Let's open a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here this afternoon in the house of God
in just a new year, a new start to everything, God.
And I ask you right now to bless me with your spirit,
give me boldness and clarity to preach your word,
and I pray we'll be attentive and put aside all distractions.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now, in Psalms chapter 1, we as a church just a few months ago memorized Psalms chapter 1.
Now, I would highly recommend everybody in here, when we do memorization as a church, to take part in it.
You know, when I memorized this, I learned a lot of new things,
and that's why I'm preaching a sermon on Psalms chapter 1 this afternoon.
I don't think I would have had a sermon if it was several months back.
And I would highly suggest to everyone, make memorization a part of your life.
It really helps it resonate in your heart,
and it gives you things in your mind you can think about throughout the day.
That's why memorization is so important.
And in Psalms chapter 1, we really have two groups of people.
The first half of Psalms chapter 1, we're seeing a godly, soul-winning Christian
that lasts not just for a year or two, but their entire lifetime
being devoted to the things of God.
And in the second half, you're seeing the ungodly person.
Now, this afternoon, we're going to be focusing on the first half.
We're going to be focusing on the godly soul winner
that lasts for year after year after year.
And I'm going to show you what the Bible says in Psalms chapter 1,
how we can try to be that person.
Now, look down at verse number 3 here for introduction.
It says, verse number 3,
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
Now, I know we preach a lot about this at our church.
We preach about soul-winning.
We believe in soul-winning.
That's the reason why this church exists,
because we believe going out there, knocking the doors,
and winning people to the Lord.
And in verse number 3, it says,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
This is talking about winning souls to the Lord.
The Bible says in Proverbs 11 30,
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and he that winneth souls is wise.
So you see the link between winning souls
and being a fruit-bearing tree in Proverbs 11.
In Psalms 1, we're talking about being a fruit-bearing tree.
This is talking about winning souls to the Lord.
Just as an apple tree you would expect to bring forth apples,
we as Christians, God expects us to bring forth other people to the Lord,
to win other people to the Lord,
and help them understand the Gospel and get saved.
That is God's intention for everybody.
Because you see in Psalms chapter 1,
this is the godly Christian,
and you see soul winning as a central part of it.
That is God's will for everybody to get saved,
and then bring forth fruit.
But you know, it's not just bring forth fruit for a year,
or for two years.
I want you to notice that in verse number 3,
it also says that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
I want you to understand, this is not just talking about one season.
It's talking about year after year after year after year.
You see the Bible uses the terminology of winning 30 souls to the Lord,
or 60, or 100.
If you had an apple tree that produced 30 apples in one year,
you'd say, well that's great, I got 30 apples.
Or if it produced 60 apples, you'd say, well that's even better, 60 apples.
Or 100 apples, that would be great to produce 100 apples.
But you would be disappointed if that tree died after one year,
and never produced any more apples.
Now, people live in different parts of the world.
Quite honestly, in Sacramento,
soul winning is a little bit rougher than some other areas I've been to.
It might take a little bit more time to bring forth fruit to get somebody saved.
A good friend of mine is a missionary in the Philippines.
I've been soul winning in the Philippines for a week,
and it is a lot easier to win people to the Lord.
A lot of people are interested in hearing the Gospel,
and people get saved much easier.
Brother Ryan was in Botswana, and he talked about how he went there.
Most people wanted to hear the Gospel.
That would be great if on most stores they say,
yeah, I would love to hear about going to heaven.
Most stores here in Sacramento, people are not interested.
But you know what, we still find people every single week
that are interested in hearing the Gospel.
And we need to understand, especially if you're new to soul winning,
when you go out on a Saturday, if you don't get anybody saved,
the one thing you can take pleasure in
is that other people at our church did win somebody to the Lord.
You know, yesterday I went out soul winning.
I didn't get anybody saved.
But I guarantee you there was people from our church that went out yesterday.
People listened. They heard the Gospel. They get saved.
Every single week our church brings forth fruit.
There are people in Sacramento right now,
unsaved that if someone would present the Gospel,
they would listen and they would get saved.
And that's why we need to make it our goal as a church in 2017
to push for greater things, to do more and more.
Every single year God wants us to do more.
Not to do less, not to be satisfied with where we're at,
but eventually to fill out this entire place
and have to eventually go to a much bigger place,
eventually have a lot more than 50 people soul winning,
100 people, 150.
God's goal is for us to do more and more and more.
And you see in Psalms chapter 1
that bringing forth fruit is central to being a great Christian
and a godly example the Bible gives us.
But it doesn't just say his fruit and his season.
It's also clear because it says his leaf also shall not wither.
If something withers, that means it dies.
You see, there's a lot of people that become soul winners
and they drop out somewhere along the way.
If you're kind of new to soul winning,
if you've only been soul winning for a year or two,
that's going to surprise you one day
that if you stay in the fight,
you're going to see a lot of people that you expected to last
that are going to drop out.
I've seen many in my lifetime,
people that were dedicated soul winners
and they eventually dropped out of the Christian race.
If you were to look at the people that go soul winning at this church,
the majority of people have not been soul winning for more than five years.
You know, that's just a fact.
And there's many reasons for it.
A lot of you maybe have only been saved for the last five years
or you haven't been to a church like this.
But quite honestly, there's a lot of people that come and then they leave.
And that's why we need to put this into our mind
and really understand what the Bible is saying in Psalms 1
because it's showing us how to last in the fight.
I don't want to be a has-been one day.
I don't want to be someone who had great potential
and led souls to the Lord
and then I just kind of got caught up with the things of the world
and just quit on God and never did anything.
I want to be in this for the long haul
because in one year you might lead, let's say, one soul to the Lord per week
and you lead 52 to the Lord.
But you know what, if you last for 10 years, that's over 500 people.
Lasting one year, you're only going to do so much for God.
God's intention is not just for you to be a soul winner
but year after year, you're continuing to bring forth fruit.
You're continuing to do big things for God.
That's why it says, His leaf also shall not wither.
You know, I have a couple of people that I used to be really close friends with,
people that were very dedicated soul winners.
And I'm not just talking about they went soul winning every once in a while.
I'm talking about people that went several times a week.
I know friends that went sometimes 4 or 5 times a week back when we were in college.
People that used to read the Bible through several times a year.
Not just a little 5 minutes here
but they had one hour set aside to read the Bible
and I went soul winning with some of those people several times a week.
I know multiple people. Brother Al probably knows who I'm talking about.
I know someone who was an extremely gifted preacher.
You know, I remember when he first started preaching,
I was kind of mad because he was able to preach me under the table.
He was just really dynamic.
He just had this natural ability and he went soul winning several times a week.
And if you were to look at him today,
he doesn't even go to church.
I mean, this is someone who used to get probably a couple of people saved a week on average.
You know, back in West Virginia.
He was extremely dedicated and if you're looking at him now,
he doesn't go soul winning. He doesn't go anymore.
And I have another friend that I'm thinking about who,
you know, he was reading the Bible for more than an hour a day
and he was going soul winning several times a week.
And as far as I know, he doesn't even go to church anymore.
And if he goes, because I have friends that are still in West Virginia
and we think about them, we pray for them from time to time,
we thought they would get back into it.
And as far as we know, they just pretty much, you know, dropped out of soul winning.
I don't want to be that person.
And I hope that if you're a soul winner here, that you don't want to be that person one day.
But we need to understand it is a very real possibility for anybody in this room
if we don't take heed to the words that the Bible says.
God's intention is for you to bring forth fruit year after year after year.
I want you to see the example it says in verse number 3 where it says,
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.
You know, everything in the Bible is in the Bible for a reason.
The Bible says in John chapter 3,
If I have told you of earthly things and ye believe not,
how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
See, God gives us earthly examples so we can understand the spiritual and the heavenly things.
When we go soul winning, we use the example of salvation being a gift.
Because the Bible uses that example, the gift of God as eternal life.
Or the most real application there in John 3,
Jesus was telling Nicodemus about being born again.
And it was going straight over Nicodemus' head because he says,
How can a man be born when he is old?
He wasn't understanding there's a spiritual birth.
And Jesus told him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
He expected Nicodemus to understand, well, there's a spiritual birth
and you need to be not just born physically,
you need to be born again, you need to get saved.
So, earthly examples are in the Bible to teach us something.
And it uses the example of a tree planted by the rivers of water.
You notice that it doesn't say a tree planted in the desert.
It says this tree is planted in the rivers of water.
There's a reason why.
Because trees aren't going to survive that well in the desert.
An apple tree, a lemon tree, it's not going to survive in the desert.
For an apple tree or a lemon tree to continue to be alive and bring forth fruit,
it needs to constantly be watered.
And that's why it's using the example planted by the rivers of water.
Now, this is a godly Christian that we're talking about.
And so think about the example God is trying to tell us.
You see, sadly, there's probably people that come to church
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night,
and you might even have Bible reading time,
but throughout the day, instead of meditating on God's word,
you're planted in a desert.
You're thinking about the things of the world.
You're thinking about maybe movies and TV and music
and things that are just going to be meaningless one day.
I don't think anyone comes to their deathbed and says,
I wish I watched more TV.
I wish I'd just listened to that one album by Led Zeppelin.
I never got to.
I really don't think, I hope that's not what most people,
I hope no one in this room would think that,
I wish I'd watched more TV when you're about to pass away.
You're going to think about, man, my time is over.
I was preached this morning.
I wish I had led more people to the Lord.
I wish I had done something with my life that actually has eternal value.
Because once you're at your end,
there's nothing else that you can do on this earth.
Your time's done.
But you know what?
If you led people to the Lord, that's something that's eternal.
It still lasts.
And that's why we really need to put these things in our head.
And so it uses the example of being planted by the rivers of water.
Turn to Jeremiah chapter 17, Jeremiah 17.
You see, the Bible says that he might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the word.
Just as a tree constantly needs water to survive and thrive,
we need to be watered constantly.
Not just Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
And not just set aside Bible reading time,
but throughout the day, you should be meditating on God's word.
It says in Jeremiah chapter 17, starting at verse number 7.
This is very, very similar terminology.
It says in verse number 7,
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreadeth out her roots by the river,
and shall not see when heat cometh,
but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought.
Neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
This is an example of someone who doesn't stop winning souls to the Lord.
That's the example the Bible's giving us.
Notice that it says her leaf shall be green.
Year after year, this tree, it's leaf, it's green.
And then it says it shall not be careful in the year of drought.
Basically, it's not worried when there's no water coming from above,
because it's by the water.
So it's still being constantly watered.
And see, what I think the Bible's trying to teach us is this.
You know, sometimes we come to church,
and maybe we're just tired or not really paying attention,
and it's like we missed the sermon.
Or sometimes, you know, I read the Bible,
and sadly, it's just like it's going over my head,
because for whatever reason, I can't focus.
And that is why it's so important
that throughout the day, you're meditating on God's Word,
because even if you're missing out on some of the preaching
and missing things that you should be learning,
even if during your Bible reading, maybe you're missing some of it,
if you're constantly thinking about the Word of God
and quoting verses in your head,
it's going to constantly be watering you throughout the day.
That is God's goal for you.
God wants you to meditate on His Word.
And the result is going to be this.
You're not going to cease from yielding fruit.
You're still going to be a soul winner
that's leading people to the Lord year after year after year.
It's also interesting, though,
if you look at verse number 9 in Jeremiah chapter 17,
but, you know, actually, let me quote you.
In Psalms 1, 2, where he started, it says,
His delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law doth He meditate day and night.
So you can see that that's what God's trying to teach you.
We should be meditating on God's Word day and night.
When we wake up in the morning,
the first thing should not be Facebook.
It shouldn't be email.
It shouldn't be who texted me, who called me.
The first thing should be prayer or Bible reading
or something that actually matters.
We should put God first throughout the day.
When we wake up in the morning, throughout the day,
when you have time to think about things,
when you're at the grocery line and there's a 10-minute line,
you should be meditating on God's Word.
When you're in the shower, you have time to think.
I mean, meditate on God's Word.
Use that time for something productive.
Don't waste that time.
When you go to bed at night,
you should still be thinking about God's Word.
That's why the Bible talks about praying without ceasing.
God wants us to meditate on Him and His Word throughout the day
and constantly be thinking about the things of God.
And if you do, you're going to constantly be watered
and you won't drop out of church.
You'll still be a soul winner.
I guarantee you my friends that dropped out,
they ended up just meditating on the things of the world.
Their Bible reading went down.
They stopped thinking about the things of God
and eventually their flesh became more powerful
than the spiritual man
and they just decided to drop out of church.
And honestly, that's not just two friends of mine.
There's examples in the Bible.
Paul had a lot of friends he was very close to.
Why do you think they dropped out?
Because they stopped meditating on God's Word.
And, you know, anyone you talk to
who's been a soul winner for a long time,
people that have been at this church for a long time,
you've seen people that were part of this church,
they were a soul winner, and now they're not here.
Because it's a very real possibility
that if you don't meditate on God's Word,
you're going to start to die out,
just as the Bible's given us an example.
And in Jeremiah 17, 9, it's very interesting.
The next verse says,
The heart is deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked, who can know it?
So the Bible's basically talking about meditating on God's Word
and then it says, the heart is deceitful above all things.
This is a very famous verse
and what I'm trying to show you right now is
when you're constantly thinking about the things of the world,
that means that's a problem with your heart.
That means you maybe don't love God
quite as much as you think you do.
If you constantly are meditating on politics and sports,
what do you really love?
If you meditate on God's Word all the time,
that kind of shows what you love.
But if you're meditating on the things of the world,
I mean, the Bible says, love not the things of the world.
And if that's what you're meditating on,
then you need to realize that you need to get that fixed.
You know, sometimes we see people that are at church
and going soul winning and really zealous for God,
and eventually they start to miss church services.
Eventually they start to miss soul winning times.
And our natural reaction in our heads is,
well, this person's starting to backslide.
But here's what you have to understand.
If they stop coming soul winning,
they stop coming to church,
they've been backsliding for a long time.
It didn't just start the day they missed the church service.
It started in the heart a long time ago.
And I can't see anybody's heart here today.
You know, everybody puts a smile when they come on to face,
and I do as well.
Even if I'm in a good mood, bad mood,
I try to act happy.
And I don't know what's in your heart, but here's the thing.
If you're meditating on the things of the world
and you used to meditate on God's things,
you have to understand you are in danger of dropping out
of being a soul winner and being a dedicated Christian.
Even if you are coming soul winning every single week,
if you're not meditating on God's word throughout the day,
you need to get that problem fixed,
because eventually you will drop out.
I've seen it happen with people that I thought
were going to be great, bold preachers one day.
People that I would have said would never drop out,
and yet they did.
And if you've been around IFB churches
and been soul winning for a long time,
you've seen people that look like they were going to be in it
for the long haul, and they eventually dropped out.
So if you start backsliding in your heart,
then you need to get that fixed before everyone else
can see the outward signs.
It's about time that us as Christians
at Verity Baptist Church that we're as righteous on the inside
as we appear to be on the outside.
It's about time we fix our heart.
And the Bible says in Matthew 5.19,
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
You notice when it says out of the heart,
it starts with evil thoughts.
I mean, I don't think that the first reaction David had
when he saw Bathsheba, I mean,
he was obviously backsliding in his heart first.
You know, nobody when they get married
is planning to cheat on their wife,
but eventually if you start lusting after people
that you're not married to in your heart,
you allow yourself to look at certain images on the internet
or on the TV, eventually that can lead to something bad.
You see, you meditate on God's word,
that means you're going to be a soul winner
and end it for the long term.
But if you allow yourself to start coveting
and lusting in your heart,
that can lead to some pretty evil things.
Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications.
I mean, those are some pretty serious sins,
but it starts with thinking the wrong things
and not having your heart right.
But if you would choose to meditate on the things of God,
it's going to lead to you being a fruit-bearing tree
like the Bible talks about.
Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Now, there's a couple reasons
why I'm preaching this sermon this afternoon.
One reason is because this was actually
more of a Saturday morning sermon
when we go out soul winning,
but I kind of realized this is a really comprehensive topic
that, you know, I think would make better
for a full-length sermon.
But the other reason is this, you know,
when I got married, when I got engaged,
I realized, you know, there's a lot of things
and changes I want to make in my life.
You know, I looked at myself and I said,
I'm not just responsible for myself,
but, you know, I'm going to be getting married.
You know, that's a big responsibility.
And all of a sudden, there's a lot of worldliness
and things in my life I decided,
I'm going to have to cut this out
if I'm going to start living for God,
you know, even more and be a great example to my wife.
Last week, Brother David was preaching about
training up your children in the way of the Lord.
And my wife and I just found out
that we're actually expecting our first child.
And so, knowing that I'm going to be a parent
and knowing I'm going to be a father,
I had to look on the inside and say,
am I ready for this?
And I thought about maybe areas of my life
where I'm not as godly as I should be
and I thought, you know what, oftentimes,
I think on the things of the world.
Oftentimes, I don't meditate on God's word.
And I said, you know what, I need to make that,
I need to switch that now,
especially if I'm going to be a good husband
and a good father.
Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Deuteronomy chapter 6.
Well, actually, I guess I already had you guys turn there.
But anyways, in Deuteronomy 6, starting at verse 4,
the Bible reads,
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart
and with all thy soul and with all thy might.
And these words which I command thee to say
shall be in thine heart,
and thou shalt teach them diligently onto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,
and when thou walkest by the way,
and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up,
and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand,
and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Now, it's funny because I've had these verses memorized
for a long time,
but once I knew that I was going to be a father,
it's just kind of like,
diligently teach your children is what kind of stood out to me.
And it's at all times.
When you're sitting down,
when you're walking,
when you're lying down,
when you're rising up.
Now, how are you going to teach your kids the things of God
unless you're constantly thinking about the things of God?
You're not going to be able to just flip the switch.
You know, we need to realize
that we need to constantly be thinking
about the things of God
and meditating on God's Word.
If we're going to be godly Christians,
if we're going to be husbands, wives,
you know, parents,
we need to be meditating on God's Word
and not thinking about the things of the world.
Turn to Genesis chapter 6.
My wife and I do want to thank everybody
who did pray for us to have a child.
You know, it's definitely very exciting.
We're very happy to find out.
And we do appreciate everyone who's prayed for us
and thought about us in that way.
And what I want you to do now, though,
is not think about that,
but think about what I'm preaching
and listen to what I'm saying.
It might have been a bad idea to tell you guys that,
you know, at the beginning of the sermon.
But we're going to look at the first point here
in Genesis chapter 6 where the Bible reads,
starting at verse number 5,
And God saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth
and it grieved him at his heart.
You say, well, why did God destroy the world?
Why did the flood come?
It wasn't just because on the outside
bad things were happening.
It says every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
You see, the first point is this.
It is critical to God
that you have the right thoughts and the right heart.
You say, well, it's no big deal
if I'm just thinking about other things.
You know, it's no big deal to lust after another woman
as long as I don't act on it.
Well, it's a big deal to God.
God looked down and he said every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
It is a big deal to God
that you don't just go out soloing
but that you also get your heart right,
that you think the right things.
He commands you to meditate therein day and night.
God commands you to meditate on the things of God.
And he looked down at the world and he said even in their hearts
they're imagining wicked things
and they're just thinking about things that don't matter,
sinful things, wicked things.
This is a big deal to God.
It is critical to God that you get this fixed.
Turn to Psalms 94.
Psalms 94.
And I'll read you a couple of verses
the Bible refers to about wicked people.
In Psalms 10, 4 it says,
the wicked through the pride of his countenance
will not seek after God.
God is not in all his thoughts.
See, the evil person, God is not in his thoughts.
God's intention though is for you to have him in your thoughts.
It says in Psalms 56, 5,
every day they rest my words.
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
It is a big deal to God that you think the right things.
And it's going to have a huge impact on your life.
You know, if we choose to be lazy in our mind
and meditate on things that don't matter
and are sinful things,
it's going to have a huge consequence in our life.
It starts off with something small
but it can springboard into something huge.
I mean, you look at David.
David is not the person that you would expect
to end up committing adultery.
He was a pretty godly Christian.
But he committed adultery and then he committed murder
because he first chose to lust after that woman.
And if you go back in that story,
it's late at night and he's awake because he can't sleep.
You say, why can't he sleep?
Well, the Bible said that the time kings go forth to battle,
he didn't go to battle.
He was being lazy basically
and as a result he couldn't sleep
because the sleep of a laboring man is sweet.
Now, I'm not trying to be mean and I know there's exceptions
but if you have a lot of trouble falling asleep,
there's a decent chance it's because you're not laboring hard enough.
Because on days where you work really hard,
immediately you're out like that.
And I notice on days when I'm lazy,
and I know on holidays I tend to eat a lot of junk food
and everything like that,
and I notice I can't really fall asleep.
I sleep for a long time.
I wake up and I'm still tired.
But the Bible says the sleep of a laboring man is sweet.
But you notice how if you just choose to lust
or do something coveting, something small in the heart,
it can lead to something like adultery.
It can lead to something like murder.
I don't think I would ever do that, but you know what?
If I allow it to enter into my heart,
you don't know what's going to end up happening.
The Bible says in Psalms 94-11,
the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity.
The Bible says the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity.
You know, if we really look at ourselves,
we think a lot of vain and pointless and useless thoughts.
We think about things that really don't matter.
I remember when I was a kid,
I dreamed of being a professional athlete,
mainly a professional soccer player,
but in my mind I wanted to do kind of professional basketball,
soccer, and then football and be like this famous athlete,
more famous than Michael Jordan.
Well, that's a vain and stupid and pointless thought.
And here's the thing.
You know, when I became a man, I put away childish things.
I understand kids think about things like that,
but you know, if you're an adult
and you're still thinking about things like that,
it's like it's time to grow up.
It's time to meditate on God's word.
You know, it's funny that you hear some people talking
that maybe at a family reunion or at a high school reunion,
and they haven't played football in 40 years,
but all they talk about is, man, I made that one tackle
in the state championship game when I was 18 years old.
It's like, man, that was 40 years ago.
It's like nobody cares about that anymore.
That was a long time ago.
And you know, it's important that we are meditating on God's word
and not thinking vain and pointless thoughts.
You know, Pastor Amen has preached about, you know, redeeming the time,
and this is very central to my sermon as well,
that we're not just thinking vain thoughts and wasting our time,
but here's the thing.
On days where your life is busy,
maybe you don't have time to sit down for an hour to read the Bible.
Maybe you're on the go.
You're working lots of hours,
but you can still meditate on God's word,
and that day you can still grow and water yourself spiritually,
but if you choose to not think about the things of God,
once your life gets busy,
you're going to start to really start to backslide
because your Bible reading is going down.
You're not meditating on God's word.
It is very important that throughout the day
we're not thinking vain and useless and pointless thoughts,
but we're thinking about the things of God.
Turn to Job 31.
Job 31 is right before Psalms in your Bible.
I love this verse in Matthew 6.27 where it says,
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit onto his stature?
You know, God's basically saying you can think about being taller all you want,
but you won't be taller.
You know, it's interesting that the way God made people
it seems like most people aren't happy with the way they're made.
They just want to kind of change it.
They want to be taller.
They want to be shorter.
They want to be this.
They want to be that.
In a lot of countries where they have darker skin
they'll do injections in their face to look lighter,
and yet a lot of people that are really light
they go to tanning beds to get darker,
and I'm not saying some of these things are necessarily wrong,
but I'm just saying I'm happy with the way God made me.
I'm not perfect.
I'm an average-looking guy,
but we should be happy with who we are,
and the thing is you can think about it all you want,
but it's not going to change reality.
You can dream all day about being a rich billionaire.
It's probably not going to happen for you,
and if it does happen you're probably not going to be a soul winner anymore.
You're probably not going to be caring about the things of God.
You can think all day about wanting to look different
or to be this or that or have this really great job,
and once you choose to meditate on those things
it's going to take you away from the things of God.
We need to just be happy with the way God made us.
Obviously work hard at our jobs,
but constantly be meditating on God's word.
The Bible gave us a lot of different things that we could think about.
He says in Philippians 4-8, and just stayed in Job 31,
but in Philippians 4-8 it says,
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report,
if there be any virtue and if there be any praise,
think on these things.
God gave us a whole list of things to think about
and yet we choose to think about politics and sports
and TV and music and things that don't matter
and Facebook and people are just thinking about other people's lives.
They spend like an hour a day just looking up other people's lives
and they just think throughout the day about so and so
and it's like, I have my own life to live.
I have a lot of things to do in my own life.
We should just think on things that actually matter
and not waste our times.
The first point we saw is that this is critical to God,
but if you notice in Job 31, this became critical to Job as well.
It says in Job 31 verse 1,
I made a covenant with mine eyes,
why then should I think upon a maid?
Basically, Job said, you know what?
I'm a married man. I'm not going to think about any other women.
I'm not going to lust after any women.
I'm not even going to let my eyes see another woman.
In 2017, we live in a world where everywhere you go,
you're seeing women that biblically would be classified as naked, as nude.
You've got to constantly guard your eyes.
If you just go to the grocery store,
obviously we can't just live as hermits.
We're going to see these things.
We can't completely avoid them.
It's sad when Christians are choosing to let it enter a lot more often.
They watch TV all the time and movies
and they allow themselves to think all of these thoughts.
They say, well, it's no big deal.
Nothing wrong is going to happen.
Eventually, that's why you see Christians get adultery.
They commit adultery. They get divorced.
Just like the world because the same things are entering into their heart.
They're allowing themselves to think on things that don't matter.
It might not seem harmful to watch these movies and TV
and listen to this music,
but once you allow yourself to meditate on those things,
it can springboard into something very major in your life.
First off, it's critical to God,
but it ought to become critical to us as well.
Let's go to Genesis 8.
The Bible reads in 1 Corinthians 10, 13.
There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
See, the first thing we saw is this,
that it's critical to God that you get your heart right and your thoughts right,
but not only is it critical to God, it's also common to man.
What I mean by common to man is this is something we all have to deal with.
Everybody has to work every day on controlling their thoughts
and guarding their heart.
There's nobody in this room who is some super Christian
who never thinks anything wrong or never does anything wrong.
This is very common to man of having to get our thoughts right
and having to get our heart right.
In Genesis 8, verse 21,
this is just two chapters after he talked in Genesis 6
about how he was mad at their thoughts,
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart.
In Genesis 8, 21, it says,
And the Lord smelled a sweet savour,
and the Lord said in his heart,
I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake,
for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.
Neither will I again smite any more everything living as I have done.
See, God says, I'm not going to destroy the world any more with a flood.
He said he understands the imaginations of man's heart is evil from his youth.
You see, this is common to man.
You know, kids are sinful, and we're sinful as well.
We all sin, and we all can lust.
We can all think the wrong things.
This is very common to man that we've got to get this problem fixed.
It's critical to God. It ought to become critical to us as well.
We must realize that if we choose to think the wrong thoughts
and lust after things and allow ourselves to see certain things
that we shouldn't see and listen to things we shouldn't listen to,
that eventually it's going to completely corrupt our minds.
See, the devil is trying to program you on the television.
He's trying to program you through all these different methods.
You know, when I went soul winning ten years ago,
I would talk to young teens, and they would always be respectful
and oftentimes would usually listen to the gospel.
In the last couple of years, I've had plenty of kids just blaspheming God in front of me
and basically say they worship the devil.
And it's like, I know where that's coming from.
It's coming from the television.
It's coming from these rappers, I don't know, Jay-Z, not Tupac.
I have no clue who the rappers are.
But it's coming from the music and the movies
and these things that they're allowing to influence them.
And the devil is programming these kids.
And I'll be honest, I believe soul winning is probably harder than it was ten years ago.
People seem like they get saved less to me than when I went soul winning ten years ago.
And I think it's because the devil's programming people,
and he's telling them that God's not real and blaspheming Jesus all the time.
And people think it's a big joke just to say, well, I worship the devil.
You know, I'm an antichrist or say 666.
And that's what kids are doing nowadays.
It's a scary world coming, and you know what?
It's because people are allowing these things to enter into their thoughts and their heart.
Now, if you're a parent today, you know, I would hope that you don't just let your kids
have unfiltered access to the internet and to TV and everything that they want.
Because kids are foolish, and they're going to be very curious about these things.
And if you allow them to listen to that music, it's going to destroy their life.
And you're going to wonder why one day, why didn't my son stay in church?
Why didn't my daughter stay in church?
And it's because you allow these things to enter into their thoughts and their heart and their mind.
I hope that would not happen at a church like this where you're hearing hard preaching.
You know, no church is perfect, and this church is not perfect.
But, you know, when people come up here to preach, they preach the Word of God.
And they preach sermons that can change your life.
All the men who ever come up here to preach, they preach sermons that are going to change people's lives
if they would apply them to their life.
You know, the people that come up here, last week, brother David came up here.
He preached a hard sermon. I was hanging on to every single word.
I mean, it helped and edified me.
And, you know what, if we would just choose to think on these things, it would help change our lives.
You know, turn to 2 Corinthians 10.
And, you know, when we're in church, you ought to be actually thinking and listening to what the sermon's about.
And not thinking about, where am I going to eat today?
What am I going to do? What work do I have to get done?
You know, if you've been at this church for a while and your life hasn't changed much,
it's probably because you're not paying that much attention during the sermons.
You're probably choosing to think about the things of the world,
and you're missing every single thing that's being preached behind this pulpit.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, starting at verse number 3, the Bible reads,
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
You see, the Bible commands us to bring our thoughts into captivity.
It commands us to think the right things.
First off, we saw that this is critical to God, that you get your heart right and you think the right things.
It's also common to man. This is something that everybody struggles with.
This is something that we all need to choose to deal with.
And the third thing is it's time for a call to arms here at church.
It's time for all of us to get control of our thoughts and get control of our hearts here today.
It's time for us in 2017 to look just as holy on the inside as we do on the outside.
It's time for us to realize this is a big deal.
God says in verse 5, casting down imaginations.
You know, the implication is there is it's going to take some work.
Casting down, it's going to be hard to do. We need to do it though.
And it says, bringing into captivity every thought.
It is God's command for us to get control of our thoughts and get control of our hearts.
You see, when you choose to think the wrong things, when you're meditating on the wrong things,
it is a big deal to God and you need to get it fixed.
I need to get it fixed. We all need to get it fixed.
Once you're thinking the wrong things, the Bible says bring that into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
We need to deal with this today.
Turn to Proverbs 24.
In Proverbs 24, starting at verse 9, the Bible reads,
The thought of foolishness is sin, and the scorner is an abomination to men.
The Bible says just thinking of foolish thought, that's a sin.
When you think about wanting to be rich and a millionaire or a famous athlete, singer, whatever,
that's a sin according to the Bible. You're thinking foolish thoughts.
And that's something that we're all guilty of.
It's pretty ridiculous for anyone to try to claim that they're perfect or that they're without sin.
I mean, I think a lot of foolish thoughts, and we do a lot of worse things than that.
But notice in verse number 10, it says,
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
When it says faint in the day of adversity or the day of trouble or the day when conflict's coming,
basically it's saying someone who's giving up, it says,
If that person gives up, thy strength is small.
You say, well, Brother Stuckey, it's really hard to control my thoughts and my heart.
Yeah, it is hard. It's difficult, but you know what?
If you give up, your strength is small.
And another way to say that is that means you're weak if you're just going to give up when it gets tough.
If you're just going to say, well, I'm just going to allow myself to think whatever.
It's just too difficult to think about the things of God.
That's because you're weak according to the Bible.
I'm not saying it. That's what the Bible says.
It says, Thy strength is small.
When I was a kid, if you wanted to offend somebody, you would call them a homo or you'd call them weak.
I don't like being called weak. I don't like being called a homo.
That's offensive to me. And that's what the Bible's saying.
And especially if you're a man, I hope you don't like being called weak.
I hope you take pride in the fact that you want to be strong, you want to be a man's man,
not like the girly people you see today.
And see, the Bible says that if you faint in the day of adversity,
if you give up on trying to fight this, that is because you're weak.
Thy strength is small.
This is something that we all need to fight against.
But not only that, in verse 10, look down at verse number 16.
It says in verse number 16, For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again,
but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I've been trying to fight against this.
I've been trying to think the right thoughts and meditate on God's Word
and memorize the Bible throughout the day, but it seems like every day I mess up.
On Monday, I go to bed at night, and I'm like, Man, I messed up on Monday.
I messed up on Tuesday. I messed up on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
All seven days during the week, I messed up.
You say, What's the answer?
What says, For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again?
If you messed up every single day during the week, it's a new week.
It's a new start. Keep fighting it.
You cannot give up in this battle.
And if you give up, that's because you're weak, according to the Bible.
Thy strength is small.
It's time for us to fight this battle and to have victory in this battle
in our minds and in our heart in 2017.
You say, Brother Stuckey, turn to Proverbs 16.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I understand that.
You say, It's critical to God. I see that.
It's common to man. This is something I struggle with.
And it's time for a call to arms.
It's time for us to fight against this.
But you say, How do you do it?
Can you give me a tip on how can we overcome this?
Look at Proverbs 16.
I'll be honest with you that if you don't go soul winning,
if you're not really that zealous for God,
you're not really going to like the answer to how you fix this
or how you can help fix this.
But I'll show you in Proverbs 16, 3.
If you want to get control of your thoughts and heart
and start thinking pure and wholesome thoughts
and not covetous and lustful thoughts,
in Proverbs 16, 3, the Bible says,
Commit thy works unto the Lord,
and thy thoughts shall be established.
You want to know how you fix your heart and your thoughts?
You do more work for the Lord.
I remember when I got saved and I started going soul winning.
I'll be honest, I was a really, really worldly Christian
when I started going soul winning.
I listened to hard rock music, music from the 70s
that's very sinful, very blasphemous, and it's amazing now.
I can't even believe that I used to listen to that garbage.
But you know what fixed that in my life?
When I started going soul winning,
I would maybe give the gospel to someone and they didn't get saved.
And I could just feel in my heart, you know what,
other people would have done a better job because they're more on fire for God.
And I felt like I didn't do that good of a job giving the gospel
because I said I wasn't right enough with God.
And I decided to get rid of my music and my movies and all of that
because of the fact I started going soul winning a lot.
And I was like, you know what, I need to fix this
because people's lives are at stake here.
I mean, is listening to that music and watching that TV
more important than people burning in hell forever?
And you say, well, it doesn't make a difference.
It does make a difference.
If you meditate on the things of God and live a pure and wholesome life,
you will win far more people to the Lord
than if you choose to live a sinful and worldly lifestyle.
It is very critical to God that you get this fixed.
And the Bible says, commit thy works unto the Lord,
and thy thoughts shall be established.
We need to do more in 2017 for God, more Bible reading,
more memorization, more prayer, more soul winning.
It's not time to do less. It's a time to do more for God.
Turn to Psalms chapter 1, back where we started, Psalms 1.
And I'll quote you in Matthew 621 where the Bible says,
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
In Matthew chapter 6, the immediate context is talking about actual money.
But the same thing applies in other areas as well.
You know, if you choose to spend a lot of time on something,
or you choose to invest a lot of energy into something,
or a lot of money into something, you're going to care about it more.
You know, if you buy a car for a lot of money,
and then you end up wrecking it the first day,
you're going to be pretty upset about that.
But you know, if it wasn't worth much, it's really not as big of a deal to you.
The more you invest into something, the more you're going to care about it.
If you invest years and years and years into something,
and then it doesn't turn out for you, you're going to be very disappointed in that.
Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
What you have to understand is this.
The more energy you invest into the things of the world,
and movies, and music, your heart's going to go down that direction as well.
And it's going to stay there for a long time.
And it's going to be hard to fight against that.
You know, I was talking to someone, I can remember the other day,
I was talking about rock music, and I said,
I really don't have any desire to listen to rock music.
Because it's been a long time since I listened to it.
But I remember when I was trying to get rid of the rock music,
there were several times I said, today's going to be the day.
Today's going to be the day.
And eventually I heard that one sermon that just pricked me hard enough
that I said, okay, I'm getting rid of it all.
And see, that's why hard preaching actually matters,
because it's hard preaching that actually gets you to take those steps
to fix your life.
We don't preach hard out of hatred.
We preach hard because we love you and we care about you.
And we want your lives fixed.
That's why our pastor preaches hard,
because he's trying to help you fix your life.
I need to redeem my time better.
I need to do better in these things.
This sermon applies to me as much as anybody in this room.
But the Bible says, where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
And if you've set aside a lot of time to thinking about something
and meditating on it, your heart's going to still be there.
And if you want eventually your heart to be on the things of God,
you've got to start doing more work for the Lord and more Bible reading.
And you're going to find yourself meditating on God's word
more during the day than you did before.
You know, when I watched, I used to watch soccer a lot.
And I watched the World Cup when it came around.
And it's funny, during that time period,
I'm watching soccer for a few hours a day.
But it wasn't just those few hours a day, but outside of that,
throughout the day, I'm also thinking about soccer.
And when I wouldn't normally do that,
because once you're spending a lot of time on something,
other time throughout the day, you're also spending on it.
And see, what you have to understand, when you start going soul winning a lot,
guess what you're going to think about throughout the day?
You're going to think about the conversations you had.
You're going to think about soul winning.
You read the Bible a lot, you're going to start talking about it.
You can't help but speak the things that you have seen and heard.
And so you spend more time on something, you're going to meditate on it more,
which is why we need to do more works for the Lord, more soul winning,
more Bible reading, and your thoughts are going to be established,
the Bible says.
In Psalms chapter 1 where we started, in verse number 1, the Bible reads,
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
You see here in verse number 1, it's basically showing someone who's,
in my mind, is willingly allowing himself to stand amongst sinners.
You see people that are around ungodly people, their lives are destroyed.
You stand around sinners, you're in the seat of the scornful,
you're walking with ungodly people, it's going to destroy your life.
But see the Bible says the godly person's not going to be around those people,
and the godly person is going to, as a result, meditate on God's word.
So that's the thing, if you choose to listen to the music and the movies
and all these things, then you know what?
You're not going to be meditating on God's word.
But if you choose not to listen to these foolish people and to be around sinners
and allow these things to enter into your heart and your mind,
you're going to find yourself meditating on the things of God.
Turn to one last place, Psalms 139.
In Psalms 139, starting at verse number 1, the Bible reads,
O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me.
Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising.
Thou understandest my thought afar off.
Drop down to verse number 23.
The Bible reads in verse number 23,
Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts,
and see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
The psalmist was able to say here, he's like, try me and know my thoughts.
I just wondered when I prepared this sermon,
let's say for example you could be up here
and all your thoughts were revealed for everybody to see.
How embarrassed would you be about that?
What are you thinking about?
And I don't know what you guys are thinking about.
I only know about myself, what I'm thinking about.
But let's say every single thing was revealed.
I mean, how embarrassed would you be?
I'm very thankful that when you get saved,
all your sins are completely gone.
God's not going to one day just show all these sins
for everybody to see like some people think.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
When you're saved, your sins are cast as far as the east is from the west.
They're completely gone.
But if your sins could be seen
and your thoughts could be seen to be revealed to everybody,
how proud of that would you be?
Would you be really embarrassed?
I mean, what are you thinking about?
It's time for us to be able to say, just like he says here,
search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts
and see if there'd be any wicked way in me
and lead me in the way everlasting.
It's time for us in 2017 to think and meditate on God's word
more than we ever have before in any year.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here
in the house of God this afternoon,
and I just ask you to help us to remember these words,
and I pray this will be a blessing to everyone, including myself,
that we can meditate on your word more than we ever have before.
We just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Thank you very much, Brother Stuckey.
That was a great, great sermon.
I hope you were listening to that.
I don't know what he preached about, but I'm excited that they're expecting.
So, no, I'm just kidding.
No, he did it good.