.
All right, we're going to go ahead and get started this morning.
Let's go ahead and find our seats and start getting situated.
Let's go ahead and pull out those hymnals and we'll start opening up to our first song.
It's song number two. Song number two in your hymnals.
Glory to His name, song number two.
Let you guys get situated.
We'll be singing song number two, glory to His name.
Good to see everybody this morning.
Song number two.
First down at the cross where my Savior died.
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried.
There to my heart was the blood of God.
Glory to His name, glory to His name.
Glory to His name.
There to my heart was the blood of God.
Glory to His name.
I am so wondrously saved from sin.
Jesus so sweetly abides within.
There at the cross where He took me in.
Glory to His name, glory to His name.
Glory to His name.
There to my heart was the blood of God.
Glory to His name.
O precious mountain that saves from sin.
I am so glad I have entered in.
There Jesus saves me, keeps me clean.
Glory to His name.
There to my heart was the blood of God.
Glory to His name.
Come to this fountain so rich and sweet.
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet.
Plunge into day and be made complete.
Glory to His name.
There to my heart was the blood of God.
Glory to His name.
Amen. Great singing.
Brother Edward, do you want to pray for us this morning?
Amen.
Alright, so go ahead and flip in your hymnals to song number 187.
187, Jesus Loves Me.
Song number 187, Jesus Loves Me.
Turn to me first.
Jesus loves me this I know.
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong.
They are weak but He is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me, He who died.
Heaven's gate to open wide.
He will wash away my sin.
Let His little child come in.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me, He will stay.
Close beside me all the way.
Thou hast bled and died for me.
I will henceforth live for thee.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Amen. Great singing this morning.
So at this time, let's go ahead and go over the announcements.
We do have the bulletins on the back counter.
If you didn't grab one on your way in, go ahead and raise your hand.
We'll have Brother Brandon bring them around to you.
We do have our verse of the week listed there, Isaiah 55 verse 9.
Whereas the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
On the inside, we do have our service times listed Sunday morning.
We meet at 1030 a.m., Sunday evening, 530 p.m.
And then that midweek Bible study is on Thursday at 7 p.m.
We have our soul winning times listed there underneath that, and also our stats.
Do we have any salvations to report for Friday or Saturday?
All right, good deal.
So we are going to be going out this afternoon at 2 p.m.
So if you do plan on going, just try to be here a little bit early for that.
Upcoming guest preachers.
Today, July 10th, we have Brother David Keeper back with us.
He just needs to, you know, get a move down here, or just rent an apartment down here.
It's been a blessing having him.
Definitely thank him for coming out to preach the services for us.
And then July 24th, we're going to have Brother Duncan Urbanic coming down to preach for us.
He is actually getting ordained today.
So very exciting for him.
So here after today, he's going to be evangelist Duncan Urbanic.
So he'll be moving down here to kind of take over Pure Words.
So very excited about that.
Just go ahead and just pray for him and his family for the move down here.
Here on the next page, we do have Sister Christian Rogers expecting.
So keep praying your prayers as well with the developing little one.
Upcoming events.
Right around the corner on August 18th through the 20th, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,
we do have that Mighty Men's Conference that's going to be put on by Steadfast Baptist Church.
So as soon as we do get that sign-up sheet, make sure to go ahead and sign up if you do plan on going.
That way they can plan accordingly.
We have our prayer request list underneath that.
Keep everybody on that list in your prayers.
If you do want to be added to this list, email the church, george.baptist.com.
And lastly, we do have some church reminders.
Keep a close eye on your children. Try to keep them off the stage.
No running in the church, no horseplay.
If they are being a distraction, let's take them to the mother's baby room.
And if kids are in the mother's baby room, they have to be supervised by the mothers at all times.
So just some quick reminders.
But that is the announcement for the morning.
Let's go ahead and sing our third song.
So let's go ahead and pull out your hymnals and turn to song number 30.
Song number 30, Nothing But the Blood.
First, what can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For this I see
nothing but the blood of Jesus.
For my cleansing, this my plea.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can force sin atone.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Not of good that I have done.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh, precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Amen.
So at this time, let's go ahead and pull out our Bibles
and turn in your Bibles to Jonah chapter number 1.
Jonah chapter number 1.
We're going to have Brother Jeff come and read for us.
We'll go ahead and pass the offering quick.
Okay, so you're there in Jonah, the book of Jonah in chapter 1 verse 1.
The Bible reads,
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it,
for their wickedness is come up before me.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord,
and went down to Joppa, and he found the ship going to Tarshish,
so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it,
to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest in the sea,
so that the ship was like to be broken.
Then the mariners were afraid, and cried, every man unto his God,
and cast forth the waves that were in the ship into the sea,
the lightning of them.
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship,
and he lay, and was fast asleep.
So the shipmaster came in, and said unto him,
What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God,
if so be that thy God will think upon us that we perish not.
And they said every one to his fellow,
Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us.
So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee,
for whose cause this evil is upon us,
what is thine occupation, and whence comest thou,
what is thy country, and what people art thou?
And he said unto them, I am in Hebrew, and I fear the Lord,
the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him,
Why hast thou done this?
For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord,
because he had told them.
Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee,
that the sea may be calm unto us?
And the sea wrought and was temptuous.
He said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea,
so shall the sea be calm unto you,
for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
Nevertheless the men rode hard to bring it to the land,
but they could not, for the sea wrought and was temptuous against him.
Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee,
let us not perish for this man's life, and let not upon us innocent blood,
for thou, O Lord, hast done as it had pleased thee.
So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea,
and the sea seized from her raging.
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah,
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
So let's all bow our heads real quick for the prayer.
Your Heavenly Father, please fill Brother David's keeper with your spirit,
and also, Lord, help us to have ears to hear,
and guide us, Lord, in receiving this message of gladness and sincerity,
and help us to apply it in our day-to-day lives,
and just help us be better family members, and soul winners, and Christians, Lord.
And just please bless the rest of this day,
and I pray this all in Jesus' name, Amen.
All right. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for having me back.
Good morning. Aloha.
I just want to give a special thanks to Pastor Shelley for giving me this opportunity.
He was in our neck of the woods last Sunday, and it was nice seeing him.
I haven't physically saw Pastor Shelley since he left before Baptist Church.
So just from the bottom of my heart, I just want to give him a great thank you.
Also, you guys had a special treat, right?
You had Pastor Anderson here the other, was it Thursday, right?
And he broke, you guys broke attendance.
So, I mean, praise God that you guys were able to have him here to preach for you.
I know I get spoiled because I hear him all the time, so.
Go ahead and get right into this.
The title of this message this morning is God is laughing at your plans.
You know, we like to make plans.
And let me start off by saying this.
It's not bad to plan.
I'm just giving you a heads up that God laughs at our plans.
Because we all have different plans, different agendas, different backgrounds,
and things that we want in this world, right?
And a character like Jonah in the Bible is a prime example of someone
where God is laughing at his plans.
Jonah had plans, but God has a plan for all of us.
Every single one of us in here has a plan from God.
Now, it's great if we can be in, you know, God's plan A,
but sometimes we're in God's plan B.
I don't know if you remember the sermon I preached on with Samson, right?
Samson, you know, was not in plan A of God's will.
But then again, it makes you think that maybe it was supposed to go that way
so that what he did was supposed to happen.
It was always the plan to begin with.
God uses sinful man.
When we make mistakes, God can still have his plan come to fruition.
And we need to realize that at the end of the day,
which I've been using that term a lot more lately,
which basically means, you know, when you say someone or tell someone
at the end of the day, what you're really just saying is that
the truth is God is laughing at your plans.
Look down at your Bible, if you would, at Jonah chapter 1.
Jonah is a minor prophet.
He's not minor because he's less significant.
He's not minor because it's not as important of the minor prophets in the Bible.
Jonah gets quoted very frequently.
And from the mouth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, often is he referring back to Jonah,
which then tells me that this character in the book of Jonah should be designated to us.
What we see in the book of Jonah should matter.
Now look down, if you would, at verse 1.
It says, Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it,
for their wickedness has come up before me.
Pause.
God is giving Jonah a direct commandment.
Go and cry against this city.
Preach against Nineveh.
Nineveh preached that they repent of their sins, not for salvation of their souls,
but to be saved as a nation, to be saved from God's wrath, to be destroyed.
How do you know?
Well, we use Jonah chapter 3, verse 9 all the time to show people
that you do not need to repent of your sins to be saved,
but rather you need to repent to be right in the sight of God.
And that includes nations.
Notice, if you would, at Jonah chapter 3, verse 9.
The Bible reads, Who can tell if God will turn and repent
and turn away from His fierce anger that we perish not?
And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way.
So when they turned from their evil way, God looks down and says,
That is them working.
That is them doing something.
That is them taking action when Jonah said God will destroy this place.
Unless you repent, unless you change your way,
unless you do something, God will destroy you.
And then it goes on to read, And God repented of the evil
that He had said that He would do unto them, and He did it not.
Obviously, we see the Lord repenting here,
which means repenting does not mean you need to turn from your sins for salvation.
It just simply means to change your mind or change your course of action.
Let's go back to chapter 1. Look down at verse 3.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord
and went down to Joppa and he found a ship going to Tarshish
and he paid the fare thereof and went down into it
to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
Jonah had a plan.
I'm going to run from God.
I know He told me to do this.
I know I'm commanded of God to do this, but I've got a different plan.
So you know what God does?
He takes it upon Himself to make His plan work.
Like I said, Jonah is a unique character.
He's one that we look to as a great godly man.
He did great godly things, but he's fighting against God.
Now that's a dangerous place to be in.
And for any one of you in here today thinking to yourselves like,
well, I know I'm supposed to be not lying, not stealing,
loving the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, and mind,
love my neighbor as myself.
I know I'm supposed to be doing these things, but I have a different plan.
I want to do X, Y, and Z.
Understand this.
It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.
And if God wants to, if God be for us, who could be against us?
But at the same time, if God's against you,
be it known that God will make sure His plan comes to fruition.
So, you know, he had a different plan.
He wanted to run away from God and not preach against Nineveh.
Why?
Why did he not want to do this?
Why did he not want to do what God wanted of him?
Well, it tells us, if you would look down at chapter 4, verse 1,
why Jonah did not want to do what God commanded him.
It says,
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
And he prayed unto the Lord and said,
I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country?
Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art what?
Gracious.
Thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness
and repentestly of the evil.
Therefore now, O Lord, take I this each day my life from me,
for it were better for me to die than to live.
Look, Jonah knew that if he did what God said,
that he would save the people of Nineveh.
And that's a bad attitude.
Look, we live in a pretty messed up society, you guys.
America is toiling downhill.
But you ought to pray for America.
You ought to pray for Texas.
You ought to get on the fore, on all four, and prostrate yourself to the ground
and beg God for his mercy on, let alone Texas, but all of the United States.
We don't want to see people be destroyed.
We don't want to see a nation get destroyed, let alone the nation that we live in.
It's a horrible thing.
We know that he is quick to mercy and slow to anger.
So remember, if you have a plan to run away from God,
just like I said, be it known,
he'll make sure what he wants will happen.
How do you know? Let's keep reading.
Let's go at verse four.
But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest in the sea,
so that the ship was like to be broken.
Then the mariners were afraid and cried,
every man unto his God, and cast forth the wares
that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it of them.
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship,
and he lay and was fast asleep.
I'm going to pause there again really quickly.
Notice Jonah's not afraid.
Jonah knows like, okay, I get what's going on here.
God's trying to scare me.
God's trying to rock the boat, no pun intended.
But he's getting this crazy wind to go by.
But you know what?
He told me I got to go do something.
He is trying to scare Jonah straight.
And in life, haven't you ever experienced that
where in your plan something south goes happen
really quickly out of nowhere?
And I'm not saying it's divinely God trying to talk to you,
but you know, fact is stranger than fiction.
Sometimes it could be God trying to communicate with you,
trying to get you to be aware of your surroundings,
and he could send a natural disaster.
And we'll go into that in just a moment,
but let's keep reading in verse six.
So the ship master came to him and said unto him,
What meanest thou, O sleeper?
Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us,
that we perish not.
And they said, Every man, this fellow, come,
and let us cast lots, that we may know,
for whose cause this evil is upon us.
So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee,
for whose cause this evil is upon us.
What is thine occupation, and whence comest thou?
What is thy country, and of what people art thou?
And he said unto them, I am in Hebrew,
and I fear the Lord God of heaven,
which hath made the sea and the dry land.
Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him,
Why hast thou done this?
For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord,
because he had told them.
The people of this world who are atheists, or agnostic,
or are in the camp of, I don't know,
so I'm not going to pretend to know, right?
Everybody knows that when they're in a near-death experience,
they find themselves on the ground praying to God,
the God of the Bible.
Because people don't ever mock Buddha,
they don't mock Mohammed,
they don't mock all these false deities,
because they know they're false.
They know it.
But there's something built within the sight of men,
all of men, that when something happens to them,
they know the God of the Bible, if he's real, it's that one.
It's this God.
And it's very easy when a Christian is around,
and you know, I have been on planes a lot lately
for the last couple months coming here and going and whatnot,
and I know this may be like a sick, twisted way of thinking of things,
but assuming the plane goes down, right?
I think to myself, of course, of all these people in this cab,
who's going to die and go to heaven, right?
And I think that when the stuff goes down
and everyone's freaking out in the chaos,
it is your job as a Christian in a near-death experience
to show people the gospel and to let them realize,
like, hey, we are not going to make it out of this scenario,
but I am a Christian and I can preach to you
the saving message of salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
And if ever there's a chance for you to be saved,
today is the day of salvation.
And at any moment, you can die.
Back to God is laughing at your plans.
The world has plans of so many things.
You think you're hopping on a plane,
you're going to get to your destination,
you think you're going to hop in your car
and go to where you're going at any moment,
at any second of any day, your life can change,
for the worse or for the better.
And you've got to think critically for a second here.
News, there's no such thing as bad news or good news.
News is just news.
It's how we interpret that news that makes it good or bad.
I mean, back to what I was saying a moment ago,
God can send a natural disaster to judge a people, right?
We just went through a global pandemic recently, didn't we?
And I bet you a lot of people had lots of plans
to make decisions about their business endeavors,
family endeavors, all sorts of different plans
that people had that in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye,
everything changed for everyone.
So just like when you have a near death experience,
and I can't, I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands,
but I surfed a lot in my life growing up
and I can't even count on two hands
how many times I'm almost drowned.
Because when you surf and you surf big waves,
you almost drown sometimes, it happens.
And I don't know if you've seen like big wave surfers,
but you fall in a big wave, you're taking your life with you.
And I'm not saying be a thrill seeker.
I now understand as a saved believer,
it's not wise to risk your life often.
And there are people who have jobs
that they risk their life often.
Think about people in the military, think about firefighters,
think about people, tree trimmers, for crying out loud.
I think tree trimmers are like,
you're more likely to die cutting trees
than you are even to join the US military.
I only know that because I was a tree trimmer for a while
and we went through a trauma course
and they explain all the stats on like deaths of tree trimmers.
I was like, dang, man, this is a dangerous job.
But it's also a great rewarding job as well.
But basically at any moment your life can change
and these people on this boat with Jonah
realize really quickly we're all gonna die.
This is going down.
Why is this happening to us?
The winds just changed out of nowhere.
Who are you, who are you, who are you?
Oh, you're a Hebrew?
You serve the Lord?
Well, no wonder why this is happening.
You're supposed to be serving God.
Get him out of here.
And that's what he tells him to do.
Let's keep reading.
It says in verse nine,
and he said unto them, I am in Hebrew
and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven,
which hath made the sea and the dry land.
Then were the men exceedingly afraid
and said unto him, Why hast thou done this?
For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord
because he had told them.
They say unto him, What shall we do unto thee
that the sea may be calm unto us?
For the sea wrought and was temptuous
and he said unto them, Take me up
and cast me forth into the sea.
So shall the sea be calm unto you.
For I know that for my sake
this great tempest is upon you.
Nevertheless, the men rode hard
so they didn't take heed to the statement
because you gotta throw me out.
You know, God wants me to do something
and I'm not doing it.
And the only way for this to stop
is if you throw me out the boat.
And they're like,
let's try to save you on our own first.
Let's see if we can do this, you know.
They're basically saying if we throw you out,
we're killing you.
Like it's so temptuous that
the waves are gonna take you out.
Verse 13, nevertheless, the men rode hard
to bring it to the land, but they could not
for the sea wrought
and was temptuous against them.
Wherefore they cried unto the Lord and said,
We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee,
let us not perish for this man's life
and lay not upon us innocent blood,
for thou, O Lord, has done as it pleased thee.
So they took up Jonah
and cast him forth into the sea
and the sea ceased from her raging.
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly
and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord
and made vows.
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish
to swallow up Jonah
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
Talk about a miracle, you guys, for crying out loud.
How many people do you know have survived
living in a whale's belly?
Only one, Jonah, that's it.
And we know it was a whale.
It says here a great fish, but the Lord Jesus Christ
tells us in the New Testament it was a whale.
So, once again,
God had a plan. He prepared this fish
knowing Jonah was not gonna do what he was told.
He prepared a fish.
He already had the plan set in motion.
He's like, I'm gonna tell Jonah to do this.
He's not gonna do it.
I'm gonna send a wind to scarab
and I'm gonna send him that fish
to catch him up and bring him to Nineveh.
Talk about God making sure his plan comes to fruition.
And we can learn so much from the book of Jonah
and just the character of Jonah.
For crying out loud, this is quoted in the New Testament
in reference to the substitutionary atonement.
Right? We believe, as the Bible clearly teaches,
as Jonah was three days and three nights
in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
In reference to Jesus Christ going to hell for us
so that we do not have to.
He substituted himself for us.
What a great message for us to understand
in reference to someone who is trying to fight against God.
Turn, if you would, to the book of Job.
Talk about somebody who had his own plans
and the plans changed.
Job is a character in the Bible that we can all look to
where a man who decided in his life early on
to serve God and truly did nothing wrong
but God had a different plan for him.
Look down, if you would, at Job 1 verse 1.
There was a man in the land of Uz
whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright
and one that feared God and eschewed evil cause.
Chapter 1 verse 1.
Nothing greater could be said of this character.
There's a guy in a place and he was perfect.
Now, he wasn't perfect as in sinless.
He was perfect as in he was complete.
He was the full package.
He had it going.
He had his finances together.
People liked him.
He had a big family.
He was the complete package.
Job, right away, and I just think it's so amazing
that it's coupled with he feared God and eschewed evil
which tells us that to be right in the sight of God
and to be called perfect or to be complete in the sight of God
not only do we have to fear God but we have to hate evil.
And this is why a lot of Christians today fail in their Christianity
and they are not complete cause they do not hate sin.
We hate sin, you guys.
I hate sin.
I sin every day.
There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
Remember the sermon I preached the other week?
We ought to be ashamed when we sin, when we mess up.
We shouldn't leave for joy.
We shouldn't pass it aside like nothing was a problem.
We should realize that our sin is shameful in the sight of God.
Now, we understand that we can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth us but we have to realize that
when we make mistakes, it's shameful.
And we need to learn to hate sin.
God is angry with the wicked every day.
Why are we not?
Why are we not angry with people destroying their lives,
loved ones, ourselves?
When we fail in life, we ought to hate our sin.
Forsake those things which are behind
and press unto the mark of the high calling which is in Christ Jesus
but realize really quickly that when we fail, it is displeasing unto God.
Let's keep going in verse 2.
And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters,
his substance also with seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels,
and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred sheasses,
and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
Man, you can't get enough praise.
You're ingrained in the eternal word of God being known as a great guy.
I mean, what an honor it is.
We are talking about Job today because of his fear of God and his hatred of evil
and raising his family right and being a good businessman.
Like I said, he's got the full package.
Verse 4.
And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day
and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about
that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning
and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.
For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts,
thus did Job do continually.
Just like I mentioned earlier, this guy is so upright in his mind that I'm sure,
I am sure and I am positive that in being such a great godly man that he was,
his children looked to him as an example and wanted to follow after his steps.
I'm sure the kids begged God for forgiveness and made sacrifices and all that stuff.
But just in case they didn't, Job was like, Let me take it upon myself to offer sacrifices.
I mean, we as people who have children, we ought to pray for our kids as often as we can.
Our kids make mistakes and we want to make sure that, I mean, David talks about praying for his secret faults.
He doesn't even know he's doing something wrong sometimes.
And we ought to as parents help our kids grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, right?
But it takes time here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept.
And it takes time to learn to perfect their Christianity over time.
But what happens? Things are going great for Job.
Verse 6, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord,
and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence camest thou?
Then Satan answered to the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Let that resonate in your ears. Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
Now unless you're a perfect guy, maybe you're not Satan's public enemy number one.
You get what I'm saying? Like, I understand that in my life, I doubt Satan's like gunning for me.
You know what I mean? He's probably gunning for our pastors because they're making big moves in the world today.
Making real, you know, getting many people saved, showing people how to live for God.
I'm small fish in his eyes. That's not to say he doesn't send minions to potentially try to destroy our lives.
But Satan himself gunning for you? That's a fearful thing.
So many like Christian pastors tried to like challenge Satan like, Oh, bring it on Satan.
It's like, dude, watch your mouth, dude. You think you're going to sway like the Prince of Darkness?
The like the worst enemy in the world? Satan? You're going to try to take him on?
That's a dumb thing to take upon yourself. And so many Christian pastors do that.
Well, I'm going to take on Satan. Let's do this. And it's like bad, bad advice.
But you got to realize that Satan is truly trying to destroy the righteous.
If you're saved by believing alone in Christ, you never will lose your salvation.
But that does not mean Satan is not trying to destroy your life through all his devices.
I mean, for crying out loud in today's world, there's so much distraction, right?
And anything to get you away from the service of God is his goal.
That's it. Do your own plan. What do you want to do? What's right for you?
Don't you want to build money? Don't you want to build a career?
Don't you want to X, Y, and Z? Whatever it is, he's going to feed you that.
Hey, just forget about God and Christianity. Forget about soul winning.
Forget about evangelizing. Forget about preaching the gospel, baptism, and all these things.
Just take it upon yourself to serve yourself. And that's his goal.
He comes up and down from heaven seeking whom he may devour.
So let's keep reading. It says in verse 8,
And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job?
His what? His servant, Job.
That there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught?
Had not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side?
Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Where I met my wife, I met her at a Bible college in Calvary Chapel in Marietta, California.
That was a statement that a lot of the kids used to make. Oh, you got a hedge of protection around you.
You know, it's like, oh, you're being protected of God. And that's a great place to be, being protected of by God.
And that goes into another point I'll mention in a moment. But you got to realize, think about when Jesus tells Peter, right?
Upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
If God be for us, who can be against us? And in this situation, God is testing and trying Job to test his faith,
to see for real if he will at the end, and no matter what happens to him, he will bless God.
And we know the end result. Let's keep reading.
It says, Hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side?
Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand.
So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house.
And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them,
and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away.
Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escape alone to tell thee.
Job, your profit margins are shrinking. Don't worry about it. It's all right.
We got a family business. Profit margins are gone. I got this.
It says in verse 16, While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said,
The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants are consumed them,
and I only am escape alone to tell thee.
Hey, you know what? The business model is crashing. The profits are gone. The family business is taking.
Don't worry about it. We'll figure this out. We'll move forward.
Let's keep reading. Verse 17, While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said,
The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away.
Yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escape alone to tell thee.
Okay, wait a second. The profits are gone. The family business is taking.
Now our modes of transportation are gone. You know, camels are the major way of getting around in the Middle East.
And it's like, we'll get a new car. Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said,
Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,
and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house,
and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead, and I only am escape alone to tell thee.
It literally just did home. I don't care about the profits. I don't care about the family business.
I don't care about the means of transportation. But now my children have just suffered death.
Let's look at his response to this.
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground in worship.
That is the right attitude to have. I'm not going to sit there and pretend that that's an easy thing to go through.
Having your whole entire life turned upside down in the course of 12 hours.
Everything gone, taken from you. Just like that. Blink of an eye. God's laughing at your plans.
Your plans can change at any moment. At any moment, at any day, at any time, the plans can change.
And I'm not trying to like scare you or anything, but you got to realize that when you take a drive down the street,
you might never come back home. When your kids go to the piano recital school, if they go to public school,
haven't you noticed the rise in public school shootings? So many parents have evolved here.
That just went down recently here in Texas, right? I bet they were just living their normal life,
going about their day, dropping off their kids, not thinking much of it, never knowing in their head
that that day they will not see their child ever again. What a horrible experience to go through.
But, was their attitude Job's attitude? Did they fall on the ground and worship the Lord?
Not only that, a very famous quote that we find in the book of Job is found right here in verse 21.
And said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Bless be the name of the Lord.
And all this Job said not, nor charged God foolishly. Like I had just mentioned,
I'm not going to sit here and fathom the amount of pain that Job went through in this event in his life.
The parents of Uvalde that lost their kids, anyone at any moment of any time,
think about the firefighters that went up into the tower of 9-11 and didn't come home that day.
Any moment of any day you can lose your life. This is why we take it upon ourselves to go evangelize
and preach the gospel to the lost. Because people don't realize that they could die at any moment.
And I know I take it upon myself, I don't scream it at them like I am right now,
but I tell them at the door, God forbid do you know for sure that if you died today you are on your way to heaven.
You and I know most people don't know that. They don't know that.
And then they try to, well I'm busy, kitchen, cooking, game.
They try to find an excuse not to listen to the gospel, right?
And I tell them this, if I leave them on one verse, you could know for sure, would you like to know?
Well of course if I could know, I'd like to know. Yeah, well here's the thing.
You're about to make dinner for your family, right?
You could choke on a chicken bone at dinner and die. You know that, right?
I know that sounds a little harsh and a little aggressive, but I'm not trying to like scare them.
I'm just trying to get them to realize, today is the day of salvation.
Now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation.
We need to urge the lost to now put their faith in Christ so that they cannot fear hell.
Because truly, nothing is more loving to go to your neighbor, to anyone in the neighborhood,
and to share the gospel with them.
But plans can change. If God forbid your family died, your business tanked and all these things,
would you still go out and preach the gospel to the lost?
I know I would. I say that now. It's easier said than done.
But Job, in all this, did not, nor charged God foolishly.
Because he realized God has a plan. I don't know what that plan is.
Why I'm going through this suffering, but God has a plan.
Let's go into some practicalities. Like we were mentioning earlier,
what are some things that we can point to where the plans can change?
Natural disaster is a big one. We just went through the pandemic, right?
I'm from Hawaii. We go through hurricanes. Do you guys have tornadoes here in Texas?
Yeah. It's okay. A tornado can just pick up your business and throw it who knows where.
Your house. It's like, okay, you're moving. And there it goes.
And, you know, natural disasters are something we can't control.
We pray God that he would have mercy on us and not send natural disasters to destroy us,
but he could put a hedge of protection around you.
Even in the midst of like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being in a fiery furnace can protect you.
I believe that. I mean, I'm not saying it will happen,
but I believe if a tornado is cutting right through your house, if you're serving the Lord,
he could potentially just anchor your house to the ground and not even move an inch.
Well, everything else around is being lifted up and thrown into who knows where.
A hurricane comes to Hawaii. A lot of people were nervous in Hawaii of a hurricane
because there used to be a, every decade, there was a certain hurricane that would come.
Hurricane Eva, Hurricane Iniki, and then there hasn't been one for 30 years,
so a lot of Hawaiians are like anticipating a big one to come next.
And honestly, in my head, I'm just like, if it comes, it comes. What am I going to do about it?
You think you're going to like, we put hurricane straps around the roofing and houses,
like you think that's going to hold during like, you know, 75 mile per hour winds and stuff?
Good luck, you know.
Death, death of a loved one. Father's Day just was recently, right?
My stepdad's birthday was on 4th of July.
And like I said, you called your fathers and your grandfathers on Father's Day, right?
Did you call them any other day? Jeff and I were just talking about it,
how some people, they only designate that one day to call their parents.
You ought to talk to your parents if you don't live at home often.
How are you doing? How's life?
Because you don't know if they're going to make it the next day.
Your grandparents, your cousins, your aunts, your uncles, your, you know, in-laws,
and all these things because we are not promised tomorrow.
At any moment, someone could die in your family.
And on top of them being saved, you know, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 4-13,
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
We don't sorrow like the rest of the world when our loved ones die. Why?
Because we know that to be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord.
That when a loved one dies who is saved,
we can know that they're with Christ in heaven with brothers and sisters and they're waiting for us.
I'm not saying don't mourn. I'm not saying it's not sad. I'm sure Job was sad when all his children died.
I'm sure Job had plans for his kids. I'm going to marry off my oldest.
I'm going to give my second some inheritance. I'm going to give this one this.
He had plans. Gone. Just like that.
A natural disaster destroyed his business and killed his family.
And, you know, that's something we can't prepare for.
But we don't need to worry if we're saved and our loved ones are saved.
So, like I said, I want to give you some practical advice.
So what, Dave? I just don't plan anything in my life? No, no, no.
Make short term realistic goals.
You ever heard like, you know, the counselor in school say like, hey, what's your five year plan?
Right? Like, hey, what are you going to do when you get out of high school? What's your five year plan?
I don't think that's a wise decision to make. Now, maybe some people have
and succeeded in their five year plan and good for them.
But I don't think it's wise to make a, you know, much of life and things can happen in five years.
Let alone in a month. In today's world, how quickly things are moving and like how quickly everything happens.
Like in one week during the pandemic turned, you know, we're locking down.
We're opening up one mask, two masks, one shot, five shot, went back to one shot, one mask, two masks.
It's like every day the rules are changing. That's why people are like, wait, what's the rules?
What are we supposed to do? How do we deal with this?
And that's why there's a lot of grace period for like law enforcement because they're like, they don't even know the rules.
Like today it's this, but they're going to change it. But it might, I don't know, just do what they say, you know.
So have short term realistic goals.
The Bible says, for instance, of us men, our job is to provide and protect our family.
That's our goals as men.
So something I think would be wise for us men to have when it comes to short term planning is always, no matter where you are, have a point of safety.
What do I mean by that?
Well, I keep using the school analogy, but like think about like a bank building or like a courthouse, right?
If there's ever a fire in the building, they have a fire plan, right?
Everyone exit out of this building, everyone lined up like this.
And we're going to just, you know, follow a protocol into getting everyone out as safely as possible.
Do you have that here for the church?
We've seen church shootings happen.
Is there a safety protocol for how we're to conduct ourselves during the situation?
I mean, crazier things have happened, right?
I think it'd be wise to just have a safety plan in play no matter where you go.
You go to the store, always know where the front and back door is.
Have some form of protection on yourself.
You don't need to have, you know, a gun all the time.
But if you feel safer with the gun, you know, have a gun, a knife.
If you feel confident in your own ability, you know, take it upon yourself to defend those around you.
And not just your family, but other people that need your help.
Think about, I don't know, like just everywhere you go, always have a point of safety for you and your family and anyone you can save.
The Bible says in Proverbs 21, 31, the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord.
Even with all that planning, things can go south, right?
But if it's short term and it's realistic, I think that's fine.
I mean, for crying out loud, at this point in my life, I can't even plan what's for dinner all the time.
I mean, where I work, I work for a plumbing company and I manage a plumbing company and a restoration company.
My wife and I may have plans for dinner, right?
OK, we're going to make spaghetti and I'm going to start it at four because it'd be home around five thirty six and we'll eat around six thirty or so.
Got it. And of course, job comes in five thirty.
Got to go. It's an hour away and get home at like seven o'clock.
And it's like, well, guess you're eating dinner alone tonight or, you know, we forgot an onion or we forgot this.
And next thing you know, we're not having spaghetti, we're having chicken and rice or something.
I can't even plan the next meal sometimes.
And that's not to say we should not have a set standard of like short term realistic planning.
I mean, fitness, right? Just getting in your days, so many walks, getting in your days, so much carbs, so much vegetables.
Just basically getting your basic necessities for life. Short term, realistic.
Don't plan too far ahead. Turn, if you were, to Luke chapter 12. This is a prime example of what I'm talking about.
This is a parable of the Lord Jesus Christ trying to teach this teaching of don't plan too far ahead because think about in the Sermon of the Mount.
Take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself sufficient unto the day as the evil thereof.
I mean, you don't even know what you're going to eat for dinner. Why are you worried about what's going to happen in like, you know, four or five years from now, you know?
And look down, if you would, at Luke chapter 12 verse 16. The Bible reads,
And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits.
And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou has much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God.
This person was so invested in his business. He was so invested in his fruit, building a bigger barn. Why?
So I can have food longer. I mean, once again, hoarders, people who are into like doomsday prepping, you know,
they kind of are like, we're getting ready for Jesus to come and the Antichrist and we're gonna have stocked up bullets and guns
and bazookas and grenades and food and dry goods and, you know, dogs and cages and nobody's coming in this fortress.
It's like, do you really think that that's what God wants you to do during the time of the Antichrist's rise?
He wants you to hunker down and just live in this castle and, you know, try to fight whatever military is coming after you?
That's not God's will. Today, your soul will be required of you, this guy.
And that's what I was trying to mention earlier about your business. I don't think it's wrong at all to take your job and business seriously.
I don't think it's bad or wrong at all to plan for your business, to grow in your profits, to try to better your business model.
That's all great. But realize at any moment, at any time, it can all be taken away from you any moment, even to the extent of during the pandemic,
mom and pa, restaurants and businesses all just shutting down because they're just like, you can't serve anymore.
I bet they had plans. I think in Hawaii, there are some like 50 plus small businesses in this one area in Honolulu shut down,
some of which were open for over 100 years and just like that, gone.
And it's just I think to myself, I started a carpet cleaning company back in 2017. It was called Ohana Carpet Care.
And, you know, there's two things I never saw possible in my life living in Hawaii.
Number one was living, owning my own home because before the pandemic, a one bedroom shack in the middle of nowhere,
20 miles inland was a minimum of half a million dollars before the pandemic.
So owning a home, out of the question, not going to happen. Right. Which I'm OK with that.
The number two is on my own business, because you've got to realize to get things shipped to us to more time, energy, money.
And it was just a hassle coming to the states. I started Ohana Carpet Care in my second year living here.
And one time I was out, a realtor called me and they wanted us to go to a house and clean up some floors for a house that they're going to sell, put on the market.
They call us. We'll be there. We go early. We start door hanging some advertising around the neighborhood because we're just early.
We're eager. We're like going. We have these like fliers that we did your neighbor's house. Call us, get 15 percent off.
So we're like going around the neighborhood, hanging up fliers.
Come 10 more minutes before supposed to do the meeting. Person calls us. Now we're going to cancel. Never mind.
Thanks anyways. So, you know, it's hard when you start a business in the beginning, you're counting every penny, you're just kind of making things happen.
Right. So we're kind of stressed out. And my wife is like, all right, let's go home.
I'm like, no, let's go eat some lunch. She's like, David, we just spent money driving out here, dropped off a bunch of stuff, didn't get the job.
And now you want to spend money. And it's just a dumb idea. And I said, you know what? Don't worry about it.
Just don't worry about it. Let's go eat some lunch. We go to Raising Cane's. Raise your hands if you like Raising Cane's.
This is brought to you in part by Raising Cane's. Be nice if I got Raising Cane's all the time.
But we go to Raising Cane's and we're eating lunch. I'm in the booth and I just noticed there's like grease all along the booth.
You know, I'm like, oh man, this is greasy. And I go up to the 18 year old manager of the establishment and I go, hey, not complaining or anything.
I just noticed the booths are kind of dirty. I do floor cleaning and fabric cleaning. You mind if I give you an estimate?
Yeah, sure. Give me an estimate. I gave it to him and I just left him with my card and he's like, oh, I'll talk to like the owner.
I was like, cool. So immediately the second I left, I called the corporate office because I knew he wasn't going to do anything.
So I called the corporate office and I'm like, hey, same thing. I own a carpet cleaning company. I'm not complaining.
I just noticed it was dirty. You mind if I give you an estimate? Sure. Give me an estimate.
And then your first time in business, when you do commercial, you don't know like how high to shoot. You're like, do I go high? Do I go low?
You want to get the job? You're just kind of like figuring things out. And I went kind of high in my bid. I was like, oh, so much money.
Hey, worst thing they say no, right? They call me back immediately. They say, yep, go ahead and do it. Do it tonight.
When they close down, I'm like, oh my goodness, what an amazing opportunity. I go to the Chick-fil-A next door.
I'm like, hey, I'm not complaining or anything, but I noticed your seats are a little dirty. You mind if I give you an estimate?
Chick-fil-As are individually franchised. So it was from the moment where I made a plan and the plan changed.
You have to learn to adapt to your environment. And any entrepreneur should understand this mindset.
Adapting is key to life. Realizing that at any moment your plans can change, but you don't need to sit there, gloat and be sad about yourself.
Realize that all you can do, news is just news, not good or bad. How you interpret the news. You didn't get the job.
Woe is me. Pulled my hair off my head, ripped my mantle. It's just business. No, I took it upon myself to make something happen.
And that's our goal as leaders, as fathers, as husbands, as providers. And if you work for your boss, think of creative ways to help your boss make money.
What if you work for an electrical company, an AC company, a plumbing company, you're in a restaurant, you work for a Starbucks or whatever the case may be.
You don't think if you can show your boss's ways to save money through using styrofoam cups above plastic cups, using, you know, certain type of material above another, you think you're going to like complain with you?
No, of course they're going to utilize that. And hey, at the end of the day, you might be blessed for that because you took their business seriously.
And just like this character that Jesus Christ is calling out, it wasn't bad that he had all this excess of fruit and he's trying to build a business.
That's not the problem. The problem is lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust does corrupt and where thieves can break through and steal.
But rather lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is there where your heart be also.
We need to realize that at the end of the day, or just a matter of fact is you need to invest in the things of God. Align your will with God's will.
This is the last place I'll have you look. Turn if you would to Luke chapter nine.
I forgot to mention earlier about the wicked are planning the wicked plan every day. And actually, I'm going to mention that really quickly before I read this.
The wicked are planning every day, every day, the wicked are out there trying to store up treasures. Why? I mean, think about billionaires, right?
Since the pandemic, I think some like I forget what number was like 10 or 20 billionaires just came out of nowhere during the pandemic.
Right. And you think you're like, what are you doing with a billion dollars? Like, I you know what I mean? Like, why do you need that much wealth?
Well, if they don't know they're going to heaven and they're not laying for themselves of treasures in heaven, they're trying to create their heaven on this earth.
And this is what the Bible mentions when it says the children of this generation are wiser than the children of light.
They realize they have a minimal time on this earth. So they're trying to get as much as they can in the short period of time.
And that is why they are wiser than the children of light. If we looked at Christianity as a billionaire looks at gaining financial wealth,
then we would look like the Apostle Paul and we would look like the Apostle Peter and we would look like the Lord Jesus Christ,
taking it upon ourselves to invest in people, salvation, baptisms, showing them all things whatsoever Christ has commanded us.
That's the real treasure, the souls of men. It's not our portfolio. It's not our financial gain.
It's not bad to have those things, but they mean nothing at the end of the day.
Naked came I in, naked I'll return. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And people don't realize that if we as Christians saw the world through the eyes of the billionaire in a Christian lens,
we could do great things for God at the end of the day. And not only that, people realize and you know, I'll be the first to say it.
Billionaires are evil wicked people, period. Like in today's world to be a billionaire, you're probably soldier shoulder Satan,
or you're just doing some shady business to rip people off to gain more wealth for yourself.
That's not to say billionaires can't be saved, but I would venture to guess most of them are probably children of the devil.
Wouldn't surprise me, not one bit. But like the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us, you know, being rich is not the problem.
Problem is you thinking that you have control of your environment, that you're in control of things.
Think about when he was put to trial with Pontius Pilate, right?
And he's telling you, don't you realize I have power to save you?
And Jesus is like, you have no power at all, but that which is given to you. You have nothing.
You think you're tough stuff, you're nothing. As a matter of fact, you're less than nothing.
And they that delivered me unto you, they have the greater damnation.
So if we as Christians see the world through the eyes of a billionaire in a Christian lens,
and we just try to reproduce more Christians, reproduce more soul winners, and reproduce more great godly families,
then we're aligning our will with God's will. What does Jesus say in Luke 22 42?
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. If in your life you're trying to build an empire on this earth,
it's all for naught. It's irrelevant.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, it talks about there are things that we build on the foundation of Christ.
Some people it's wood, hay, and stubble. Some people it's gold, silver, and precious stones.
And there's nothing wrong with the wood, hay, and stubble. It's just they are irrelevant when it comes to the things of eternity.
That's what it means by God's laughing at your plans. Jesus Christ had to be forced to eat sometimes. Why?
Because I must be about my father's business, his job, what he wants of me.
Luke chapter 20, I'm sorry, chapter 9 verse 23, the Bible reads,
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.
But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
For what is a man advantage if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away?
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed
when he shall come in his own glory in his father and in his father's and of the holy angels.
But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.
To be called a disciple is unique and special. Many are called, but few are chosen.
And look, there is nothing wrong with being an average normal Christian church member.
As a matter of fact, I was one for a long period of time.
But if you want to be called a disciple, if you want to be called a follower of Christ,
there is a difference between a Christian and someone who is saved.
I'm sure we understand that here. You could be saved but not be following after Christ.
The word Christian just means little Christ. You look like Christ. You act like Christ.
You're a follower of Jesus. There are plenty of people who are saved.
They're known as brothers and sisters. They are the saints.
But to be called a disciple, you have to be willing to forsake everything.
Turn if you would to Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter 14 verse 26.
The Bible reads,
If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters in his own life,
also he cannot be my disciple, and whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not down first and counteth the cost,
whether he have sufficient to finish it, lest happily, after he hath laid the foundation,
is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish.
For what king going to make war against another king sitteth not down first and counteth,
whether he be able with ten thousand to meet with that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassage and desireth conditions of peace.
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
So at the end of the day.
I think that was the fourth time I mentioned that phrase today, right? At the end of the day, right?
You got plans. I got plans. We all got plans.
Don't plan too far ahead. Plan for just right in front of you. Plan what your next meal is going to be.
Plan for your day. My rule of thumb is don't plan for more than a year.
How many of you guys have made New Year's resolutions?
One? One person? Okay. How many of you met your New Year's resolution?
That's a better question. I think it's January 19th is National Failed New Year's Resolution Day.
Because so many people, they're like, I'm going to, it's always around fitness,
I'm going to work out and I'm going to be fit all year long.
Come less, I mean, less than a month later, they're already failing.
I mean, I've wanted to learn Spanish. Can I speak Spanish? No.
My New Year's resolution, I'm going to learn Spanish. Failed.
I'm going to read the Bible five times in a year. Failed. I'm going to get big and buff. Failed.
I'm going to have pasta for dinner tonight. Let's just start there. Let's just start with the easy task.
A year, that's fine. Even in a business model. Plan for a year. Plan for quarter.
You know, the quarterlies in the year. Plan for the month. Plan for the week. Plan for the day.
If you look at my binder in the back, I have a weekly planner. Finally go about a week at a time.
You know, whatever scheduling and all this kind of stuff. But that's my rule of thumb.
Plan realistic plans. Don't plan too far ahead.
If you do and you decide to make a five-year, ten-year plan and you meet it, hey, God bless you. That's great.
The exception will prove the rule. You can't even stay fit for a year. How are you going to become a brain surgeon, for crying out loud?
Think about how much schooling and time and energy it takes to become a brain surgeon.
You've got to go to school for ten years. You've got to major in brain anatomy. You've got to major in surgery.
You've got to do all these crazy hours of apprenticeship with an already existing brain surgeon.
But along that road, by your sixth year in of schooling, you realize you hit a plateau.
You cannot learn more about the anatomy or something financially happens or fill in the blank.
Is it okay to just be an eye, nose, throat doctor? Is it okay to just bandage up broken arms?
Is it okay to be just a different type of doctor? You can adapt. You can learn to adapt.
And as long as we line our will up with God's will, then, like I said earlier, God be for us who can be against us.
Title of this message this morning, God is laughing at your plans. Fire heads and have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you so much for allowing us to wake up, for allowing us all to get here,
for allowing us to hear your word preached. I also want to make a special request for Duncan, the evangelist that will be here.
I just ask that you fill him with your Holy Spirit. Fill his family with the Holy Spirit.
Make sure that you put a hedge of protection around them, that they would do great things for you.
I just want you to be there for all of us, that we can get home safely, go out soul winning and see as many people saved as we can.
And we know that at the end of the day, our plans are silly in your sight, but we want to line our wills up with you.
In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Alright, so let's go ahead and pull out our hymnals. We will sing our final song. It will be song number 449.
449, Dwelling in Beulah Land, on 449.
First, far away the noise of strife upon my ear is calling.
Then I know the sins of earth beset on every hand.
Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling.
None of these shall move me from Beulah Land.
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry.
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply.
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land, far below the storm of doubt.
The world is beating, sons of men in battle. Off the enemy we stand.
Safe am I within the castle of God's word retreating.
Nothing then can reach me, tis Beulah Land.
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry.
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply.
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land.
Let the stormy breezes blow, their cry cannot alarm me.
I am safely sheltered here, protected by God's hand.
Here the sun is always shining, here there's not can for me.
I am safe forever in Beulah Land.
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry.
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply.
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land.
Viewing here the works of God, I seek in contemplation.
Hearing now His blessed voice, I see the way He planned.
Dwelling in the Spirit, here I learn of full salvation.
Gladly will I tarry in Beulah Land.
I'm living on the mountain underneath the cloudless sky.
Praise God, I'm drinking at the fountain
that never shall run dry.
Oh yes, I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply.
For I am dwelling in Beulah Land.
Amen. And with that, you are dismissed. You have a blessed day.
Thank you for watching.