Since I have been redeemed.
Song 229.
Song 229, Since I have been redeemed.
Sing it all together on the first.
I have a song I love to sing.
Since I have been redeemed.
Of my Redeemer, Savior, King.
Since I have been redeemed.
I will glory in his name.
Since I have been redeemed.
I will glory in my Savior's name.
I have a crisis satisfied.
Since I have been redeemed.
To do his will my highest prize.
Since I have been redeemed.
I will glory in his name.
Since I have been redeemed.
I will glory in my Savior's name.
I have a witness bright and clear.
Since I have been redeemed.
Dispelling every drought and fear.
Since I have been redeemed.
I will glory in his name.
Since I have been redeemed.
I will glory in my Savior's name.
I have a home prepared for me.
Since I have been redeemed.
Where I shall dwell eternally.
Since I have been redeemed.
I will glory in his name.
Since I have been redeemed.
I will glory in my Savior's name.
Amen.
Great singing.
Let's bow our heads to a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we thank you that we could be here again
to hear the preaching of your word.
We just pray you'd open up our hearts, that we'd be receptive
and apply these teachings to our lives.
We're thankful we have Brother Ben here preaching for us
and we just pray you'll bless him
and fill him with your Holy Spirit now as he prepares to preach to us tonight.
We love you Lord and pray you'd continue to bless this church with soul owners
and that you'd open up the hearts of the people in this area.
We'd be able to reach them with the gospel.
In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Next is going to be 323.
More about Jesus.
I hope that's why you came here tonight to hear more about Jesus.
323?
323, more about Jesus.
More about Jesus would I know
More of his grace do others show
More of his saving fullness see
More of his love who died for me
More, more about Jesus
More of his saving fullness see
More of his love who died for me
More about Jesus let me learn
More of his holy world discern
Spirit of God my teacher be
Showing the things of Christ to me
More, more about Jesus
More of his saving fullness see
More of his love who died for me
More about Jesus in his word
Holding communion with my Lord
Hearing his voice in every line
Making each faithful saying mine
More, more about Jesus
More of his saving fullness see
More of his love who died for me
More about Jesus on his throne
Riches in glory all his own
More of his kingdom sure increase
More of his coming Prince of Peace
More, more about Jesus
More of his saving fullness see
More of his love who died for me
Amen, great singing. Let's go ahead and go through our announcements.
If you need a bulletin, raise up your hand and the usher will try and bring one to you.
If you don't know Pastor Shelley, he's traveling. They're out of town right now.
Hopefully, we'll see him again this Wednesday. We have brother Ben
preaching for us tonight, so we're excited to have him.
Thank you to everybody who showed up.
On the front of our bulletin, you'll see our Bible memory passage.
Right now, as a church, we're working on John chapter number one.
Anybody, child or adult, if you can quote this entire chapter word for word,
you get a special prize. Now, John 1 is a very long chapter.
That means there's a very big prize.
If you haven't started on it, you still have like six months to finish it.
I forget how many verses. Was it 52 or something?
50 something. It's a mountain.
Just do one verse at a time and you'll get a big prize for that.
For children, if they just do the verse of the week, they can get ice cream
or candy on Wednesday. You actually have to do the verse.
Just go take the candy. You got to do the verse and ask for that.
On the inside of the bulletin, you'll see our service times
and our church-wide soul-winning times listed there below.
We also have regional soul-winning times. If that's closer to you,
you can get in touch with those people.
We have our church stats listed there below.
Please make sure if you have any salvations, just report them to your captain,
your soul-winning tribe or your soul-winning leader for that day.
We can make sure we count everybody for that.
We have a note there on the right that we'd ask everybody to please pray
for our expecting ladies. It's definitely hard on their bodies,
so just keep them and the babies in your prayers.
We also have our prayer list listed there below.
We normally go through that on Wednesday nights if you'd like to be added to it
or if you have somebody else you'd like the church to pray for,
just send us an email there.
Upcoming events, we have the Naim's Baby Shower.
Is this on the... I don't remember that note on the...
Is new? Okay.
If you'll see their upcoming events, we have another bridal shower.
There we go. July 2nd for Megan Cogdale, so congratulations for them.
If you can make it... Is there a note on the back? Yeah.
Go on the back of your bulletin.
This is new. I'm just figuring this out, right?
You got the Naim's, their baby shower.
That's going to be next week, June 11th, 1230 to 230.
She's registered on Amazon if you'd like to get them something.
Then the bridal shower for Megan, that's going to be July 2nd.
That's also from 1230 to 230 as well.
She's registered at Target and Amazon.
That's also nursing's only preferred.
With that, I think that's all I have for announcements.
You can take out your hymnal again.
We'll go to 335 if Jesus goes with me.
335.
335 if Jesus goes with me.
It may be in the valley where countless dangers hide.
It may be in the sunshine that I in peace abide.
But this one thing I know, if it be dark or fair.
If Jesus is with me, I'll go anywhere.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Does heaven to me, wherever I may be, if he is there.
I counted a privilege here, his cross to bear.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It may be I must carry the blessed word of life.
Across the burning deserts to those in sinful strife.
And though it be my lot to bear my colors there.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Does heaven to me, wherever I may be, if he is there.
I counted a privilege here, his cross to bear.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
But if it be my portion to bear my cross at home.
While others bear their burdens beyond the billows foam.
I'll prove my faith in him, confess his judgment fair.
And if he stays with me, I'll go anywhere.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Does heaven to me, wherever I may be, if he is there.
I counted a privilege here, his cross to bear.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
It is not mine to question the judgments of my Lord.
It is but mine to follow the leadings of his word.
But if I go or stay, or whether here or there.
It may be savior and tent anywhere.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Does heaven to me, wherever I may be, if he is there.
I counted a privilege here, his cross to bear.
If Jesus goes with me, I'll go anywhere.
Amen.
Great singing.
Amen.
At this time, please turn your Bibles to Joshua chapter number 18.
Joshua chapter number 18.
Joshua 18, the Bible reads,
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh,
and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there.
And the land was subdued before them.
And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes
which had not yet received their inheritance.
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel,
How long are ye slack to go to possess the land
which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?
Give out from among you three men for each tribe, and I will send them.
They shall rise and go through the land,
and describe it according to the inheritance of them,
and they shall come again to me.
And they shall divide it into seven parts.
Judah shall abide in their coast on the south,
and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coast on the north.
He shall therefore describe the land into seven parts,
and bring the description hither to me,
that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God.
But the Levites have no part among you,
for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance.
Gad and Reuben, half the tribe of Manasseh,
have received their inheritance beyond Jordan,
from the east which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.
And the men arose and went away,
and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land,
saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it,
and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh.
And the men went and passed through the land,
and described it by cities into seven parts in a book,
and came again to Joshua to the host of Shiloh.
And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord,
and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel,
according to their divisions.
And the lot of the tribe of the children of Benjamin,
came up according to their families,
and the coast of their lot came forth between the children of Judah,
and the children of Joseph.
And their border on the north side was from Jordan,
and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north side,
and went up through the mountains westward,
and the goings out thereof were at the wilderness of Beth Avon.
And the border went over from thence toward Luz,
to the side of Luz, which is Bethel, southward,
and the border descended to Atorah Idar,
near the hill that lieth on the south side of the nether Beth Haran.
And the border was drawn thence,
and could pass the corner of the sea southward,
from the hill that lieth before Beth Haran southward.
And the goings out thereof were at Kirjath Baal,
which is Kirjath Jeireim, the city of the children of Judah,
this was the west quarter.
And the south quarter was from the end of Kirjath Jeireim,
and the border went out on the west,
it went out to the well of waters of Neftoah.
And the border came down to the end of the mountain
that lieth before the valley of the son of Hinnom,
and which is in the valley of the giants on the north,
and descended to the valley of Hinnom,
to the side of Jebusai on the south,
and descended to Enrogel.
And was drawn from the north, and went forth to Enshamesh,
and went forth toward Gelilah,
which is over against the going up of Adumim,
and descended to the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben.
And passed along toward the side,
over against Araba northward, and went down unto Araba.
And the border passed along to the side of Beth Hagla northward,
and the outgoings of the border were at the north bay
of the salt sea at the south end of Jordan,
this was the south coast.
And Jordan was the border of it on the east side,
this was the inheritance of the children of Benjamin,
by the coasts thereof round about according to their families.
Now the cities of the tribe of the children of Benjamin,
according to their families, were Jericho and Beth Hagla,
and the valley of Peziz, and Betharabah,
and Zemaraim, and Bethel, and Avim, Eirah, Ophrah,
and Shefhar Hamanoi, and Ophni, and Geba,
twelve cities with their villages,
Gibeon, and Reimah, and Biroth, and Mizpah,
and Shaphira, and Moza, and Merikim, and Irpil, and Paralla,
and Zelah, Eleph, and Jebusai, which is Jerusalem,
Gibiath, and Kirjath, fourteen cities with their villages,
this is the inheritance of the children of Benjamin,
according to their families.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this day,
and the opportunity to be again gathered in your house.
I pray that right now you would fill Brother Ben with the Holy Spirit,
and just give him boldness to preach your word,
and pray that you'd minimize distractions in the service for us,
so that we can pay close attention to what you've laid on his heart.
We love you so much, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
So my sermon has nothing to do with Joshua 18,
I just wanted to make Dylan read those names.
But, I'm just kidding.
We're in Joshua 18.
Let's look at verse three to start things off.
Joshua 18, it says in verse number three,
And Joshua said unto the children of Israel,
How long are ye slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you?
So we have Joshua asking here,
how long is it going to take for you to possess the land that has been allotted for you,
the promised land that God expects you to procure,
how long is it going to take before you do it?
And that word is in reference to slowness,
or like a lack of intensity,
or kind of dragging your feet,
tardiness, delay, etc.
That's what it's talking about here.
And so there's land that, hey, it was allotted for them to possess it,
and they hadn't done it yet,
and of course the question, like I said, is how long would it take?
Joshua's trying to ensure that there would be no unnecessary delay
when it comes to procuring the land promised to the children of Israel by God.
And I think that when it comes to this word slack or slackness as a concept,
oftentimes what we see is that a product of slackness is procrastination.
It's dragging our feet when we don't want to do something,
or when we're maybe just acting lazy, right?
We kind of drag our feet in order to get past done,
and so a product of this is procrastination.
It's when you put things off. It's when you're stalling.
And I found a definition for the word on the internet.
It says that procrastination is the action of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something
despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for doing so.
So it's when you recognize that, hey, if I put this off, if I keep delaying, if I keep stalling,
there could be negative consequences as a result, and yet you do it anyway.
Another definition I found is trouble persuading yourself to do the things you should do or would like to do.
So it's when you kind of have some issues just getting things done even though you have to do them.
And a third definition is when you procrastinate, instead of working on important meaningful tasks,
you find yourself performing trivial activities.
And the gist of it is that you have the capability to get a particular task done.
So you have the ability to do it, you have the time to do it, and yet you choose not to.
And if you find yourself in that state this evening, you're a procrastinator.
You're procrastinating right now about something if you have the ability to do it and you choose not to.
And so that's why the title of my sermon is Stop Procrastinating. Stop Procrastinating.
Obviously, it's probably impossible to just never do this again.
We'll always find ourselves procrastinating about something.
But if you're defined by this, if you're someone who's always dragging your feet, you're always stalling,
you're always hesitating, you're always putting things off to the last second, then you're a procrastinator.
And my hope is that this message would provoke you to stop.
There are certain areas in our life where we just have to stop.
We have to stop procrastinating and we just have to get it done.
And I'm going to go over those areas here over the course of the next hour
and also talk about some of the dangers of leaving these things to the last second.
Some of the dangers of putting these things off and what could happen to us consequently.
If you would, turn over to Matthew chapter 4.
Matthew chapter 4. Meanwhile, I'll read for you from Proverbs 20 as you turn to Matthew chapter 4.
And in Proverbs 20, the Bible read,
The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold.
Therefore shall he beg and harvest and have nothing.
So the lazy doesn't plow, according to this scripture, because of the weather.
So they come up with an excuse not to do what they're supposed to do.
And procrastination happens when you know you're supposed to do something,
you have the ability to do it, you have the time to do it, and you come up with a bunch of excuses not to.
I'm not talking about a situation where you have no time.
Your schedule is full.
You're dealing with so many different, you're juggling so many different things at the same time,
and so certain tasks have to be pushed back as a result.
I'm not talking about that.
What I am saying though is that if you know you have to do something,
and you're just choosing not to despite having the ability to get it done,
that is what I'm preaching against.
That is the procrastination I'm talking about.
Look at Matthew chapter 4, and I'll get into more, I know, yes, I'm being very vague right now,
but I'll get into the specifics in a moment.
Look at Matthew chapter 4 verse 18.
Matthew chapter 4 and verse 18, it says,
And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
So they're minding their own business, they're fishers, they're doing what they do, fish.
Look at verse 19.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And they, notice this, straightway left their nets and followed him.
Simon, Peter, and Andrew weren't slack here, they didn't display any procrastination,
there was no delay, there was no hesitation, there was no stalling,
there was an immediate response to the call to action that came directly from the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that's the same lesson, that's the same attitude we should have,
that's a lesson we can take from this passage, which is just as sure as they left their nets straightway,
and they left it all behind, and they decided they were going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, Jesus is the Word of God, and the Word of God, it ought to provoke us to change,
it ought to provoke us to decide, you know what, I'm going to get this done,
I'm going to clean up my life, I'm going to go all in for Jesus.
Now obviously, yes, we should count the costs.
The Bible talks about that. Planning is a biblical concept, counting the cost is a biblical concept,
but you know what, there comes a time when you just got to do it.
You just got to do it.
Matthew 4 is, where had you turned, look at verse 21, Matthew 4 verse 21, it says,
And going on from thence he saw other two brethren,
James the son of Zebedee and John his brother,
in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets,
and he called them, and they, pay attention to this word here,
immediately left the ship and their follow, and their father I should say, and followed him.
There was no delay. Once again, what do we see here?
A common theme in this passage is an immediate response to the call to action from the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is a pattern of behavior that we should replicate in our own lives,
an immediate reaction, an immediate response to the word of God.
That's the purpose of coming to church, my friends.
It's not just so your ears can be tickled.
It's not just so that a fake love exhibiting preacher, probably a false prophet,
can get up and tell you how wonderful you are.
The reason why we come to church, well, first of all, is so that we can serve Jesus Christ.
But it's also that we can make our lives better, so we can serve Jesus Christ better.
So we can figure out, we can be pricked in the heart and figure out what areas we're lacking in
and improve in those areas and get better in those areas.
But here's my question for you.
How are you going to get any better if nobody's willing to tell you where you're messing up?
How are you going to get any better if no one's willing to tell you, hey, you're screwing up in this area.
You're not doing this right. You need to fix it.
And if nobody's willing to love you enough to say that, well, obviously, you're going to keep going down the wrong direction.
And that's why I would say that the pastors who preach the hardest against sin love you the most.
Even though it might hurt a little bit, even though when you get that rebuke and you think,
is he preaching against me? Well, if the shoe fits, you know, it might hurt to hear that a little bit.
Yeah, it'll hurt your ego a little bit.
But guess what? The preacher who preaches the hardest against sin loves you the most and is expecting what?
An immediate reaction, getting it right, and responding to what the Word of God said.
And we see that exemplified in Matthew chapter 4.
Turn to James 4, if you would. James 4.
And let me read for you from Exodus 22 as you flip over to James chapter 4.
In Exodus 22, the Bible says,
Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy right fruits and of thy liquors, the firstborn of thy sons, shall thou giveth to me.
And the reason why I wanted to quote that is because it kind of describes that here we see when it comes to the offering of the Lord,
there wasn't supposed to be any delay.
Don't delay to offer the first of thy right fruits, it talks about in Exodus chapter 22.
And regarding God's offering, thou shalt not delay, it says.
And we need to take that and apply it to our lives.
There are going to be certain areas in which thou shalt not delay.
And sometimes messages like this, they go over like a screen door on a submarine.
People don't want to hear it.
They just want to hear it again, just the things that kind of make them happy.
But we have to take the time to recognize areas of weakness in our Christian life in order to get better.
And for you, that might be procrastination.
You might be someone who's dragging their feet.
You might be someone who's constantly putting things off that you need to get done.
And you just need the word of God to prick you a little bit to get you over the hump.
Look at James, I should say, James chapter 4 verse 17.
James chapter 4 verse 17 is where I had you turn.
James chapter 4 verse 17 says,
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Now this is a very easy verse to comprehend.
If you know you're supposed to do good, and yet you choose not to, it is sin.
When you know you're supposed to pray, and yet you choose not to, it is sin.
When you know you're supposed to read the Bible, and yet you choose not to, it is sin.
When you know you're supposed to apply the preaching coming from behind this pulpit, and you don't, it is sin.
James chapter 4 is explaining to us that if we know to do that which is right,
and choose not to, despite having the ability to do it, kind of sounds like procrastination to me, it is sin.
And procrastination can be described this way according to a psychologist who I found online.
And he said, you know what you ought to do.
This is regarding procrastination.
You know what you ought to do, and you're not able to bring yourself to do it.
It's that gap between intention and action.
And you might be sitting in the pew this evening, and if you're honest with yourself,
you realize, and we probably all struggle with this, that there is a great gulf.
There's a gap between our intention and our action in our lives, and we need to make that gap disappear.
And that's the hope that I have, and the purpose of this sermon.
Now there are reasons why people habitually put things off constantly,
and drag their feet, and refuse to get things done that they should be getting done.
And I think based on some of the research I've done, based on human behavior and things like that,
there's four main categories, or four main reasons why people would struggle with this.
With habitual procrastination, making them a procrastinator.
I think the first reason, or the first category that we could describe would be laziness.
Oftentimes people just get lazy about things, and so they don't want to do a particular project.
You know, slothfulness, it leads to idleness.
And when you're a procrastinator, you're in idle mode, and you should be working.
So putting tasks off because they require hard work, laziness could be one main motivator for this bad habit.
Another could be fear or anxiety.
Sometimes people are afraid of something they have to do.
They have a lot of anxiety about it, and so they put it off.
I remember when I had to get, and it was minor surgery, so this is kind of embarrassing.
But I had to get minor surgery to get something out of my neck,
and I'm kind of a baby about knives and things like that.
And so I was just, when I woke up the morning of the surgery,
I had some fear and anxiety about it, and I wanted to push it off.
I wanted to delay it. I wanted to postpone the medical appointment that I had
because of some anxiety, because of some fear.
Also, people, they end up putting things off due to anxiety
as a result of the enormity of the project that they need to get done.
It might be a very large task that needs to get done,
and so they have some anxiety about how they're going to complete it,
and end up just not doing it, or they push it off to the last second.
The third reason why some people might struggle with this
is because of a lack of interest.
Lack of interest, lack of motivation, just apathy in general.
When you don't want to do something, it necessarily follows
that you're probably going to push it off to the last second
because you don't have any motivation to get it done.
And I think the fourth category and reason why people would struggle with this bad habit
would be a lack of self-control or discipline.
When you see this at work, where if an employee doesn't have his boss
breathing down his neck constantly throughout the workday,
then he just plays video games online or just kind of messes,
goofs off, slacks off like a bozo, and it's because of a lack of discipline.
They can't control themselves, and the Bible talks about how we shouldn't,
you know, we shouldn't make provision for the flesh, the Bible says.
And when you have a lack of self-control,
when you make provision for the flesh, it leads you to really lose your focus
and you end up pushing things to the last second, especially at work.
But again, the basis of what I'm talking about is when you're capable of getting a job done
and you choose not to, just make some excuses along the way.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and we'll get specific, 2 Corinthians chapter 6.
But those are the four main reasons, the four categories that I would put people under
as to why they would struggle with this bad habit.
And over the course of the sermon, I want to go over now areas where you really need to stop procrastinating.
It's not an option, there's no debate, you just need to stop and you need to get it done.
And I'll also talk about the motivation as to why people might drag their feet in these areas of their life.
And the first one is pretty simple. This is my first point.
Stop procrastinating about salvation. Stop procrastinating about salvation.
And I understand that I'm talking to a room filled with 99.9% except for the Judas.
Save people, I get that. I understand, so I'll have an application for the saved in a moment.
So bear with me. But I still think it's an important truth for us to realize,
hey, don't procrastinate about salvation. And this will apply to you in a moment, but notice 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2.
2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 2, where the Bible read,
For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suckered thee.
Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
You know when the perfect time is to get saved? It's right now. Don't wait until tomorrow.
Don't wait until next week, next month, next year. You get saved now.
And this is something we need to urge people to do, is not wait forever to get saved.
Because they might not have the opportunity tomorrow. Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the accepted time. Don't wait another second.
And if you're sitting in the auditorium this evening and you're not saved, you're not saved yet,
and you're willing to admit that, you know what, I don't know what it takes to go to heaven.
You ask anyone, man, woman, even some children in this room, how to go to heaven.
You ask them what the gospel is right after I'm done preaching. They will tell you.
Don't hesitate. Don't stall. Stop waiting. What are you waiting for?
You ask somebody right now, if there's someone in this room right now who isn't saved,
you go up to somebody and you ask them, what does it take, what must I do to be saved,
Acts chapter 16 style, and they will tell you, stop procrastinating about it.
Just get it done. And like I said, there's motivations for these things.
Why would someone not want to get saved? I think it's a lack of interest.
Lack of, they just don't care about the spiritual world whatsoever.
They're happy with the here and now. They're kind of satisfied with their life right now.
They're not really thinking beyond this world. And it's a very dangerous thought
because there could come a day when it's too late, my friend.
It's called the reprobate doctrine. You hate God, you reject the Lord.
If you have that attitude about the Lord, there might come a time when he rejects you,
but beyond that, you know, the people in hell, they wish that they could get out.
They wish they could get saved right now, and they cannot. It is not possible.
It's too late for them, and you never know when it could be your last day.
So these people who would say, oh man, I'll just, I'll worry about that later.
It's no big deal. Just, you know, on my deathbed, I'll start thinking about God maybe,
and hopefully, you know, maybe then I might get saved or something like that.
Dangerous thought. Don't have that thought. It is insane to me.
We see this when we go out solo, and you guys all know what I'm talking about,
but it's insane to me that you go out, you knock doors,
and salvation isn't the very tippy top of every unsaved person's priority list.
It's like crazy to me, and they'll even admit it to you.
Hey, what do you think you need to go to heaven? I don't know.
You think you're going to make it? Probably not.
Well, do you want to know? It'll take me 10 minutes. No.
Wouldn't be me. I mean, what is wrong with you? Really?
What an amazing gift to have somebody knock on your door and willing to explain to you
what it takes to go to heaven, and you're just going to put it off?
Come on! And so right now, you're in the house of God.
Like I said, you don't know you're saved. You talk to anybody, and they'll tell you.
The Bible says, Boast not thyself of tomorrow.
We can't just be presumptuous about the time we think we have,
especially if you're unsaved, but now let's talk about those who are saved,
because you might be thinking, well, I'm saved. This doesn't apply to me.
Praise God! Hey, praise God that you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise God that you've been sealed with the Holy Ghost. You have eternal life.
You're a child of God this evening. That's wonderful. That's awesome.
It's great to be amongst the brethren. We're all in one accord on this doctrine.
What about your wife? What about your aunt? What about your uncle?
You can think of someone right now who you know is in your sphere of influence
that you haven't told about the good news of Jesus Christ.
Guaranteed you can. What about your grandma? What about your grandpa?
What about your cousin? What about your brother? What about your sister?
You're saved. Great. Wonderful. Awesome. What about them?
You see them every day, potentially, or at least on a regular basis.
Have you told them, or are you procrastinating about it?
Oh, I'll tell them tomorrow. I'll tell them next week.
I can think of somebody that I delayed telling them about the gospel.
I procrastinated about it, and now it's too late.
I'm not going to get into detail on it, but I will say this.
You don't take for granted anything in this life, and you don't know when your mom,
when your dad, when your brother, when your sister, when your uncle,
when your aunt, when your cousin is going to take their last breath.
And so, you know what? I'd rather take the chance of maybe offending them
about what it takes to get to heaven than say nothing at all,
and then they die, and it's too late.
And unfortunately, I'm speaking from experience on this area.
And like I said, I don't want to get into it, but I will say this.
You don't want to make that same mistake.
Do not procrastinate about getting your family and friends the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Don't procrastinate. What are you waiting for?
Tell them. Walk out of there. Give them a call.
Hey, I'd like to talk to you about something.
And look, if they're not receptive, at least you tried.
The blood's off your hands at that point.
You gave it your best shot. They weren't interested.
They didn't want to get saved, and I'd rather know at least I gave it my best shot.
At least I tried. It's the least I could do is try,
and if they reject me, really they're rejecting Jesus,
and if they're rejecting Jesus, so be it.
At least you gave it an attempt.
But doing nothing at all, procrastinating. I'll do it next week.
No big deal. I'll do it next year.
I'll do it at their birthday party when they invite me over or something.
I'll wait for a particular event coming in the future.
Well, you never know when you might not ever see them again, especially if they're older.
You know, I had a real urgency about my dad.
He's like in his late 70s, and I just kept pestering on it.
I said, Dad, you need to listen to me, please.
He's like 78, I think, 78, 79.
Please listen to me. I know that we live in separate states. Would you please?
And I give him a call on the phone. I said, just give me 10 minutes. That's all I'm asking.
And you know what? Praise God. In this instance, it was a success
because I was able to preach my older father the gospel, and he did believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he prayed with me on the phone, and now I know I don't have to worry about that with him.
But there are other people that I'm sure all of us can think of, myself included, that haven't made that decision yet.
And so stop procrastinating. Get them the good news before it is too late.
And of course, what am I warning you about?
I'm warning you about the finite nature of life.
Obviously, life is very fragile, and it could end before you even planned on it, too.
Especially in this crazy world that we all live in.
And so, just keep that in mind, folks. Look at Matthew, I'm sorry, Mark 4.
Mark chapter 4 and verse 15. Mark chapter 4 and verse 15.
So what's my first point? Stop procrastinating about salvation.
You might be someone who's not saved in the room right now.
Ask anybody about the gospel after the service. They'll tell you.
And they'd be happy to tell you.
This room is filled with people who love to preach the gospel.
They're passionate about preaching the gospel.
If there was ever a place where you can get that question answered, what it takes to go to heaven, this is it right here.
But also, for those who already are saved, don't procrastinate about people who are in your sphere of influence.
Mark 4 says in verse 15,
And these are they by the wayside, where the word is sown.
But when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
You know, Satan can take away the word that has been sown in an individual's heart, and they end up not getting saved.
If they're close, no cigar, as they say.
I don't know why I just used that cliché behind the pulpit, but it is what it is.
No redos.
The Bible says that there are people, they come close, and then the devil just takes it away from them.
And we can think of a lot of different scenarios in which this happens, but here's one that we're probably all familiar with.
When someone ascends to the facts about what it takes to be saved.
When they ascend to the fact of salvation by grace through faith alone and once saved, always saved, but they don't believe it.
When they acquiesce to what the Bible says about this topic, but they don't believe it, they don't call on the name of the Lord.
And so we need to urge people, if they're in that state right now, what the Bible is warning in Mark chapter 4,
that if they don't call, if they don't ask, if they don't receive, if they don't choose to place all their faith in Jesus by calling on the name of the Lord,
that the devil might take the word that you've sown in their hearts and they might end up in hell.
Not a laughing matter here. It's a serious business and that's why I get upset when people mess with soul winning and they mess with doctrines that have to do with salvation.
It's not a laughing matter. We're not playing games here.
Serious heaven or hell, eternity's at stake, and when someone chooses not to call on the name of the Lord, they're in jeopardy of exactly what is written in the text here.
Satan coming, taking away the word that was sown in their hearts, which is why we need to make sure we let them know, hey, stop procrastinating about this.
Call on the name of the Lord right now. What are you waiting for?
Oftentimes they don't believe it and so they don't call.
Those who refuse to call on the name of the Lord, what you'll notice is they don't believe it.
There's still something in their heart that's preventing them from making that decision, which is that they don't believe the doctrine.
They don't believe that it's by faith alone. They don't believe eternal security. If you dig deep enough, you'll figure that out.
And so the thing is though, we still need to urge them to stop procrastinating, to get this thing right.
Isaiah 55 tells us, call ye upon him while he is near.
And the false doctrine that says that you don't have to ask for salvation is so dangerous because it could lead to this very scenario right here in Mark chapter 4 verse 15.
It leads people to delay when it comes to calling on the name of the Lord.
It leads people to procrastinate. It leads people not to do it. It leads people to leave it for some other day, maybe next week, maybe next month, maybe next year.
And then before they know it, the devil comes and takes away the word that you worked so hard to sow in their hearts.
Let me tell you something right now. This idea that you don't have to ask to be saved.
This garbage false anti-soul winning doctrine that's coming from the devil himself comes from Satan himself.
And I can see how Satan would love everyone to believe this because then you just leave people on their doorstep without having sealed the deal and he just swipes right in and takes away the word that's been sown in their heart because it hasn't been mixed with faith.
You know, there's a big reason that people have for delaying salvation. Like I said, it's a lack of motivation. They're only concerned with the things of this life.
Another thing is fear. And the reason why we don't often give the gospel to people in our sphere of influence is because we're afraid of rejection.
And we need to get over that because there's a danger associated with procrastinating about this issue.
There's a danger associated with delaying, hesitating, stalling. And let me tell you what that danger is. Eternal hellfire.
And that's all I have to say. I mean, think of the magnitude of that. Eternal hellfire could be the result if we screw this up and we wait too long to get someone the good news.
Turn over, if you would, to Ecclesiastes chapter 11. Ecclesiastes chapter 11.
Now, I want to go from the spiritual to the carnal. And obviously, we talk a lot about spiritual replication here.
But I also think that carnal replication or physical replication is supreme. It's very important. It is very important.
And it's a doctrine we hold near and dear to our hearts, which is why the next point I wanted to make is this. Stop procrastinating about having children.
Stop procrastinating about having children. And what am I talking about? I'm talking about having as many as you can.
I'm talking about being fruitful and multiplying. New IFP style. Which is really Bible style, okay?
Ecclesiastes 11 and verse 4, it says in Ecclesiastes 11 verse 4,
He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.
There's some wind and some clouds. It's not a valid excuse to avoid sowing and reaping.
And I think the lesson we could take from this passage is if you're looking for the perfect time to do something, you're just never going to do it.
You can't just sit there and wait for the exact perfect time to go all in because then you'll just never actually accomplish what you're setting out to accomplish.
And people have this attitude when it comes to having children. They say, well, I'm going to wait for the perfect time in my life to have kids.
Well, guess what? You're just never going to have kids then because ain't no such thing as perfect time, all right?
You just got to decide that you're going to serve the Lord, that you're going to trust God to give you the progeny that He wants to give you.
But how do people delay this? How do people procrastinate in this area? Murder.
It's called, two words, birth control. It's called taking an abortifacient pill that could lead to the termination of a pregnancy right after conception.
And women are walking around because they want to get their career. They want to go sit in a cubicle all day and obey their boss at work but not their husband.
And they're walking around, they're popping the pills and they're killing their own children without even knowing it a lot of the time.
All so they can procrastinate on this and delay and hesitate and stall because, well, they're just not ready for children. They're just not ready yet.
You see, kids are a burden in their eyes. Well, is that what the Bible teaches? Look at Psalm 127, if you would, Psalm chapter 127.
There are other ways that married couples block this process, which I'm not going to get into detail on, but you likely know what I'm referring to.
And so, it's wrong, is my point. It's wrong. It is not right. Genesis tells us, you're turning to Psalm 127, Genesis says,
And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the seas and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Genesis 9 says it again, And God blessed Noah and his sons and sent unto them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.
The commandment that goes back from the very beginning is simply this, easy to understand, be fruitful and multiply, the Bible says.
Be fruitful and multiply. If you're married, stop procrastinating in this area and start having children.
And trust the Lord to give you as many as he's going to give you. Psalm 127 says in verse 3, it says,
And the fruit of the womb is a burden. Is that what it says? No. And the fruit of the womb is his reward.
You know what I felt like when I found out my wife was pregnant with John? I said, that's a reward from God, not a burden.
I wasn't saddened by it. You can ask her, I didn't even believe it, because we didn't think it would ever happen to us.
So, you know, you celebrate, you're happy because it's a reward from God. Look at verse number 4.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath this quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. Happy is the man that has what? Lots of children.
That's the word of God this evening. You say, I don't like that. Well, I don't care.
Happy is the man that has a big family. And you know what? We live in a world that's anti-children.
They're being defiled, they're being propagandized, and they're being killed.
Can we at least have people who claim the name of Christ in this area say, not here.
Not here. I love children. I'm going to have as many as God gives me, whether it's 0 or 15.
And some of you are on pace for 27. Good for you. And I looked over here when I said that.
And maybe over there. And a little bit over here as well. Good for you. Don't let people make you feel ashamed about the size of your family.
And they're going to do that. You go, I'm sure it's happened to you out in public. Are they all your kids?
Would you rather I just killed them like you?
You know, here's my thing. Stop procrastinating in this area. Have as many children as possible.
And if people want to give you grief about it, just do this. Line up every single one of your children in front of the person.
Even if it's in your family. Whoever it is. You line them all up in front of the individual.
Have them look directly into their eyes. Line them all up. All your children up in front of the antagonist.
And you say this. Okay, now here's what I want you to do. You tell me which one of my children shouldn't exist.
Oh, you have so many kids. Okay, which one of them shouldn't even exist then?
That might shut them up. And praise God for that.
Because I'm sick of big families being attacked in this godless and wicked culture.
But happy is the man with the big family. So what are you procrastinating for?
Make the jump. Make the leap of faith and decide, you know what? I'm throwing the birth control pills down the drain.
We're not going to do other methods anymore that block this process.
We are going to be fruitful and multiply because that's what God said. And praise the Lord for that.
And look at the result. Look at the fruit. Look at the happy families that you see surrounding you every time you come on Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night.
You ask any of them. Marcel will tell you. Marcel, aren't you happy to have a big family? Exactly right. What about you, Brother Milstead?
There you go. How about Cardona's? What do you think? Happy, right? Exactly. There's your poll. The informal poll right there.
A hundred percent of the respondents said they were happy. Why? Because of their big family. That having a big family made them happy.
That's what Psalm 127 promises you. And so stop procrastinating and do it. Stop procrastinating and have children. Be fruitful and multiply.
What are you waiting for? Why do people procrastinate about having children? Well, they don't trust the Lord enough.
I'll get to in a minute, but I think there's multiple reasons. First of all, and this is extremely carnal, they'll say, well, I don't want my wife's body to be ruined.
What a load of garbage. You know, a mother, a godly mother, raising her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord is a beautiful thing.
And what if I told you that your wife doesn't have to look like a Hollywood whore to be attractive? Beauty is vain anyway, but I don't think having children ruins a woman's beauty at all.
I still think my wife's gorgeous and she is currently very pregnant. You know, how about this one? They're anxious, they're nervous, they're anxious about spacing out the children.
They don't want to have too many children in succession. Well, thankfully God created breastfeeding and the LAM method. Research that.
They're worried they can't travel the world anymore. Oh, we have so many kids, you know, if we start having kids and we can't do all our traveling to all over the world and take, you know, these trips.
Well, flying sucks anyway, first of all. They pack you in like sardines into a tin can with no customer service and you just travel during the millennium.
Just wait until the millennium. Here's another thing. Oh, it's unaffordable. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to pay for it as a man.
And look, I get that. It's a fear that you might have. But my question is, where's your faith?
You know, in Matthew 6, it's Jesus who said,
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Do you believe that or not?
You know, in Psalm 37, it says,
And I believe with all my heart that if you decide you're going to be fruitful and multiply and follow God's commandments in this area of your life and stop procrastinating and have children, that he will take care of you.
He will take care of you. He's not going to see or allow you to beg bread. He will take care of you.
What's the danger of procrastinating on this subject? What's the danger of just pushing it off?
You might not be able to have kids one day because of old age.
Eventually, you lose that ability because of old age. Maybe the birth control pills mess with a woman's body to the point that she can no longer be fertile anymore.
That's a possibility. And so, you're wasting away your time if you haven't decided to stop hesitating on this and be fruitful and multiply.
I think of these career women. Why is it that these cat ladies even exist? Why do they exist?
Because they didn't have any kids. And so, they're lonely. And so, they're depressed. And so, they hate their life.
And they're just miserable, depraved people because they never had children.
Don't be the person that says, you know, when I make it to the end of your life, you think, man, I wish that I was fruitful and multiplied.
I wish I had more children. You know, you're probably not going to think, I wish I got the, you know, I wish I got that Ferrari.
You're not going to care about the vehicles that you didn't purchase when you reach your old age.
But you know what you're going to care about? Man, I wish I had more kids.
Don't procrastinate in this area. Be fruitful and multiply.
Now, obviously, when it comes to having a big family, it requires a provider. I get that.
Which is why my next point is this. Turn over to Ecclesiastes 9, if you would. Ecclesiastes 9.
My third point is this. Stop procrastinating on the job. Stop procrastinating on the job.
You want to be a provider? You want to be an effective provider? Well, you need to come to work with the right attitude.
Ecclesiastes 9 says in verse 10, it says,
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.
The Bible talks about putting in maximum effort in whatever endeavor you find yourself doing.
And I talked about this in Houston a few weeks ago. I wanted to reiterate a couple of points here.
Which is that you have to decide, you know what, I'm just going to go all in. I'm going to put maximum effort at my job.
And even if you hate your job, having that attitude might change your opinion and make you like it.
You have to force yourself. Women, children, they're quote on the job at home.
And if you want to be an effective keeper at home, then don't procrastinate.
There are a number of things that I'm sure all of us have left to decay, that we're not getting done.
And especially when it comes to being a homekeeper and all the chores that you have to take care of, it piles up.
Proverbs 31, it says about the Proverbs 31 woman, you don't have to turn there, I'll quote this for you.
It says that she riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household.
She gets up before even the sun does to get meat for her household. That is the complete antithesis of procrastination.
And that's the example for us. That's the example that we should take.
It's easy to allow household responsibilities to pile up as a result of procrastination.
I can think of some myself. When I leave the garbage in the kitchen for too long and it piles up, it attracts flies and that's disgusting.
Or the lawn. You know, if you don't mow the lawn, it's going to look really bad and you might get in trouble with the HOA.
And so we have to make sure that we're not putting off our responsibilities at home.
But also on the job in terms of employment as well.
Colossians 3, it tells us in verse 23, and whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men.
They have the attitude that says, I'm going to do the dishes heartily. I'm going to do the laundry heartily.
I'm going to clean my house heartily. Meaning, with your heart. With your might.
And when you have that mentality, it'll help you not to procrastinate about those things.
Because all of a sudden you kind of feel passionate about it. You kind of take pride a little bit in your ability to get household responsibilities done.
How about for the children? Ephesians 6, it says, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
And children, what you need to realize is this, when mom and dad tell you to get something done, it isn't time to dilly dally.
It isn't time to play some video games. If they say, I need you to get your room cleaned right now, it means go get it done right now.
If they say, I need you to go read your Bible right now, it means go read your Bible right now.
Stop procrastinating and listen to mom and dad when they give you a command. When they give you a request.
And also, don't procrastinate about your schoolwork. Because that's a bad habit that you'll carry with you into the workforce.
Early in your life, you're developing habits, good or bad, that you're going to carry with you into adulthood.
And so be cognizant of that and recognize that and don't develop the bad attitude of always leaving things to the very last second.
Because it will carry with you into adulthood and it will be really hard once you get to that stage of your life to break that habit.
Titus chapter 2, I'm not sure if I had you turn there, but if you would go to Titus chapter 2 in verse 9.
Now let's talk about employment. Let's talk about how we should behave at work.
We should go to work with all our might. Our families are relying on us men to provide for them.
And so, how do you think they're going to feel if you go to work and you're just kind of goofing off, slacking off, waiting for the last second to get things done?
How's Jesus feel about that? How about you obey the boss like you would Jesus? Because the Bible says, as unto the Lord.
Titus 2 says in verse 9, exhort servants. Titus 2 verse 9, exhort servants to be obedient under their own masters and to please them well in all things, not answering again.
Your master according to the flesh is your boss at work and we should obey the boss as we would Jesus.
Now what pleases the boss? Let me tell you what pleases the boss when you stop procrastinating and you get your tasks done.
When you stop procrastinating and you get the project done. When you don't leave things to the very last second, that pleases the boss.
And if you choose to just ignore everything I'm saying right now, I guarantee you this is going to happen to you.
That deadline that was two or three months down the road is going to come tomorrow.
And you're going to realize, man, I really needed that time that I wasted.
You're going to realize, man, I wish that I actually put a plan together and got this project done and chipped away at it little by little every day when I came into work rather than reading garbage on the internet or fooling around and wasting time.
And before you know it, that deadline is coming tomorrow and you're going to have no time to do what your boss has asked you to do and you're going to miss your deadline and he might decide this person isn't even productive anymore and let you go.
He might embarrass the cause of Christ in the process.
Think of how embarrassing that would be to the cause of Christ, to the Lord Jesus Christ who we're representing at our secular jobs, by the way, if you decided to slack off, leave something to the last second, eventually not get it done because you ran out of time and your boss decides consequently to let you go.
Not only would it be embarrassing to your family but embarrassing to Jesus and so don't fall into that. Don't procrastinate on the job. Look at Proverbs 13 if you would, Proverbs chapter 13.
You say, well, I don't have a job. This doesn't apply to me.
Okay, well then your job is to get a job.
You got to be spending eight hours a day finding a job.
You have to have a sense of urgency about this.
Oh, I'll just go beg on the side of the road.
I don't need a job. People will give me money for free if I beg hard enough.
Loser!
And you're not welcome in the house of God, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.
It's trash.
Proverbs 13 verse 4. Proverbs 13 verse 4.
The soul of the sluggard desireth and hath nothing but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
Lazy people, they have nothing because they haven't earned it.
Why do people procrastinate at work? Laziness oftentimes.
They don't want to just do what they're expecting, what they're expected to do, I should say.
Also a lack of self-control.
A lack of the ability to control yourself and focus at work.
And the danger associated with this habit, you could get fired.
And then that will impede your ability to provide for your family.
Look at Psalm 119 if you would and this is my last point.
Psalm 119.
What are some things you could do to overcome procrastination in a work setting?
Break up large projects. I wrote some of these down.
Break up some large projects that you have to accomplish in the future into smaller segments.
Create a timeline. Create a list of things you have to do to get the project done.
Learn self-control. The Bible says make not provision for the flesh.
Cultivate a productive environment.
Get distractions out of your office if necessary to keep you focused and get motivated.
Ask God to motivate you about your career path and motivate you about your job so you can do a better job.
Consider the consequences as well when it comes to waiting until the last second, which is this.
You might not even get it done and then you could lose your place of employment.
Look at Psalm 119 where I had you turn in verse 60.
Psalm 119 and verse 60. Notice what it said there in Psalm 119 verse 60.
I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
The bands of the wicked have robbed me, but I have not forgotten thy law.
In the midst of the wicked robbing the psalmist, he said I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments.
My fourth and final point is this. Stop procrastinating about cleaning up your life.
Stop procrastinating about getting the sin out of your life.
We see that what does the psalmist say in verse 60? I made haste.
Did not delay to keep God's commandments.
And keeping God's commandments necessarily entails getting the sin out of your life, cleaning up your life,
and deciding, you know what? I'm making a change. I'm turning this over.
I'm starting a new chapter like what Pastor Shelley preached a few weeks ago.
I'm cleaning things up. Turn over to 2 Chronicles 34 if you would. 2 Chronicles chapter 34.
If you find yourself a habitual or constant procrastinator when it comes to the things of God,
a tip that I have for you is maybe you should try doing those things in the morning
because if you get them done first thing in the morning, it becomes impossible to wait until the end of the day.
The Bible talks about prayer happening in the morning.
Maybe if you're constantly putting prayer off to the last second and then never getting to it,
you might want to pray in the morning and get it done with.
Bible reading. You might want to do your Bible reading in the morning when you wake up every morning
rather than waiting until after you get home from work where you're too tired to understand a lot of the text anyway.
Your reading comprehension probably goes down tremendously when you're fatigued, when you're tired.
I bet you get a lot more out of your reading when you do it as soon as you wake up.
It also allows you to check that off the list and then you don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day
because it's already been done. It's impossible to procrastinate now because you've already completed that task for the day.
And the reason why I bring up Bible reading is because of course we know that the Word of God,
it confronts us with God's law. We know that.
And we see a man was confronted with God's law in 2 Chronicles chapter 34.
And I want you to notice how he responded. How did he react to this?
Did he procrastinate? Did he drag his feet about getting things right?
Look at verse 19. 2 Chronicles 34 verse 19. We're almost done this evening.
2 Chronicles 34 verse 19, it says,
And it came to pass when the king, talking about Josiah, had heard the words of the law that he rent his clothes.
And the king commanded Hilkiah and Ahicham the son of Shaphan and Abdon the son of Micah and Shaphan the scribe
and Azahiah a servant of the king saying,
Go inquire of the Lord for me and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the book that is found.
For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out upon us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord to do after all that is written in this book.
How does Josiah, King Josiah, respond to the law of God?
Does he respond by hesitating, stalling, procrastinating, or do we see sudden dread?
Or do we see sudden fear because of what his fathers did because of the spiritual state of the kingdom?
We see a sudden response. That's the answer.
We see that he immediately reacts to the law of God. There's an immediate reaction and he wants to get this place clean.
And that's exactly what he does.
We see also Phinehas regarding Zimrae and Cosby in Numbers chapter 4 I believe when the plague was stayed because of the javelin that went through the fornicators in the tent.
There was an immediate reaction to that sin which is to put a stop to it and the plague was stayed.
Josiah reacts quickly as well. Look at verse 33.
It says in verse 33, 2 Chronicles 34 verse 33,
And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertain to the children of Israel,
and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God.
In all his days they departed not from following the Lord the God of their fathers.
But how does he respond? Does he wait 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years? No.
Immediately we see a reaction to the preaching of God's law. We see a reaction to what the law of God states.
We see a reaction to the spiritual state of his kingdom and he removes the abominations out of the land.
This is purification and it's what kick starts a revival in this kingdom.
It's what kick starts a revival.
You know, wouldn't it God that there would be leaders like Josiah in the world today,
who when they're confronted with the law of God at a place like a city council meeting for example,
when they're confronted with the law of God, they immediately react to it and decide they're going to clean up their city.
They immediately react. They don't procrastinate. They don't drag their feet. They don't make excuses.
They decide right here, right now, we're making a change. We're turning back to God.
Imagine if we had a leader like that, someone like Josiah, who decided to rule from the Josiah playbook
and decide we're going to clean up the nation. We're afraid of God. We fear the Lord. We fear his wrath.
We don't want his wrath coming on this city and so we are going to get some things cleaned up. We are going to get right.
That'd be wonderful, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be wonderful? Wouldn't it be great?
And maybe God would bless America. You say, I want God to bless America. Here's how it can be possible.
In the Bible it says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Don't take for granted the magnitude of that verse right there. If my people.
And I think it's time to turn the attention inwardly. I think it's time to look in the mirror of the laws of God this evening.
I think it's time to start paying a little bit of attention to how Christians are behaving, how we're behaving as Christians.
Whether or not we reverence the law of God like Josiah did, if my people, the Bible says, if my people, get that through your head, if my people.
You want to be the change in America? How about you get the sin out of your life? How about you clean up your life?
And maybe if Christians would stop procrastinating about this, if Christians would stop procrastinating about cleaning up their life,
God might raise up a Josiah-like leader who would execute the laws of God like we so badly want a leader to do.
Hey, maybe there'd be a Josiah who would rise to power and stymie the agenda of the enemy.
You know, Christianity right now, it's in a state of slumber, it's in a state of slackness, it's in a state of indifference.
And the reason why is because Christians are procrastinating about getting their life cleaned up and getting the sin out of their life and getting right with God.
And it's time to stop procrastinating as Christians. It's time to get our rear-end in gear.
It's time to decide, you know what, starting right now, not next week, not next month, but right now, I'm cleaning up my life.
I'm sick of it. Make a change.
You say, I'm in fornication. Well, you better be careful, okay, because 1 Corinthians 5 is in the Bible and we actually believe it.
Church discipline. The pastor will tell you how he deals with that.
But if you're in that state, decide right now, today, you're going to get it right.
You're going to get married in a couple of weeks or you're going to move out and you're going to get it right.
Decide today that you are going to flee fornication like the Bible says.
You say, oh, I struggle with alcohol and I just haven't had the motivation or I've been putting off getting it out of my life.
I've been putting off casting alcohol out of my life. I've been putting it off.
Well, decide today. Make the change right now. That's the purpose of the sermon.
Make the change right now. Decide today you're not going to procrastinate in that area anymore
and you are going to throw out every single one of those beer bottles, wine bottles, vodka bottles.
You're going to break them. You're going to pour that poison down the drain.
Decide you're going to do it today, right now. Stop procrastinating.
You say, I struggle with gluttony. Well, decide today that you're going to change the way you think about food
and you're going to care about your temple. You're going to take care of the temple that God has given you.
You may struggle with covetousness. Decide today that you're going to change the way you think about materialism.
You may struggle with smoking. Maybe you haven't quit smoking. Decide today. Decide right now. I quit.
Decide right now. I'm done. Decide right now. It's over. I'm walking out of those doors and I'm not smoking another cigarette
because I want to take care of the temple that God has given me. Decide to do it now.
Have a sense of urgency. Stop procrastinating. You say, I'm backslidden. Well, it's good to see you here if that's the case.
You're obviously trying to fix it. But, you know, decide today, right now. Today is the day to decide.
I'm not going to be backslidden anymore. I'm going to go back to three to thrive the way I used to be.
What are you waiting for? Do it right now. Now is the day. Let's go to James 4 and we'll be done. James chapter 4.
There is no reason to wait. There is no reason to delay. There is no reason to hesitate when it comes to cleaning up your life.
Have a sense of urgency and do it right now. We can all think of a habitual sin that we're struggling with in our lives that we just haven't had the guts to confront.
We can all think of one. If we're all being honest with ourselves, we'll decide today. You know what? I'm taking care of it.
James 4 says in verse 14, whereas ye know what shall be on the morrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appearth for a little time and then vanish away.
Why preach a sermon about procrastination? Your life's a vapor and it will vanish away.
The time that we have on this earth is precious because it's going to run out one day.
And you don't want to get to the end of your life and be defined by what could have been rather than what you actually did accomplish.
What a shame it would be to be defined by what could have been. Man, what a great Christian so and so could have been if he didn't constantly procrastinate.
If he didn't constantly decide to delay things until the last second and never get to them.
If he decided he wasn't going to procrastinate anymore about getting the sin out of his life, about working hard at his job.
Man, what a great Christian this person could have been if he decided to do those things, but it's possible that you're remembered in that way.
What could have been? I don't want that to be you. Have the assertiveness to follow this principle.
And we read about it in 2 Corinthians 6. I talked about it in relation to salvation, but you can apply it in many different ways, I believe.
And it's the assertiveness that says, now is the day. Now is the appointed time. Now is the day. Now is the day to get saved.
Now is the day to get a loved one saved. Now is the day to be fruitful and multiply, like I talked about.
Now is the day to go to work and stop putting off your assignments. Now is the day to get the sin out of your life.
Now is the day to get right with God. It's now. It's right now. There's no reason to wait. There's no reason to hesitate.
And folks, there's something. I know it. There's something that you've been putting off. We all have something we've been putting off, whether it's spiritual or carnal.
But there's something that we have all been putting off for far too long, and we need to decide right now that it ends today. It's over. We're going to get it done.
It'll be the Christian that says, the second I walk out of those doors, I'm going to apply the sermon. I'm not waiting anymore.
I'm going to apply the sermon the second I walk out of those doors. I'm getting it right. I'm throwing out the birth control. I'm done.
I'm going to be fruitful and multiply. The second you walk out of those doors, you decide you're going to do that. Throw out that birth control. Stop murdering your children.
Forsake the habitual sin that you've been struggling with for years.
That you haven't had the guts to confront, that you haven't had the guts to forsake, to deal with.
Decide, you know what, I'm shattering the beer bottles, I'm pouring the poison down the drain, and I'm getting it right.
I'm getting sober, I'm fleeing fornication, I'm sanctifying myself from the world, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year, but right now.
Decide you're going to do it right now, and whatever it is that you've been putting off, whether it's something to do with your job, whether it's something to do with your Christian life, decide the second you walk out of those doors after the sermon is over, that you're going to go out there into the world and you're going to get it done.
What's the purpose of the sermon? Real simple, it's just two words. Stop procrastinating.
Let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much for the church that you have given us and the opportunity we have to gather together and hear your word being preached.
Just help us to stop procrastinating about things we need to get done in our lives, especially in relation to the things of God.
Help us to get right, not to push that off, not to wait for the last second.
Help us, Lord, to stop procrastinating in these areas that I talked about and to jumpstart our Christian life and to just stop wasting our time.
In Jesus' name, I pray.
Amen. Thank you for the message, brother. Ben, with that, let's go ahead and close it out with our last song tonight.
We'll take out your hymnal to 248.
Now I belong to Jesus.
248.
248. Now I belong to Jesus.
Jesus, my Lord, will love me forever.
From him no power of evil can sever.
He gave his life to ransom my soul.
Now I belong to him.
Now I belong to Jesus.
Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
Once I was lost in sin's degradation.
Jesus came down to bring me salvation.
Lifted me up from sorrow and shame.
Now I belong to him.
Now I belong to Jesus.
Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me.
Freed me from sin that long had enslaved me.
His precious blood he gave to redeem.
Now I belong to him.
Now I belong to Jesus.
Jesus belongs to me.
Not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.
Amen. Thank you all for coming. God bless. You are dismissed.