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The tendency in human nature is for people to just talk a lot, isn't it?
Especially when it comes to spiritual things. People sometimes will just make
big spiritual claims about everything that they're going to do and how they're going to change their lives.
They're going to do this and do that. And what I've noticed is that the people
that really are the most spiritual among us aren't the ones that do the most talking.
They're not the ones that, you know, get convicted by a sermon
and have to come explain why they're convicted about it and what they're intending to change
and all of that. Typically the people that just make the biggest changes and the people that
just start living the Christian life the way they ought to, they're typically not the ones
that are going around talking about what they're going to do. They just do it.
That's the difference there. Look there in 1 Timothy 5, verse 24.
It says there, some men's sins are opened beforehand going forward to judgment
and some men they follow after. Some people's sins are just obvious.
We can just look at people and say, this isn't a secret sin, this is something that
the drunk, the smoker, the adulterer, the ones that have those
very external sins, we can just, it's obvious, it's open beforehand
going forward to judgment. And some men they follow after.
There's going to be some people, it's going to be the thoughts and intents of their hearts, their motivations,
those things that are revealed sinfully. But notice he says it's the same way
with good works. He says in verse 25, likewise also
the good works. So in the same way that sins are opened beforehand,
so are good works. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest.
Or what? Open beforehand. They are manifest beforehand.
You know we can see some people's lives and we don't have to wonder, I wonder if they're spiritual.
You know I wonder if they love God. I wonder if they love the word of God. I wonder if they
love souls. I wonder if they love the things of God. We don't have to have them tell us
that. We can just look at them. We can just look at how they live their lives.
We can just look at what's a priority and say, it's open beforehand. It's manifest beforehand
that this person is spiritual and loves God. You know they're there
at church. They're there throughout the week reading their Bible, praying,
thinking about the things of God. They're out at the soul wedding. They're winning souls. They're raising
their families for God. It's obvious. It's open beforehand. They show
through a good conversation their works. They don't have to go around telling everybody.
And that's the thing about a lot of people
especially that are new to the faith is that sometimes it's just a spiritual talk
and not a spiritual walk. We want the walk, not the talk.
And they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
And here's why it's important that it's actions and not words.
That's why it is that we should what? Love in word and neither in tongue
but in deed and in truth. In deed and in truth. You know we should show through
a good conversation our works. Why? Because God
knows our thoughts and by him it says in 1 Samuel
She said let not
arrogance come out of your mouth for the Lord is a God of knowledge.
Let not arrogance come out of your mouth because the Lord is a God of knowledge.
Meaning he knows what's coming out of your mouth if that's true or not. God knows whether
your talk matches your walk. He knows
the Lord is a God of knowledge. He knows and by him what? Actions are weighed.
God isn't going to judge us. God isn't going to reward us or not reward us
based on the words that come out of our mouth. It's by our actions.
That's what's going to be weighed. That's why it's important not to just be all talk
when it comes to spiritual things. To be walk.
To have action. To have works. Because those are the things
that are going to be weighed. We're not going to get to heaven and God's going to
judge our works and reward us based on what we
said. You're going to say well what did you do? Well I didn't do anything.
But I said I was going to do a lot. I thought about it.
I contemplated going soul winning.
It's like no that's not going to work. Did you do it or not?
Did you do the work that I've given you to do? Yes or no?
And that's the thing. He shall record every man
according to his works. So we need to make sure that it's our
works that we're focusing on and not just saying what we're going to do.
An example of this and look I know a lot of people do this.
And it's just something I've noticed in the ministry and it kind of humors me a little bit.
But it's whenever I preach a convicting sermon it's how people tell me
they're right after the sermon. They come right up to me like
oh man I'm going to change that. And by the way I'm not saying
stop doing it. That encourages me. I'm like well hey they were listening.
They were getting the message. Great. You know what like last Sunday I preached
I felt like kind of a convicting sermon about punctuality amongst other things.
And several people came up to me and said I'm going to change that and I said great.
Back in my mind I was thinking we'll see because I know human nature.
I know who I am. I know who you all are. You know it's easy to just say things.
It's not a thing to actually do it.
But you know a lot of people did make that change and praise God for that.
And it's not like if you do that I'm going to say didn't you hear my sermon?
I'm obviously going to continue to offer encouragement. You know people come to me and I preach
about soul winning and you need to start soul winning. And they're like oh I need to be there.
I need to go soul winning. I'll be there next Saturday. And people will do this.
They'll tell me how they're going to come to the next soul winning time and why they couldn't make it to the next one.
And it's kind of like well first of all I'm not God. I'm not the one you need
to straighten this out with. I don't know why you feel like I'm the one that needs
to be cleared up on this issue. It's between you and the Lord. I'm just delivering the message.
You know but I appreciate it and I'll still continue to offer encouragement.
Say hey great you know go soul winning. Yeah do it.
You know the people that show up for soul winning, the people that show up to church on times are
typically not the ones that have to tell me they're going to do it. They just do it.
They're just there. It's not just a spiritual talk.
You know and that's kind of what we see with Naaman. Oh give me all this dirt
so I can go worship God. And by the way I'm going to also be worshiping. I'm not worshiping. I'm going to go into the house
of Rim and it's going to look like I'm worshiping.
You know in verse 18 we see Naaman you know he's
seeking approval. Right. He's not. And this kind of goes back to what I just said.
You know people will come to me seeking approval for why
you know they don't do this or they're going to start doing that. They want me to just kind of
rubber stamp it. You know say oh okay. People do this all the time.
They're always emailing the church and trying to explain why their situation is
different. Can you see how maybe it's okay for me to get remarried or to
divorce my spouse or why it's okay for me to get you know this sin doesn't really apply.
You know why the scripture is different here and it's like no. And what they really
want is just some preacher somebody to come along and say well that's okay.
And we kind of see this with Naaman. This is another aspect of you know human nature
that we see here in this interaction. He says in verse 18
in this thing the Lord pardoned thy servant. So he's not. He's telling him.
You know he's not. He's not you know asking hey what do you think I shouldn't
do in this circumstance. You know my boss is a heathen idolatrous heathen
who goes into the house of Rimmon. You know and I'm kind of under his you know his authority
and if he's going to really pressure me to go worship his false god like
what do you think I should do there. He's just saying look this is how it is. I'm not going to change
and I'm not going to you know make any big changes. I'm the captain.
You know I've got responsibilities. This is where I live. He's not going to
change anything. Now is Naaman a saved man? Yeah.
And that was the picture there. We went over that already.
You know he got saved. He's worshiping the Lord.
But you know what that tells me is that not everyone
that gets saved they're going to make big spiritual changes in their life are they?
They're kind of just going to go along with the way things have been.
They're kind of just going to go along with what they've always done. They're not always going to be willing
to just make big upheavals in their life. You know and that's something
that we have to keep in mind especially if we are people who have
made big changes in our life. You know we might get frustrated
with people who can't make it to church when we're like hey we've moved for church. What's your
problem? Right? We traveled across the country. We
lived in another state. You can't go you know a few
miles to get in church. You know we could get frustrated with people like that but we have to understand
this is human nature. This is the way people are.
And this is an especially important point because of the fact that today
you know a lot of people out there would cast doubt
on our salvation count. They would owe six
salvations today guys on Sunday. Really? Where are they?
You know why aren't they here? Obviously if they got saved
you know they're going to go from a godless heathen to a you know
Bible reading, Bible believing, Bible thumping Baptist from one moment
to the next. So why aren't they in church right now? Did they really
get saved? This is the kind of mentality that's out there. Right?
But here we got a guy who got saved in Naaman who's like and I'm going to keep going
into the house of women by the way. And by the way yeah I'm saying
I'm going to worship the Lord but I'm not going to change my life. I'm not going to leave
my position. I'm not going to you know flee my country and come down here
and serve the Lord God in Israel. You know I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.
I'm not going to change anything. Look that's the vast majority of people that get
saved folks. People are going to get saved and nothing's going to change.
You know and people that want to preach this well if you don't
change if you don't repent of your sin you're not saved. That's a false
gospel. And you know it goes back to the way Naaman was
you know before he got saved. Remember how he was wroth he was upset because
you know he didn't have this great work to go do and his servants came to him and they said
you know if he'd bid you to do some hard thing would you not have done it? You know that's pride.
That's the way a lot of people are. They want to earn their salvation. They want
somebody to come and make it difficult for them. You know they want to make it difficult
for other people. They want them to quit all their sinning because that's what I did.
You know I know I'm saved because I quit drinking and smoking and running around.
That's how I know. How do you know you're saved because I
changed my life. Because I got
reformed. Yeah except that they do that in all kinds of
you know groups. They have nothing to do with God. They do
that down at the AA. They do that at the NA. They do it at all
these you know reformers anonymous. All this stuff. People get reformed
all the time without Jesus. People quit drinking and quit smoking all the time.
People turn their lives around all the time. Does that make them saved? No.
And it's a great picture there in 2 Kings 5 of what salvation is. It's easy.
It's simple. But that's what drove Nahum in nuts is how easy it was.
Go dip in a river seven times and it's not even
one back in your own. It's not go back to your own land. Go travel a few hundred more miles
and then do it. It's like just go over here to Jordan and dip in the river. Just go dip in that
river real quick and bam it's done. You know but that's the mentality
that people have. They want to make it hard. And even people that
might even themselves have gotten saved they could fall into this.
Saying well you know those people aren't really saved because they didn't do all the things that I did
after I got saved. You know they didn't start going to church and cleaning up their life.
But you know what? Go to John chapter 2. Let's just take a quick tour
through John chapter 2 and see if it's possible that a lot of
people could get saved and still not serve God.
And keep in mind this is when Jesus is on the earth. This is when he
Jesus is on the earth. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 2.
In John chapter 2 verse 23. Look not everyone
is going to make the changes that they should after salvation.
They're still saved though. They're still
saved if they believe the gospel because that's all that's required is to believe. That's it.
Well I don't know about that. Well look at verse 23. Now when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover and the feast day many believed in his name. How many believed in his name?
Many. When they saw the miracles that he did. Go to chapter 12.
I'll run through this very quickly. Chapter 4 verse 9.
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying
of the woman which testified he told me whatever I did. And many
more believed because of his own word. So right out of the gate you have many
believing in his name after the Passover in Jerusalem. You got the Samaritans that are
believing on the woman by the well. And then they're going to hear Jesus and many
many more are getting saved there.
Chapter 7 verse 31. And many of the people believed on him and said
when Christ cometh will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done. Chapter 8
verse 30. And as he spake these words many believed on him.
Chapter 10 verse 41. And many resorted unto him and said John did
no miracle but all things that John spake of this man were true. Verse 42.
And many believed on him there. Chapter 11 verse 45.
Then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the thing which Jesus
did which was raise Lazarus from the dead believed on him. So just over and over
and over again in just the book of John alone. It's people, many people believing
many people believing. I mean how many people do you think got saved in Jesus ministry?
Tens of thousands. I mean just
I don't know how many people were around back then but I'm willing to
I don't think it would be far-fetched to say the majority of people, the Jews
got saved back then. And it's many people. A lot of them are showing up
and a lot of them are getting saved.
Chapter 12 verse 10. But the chief priest consulted that they
may put Lazarus also to death. Because that by reason
of him many of the Jews went away and believed on
Jesus. See even the Pharisees are believing on him. Even the religious
chief priests and others the Jews are just
believing on Jesus left and right everywhere he goes. People believing on him, believing on him.
I mean how many thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people
believed on Jesus? I mean it's tons.
And it's not people, there's nothing there
about how they're all changing their life around. They're all repenting of all
their sin. They're all getting reformed. It's just they're just believing.
They're hearing the preaching. They're seeing Jesus. They're believing on the word
and it's just an innumerable multitude of people believing.
Did I get you to verse 42? Nevertheless among the chief
priests also many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees they
did not confess him. And look I've had people Baptist preachers turn me to this
passage and say oh these guys weren't really saved.
But it says that many believed on him. But
because of the Pharisees they did not confess him. Meaning openly, publicly.
Do you have to publicly and openly profess Christ to be saved? No.
All you have to do is to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus.
That's an interaction between you and God. You have to go around
and sit on some mourners bench for three months before someone will preach you the gospel.
You know that's a bunch of holiest Pentecostal nonsense that
Baptists have adopted over the years. It's creeped in.
And he's saying look many believed on him. They got
saved but they didn't confess them unless they should be put out of the sin of God. For they love
the praise of men more than the praise of God. You know some people just aren't going to
make the changes they need to make. The Pharisees, the many thousands
that believed on Jesus, nay them in Assyrian. You know he's going to have a big
spiritual talk. He's going to say what he's going to say. Oh I'm going to take earth
back from Israel. He's the Lord God of Israel. He's the only one I'm going to worship.
Except when I go in a house for lemon. You know people are going to
get saved like nay them in and not make any changes.
We see it in Jesus Christ's ministry. Jesus's ministry.
In his own ministry. Many believe but
go to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter number 1. Verse 12.
I'll start reading in verse 12 of Acts 1. Then post ascension
after the ascension of Christ into heaven.
Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet which is from Jerusalem about a Sabbath
day journey. And they were come in, they went up into an upper room where there are
abode of Peter and James and John and Andrew and Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew
and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon and Judas the brother of James.
These all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication with
the women and Mary the mother of Jesus with his brethren. And in those
days Peter stood up in the midst of disciples and said the number of the names being
gathered together, 150,000 people.
I mean no, about 120.
Isn't that, I mean this is right after the book of John.
Where the book of John is just many believed, many believed, many believed, many believed.
I mean we just looked at a few verses where just throngs of people
are getting saved. And then in Acts 1 when Jesus is getting ready to
kick things off with the disciples, 120 people.
You know what that tells me? That it's human nature for people to get saved and do
nothing for God. Even if they have a big spiritual talk.
Even if they say all the things they're going to do. Human nature is to
just, they'll take that free ride to Heaven and just do nothing for God
on the way there. You know they get their fire
escape punched, right? They got their ticket to Heaven, they got their way out of
Hell, but that's all they need Jesus for. They're not going to do anything else.
You know they'll regret it the second they get to Heaven. They're going to
see Jesus and say, man I blew it. I could have had so much more. I could have done things for the one
who died for me. But you know what? This is human nature. This is how people are.
We see it with Naaman, we see it in Jesus' ministry.
You know what that tells me? Is that people do what they want, not what they should.
This is what people do. This is human nature. And I'm going to make an application on how we can
use this in our lives here at the end. But you know people
are just going to do what they want. And this is something that I've really had to
come to terms with since getting into the ministry. This is something I've always known.
But you really have to kind of come to terms with it when you start dealing with people
on a more case by case basis. When you're doing an organization,
when you're trying to build something that involves other people, you just have to accept the fact
and make peace with the fact that people are going to do what they want
and not what they should. You know there's a lot of things that people
should be doing and you just have to accept the fact that they're not going to do it.
People should be in church on a regular basis. But people aren't going to do that.
People should be out soul winning. People should be out there preaching the gospel. You know what?
They're not going to do it. People should be reading their Bibles. They're not going to do it. People should be praying.
They're not going to do it. Why aren't they going to do it? Because they don't want to.
And it doesn't matter how much I get up and kick the pulpit and yell and rail and slam
and get all red in the face and spit and slobber and quote scripture
and read Bible and tell people right from the word of God what it is they ought to do.
And the fact is they're just not going to do it. Now you might think it doesn't sound like you've made peace with it.
You know but I'm working on it. Okay?
And here's the thing. This is a great and you know Jesus dealt with it too.
You say well it must have been nice for Jesus. I'm sure everybody
just always did what they were supposed to do. But what did we see Jesus saying
all the time? You know oh faithless generation and perverse generation.
How long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
You know how many times did he say well you know oh ye of little faith. Wherefore didst thou doubt?
You know he tells them hey Terry in Jerusalem and tell
you know you'll be endued with power from on high. Then he goes and catches them out fishing.
The disciples they take off and he's like that's not what I told you to do.
And this is after they've seen the resurrected Christ. They were with him through his whole ministry
watching him do all these miracles. They watch him die. He comes back to life
shows himself alive as disciples and they still are just like yeah I'm not going to do what I'm supposed to do.
So you know why would we sit here and get frustrated with other people
when it's like it's me trying to get them to do what they're supposed to do.
If Jesus couldn't get people to do what they're supposed to do why in the world should I sit here and think
well if I just preach this sermon everyone's just going to fix everything overnight.
You're setting yourself up for disappointment.
You know that's why I'm going to close on this point
the title of the sermon is be an example because that's really all you can do for people
is just be an example. And I love Elisha's response to Naaman in this.
Because again Naaman I believe is a sincere guy. I believe what he's saying
it's from a sincere place but it just kind of shows what's in human nature.
That people talk a big spiritual talk but they're not really going to make any big changes.
It's going to be the status quo. They're just going to continue to do what they're doing.
And they're just going to look for approval. They're not really going to look for guidance.
They're just going to look for you to rubber stamp whatever it is they're doing.
And rather than Elisha just getting upset
and frustrated and him just you know tearing Naaman
up one side and down another and saying don't you appreciate everything that God's done for you.
You were a leper and now you're saved and you believe. Don't you understand.
And just getting mad at him. Look what he says to him in verse 19.
And he said unto him go in peace. Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
You know he just says because I believe Elisha
just understands something we all need to understand. That people are going to do what they want.
And it's better to just say hey go in peace. Go do your thing.
Go in peace. Don't bother just berating
people. Don't bother just harshly criticizing people for their
shortcomings. You know there's a time and place obviously to rebuke
and to exhort. There's a time and place obviously to you know
call out sin and draw a line of sin and I get that but
by and large if you're just trying to you know get people
to do things that they don't want to do you're just setting yourself up
for disappointment. So what's the point. It's better to just say you know what go in peace.
Go do it. Go to Proverbs chapter 27.
Proverbs chapter 27. Don't bother berating people because people
aren't going to change unless they want to. And that's true for all of us.
None of us is going to do anything. We're not going to make any changes unless
we want to. I mean obviously as we grow and mature and become
responsible we do things that you know we don't want to do. But we have
to make ourselves do them. In a sense we do want to do them. Because we don't want
to suffer the consequences. And you know what I'm talking about you can't make people
do what you what they don't want to do. Obviously that's you know that's
not always the case in you know like families and things like that. We have you know
us parents we have ways to make children do things that they don't want to do.
We have ways we have we have the power of influence in their lives.
We have very persuasive measures by which they will do the things
they don't want to do. But you know I'm just speaking you know
more generally when it comes to things like the ministry or
maybe your co-worker or whatever there might be some other relationship
in your life where you're trying to get people to do something and they
just won't change. You know it'd be better to just say
go in peace. You know just you just go do go back to
where you came from Naaman. Take some dirt with you if that's what you need.
Go worship God the best you can and Eliash is just going to stay back
and tear it up. You know and that's kind of
I think that's an important thing for us to understand in this church
is that look people are going to come in here God bless them but they're not going to get
all the way in. You know they're going to be they're going to kind of come and go and people
aren't going to do all the things that they should do but is that going to stop us
from serving God? Do we need everybody else to get on board before we're
going to serve God? Of course not. You can't change other people but
you know what? You can change yourself. You can't make other people do what they're
supposed to do but you can definitely be an example. You can definitely
show them how it's supposed to be done. But again just trying
to berate people and getting frustrated with people it's just
it's pointless. That's why I love Eliash's response. Go in peace.
Look at Proverbs 27 verse 22. Though thou shouldest bray
a fool in a mortar among wheat and pestle
yet his foolishness will not depart from him.
You know you could there's some people they're just their foolishness their
habits the things that they do are just so deeply ingrained they're just it's part of
their character it's part of who they are as a person there's no separating them from it.
You could you could grind them down to powder in a pestle
with you know in a mortar with pestle among wheat and yet that foolishness
will not depart from the fool. You know some people are just so set in their ways
they're never going to change. That's why thousands and thousands and thousands
of people can get saved. That's where people like the apostles even
can can walk around and follow Jesus and still fall into those old things
and still go right back to the things they were doing before and not
not change. You know at least not with some more persuasion.
So this is the the practical part of the sermon.
You say well what are we to do then? What's the point? What are we supposed to do?
You know what what you know you're telling me we can't change
people you know that's probably obvious to most people. What are we
supposed to do then? Be an example. Just be an example.
Just be an example to those who seek to improve.
You know because there are people out there they do want to do better. They want to
they are spiritual. They're not just talking the talk they're walking the walk.
And they want to improve. They want to get better. They want to grow.
They want to be the Christians that they're supposed to be. Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 4.
The solution is be an example to them.
You know don't worry about the people that have no desire to change.
Because you know what and I'm not calling them a fool but you could
braid them in a mortar among pestle and they're just not going to change.
Until they want to.
1 Timothy chapter 4 he says in verse 11
these things command and teach. He's saying hey don't bother
teaching these things because some people just aren't going to get it.
You know there's going to be some people that it doesn't matter how much you command and how much you teach
they're just going to keep doing what they're doing. Don't bother. No he's saying these things command and
teach. Still hold a line. Still tell people what they ought to do.
Still charge them. Still tell them hey this is what God expects of you. Still do that.
But notice he goes on and says let no man despise thy youth
but be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and faith
and spirit and purity. Those are the things. Until I come give attendance to reading
to exhortation to doctrine. He says you know what go ahead and charge and teach this.
Command and teach this. Charge them. But here's what's
really going to make a difference Timothy is when you be an example. When you continue in these things.
When you give yourself only to them. When you meditate upon these things.
You know then your profiting will appear to all.
That's what we should focus on is being an example to those who do want to change.
Who do want to make the changes in their lives.
You know that's what I think was kind of going on with that story there with Naaman and Elisha.
Elisha's just looking at here's what's coming out of my mouth and just saying well you know this guy's
just not going to change. Well let me just you know waste my breath
trying to tell Naaman why he's wrong.
Why he needs to you know get a spiritual bone in his body.
Why he needs to have a sincere walk with God and not just some spiritual
you know hyperbole. That he needs to actually have a real genuine walk with God.
You can take all the dirt you want but what does that mean to anybody?
That's why he looked at him and just said go in peace.
You know and I'll just continue to be an example to the sons of the prophets.
I'll just continue to be an example to the people here in Israel that actually want to serve God.
That actually want to make the changes.
And this is something the Bible tells us to do over and over again. To just be an example.
The Bible says in Philippians 3 I'll just read to you. Go to John chapter 3.
Philippians chapter 3, brethren be followers to those who do not
Philippians chapter 3, brethren be followers together of me and mark them
which walk so as you have us for an example.
Say hey follow me and follow those that are a good example.
Mark those that walk in the same way that we walk.
Follow me as I follow Christ Paul said.
He didn't say follow Christ. Well I stand here
and just bark orders. Yes command and teach.
Yes charge. But he said also follow me
as I follow Christ. What's he saying there? That he's an example.
He's saying follow my example. Do as I have done.
And that's why it's important for us to set that example because there are people
I believe this that will follow our example.
He said in 1 Peter chapter 2
for even hereunto were he also called because Christ also suffered for us
leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.
You know Christ set an example for us to follow. Be an example.
John chapter 3 verse 15 he said
for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.
Notice you should do. Meaning it's possible
for you to not follow that example.
You know and there's a lot of people we are going to set the example and they're just not going to follow it.
We're going to show them here's how you have a godly marriage.
Here's how you raise godly children. Here's how you go soloing. Here's how you serve God.
Here's how you have standards. Here's all these things. Here's the example.
Here's how you should do it. They say well I'm not going to do it.
So should we stop doing it? No. We should keep doing it.
Even if the vast majority of people choose not to serve God.
To not do the things that we should. You know we should still do it. Why?
There's that small remnant. There's that 120 that will be there
in that upper room so to speak. We might not have
the thousands and thousands and thousands of people just clamoring oh show us how
to serve God but you know what we might have 120.
You can get a lot done with 120. Go read the book of Acts.
You can get a lot done with 12 sold out disciples.
You can get a lot done with just a few people who are sold out
and ready to follow God as they ought to.
Notice in verse 17 he says if you know these things
happy are you if you do them.
You say why does this frustrate you so much when you see people who just don't
want to change? Is it because you know
you need them to do things to prove that something to yourself
is some kind of sick validation rather than
no. You know why it is? You know why
it's so frustrating to see people not make the changes that they need to make?
It's because you know that they're not going to be happy. That they're robbing themselves.
He said happier if you do them. It's frustrating to sit there
and watch people miss out on the things that God has for them.
Sit there and think if any people
if they just wanted to they could serve God and they could do great things for God.
I believe that. I believe that anybody can do great
things for God. Anyone if they wanted to. If they wanted
to be out there soul winning and living for the Lord and people could just do
whatever they want because that's what people do. They do whatever they want.
And if they wanted to they could go out and do great things for God and they would be happy
and God would bless them. So it's frustrating to sit here
and watch them just miss out. Sunday after Sunday
Saturday after Saturday. Thursday after Thursday
just missing out. Missing out on what God
on serving God. Letting just year after year go by. Decade after decade
go by. Not serving God. Missing out on the blessings of God
in their life. That's why it's so frustrating.
But what we need to understand is that
you know people are going to change when they want to.
That real genuine long lasting change
has to come from within people. You can't impose that on other people.
You can't strong arm people and you can't guilt trip people.
You can't make people do things to make you know because that's what I'm
afraid of sometimes. I'll preach something and then people do things because they want to make me happy.
And look if that's the case it's just a matter of time until you say
well that's brother Corbin. So what? What's his happiness
to God? Amen. Why me? Why do it for me?
Do it for God. That's what you want. Do things for the Lord.
You serve the Lord Christ. You don't serve deacon Russell.
You serve God. This is just an opportunity. This place is just an opportunity
to do that. I'm just here to help facilitate that service. That's it.
You know and we need to understand
that genuine long lasting change has to come from within people. You can't just
impose that on people. It cannot be imposed.
The godly Christian life, the blessed life, the life that is
spent in service to God is not something that you can impose
on other people. But you know what you can do? You can be an example
of it. So be an example. Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer. Dear Lord again thank you for the great
example that you've left us Lord. In your word of service
and sacrifice and faithfulness and Lord the blessing that comes along
with it, the reward, the contentment, Lord all the great things that come with
serving you. Lord I pray that you would help us to be a faithful
and consistent example to those around us Lord that they may do with
it what they will when it comes to the things of serving you.
We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.
Now we're going to do a song.
David do you still want to do a song number 15?
Alright we're going to do it anyway. Let's turn it over to the song
number 15. The song number 15
will you be the calculator?
We don't love our kind roundly
now. I shall not worry
me. Lest I forgive
and not crowd round. We
meet in Calvary.
Lest I forgive chastity.
Lest I forgive
me. Lest I forgive
thy love for me.
We meet in Calvary.
Show me the tomb where thou
was slain, tenderly born
and well. Angels in
hearts applied away.
Our energy was now slain.
Lest I forgive chastity.
Lest I forgive my
enemy. Lest I forgive
thy love for me. We
meet in Calvary.
Let me have every word of
truth come with a gift to me.
Show to me how
the empty tomb we meet in
Calvary. Lest I
forgive chastity.
Lest I forgive my enemy.
Lest I forgive thy
love for me. We meet
in Calvary.
May I be with you, Lord, to
bear, gaining my cross for thee.
Even though I'm
not free to share, now
I fall for thee.
Lest I forgive chastity.
Lest I forgive my enemy.
Lest I forgive
thy love for me.
May I be with you, Lord, to bear, gaining my
cross for thee.
...