting or rejecting. If you reject what I have accomplished for you, given you life, you’re going to remain dead. Very simple. And I’m not going to send you to hell. You’re going to send yourself to hell. So don’t be blaming me when you’re down there in Texas heat. You send yourself. Why? Because you refuse life. If you refuse life, you remain in a condition you were in, dead. If you want to remain dead, that’s your choice. He gave us a choice, a part of the sovereignty of God, my friends. A part of the characteristic of the sovereignty of God is in his sovereignty, he gave you and me a will, a choice. That’s part of his sovereignty. It’s not that he’s so sovereign that you can’t reject his will. Oh, really? It seemed to me a whole bunch rejected Jesus. He wasn’t too bad of an evangelist. And so we’ve got a choice. I’m either going to accept truth or reject it. Now he says, if you’re going to build, if you have your foundation on Christ and him alone, be careful how you build. No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid. So don’t try to add to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Quit adding baptism to that. And quit adding tongues to that. And quit adding church attendance to that. And all this other man-made garbage. It is not gospel. And it says this is no gospel at all. You don’t accept a Jesus of your making. You say, I believe in Jesus, but I don’t believe he is a virgin born. Well, then you don’t believe in the Jesus of the Bible. You believe in the one you’ve made up. Well, I don’t believe he is raised from the dead. Fine, then you’ve got your own Jesus. But you don’t have the Jesus that saves you. There’s a lot of people in that boat. Well, I don’t believe Jesus is God. Well, then you’ve got your own Jesus. And your own Jesus doesn’t save you. But they say, oh, yeah, it will. No, it won’t. No, it won’t. So there’s no other foundation. Be sure that no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. You see how simple that is, guys? It isn’t all of these other things. It’s Jesus Christ. God isn’t narrow-minded. He’s not being narrow-minded and bigoted. He’s just the only one that can save you. Who else could take away the sins of the world from the eyes of God except God himself? He didn’t send two sons. Send one. And if you’re too stubborn and too egotistical to accept him, which one do you think you’re going to accept? Well, the one I make up. Well, I hope the two of you have fun down in Texas heat. Because you’re not going to go into the kingdom of God with your own Jesus. And you’re not going to go into the kingdom of God with your own plan. You’re going to go with putting your faith in who God provided for you. That’s precisely why Jesus said the world’s sin, singular, sins taken away from the eyes of God. No man will ever go to hell because of his sins. Only the sin of the rejection of the Son of God. If a man builds on this foundation, if any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, his work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It’ll be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If his work survives, he’ll receive his reward. If it’s burned up, he’ll suffer loss because he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Folks, there’s many, many people, in my opinion, who have built… multi-churches, mega-churches, who are going to be standing before God one of these days, and the latch is going to be lit, and it’s all going to be burnt, wood, hand, stubble, because it’s been done with man-made techniques. As I’ve said, knowing us, we’ll be saying, well, my pile’s bigger than your ash pile. But it’s still going to be a pile of ashes. The only thing that’s going to be rewarded are those things that we have allowed Christ to do in and through us. That’s why he says, give me a cup of water in the name of Jesus. That’s not very thrilling. That won’t make the newspaper, won’t make the Baptist standard. It may not, but I’m going to see it, God says. I’m going to see your mercy. I’m going to see your kindness. So it says there, don’t you know yourselves that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in you? And the answer to that is, do you know that or don’t you? Are you aware of that truth? Are you born again? Or have you just been going through the motions? Are you in the process? Because any one of those things is a possibility. Many times we’re just in the process of learning. We haven’t understood these truths. We have that happen all the time. I heard and heard and heard, then one day I heard, and everything came alive. Came alive. And so, my friends, he’s saying to us, don’t deceive yourself. If any of you thinks that he’s wise by the standards of this age, he should become a fool so that he may become wise. In other words, become a fool to the things of the world in order to become wise to the things of God. And so the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that are futile. So then no more boasting. Here’s his conclusion about men. Let’s stop the boasting. Guys, I don’t mean to be critical, but I am. But I’ll tell you, I got so tired. When I was involved in denominations, I got so tired after church of going to lunch with my friends, and all anyone talked about was church, church, church, church, church, church, church. And this is what we do at the church, and this is the thing we do at the church, and we have a bowling alley in the church. And I got so sick of hearing that, and never, ever the word Jesus used. Church. Church. We’ve substituted Jesus for the church. And my friends, this doesn’t have, church doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus. This is the place, it says, where you come for the apostles’ teaching and for fellowship and prayer, period. It’s not an entertainment center. It’s a place where you come to learn. And so, he says, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise are futile. No more boasting about men. All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas. Or the word of the world, or life, or death, or the present or the future are all yours. And you are of Christ. And Christ is of God. That’s, my friends, is the good news of the Gospels. We individually have come to know him personally, and we have the privilege of fellowshipping with other like-minded believers and grow in our knowledge of the grace of God. I have to assume that the reason that you people are here is because you want to learn. Because whether you want to or not, you’re going to be taught. Because that’s all we do. But that’s all you need, and that’s all I need. It’s just to learn more about Jesus and to grow in my knowledge of him. Well, let’s pray together. Father, we seem to many times rejoice in shallowness. Never having a desire to get to the depth of something. Never want to challenge our minds. Somehow think that there’s a limit on what we can learn. Don’t want to stretch ourselves. Father, help us to just open up our hearts. Help us to see that this book is a love letter to us. We read it. It’s a disciplined book. We read it and see that’s not me. He says, I know, but it’s me. If you’ll abide in me, I’ll produce these things in and through you. It’s such a free life. And help people to see that, that you have called us to freedom, you said. Don’t use our freedom now to indulge the flesh. That’s not why he called you to freedom. He called you to freedom to walk in the newness of life and to walk in grace and in love with Christ Jesus. Father, deepen these things into our hearts. For we pray it in the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
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Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
