So, the book of Galatians, chapter 5, beginning in verse 25 there at the end where it says,
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
I kind of want to just start out by looking at that one verse there, and I thought as
I was reading this chapter the other day, what an interesting phrase that is, that he
says there, you know, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
And what he says there, if we live in the Spirit, we know of course he's saying, if
we have life through the Spirit, if we're saved, then we live in the Spirit.
God has renewed our spirit with His Spirit, and all things have become new, we're a new
creature in Christ and the inner man, and we live in the Spirit.
Then he goes on and says in that same breath, let us also walk in the Spirit.
So kind of a way to think about this phrase, if we were to put it another way, it would
be like, if we're saved, we might as well live like it.
You know, if we're saved today, if we've been bought by the blood of Christ, if we've been
born again, we might as well live like it, you know, we might as well do the things that
God has asked us to do, we might as well glorify Him in our body and in our thoughts, and live
like we are saved people, now we know that we don't have to do those things, we don't
have to walk in the Spirit in order to live in the Spirit.
We're going to live in the Spirit, we're sailed on to the day of our redemption, you know,
God has paid, put down the down payment, the redemption of our, the price of our redemption
has been paid for, but, you know, that being the case, we might as well live like it.
You know, a lot of people, we could liken it onto the fact that we've kind of been set
on a new path, you know, if we've been saved, maybe we're, you know, before time we were
going astray, we were wandering off in another way, but God, when He saves us, He kind of
sets us on that new path that He desires us to walk in, you know, He wants us to walk
in the Spirit to follow after Him.
The Bible says in Psalm, you're there, go and turn to Philippians chapter 3, but it
says in Psalm 119, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
You see, there's a lamp for our feet and a light for our path, there's a path that God
wants us to walk down.
He wants us to walk in the Spirit, the Bible talks a lot about walking and following and
moving forward for Christ and pressing toward the mark and these type of phrases that are
used and we've kind of been set on a new path when it comes to salvation.
So He says there, because we've been on that new path, not only God has set us on a new
path, but He's also given us a light and a lamp to guide us on that path.
And you know, if we've been given a lamp, if we've been given a light, we might as well
use it.
We might as well make sure we're not going to stumble and fall, we might as well shine
the light that shines, as the Bible says, as a light in a dark place.
I mean the world is a dark place today, is it not?
I mean it's dark spiritually, it's dark all around us, there's a lot of sin, the Bible
says the whole world lieth in wickedness, that the prince, the god of this present world,
the prince of the power of the air, you know, he rules and reigns in this world, and he
is working, and so we know that we're walking in a dark world, we need a light, we need
somebody to lead us and to guide us.
Doesn't make any sense that we would be put on this new path and try to walk down this
path and know and see where we're going without a lamp, when it's been given to us, when we've
been given this light onto our path, it'd be kind of like if we were to walk into a
room and we couldn't see, we were kind of standing in the middle of the room and we
couldn't see, it was a dark room, it was pitch black, and then somebody turned the light
on for us, and we said, oh now I can see where I'm going, I can see where I'm walking, but
then right after that we just immediately decided to take out a blindfold and put it
on, and that wouldn't make any sense, would it?
That's kind of what Christians do when we've been set on a new path, sometimes we ignore
the fact that the light's been turned on, or if it has, we'll just put on a blindfold
and say, well you know, I don't really need to see where I'm going.
They put the Bible aside, they quit coming to church, they quit listening to the things
of God, and they start to stumble, and they wonder why.
Well it's because you're not using the light that God has given you, you're not walking
in the Spirit.
You see, Jesus promised to us that he would be with us always, did he say I will be with
you lo, even unto the end of the world, so we might as well follow him to the end of
our lives.
You know, the world's going to end for all of us, one way or another.
You know, either Christ is going to come, you know, the anti-Christ is going to rise
and we're going to go through the tribulation, we're going to be eventually taken out of
here or maybe we'll die, but one way or another we're all going to die one day.
The world will end, and Jesus has promised that he'd be with us at the end of that world,
however we end here in this world, so we might as well follow him.
We might as well walk in the Spirit, we might as well walk down this path.
And here's the thing, if you want to follow somebody, obviously you have to walk.
You have to put one foot in front of another.
I mean that only makes sense, right?
If you were, you know, in the military they put you in a, they were going to put you through
boot camp and teach you how to march, you're going to have to actually learn how to move
your feet, how to put one foot in front of the other and follow the leader, alright?
And the Bible's very clear that that's what we have to do as Christians in our Christian
life, that we have to move forward, that we have to learn to walk, that we have to follow
after Christ.
There in Philippians 3, but the Bible says in Romans 6, therefore we are buried with
him by baptism unto death.
That is like Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life.
You know, we've been buried with Christ in the baptism unto death, we've been renewed,
we have the newness of life that God has given us, and it says there that we should
also walk in it.
I mean it only makes sense that we should walk and follow after Christ.
Look at there in Philippians chapter 3 verse 13, brethren, I count on myself to apprehend
it, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark.
That's walking, that's moving forward, that's pushing.
For the prize and the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, let us therefore, as many
as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall
reveal even this unto you.
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind
the same thing.
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us.
For example, the Bible talks an awful lot about walking, about pressing, about following,
about moving forward.
Go ahead and turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4.
The Bible says in 1 John 2, he that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk,
even as he walked.
You know, God's expecting us to grow, God's expecting us to start going down the path
he set us on.
He's expecting us to follow him.
It says there we ought himself also to walk, even as he walked.
It says in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 1, further more then we beseech you brethren, exhort
you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how he ought to walk and to please God.
And so you would abound more and more.
You know we ought to walk, why?
To please God.
God desires that we walk, God desires that we follow, God desires that we grow and push
forward.
That is the Christian life.
The Christian life is that of growth, it's not this, you never stagnate, God doesn't
want people to plateau in the Christian life.
We should always be trying to do better than the day before.
And I know there's going to be peaks and valleys, that's just the reality of it.
But overall, the general arc of our lives should be one where we're growing, when we're
pressing forward, when we're moving ahead.
It should be a life of momentum.
It should be something, maybe it's not as fast moving as at other times, but God forbid
that we would ever stop and even move backwards.
That's not God's will.
God wants us to move forward in the Christian life to grow.
It says there in Ephesians chapter 4, if you would turn over to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians
chapter 4.
And He gave some apostles, I'll begin in verse 11, He gave some apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints,
it says there in verse 12.
Now the perfecting means to make those saints whole, to make you complete as a Christian.
That's why we have all of these teachers and pastors and evangelists, that's why God has
given us the local church.
For the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, a complete
man, a whole man, under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind
of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head
even Christ.
So God desires that we be perfect, that God desires that we be no more children, God desires
that we grow up into Him in all things.
And that's why He's given us the body of Christ, that's why He's given us the prophets, the
apostles, the evangelists, the pastors, the teachers, for the work of the ministry.
Now it would be a real shame after reading all this scripture and seeing what it is that
God desires for us if it never happened in our lives.
If we never did grow.
If we stopped growing, if we stopped moving forward, if we started to backslide or fall
out.
That would be a real shame, wouldn't it?
I mean, we would say that that person really wasted their opportunity.
I mean, if they were in a good church, they got saved, they were in a good church and
they just decided, you know what, they forsook it, they said it's not important enough to
me.
You know, whether they realize it or not on this earth, they've actually wasted their
opportunity to grow in Christ and to serve God.
And that's the title of the sermon this evening is Don't Waste Your Opportunity.
Don't waste your opportunity.
Go and turn over to Colossians chapter 3.
You see, we've been given a great opportunity to serve God in our lives.
The fact that we, as we spoke this morning, that we even have the Holy Spirit dwelling
in us, that we have a means by which we can communicate to the very God of heaven through
his word and our spirit bearing witness with his spirit, you know, we've been given a great
opportunity to serve God with our lives.
We should not waste our opportunity.
Don't waste your opportunity.
Look at Colossians chapter 3 verse 1.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above and not on things on the earth.
For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ and God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then ye also appear with him in glory.
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the
wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, and the which ye also walked sometime when
ye lived in them.
But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put
on the new man which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him.
So Paul kind of gets after him a little bit there in that passage, doesn't he?
He says, you know what, because of the fact that we've been born again, because you're
dead and your life is hid in Christ, you need to mortify.
You need to kill the body.
You need to put off all these affections.
That's what he said there, right?
He said, mortify the members.
Sometimes that's what a lot of pastors, that's what we should be preaching.
That's what a lot of, at least preachers should be preaching.
You know, obviously I'm not a pastor, but those that would stand up behind a pulpit
and preach God's word, they should be preaching these type of things that Paul preached.
They should preach that we need to mortify the members.
You know, a person who's going to come to a church where somebody's preaching the word
of God and saying, hey, you need to mortify your members, that's going to be a consistent
message.
At least it should be.
It should be something that we hear on a consistent basis coming across the pulpit.
I mean, go read the New Testament and see how many times Paul, you know, gets after
people about fornication.
It's a frequent subject that comes up in scripture.
But people will get in a church where it's preached and they'll say, well, why does the
preacher have to, you know, get on fornication so much?
I mean, I remember one time talking to Pastor Anderson, him saying, you know, I preached
on fornication, I tried to touch on fornication on almost every single sermon, at least mention
it.
You know, there was a time and I started paying attention, I was like, you know what, he's
right.
It's almost like almost every sermon, he somehow fits that in there.
Why?
Because the unsaved, the lost world, or the newly saved, the babes in Christ that come
into the body of Christ, they come in with baggage.
They come in as fornicators and they have to be told, you need to knock that off.
You need to stop being a fornicator.
That's why the preacher has to get up and hit on a sin like fornication so much.
He says there, Paul says, to put off the old man with his deeds.
You know, why does the preacher have to get up and talk about sin so much?
Why is it that Paul's always talking about putting off the old man with his deeds and
putting on the new man?
Because we still have this flesh, you know, we still have this flesh to deal with in this
life.
He goes on there and says, you know, put on the new man.
You know, why does the preacher have to keep talking about prayer and church attendance
and Bible reading and soul winning?
Why, you know, why does he keep harping on these things?
Why do we keep having to be reminded of these things?
Why does he say there, seek ye those things which are above, set your affection on things
above and not on the earth.
You know, why does the preacher always have to rip on, you know, not being covetous, not
desiring things that aren't yours or, you know, the love of money or why does he have
to preach on all these things all the time?
Well, the same reason Paul did.
The same reason Paul got after all these things.
The preacher understands what Paul understands or understood.
And what is it that Paul understood?
What is it that the preacher understands?
Well, what they understand is what Jesus taught.
I mean, he knew what Jesus, his take on all this was and that's why he preached the way
he preached.
Bible says in Matthew 6 21, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Jesus taught a great truth there.
When he said, you know, the things that you value in this life, the things that are important
to you, that's where your heart's going to be.
You know, if your heart isn't pleasing God and walking after him and his commandments
and growing in Christ and his knowledge, it's not going to happen.
You know, you're not just going to walk, stumble into church and somehow just, you know, it's
not just going to rub off on you and you're going to walk away just by osmosis or something
like that.
You're going to have to actually purpose in your life to do all these things, to mortify
the members, to put off the old man, to put on the new man, to seek those things which
are above.
That's something you're going to have to determine to do in your life.
And if you don't, your treasure will be somewhere, mark my words, your treasure will be somewhere
in this life.
You know, you're going to value something.
There's going to be something that you desire and want to go after, there's going to be
something that you want for yourself in this life and that is where your heart will be
also.
You see, Paul preached like this and any preacher worth his salt preaches like this because
they understand that the people that they preach to one day will give an account for
what they did in this life.
One day they're going to give an account for what they did.
It says there in verse 5 of Colossians 3, mortify therefore.
So there's a therefore, right?
And the old rule we've always heard, what's the therefore therefore?
Why is it that he has to preach all these things?
Well, it's right there in verse 4.
When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
That's why Paul preached the way he did.
Because Paul knew that one day the people he was preaching to were going to appear with
Christ in glory.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 14, so then every one of us shall give an account of himself
to God.
Every single one of us is going to give an account for what we did in this life to God.
Go ahead and turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
1 Corinthians chapter 3.
That's why Paul preached that way.
That's why a preacher gets up and gets after these things and asks people to walk after
Christ and to clean up their life.
Because he understands that one day when Christ comes, those people he's preaching to are
going to appear with Christ in glory.
And that they, just like he, are all going to give an account for God.
It says every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 9,
Look, there's going to be a time when your works, the things that you did in this life
are going to be proven.
They're going to be tested, they're going to be tried, we're going to find out what
sort they were.
And we're all going to have Woodhay and Stubble, but some people, that's all they're going
to have.
But the point we're trying to make here right now is that one day you're going to appear
before Christ in glory and you're going to give an account.
Your works will be tried.
So the question is, what's it going to be like for you when you appear before Christ
in glory?
And we think about that moment and it thrills us, right?
Christ in you, the hope of glory, the fact that one day we're going to have a new body,
and says that we know not what we shall be, we know that when he appears we shall be as
he is.
And what a thrill that is to think that we're going to have a glorified body in Christ,
like his, that will be perfect, that all of eternity will be laid out before us, that
we'll be going into the millennium with Christ to rule and reign with him over the nations
and see just the most magnificent kingdom that ever existed set up here on earth.
I mean, we often think about those things and they're thrilling to think about, but
I wonder how many of us think about how quickly you will consider your life in the light of
that moment, what you accomplished here.
How quickly will it turn from all the things that you were going to do to all the things
you did do?
How quickly we'll think, man, everybody else is getting these rewards handed out, you know,
there's the crowns being given out, everyone's receiving rewards, people are given ten cities
to rule over, five cities to rule over, you know, the lion's coming down to me, eventually
I'm going to stand, I'm going to give an account, I'm going to receive my reward, and they start
to wonder, they start to ponder, they start to think about what it is they actually did
in their life.
Bible says in 1 John, and now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear we
may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
He says the reason why you need to abide in him, the reason why you need to do these things
to mortify the members, to put on the new man, is that when you appear with him in glory,
when you appear, you may have confidence and not be ashamed.
There's going to be some people that day, saved, that's not going to change, but they're
going to, they're God's children, but they're going to stand there and it's going to start
to slowly dawn on them that they wasted their opportunity, and you know what, they're going
to stand up and they're going to give an account, and they're going to have to hang their head,
and that realization is going to hit them like a ton of bricks.
I wonder how long it will take a person like that to figure out that the preacher was right.
In that moment, how long will it go through their mind, you know what, the preacher was
right, I should have mortified my members, I should have gotten out of fornication, I
should have put off the old man, I should have walked after Christ, I should have done
those things.
So the question is, you know, how much of your work will abide?
We're all going to have works that burned up, the wood, hay, and stubble there, I believe
that's just the things, the kind of things we have to do in this life just to survive.
The kinds of things that, you know, wood, hay, and stubble, those are all useful things,
they're not necessarily the most valuable things, but they all have, they all could
serve a purpose, but they will burn up.
The question is will you have anything left over that you did for Christ in your life,
outside of your job, outside of just doing the things that you had to do in this life
to survive?
Will there be anything left over?
You know, I heard a preacher say this once a while back, and that's always kind of stuck
with me.
The fact that, you know, if it's this literal where there's going to be a fire that burns
up our works, I can't explain how that could be, but let's say okay, and whatever's left
over in that fire is yours, if you can go through and you can find the gold, you can
find the silver, and you can find the precious stones that remain of your works that are
burned up, those are yours, those are your rewards, right?
But I wonder how many people are going to get down and start to look through that ash
and realize that's all they have, it's just ash.
Can you imagine walking around heaven and everybody else has just got crowns and gold
and silver and precious stones and all you've got is ash?
Maybe you've got a whole wheelbarrow full of ash, I don't know.
How careful you'd be with that ash to not let it blow away, that's all you've got for
all of eternity.
That's a sad thought.
I wonder, is that what we're going to have when we stand there before God?
How many people are just going to realize all they have to offer, the God that saved
them, the God that glorified them, the God that has set them in his kingdom, all they'll
have to offer is smash.
That's a sobering thought, at least it ought to be.
So the fact is, there are going to be people that don't have anything but ash.
There will be rewards that go unclaimed, there will be work that goes undone on this earth.
That's a fact.
The question is, why?
Why is it that there's going to be people in such a sad state, having nothing but ash?
Well we know one reason, it can't be because there's a lack of riches on God's behalf.
I mean the streets are paved with coal up there, right?
He says, behold I come quickly and my reward is with me.
It's not because God is going to run out of precious stones to give out, it's not because
God is going to run out of rewards.
He owns a thousand of the cattle, cattle on a thousand hills, right?
The gold in every mine is his.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, he's able to, you know, abundantly reward
us for our labors.
It's not like you're going to get to God for your rewards, you're going to be standing
there with his pockets out and saying, sorry I ran out.
Whoops, my bad, I didn't set enough aside.
That's not the problem.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15 that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.
We know that if we do labor that we will receive a reward if we labor it for the Lord.
And it's certainly not because there's a lack of available work to do, is it?
I mean Jesus said, going into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature.
Has that happened?
Is every preacher that we know in this world received the gospel or an opportunity to hear
a clear presentation?
Not by even a stretch of the imagination.
So people are going to go without a reward, not because God has run out of rewards to
hand out, or not because there isn't enough work for them to earn rewards.
You know, God has no spiritual unemployment line.
Every single one of his children on here has work to do.
God's economy is thriving, you know, it's booming.
There's help wanted ads everywhere.
You can get employed in the Lord's army.
The reason why people are going to have no reward, the reason why people are going to
waste the opportunity that's been given them, is because people simply place more emphasis
on earthly matters than heavenly rewards.
They get caught up and they get entangled in the affairs of this life.
Go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 13.
Matthew chapter 13.
A very familiar parable that I'm sure we're all familiar with here, you know, the parable
of the sower.
The one that went out and sowed the seed and fell on the different types of ground.
And here in Matthew chapter 13 and verse 18, Jesus begins to explain the meaning of the
parable.
Verse 18.
Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
Would anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth it not that cometh the wicked
one and catcheth the way that which was sown in his heart, this is he which received the
seed by the wayside.
But he that received the seed into stony places, the same as he that heareth the word, and
anon with joy receiveth it, yet he hath not rooteth himself, but deareth for a little
while.
For when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Look at verse 22, he talks about this other type of ground.
He also that received seed among the thorns, is he that seareth the word, and the carer
of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Now it's interesting that this ground, that this seed is sowed in here, there's nothing
wrong with the ground.
It's perfectly capable of supporting life.
I mean after all it's got thorns in it.
There's plenty of other plant life growing up in it.
It's good ground.
It could accomplish much.
It has the ability to do something to support life.
But when God's seed is sown there, that plant, that fruit that he wants to bear in that ground,
in that person's life, isn't able to come forth.
Because that person has never bothered to go in there and clear out the thorns.
Sometimes we need to weed our hearts out of these thorns that would choke God's word.
What are those weans?
The deceitfulness of riches, I mean isn't that what the world just lifts up today?
That's just the dream, to hit the lotto, to make a bunch of money, to be famous, to just
have your bank accounts full.
That's what they lift up today.
Bible says it's deceitful.
Some of those people are the most miserable people you'll ever meet.
They can never get enough.
They're never satisfied.
They're never content.
They don't learn to value what really matters in life.
They're deceived by the riches.
And those things choke the word.
People start to chase after that.
I don't have time for church.
I don't have time for this.
I don't have time for these things of God.
I don't have time for the soul winning.
I don't have time for any of this because I've got to get those riches.
I've got to get whatever it is that I've set my affections on.
My heart is after those things.
And they end up getting choked out.
We saw that God equips us for the work.
God gives us the hoe and He gives us the gloves and He gives us that little rake that every
mom's mom had that had a garden.
He says you can go out and clean out that garden and you can get the weeds out.
We saw that in Ephesians.
God gives us the ministers.
God gives us the opportunity to get our hearts cleaned up and our lives right to put off
the old man.
The opportunity to be part of a good church.
That's an opportunity a lot of people waste.
Go ahead and turn over to Romans chapter 10.
The Bible says in Hebrews 10, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance
of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our body washed with
pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for He is faithful that promised.
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together.
I feel like I've been reading this verse a lot.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as a manner of some is, but that
is something that people need to take heed to.
Because when you forsake the local body, when you forsake the church, you're wasting an
opportunity.
You're wasting an opportunity to not only just hear the preaching of the word of God
that's going to help you in your walk, that's going to help you and encourage you and motivate
you, and convict you, and cause you to want to get right with God, but you're also going
to waste a lot of fellowship of building relationships with people that are going to
help you.
Help you to grow.
You know, it would be a real shame if this church here, if faithful work in Tucson never
reached its full potential.
And I think this church has a lot of potential.
I think we've got a great group of people that are coming, we've got a great core of
people that are committed and want to go out and do the work, but what if some of us got
an attitude and decided it wasn't that important anymore?
That there were other things that we needed to set our affections on?
And what if it got to the point where this church just had to close up its doors today?
I'm not saying that's going to happen, quite honestly I'm not really not worried about
it.
And this is probably more of just one of those points that are more preventative than anything,
just to make sure it doesn't happen.
But wouldn't that be a shame if we didn't reach the potential that we could to reach
Tucson?
Because people didn't care enough to come to church because they were too busy doing
whatever.
I don't know what it is that people do that they get too busy to do to come to church
because I've been in church three times a week for nine on twenty years.
I know today's the Super Bowl, maybe that's it, you know what I mean?
I don't know what it is that people get so busy with or become so much more important
than being here in the house of God to hearing and preaching the word of God.
I know people get sick and they go through times where it's difficult or it's best that
they stay home for their own well-being and things like that, but man, I hope it's never
because people just stop caring.
Because it's just not important to them that this church reaches its potential.
You know, it wouldn't be a shame if we wasted the opportunity to raise our kids for God.
To be in a church where the Bible's being preached on how to do that, when we have godly,
not just my kids, other examples that we could look to and see, like, hey, this is
how it's being done.
That there would be other people in the church that we could go and talk to and say, tell
me what you're doing.
How is it that I can get my kids like that?
And I think we've got a great group of kids that come here that are very well behaved
and respectful, and that doesn't just happen by accident.
Wouldn't it be a shame if people forsook the word of God, or forsook the church of
God, and gave up the opportunity to find a godly spouse?
We worry about, we think about who our kids are going to marry one day.
Well, I tell you what, you want them to marry well, having them in church is a good place
to start.
I mean, would you rather have them go find them on a bar stool somewhere?
That usually doesn't go very well.
I mean, there's every, there's rules, or exceptions to every rule, you know, God's grace is good,
but I don't want my kids out there taking a chance on that.
That's not what I want.
I want them to find a good spouse.
It would be a shame if I ruined their lives by pulling them out of church.
Wasted their opportunity.
Wouldn't it be a shame if we wasted the opportunity to go out and just win souls to Christ?
To go out and learn from other seasoned soul winners that we have around us.
I got to go out to Indio yesterday, and I went soul winning all day with Pastor Anderson.
I felt very privileged to be able to do that.
I have been soul winning in some time.
The first time I ever went soul winning, we kind of talked about it, I kind of reminded
him about it.
It's kind of a funny story, maybe we can talk about it later, but the first time, I've only
gone soul winning a handful of times.
Why?
Because there's so many other people at Faithful Word that I go soul winning with, so many
other times, and so many other people I can learn from.
Yesterday when I went, I said, man, what an opportunity to learn from somebody.
I've been soul winning, I've done my fair share of soul winning.
I feel like I'm decent at it.
I've gotten people saved that I can do a good job, but I thought, man, here's an opportunity
to learn from somebody who's probably even better at it than I am.
I didn't waste that opportunity by getting all puffed up and trying to say, well, I'm
going to impress him.
I'm going to show the pastor how I do it.
I listened up.
My ears perked up when he was giving the gospel.
He was usually in Spanish, but I did the best I could.
I asked him, hey, what did he say?
What did you say?
He would explain it to me, or I would talk to somebody, and he would give his two cents.
Thankfully, I was glad to say that we were on the same page most of the time.
He didn't have to really point anything out.
Now he has in the past.
There's been other times he said, hey, you need to work on this, or hey, you need to
think about that.
I said, yes, sir, and I tried to do those things, but wouldn't it be a shame if I just
said, well, it's not that important.
Well, I know better than him.
No, my way is better.
I know how to do it.
It'd be a real shame to waste that opportunity.
It'd be a real shame if we waste the opportunity to be a part of a church that goes out and
wins souls.
Amen.
In Romans 10, look at verse 14.
It says, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach except they be sent?
You know, if people waste the opportunity to be sent out from a local church to go out
and do soul winning, you know, the vast majority of them are not going to do it.
It's just going to go undone.
People who say, you know what, I'm going to, they don't have the character to get in church.
They probably don't have enough character to go out and pick themselves up and go out
soul winning.
What about, you know, we were kind of talking about that in the preaching class, the opportunity
to preach.
Well, it would be a shame if an opportunity to preach came up and no one was ready.
The sermon never got wrote.
You know, if I was coming down this morning in that heavy rain, did a little hydroplaning
and ended up in a ditch and said, hey, got to make a phone call.
You guys ready?
I've been there.
That's not a phone call you want.
You know, and an opportunity to get up and preach the word to God, to be a blessing to
God's people, to share something that's been on your heart maybe is gone.
An opportunity to preach, not a necessity, an opportunity.
You know, we see a lot of opportunity here in this church, don't we?
We see a lot of opportunity to go out soul winning, to learn all these things we talked
about, to raise our kids up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to see them marry
well, to go out and do the soul winning, to do all these things, to have the opportunities
to preach and to get our lives right, to be into the preaching of God's word.
It's a great opportunity and it's a great, there's a lot of potential, but you know,
when I'm here, just like any church, and I'm sure others in this room feel the same way,
I don't just see opportunity and I don't just see potential in this church.
And I definitely don't see a preacher or a family of that preacher that doesn't care
or isn't interested in this church and isn't motivated and willing to get in the oak and
get something done with the people in this church.
And you can't, no one can look up here and say that's what they see, but they don't see
somebody who's willing to get after it with you guys.
And when I look out there, you know, I don't feel that way either.
I feel, you know, we've got some people here that want to do some work, that are serious
about serving God, that love God, that want to serve Him.
You know, and we've had people come and go and they, a little bit here and there, I just
wonder sometimes when they come in, if all they see are the cheap plastic seats, or they
see the tight quarters that we're in, and that stupid wall that's in the way, they see
that giant monitor that's broadcasting a guy that's just on the other side of the wall.
And I get it, it's tough, you know, it's not the ideal situation.
They come in and they hear that acapella singing from this guy, you know what I mean?
But is that all we see when we come in here?
Just the poor facilities?
Just the cheap seats that, I'm not in them as much as you guys, I'm sure they're not
that comfortable.
They're squeaky, that's for sure, right?
When I look at Faithful Word Tucson, I see a lot more than all that.
And I'm sure everyone in this room does too, you know what I see is I see souls that came
at a price.
I see people that God purchased with His own blood.
That's who I see, God's children.
And I look at that map back there, and I don't just see, you know, some map that we've got
to color in.
Every one of those streets is houses with people on it that are dying and going to hell.
And it's our job to go out and reach them.
That's what I see.
I see people that Christ died for.
That's what I see when I look at the church.
The Bible says, take heed therefore unto yourselves and all the flock over which the holy goat
that made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He had purchased with His own
blood.
This church didn't come cheap.
The rent's low, but this church didn't come cheap.
It cost our Savior His own life.
Jesus died for this church, just like any other church of New Testament believers.
And I don't think Him asking us to live for Him is asking too much.
That's my message, that we would follow Christ in this church and not waste the opportunity
that we've been given.
Let's pray.