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But anyways, I'm excited though. But I'll tell you what, September 19th, two weeks from now, that's going to be a good day to invite people to church because we're going to have fellowship and games. We're going to have food. We're going to have a dessert competition. So we're going to have a bit of everything. I don't know all the games we're playing, but I like Franklin's idea of arm wrestling. That sounds good to me. And so we got two weeks to train for this, right? But this past week I've been a little bit down. That's why my throat's a little bit messed up. So I haven't been able to train. So I'm like, man, I lost a whole week where I could be getting stronger.
But anyways, we might do arm wrestling and a few other things on that day. It's going to be a good time. And anyways, also, current and upcoming sermon series, we are in the Book of Psalms. We're getting back to that here today with the sermon that's about to come and everything. And on the back we do have a place for sermon notes. So I believe that's it for announcements. At this time we'll have Brother Rafi lead us in another song.
Hymn number 209, Sunshine in the Soul.
For Jesus is my light.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine.
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling praise.
There is sunshine in us.
There is music in my soul today.
A carol to the King.
And Jesus listening can hear.
The song I cannot sing.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine.
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling praise.
There is sunshine in us.
There is springtime in my soul today.
For when the Lord is near.
And the cup of peace sings in my heart.
The flowers of grace appear.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine.
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling praise.
There is sunshine in us.
There is gladness in my soul today.
And hope and praise and love.
For there seems which he gives me now.
For joys laid up above.
Oh, there's sunshine, blessed sunshine.
When the peaceful, happy moments roll.
When Jesus shows his smiling praise.
There is sunshine in the soul.
And hope and praise.
Amen.
For scripture, please open your Bibles to the book of Psalms.
Psalms 23.
Psalm chapter 23.
And as our custom, we'll be reading the book of Psalms.
And as our custom, we'll be reading the entire chapter.
Psalm 23, please say amen if you're there.
Amen.
Psalm 23, verse 1.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Thy preparer is a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Amen.
Bless the name of God's word, let us pray.
Lord God in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for this day that you've given to us.
I pray that you would once again give us wisdom, knowledge, and guidance,
Lord, from the Holy Ghost, that we may be able to preach
and to understand your word, Lord, this day.
Bless, Lord, with good weather for our still winning and fellowship,
and we love you in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
All right, we're here in Psalm 23,
and this is one of the most famous chapters in the book of Psalms,
and we're not preaching through it because it's famous.
This is actually where we left off.
The last sermon I did in Psalms a long time ago was chapter 22,
and the book of Psalms is divided into kind of various books
or sections.
There's 150 chapters in Psalms.
I'm not preaching every week through Psalms for the next two-plus years, okay?
We're probably going to take a break after chapter 41
because I think that's where the division is.
So that's about another 20 weeks, and I'm sure there's going to be some sermons,
you know, spliced in there from time to time,
and then we'll probably move on to something else,
but we're picking up in chapter 23,
and the name of the sermon is Jesus Is My Shepherd.
Jesus Is My Shepherd.
In verse number one, the Bible reads,
The Lord is my shepherd.
Now, when you see Lord there, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D,
we're looking at Jehovah God, okay?
Now, the Bible teaches the Trinity in the Old Testament,
but it's not the main focus of the Old Testament.
You can see God the Son. You can see God the Holy Ghost.
It's not the main focus, though, but let us cross-reference.
It says the Lord is my shepherd.
Go to John chapter 10. John chapter 10. John 10. John 10.
And look, obviously we believe that there are three persons within the Godhead.
I talked about that even last week, how they have different roles,
and sometimes those roles can intersect,
just like a pastor, bishop, and elder is very similar and everything like that.
Obviously we believe that there's one God, but we believe in three persons,
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost that have always existed.
Now, let me just say this, that I don't have a problem with making the statement
that Jesus Christ is Jehovah God because the Lord is my shepherd.
That's referring to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ is God.
Sometimes people try to box you in a corner.
Well, do you believe he's Jehovah God?
I have no problem with that because when you cross-reference,
the Lord is my shepherd, and you know what the Bible says?
Jesus is the chief shepherd. Jesus Christ is God, right?
That doesn't change the fact that there's a distinction and there's three persons,
but I have no problem with that statement because that would be an accurate statement, okay?
John 10, verse 11, let me show this to you.
I am the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
So we saw that the Lord is my shepherd,
and of course we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved, right?
And the Bible says, I am the Good Shepherd, this is Jesus speaking,
and the proof of him being the Good Shepherd is that he gave his life for the sheep
when he died on the cross.
Okay, so we see that Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd.
Go to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13.
This is very commonly a term given toward Jesus Christ is of him being a shepherd.
It says in Hebrews 13, verse 20,
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
So here it talks about the God of peace bringing Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now, when you see the word God in the Bible,
it can either mean God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost,
or God in totality, okay?
Here it's referring to God the Father.
And see, God the Father brought Jesus Christ from the dead.
You say, well, Brother Stuckey, doesn't that prove that Jesus Christ is not God?
Well, hold on a second.
Didn't Jesus Christ say in John 2 that he was going to resurrect himself from the dead?
He said, destroy this temple, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
Well, how do you know he's referring to his body?
He spake of the temple of his body, it says two verses later.
When, therefore, he was risen from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them.
So Jesus said, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
So Jesus said he was going to resurrect himself from the dead.
But yet there's verses showing God the Father resurrecting Jesus,
God the Holy Spirit resurrecting Jesus Christ,
because sometimes these roles intersect that they have, okay?
I'm not saying I have a perfect grasp on that,
but I'm saying they're not 100% just separate.
The roles actually can intersect.
But Jesus said he was going to resurrect himself from the dead, okay?
Now go to 1 Peter 2.
1 Peter 2.
I often times will bring that up when I speak to a Jehovah's Witness or something like that,
and, you know, if somebody's being resistant on Jesus being God,
it's sort of like my last straw with them.
I'll ask them this question, well, who do you believe resurrected Jesus from the dead?
And sometimes they'll just say, well, God resurrected him.
Other times they'll pause and they're scared because they're worried
I'm going to show them that Jesus resurrected himself from the dead,
which is exactly what I do, right?
Because in John 2, Jesus said he was going to resurrect himself from the dead.
And you know what?
That does prove that Jesus Christ is the living God.
When you resurrect yourself from the dead,
that's a pretty big proof that you are the living God.
Wouldn't you say that, right?
1 Peter 2, verse 24.
Who his own self bare sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed.
So we're healed by the stripes of Jesus because obviously those stripes cause blood.
We're healed by the blood, saved by the blood of Jesus.
For ye were a sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.
So once again, Jesus is referred to as the shepherd.
The Bible calls him the chief shepherd.
So when the Bible says the Lord is my shepherd, it's like, well, guess what?
Jesus Christ is our shepherd, right?
Go to Psalm 83.
Psalm 83.
Now, one group you have, as I mentioned, are the Jehovah's Witnesses.
And Jehovah's Witnesses, they believe that the only name of God is Jehovah.
And that they say, well, we're witnesses on behalf of Jehovah.
Now the truth is this.
We are Jehovah's Witnesses.
Because we're actually witnessing on behalf of Jehovah,
they're Jehovah's false witnesses,
because they're false witnesses of Jehovah,
because it's not the message of Jehovah, right?
We're actually Jehovah's Witnesses, believe it or not, okay?
But they claim the only name of God is Jehovah.
And they say, well, that's the only name he can go by,
and that's the name that's above any other name,
not Jesus Christ, no other name.
We call him Jehovah.
And when you talk to Jehovah's Witnesses, isn't this pretty common?
You start talking to them, and they say, well, what's the name of God?
Right?
Isn't that the big question that they ask?
Because here's what cults do.
Cults are experts at one or two things.
They're experts at this, and they know nothing else about the rest of the Bible.
People think, man, Jehovah's Witnesses know so much about the Bible.
All they know about is the name of God.
That's all they study.
That's all they know what you're going to find if you talk to them,
and they're willing to listen to you.
Man, they really have very little knowledge about salvation,
like even compared to any other religion.
The Catholics put them to shame when it comes to knowledge about salvation.
Jehovah's Witnesses know nothing.
They freely will admit that their works get them to heaven.
They don't even claim to be saved by grace through faith,
which I appreciate that.
They're willing to be honest about that.
But they will always start arguing about the name of God.
Now, here's the thing.
I'm going to show you a refutation of what they believe here about that.
But if somebody starts arguing with you about stuff like that,
and they don't want to listen, you're wasting your time.
Give them one admonition, maybe two.
But don't waste 30 minutes with a Jehovah's Witness that doesn't want to listen.
Right?
I would say over my lifetime, I've probably gotten 10 to 15 Jehovah's Witnesses saved, you know.
But I've been soul wanting for over 15 years.
That's less than one a year.
And the thing about Jehovah's Witnesses is many people convert to Jehovah's Witness
so they might be willing to listen because they're new converts.
But if they're a die-in-the-wool Jehovah's Witness, then you know what?
You're going to die in the wool with them if you argue with them.
Right?
You're just wasting your time.
Okay?
But their biggest verse is Psalm 83 verse 18.
Psalm 83 verse 18.
It says that men may know that thou whose name alone is Jehovah
art the most high over all the earth.
And so they look at Psalm 83 verse 18 and they say that the name alone is Jehovah,
the only name of God is Jehovah.
It's the name above any other name.
That is the name of God and that only.
Right?
And they say, well, see, it says alone.
I mean, it just says alone.
That's the only name of God.
It's that simple, they say.
Right?
Well, I want you to look at this wording.
Name alone is.
Okay?
Name alone is.
Because their interpretation is this is the only name of God.
But let's look at this name alone is.
Go to Psalm 148.
Psalm 148.
This is why when you're reading the Bible,
you cross reference when you see things to have better understanding about what something's saying.
Name alone is.
Psalm 148 verse 13.
Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is Jehovah.
Is that what it says?
His name alone is excellent.
His glory is above the earth in heaven.
You say, Brother Stuckey, what do you believe the name of God is?
I say excellent.
That's the only name of God.
And here's the thing.
Psalm 148 comes after Psalm 83, so that disproves the Psalm 83.
Right?
His only name is excellent.
Right?
Excellent is the name of God.
Now, here's the thing.
Excellent is the name of God, according to the Bible.
But it's not saying that's his only name.
It's saying he's the only one who is excellent.
Right.
The only one who's Jehovah is God.
Amen.
None of us are God.
Right?
None of us are Jehovah.
It's not saying the only name of God is Jehovah.
It's saying he's the only one whose name alone is Jehovah.
He's the only one who's Jehovah.
None of us are.
Right?
When it's saying he's excellent, he's the only one who's excellent, none of us are excellent.
We're not even good according to the Bible.
Right?
There's none righteous, no, not one.
There's none good, the Bible says.
There's none good, no, not one.
So here's the thing.
If we're not even good, how can you be excellent?
We're not even close.
That's why the Bible says we come short.
We're not even close to reaching excellent.
We're not even at good.
Right?
Turn to Exodus 6.
Exodus 6.
Now look, if you run into Jehovah's Witnesses that want to argue with you about the name of God, they probably just don't want to listen.
Right?
I mean, that's probably the truth.
But I'm just saying they base everything on that one verse.
And I have shown Jehovah's Witnesses the verse in Psalm 148.
And you say, what do they do in response?
They deny reality.
That's what they do.
They deny reality.
It's got the exact same wording.
The exact same wording.
Well, I mean, we use the New World Translation.
We don't use the King James Bible.
Yeah, but for almost half of the existence of Jehovah's Witnesses, you know what Bible they used?
The King James.
Right?
They used the King James for basically half of their existence.
Now, they ended up making their own Bible to make a lot of changes because...
Look, the New World Translation, I mean, it makes the NIV look like, you know, Mango Bravo, right?
I mean, it makes the NIV look amazing because the New World Translation just directly just changes doctrine and attacks it.
And it's like the Bible says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word is with God and the Word was God, showing Jesus is God.
In the New World Translation, they add the letter A, so the Word was a God.
It's like, well, you know what?
Why do you have such a problem with the way the Bible words it if you can prove Jesus isn't God?
Why do you have to change it, right?
But they changed it to fit their doctrine.
Actually, their leader, Charles Taze Russell, he got in trouble because, you know, he's this expert that translated the Bible,
and he was actually under oath, and he got caught.
He said, oh, yeah, yeah, I speak Greek.
And then all of a sudden, they're like, well, why don't you teach us some Greek?
It's like, Alpha, I mean, literally.
He got caught under oath that he was lying because it's like, you don't speak Greek.
Like, everybody's like...
And he had to admit it because all he knew was a couple letters in the Greek alphabet.
He just made a Bible, just changed it, and it's just like...
But that's what they go off of because they don't want to follow what the Bible says because the Bible disproves them.
But let me explain to you something about the name of God that's an important thing to understand.
Notice what it says in Exodus 6, verse 2.
And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord.
Exodus 6, verse 2.
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty.
But by my name Jehovah was I not known to them.
Now, what the Jehovah's Witnesses say is that Jesus Christ is the Mighty God, but that Jehovah's the Almighty God.
And they do that to try to explain away verses in the Bible that say Jesus is the Mighty God.
They're like, oh, yeah, yeah, we agree. He's the Mighty God, but not the Almighty God.
It's like, okay, you're denying reality, okay?
But I want you to notice that God says to Moses that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they knew the name God Almighty, but they didn't know the name Jehovah.
That was not known to them.
Now, realize Jehovah is not replacing God Almighty. That's not what's taking place.
More information is being revealed about God, okay?
But the name Jehovah already existed. It's just that Jacob did not know that name.
Abraham did not know that name.
Here's the thing. In the Old Testament, did they know the name Jesus? No.
But if they got saved, they got saved by believing that the Lord would die and pay for their sins.
They believed that, but they didn't know the name Jesus, right?
The name was not revealed yet. But here's the thing. God already existed.
God the Son already existed. It's nothing new. It's just more information is being revealed.
Now, at this point, we have a finished product.
It's not like some new name of God is going to come, you know, in whatever, in the 21st century.
I mean, we have the entire completed Bible.
But what I'm saying is this. They did not know this name, Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac.
They knew the name God Almighty.
And here's the thing. People in the Old Testament, they did not know the name Jesus.
However, at this point, the Bible says everybody knows the name Jesus.
Everybody. Everybody's heard about Jesus Christ.
And when the Bible says you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you must believe that Jesus Christ died and paid for your sins.
It's not good enough to say, well, I believe in Jehovah God.
You've got to believe on Jesus Christ.
You've got to believe that Jesus Christ came and died and paid for your sins
and rose again and put your trust on Him to be saved.
You say, why? Because God has revealed Himself to be Jesus Christ.
We know that Jesus Christ is God. You must believe that.
Turn to Philippians 2. Philippians 2. Philippians chapter 2.
Now, look, there's no problem, though, with saying that God is Jehovah God
or Almighty God or excellent. I mean, there's many names.
Many names given to God in the Bible. Right?
But the name that we know today above any name is Jesus Christ.
And I'll prove that to you. And it's because it's the name
that's going to determine whether or not you go to heaven or hell. Right?
A lot of these names of God, like, some people don't know the name of God as Almighty.
It's like, Almighty, I had no idea that was His name. Okay?
It's still His name, but it's not as common.
But here's the name that everybody knows, Jesus Christ.
Because here's the thing, your salvation rests on,
do you believe that Jesus died and paid for your sins?
And guess what? Muslims know the name Jesus. Right?
Buddhists know the name Jesus. Hindus know the name Jesus.
The question is, what do you believe about Jesus?
Philippians 2, verse 9. Philippians chapter 2, verse 9.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and notice this,
and given Him a name which is above every name.
Above every name. You know what that means?
Above the name of Jehovah. Right?
Given Him a name which is above every name, but the name of Jesus,
Every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
So, Jesus Christ died and paid for our sins,
and look, if people don't want to admit it in this lifetime, guess what?
Those same people will be begging for mercy by the name of Jesus Christ in the future. Right?
They might not want to admit it now, but every single one of those Jehovah's Witnesses will say,
you know, I'm sorry, I was wrong, Jesus Christ, and beg for mercy,
but there's going to be no mercy coming.
Because the Bible says in this lifetime,
he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on Him. Okay?
Turn in your Bible to Psalm 23.
Psalm 23. Psalm 23.
Look, a lot more information is revealed to us in the 21st century
than was revealed 4,000 years ago. Right? 5,000 years ago.
We have the completed Bible.
There's a lot of information that we have that they did not have.
I mean, literally, this sort of blows your mind
that we can understand what Daniel was writing better than Daniel could understand it.
I mean, Daniel's writing, and he's just like, I don't really get all of this. Right?
Because he's speaking about things in the future.
Now, what we do is we look back to the past,
and we're like, man, I can see all those empires. It's making sense.
And as we get closer to the end times, you know what?
We can have a better understanding than people had 100 years ago.
A lot of things that they couldn't have even understood 100 years ago,
then you got the invention of television, computers, eventually cell phones.
It's like, oh, wow, now technology is really getting pretty realistic. Right?
But they didn't understand all of that 100 years ago,
but as time goes by, we get more information revealed.
Now, we have the finished product here, but what I want you to understand is this.
In the Old Testament, they didn't necessarily understand all of the things that we know today,
but as we know these things, you have to choose to believe those things.
And you must believe on Jesus Christ.
You say, Brother Stuckey, what if someone has never heard of Jesus Christ?
Well, I would say, unless they're a young baby, that they have heard of Jesus Christ.
You say, Brother Stuckey, what about someone who's isolated in that deep, dark jungle,
wherever, that nobody's ever talked to them? I would say it doesn't exist.
I would say that people have heard the name of Jesus, because the Bible says they have.
His name's gone through all the earth.
And whenever you look at these areas that are completely isolated, they're not completely isolated.
They're not 100% isolated.
I've mentioned this before about a documentary that I saw here in the Philippines,
and they were interviewing this group of people that were up on a mountain in the Philippines,
and they've apparently been living here for like 40 years, but they're not citizens because of some technicality.
And they're like, they've never had access to anybody else or any TV or any computer.
And then they interviewed these people, and these people knew a lot of things.
They knew about the moon landing.
Every one of them knew who Michael Jackson was.
And you're going to tell me they don't know Jesus Christ?
It's like, they know who Jesus Christ is. People have heard of Jesus Christ.
Now, I'm not saying everybody's heard a clear presentation of the Gospel, but they have heard of Jesus Christ, okay?
Psalm 23, verse 1,
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Now, what does it mean by saying not want?
Well, not wanting means not desiring, meaning there's going to be nothing lacking.
Because the Lord is our shepherd, and because He provides, there's not going to be anything lacking that we need, okay?
Now, go to 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5.
Now, Psalm 23 is a very famous psalm. I love this psalm. It's a great psalm and everything.
But some psalms are a little bit more difficult to preach because there's just not that many verses, right?
There's only six verses, so we've got to turn to a lot of other scripture, you know, to cross-reference things and things like that.
But the Bible says that the Lord is our shepherd. The result is that we're not going to want.
And here's the thing. In life, there are many things that we desire to have, but it doesn't mean that we need those things, right?
It's like we may want something, we might covet after something, but God has provided us everything that we actually need.
There are things that we might covet, but we don't actually need those things.
Every single one of us probably would like to have more money, a nicer house, a nicer car, or whatever.
But it doesn't mean that you need those things. Because looking at everybody today, it looks like God has provided everybody clothing.
God has provided you with a place to stay, right? You probably slept on a pillow last night, right?
And it's like you might not have everything you want. You might not be able to go to every fancy restaurant, but you are obviously eating something.
You say, well, how do you know that? Well, you're alive. That's proof that you've got to be eating something, right?
I mean, you can only fast for so long, right? And so notice what it says in 1 Peter 5.
One of the jobs of a shepherd is to actually feed the flock. That's what the Bible says.
1 Peter 5 verse 1,
The elders which are among you I exhort, whom also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed.
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.
One of the big jobs you have if you run a church and you preach sermons is just to feed the flock.
Now, here's the thing. There's a lot of famous Christians today, and they say, well, our job is to feed the homeless and feed the poor, right?
When the Bible's saying feed the flock, what it's referring to is your flock.
It's not referring to physical food. It's referring to spiritually.
It's saying feeding you the Word of God and teaching you God's Word, right?
Now, look, we have pandesal back there. We have coffee. In a couple of weeks, we're going to have an event.
We're going to have food provided, right?
Hopefully some people are going to make desserts, but we're also going to have other food provided for the event and everything.
But it's not the church's job to physically feed the members.
Anyway, that could offend people, but that's the truth.
And see, in the world's mind today, it's like, well, it's the job of the church to just feed everyone.
And most people go even outside the church, and it's the job of an individual church to go and feed the homeless is what they'll say.
And it's like, well, the Bible does not teach that.
For one, if you're going to help out people, you help out people that are actually members of the church for many reasons.
But when it's saying feed the flock, the job is to spiritually feed, right?
And so the job of someone who's preaching sermons is to actually teach you the Word of God.
And I would say that if you're at this church, you cannot say that you never hear the Word of God preached.
You can't say that you come to church and you never learn.
Because we look at a lot of Bible. We cross-reference. We show you what the Bible says.
It says here in verse 3,
Neither is being lords over God's heritage, but being examples of the flock.
And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
Well, the chief shepherd, once again, is referring to Jesus Christ.
And look, you might have a pastor who's a good pastor and does a good job.
Obviously, it pales in comparison to the Lord Jesus Christ, though.
Go to Psalm 23. Psalm 23. Psalm 23.
One verse down. 30 minutes later, right?
Verse 2. The Bible reads,
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters.
Now, verse number 2, when you look at this verse and you think about it,
you might picture just being by a mountain or a river and just kind of relaxing and everything.
That's kind of the picture the Bible's trying to give you.
But when you're thinking about the green pastures and the still waters,
it's sort of like just taking a relaxing day to just see God's creation
and see the amazing things that He has made, okay?
There's various applications you can make, but one thing I want you to realize
is that God is not against you being able to relax and have a good time.
Take a vacation day, getting to see some things.
Go to Ecclesiastes 7. I want to show you something in the Bible.
Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7.
Because I think all of us would say, yeah, it would be great to just be able to relax
and just take a couple hours just sitting by a stream and seeing what God's created.
What makes that difficult sometimes is it takes great effort to actually get there
and things such as that, and our lives are busy.
But wouldn't you say that when you get a day off and you get to just take a vacation a day,
vacation day, even if it's not something expensive but it's just something of God's creation,
you feel energized. You feel recharged, right?
You know, I grew up in West Virginia. It's called the Mountain State.
You know what that means? It means you can pull over on the side of the road anywhere
and just walk out and it's like, man, this is beautiful.
It's amazing what God has created, right?
And you know what? Things like that are a good thing to kind of recharge your batteries
because the truth is, as much as you love God, sometimes you get kind of drained.
Sometimes you get tired. There's nothing wrong with taking a relaxing day
to just kind of recharge your batteries.
Ecclesiastes 7, verse 16, the Bible reads,
Be not righteous over much, neither make thyself over wise.
Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
Now, everything in the Bible, we need to have a proper balance on things, okay?
And when the Bible says be not righteous over much,
what it's referring to is basically not having too many things on your plate that you need to do.
Basically, don't make yourself just the head of just a million different things
that you can't actually handle.
The Bible says you're going to destroy yourself, right?
The Bible's saying it's too much. You're not going to be able to handle it.
It's actually good to be able to take some things and just be able to relax
and have a good, proper balance.
Because look, there's a lot of things we need to do in our lives.
Part of it is serving God, and you know what?
That is a big percentage of what you're supposed to do.
You know, part of it's also, if you're married and you have a family,
spending time with your family.
I mean, obviously, you've got to make money, right?
Part of it's working and making money.
And so what I'm saying is you need to have a proper balance on these things.
Now, I think this is something that all of us probably struggle to get that proper balance.
Because you can always serve God more, right?
You can always spend more time with family,
and you've got to work at least a certain amount to make bills
and pay for things and everything.
And we need to find the right balance.
And here's the thing.
Something like this is not something you have to compare yourself to other people.
Everybody doesn't have to be at the same level of what they're doing exactly.
Now, we all need to be reading the Bible.
We all need to be coming to church.
We all need to be going soul winning.
But it doesn't mean that you have to do these things to the point that you destroy yourself either.
You need to seek a proper balance on things in life, okay?
Go back to Psalm 23.
Psalm 23.
I will say this, that you know what?
I got saved when I was 18 years old,
and so basically half my life I've been saved,
and half my life, you know, I was unsaved.
And I would say this.
I have always had a lot of hobbies.
One of my hobbies has always been playing sports and working out.
You know, that's still a hobby I have when I'm able to.
I like to work out and stay in shape.
Sometimes I get behind.
Like, I've been out of poetry for a long time, but I enjoy writing poetry.
It's a good hobby.
Things like that help me relax my mind,
and I feel like they actually help me.
Now, what that does not mean,
it does not mean that I just skip Bible reading to work out.
Well, that would be wrong,
because the Bible says read your Bible every single day.
But there's nothing wrong with having some hobbies.
The Bible doesn't say,
well, that's sinful to do something like that, right?
And so we need to all seek what our balance is in life,
and look, there are so many hobbies that we can do that are not sinful.
Now, look, there are a lot of hobbies that are sinful.
You say, Brother Succy,
my way to relax myself is go to the bar and get drunk.
Well, that's a little bit of a different story, right?
But there's nothing wrong with having some hobbies
that basically, you know, it's something that relaxes you,
and that you enjoy, because here's the thing,
your goal is to serve God,
and dwell in the house of the Lord for how long?
Forever.
And part of that is having a proper balance on things in life,
and you know what, I'm married with two kids.
I have a son, I have a daughter, they're very young.
Part of my life, I need to spend time with my kids,
and I want to spend time with my kids.
God's given you kids as a blessing,
and you have a natural desire
that you want to spend time with them, right?
You know what, there's nothing wrong with doing that.
And look, we have a lot of soul winning around here.
We do it at every holiday.
If I forget a holiday, you tell me,
and we do it anyway, right?
Because everyone wants to go soul winning.
And look, we're always going to do that,
but at the same time,
you don't have to feel like
I've got to compete against other people.
It's okay to relax sometimes, okay?
Psalm 23 verse 3, Psalm 23 verse 3,
the Bible says,
He restoreth my soul.
And restoring my soul is indicating
that a soul basically became weary, okay?
Now, go to Isaiah 40,
Isaiah chapter 40 in your Bible.
Isaiah chapter 40.
And you know, part of that
when it comes to getting a proper balance
is the fact that your life is at different stages, right?
I mean, if you're a single guy,
then you probably have a lot more free time
to do extra soul winning.
Here's the thing, though.
You know what?
I don't think it's really proper for me
at like nine o'clock at night
to just say,
well, I'll be back in a couple hours
and just try to get somebody saved.
Praise the Lord if you do that
as a single person.
But I mean, if you're married,
then you have some responsibilities
to be there for your family
and things such as that.
And so, you know,
it's a very dangerous thing
to look at your situation in life
and try to compare yourself to other people
and expect them to be just like you
when it's just a completely different situation.
It's not the same thing at all, right?
Notice what it says in Isaiah 40.
Isaiah chapter 40, verse 29.
Isaiah 40, verse 29.
He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might
he increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
and the young men shall utterly fall.
And see, the Bible says the youths,
which is referring to young people
and the young men,
they're going to faint and be weary.
They're going to get tired.
You say, what is the Bible trying to tell you?
Well, just think physically with young kids.
You know, we get done with our services,
we get done with soul winning,
and you see these kids,
they're just running around
and running around and running around.
And you're like, do they ever get tired?
Right, like my son Zeph,
it's just like he's bouncing off the wall all the time,
just running around,
wants to be played with.
You say, Brother Stuckey,
what is he like at home?
He's running around,
wants to be played with.
I'm just trying to read my Bible.
He comes flying and lands on me from like up above,
just climbing things and everything like that.
You say, Brother Stuckey,
does he ever get tired?
Yeah, every kid gets tired.
All of a sudden you look over,
it's like, why is it I haven't been hit for a while?
And then it's like, he's asleep, right?
My son does that all the time.
He's running, running, running.
Then all of a sudden,
he's just completely asleep, right?
And you look at kids
and they seem like they never get tired,
but even they get tired.
And see, the Bible is saying,
no matter how strong you are,
no matter how young you are or whatever,
you know what?
You're gonna get tired in the Christian life.
There's no exception.
Even the yous,
even the yous shall fain be weary.
Even Paul the apostle
got tired of going soul winning sometimes.
Even there's times he's exhausted,
and that's why it's important to have a church
where there's people that motivate you, right?
We have soul winning times
and other people are going.
It motivates you to keep going
because here's the thing,
on your own,
you're gonna get tired, right?
It's been a while since,
running used to be a hobby of mine.
I haven't really run, honestly, in a while
because I used to run in the mountains
and that was a lot more fun.
But I'm saying if you enjoy running,
here's the thing,
how much are you gonna enjoy
if you're just doing it by yourself
just hour after hour just running a marathon?
It gets boring.
It's hard to be motivated.
I mean, when you lift,
you've got usually a workout partner, right?
That's the way it works.
And you know what's amazing?
When you have somebody else
who's your workout partner,
you work out more.
One reason I worked out more in college
was part of it is I had a lot more free time
but I had workout partners where it's like,
hey, we're meeting at the gym at six in the morning.
You show up at six in the morning
and you do it.
But when you're on your own
and you wake up,
it's like, I just wanna relax.
I'll just work out later on today
and then the end of the day,
I'll just work out double tomorrow, right?
I'll just skip eating
for a couple days or whatever, right?
It's like that's the way it works in life.
And it's the same way with soul winning.
It doesn't matter how zealous you are
or how godly you are.
You're gonna get tired sometimes.
And it's like it's very hard
to serve God on your own.
It's very hard.
How important is church?
Well, if you wanna be successful as a Christian,
it's pretty important, right?
It says in verse 31,
but they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with the wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary
and they shall walk and not faint.
And see, the Bible says
that God has the ability to renew your strength,
to restore your soul,
and it compares it to basically wing, to eagles, okay?
Why does it mention eagles?
Well, eagles are a bird
that can go a very long distance
and it feels like they're just kind of
gliding through the air without any problems, right?
And see, the Bible says
when you fall on down times,
God has the ability to strengthen you,
and that's part of the local church, though.
I mean, part of coming to church
is that you get strengthened and energized to serve God
because we're around the world all week long.
You get beaten down.
People disagree with you.
You hear things you don't believe.
Then you come to church
and it kind of revitalizes you, right?
Right.
Now, of course, the goal is
that you're reading the Bible on your own,
so every single day you're getting revitalized
because if not,
you're showing up to Sunday morning
and just imagine being at a hospital
and you're at the point where we have to resuscitate you,
bring you back to life,
and I give you a lot of Bible
and I bring you back to life
and say, all right, I'm rejuvenated.
Then on Monday you don't read the Bible
and then at the end of the week you're like,
oh, I guess I'll go to church on Sunday
and then I zap you back into life and everything.
Well, honestly, that's not going to work for you forever, though.
You'll eventually fade out of church.
You've got to have your own normal routine
of reading the Bible,
your own personal walk with God,
and here's the thing.
God can help renew you every single week.
You don't feel like serving God.
You're in a bad mood,
and then all of a sudden you start reading the Bible
and then you feel pretty good, right?
Go back to Psalm 23.
Psalm 23.
I mean, I wish it was really easy to serve God,
but to genuinely, honestly serve God
and love God, that is hard.
It is hard to keep your mind pure
and the things you do pure
and then read the Bible and take time alone with God, right?
I mean, we sing songs like Sweet Hour of Prayer,
but if I were to ask how many of us
had a sweet hour of prayer this morning,
I really don't know if we'd have any hands, right?
It's like, you know what?
It's very hard to serve God.
It's not just us because the closest followers of Jesus,
they're there and then they're falling asleep
when he tells them to stay awake
and then they deny Jesus Christ.
You know what?
The spirit is willing.
The flesh is weak.
Anyway, you need to be around like-minded people
to help restore you and motivate you,
but in your own personal time,
read the Word of God to renew your own strength.
It says in Psalm 23, verse 3,
He restoreth my soul,
verse 3,
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
for His name's sake.
So part of having your soul restored
and part of being energized
is just that you're leading a righteous life.
You're living a godly life.
You're doing what is right.
There's nothing that's going to zap your strength
more than living a sinful life.
When you do things that are wrong
and you know you're wrong,
what ends up taking place,
you don't want to read the Bible.
You don't want to serve God.
You don't want to come to church.
You don't want to go soul-winning, right?
Isn't that what takes place, right?
When you're serving God and walking with God
and obeying His rules,
then you want to obey God and do right
and you want to read His Bible and go soul-winning.
But you know, when you're living a sinful life,
what ends up happening?
Well, your soul basically gets down pretty quickly, right?
And the Bible says we should be living a holy life.
Now go to Titus 2, Titus 2, Titus 2.
Part of living a godly life is for His name's sake, right?
God wants you to live a godly life.
God wants you to live a holy and separated life.
He expects it from us.
Now look, you don't have to do anything to go to heaven.
Salvation's a free gift.
Just believe on Him.
But here's the thing.
God expects you to obey His rules
to the best of your ability.
Now that's not an easy thing to do.
None of us do it perfectly,
but God expects that from us.
Notice what it says in Titus 2, verse 11.
Titus 2, verse 11.
It says,
So that verse clearly says Jesus died for everybody, right?
He died for all men.
Verse 12.
But notice this.
Teaching us.
Now what's the us referring to?
Well, the all men is a contrast to the us,
and it teaches us is referring to saved people, right?
See, God died for everybody,
but most people are not saved.
And getting saved actually teaches you something.
It says,
See, the grace of God actually teaches us
that we should live a godly life.
It doesn't teach that to the unsaved person.
They don't get it.
It's like, why don't you drink alcohol?
They don't understand it, right?
You tell them,
Well, I want to go to church on Sunday.
I want to read the Bible.
It's like, why don't you just come
and drink with us one time?
What's the big deal?
Unsaved people don't get this.
All an unsaved person needs to hear is the gospel,
but when you get saved,
it actually teaches you something,
because getting saved means that you understand
Jesus died and paid for all your sins.
It's kind of a life-changing moment.
That does not mean that you will obey His rules,
but it does teach you that you should obey His rules.
I'll give you an example of this.
Before I was saved,
my favorite movie was Pulp Fiction.
Has anybody ever seen Pulp Fiction?
Right?
That's a terrible, terrible movie for a Christian to see.
I mean, how many times do they use the Lord's name
in vain in that movie?
I mean, it's like once per minute, literally.
Hundreds of times.
It's like, man, when I think back,
how did I find that movie funny?
I watched it over and over again.
I thought it was hilarious.
I laughed.
It's literally one of the worst movies ever made
from a Christian perspective.
Isn't that true?
I mean, what a terrible movie.
Well, here's the thing.
I watched that movie one time after I was saved,
and, man, I felt so guilty during the movie.
I'm like, what in the world?
How did I watch this?
It's like because, you know what?
Being saved, it teaches you that you should live godly,
and here's the thing.
I've never used the Lord's name vain in my life.
It's not something I did before I was saved
because my parents never did it,
but it didn't really bother me that much.
I listen to rock songs that use the Lord's name in vain,
but after I was saved, hearing the Lord's name in vain,
it pierces your heart, doesn't it?
I mean, if you look back at your life,
especially if you got saved as an adult,
before you were saved, people used the Lord's name in vain
and just said things about God.
Didn't really bother you, but now that you're saved,
it's like it really annoys you, right?
Because the grace of God teaches us
that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
but here's the thing.
We didn't understand that before we were saved, right?
It's like, oh, I know it's a dirty joke,
but is it really that big of a deal?
But see, once you're saved, it's like, whoa,
you start feeling guilty about things like that.
Now, that does not mean that you are gonna do what's right.
You still have the free will, but being saved does teach you.
Let's not pretend that being saved
means absolutely nothing in your life.
It does teach you that you should live
a soberly, righteously, and godly life.
I knew somebody who got saved in college,
and this person was pro-abortion.
He was not against abortion.
He got saved, and then instantly he's like,
man, I just realized abortion was wrong.
It's like being saved does teach you some things.
It doesn't mean that you're gonna do the right things.
It doesn't mean you're never gonna sin.
It doesn't mean you're gonna be more godly,
but it does teach you that you should live
a soberly, righteously, and godly life in this world.
Why?
Well, verse 14, who gave himself for us
that he might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a peculiar people
zealous of good works.
Peculiar means that you're different.
As saved people, we should be different than the world.
You say, Brother Stecky, what does that mean?
It means most people in the Philippines
think that vise pangit is hilarious, right?
I've gotten people saved before,
and in the background, this guy's wearing a dress,
and they're watching the show.
He's on the TV everywhere.
Here's the thing, though.
Should God's people find the same entertainment funny?
No, it's actually called an abomination in the Bible.
And here's the thing.
You might have enjoyed that before you're saved,
but here's the thing.
Being saved, it makes you different.
It should make you different than the world.
Look, if you're watching the same movies
and the same TV shows and listening to the same music
that everybody here in the Philippines is,
it means you're not living a godly life
because you ought to be a peculiar people.
You ought to be different than the world, right?
Go back to Psalm 23.
Psalm 23.
What are some other examples?
Well, how about at jobs?
You know, at companies, when you work at an office,
people show up late, they leave early,
they take several smoke breaks during the day,
they cheat the time, they don't work hard at work.
Well, that shouldn't be the testimony
of someone who believes on Jesus Christ.
And it doesn't matter if every single one of your coworkers
is just goofing off and not taking it seriously,
a promotion cometh from the Lord.
And as God's people, you ought to be different.
I'll tell you what, it's a very smart thing
to be different in today's world as well
because here's the thing.
If you serve God, you might have some enemies,
but if you're a good worker,
guess what they're not going to do?
They're not going to fire you.
Say why?
Hey, we think his beliefs are crazy too,
but you know what?
He's the best worker here.
They're going to keep you.
You say why?
Well, because the point of a company is
can that employee make money for the company?
Right?
Or how about this?
What about the language we use?
Right?
Now, look, I didn't grow up really cussing
because my parents, I've never heard
either one of them cuss in my entire life.
So, you know, you learn from your parents,
but here's the thing.
Probably many people used to cuss a lot
before you're saved.
But here's the thing.
Even if you still cuss,
you probably aren't going to do that in front of me.
You say why?
Because you know it's wrong.
Because you're embarrassed about it, right?
Because there ought to be something different from,
well, the unbelieving world versus you that are saved.
And not just using the Lord's name in vain,
but the things coming out of your mouth,
are they good things or are they vile things
that people are going to look down on?
There ought to be a difference between us and the world.
Psalm 23, verse 4.
The Bible says,
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil.
And see, David says, you know what,
even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I am not going to fear evil.
Now, David was a man
who oftentimes did walk through the valley of the shadow of death, right?
I mean, King Saul is trying to kill him.
When the king of the country wants to kill you,
it's not a good place to be in, right?
I mean, imagine if the president of our country said,
my goal in life is to kill this one person.
That's a pretty scary situation, right?
I mean, there's not many places that you can hide
where they're not going to find you.
But he says, I'm not going to fear evil if I'm in that situation.
Well, what does evil mean?
Well, evil does not mean sinful.
That's not the same thing.
Evil means basically doing harm to someone.
So I'll give you an example.
If somebody breaks into my house in the middle of the night
and then they attack me or attack my family
and they're attacking me and trying to kill me with a knife,
here's the thing.
If I grab that knife and stab them and kill them,
according to the Bible, I did evil to them,
but I didn't commit a sin because I defended myself.
Doing evil is when you do harm to someone,
oftentimes linked with someone dying.
It doesn't necessarily mean that it is a sin, though.
For example, there's the death penalty for many sins in the Old Testament,
which should be the laws of our country.
Well, here's the thing.
If the government puts someone to death for being a murderer,
they did evil to that person, but they didn't do anything wrong
because that's actually what the Bible says, right?
What David's saying is, hey, if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I'm not going to be afraid that somebody's going to kill me.
Okay?
Now turn to Matthew 10.
Matthew 10.
Matthew chapter 10.
Let me give you a few examples.
And the basic idea is this, that as God's people,
if we are serving God,
we do not have to worry about someone trying to do harm to us.
Now, I don't want you to misunderstand
because when you look at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
they were fearless.
They had no fear.
But they also understood it is possible that God will choose not to deliver us.
But they said, I'm not going to let it bother me, though.
I'm going to serve God.
I'm not going to commit a sin,
and I'm going to trust in God that God is going to deliver me.
And you know what?
God did deliver them.
But they said, if not, we're still not going to sin.
We're still not going to worship an idol, right?
I mean, that's what's going to be taking place with the mark of the beast,
that people are going to be in that situation,
and it's just like, hey, I'm not taking the mark of the beast.
It could mean I get killed
because many people are going to be killed during the end times,
but I'm not going to commit a sin, right?
Matthew 10, verse 27, it says,
What I tell you in darkness, that's speaking in light,
and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.
So the Bible's saying the things that you hear,
I want you to preach these upon the housetops.
Now, I think this should be obvious to everyone,
but the Bible's not always literal.
Sometimes it's symbolic.
It's not saying literally walk up to a roof and preach a sermon.
And I wouldn't think that would have to be explained,
but there is this American who's like,
I guess, a Baptist missionary here,
who I saw a video of him standing on the top of a roof screaming,
repent, and it's like, all right,
God's not saying literally walk on top of a housetop and scream
because people are going to think you're crazy,
because you are crazy, right?
But it says, preach this on the housetops.
What does that mean?
Well, it's basically saying get the word of God out to everybody.
And if somebody literally wasn't a housetop screaming,
well, everybody sees them and hears them, right?
It's not saying literally do that, but it's saying,
hey, go out and get the gospel to everyone.
Get the word of God out to everybody.
We preach the whole counsel of God,
and as a church, we go out and preach the gospel, okay?
Verse 28,
And fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul.
The Bible says, don't be afraid of people that kill your body,
but are not able to kill your soul, okay?
Because here's the thing.
Somebody could kill your body,
but it's not like they can kill your soul
and send you down to hell, right?
The worst thing that can happen in this life
is somebody takes your life, and then you go home to heaven,
which is a better place anyway.
Now, look, I'm not looking forward to being martyred.
I don't want to be martyred.
But at the same time, we should serve God and say,
you know what, whatever happens, happens, right?
Many people in the Bible were martyred for the cause of Christ.
And here's the thing.
Every one of those people that was killed for the cause of Christ,
their bodies were taken.
Then they went straight to heaven and got rewards for it, right?
The Bible says, but rather fear Him
which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Well, who destroys both soul and body?
Well, God is the one who has the power
to destroy both soul and body in hell.
As a saved person,
He's not going to destroy your soul in hell,
but everyone who's unsaved at the great white throne judgment,
their soul will be reunited with their body
and it will be destroyed in hell forever.
And God is the one that has the power.
So what the Bible's saying is, only fear God.
That's what it's saying in verse 28.
Don't fear man.
Fear God is what the Bible's saying.
And see, that is what the Bible teaches us,
that we should be afraid only of God.
So look, you should be more afraid to commit a sin
than anything that the world could do to you, right?
Because we should be fearing God, number one, above anything.
Verse 29.
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing,
and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father?
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not, therefore,
ye are of more value than many sparrows.
See, the Bible says we have more value than a bird.
You say, why?
Because we're not animals.
And see, God says that, you know what, even a bird, though,
if a bird were to die, God allowed that to take place.
And the Bible's saying we should serve God
and fear God, but not fear man.
And if anything happens to us,
God allowed that to take place, right?
Now turn in your Bible to 2 Kings 6.
2 Kings 6.
2 Kings chapter 6.
What's interesting is when you're right with God,
isn't it true that you just don't have a lot of fear?
It's like, you know, I know God's going to protect me.
You can be in a very dangerous situation
and just you don't have any fear.
Why?
Well, because when you're right with God
and serving God and you're walking in the Spirit,
it's like, and look, here's the thing,
I've been in situations where it's like,
you know, physically it could be a very dangerous situation.
You know, what comes to mind to me
is the big protest in Sacramento from six years ago,
and it's like I can say that I was not afraid,
but I knew that there was a possibility,
well, maybe God won't deliver us.
You know, maybe He would allow something crazy to happen
to wake up people's minds, but I wasn't afraid.
It's not like I said, well, you know,
I'm not going to come to church
because I'm afraid these people are going to try to harm us.
It's like, no, I'm going to serve God
and just trust in God, right?
A great example we have this of not being afraid of man
is 2 Kings chapter 6.
Now notice what it says in verse 14.
Therefore sent either their horses and chariots
and a great host, and they came by night
and compassed the city about.
So here are enemies that come by night time
to be prepared to attack in the morning.
Verse 15, and when the servant of the man of God
was risen early and gone forth,
behold, and host compassed the city
both with horses and chariots,
and his servant said unto him,
Alas, my master, how shall we do?
So Elisha is the head prophet,
and he's got a servant or a helper with him, okay?
And what takes place is the servant of the man of God,
he wakes up early in the morning
and all of a sudden he looks outside
and it's like, wow, there are 5,000 people
that want to kill us,
that are surrounding us and coming in close to us.
That's a pretty scary situation, isn't it?
Right?
I mean, imagine if you woke up in the morning
and you look outside
and there's a hundred people with a gun pointed at you.
It's pretty scary, isn't it?
I mean, the natural reaction of man
would be to be afraid
because they're aware,
well, these people are coming after us.
They're mad at us.
It's like, hey, there's this big multitude
that wants to capture us.
Man's going to be afraid of something like that
no matter who you are.
Naturally in your flesh
you're going to be afraid of that, right?
So he looks outside and he's afraid,
but then all of a sudden
he tells us to his master, which is Elisha,
he says, how shall we do?
What are we going to do?
All these people are trying to destroy us.
And you say, what was the crime of Elisha
and this servant of the man of God?
They're just serving God
and then all of a sudden
they have all these attacks
and that's the way it works in life, right?
You serve God and then the enemies will come.
Verse 16.
And he answered, fear not,
for they that be with us
are more than they that be with them.
And Elisha says, don't fear.
No reason to be afraid.
Now, I'm going to use some common sense
and give you my opinion in this passage
because the servant wakes up early in the morning.
What would you do
if you woke up early in the morning
and you saw 100 people ready to kill you?
You'd be afraid, right?
It's not like anyone's prepared
for a situation for this.
Why is it that Elisha wasn't afraid?
I don't think he was superhuman.
He was a man just like you or me.
We see these characters in the Bible
like Elisha, Elisha, Paul,
whoever you want to name,
and sometimes they seem like they're superhuman,
but then you see the human aspect
when they get afraid like Elisha did
in 1 Kings 19, right?
You say, well, why is it Elisha's not afraid?
Well, I think common sense would say
the servant of the man of God
wakes up early in the morning.
He sees the situation.
He's afraid.
Then he comes to Elisha,
and Elisha was probably just reading the Bible,
just saying, he's reading Psalm 23.
Though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, fear no evil.
He's like, man, look at this.
He's like, we don't have a reason to be afraid, right?
I think that shows the principle
of the importance of getting your day started with God
because nobody, when they first wake up,
is automatically walking in the Spirit.
You've got to make that choice every day,
and Elisha, early in the morning,
is not afraid.
You say, why?
Well, he's probably already read the Bible.
He's already prayed to God,
and he might have already been aware of that situation.
I'm not really sure, but he's not afraid.
You say, why?
Well, probably because he had his personal walk
with God early in the morning.
That's a good principle for us.
When should I read my Bible, Brother Stuckey?
First thing in the morning.
Get your time started off with God,
first thing, if at all possible.
Now, depending on your work schedule,
that might not be possible in your situation.
Obviously, we understand that,
but we see the principle throughout the Bible,
waking up early in the morning.
What's the result?
He's not afraid.
And Elisha prayed and said,
Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see.
That's where we get this song,
you know, open thine eyes that I may see, right?
We sing that in our hymnal.
And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man,
and he saw, and behold,
the mountain was full of horses and chariots
of fire round about Elisha.
And so Elisha says,
hey, we don't have a reason to be afraid
because God is going to protect us.
And look, here's the thing,
if God chooses not to protect you,
then you're martyred for the cause of Christ.
No reason to be afraid.
Go back to Psalm 23.
Psalm 23.
And what it said in verse 4,
we'll quickly close up.
Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for thou art with me.
And here the truth is that
God is always going to be with you, right?
I mean, if you're saved,
you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you,
but especially if you're right with God,
then God is walking with you and protecting you.
And so look, we don't have a reason to be afraid
because God is with us.
And he says,
thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Now, if you look up rod and staff throughout your Bible,
they can be used in a lot of contexts,
but part of the context with the rod
was to pour out judgment on the wicked world.
And one thing that comforts us
is the fact that God judges the wicked people, right?
I mean, that's exactly what it says in Psalm 73
where basically God's judgment on the wicked
was a comforting thing.
So look, sometimes we look at this world
and it seems like the wicked people are reigning and ruling,
but honestly, God's rod and staff can comfort us.
And when you see the judgment of God in the Bible,
you can see that God has the ability to comfort us.
Verse five, thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine enemies,
thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over.
Now, oil is something that's very precious,
very expensive,
and when it says my cup runneth over,
it's basically saying, you know,
you have a container you're filling
and it's running over.
Basically saying I have more than I need, right?
And honestly, the truth is when it comes to God,
God gives us a lot more than we really need in life, right?
Sometimes we get envious or covetous at other people,
but honestly, all of us have the things that we need
that God has provided.
In today's world, every one of us has a Bible,
and throughout human history,
they didn't have a Bible necessarily beside them.
That is a great blessing to have God's word right beside us.
Look, we have everything that we need in life, okay?
Verse six, surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life,
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
And look, the last part of that verse says,
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
That ought to be the goal for every single one of us in our life.
You say, Brother Stuckey, what is your goal in life?
Well, one of the big goals is
that I'm going to dwell in God's house forever, right?
And you say, why is that such an important goal?
Because if you're in God's house,
not only does it teach you the word of God,
it's going to help you in your life.
You got the fellowship from everybody.
And look, if you're in God's house, you know what?
You're going to serve God till the day you die.
The Bible says that if you are planted in the house of God,
you're going to bring forth fruit in old age, right?
One of our big goals in life
is just to dwell in the house of God forever.
You say, Brother Stuckey, that's easy for you to say
because you're the one preaching, so you have to be here.
Well, I still make a choice.
I mean, earlier this week,
I messaged a couple of the guys at our church
and I said, hey, can you be ready to preach on Sunday
in case I can't go because I said I'm a little bit under the weather
and I don't know if I'm going to have a voice.
I can't really tell because I'm not listening to the sermon,
but I feel like I'm losing my voice pretty well.
I was yesterday and today.
I still made the choice to come here and preach, though,
because I believe it's important.
I like church. I love church.
And it's not just preaching the sermons.
I enjoy the fellowship with people, right?
It's a very important thing.
And look, if your life is not centered around church,
your life is going to end up being destroyed.
That's the truth.
Look, it's not always easy to get your life centered around church.
I understand that can be difficult,
but it's a very important thing for your life
because the Bible gives you this theme of dwelling in God's house forever.
This is something that all of us make a choice to do.
Here's the thing.
Our lives are going to be filled with ups and downs.
Right now in our room,
I'm sure there are some people that you're going through a great stage in life.
Your life's great.
You feel on top of the world.
And I'm sure there's other people that feel like they're on the bottom of the world right now.
You feel like, man, life is so rough.
It's so difficult.
I don't know what to do.
You just need to make a decision.
I am going to dwell in God's house no matter what,
whether I'm at a good point in my life
or whether I'm at a bad point in my life.
You say, why?
Because church really has the entire package.
It's not just the sermon.
It's also the fellowship.
But it's also the preaching of God's word helps you in your life.
Right?
I mean, doesn't God's word help you in your life?
Become a better father?
Become a better mother?
Become a better husband?
Become a better wife?
Look, it's vital to be in God's house.
And look, I would encourage all of us, including myself,
we are in September.
Right?
We are in visitor challenge month.
Right?
And look, I hope you love this church.
I mean, if you're a member here, you're a regular attendee,
I hope you say you love this church.
Wouldn't you love more people to come to this church?
I mean, this is not a perfect church,
but I think this is a great church.
You know, we preach the word of God.
We go soul winning.
I love the people of this church.
You know, we have great fellowship.
You know what?
We should try our best to get more people
to dwell in God's house forever.
You know what that's gonna do?
It's gonna give us excitement in our life
when we realize that other people
are more important than ourselves.
But your goal in life should be to dwell
in God's house forever.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father,
thank you for allowing us to be here today.
And I just ask you to help us to apply this to our lives,
God, and including myself,
help us just to serve you,
live a righteous life, God,
and we know that you're with us.
Help us not to live a life that is characterized by fear,
but help us to be bold in serving you, God.
We just pray this in Jesus' name, amen.
First stanza putaia.
Second last stanza.
First stanza putaia.
Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day.
First stanza ready.
Sing.
Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day.
Day I will never forget.
After I'd wandering in darkness away,
Jesus, my Savior, I'll never forget.
Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day.
Oh, what a wonderful day.