All right, we're here in first Peter chapter four and the name of the sermon is arm yourselves with an internal mindset
Arm yourselves with an eternal mindset now look at what it says in verse number one
It says for as much sin as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh
Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind and when it says arm yourselves
It's trying to give you a picture of like a war where you take up weapons and you arm yourselves
Basically you prepare for battle and see the bible is indicating this battle actually starts in the mind
And I want you to realize that as we live our lives the world is lying to us all the time
And we must arm ourselves with an eternal mindset if we're going to be successful
But it's interesting how it says with the same mind now turn to philippians chapter 2 philippians chapter 2
philippians chapter 2
And in philippians chapter 2 in verse number three
the bible reads
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness in mind let each esteem other better than themselves
Look, not every man on his own things
But every man also on the things of others if you remember from saturday what I talked about is this is essentially the opposite of grandiosity
Where people think the world revolves around them and the bible says
Actually, you should lay down your life and say everybody's more important than me exact opposite of the world revolving around you
But see after it says that then it says this in verse five
Let this mind be in you which was also in christ. Jesus
And what the bible is going to do is give you the perfect example of basically where you care about other people
More than yourself and it's saying that this was the mind of christ
This is how christ lived his life when he was here
I mean his whole life here on earth was about other people and not about himself
I mean, he would go sewing all the time. He preached the gospel. He'd spend the night in prayer. He'd go fasting at times
Times he wanted to take a rest. He had to minister and do things for god
And so christ lived his whole life caring about other people
More than himself and he gave us a perfect example of an eternal mindset
Okay, then he gives this example here in verse six who being in the form of god
Thought it not robbery to be equal with god
But made himself with no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men
We understand we know that jesus christ was god of the flesh. The bible says god was manifest in the flesh
However, he made himself of no reputation
When jesus christ was here, he didn't walk around and say, you know, i'm the king of the world, right?
He made himself of no reputation
And there's nobody in this world who has a better reputation ever than jesus christ
Because honestly outside of judaism what religion ever criticizes jesus christ
I mean even atheists say good things generally about jesus
They just say wow, you know you christians don't understand what he's talking about, right?
I mean buddhists will praise jesus muslims praise jesus Hindus praise jesus
Nobody has a better reputation ever than jesus and yet nobody made himself
lower than any person
right, he humbled himself and then says
And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross
Wherefore god also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name and so jesus humbled himself more than anybody
He lowered himself more than anybody and he will be exalted more than anybody
What's interesting is satan exalted himself more than anybody and nobody's going to suffer more than satan
So kind of the idea is this that the more you exalt yourself the more you're going to be brought down
Whereas the more you lower yourself the more you're going to be exalted one day. However, that comes when we get to heaven
Okay, if you humble yourself in this life i'm not saying hey
You know what you're going to be elected the president in about what nine ten months or whatever
That's not what i'm saying
Right what i'm saying is if you humble yourself in this life
Then you're going to have great awards in heaven for all the great things that you did. Okay
Verse 10 that in the name of jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth
And then every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father
Even the most ardent atheist will bow down before jesus christ and beg for mercy
That's what the bible indicates the most arrogant people in this world that hate our message
They hate what we stand for they hate our church one day
They're going to bow down before our savior and beg for mercy and no mercy is going to come. Okay
Now go back to first peter chapter four
So
When it's talking about arming yourselves with the same minds think of the mind of christ
That's what it's trying to bring you toward and see what the bible is saying
Is this that we as god's people should live our lives trying to lay down our own lives and care about
other people more than ourselves
And if you live your life just caring about yourself, you know what you're going to end up being a miserable person
But if you live your life concerned about other people
You're gonna be a happy person. We're gonna see that in this chapter
This is what god calls us to do arm yourself with the same mind
For he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin
Okay. Now this phrase has been taken out of context by a lot of cults because there are cults
so-called christian cults that will say that jesus christ
Became the son of god at the virgin birth
but in the old testament
He was just an angel or a man or he was just a sinner and then he became deity and then he ceased from sin
No, there was no sin in him. The bible says in him is no sin
It's not saying he reached a point in life where he can cease from sin
And there's other religions that would teach this where you can attain a state of godhood
And they'll use places like this and say well see jesus christ
He was a sinner that he ceased from sin and you can become god, too
And it seems so ridiculous, but honestly isn't that what genesis 3 is about how you can become as gods
And so many religions teach in buddhism. You can become omniscience. You can reach that state of godhood in hinduism
They say the true idol worshiper
Realizes he is god, right? And so religions actually teach this. Okay. Well, what does it mean that he had ceased from sin?
Well, here's what the bible's saying
We know that christ was perfect
We know that christ is sinless
But what the bible's saying is that if we arm ourselves with the same mindset of laying down our lives for other people
What we're going to do is live a holy and godly life
It doesn't mean that we're going to be completely 100 without sin
But it means we're going to start serving god get rid of worldliness. We're going to start reading the bible going so in it
You say why because we're not thinking from a worldly perspective
And the bible says that if we arm ourselves with that mind of saying my life is not about me
We're going to stop sinning in many areas of our life now
Of course, we're not never going to be perfect
I'm, not saying that but what i'm saying is we're going to start getting rid of a lot of our sins and become a better
And better person and really serving god because we have the right mindset of laying down our lives for other people
It says in verse two that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men
But to the will of god, so the bible's saying instead of living to the in your flesh to the lust of men
You know the lust of the world the lust of the eyes the pride of life
It says to live for the will of god for the time passed in our life
They suffice us to have wrought the will of the gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness lusts excess of wines
wine revelings banquetings and abominable idolatries now
People take this phrase here when it says excess of wine and they try to tell you well
It's wrong to have too much wine
But it's not wrong to have some wine and they say the problem is having an excess of wine
And yes, that's a problem how you used to have an excess of wine
But now you only have one glass of wine or dinner or whatever, right?
Well, there's a problem with that interpretation
All you have to do is go to the next verse verse four
Where it says wherein they think it's strange that he run not with them to the same
Excess of riot speaking evil you now, let me ask you a question. Is any amount of riot? Okay?
Is it okay to just burn down one building? Is it okay just to steal one computer?
Is it okay just to smash one window of a building?
No any amount of riot whether it's a small amount or a lot is wrong, right?
And what the bible is indicating is that any amount of riot would be excess or wrong, okay?
Now there's two ways to look at this phrase excess of wine one would be in terms of drinking and alcoholic beverage
I believe any amount is wrong
Okay
But the other thing is this, you know, is it referring to alcoholic wine?
I'm, not really sure because the word wine in the bible is sometimes referring to an alcoholic beverage
Sometimes it's not and here's the thing when it's referring to grape juice
Grape juice was a very expensive luxury. I mean, it's still an expensive luxury today, right grape juice is an expensive beverage
But especially during back then when it wasn't factory produced and people had to do all the labor
It was a very expensive beverage that they would have at things like weddings and stuff like that
And so it could be what the bible is indicating
Is that basically living a life where you're living a very luxurious life?
You're having all these rich and fancy things would be wrong and it's okay to have some nice things
But you better be careful not to have too much. Okay
Sometimes wine and oil are terms that are referencing like luxurious things. It's not necessarily referencing
Literally, you know just like, you know grape juice is kind of symbolic of that
But regardless if you're going to say this alcoholic wine, which you know, I would probably lean towards it says in verse four
for excess of riots
Okay, and so any amount of rights wrong any amount of alcoholic beverage would be wrong the bible teaches
But then it says in verse five who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead and so
God is going to judge the quick and the dead you say what is the quick and the dead?
There's actually a movie in about 30 years ago in the us there's a western movie called the quick and the dead
And quick is an old-fashioned word. I'm not going to hug the word for alive the alive and the dead
So the bible says that we're quickened by the spirit. It's saying we're made alive when a person gets born again
They are quickened or made alive. They spiritually become a member of god's family
So he's saying he's ready to judge the alive
And the dead now, I believe what he's saying the alive and the dead he's referring to spiritually basically
save people and lost people
Because both the saved and the lost will be judged as a safe person what we're going to see in this chapter
We are judged in this life
If you do wrong you reap what you sow in this life
The unsaved people they may not be judged in this life
But they're going to spend eternity in hell and pay for each and every one of their sentence
He's ready to judge the quick and the dead for for this cause was the gospel priest also to them that are dead
Referring to the unsaved right? You don't preach the gospel to a dead body
At least I don't I wouldn't recommend it. Okay
You don't preach the body the gospel to a dead body
You're preaching the spiritually dead the unsaved person that they might be judged according to men in the flesh
But live according to god and the spirit see the bible says this that when a person gets saved
They should live according to god or the spirit
But the thing is bob said we'll be judged of men in the flesh
Judge according to men in the flesh and the reality is that people will look at your life
And form judgments and opinions about you
I mean if you're a christian and you're obnoxious
Bastos just just a bad personality. You're giving a bad testimony of christ
Because people are going to judge you based on your actions
Right. I mean if you're ripping people off if you're rude to people you have a bad attitude
People are going to look down on you and it's like look if that's who you are don't tell them
Oh, by the way, I go to very baptist church
It's like inviting some other church
They're not going to come if you have a bad attitude and then you need to make sure
That your words and your actions match up
Okay, and look we can have a big impact on people through our actions
Yes, we give people saved by preaching the gospel
But look if you want to get family and friends and co-workers to visit our church
It's going to come from your attitude
It's going to come to how nice of a person you are
And it should be said of god's people that god's people are better than other people in terms of being more nice
More hard-working more patient the right words
They speak that should be said of us and the reality is people will judge you by your actions
Especially as a bible-believing christian especially when you have the beliefs like we have
People are already trying to cast stones at us for the beliefs that we have
I mean when you preach sermons like I do people are going to try to find something to bring me down
Well brother sucky did this right
If you're going to have strong words and strong beliefs
You better make sure your actions match it because people are going to try to find something against you
Look your catholic relatives are looking for something you criticize you for it's reality
All of us have unsafe catholic relatives. I'm sure right
They are trying to find something to tear you down and to bring you down because they consider you a bible thumper
And they're trying to find something to bring you down don't give them anything look they're going to judge you according to your actions
We got to live according to god in the spirit and live above reproach
Live where they can't criticize you remember the story of daniel in the old testaments
They tried to find something against him and the only thing they could find was that he prayed to god
That's the only thing they could find
So they had to force the king or trick the king into making this new law to basically make him guilty
Because they looked at his life and they said well he shows up early for work
He doesn't clock in early when he leaves. He makes sure he's safe the whole time. He doesn't take a long lunch
He doesn't take you know, 10 smoke breaks during the day like some people right?
I mean he was working hard. He was above reproach and they said the only thing we could find is he praised it with god
Right that is what should be said about us that we live our lives in a way where people
Cannot just find something to criticize us. Okay, we got to live above reproach. It says in verse seven
But the end of all things is at hand be therefore sober and watch on to prayer
Okay
Now here's the thing. It says the end of all things is at hand and some people would take that phrase to say well see
Jesus can come back in any moment
Okay. See that's not true. Go to second Thessalonians chapter two. That's not what it's referring to second Thessalonians chapter two
second Thessalonians chapter two
Second Thessalonians chapter two
And see what at hand means is about to take place
Okay
Means about to take place. It doesn't mean that it's already happened. It means it's at hand like right in front of you
It's about to take place. Okay
Second Thessalonians two verse one now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our lord
Jesus christ and by our gathering together onto him
So the coming of our lord
Jesus christ is when jesus christ is going to return the return of christ and by our gathering together onto him
That's what we would call the rapture, right?
The Bible says the dead in christ shall rise first then we which are alive remain are gathering together onto him
The coming of our lord jesus christ, we can see those things are linked together
But he says this that he be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
Neither spirit nor by word nor by his letter as from us as that the day of price is at hand
He says I don't want you to be troubled because the day of price is
Not at hand don't think it's about to take place
It wasn't the spirit that told you that it wasn't the word of god
It wasn't a letter or a pistol that we wrote to you and he's saying don't be shaken in mind or in trouble
It's not going to happen right now
Okay, the day of christ is not at hand is what he's saying in verse two. It's not about to take place
Now why is it that paul the apostle knew it was not going to take place?
Okay, what he says in verse three let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come
Except there come a falling away first and notice this and that man of sin be revealed
The son of perdition see the bible says before christ is going to return the man of sin the antichrist
Is going to be revealed
Now as far as I know everybody agrees that verse three is referring to the antichrist
So I think in my mind what's the problem what are we confused on the antichrist is going to come first
The day of christ is not at hand. He's not going to come until the antichrist comes first
Who's the antichrist
I mean who's the literal antichrist what's the name of the antichrist that's going to come like I don't believe in the antichrist
Nobody knows you know what that tells you it hasn't been revealed
If it was revealed i'd stand up here and say pope francis
Right, but I don't know that is it a possibility. Well, it's possible. I doubt it
Right. He's an evil person. He's probably not the antichrist though
But it's like I don't know the name of the antichrist meaning it hasn't been revealed
It hasn't been made known
And nobody knows the name of the antichrist
So what does that what does that tell us?
Well what it tells us is that christ can return now because the antichrist must be revealed
The antichrist will come first the bible teaches we will go through tribulation and will be raptured before the wrath of god
So it's a post-tribber pre-rap rapture now
Here's the thing. I do believe that paul wondered if it was going to happen in his life
However, he said it wasn't at hand because I know first the antichrist must be revealed
Because you have to understand during this time period the world was in terminal
With the roman empire and the oppression that was going on
There have been many points in history where people thought hey it could come in in the next 10 years. It could come
You know pretty soon right during the black plague when?
half of some countries in europe died
Say brother sucky, this virus is terrible. We're not not compared to the black plague
Right. I mean the viruses during the end times are probably going to be a lot worse when the bible speaks about plagues
I mean the black plague killed about 35 percent of europe 35 percent of the population
Right, but here's here's the thing during that time
I'm sure people wondered whether or not it could happen in their life. But here's the thing the antichrist hadn't come so
Until the antichrist reveals himself. We don't know is the world crazy right now. Absolutely
Is it possible it will come in the next 10 years? It's possible
But here's the thing until the antichrist reveals himself as christians. We don't really have anything that
Here's our proof. It's about to take place, right?
The antichrist must reveal himself first and until that happens
I would just say well, you know what the world's had a lot of time here. He goes through ups and downs of
Craziness and then non-craziness and back and forth and back and forth. So
As far as I know it's not happening in the next 10 years, you know
We'll see but here's the thing regardless of what your thoughts are on that
The antichrist must reveal himself first and that has not happened
It says about the antichrist who opposes and exalted himself above all that is called god or that is worship
So that he is god sitting in the temple of god
Showing himself that he is god the antichrist will declare himself to be god in the temple of god over in drussellum
He's going to declare himself to be god now look
I understand that there are people that will declare themselves to be god
But but not over in the temple of god that i was referring to I get it
If you live in da now, there's a man who says he's god, right?
That's not the same thing as what's being talked about in second thessalonians 2 verse 4
He's going to do it in the temple of god showing himself that he is god
But then he says this remember you not that when I was yet with you. I told you these things
He's like I already told you it's not a preacher rapture
I told you that you're not it's going to come as a thief in the night to the unsaved
But not to the same
He's like I already told you you're going to be aware of it
You're not in darkness that they should overtake you as a thief and yet during this time period you know what the implication is
There were false teachers during this time period that were teaching the day of christ at hand
It could happen at any moment. That's why I pause to rewrite them and let them know. No, wait a minute
We didn't tell you that it wasn't the apostles of god
It wasn't servants of god and great men of god that taught you that and yet during that time period the indication is
False teachers are already trying to teach. Guess what? It's at hand
Happened at any moment. The bible says the anti-christ must reveal himself
first
Okay
now
Go back to first peter four first peter four first peter chapter four
So here's the thing if paul makes it very clear the anti-christ must reveal himself first
And he says the day of christ is not at hand
You think peter was just confused you think paul peter was teaching a preacher rapture
And paul was teaching a poster. No, I don't think so
Because one thing that peter was told is that he was going to be martyred as an old man
So how could peter believe it could happen at any moment when he was told he was going to be martyred as an old man
So why would he have told them? Hey, it's at hand. It can happen at any moment
Peter was told he was going to be martyred as an old man
Right. So peter was also aware
It was a post-trib rapture and he was aware that all of god's people have always been persecuted
It's always been like that. It always will be like that and it's going to just be heightened during the end times
So what is peter saying here in verse seven?
Well, what has this book been about so far?
It's been about serving god with the life we have on earth and what the bible is indicating and what peter is saying is
Hey, you know what the end of your life
Is at hand meaning your life is here and it's gone
Our life flashes before our eyes
Right the bible says teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts onto wisdom
You say why because literally our lives will flash before our eyes and you're gonna wake up and you're like man
I'm in my mid-30s right now
It's like where did the last, you know, 20 years of my life go
It's like I remember being in high school just yesterday and then all of a sudden boom
It's like i'm 36 years old
Right and that's reality and you know something that's incredible about time
Is that time speeds up as you age?
Isn't that true?
I mean, it doesn't make any sense and you tell people that I mean every parent tells this to their kids when they're young
And they don't believe it right and then all of a sudden when they get older and they get married and have a family
Then they realize this is reality that as you get older time just starts to speed up more and more and more
Right and life's busy
And you're always busy and tired and before you know it everything is just going to be over and see the indication is this
You know, why spend your life just caring about the things of this earth when it's here today and gone tomorrow
Why not just spend your life on things of eternal value and things that matter because you want the end of your life is at hand
The end of my life is at hand
It's going to be here today and it's going to be gone tomorrow. We live and we die
No, maybe if you live during the early days of genesis you could say I know I still have a lot of time
I'm gonna live to be 900 years old or whatever
But you know for us we live 70 or 80 years is is the indication of the bible and you know what that comes and it goes
It flies by like nothing
And so he's saying be therefore sober and watch on to prayer and above all things have fervent charity among yourselves
For charity shall cover the multitude of sins
Use hospitality one to another without grudging so he's trying to motivate them
Have charity to basically live your life process charity is the bond of perfectness
I think is the quote and basically it's kind of a combination of all these great attributes
So spend your life just caring about other people more than yourself
Okay
Instead of just spending your life caring about yourself care about other people use hospitality one to another without grudging
So one thing is to be hospitable
That's something that the bible commands us to do
Right, and that's one of the big things when it comes to getting new people connected into a church
And to join our church is just being hospitable to new people making them feel at home
Making them feel that they have a church family. This is an important thing for us to do as fatherly leading christians
notice what it says in verse 10
As every man hath received the gift even so minister the same one to another as good rewards of the
As good stewards of the manifold grace of god. So the bible says as every man hath received the gift
Even so minister the same one to another so here's the thing
If you're saved and the book is written to save people every man hath received the gift because you get saved by receiving eternal life
But as many as receive them to them giving power
To become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name
And so the bible says as every man hath received the gift
You have eternal life even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of god
Because we're saved by grace
So if you're saved you receive the gift of god, you know what we should do pass that on to other people
That's what the bible's saying
Now what direct application is certainly so with it
I mean that's directly how we win people in the lord is just preaching to someone one-on-one
That's how they get saved
But another thing you can do
Is join up with a great church and get on board and support that church
And support the vision and the mission of that church because that church is the operation of how god reaches people
Right. I mean if you're not connected into a church, you know
The amount of souls you're going to get saved is going to be very small in your life
The same would be true myself
If I wasn't in a church and I was just listening to sermons online. How much am I going to really do for god?
Right
You know on days when you don't fit, you know, you might have days where you're like man
I'm gonna go on soul wedding but then you're gonna stop once you get a little bit depressed or whatever
I mean today we we got rained out somewhere right, but it's like right when I walked down to the park
Maybe it's my fault. It started raining, right?
And uh brother rod and sister russell were there everyone just kind of left once it was raining
But here's the thing
You know what?
I would have if I wasn't connected to a church and I was just motivated to preach the gospel
I probably wouldn't even gone because I said well it might rain today
And of course it did end up raining, but you know sometimes when it might rain it doesn't rain
right
And so what the bible is saying is this, you know, yes, you know
You perceive the gift of eternal life and you need to give it to other people
But you know honestly one part is just getting connected to a good church that's serving god
And you know get him on board with the church to do mighty things for god
verse 11 if any man speak let him speak as the oracles of god the oracles of god
Now the oracles of god is is basically referring to the scriptures turn to hebrews chapter five
I'll show you a reference to this hebrews chapter five
The bible says that the jews were given the oracles of god
It said they had an advantage because the word of god was poured out in the area
They lived in because what advantage didn't have to do much in every way because none of them were given the oracles of god
They were given the word of god the scriptures the preachers the responsibility to preach the gospel hebrews 5 verse 12
For when for the time you ought to be teachers give need that one teach you again
Which be the first principles of the oracles of god and are become as such as have are in our become such
As have need of milk and not of strong meat and see the bible says this that there are people who ought to be teachers
And yet they need to be reminded about the very basic of the things of god
The very basics of what god expects in our lives and the bible says they still need the melt instead of the strong meat
Now if somebody's been saved for six months
We expect them to be a baby christian
right
My my my daughter is one and a half years old. Okay, it's still saying that she's a baby
But then as kids get older you expect them to make progress in their lives in various different areas
I mean imagine if my daughter is 20 years old
And then i'm up here holding her and then just feeding her, you know, it's like what you expect when she's 20 years old
She's going to feed herself
Right and see the indication though is there's a lot of people that are spiritually
They've been saved for a long time, but they're babies
I mean, they're spiritual babies. They need to be spoon-fed everything all the time
But the reality is that we should be reading god's word on our own
Not just relying on the preaching of god's word to learn things
And see that's one thing that is true about our church and churches like ours is that people read the bible for themselves?
Right one of our members in um manila, he told me at his old church that had hundreds of members his baptist church
and the pastor like, you know asked during the church like
You know who's read the bible, you know cover the cover before and he said like, you know
And he raised his hand and looked around nobody else was raising his hand
So he felt you know now he got shot
So he took down his hand because he he was kind of embarrassed being the only one with his hand up
But it's like you got 200 people and one person in the church has read a cover cover
And what's really irritating is when people will tell you you're wrong about something in the bible and they've never read the bible
It's like well, who are you to tell me i'm wrong?
Right, and it's funny because nobody would do this about anything else
Any other subject if somebody has studied and poured their time into something you wouldn't tell them. They don't know what you're talking about
Whatever you've studied you're going to be an expert on you're going to be knowledgeable
Right in college. I got a math degree. So I know a lot about math, right?
My wife, you know got local degrees. She got a nursing degree
It's like she knows more about that than me, but it's like if you haven't studied anything
Why would you tell them? No, no, you're wrong about that. But somehow people think they know everything about this book
It's the only book in the world that people have never read and yet they think they're experts
And you know, honestly when I got saved
I felt the same way before I got saved. I thought I knew this book pretty well. I couldn't quote John 3 16
And then I realized man, I knew nothing and the more you read it the more you realize wow
There's a lot to learn in this book
And yet there are churches and people out there that have never read their bibles and they're going to say i'm wrong with the things
I preach and it's like
Who are you to tell me i'm wrong if you've never read it?
And I don't tell people like that I don't I don't try to be rude if people honestly that's what i'm thinking
I'm, just like what are you talking about? Like, well, you don't know the bible teaching come at any moment, right?
We're talking about the rapture. Okay. Well, you've never read it
And the only reason why you believe that is because you heard one verse taken out of context by your baptist pastor
But you've never even read the new testament cover to cover. So it's like you don't know whether it's right or wrong
You're just trusting that the person who taught you see here's the thing
I am not afraid of you reading the bible
Right. There's a lot of churches. It's like the pastors are afraid of their members reading the bible
It's like man if I let them read the bible on their own there's no telling what they might believe
Right. Well, look i'm confident that the core of doctrines that I teach are correct and i'm confident that if you're saved
You're going to come to the exact same conclusion because it's the holy spirit of god, which is your teacher now
Of course there's things that are deep things and dark things and things people that have a different opinion
I'm sure if you dissected every verse and every phrase in this chapter
There'd be a few things you come to a different conclusion or having a different idea
Of what's the main thought but in terms of core doctrines?
You're going to have the same beliefs you say why the same teacher the holy spirit of god
And i'm confident that if i'm being taught by the holy spirit of god and i'm reading the bible and he's my teacher
Then if you're being taught by the holy spirit of god and you read the chapters that i'm preaching on
It's only going to confirm the things that i'm preaching
because
It's the same teacher
right
And so the bible says in verse five talks about the oracles of god now go back to first peter four first peter four
first peter
So when we're speaking we should be using the word of god
Okay as our reference and when we're trying to give people advice and things like that
You should think of what does the bible say about the power?
And then it says if any man minister in verse 11, let him do it as of the ability which god did it
So if you're going to minister do it as the ability which god has given you there's kind of two applications I want to focus on
One is to make sure you know what you're talking about
But the other thing is to not overburden yourself. Okay, go to ecclesiastes
chapter 7
Psalms proverbs ecclesiastes psalms is right in the middle of your bible and ecclesiastes chapter 7 psalms proverbs
ecclesiastes
And it says in ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 16
Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 16. It says be not righteous over not much neither make thyself over wise
Why shouldest thou destroy thyself? And
Of course throughout the bible
It's always trying to motivate us to do so many great works for god
But it also gives us a proper balance on things. The bible says a false balance is an abomination to the lord
The bible says be not righteous over much
Meaning don't overburden yourself. Don't take on too many responsibilities that you're not able to handle
And you know what? Of course, I want people to serve god with all of their zeal
But one thing I do not want you to do is just crash your entire life
For the sake of the service to our church or whatever
There's a lot of churches where it feels like, you know, that is the case with people
But you know, we need to have a proper balance on things because I mean if you're married and you have kids
You need to raise those kids and put your heart and soul and effort into those kids and do a good job
Now, of course, you still need to be faithful to god
but you know one thing you see is this churches will try to guilt you into serving church and then basically
Forsake your personal life and your family just destroyed
It's like one of the amazing things in a lot of baptist churches is how they'll try to get people to be like christian school
teachers and everything for a very low salary because when you have christian schools
What they do is they guilt their members into working for a very small amount
And it's like why don't they just raise their own kids?
It's like they try to guilt them into raising somebody else's kids
It's like why don't you just allow the proper folks like the bottom of that people put their heart into raising their own kids
And it's like they got everything backwards
And it's like sometimes you're just like what are they doing?
It's just like the exact opposite of what the bible says
They try to guilt you into serving church and then just destroy your life. And then why is it we see many kids
In baptist churches that grow up and they don't survive
Because the parents were just always dedicating to church never spent time with the kids and then the kids grow up and resent god
Because it's god that took them away from them, right? Although it's not really god
It's really the church that built them into that. Okay
So one thing is be not righteous so much now go to first peter four first peter four
first peter four
first peter chapter four
So
Now, of course there are some basics that we should be doing all the time we should be involved in church
We should be reading our vitals. We should be praying
but
There's also a proper balance and stuff. I go sowing several times a week, but I don't go sowing seven days a week
You say why i'm too busy to go sowing seven days a week unless I just crashed my own life
Outside of these two churches. I work for marion baptist church
Tomorrow i'm going to be transcribing the sermon of the prison ministry i've made so many bad for them
It's like I still have other responsibilities at my job and look i'm not really different than anybody else because we have jobs, right?
We have to work and we're busy and it's just like I go sowing but at the same time
I'm, not going to go seven days a week because honestly, I think that would just be too much for me to be able to get
Now here's the thing if somebody is able to handle more, that's fine
I'm not competing against anybody and none of us are competing against anybody. I don't want to slow you down
If you're reading the bible more than me and you're memorizing the bible more and you're going sowing more
I mean praise the lord for that, but it's also not a competition, right?
We need to be very careful not to try to guilt people into doing exactly like we are especially when we live different lives
We're in different situations and it's just not the same
Okay. So one thing is being careful not to overburden ourselves and honestly, I think in the long run that's important because
I plan to serve god my whole life
Hopefully everybody feels that way and you know what we need to make sure we're serving god each and every week
But you know what? You need to have a proper balance. Otherwise, you're going to crash and burn
Right, you're going to be going all out effort for like, you know day after day and then after like a couple months
It's like oh, I hate my life. I hate the church and everything. It's like you're better off just having a proper balance
There's nothing wrong with with spending time with family. There's nothing wrong with going on vacation and things like that
You know, you need to have a proper balance on things. Okay. The other thing is this
Let them do it as the ability which god giveth
And especially if you're speaking or teaching or whatever you need to make sure that you know what you're talking about
Now this is true with me as i'm preaching sermons
I need to make sure that whatever I preach i've actually studied and I know what i'm talking about
But also in our own personal lives, you know
And you're going to have opportunities as this church grows to minister and help other people that are new
We're going to have people that are new at soul winning and you're going to be teaching and helping them and explaining certain things and everything
And of course, you know, we have one person who's preaching the majority of the sermons
but at the same time
You know what people that know their bibles can still help people teach people new things and turns out soul winning and stuff like that
And but make sure that you know what you're talking about
If they ask me something and you don't know what you're talking about
Then it's just like it's better just saying oh, that's a good question
Right and sometimes those questions come up and i'm just like i'm not a hundred percent for sure
I was like I haven't thought of that because there's a million questions in the bible and no one's going to know everything. Okay
Now first Peter four verse 11
Then it says that god and all things may be glorified through jesus christ to whom he prays in dominion forever and ever. Amen
Beloved thinking not strange concerning the fiery tribe which trials
Fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing happened on you
So basically do not be surprised that you're going to have persecution coming
If you're serving god, do not be surprised that a fiery trial is going to come in your life
And look all of us when we started serving god, there is at least some level of persecution
It's amazing how when you get saved and start going to church some of your old friends don't want to talk to you anymore
And it's like what in the world?
Right, you got family that starts getting mad at you because you make decisions and they don't and then they get mad at you
And everything they try to tear you now you think of david before he kills goliath his brother's trying to stop him
And it's like who are you to take on the lion, right?
And the reality is that when you're trying to do what's right people if they are not doing what's right
They will feel bad and then they'll get mad at you about that. That is what takes place
So look there's going to be a fiery trial that's going to happen in our lives and don't be surprised
When it happens
Because many people they they think that you know, the christian life is so easy. There's not going to be any problems
No, there's going to be battles. There's going to be problems
You're going to have relatives that probably aren't going to be the happiest with your decision not to go to san todos
Are your church anymore, right?
They're going to be upset when you made changes in your life
That's the way it happens now. Here's the thing you say why is it?
That they get mad at you and disown you well people think that it's because of them but honestly it's because of ourselves
because when we change
They don't like the new you
They like the old you
I mean if you're someone who drinks and parties and you have all these friends if you change
They don't like the new you
They didn't change
You change if you have this idea when they start serving god, oh my friends change they don't want it. No, no you changed
That's the reality and once you can change they don't like the new you it's kind of like moses, right?
He went up to the mountains to talk to god. He physically changed when he came down. Everyone was afraid to come nine
I'm like, whoa
And see that's a spiritual application to us that when we change
When we start serving god and reading the bible, it's like people are like what in the world?
We start quoting the bible in our lives and stuff like that like man, I don't want to hear about that church is on sunday
It's like man. I'm just trying to play basketball. Why are you showing me a verse of the bible, right?
And so when we change a lot of times people
Aren't too interested in being close to us anymore. Don't be surprised verse 13
But rejoice in as much as you are partakers of christ suffering
Sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed he may be glad also with exceeding joy
Now this kind of brings you full circle the beginning of the chapter when it said let this mind be in you
Which was also in christ jesus because he suffered to be ultimate for us and gave us a perfect example
And the bible says that you know, you're going to be partakers of christ suffering
That when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy
Look the more you're serving god, there's going to be persecution. There's going to be trials go to second timothy three second timothy chapter three
Second timothy chapter three
I mean, I wish I could stand up here
And just tell you that your life's going to be perfect now that's your jobless church. You're never going to get depressed
You're you're never going to have to work hard anymore life's going to be easy. You're always going to be in a good mood
You're never going to fight with your wife anymore
I mean your kids are going to obey every single thing you say every single thing just perfectly you're never going to get frustrated
Your kids are never going to spill something on the floor. You're never going to be in a bad mood
You're always going to have a perfect night's sleep, but that's not reality
And it's like there's a lot of churches where that's literally the sort of sermon they preach every week your best life now joel osteen, right?
And it's like they tell you about how your life's going to be perfect. Well
here's the thing that might be a fun message and
I wish it were true too, but it's a lie
And honestly when you're preaching you need to prepare people for the battle
I mean imagine
If you are going to war tomorrow and you are not aware of it
Right, you're gonna have i'm talking old-fashioned more where you're handling a sword or whatever and it's like you haven't practiced sharpening your skills
Or whatever. You don't even know how to put your helmet on you put it on backwards that I can't see it's like
Isn't it good to be prepared for that battle?
I mean if you're going to go into battle tomorrow, but you've never held a sword. You don't know what you're doing
You're going to be destroyed
That's why in church as you're preaching sermons people need to be prepared for the battle that's taking place
And you have people get upset about that. But the reality is it's a battle if you're going to serve god
There's a war that's going on
I mean, how can you sit here and say you believe in the devil, but it's going to be an easy life and no battle
Do you really believe in the devil then?
Right, I mean there's spiritual warfare that is taking place and there's going to take place in our lives
And look, it's better to be prepared for the battle that's going to take place
Instead of just saying well, you know why if you're really serving god, it's going to be easy
But what does the bible say second timothy three percent?
But that was fully known by doctrine manner of life purpose faith on suffering charity patients
Persecutions afflictions which came on me at Antioch at iconium at lystra
What persecutions I endured but out of all the lord delivered me and you know paul's saying
Wherever I went I had persecution. I was serving god in antioc persecution. I was serving god in iconium
Persecution I was serving god in lystra persecution
Whether you're serving god in the philippines or the us or india or whatever country there is going to be persecution
Now, of course in some countries in some areas there's going to be more than others
But there's going to be some network
Right. I mean it wasn't even and you know, honestly, we don't go through a whole lot of persecution
But I kind of got a little taste this when we first started
Because right when our church started and I preached one sermon the most famous baptist pastor here in the philippines
Is threatening to sue me at a funeral
and it's just like and I've watched the video I've watched the clip and i'm just like you are
Are the head of the funeral to talk about somebody who passed away and he was talking about himself in this american missionary
right
And it's just like you know
This sort of persecution is going to come if you're serving god and the bible says it's going to take place
Okay
It's a guarantee that is going to happen. There's going to be persecution. There's going to be affliction
Yeah, and all the will of godly christ. Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's a guarantee it's going to happen
There's going to be persecution
Go back to first peter four first peter four
first peter chapter four
But you know, it shouldn't upset us
It shouldn't let us get us down
I mean because the bible actually says here in the rest of the chapter we can have great happiness in actually serving god
We can have joy in serving god first peter chapter four verse 14
First peter chapter four verse 14
Is
Even your approach for the name of christ happier you see the bible says you can be happy if your approach for the name of christ
And it says through the spirit of glory and have god arrested upon you on their party is evil spoken of but on your part
He is glorified. It's funny because you've got all of these eastern religions and eastern mysticism
That say the key to happiness is remove suffering from your life
And yet the bible says you can actually be happy in sufferings
And see actually when you're serving god, if you're obeying what god says you can be happy even if you aren't going through persecution
Okay
And it says here
in verse 15
But let none of you suffer as a murderer as a thief or as an evil doer as a busybody in other ways matters
Yet if anyone suffers a christian let him not be ashamed
Let him glorify god on this behalf and so it kind of makes a comparison
Between suffering by doing wrong being a murderer thief or evil doer
Being a gossip a busybody versus suffering as a christian by serving god and see what the bible is basically saying is
Choose your suffering in life
If you decide i'm just going to live it up and get drunk and party late in life, you're going to destroy your life
Because sin has consequences you're going to suffer in your sin
But if you serve god, you're going to suffer as a christian. So here's the thing. You're not going to avoid suffering
You just have to choose your suffering
Are you going to choose suffering because you're a wicked evil person and you're reaping what you've sown all the time for all the sins
You've committed or are you going to suffer because you're serving god and people get mad at you for your beliefs
You will not avoid suffering
But you can choose your suffering
And look we should decide to choose to suffer for christ and the bible says that's what gives us happiness
And sometimes christians look at the world
And you look at all these people they're getting drunk and fornicating and destroying their lives
And then sometimes we can even get a little bit envious of the world and think that they've gotten better
It's a lie. The bible says happiness is found in serving god
Let me tell you something people that get drunk all the time they put a smile on their face and they're miserable inside
You say how do you know that because that's what the bible says in proverbs 23
That's what the bible says in proverbs 31. They're miserable
They hate their lives and they're just putting on a smile
And you know what?
They hate their lives and they try to get other people to do the same because they want to justify their actions
And they wake up they destroy their lives and yet they seek it again
Why?
I don't know
But that's what they do
It's like they're trying to find happiness and it's like well, let's just keep doing it over and over and over and say, okay
You got five minutes of happiness, right? And here's the thing if it makes them so happy
Why is it they do something where they black out and they can't even remember what happened?
I don't want to black out because I enjoy my life
And look life is difficult. It's hard. But you know what? I like to actually know what i'm doing in life
I enjoy my life. I like the fact that I remember, you know spending time with my kids spending time with my family
And yet supposing what they enjoy more than anything else. Like I don't even remember what happened last night
Wow, that's another class of fun
It's like they're miserable
That's reality and look as christians. We should we should learn our lesson from solomon who went down that road
And just in his life happiness for us is found in serving god. It's honestly sad
When you look at people in the world and of course if they're not saved the biggest problem is that they're not saved
They're going to go to hell but people in life want to be happy
Isn't that true that all of us want to be happy?
Anyway, the sad thing is people have no idea how to be happy
And there's books that are written and people study and study. What's the secret to happiness? The answer is found in the bible
Obey god keep his commandments happier you get from you than the bible says talk about obeying god's commandments
And it says in
verse 17
For the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of god
And if it first began in us what's to be the end of them that obeyed of the gospel of god?
So the bible says here and it's really linking to verses 15 to 16 that judgment's going to begin at the house of god
We will reap what we've sown in this life
God is our heavenly father if you're saved and you want if you do wrong if you disobey him you're going to pay for it
Okay in this life we're going to reap what we've sown judgment must begin at the house of god
We will not get away with our sin
But then it says what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of god
Let's refer to those that never believe on jesus christ. They're unsaved people
Now verse 18 it says and if the righteous scarcely be saved where so the ungodly and the sinner appear
Now verse 18 is a verse that's taken out of context and some people look at this and it says
The righteous scarcely be saved I mean it sounds like it's really hard to stay saved
Right, it's hard. The righteous barely make it to heaven. That's how some people want to interpret that
You know what?
It's saying the righteous scarcely be saved is saying the righteous scarcely be saved from the judgment of god in this life because that's the context
And the bible speaks often about the judgment coming in this life
And it's linking these verses verses 15 through 18 and what the bible is saying is this we as god's people
You know what? We're not going to be spared 100 from god's judgment if we did wrong
And the reality is most people do a lot of things wrong
And so they get judged in this life
But then what it's saying is well, where's something in the center here if god judges his own people
And they reap what they sown what's going to happen to those that don't obey the gospel?
What's going to happen to the ungodly and the sinner? I mean if god judges us when we do wrong
What's he going to do to those that never believe on him?
And bible's saying don't be envious at the unsaved world because it's going to be one million times worse for them
I mean if god will sometimes give us a spiritual spanking
And the righteous scarcely be saved now referring to all the righteous barely making it have no saying that the righteous, you know in this life
You do wrong. You're going to be judged
It's like what's going to happen in the unsaved world
Because in general the unsaved world is probably doing worse things than the average saved person and it's like what's going to happen to that?
Well, they're going to burn forever and ever and ever so it's not saying when it says the righteous scarcely be saved man
They're righteous
They barely make it they barely stay safe
So what's going that's not what it's saying
It's talking about the judgment of god in our lives here because that's what the context is in verse 15 and 18
Just running a comparison if god's going to judge us in this life
Let's remember what he's going to do to the unsaved world I think it's
You don't have to turn there, but I think it's psalm 73 with asaph
And he's writing about being envious at the wicked and the evil doers and then when he went into the house of god
Then he remembered their end and that's basically what it's drawing to it's like hey, yes, sometimes you get disciplined
And every loving father and loving parent disciplines and chases a child, but remember asap what's going to be the end of the wicked people
Okay
verse 19 we'll close up
Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of god commit commit the keeping of their souls to him and well-doing as onto a faithful
Creator, so it's it's it's ending the chapter talking about suffering as a christian
And that's really how it started because it said let this mind be in you which was also in christ
Jesus was the link in philippians 2 and christ's whole life
Was laying down himself. So
What's the main thought here in this chapter?
Arm yourselves with that mind
of laying down your own life
for other people
And this is why we go so many, isn't it?
I mean, we're not doing it for ourselves
I already knew i'm going to heaven we do that because we care about other people
It's like why should we do anything because we care about other people in christ's whole life
He spent just laying down his life for other people because he showed us an example your life is not about yourself
The world does not revolve around you. It does not revolve around me
In fact, if there's been you know
There's like this argument between his closest followers in the bible where they were like who's going to be the best in the kingdom, right?
And it's basically well who is willing to suffer more who's willing to humble himself more
Who is willing to lay down his own life because if you want to be great, you're going to humble yourself
And he is going to exalt you the bible says so arm ourselves out of mind of laying down our lives and caring about other people
Let's close one more prayer your heavenly father. Thank you for allowing me to be here today
Again, you see your word in this topic and it helps to apply this to our lives