Filtered or Unfiltered: The Final Exam By Tim Badal

``But in the end, they were far from God. And could it be said of some of us today whether we know it or not that we are acting really really good? We look it. We sound it. We smell like it but it isn't in us. Paul says before this letter is done, before my time with you is over, before I make a third visit to you, would you test yourself and ask this in question? This question that trumps all other questions, is Christ in you? And it's either a yes or no answer. It's a pass fail. He says, you're gonna test yourself. You're gonna ask yourself, is Christ in me [00:07:41] (43 seconds)  #IsChristInYouTest

And if there's a warning that is there, it's found in verse five where it asks us to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith or not, which means we might think we're in the faith and we're not. We gotta believe that he's not warning us just to warn sake, But he's warning us because there's a reality I could be living what I think is a filtered Christian life and I put on Jesus when I want. I sound like Jesus and I act like Jesus at times and places where it's convenient. But notice what the warning says. Is Christ in you? Question mark. Is he in you? Unless indeed you have failed to meet the test. [00:22:50] (53 seconds)  #ExamineYourFaith

How about your speech? Slander and gossip. Is your mouth getting the best of you? Is your mouth destroying what God wants you to be building up? How about your pride and arrogance? He uses words like conceit and selfish ambition. Do you think you're the smartest, brightest, best person in the world and that everybody else is a moron? Maybe you don't say that but you believe it. That you're filled with all kinds of people who don't know what they're doing at work or at home or at church. Is that getting the best of you? How about impurity, lust, immorality, sinful desires ruling and reigning in your heart? Ruling and reigning so much that if you don't feed it, feel like you're gonna die. [00:13:45] (55 seconds)  #GuardYourSpeechAndHeart

And what Paul's trying to communicate is are you a part of a body? Are you willing to not only be warned by God's word and warned by the holy spirit, but are you willing to be warned by other people? That is do you have people in your life who know you, not the filtered you, not the social media you that you want everybody to see, but the everyday with your fears and anxieties, your worries, your concerns, your temptations and sins. Are there two or there three people who know you enough who can say when they see you doing something, you're not living God's best right now. You are not the best example of Christ that you're called to be. I don't tell you that because I judge you. I tell you that because I love you. [00:16:02] (53 seconds)  #AccountabilityMatters

These are warning signs. Which ones are showing up in your life? Don't worry about the person next to you. In your life, Which ones are affecting you the most? Paul says it's the third time I'm coming. How many times will it take? How many times will it take for God in his word, God by the holy spirit to bring these to our attention? How much do they have to flash? How often do they have to flash before we will heed the warnings that God is flashing before our eyes. Folks, every time we open God's word, it is my hope and prayer first and foremost that God would warn me. [00:14:40] (41 seconds)  #HeedTheWarningLights

But like Corinth, we too fail at heeding the warnings. Paul had given warning lights to the people of God but like us, we ignore them. How many times have we in our vehicles allowed a warning light to turn on? One of the ones that I ignore all the time is that dumb tire inflated one. The tire pressure one. And the reason why is there's so many times it just goes off for all the wrong reasons. And I got tired of wasting my time stopping and checking it because it was off. And and what I began to realize is, I don't need to need to follow it. I can ignore it. That is until the tire is in fact flat. [00:11:18] (49 seconds)  #DontIgnoreWarningLights

Now Paul says this on the heels of chapter 12. If you just go back for a moment to chapter 12, you see that Paul as we talked about a couple weeks ago, he identifies 11 warning signs that were flashing in the church at Corinth. They could be grouped in four groupings. And I have to ask the question as I did two weeks ago as we will today, are these warning signs showing up in your life? Now they're not there to annoy you. They're there to alert you. And so let these things alert us. How how are you doing at your relational conflict? Notice quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility. Are your relationships out of whack? Are they not glorifying God? Are they not edifying the person in the relationship that you're with? [00:12:53] (52 seconds)  #RelationalWarningSigns

And how many of us have those lights especially as our cars get older where we've come to realize that the car doesn't fall apart. It doesn't stop running when those lights are on and so we allow those lights to go. In fact, we kinda like it. It brings a whole new illumination to our dashboard. And while that may be acceptable with our cars, is it acceptable when those warning lights go off in our Christian lives, in our walks with God? The bible tells us over and over again. In fact, the bible's filled with warnings. Warnings to us to watch our faith, to watch out for sin and temptation, to pursue and love obedience. [00:12:06] (46 seconds)  #SpiritualDashboard