🎵Music🎵
Amen. Good morning. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church Manila.
Let's start our first service by getting our hymn books and turning to hymn number 65.
Let's sing a song just over in the glory land.
Hymn number 65.
Just over in the glory land.
Amen. On the first verse, ready, sing.
🎵Music🎵
Father, we thank the Lord for the presence of each and every one of us here, Lord.
We thank you for the good weather that you've given to us and that we be able to gather together here, Lord, and worship you in spirit.
I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be attentive with the sermon and I pray that you would remove the distractions there with the Lord.
And I pray, O God, that you would bless and feel better succulent in your whole spirit so that you can preach with all boldness and clarity, Lord.
And I pray, Lord, that you would guide him as he preached to us the sermon.
And I pray, Lord, that you would be edified by the sermon.
And I pray, Lord, that you would bless each and every part of the service, from the congregation and singing, from the reading of the word and the preaching of the sermon.
And I also pray, Lord, that you would bless the fellowship over the lunch and also that you would give us a good weather for us to go out and win souls through pranks.
We're asking all these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
For our next song, let's turn to hymn number 220.
Let's sing the song Jesus is all the world to me.
In number 220.
Jesus is all the world to me.
On the verse.
Jesus is all the world to me.
My life, my door, my home.
He is my strength from day to day.
He has me by the wall.
When I am sad to be my soul.
My heart, my heart can clear me so.
When I am sad, he makes me mad.
He is my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me.
My friend in child's soul.
I go to him for blessings and he gives them forever.
He sends the sunshine in the rain.
Jesus is all the world to me.
Sunshine in rain.
Heartless of pain.
He is my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me.
And true to him I'll be.
Oh how could I be so true to me.
Following him I know I'm right.
He walked with soul to me at night.
Following him my day and night.
He is my prayer at last.
Jesus is all the world to me.
I go to him for blessings.
I trust him now.
I trust him when.
Last day he gave my hand.
Beautiful life in such a pain.
Beautiful life that has no end.
Eternal life.
Eternal joy.
He is my friend.
All right, good morning everybody.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
We're going to take out your bulletin here today.
And our verse of the week is Genesis 19 verse 29.
The Bible reads,
And it came to pass when God destroyed the cities of the plain,
that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow
when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
And that's a great verse there.
We are a family integrated church,
meaning children and infants are welcome during the services.
We do have a mother baby room back there for your convenience,
as well as a lady's comfort room.
The men's comfort room is up here in front.
Remember no eating during the service.
Maintain a professional atmosphere and keep the children from running
and making noise during the church service.
On the next page are weekly service times listed.
Our first service is at 10 a.m.
and our second service is at 1130
and Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 p.m.
Soul winning time is listed Wednesday at 5,
two hours before the church service meeting here at the church building.
Saturday afternoons we have soul winning, well, 10 to 12,
then lunch and then afternoon soul winning as well.
And then on Sunday afternoon we do have soul winning today at around 2.15 p.m.
Our salvations are listed there for March and also year to date
in our churches and Bible study fellowships.
Birthdays and anniversaries as well listed there for March.
Then our Bible memorization challenge, so keep up with that
and get your prize if you're able to accomplish it.
A few things to note on the upcoming activities.
So today of course we have choir practice.
Next week we also have choir practice.
I'm also going to be preaching a sermon on the Lord's Supper next week.
So in case you're not able to come on April 3rd next Sunday,
but you're planning to come April 10th,
I would just kind of encourage you to listen to the sermon online.
So we take the Lord's Supper only one time a year, so it is a big event,
and there's specific reasons why we do that.
So I'll preach a sermon about that next week to prepare us a week ahead of time.
And then we do have Easter on April 17th, so it's coming up pretty quickly.
April 17th will be our men's preaching service.
So we officially have four people signed up to preach,
so 15 minutes is the time limit,
and I'll send you four specific instructions for that event.
But be prepared for our soul-winning events coming up April 13th through 16th.
Last year that was our biggest week we've ever had as a church for soul-winning,
and so hopefully we can break that.
This year we have more people, more soul-winners, and everything like that.
And I'm hoping also on Easter to break our attendance records.
So we'll see, but obviously our attendance has been better.
The last six months just slowly getting better.
Hopefully on Easter we're able to break our record. We'll see.
But anyways, current and upcoming series.
We are in the book of Daniel and then also on Genesis.
We're actually going to be taking a break from Daniel for a little while
because today I'm not preaching through it,
and then we've got all these special sermons like Easter and the Lord's Supper.
So we'll just take a break and get back into it after Easter.
Then on the back there is a place for notes for the sermons here today.
So I believe that's it for announcements.
We'll have Brother Marlon lead us in another song.
Amen for next episode number 110.
Amen number 110.
Let's sing the song, All the Way My Savior Leads Me.
All the way my Savior leads me
My soul, my thirst, may be.
Lest me wander up before me,
because of the joy I see.
Lest me wander up before me,
because of the joy I see.
All the pain and pain remains deep,
for the fullness of the soul.
The perfect match to me is what is
in my father's hearts above.
It is light to realms of day,
this my soul,
blue and the day, yes,
it has spread me all the way.
It has spread me all the way.
Blue and the day, yes,
it has spread me all the way.
Blue and the day, yes,
it has spread me all the way.
Blue and the day, yes,
it has spread me all the way.
Amen. For a scripture reading,
please open your Bibles to the book of Genesis,
the first book in your Bible,
Genesis Chapter 6.
And as a custom,
we'll be reading the entire chapter.
Genesis Chapter 6.
Please say amen if you're there.
Amen.
Genesis 6, verse 1.
And it came to pass when men began to multiply
in the face of the earth,
and daughters were born unto them,
that the sons of God saw the daughters of men
that they were fair,
and they took them wives of all which they chose.
And the Lord said,
My spirit shall not always thrive in man,
for that he also is flesh.
Yet as today shall be a hundred and twenty years.
There were giants in the earth in those days,
and also after that,
when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men,
and they bare children to them,
the same became mighty men which are of old,
men renowned.
And God saw that the wickedness of men
was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually.
And repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said,
I will destroy man whom I have created
from the face of the earth,
both man and beast,
and the creeping thing,
and the thoughts of the air,
for it repentseth me that I have made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,
these are the generations of Noah.
Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations,
and Noah walked with God.
And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
The earth also was corrupt before God,
and the earth was filled with violence.
And God looked upon the earth,
and behold it was corrupt,
for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.
And God said unto Noah,
The end of all flesh has come before me,
for the earth is filled with violence through them,
and behold I will destroy them with the earth.
Make thee an ark of gopher wood,
room shall thou make in the ark,
and shall pitch it within and without with pitch.
And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of.
The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits,
the breadth of it fifty cubits,
and the height of it thirty cubits.
A window shall thou make to the ark,
and an acubit shall thou finish it above,
and the door of the ark shall thou set,
and the side thereof,
with lower, second, and third stories shall thou make it.
And behold I even I do bring a flood of waters upon the earth,
to destroy all flesh,
wherein is the breath of life from under heaven,
and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
But with thee will I establish my covenant,
and thou shalt come into the ark thou,
and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
And of every living thing of all flesh,
two of every sword shall thou bring in the ark,
to keep them alive with thee.
They shall be male and female,
of fowls after their kind,
and of cattle after their kind,
of every creeping thing of the earth out of its kind,
two of every sword shall come unto thee,
to keep them alive,
and take down unto thee of all food that is eaten,
and thou shalt gather it to thee,
and it shall be food for thee and for them.
Thus did Noah,
according to all that God commanded him,
so did he.
Amen.
Bless the word of God's word.
Let us pray.
Lord God, in heaven, we thank you, Lord,
for the state that you've given to us.
I pray that you would bless, Lord, this day,
and bless the preacher,
the preaching of your word, Lord, this day,
and give us good weather for our soul winning later on.
We love you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
All right.
We're here in Genesis chapter 6,
and the name of the sermon is
How to Motivate Your Family to Serve God.
How to motivate your family to serve God.
So I want to preach a sermon on just practical tips
of what you can do to help motivate the rest of your family
to want to serve God as well.
And what I mean by that is, you know,
ideally, in a family, the husband and the wife
and everybody just wants to serve God,
is fully set on the things of God,
they want to read the Bible and go soul winning.
But honestly, that's not always the case.
It's one of the big things that you hear in the ministry
where there's, you know, wives that want to serve God,
but their husbands don't want to serve God.
Or there's husbands that want to serve God,
but the wives don't want to serve God.
Or there's parents that want to serve God,
but the kids don't want to serve God.
Or there's kids that want to serve God,
but the parents don't want to serve God.
And it's a burden a lot of people have,
and it's something I hear a lot.
So I want to kind of give you some tips
on what you can do to actually motivate your family
to want to get on fire for God as well.
Now, before I get into the points,
let me just show that you can actually spare judgment
upon your family based on your own personal lifestyle.
Notice what it says here in Genesis 6.
We'll see the example of Noah.
Genesis chapter 6, verse 7.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man
whom I have created from the face of the earth,
both man and beast and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air,
for it repenteth me that I have made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Now, obviously we believe at this church
that salvation has always been by grace through faith,
but I will say that in verse 8,
it's not really applying towards Noah's salvation,
but it is a picture of salvation.
He found grace in the fact
that he was not destroyed by the flood.
Now, of course, we believe by grace through faith,
even all the way back to Noah,
and that symbolizes it,
but directly what it's speaking about
is that God was merciful to Noah
because basically, you know,
he was living the right sort of life.
God gave him grace because, you know,
he didn't deserve that either, right?
Grace is basically unmerited favor.
And the Bible says Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord.
What I want you to notice is that in Genesis 6, verse 8,
it does not say that Noah's wife
or Noah's kids found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
It's very specific to Noah, okay?
The Bible highlights it's directly talking about Noah,
and God directly spoke to Noah.
Go to Genesis 7, verse 1.
And the Lord said unto Noah...
So once again, God is talking to Noah,
Come thou...
Now, thou in the Bible,
whenever you see the word thee and thou,
that is singular for the word you.
When you see the word you and ye in the Bible,
it's always plural.
So the English language has been very dumbed down
from what it used to be,
but the words thee and thou are singular,
and you and ye are plural.
The great confusion of the King James Bible.
There it is, okay?
The and thou are singular.
And so in verse 1, when he says come thou,
he's saying, I'm talking specifically individually
to you, Noah.
He doesn't say come ye,
because he's speaking to one person,
come thou and all thy house into the ark.
Now, in his house was his wife,
his three sons, and their wives.
So you have eight people on that ark.
But what Noah says is,
you're coming in the ark
and everybody in your house.
Why?
For your whole family
have I seen righteous before me.
Is that what the Bible says?
It's not what the Bible says.
For thee individually
have I seen righteous before me
in this generation.
And God said,
I am going to spare you
and your entire family,
not because everyone in your family is godly.
Look, I don't believe
that all of Noah's kids were godly.
You know, we don't necessarily know,
you know, which members of the family
were saved or not.
The Bible is not necessarily specific.
We know specifically
the reason why they all got in the ark
was not because they were all righteous,
but because Noah was righteous.
Now, the word righteous there,
it's not referencing someone being saved.
Okay, I promise you,
there's a lot of saved people
that died in the flood.
What it's referring to
is someone who's not only saved,
but is actually walking the walk
and is actually doing what's right.
Now, we understand
nobody is perfectly righteous.
There is none righteous.
But compared to everybody else,
Noah was trying to do what was right.
And what God says is,
for thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation.
The world had become very wicked
and God looked down at Noah
and there was a difference.
And God said your whole family
is going to go in the ark,
not because they're all godly,
but because you are godly.
Go to Genesis chapter 8.
Genesis 8.
There's this kind of false idea
within the, you know,
so-called Christian realm that,
well, you know, as long as you're saved,
then you don't have to worry
about God judging you
or punishing you for anything you do.
Well, that's completely false.
I mean, you don't have to worry
about going to hell, right?
I mean, if you believe on Jesus,
you're saved, but you better believe
you reap, you know, what you sow, right?
I mean, if you do wrong,
if you sow wickedness,
you're going to reap that.
If you do right,
you're going to reap good as a result, right?
And so notice what it says
in Genesis 8 verse 1.
And God remembered Noah,
and this is when they're already in the ark
and basically everything's
being destroyed.
And God remembered Noah
and every living thing
and all the cattle
that was with him in the ark.
And God made a wind to pass over the earth
and the waters assuaged.
The fountains also of the deep
and the windows of heaven were stopped
and the rain from heaven was restrained.
So basically as God is pouring out His wrath,
He basically stops
because He remembers Noah.
It does not say He remembers
His entire family.
It says He remembers Noah.
Go to Genesis 19.
Genesis 19.
Genesis chapter 19.
And look, this really has nothing
to do with the sermon.
Let me just use this as an example
of why you shouldn't watch
like these Christian movies.
Because when I first got saved,
you know, I was like,
okay, I've got all these things in my life
that are problems.
I was like, I'm just going to listen
to all these, watch these Christian movies
and listen to this Christian rock music
and everything like that.
I saw a movie from Noah,
just in a movie from a long time ago.
And I got so confused
in what the Bible taught
because I wasn't reading the Bible,
but I was watching these Christian movies.
And then all of a sudden
they're in the ark
and then all of a sudden Noah sees Lot
out in the water.
Not, I mean,
I don't know what the relationship
of Noah and Lot is,
but he sees him.
I mean, they're in an ark
and then Lot is on this little mini raft
that's not going to survive anything.
And then literally Noah says,
you made it too.
And it's just like completely nothing to do
with what the Bible says.
But the Bible specifically says,
God remembered Noah, okay?
That's the one person he remembered
that he looked at as being righteous.
It's the same terminology
you see in Genesis 19, verse 29.
Of course, Genesis 19 is a famous chapter
of Sodom and Gomorrah,
but notice what it says in verse 29.
And it came to pass
when God destroyed the cities of the plain
that God remembered Abraham.
See, this is why we cross reference.
You'll see similar terminology.
And God remembered Abraham
and sent Lot out of the midst
of the overthrow
when he overthrew the cities
in which Lot dwelt.
Why is it that Lot was not killed
in Sodom and Gomorrah?
Because people would say,
well, because he's saved.
That's not what the Bible teaches.
The Bible teaches God remembered Abraham.
Look, just being saved does not mean
you're not going to be destroyed by God.
Right?
God did not remember Lot
and say, well, he's saved,
so I'm not going to destroy him.
No, he says, actually,
he would be destroyed except
I remember Abraham,
meaning Abraham had a nephew
that he loved and he cared about
and he pleaded with God for.
And then God remembered Abraham
and said, I'm not going to judge Lot,
but not because of him.
I mean, when you read Genesis 19,
he brings wine out of Sodom and Gomorrah.
He doesn't listen to God's instructions.
He complains about it
every step of the way.
Why would God spare him?
The only reason why
is because of Abraham.
It's not because of Lot.
Go to Acts 16.
Acts 16.
So we see the example of Noah,
we see the example of Abraham.
Let me give you an example
of some godly ladies in the Bible,
because this is not just specific
for men in the Bible.
Obviously, you know,
women can be just as godly as men
and obviously the Bible
speaks about men more.
So you think of these great characters,
but there'd be just as many great women
that have lived throughout history
as there would be men.
And we see a couple great ladies
here in Acts chapter 16, verse one.
Starting at verse one, it says this,
Then he came to Derbe and Lystra,
and behold, a certain disciple there
was there named Timotheus.
You know, Timothy was probably
the right-hand man of Paul,
kind of the second big guy,
maybe even above Barnabas,
that you read in the New Testament.
The son of a certain woman,
which was a Jewess and believed,
but his father was a Greek.
See, what the Bible's telling you
in Acts 16, verse one,
is this is a family
with a saved mom
and an unsaved husband.
Because it's very specific.
She believed, but his father was a Greek.
And what the Bible's trying to tell you
is the father didn't believe.
So this is a marriage
where the mom is saved
and the mom wants to serve God,
but the husband isn't saved.
Now, of course, we don't know
what the situation was
of why they got married
or when she got saved,
but we know that this is the situation.
And so you have a saved wife
and an unsaved husband.
Verse number two,
which was well reported
of by the brethren
that were at Lystra and Iconium.
So this was known
that Timothy's got a saved mom.
It's well reported
and an unsaved father.
Everybody was aware of it.
Verse number three,
him would Paul have to go forth with him
and took and circumcised him
because of the Jews
which were in those quarters,
for they knew all
that his father was a Greek.
Now turn to 2 Timothy 1.
2 Timothy 1,
we're going to get the names
of his mom and his grandmother.
2 Timothy 1.
2 Timothy chapter 1.
And look, obviously,
this is not an ideal situation
to have a saved wife
and an unsaved husband
or a saved husband
and an unsaved wife
or a husband that wants to serve God
and a wife that doesn't
or a wife that wants to serve God
and a husband that doesn't.
But what we're seeing in this example
is that even in a worst case scenario,
only one of the couple is saved.
Right?
The wife is saved
and the husband is not saved
and yet she raised Timothy,
one of the greatest people in the Bible.
So it is possible in a difficult situation
to actually do a good job
and have a big impact.
2 Timothy 1 verse 5.
So the Bible says is with Timothy
that his grandmother was saved first, Lois,
and his mom Eunice was saved.
I presume that means Lois
got his mom Eunice saved, right?
I mean, that's her daughter.
And my opinion,
you could disagree with me if you want,
I don't believe Paul got Timothy saved.
I understand it's referred to
as his son in the faith,
but I think that's because he trained him
because he's got a godly mom
that probably got him saved
as a little kid, right?
Because if you have godly parents,
they're going to be given the gospel
their kids at the age of five and six
and seven and eight
and his mom got saved first for sure.
So it's possible that, you know,
Paul got his mom saved
or they started coming to church.
I just don't think
that's the most likely to be honest.
You can call someone your son in the faith
if you train them.
You know, biblically that's okay.
But you could have different opinions.
But what we're seeing here
is his mom's name was Eunice.
This was a godly woman
that was saved,
that wanted to serve God
and it was well reported of.
People were aware of it
that Timothy was raised in a home
where the father was not saved
and the mom was saved.
Go to 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy 3.
Let me show you just real quick clearly
why I believe Timothy got saved
at a young age from his mom
in 2 Timothy 3.
2 Timothy chapter 3.
2 Timothy 3 verse 15.
And that from a child
thou hast known the holy Scriptures
which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus.
So from a child
Timothy heard the Scriptures
and he knew the Word of God.
I mean, yes, it's possible that,
you know, his mom didn't get him saved.
But I would say that if his mom saved,
which we could presume
she was already saved at that time,
she probably led her son to the Lord.
Now it certainly wasn't his father
because his father wasn't saved.
But here's a young boy Timothy
that at a young age
his mom taught him the Scriptures
and taught him the Word of God.
And you know what?
He ends up becoming a great man of God
and serving God
not because of the father
but because of the mother.
Go in your Bible to 1 Peter 3.
1 Peter 3.
So what is the secret
to motivating your family to serve God?
What is the secret to getting
the rest of your family on board
with wanting to serve God?
Now this first point
might sound counterintuitive
but I'll prove it to you
with the Word of God.
But the first thing you do
to get your family to want to serve God
is focus on your own spirituality.
Focus on your own spirituality
instead of focusing on getting
other people to want to serve God
you need to focus on yourself first.
Now of course we know the Bible says
that consider not the things of yourself
but the things of others
but you need a proper balance
on all topics, okay?
And let me just prove this to you
in 1 Peter 3 verse 1.
Here's an example of a wife
that wants to serve God
and a husband that does not
in 1 Peter 3.
1 Peter 3 verse 1.
Likewise ye wives
be in subjection to your own husbands.
The idea of the husband
being the head of the home
and the wife being, you know,
submitting herself to her husband.
That if any obey not the word
they also may without the word
be won by the conversation of the wives.
Now let me just say this.
You could make a secondary application
to salvation
but that's not the context here.
When it's saying that they may be won
by the conversation of the wives
it's not saying that they may be won
to the Lord by the conversation of the wives.
What it's saying is
a husband that does not obey the Word
meaning he's not trying to keep
the commandments,
not trying to read the Bible,
not trying to do what God says.
He's not obeying the Word
but the wife is.
And she can win her husband over
to obeying the Word
and doing what's right.
How? Not by word.
It says without the word.
It's not our words
but it says by the conversation of the wives.
Now you need to realize
if you look up conversation
every time in the Bible
it is not usappan
like we would think of conversation.
It's referring to your lifestyle
because this direct verse says
not the word.
So it'd make no sense to say
not the word
but the things coming out of your mouth.
What it's saying is
it's not by your words
but actions speak louder than words
is the principle being taught
in verse number one.
And what the Bible says is
that if a wife has a situation
where she wants to serve God
and the husband doesn't want to serve God
how does she get her husband
to want to serve God?
By her lifestyle.
By her actions.
By the way she conducts herself
not by what she tells her husband.
Not by word but through actions.
And look,
I wish this was never the case
in today's world
but this is actually a very common thing
in today's world.
And look, just to let you know
in general women tend to be
a bit more spiritual than men.
And some proof of that is
on Mother's Day we will have
a bigger attendance than Father's Day
because that's just always the way it works.
Moms will say,
I just want our family in church
and the husband's like,
it's Father's Day.
I get to sit around and watch TV
and watch sports or whatever.
But this is a common situation
where you'll have wives
that want to serve God
and then husbands don't want to serve God.
And what the Bible says is
if you want to convert your husband
over to obeying the word
how do you do it?
Not by your words
but by your actions.
It says here in verse number two
while they behold your chaste conversation
which is chaste lifestyle
coupled with fear
who's adorning
let it not be that outward adorning
of plaiting the hair
and of wearing of gold
or putting on of apparel
but let it be the hidden man of the heart
and that which is not corruptible
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit
which is in the sight of God of great price.
What the Bible is saying here
in verses three and four is
it's not about what's on the outside
it's actually what's on the inside.
Now look as I said
let's get a proper balance on things.
It's not a sin for a woman
to put on makeup or lipstick
or try to look nice
but I would say this
if you spent an hour this morning
in front of the mirror
and you didn't pray
and you didn't read the Bible
that is sin
because you're focusing on the outside
and not on the inside at all.
Right?
I mean that should be pretty obvious.
I'm not saying it's a sin
to try to look nice and spend time
but if you don't spend time with God
and you're just trying to look good
on the outside
that is a sin.
That is wrong
because more important
than the outside and the outward
is the inside.
That's what the Bible says
and the reality is
your husband would care more
about you being right on the inside
because it will manifest itself
on the outside
than he does
that you spend a lot of time
putting on makeup
or trying to look nice
and look
if your goal is to try to impact
your husband to want to serve God
then you should take heed to this.
Spend time working on the inside
because the reason why
she has a chase conversation
is this is a woman
that has a walk with God.
She's serving God.
She's focusing on herself,
her spiritual life
and the result is
she can win her husband
over to wanting to serve God.
Verse number five.
For after this manner in the old time
the holy women also
who trust in God
adorn themselves
being in subjection
onto their own husbands
even as Sarah obeyed Abraham
calling him Lord
whose daughters ye are
as long as ye do well
and are not afraid
with any amazement.
So Sarah is a great example
of obeying and respecting her husband.
Go to Judges chapter 6.
Judges chapter 6.
And as I said there's nothing wrong
with trying to look nice
but what's more important
is actually the inward
than what's on the outside.
Now I will confess this
like I've realized recently
I didn't think this before
but men are probably just as vain
about their looks as women
just kind of in a different way
and so like for example
you know when guys like to work out
they'll oftentimes like
stare in the mirror afterwards
to try to like see how muscular
they are and everything
and my wife made a comment
because I'm always working out
at home and everything
and I'm like hey it's no different
than you putting on makeup
in front of the mirror
and trying to look nice
it's just kind of in a different way.
So guys can be guilty of this as well
to basically focus on the outside
and not focus on their walk with God, right?
But we see an example of a wife
that converts her husband
wanting to serve God
not through her words
but through her actions.
Now think about the context
of what we saw in this section
in 1 Peter 3
you're in Judges 6
but let me just say this
that we're talking about a woman
who basically is in subjection
to her husband
and she's winning him over
through her actions not her words.
Let me ask you a question
do you see a problem
with this mentality of a wife
trying to convert her husband
to being the leader of the home
by saying if you don't start
leading our home
then you know whatever.
It's like you're bossing him around
and telling him to be the leader.
It contradicts.
It doesn't make sense.
I mean you can't boss your husband
to wanting to be the leader
because you're doing the exact opposite.
It's like all right honey
I'll submit to you
and start being the leader, right?
It doesn't make sense, right?
You can't win them
but you can't force them
to be the leader
but here's what you can do
through your actions
be submissive
and basically put him in a position
where he's going to lead.
See there's a lot of husbands in 2022
they don't want to lead
because their wives would complain
about all the decisions
and not want to do this
and so it's just not worth the effort
but if you willingly submit yourself
and put yourself in that proper role
it's going to make him
want to fulfill his role
because in the heart of a guy
he wants to lead.
He wants to be the leader of his home
and let me just say this
as at a church here
I'm a leader at this church.
I have experience leading.
Look you know what you don't like
is if followers complain
about the things you do
and try to say no
we're not going to do that
it's annoying.
It's the same thing
with a husband in a home
if the wife's complaining
about everything
and then something goes wrong
well it's your fault.
It's just like he's going to be like
it's not even worth the effort
I'm not even going to try to lead
right?
Look if you want your husband
to fulfill his proper role
you need to fulfill your proper role
and the way you do that
is through your actions
not your words.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Look that should actually be encouraging
because instead of being so burdened
that you've got to try to convince
your husband to want to serve God
actually focus on yourself
and that has a bigger impact
than anything that you would say to him.
Judges 6 let me give you another example.
Here's an example of a child
converting his father
to wanting to serve God.
Judges chapter 6 verse 27.
And this is a story where Gideon
is told to cast down the altar of Baal
and it says here in Judges 6 verse 27
Then Gideon took men of his servants
and did as the Lord had said unto him
and so it was because he feared
his father's household
and the men of the city
that he should not do it
could not do it by day
that he did it by night.
When the men of the city arose
early in the morning
behold the altar of Baal was cast down
and the grove was cut down
that was by it
and the second bullock was offered
upon the altar that was built
and they said one to another
who hath done this thing
and when they inquired and asked
they said Gideon the son of Joash
hath done this thing
then the men of the city
said unto Joash bring out thy son
that he may die
because he hath cast down
the altar of Baal
and because he hath cut down
the grove that was by it
and Joash said unto all that stood
against him will you plead for Baal
will you save him
he that will plead for him
let him be put to death
was yet mourning
if he be a god let him plead for himself
because one hath cast down his altar.
Here's an example of a young man Gideon
that is doing right
and wanting to serve God
and look my opinion
is he had probably talked to his dad
a lot about wanting to serve God
and doing right
but his father's just not
wanting to do right
because when he cast down
the order of Baal
they assume his father's
just going to bring him out
to be put to death
because they figure you know
he's on board with worshiping Baal
or whatever
and it puts his father in a position
where he's got to make a decision
and through the actions of Gideon
his own personal walk
it impacted his father
and he makes a very profound statement
well I mean if it's a god
how did he destroy it?
Why do you have to protect
and save your god
I mean if it's destroyed
I mean think of an idol
an idol smashes onto the ground
and it's destroyed
well apparently it wasn't a god
right
and that's what his father says
and what you're seeing
is the child impacts his father
that did not want to serve God
that didn't want to do right
how?
Not through his words
but through his actions
through his lifestyle
I promise you
he had tried to convert his dad
to wanting to do right all the time
but it had no impact
but here in this situation
he cast down the altar of Baal
and then his father actually
does the right thing
turn in your Bible
to Genesis 18
Genesis 18
now look this sermon is
not meant to make you feel bad
if you're in a situation like this
and you feel burdened about it
I think it can actually be a big relief
it can be a big burden off you
because you're not failing
look if you're reading the Bible every day
and you're going to church
and trying to do right
you are not failing
just because some of the rest of your family
doesn't want to serve God
look if you're a husband in this room
and you're reading the Bible
and going to church
and going soul winning
and trying to do right
and your wife just is not interested
at the end of the day
she has her free will to make her choice
you can't force her to serve God
if you're a wife in this room
and you're reading the Bible
and going to church
and being faithful to the things of God
and you cannot get your husband on board
you are not failing
you say why
because number one the Bible says
focus on your own spirituality
and that is what's going to impact your family
but you cannot force them to serve God
they have free will
I wish we could just force people to serve God
right I mean I wish we go out soul winning
we could just force people to get saved
right they don't want to listen
grab them by the ear
say these words now right
doesn't work that way
I wish it did
right I wish you know
these people that we got saved
you know they don't show up
we'll go to their house
say hey you come to church right now
and then ever since that day
they've been faithful
it doesn't work that way
at the end of the day
they make their choice
whether or not they're going to serve God
but what you can do is make sure
that you're serving God and doing right
and if you are doing that
that is the biggest step by far
in getting your family on board
through your actions
and your lifestyle
and the fact that you're serving God
point number one
focus on your own spirituality
point number two
another thing you can do
is just pray for those in your family
pray for those in your family
take that burden off yourself
and then just basically speak it to God
and just pray for them
and just say I really want my family
to serve God
please you know help motivate them
pray to God
Genesis 18 verse 23
and when you're talking about praying
you're talking about asking for something
and this is a bit unique
because Abraham's directly speaking to God
but he's speaking about
God preserving the judgment
on Sodom and Gomorrah
because obviously he cares about
his nephew Lot
Genesis 18 verse 23
and Abraham drew near and said
wilt thou also destroy the righteous
with the wicked
peradventure there be 50 righteous
within the city
wilt thou also destroy
and not spare the place
for the 50 righteous that are therein
that be far from thee to do
after this manner
to slay the righteous with the wicked
and that the righteous should be
as the wicked that be far
that be far from thee
shall not the judge of all the earth do right
now let me just say this
what Abraham is saying there
is just completely wrong
right
God does pull out judgment on saved people
and they can actually be killed
you can sin on to death
and God's obviously not doing wrong
if you were to do that
but obviously Abraham cares about
his nephew Lot
so he's trying to plead with him
and basically get a hold of God
and it says here in verse 26
and the Lord said if I find in Sodom
50 righteous within the city
then I will spare all the place
for their sakes
when he says 50 righteous
he is simply stating 50 saved people
he's not saying 50 people
that are actively wanting to serve God
just 50 saved people
and Abraham answered and said
behold now I have taken upon me
to speak unto the Lord which am
but dust and ashes
peradventure there shall lack
five of the 50 righteous
wilt thou destroy all the city
for lack of five
and he said if I find there
40 and five I will not destroy it
and he spake unto him yet again
and said peradventure there should be
40 found there
and he said I will not do it
for 40 sake and he said unto him
oh let not the Lord be angry
and I will speak
peradventure there shall be
30 found there
and he said I will not do it
if I find 30 there
and he said behold now
I have taken upon me
to speak unto the Lord
peradventure there shall be
20 found there
and he said I will not destroy
for 20 sake
and he said oh let let the Lord
be angry
and I will speak yet but this once
peradventure 10 shall be found there
and he said I will not destroy
for 10 sake
now I don't know why
he didn't just keep going down
because he did not go down far enough
he got God to agree
if there's 10 safe people
I'm not going to destroy it
for 10 sake
and then of course Abraham's
not sure what's going to happen
because he wakes up the next morning
early in the morning
and he's just looking
and it's like all right
and then all of a sudden
he just sees it going up in smoke
being destroyed
right and so what we're seeing here
is Abraham is directly talking to God
and asking for something
just like in prayer
you ask for something
and you might feel like
Abraham wasted his time
but did he really waste his time
because God did not destroy Lot
now he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah
but he spared Lot
right and we saw earlier
God remembered Abraham
and he saved and spared Lot
so I don't believe this was a waste of time here
this is basically praying
and talking to God
and what it did spare the judgment upon Lot
so what I'm saying is this
you can actually pray for your family
and put that burden onto God
and just pray say God can you help them
I'm trying to do what's right
I'm trying to motivate them
I don't know what I can do
can you please help them want to serve God
can you please help them want to do right
and look I do believe that God
wants to answer the prayers of his children
especially those that are doing right
think about your own children
that ask for something
especially if they're really being obedient
and they're caring about you
and loving you and everything like that
you're going to want to answer their prayer requests
you're going to want to answer what they ask for
and what we have here is Abraham
who cares about his family
he cares about his nephew
he loves his nephew
and you know what it has an impact
because I believe God actually answers that
I believe this conversation is the reason
why God does not pour out his judgment
and let Lot die
and spares Lot
now you might say brother Stuckey
why did he even have to ask
I mean God would have spared Lot anyway
I don't think so
but prayer is not a waste of time
yes we do believe that God guides our actions
but we're not Calvinists
we do believe in free will
and I do believe when you ask for something
it has an impact
you say I don't know brother Stuckey
well think about your kids
I promise you your kids
they want to eat chips and ice cream and coke
and here's the thing you already know that
I know my kids want chips
I mean if I bring them home chips today
they'll be very happy right
but here's the thing
I'm probably not going to do it
unless they ask for it
you know that they want it
but I'm not going to do it
they do ask for something
you want to honor that request
you would feel guilty about not answering it
you know if they're loving you
and showing affection and doing right
you want to answer that
it's the same way that God is with us as children
he knows what he wants
he knows what we need
but he wants us to actually say it
it's the same thing with our kids
we know what they want
but until they actually say it
right now I try to live in general
a healthy lifestyle
but I do like drinking you know diet Pepsi
and my daughter Christabel especially
when she sees that
she'll start looking at that Pepsi
and it's like I know what she wants
but I don't want to share right
but when she actually says
daddy can I have some
it's like all right
let me give you a little bit of a glass
all right
I try to drink it when she's not around
but then when she catches me
it's like and she asks for it
it's like okay
I'll honor that request
because she asked for it right
well you know what
it's the same way with God
he knows what we want
he knows what we're burdened about
but if we never ask for it
ye have not because ye ask not
not because you don't want it
but because you're not asking for it
same way we deal with our children
Abraham asked for
and look here's the thing
when God hears us praying to him
and talking to him
sometimes maybe the things we say
are not fully perfectly accurate
but God knows what our heart is in that situation
in this story what Abraham is literally saying
please do not destroy Lot
he doesn't care about Sodom and Gomorrah
he cares about Sodom and Gomorrah
what he cares about
tags along with Abraham
it's essentially like his son
and when you think about it
Abraham didn't have a son
and so he cares about him
it's like a son to him
and then to Lot
this is like his father
and then he sees his son or his nephew
kind of go wayward
and make bad choices
but he cares about him
and he asks for God
and God
this is 18
I don't believe it's a waste of time
because I think God saw these words
and realized
he doesn't really care about Sodom and Gomorrah
what he cares about is his nephew Lot
and he honors that
so look praying for your family
is not a waste of time
go to Numbers chapter 12
Numbers 12
let me give you another example
Numbers 12
and look you can interpret that differently
in Genesis 18
but I don't really see a reason
why Abraham would care so much
about Sodom and Gomorrah
I think the main reason is
he cares about his nephew
which like I said
when you're reading Genesis
it's like his son to him
right I mean it's as if it's his own son
so he really cares about him
and loves him
Numbers 12
here's an example of Moses,
Aaron and Miriam
who are brothers and sisters
and you know in this story
you know we don't really know
what happened with Moses' first wife
the Bible doesn't really tell us
what we do know is that Moses remarries
and his brother and sister
basically criticized him for it
now Aaron was basically
the right-hand man of Moses
you know before Joshua
even when Joshua was around as well
and Miriam was obviously godly as well
but they criticized Moses
because they kind of want a piece
of that leadership
and notice what we see in Numbers
Miriam became leprous white as snow
and Aaron looked upon Miriam
and behold she was leprous
Miriam's the second person
in the Bible mentioned
as being leprous at one time
does anybody know number
the first person
first person who ever caught leprosy
first person
anybody?
Moses
he's the first person mentioned
only for like a brief second
as a sign earlier
that's just helping you out
with Bible trivia
if we ever have a Bible trivia game
again in the future
so something about this family
getting leprosy
is just you know a common thing
but Miriam became leprous white as snow
and Aaron looked upon Miriam
and behold she was leprous
and Aaron said unto Moses
alas my lord I beseech thee
lay not the sin upon us
wherein we have done foolishly
and wherein we have sinned
let her not be as one dead
of whom the flesh is half consumed
when he cometh out of his mother's womb
and you know Aaron speaks to Moses
and he's basically pleading with Moses
now the reason why he's pleading with Moses
is because he knows God is very mad at him
and God probably doesn't want to hear
what Aaron has to say
so what Aaron realizes is
Moses is a friend of God
God loves Moses
and God will actually answer
the prayer requests of Moses
right?
Because notice what it says
in verse number six
and he said
hear now my words
if there be a prophet among you
I the lord will make myself
known unto him in a vision
and will speak unto him in a dream
my servant Moses is not so
who is faithful in all mine house
with him will I speak mouth to mouth
even apparently
and not in dark speeches
and the similitude of the lord
shall he behold
wherefore then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses
so God just directly said
that you know what
Moses to me is different
than other people
I speak to him basically
as as he's my friend
right?
Here's what I want you to realize
if you are serving God
and doing right
and trying to obey what God says
God looks at you as a friend
ye are my friend
if ye do whatsoever I command you
and look he's going to want to
answer your prayer requests
if you're burnt
and look this could be
you have unsafe family
and you're praying
for an unsaved husband
unsaved wife
unsaved kids
unsaved parents
that might be what your prayer request is
now God cannot force them to get saved
but he can do everything he can
to try to help them along the way
I mean if you have family members
that don't want to serve God
but you are serving God
if you pray and ask God to help them out
I believe God's going to do everything he can
now at the end of the day
there's a free will choice
that people have to make
and we understand that
but look prayer is not a waste of time
and Aaron says
can you just pray
Moses can you be merciful
because he realizes
Moses has basically God's heart
notice what it says in verse 13
and Moses cried unto the Lord saying
heal her now oh God I beseech thee
and the Lord said unto Moses
if her father had but spit in her face
should she not be ashamed seven days
let her be shut out from the camp seven days
and after that let her be received in again
what he's speaking there in verse 14
is cleanliness laws
where basically if she had just been spit in the face
there's a cleanliness rule that's given
so if she had leprosy
seven days will have to pass
is what's being mentioned there in verse 14
but God basically
Moses basically prays unto God
and asked for her to be healed
and it says and Miriam was shut out
from the camp seven days
and the people journeyed not till Miriam
was brought in again
but then she's cured of her leprosy
why was she cured of her leprosy
well it's not because she was begging for it
or Aaron
but because her brother actually loved her
and cared about her
and God wanted to answer the prayer request of Moses
go to Galatians chapter 6
Galatians 6
Galatians chapter 6
so the first thing you can do
to try to impact or motivate your family
whether it means to try to get them saved
if they're not saved
or whether that means you know
get them to want to serve God
if they're not serving God
well the first thing you need to do
is focus on your own spirituality
now here's the thing about this
when we go soul winning
people have no idea how we live our lives
they don't know anything about us
but your husband does know a lot about you
your wife does know a lot about you
your family does know a lot about you
I mean your family is going to know
your biggest faults and your biggest problems
they're going to be aware of it
now when we go soul winning
maybe it doesn't really matter
how you're living your life outside of that
because they have no idea
and you're just presenting the gospel
here's what I'm saying though
if you have a bad lifestyle
and you're not actually walking the walk
it's going to cause your family
not to want to listen to you
look I understand people have
free will choice to make up their mind
but for some people
the reason they can't get some of their family saved
is because they have a bad personal testimony
of how they live their lives
and the family's thinking
he's criticizing my religion
but I'm more righteous than him
why am I going to listen to him?
right he's saying all this bible stuff
but then he's going out
and just doing all these things that are wrong
I mean he's listening to stuff
I wouldn't listen to
he's watching movies I wouldn't
he's going out and drinking
which I don't do
and then he's going to tell me about
how to serve God
he's going to tell me about how to get to heaven
they're not going to want to listen
and the same thing is true
if you're trying to get others to want to serve God
you're trying to get them to come to church
but you're not actually living a good life
outside of church
now look I'm not aware of this
because people come to church
they're dressed nice
they talk the talk
but then you go home
and then your family knows exactly the things that you do
right
so here's the thing
make sure your own spiritual life is pretty good
because they're going to be able to see right through it
and look if your actions are good
if you're doing what's right
then you can have a big impact on your family
via your actions
number two
you can pray for those in your family
now the good thing about points one and two
for those that are burdened
about trying to get their family to serve God
those things are in your hands
you can make the decision to serve God
if you're not serving God
that's your choice
anyone in this room can make the decision to want to serve God
how about praying for those in your family
well of course you can do that
I mean it's completely up to you
I mean many people
probably most people in this room have unsaved family
that they think about and care about
but it's completely up to you
if you're actually going to pray for them
now obviously try to give them the gospel if you can
but this is the way it works with family
they shut it down if they choose not to listen
and there's like no opportunity to break through that
right you try to give the gospel to your family
and then they never want to hear it after that
you try you try
unfortunately that is often the case
but you know what you could still pray for them
you could still show them through your actions
you could still pray for them
you could still have an impact on them in that way
okay notice what it says in Galatians 6 verse 1
brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault
so here's an example of someone who's basically
maybe backsliding doing something that's wrong
if a man be overtaken in a fault
you which are spiritual
restore such in one in the spirit of meekness
considering thyself lest thou also be tempted
you know the bible speaks here about bearing one another's burdens
and the bible says that if you are spiritual
you can help out that person
basically if your spiritual walk is right with god
then help somebody else out
which goes exactly to our point
if you're going to motivate others
that's a great thing to do
but first make sure you are spiritual
and if you're not spiritual
then you're not going to be able to do it
look if you're not serving god
how can you motivate somebody else to serve god
let's just think about this logically
if you're not serving god
and you're not doing what's right
why would you waste the time trying to get somebody else
to be right with god when you're not right with god
you're not going to be able to do it
you haven't even figured out how to do it for yourself
how are you going to get somebody else to want to serve god
the bible says ye which are spiritual
and this leads to point number three
how do you do this
well the bible says in the spirit of meekness
in the spirit of meekness
now this is going to be associated primarily with your words
what the bible is saying is
if you're trying to motivate or get someone to get right with god
do it in the spirit of meekness
now people wonder what does the word meek mean in the bible
now from my personal study
i believe meek and humble are basically identical
with the only difference being
humbleness is an individual thing
where you're a humble person
and it manifests itself as meekness if you're humble
if you understand what i'm saying
meekness is involved with interacting with others
so basically if you're not humble
then it's going to show that you're not meek
when you deal with other people
the way you talk the way you act with them
so it's basically the same
but humbleness is an individual thing
and meekness is basically how it manifests
as you interact with other people
the bible says that moses was the meekest man on earth
that does not mean that he was weak
people often look at meek as being a bad thing
well it's it's not a bad thing
it's actually a very good thing
and the bible says if you want to convert other people
do it in the spirit of meekness
what the bible is saying is this
if you're trying to get somebody to serve god
you don't do it by screaming at them
you say why that's not meekness
and here's the thing
if that's your method to try to get someone to serve god
by screaming and yelling at them
what is probably showing is that you're not spiritual yet yourself
because you're not doing it in the spirit of meekness
because if you are spiritual
the way you're going to try to impact other people
is in the spirit of meekness
you're not going to yell at them
and get them to do what's right
you're going to do it in the spirit of meekness
you say what do you mean brother Stuckey
well here's an example
we've got mother's day coming up in may i believe right
mother's day is coming up in may
and you know if you have this situation
where the rest of your family doesn't want to serve god
you can just say you know
honey for mother's day
i'd really love to have all of our family in church
that's the one thing i want for mother's day
not yelling at your husband
but just in a quiet way just say
i'd really like to have all of our family in church for mother's day
now i'm not standing here saying i'm guaranteeing this is going to work
i'm just saying that's much more effective than screaming at them
it's like why won't you come to church right
a better thing would be in the spirit of meekness saying
i'd really like to have all of our family in church for mother's day
for just you know that's my gift for mother's day
right and look that is actually how a lot of women get their family in church
that never come for mother's day
they do something very similar to that
what that is is using your words but doing it in the spirit of meekness
now of course number one
you need to make sure you have your spiritual life right first
number two you should be praying for them
number three when you do use your words
you need to do it in the spirit of meekness
you say why
because if they don't want to serve god they're already looking for a fight
when you're trying to get them to serve god
if you yell at them that kind of gives them a justification
to basically reject what you're saying
but when you do it in a nice way it's kind of hard for them to deny that
in the spirit of meekness the bible says verse 2
bury you one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of christ
for if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself
so verse 3 is kind of indicating someone who thinks they're spiritual
but they're actually not and they're deceiving themselves
verse 4 but let every man prove his own work and then shall he rejoicing in himself alone
and not in another for every man shall bear his own burden
the idea that's mentioned here in galatians 6
is that all of us individually are going to have burdens and difficulties and
problems we have to deal with
nobody has just this easy life where everything goes perfectly
you're going to have individual burdens
and here's the thing you're going to bear that burden
but before you take on another burden
you need to make sure that you can deal with your own burdens yourself
and the bible says do this in the spirit of meekness
so go to matthew 7 we'll look at a few other places
matthew 7
the idea is basically not trying to put on too many things at one time to deal with
because you only have so much energy in life to deal with things
matthew chapter 7
matthew 7 this is the end of the sermon on the mountain notice what it says in verse 24
matthew 7 verse 24
therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them
i will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock
now what he's what he's basically describing is our bodies are the temple of the holy ghost
our bodies are like a building that's the symbolism
and basically you know this is basically our house
so to speak and he says that the person who hears these sayings and does them
and obeys what god says that is the wise person and he built his house upon a rock
and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house
and it fell not why for it was founded upon a rock it had a strong foundation
and the bible says the person that's doing what god says they have a strong foundation
and so when the rain descends and the floods come and the winds blow
they're going to stand because they're founded upon a rock
basically their faith is strong right and what you see in that verse rain descends from above
the winds hit the side of the house and the floods come in the bottom and what you're seeing is
different storms will hit you at the same time in different areas all at once
that's kind of the way it works either your life is just going very great
or then you have left and right when it rains it pours and look that's actually a biblical concept
it doesn't just feel that way it's actually a biblical concept according to matthew 7
because the rain comes at the same time the winds and the floods come and this is the way it is in
life and basically we all kind of get a little bit arrogant everything's going well when and
then all of a sudden all the storms come and then you find out how strong and spiritual you actually
were because everybody's spiritual until storms come and when your family starts making fun of you
for being at church and criticizing you you're having problems with your finances and everything's
a mess that's when you find out what you're founded upon that's when you find out how strong
you actually are is when you go through storms and the bible says the wise person he basically hears
what god says and he does it and that person lasts through the storms of life but here's the thing
would it make any sense for someone who's not spiritual think of the analogy of a house let's
say your house is a mess right it's got a bad foundation the windows are broken everything's
just breaking and then you're like hey you really need to fix your house over there right you need
to you know basically you know i don't know paint it do whatever make all this construction on it
you're worrying about somebody else's house and then they're like well look at your house
like what are you talking about your house is a mess right you've got a broken window for like
six months and you're worrying about my house it wouldn't make any sense would it what's the same
thing spiritually if your house is a mess if you've got problems you got to figure out before
you focus on someone else's problems look at your own problems what often people do is they deflect
their own problems onto somebody else so basically they have a lot of problems and they see one
person have something very minor and it's like can you believe the way she was dressed and it's like
they've got much bigger problems in their life than that and they kind of just deflect you know
because they don't want to deal with their own problems go to luke chapter 22 luke 22
the bible says many times thy gentleness hath made me great and look of course god does pour
out judgment upon us sometimes but honestly god is very merciful he's very long suffering
and in gentleness he leads us his mercies are new every morning we screw up and you know what god
could rightfully just destroy us but you know what god is very long suffering god is very merciful he
leads us in the spirit of meekness now let me just show you an example here to close in luke 22 of
simon peter and i i want us to realize this that every single one of us in this room is probably
not as spiritual as we think we actually are we all tend to think well if i was in the wilderness
for 40 years i would have never backslid against god and yet there's many saved people and pretty
much every single one of them did right or if i was you know if i was elijah i wouldn't have
gotten scared you know when jezebel was threatening me well he was the most righteous man on earth and
he screwed up so we probably would too actually we probably wouldn't have made it past first kings 18
right look none of us are actually as spiritual as we actually think we are we all think we're
going to do right and yet our faith fades very easily very quickly here's an example in luke 22
verse 31 and the lord said simon simon behold satan hath desired to have you that he may sift
you as wheat now here's another example in verse 31 where the lord is talking not just to simon
because he says you you and your bible is always plural okay so in verse 31 what the lord says to
simon is that satan's desire to have you saying all of you satan wants to destroy all of you
but then he says this in verse 32 but i have prayed for thee thee is singular so what he's
saying is satan wants to destroy all of you but jesus is specifically telling peter i've
specifically prayed for thee okay of course jesus prays prayed for all of them but specifically here
he's saying i prayed for peter the reason why is because peter was basically the early leader of
that group i have prayed for thee even though satan's tried to destroy all of you then he says
this that thy faith fail not why and when thou art converted strengthen thy brethren he says i'm
specifically praying for you peter because you're going to be the leader and he says when you're
converted i want you to strengthen your brethren now look peter's already saved when it's saying
converted it's not saying being one to the lord of course in our modern day when you think of
converting someone you're thinking of getting somebody saved and there's nothing wrong with
that terminology but realize converting is not always getting somebody saved here what it's
saying is simon peter is already saved but he's not yet spiritual he's not yet strengthened to be
a leader because he's saying i need you to get strong spiritually and when you're strong
spiritually then i want you to convert the others around you i want you to strengthen them and be
the leader right here's what it says in verse 33 this is peter and he said unto him lord i am ready
to go with thee both into prison and to death he's basically saying what do you mean i'm not strong
i'm already strong i would go to prison i would go to death with you then it says this in verse 34
and he said i tell thee peter the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny
that thou knowest me i'd say probably most of us are familiar at least a little bit with that
where basically he's told he's going to deny jesus three times and he even says in one of
the gospels he's like though all men deny you though everybody else around denies you i would
never deny you and then all the disciples are saying that and yet none of them none of them
stayed faithful at least all the men there's a couple ladies that stayed faithful but all the
men are just scared as can be when jesus is about to be crucified and they just back down and then
of course when the cock crows three times simon peter weeps greatly see he thought he was
spiritual he thought he was strong and yet god says you're not strong you need to focus on your
own spiritual life and look we tend to think that we're really spiritually strong and yet we're not
yet and that's what we see with peter and even after that event jesus rises again it's not like
peter immediately gets right with god because he's still backslidden and then basically you
know when they're inside the ship that's when basically peter kind of switches and gets converted
and decides to go all out serving god and that is the point he gets converted to strengthen
his brethren that's the point he gets spiritual right kind of an example of my personal life
you know i got saved when i was 18 years old and you know you first get saved and you know
my reaction i was obviously you're excited you're saved but i didn't know anything about the bible
then you know you start reading the bible you start going to church and everything
and you know one thing that happens in a lot of baptist churches and i'm not trying to say this
to be arrogant but probably many people have felt this way is that you compare yourself with other
people at the church it's not a good thing to do but it's kind of what we naturally do and then i
just think to myself i've read through the bible many times i've been saved for three years most
people in the church have never read the bible so you start feeling like you're really spiritual
because nobody's doing anything for god right i mean isn't that true probably a lot of church
you've been to now that's not the case at this church because i promise you many people read
through the bible a lot here but at many baptist churches nobody reads the bible so you start
feeling like you're really spiritual and everything and you know i had a desire to be a pastor and
i'll be honest with you i mean i wasn't married at the time but outside of that i felt like in
my young 20s i could do it now right and what's interesting is you know many years later
you know after you know actually being trained in the ministry and having a family and everything
i felt less prepared to start a church when i'm like 30 than i did when i was like you know 21
and it's like how is that that you i've read through the bible so many more times and memorized
but you start realizing it's not as easy as you think and basically i thought i was really
spiritual when i was in my young 20s i was zealous i was going soul winning reading the bible but i
wasn't as spiritual as i thought i was and then as time goes by you start realizing that and then
of course the goal is for example with peter he reaches that point where he actually does
become spiritual and he's able to strengthen his brethren and here's what i'm trying to tell you
number one if you want to motivate your family to serve god the biggest thing you can do by far
scripturally logically what the bible teaches is you need to be spiritual yourself
if you're not spiritual then you need to get spiritual first meaning you need to make sure
you're reading your bible every day you're praying every day and look let me just say
this that if if someone in your family sees you reading the bible that will have a big impact on
them not that you intentionally pretend to read it but they actually just see you know you're
you're in the morning or whatever they see at the table just reading the bible taking notes
that will have an impact automatically especially as they're safe if they're a safe person they see
you reading the bible and taking notes you know what they'll start feeling guilty themselves
they see you do that consistently that can have a big impact when they see that you're reading
the bible they go to the living room you're not watching tv but you're down on your knees at the
couch it's kind of like it's going to start having an impact on them your actions are the biggest
thing and look you're not going to be able to convert someone and strengthen them if you're
not spiritual yourself now look by all means you can try to strengthen and convert other people
and motivate them but you need to make sure number one that you're spiritual yourself
and here's the thing if you're in this sort of situation and you are trying to do what's right
and it does not seem like it's working you are not failing because you're doing what the bible says
you have your spiritual walk you're doing what's right number two pray for your family at the end
of the day it's going to be in their hands but i do believe that god can make a difference to
impact those people number one make sure you're spiritual number two pray for them number three
can you use words to try to impact them yes but you need to be very careful the way you do it is
in the spirit of meekness and if it's not in the spirit of meekness then it probably shows you need
to kind of look at yourself and realize i need to make some changes myself and what the bible shows
us is that it's great to try to strengthen other people and take on their burdens but number one
we need to make sure we're spiritual ourselves otherwise we're just not going to be able to do it
let's close in order prayer dear heavenly father thank you for allowing us to be here today and i
ask you to just help us apply this to our lives and you know i ask you to help everybody in this
room to want to serve you and do what's right and obviously it's it's it's hard to walk the walk and
do what's right but i ask you to help specifically those in in our church that have unsafe family or
maybe safe family that aren't serving you i ask you to help strengthen them help them become
spiritual help them to impact their family we just ask for those that that are not serving
god help motivate them god we just pray this in jesus name amen amen let's take our hymns
and turn to hymn number 258 let's sing the song guys receive it
sing it
is
amen