Amen. So, of course, this year we are celebrating today the three-year anniversary. So,
I wanted to start out the sermon kind of just thinking about where we've been as a church.
Just let me say this, three years in the scope of things isn't really that long. We want to get very
nostalgic about it, and it's great. I'm not downplaying it all. It's great that we've made
it three years, but as I've been thinking about this anniversary, the thoughts occur to me is that
we've still got a long way to go. I've been in churches that have celebrated 10 years,
Tempe just celebrated 15 years. We're seeing other churches that have celebrated 10 years,
and there's a lot of other churches that have been around doing God's work, doing the work of the
Lord for many decades. So, the three-year anniversary, again, I'm not trying to downplay it
or say, obviously, we're making a big deal. We still got the donuts. We still got the goodies.
We still got the grilling going on. Everyone's here. It's a great day. We want to rejoice. We
want to celebrate, but I don't want us to forget that we still have a long way to go when it comes
to serving the Lord. I'm looking forward to the day when we'll say it isn't our three-year
anniversary, but this is our third decade of existence of doing the work of God. That's really
the vision that we need to have as a church if we're going to accomplish everything that God has
given to us, and of course, because the church is an assembly of the believers, that's something
that every individual has to have for themselves. If you're going to be somebody who can be a part
of a work for that long, you have to have that same mentality that you're in it for the long
haul. A lot of folks get excited around the anniversary time. They'll start to talk to one
another and say, well, I was there since the first day, and I was there the first service,
I was there within the first month, I was there the first year, and I get that, and that's good.
We want that. We always want to be able to have those people that we can say have been with us
from the very beginning, from the inception, from the start that have been here even. There'll be a
time when we'll say, who was here at the third year anniversary? Hopefully, when we ask that
question in the years to come, you'll be able to say that. You'll be present to say, hey, I was
there at the third year anniversary. There's a lot of things that we have to accomplish as a church.
There's a lot of work for us to do, and if you would, keep something in a Corinthians,
but go over to Colossians chapter number one. Of course, I just want to begin by thinking about
where we've been over just these three short years. We've seen a lot of changes in this church.
The church has grown. I've been keeping better track of the averages. I suppose I could go back
over all of the attendance records and things and work out my equations and everything, but
I know for this year, we've been averaging, at the beginning of the year, we averaged probably
about 20-something people out on the exact number in front of me in the month of January,
and that was because of COVID in large part. I think a lot of us got sick. There were a few
services where I think there were five of us on a Sunday morning, but I've seen a steady increase
since that, and I think we averaged 37 or 38 last month. We averaged 40 on a Sunday morning the
month before that, so it's holding steady right there, and that's good. We've seen a lot of new
folks come. People are getting baptized. People are starting to serve the Lord, and that's great.
We want to see more of that. We've come a long way just from where we started if you think even
in terms of the physical space that we're in. If those of you who, now we will, but we'll do a
little boasting. Let's glory a little bit in the flesh here this morning. Who was here when we were
over at 2666, all right? First, they have just a few hands, right, and if you were there, boy,
you appreciate those chairs. You appreciate, you know, this whole setup. You know, some people
might come in here and say, this is kind of cramped. You ain't seen nothing, okay, and maybe
we should just go over there and have a little tour and hold one service over there. We couldn't
even do it. It'd be physically impossible, I think, at this point. It'd be standing room only,
but, you know, that's one measurement of a church, isn't it? You look at the physical space that
they're occupying, and, you know, we want to grow, right? We don't make that the most important
thing. We want to grow because, you know, we want to get the work of God done, not just because we
want to have to just to report a number, you know, just so we can measure ourselves in that way,
but because the more people there are means the more laborers to do the work, the more lives that
are being changed, and so we could measure it. That's one metric, you know, the attendance,
the space, and, you know, I know a few people are already aware of this, but I did. I've kind
of let it slip. When you get good news, it's hard to keep it in, right? It's really hard to
keep it in, and I do have. I was going to do this in announcements, but I figure I'll just share
this now is that, you know, speaking of physical space, we're going to be moving the churches in
all likelihood. You know, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. It's not in stone yet,
and we're not moving far. It's just this suite right over here at Spirit of Strife, I mean Life
Church over here. More about that later, but it's about twice the space, and, you know, it's funny
because I was, you know, leading up to Pastor Anderson's visit last month. I was kind of
thinking, you know, there's gonna be a lot of people here. We were running in the 40s,
a lot of Sundays, and I'm thinking, you know, how much longer can we sustain this building
because it's a dance when it comes to church growth. Look, I know this isn't your typical
Sunday morning sermon. I'm just speaking from the heart, okay? I'm rapping with you this morning,
all right? And, you know, it's this delicate dance when it comes to church buildings. You don't want
to have so much space that you're swimming, and if people walk in and go, these guys bit off more
than they can chew, and could you close that back door, brother? If it's not closed, it's warming
up, but also you don't want to be so cramped so that when people walk in, they say, well,
this is way too cramped. I can't be comfortable here, and it hasn't been the most ideal setup,
but the good news is that we will be in all likelihood getting the space, and it's not just,
you know, another empty warehouse. It's actually an existing church, which really,
that's what I was beginning to say is that I had been, you know, began praying and thinking about
this, and I talked to Pastor Anderson about it when he was down here, and I figured out real
quick. He just kind of gave me that look. I was like, no, no, this is good. We're fine. I was
thinking, hey, we need to, I was thinking maybe we should get another space. There's this one
over here, and it's kind of hard to convince a guy that's, you know, spent a year or two preaching
from his kitchen counter that you need bigger space, right? He's like, I think you could fit
100 in here or something like that. I was like, yeah, we've done it. You know, we want to do it
every Sunday, but, you know, at that, you know, at that, from going forward from then, I was just
thinking, you know what? We can make this work. You know, we could get more chairs. We could take
that little half wall out. You know, we could squeeze people in here. We could bring more in,
and we could make this work, and I was perfectly content to do that, and then, you know, this last
week, I just got the call from the property management company, and they said, hey, I know
we already talked about it, but the other church in that facility has given us 30 days notice.
They're going to be out by the end of September, so do you guys, are you guys interested? And it
was, it's like twice the space, and it's well within our budget, so praise God for that. Nice,
tall ceilings. We'll get more into that, but I thought that was a good thing to be able to announce
on our three anniversary, but be in prayer about that because that's going to be a meeting that I
have on Wednesday. I'm going to be meeting and walking over the space and looking at it, but,
you know, I've got the green light as long as there's, you know, nothing weird over there,
and I doubt there is. You know, as long as there's no big red flags, that's probably something that's
going to happen for us here in the next, you know, six to eight weeks, so praise God for that,
you know, but again, that's just one metric. You know, that's just one thing. We're going to move
into a new space, but, you know, what's going to change? The space. That's it. You know what? We're
still going to be doing the same work. We're still going to be preaching from the same Bible. You
know, these are the measures of a successful church. You can look for certain markers in a
church and say, what's, you know, what's going to make a church successful? Well, if they're using
the right Bible, you know, and if they're holding to the statutes that are in here, if they're
doing things the biblical way, you know, success is guaranteed. You know, it's not something that
we have to worry about whether or not we're going to grow, whether or not souls are going to get
saved, whether or not lives are going to be changed. Look, it's going to happen if we're
biblical in our approach and if we hold to the Word of God, you know, that we're going to succeed,
okay, and that's, you know, one measure. Are they biblical? You know, that's one way you can look at
a church and say, are they doing that, which is right, and look, God wants us to be fruitful. You
know, God wants us to succeed. I don't sit here and bite my nails and worry about whether or not
the church is going to succeed because I know Jesus said, I will build my church.
Obviously, we have a part to play in that, but I don't really worry about it. You know, if we have
a low day, you know, I just focus on the people that are there, and I don't wonder why other
people aren't here. You know, people get sick. People have other things going on. You know,
I always just focus on who is there and just leave the rest up to God, and, you know, that's
what our approach has been the last three years, and praise God, we've steadily grown. We've seen
more and more salvations, people getting baptized, so on and so forth. Look, Jesus said that He had
ordained us that we should go and bring forth fruit and that our fruit should remain. That's
what He told His disciples. He said, look, I ordained you to do this. This is what I want to
happen. I want you to go forth and bring forth fruit and that that fruit should remain, and look,
God's not, He's not just like, well, I hope this is what happens. Look, He's ordaining it.
He's saying, look, go do the work. You know, that's the big part of the problem with a lot
of churches. They forget that one little word, go, right? He says that you should go and bring
forth fruit. They want to stay and try to bring forth fruit. They want to just, you know, plant,
just stay put, not reach out to anybody, just hope everybody somehow magically finds them
and just filters in and walks an aisle and gets saved. No, Jesus said, I want you to go and bring
forth fruit, and then your fruit should remain. That's the big part of the equation. So the goal
is always going to stay the same here. It's always going to be to go and to bear fruit,
and as we do that, the Lord will build His church. The goal is fruitfulness. You know, He said,
but a big part of that, you know, being fruitful, of sticking by the stuff, of being one of the
people that are going to be here for the long haul and have a life that brings forth fruit unto the
Lord. You know, one of the major requirements is patience. You're going to have to have patience.
You know, that's one thing I've learned in just the short three years is that it takes
patience. It takes time for things to grow. We don't want to be a church that grows overnight.
You know, if that were the case, we would probably be doing something wrong.
Look, there's churches that spring up like overnight, and why is that? Because they're
not biblical in their approach. Because they are just going to try to appeal to the world
and just bring people in for the rock and roll music, and they're going to use Hollywood movies
to illustrate their points, and they're just going to be a feel-good message. It's just going to be,
you know, whatever you want to do, God's not mad at you. You know, that's a popular thing to preach,
and that will bring a crowd, but is it biblical? Is it going to bear, you know, spiritual fruit
that lasts? The answer is no. So we want to be biblical in our approach. We have to understand
that requires patience. You're there in, you know, I had to go to Colossians, right?
I should have had you go to 1 Thessalonians, but just stay there. The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians,
we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith, right? So what are the requirements for this church to grow and to
expand and to be filled? Well, one, it's, you know, we're going to have to work without ceasing,
right? That's what he said, remembering without ceasing your work. You know,
Paul thought about the Thessalonians. He thought about a group of people that worked,
that went out there and did the work of the ministry, going out into the highways and hedges
and preaching the gospel to every creature, you know, and that's something our church is about.
That's what we endeavor to do, to do the work, and people could say, well, you know what? That
doesn't work anymore. Going out and preaching the gospel, you know, you can't reach people that way.
There's better methods. You know, that's why he said your work of faith. You know,
there probably are better worldly methods, so to speak. There probably are things that we could
think, well, rationally, it would make more sense to do this or to do that. You know, it would be
easier just to send out a bunch of mailers and hope everybody comes in. It'd be easier to just
have the postman do all the work for us, but, you know, we believe that the gospel works here.
We believe that soul-winning works. That's why our work is what? A work of faith. You know,
and a lot of people believe that. They say, I agree with that. Yeah, the gospel works. Going
out and confronting people with the gospel of Jesus Christ and asking about their soul,
that works, but you know what? I just don't feel like it. I'm just not, that's just not,
you know, that's not my thing. I'm not into that. That's not my gift or my calling. Well,
you know, that's not a spiritual gift, soul-winning, by the way. It's something that we're
all called to do, but it goes on and says there, look, we remember without ceasing your work of
faith and what? Labor of love. See, why is it that there's some people that just stick by it
week in, week out, do the door knocking, learn how to give the gospel, get people saved,
get people here in church, get people baptized. Why is that? It's because they love people. Look,
it's not just a work of faith. It's a labor of love that we do here. You know, and I'd like to
say that it's always going to be easy, that it's always going to be a simple thing, that
that building a church this way is going to just, you know, is just going to be this smooth sailing,
but it's not. That's why it's something we do by faith. It's something we do out of love,
and he says, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in sight of God and our Father.
So again, patience is a big ingredient when it comes to
bringing forth fruit for the Lord, right? We have to have the work of faith. We have to have the
labor of love, but we also have to have patience. You know, every time we go out there, we're not
going to come back and say, you know, six saved, seven saved. Sometimes we're going to get that
goose egg, or it's going to be one person, you know, or we're going to go months and inviting
people out, getting people saved, inviting them out, and no one's going to show up, and then all
of a sudden you'll have six visitors show up. You'll have three or four visitors. You'll have
a bunch of baptism. We were just talking about, you know, we kind of went without some baptisms
for a while, and then it was just like all of a sudden we had three, and then it's another one.
You know, there's going to be three more this morning if my math is right. I'm pretty sure I
can count that high, right? It is our third year anniversary. I got that right, okay?
So we'll have three baptisms today, right? But look, that's not always going to be the case.
There's going to be seasons where there might not be baptisms, where there might not be a lot of
salvations, but you know what? There will always be Bible preaching. There will always be the
fellowship of the Spirit, and look, there will always be the fact that we have to do these things
with patience, by faith, and in love, okay? You're there in Colossians chapter 1. Look at verse 9.
He said, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you in desire
that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work.
I mean, that was Paul's prayer for these people, for the Colossians, that they would be fruitful
in every good work. You know, that's what we want here for our people at this church. We want
everyone to be fruitful in every good work, and I know we talk about soul winning a lot, but there's
a lot of other works to be done. You know, serving in the local church, and you know, helping with the
cleaning, and you know, today the cooking is a big part of it. You know, there's a lot of little
menial tasks that we have to do, right? Or what about, you know, raising families? That's a lot of work,
okay? Now, the church doesn't raise your family, but we can definitely help. You know, we can
definitely give advice. We can give wisdom. We can give a place where you could, you know, do
that in a wholesome environment. You can make long-lasting relationships, and that's what Paul
is saying. Look, he wants them to be fruitful in every good work. That's what we want here. We want
people to have those relationships, to win those souls, to do that labor, okay? And he says, being
fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. You know, we want people to learn
the Bible, to know doctrine, and to understand Scripture, strengthened with all might, according
to His glorious power. Look, if you're going to be in it for the long haul, it's going to take what?
Strength, might, and it's not of your own, right? Strength with all might, according to
His glorious power. You're going to need the strength of the Lord to do that, but notice what
he says there, even with all that strength, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.
Look, there's patience. You know, patience is a huge ingredient when it comes to living the
Christian life, because it's not easy. And he says there, unto all patience and long-suffering
with joyfulness. You know, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about this message this morning that
the Christian life is just this long, painstaking drudgery that you just have to endure
until the Lord comes. Look, you can do it with joyfulness. Now, can the Christian life become a
long, painstaking endurance match? Yeah. It can be, you know, a life of attrition if you make it
into one. You know, if we're going to live in the flesh, if we're going to resist God,
if we're going to have one foot in the world and one foot in the church, you know, don't
be surprised when you start walking around in circles, okay? But if we're going to, you know,
run the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, you know, we can do that with patience,
but also with joyfulness. It might not be easy. It might be hard, but, you know, a job well done
often brings, you know, a sense of accomplishment. It brings joy in your life, right? When we do
something hard, we endure, we get through it, then we're able to look back, and it puts a smile
on our face. Go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 where you were. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. So,
what I'm getting at this morning is that, look, we've come a small way with three years. I'm glad
we've made it this far, you know? There's a lot of Hollywood marriages that don't make it this far,
right? But then again, there are some that go much further. But look, three years isn't really
that long. It's not the vision I have. I'm like, well, three years, another three, and we'll be
done here. Is that our attitude? No, I'm like, three years? Man, I've got, you know, four score
and ten. Hopefully, you know, maybe I'll get another, what, 27, 30 years out of this of being
able to serve here. I mean, that's, but how am I going to do that? With patience. With patience.
Yes, faith. Yes, love. Yes, labor. But patience and not getting discouraged when we don't think
things are moving fast enough for us. If there's anything I learned this last week, you know,
with that phone call from the property manager is things change overnight, and it's usually when you
stop being the one that wants it. It's like when you, God says, oh, you're content now? Okay,
now I'll give you what you need, right? 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Look at verse 1. It says,
we then, as workers together with Him, beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vain.
Jump down to verse 3. Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed,
but in all things approving yourselves as the ministers of God in much patience. You see,
I'm going to live the Christian life. I'm going to be in it for the long haul. I'm going to be here
at the 30-year anniversary. I'm going to be here at the 5-year, the 10-year, the 15-year, the 20-year,
and I'm going to be here, you know, Brother Corbin, you're going to preach my funeral,
right? Or maybe you'll preach mine. I don't know. We'll see how it goes, right?
We're going to be at each other's funerals. We're going to see the graduations. We're going to see
the weddings. I want to be in it for the long haul. That's the point I'm making. Well, I'm glad.
I want you to approve yourself, as Paul's saying here, as a minister of God,
but notice it's going to be what? In much patience. There's going to be a lot of patience
involved. If that's your goal, to be here for the long haul, you're going to need patience to live
the Christian life, and notice it says in much patience, meaning, you know, patience is something
that you acquire by, you know, it's acquired by being required, I guess is what I'm trying to say.
You know, patience isn't just something you wake up one morning. You know, I went to bed that night,
and I prayed for patience, and I woke up, and I was a patient person. You know, patience is,
it comes by trial. You know, we were to give thanks for the tribulations that come. Why?
Because they work with patience, right? They work patience. They make us a more patient person.
You know, I'm not, I don't want to try to make this about me at all or anything,
but you know, I've had people make the comment and say, they'll see me on these res trips and
missions trips and things, and they say, you know, you're very patient with people. I think if you
only knew my inner monologue, you know, I'm just kidding. I mean, I've had a point. Don't get me
wrong. If you've been around long enough, you'd be like, you might be patient, but we know you've
got a point, right? Like everybody, right? We all have a limit, right? But you know, that's not
something that I was born with. You know, it's something I've had to work on, and in all honesty,
I have a long way to go. You know, I have to learn to be patient, but look, I'm just saying we all
have to be that way, and look, if you're going to be in the ministry, if you're going to be involved
in the work of the Lord, if you're going to prove yourself as a minister of Christ, you need to have
patience, and that's something that is going to come, you know, it's going to be required.
It's not something you could just kind of, well, you know, I might not have the patience I need,
and that's okay. No, you need to have patience, because notice this is the beginning of a list
here in 2 Corinthians 6. He starts out in much patience, and then he goes on in afflictions,
in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, and imprisonments, and tomelets, and labors,
and watchings, and fastings by pureness. It's all these other things that come after that that
make patience such a requirement. You have to have patience. Why? Because there's going to be
afflictions. You have to have patience. Why? Because there's going to be necessities. There's
going to be distresses. There may even be stripes. There might be imprisonments. What? Persecutions
that are going to come. Whether against the church itself or in your own personal life,
there's going to be afflictions. There's going to be tomelets. There's going to be laborings.
There's going to be watchings. There's going to be the sleepless nights where we're praying for
some other church member, some family member about some tragedy that's going to come in. Look,
you can't get this many people together and get to know one another without going through some
tragedies. It's just part of life, and there's going to be some of these nights. There's going
to be some watching, some fastings, and there's going to be labors. We might be getting a new
space in the next few weeks, but the work remains the same. We're not going to say,
oh, we got a nice new space. We filled it up just right. Let's just back off the work and just stay
right where we're at. No, we're going to keep working, so then we're going to have to say,
well, now we need another space. This space has been great. We got that one. Hopefully,
in another three years or so, we're going to say, now we need that one down there on the end,
and we need to install some AC units because they've got swamp coolers in the back.
The new space has an AC unit. It's all right. You're wondering if this space has an AC unit
right now. It can only handle so many bodies. I won't say how many are in here because the
fire marshal might be watching, but it says we have to have patience because of all these things
are going to come. Look, we might not go through the stripes. We might not go through the physical
persecution, but then again, we never know what a day is going to bring forth, so we need patience
in all these things. Well, how do you get that? Well, He gives you all the ends. Did you notice
that? It's in patience. It's in necessities. It's in distresses. It's in stripes, and then
verse 6, He switches to buy. Look, you need all these things because you're going to be in them.
They're going to come. If you're going to live the Christian life, if you're going to prove yourself
as a minister of Christ, if you're going to be faithful to the Word of God, if you're going to be
faithful to the local church, you're going to serve Christ, you're going to be in these things.
You're going to be right in the midst of it. Well, all these things are going to come. How are you
going to do that? The question is, how are you going to make it through the other side
when all these things come, when the labors, the watchings, the fastings, and so on and so forth?
When all these things come, how are you going to make it out through the other side? You know,
I've heard it said, and I think about it often, it was said there's really only three stages to
the Christian life. You're either heading into a storm, you're in the middle of a storm, or you're
coming out of one, and then you're going right back into another one. It's just a cycle,
right? We're always going to be in these things. How are we going to make sure we're the people
that make it through to the other side of the storms that come with being in the ministry and
just the storms of life in general? How are you going to come on the other side? You're going to
do it by these things that begin in verse six. You're going to do it by pureness. Now, how are
you going to keep yourself from temptations that come in the Christian life? The temptations of sin
and worldliness. You're going to do that by pureness, by focusing on the Word of God,
by knowledge, by filling yourself with the knowledge of God and the Word of God,
by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the Word of truth,
by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and left, by honor and dishonor,
by evil report and good report. That's how you're going to accomplish this. Look, there's a lot of
things that we're going to be in, but if we don't have the pureness, if we don't have the knowledge,
if we don't have the longsuffering, which is just another word for what? Patience. If you don't have
the patience, you know, we might not make it through those things. We might get in them and
then just find ourselves completely out of it, if you know what I mean. Go over to Hebrews chapter
six. Hebrews chapter six. You know, he ends there in 2 Corinthians chapter six
by saying that, you know, we are known as yet we are unknown yet well known as dying and behold
we live chase and not and killed as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. You know what I love about
Paul is he never sugarcoated the Christian life. He wasn't Joel Osteen. You know, he wasn't
Joyce Meyer. God's not mad at you. Your best life now. And look, those people, that message is dime
a dozen out there. It's not the biblical message. It's not Paul's message. Paul didn't sugarcoat it.
He said, look, there's going to be watchings, and believe it or not, I know the way things
look around here right now. There are going to be fastings. I know it's kind of hard to
believe on a day like today. There's going to be, there's going to be tolements. There's going to be
honor and dishonor. There's going to be evil reports. There's going to be tough things that
come. You know what? Paul endured all those things for the elect's sake, he said, right?
And that's what he's encouraging us to do in 2 Corinthians six. He says, we're going to go
through all these things as poor yet making many rich. Look, we might, we might, we're excited
about the new space, but you know what? We're probably never going to have a stadium. We're
never going to have, you know, double power sliding doors and ornate granite floors and giant,
you know, pillars and beautiful carpets and, and just, you know, drapes that just please everybody
and, and just the most beautiful, elaborate, just decadent space, right? There's going to be a lot
for a church building. A lot of people walk in and go, what's going on here? You know,
an office space, drop tile ceiling. You know, that one's got a watermark in it.
And we try to make it look nice. You know, we try, you know, we do what we can,
but is that what we're about here? And people say, boy, that's a poor looking church.
I'm thinking you should see it from this side. No, I'm kidding.
Ooh, right, right. We're going to have roast deacon for, for me. You're going to put me on
that spit and, oh yeah, who's laughing now, buddy? Right? But people would walk in and look at us and
say, well, you know what? They'd say like, they told them back in Nebuchadnezzar's day, what do
these feeble Jews when they're trying to rebuild the wall and do a work for God? They're, you know,
they're just these feeble people. What are they accomplishing? There's no, you know, not many
mighty and noble are called. We're not, you know, we don't have the, the elite of Tucson in here.
We don't have the movers and shakers of society filling our, and quite frankly, I, you know,
a lot of them probably wouldn't be allowed here because they're probably a bunch of adulterers
and fornicators and drunkards and everything else. You know, we might be poor in the world's
eye, but you know, Paul said, look, we're poor yet making many rich, yet making many rich.
And that's what our church is about. You know, we might not have the best of everything, but you
know what we do? We go a week in and week out and we make people rich. And it's not because we walk
around door to door with a giant oversized check and some balloons and Ed McMahon, you know, if
anyone even knows who Ed McMahon is, there's a few of you. This isn't publishers clearing house
sweepstakes. You know, we don't go out and hand out money, but you know what we do is we preach
the unsearchable riches of Christ and get people saved. And those people are made rich eternally.
They have treasures in heaven. That's the real riches. So that's why we endure all these things.
You say, why should I stick with it? Why should I go through all of that? Why should I want to
be here, you know, for the, in the next three years? Why should I want to be here 30 years
from now? Why should I stick with faithful word Tucson? Because you have the ability here to make
many rich. There's a lot of other churches you go join and you can be perfectly comfortable and they
probably wouldn't ask much of you and you could show up and, you know, and go and not have to
change a thing in your life. But here, you know, we are going to challenge you. Look, join us in
the work of God and go out and help us do what? Make many rich. You know what it's going to take?
It's going to take a labor of love. It's going to take a work of faith, but it's going to take
patience if you're going to make it for the long haul. I had to go to Hebrews chapter six.
And look, I want to get this across and we'll close is that, you know, we get this idea of
patience sometimes just being this, just white knuckling it through the Christian life. I'm just
here to just endure all these hard things. That's, that's not what we're about. Look,
we need to be patient, but it's an active patience. We're proactive. Okay. We're going out
and making many rich. He said in Hebrews chapter six, look at verse nine, but beloved, we are
persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak
for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. There it is again,
that same phrase. It's a labor of love. And it's not just, you know, we're trying to just fill in
a map or just trying to get a number. Look, we're going out there. We're laboring out of love for
people, which you have showed towards his name and that you have ministered to the saints. You
noticing some of these adjectives in here, labor, minister. These are, you know, things that we are
active in. These are things that we do. We minister to the saints and do minister. We desire
that any one of you do show the same diligence. You know, it's going to take a diligent person to
do the work of the Lord. If you're going to get something done for God, you're going to have to,
you're going to have to be diligent about it. You know, we have to be diligent to accomplish the
work of God here. So it's not just we're going to be patient and we're going to twiddle our thumbs
and just wait for the Lord to build His church. And, you know, if we just sit here long enough and
we just keep managing to pay rent month by month, that then God will build His church. No, there's
an act. We have to be active on our side too. We have to do what? We have to do the labor of love.
You know, and that's a big part of it. Obviously the soul link, but also He said that we minister
to the saints. That you have ministered to the saints. You know, we need to take care of one
another along the way if we're going to make it through. You know, people should be able to come
to church and find help. They should be able to come here and say, there's somebody that's going
to support me. There's people that love me. They care about me. They're going to see me through.
They're going to help me through life. You know, it's not, it's not just all about the soul winning.
Look, soul winning is where it starts. You know, we make people rich. We go out, we get people
saved. They're on their way to heaven. And if they never darken the doors here, we'll see them in
heaven. That's great. We know, we know also that that's not all we're about. We do want people to
come. We do want to see lives changed. We do want to help people grow in the Lord and the knowledge
of His grace. So we have to show the same diligence to the saints and to those without.
To show the same diligence, the full shirts of hope in the end, look at verse 12. So it's going
to take diligence, right? This isn't just an enduring type of patience. It's an active patience
of laboring, of showing diligence. He says in verse 12, that you be not slothful, that you be
not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
We have an example in Hebrews that's given to us in chapter 11 of the Hall of Faith, and we won't
take the time to read it. But if you go and read that, and probably most people have, you read
about all the saints, right? You read about Moses. You read about Rahab. You read all these people,
Samson and David, and just a great multitude of people that wrought all these mighty works for
God. And they did that through patience. But that's our example that's set before us.
Go to Hebrews chapter 12. You know, patience is the standard that is held up by those of the past.
You know, patience is a big part of the Christian life. Patience is what's going to take for this
church to grow. And again, it's not just a passive patience. It's an active patience.
It's a patience that works, that labors in faith and in love. Look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1,
seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. That's Hebrews 11,
that great cloud. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth easily beset us,
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. You're saying, look, we have this
example of other people who have done so much more, who have made so many more sacrifices.
You know, one that I think about from time to time is the one about Abraham. You know,
we get a lot of emails from people that say, hey, I can't find a good church in my area,
and I usually just say, well, here's a great directory. You know, you're living in the United
States. I'm pretty sure you can find a King James Bible church somewhere. I'm sure you can find a
Baptist church somewhere. Yeah, I could, but it's an hour away. Well, we'd hate for you to have to
move an hour away or drive an hour or two once a week. You know, and I just think about, well,
what about the saints? Haven't you read about a guy named Abram? He left his kindred, left his
homeland, wandered his whole life living in a tent. People that have just went out and wandered
in caves and in deserts that were persecuted, and we can't be inconvenienced to have to move.
You know, and I say that because it's something that I've done. You know, and I'm not trying to
brag or anything, but it's just, you know, maybe that's one area I need to have a little more
patience with people. But people, you know, they make such small excuses to not serve God.
You know, well, I'm busy that day, or I just don't have time, or I can't move, or I can't be bothered
to do that. You know, I'm glad the Lord didn't have that same attitude. Well, I'd go down there
and save them all, but it's just so far. You know, I'd go down there and die for them and
save their souls, but it's really nice here where I'm at. I got it kind of made here at the right
hand of the throne of God. I can't be bothered to go down there and walk. I mean, look at them.
You want to become one like them, and take on a robe of flesh, and be tired, and weary, and hungry,
and, you know, get to groan in my spirit, and weep, and all that, and go through the cross?
I don't know. I can't be bothered. And look, God doesn't, you know, we have it pretty good here.
You know, and if you live in this area, if you live in Tucson especially,
you know, this is a great opportunity for you to do something for the Lord here, and do something
for the Lord here, and do something that, you know, and not for me, not for the deacon,
not so that we can just, you know, pat ourselves on the back, but do something that has eternal
value with the Lord, that you can bring forth fruit with patience, that you can run the race,
that is set before you. You know, it's a great opportunity. Don't miss out on that.
Don't take advantage of it, but what are you going to have to do? You're going to have to do what?
Lay aside every weight and the sin. You know, there's weights and sins. There's some things
that aren't even sinful that we just need to let go of, because they're slowing us down in
the Christian life. They're making it hard for us to finish this faith, finish this race, excuse me.
He's saying run the race with patience that is set before us. You have to run it with patience,
and he said, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. I think that's why so many
people fall short when it comes to running the race, because they're not looking unto Jesus.
They're not looking under the example of Christ, and then, you know, because when you stop doing
that, we can start making excuses for ourselves, can't we? When we become our own measurement,
or we just start to measure ourselves around other people. Well, so-and-so only does so much,
or so-and-so only doesn't do this, or so-and-so. I saw them, and I know they do, and it's like,
but yeah, but they're not your standard. They're not the goal. They're not the example. You know
what the example is? It's Christ, so you need to look unto Him, and look, when we start to look
unto Christ and consider the affliction that He endured, right? He endured the affliction for the
joy that was set before Him, right? If we look at that, and we consider what Christ did for us,
our light affliction just seems all the light much lighter. We see it for what it really is.
It's really, oh, I got to go to church. Oh, God wants me to go soul winning. Oh,
I got to read my Bible. Oh, I just don't know if I can do it for my whole life. Live for God.
Well, you know, I don't see anybody coming to arrest you in the middle of the night,
and beat you, and mock you, and scourge you, and crucify you, and you're not going to have
to spend one minute in hell if you're saved. Not even a second, and He went endured that for three
days and three nights. Look, Christ spent more time in hell than you ever will. Think about that,
but the problem is the reason why people become impatient in the Christian life and give up on it
is because they take their eyes off of who really matters. Christ,
and they want to start just measuring themselves by the preacher. Look, if you're looking for
faults in the preacher, you don't have to look far, but I know we're to be in a sample of the
flock, but that doesn't mean we're going to be perfect, and we can't sit here and measure
ourselves amongst ourselves. The Bible says that they who measure themselves by themselves are not
wise. You know, your example who you need to look to in the Christian life is Christ. Compare
whatever you're going through, whatever you have to go through, and just understand He went through
it too, and He went through far worse. Look, I got to wrap up. I know I'm kind of just rambling a
little bit this morning, but the point I'm trying to get across is this is that we know we've made
it three years, but there's a long way to go, and I hope that everyone that that is here and can be
here will be here in 30 years. You know, I hope that we can see everyone, and we can all, you know,
get gray hair together. Some of us are way ahead in that area, right? I hope that we can all say
that and have, you know, these relationships and that we could serve God together for many more
years to go. Go to Psalms 92. Psalms 92. Because that is the promise that we have from God.
That if we are patient, that if we do the work, that if we do the labor by faith, if we do it in
love, if we have the patience, you know, we are going to be fruitful. That's what He ordained us
to do. That's what we're here for. You know, that's what I don't want just 30 years of, you know,
look, I love the potlucks, but those shouldn't be the highlights of this church. Remember that
chili cook-off? Look, we all have those memories. I get it, but that shouldn't be what we're about.
Remember that time we cooked this or we ate that or we did this carnal thing or whatever? Look,
that's the joy of the fellowship. I get that, but hopefully we can look back, you know, if we're
patient and we do the work, we can look back and we can share, you know, some spiritual memories,
some things. Remember when so-and-so got saved? Remember when so-and-so got baptized? Remember
when this family came and this person came and this life changed and that person? You know,
I think about that for myself all the time. I think about what if I hadn't gotten saved?
What if God hadn't done this? What if I hadn't gotten in that church? What if I hadn't learned
that from the Bible? My life could have gone so many different directions, and that's true for
all of us, but the fact is that we're here, you know, and this church has been here three years,
and, you know, this church, you know, God willing, will be here in 30 years. You know,
the kind of question I'm kind of posing this morning is, will you be? Now, I'm not saying
this is the only church you can serve. No, you know, will you be in church is really the question.
It's not like if you're not here, you're not right with God or something, right? Because it
means to be a lot of people who aren't right with God this morning, right? But I'm just saying,
are you still going to be living for the Lord? Are you still, wherever you are, whether it's in
Tucson, in some other state, country, wherever, are you still going to be living for the Lord
in that same amount of time, in 30 years, or whatever amount of time?
Look at Psalms 92. The reason I bring that up is because that is the promise that we have.
It says in verse 13, those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of
our God. Now, that's kind of interesting. It's like he's talking about two different places.
You could take it that way. What is the house of the Lord? Well, it's the church. It's the
pillar and ground of the truth. It's the house of God, right? You're in the house of the Lord
this morning, but if you're planted in the house of the Lord, you're going to what? Flourish in the
courts of our God. Now, you could say, well, it's talking about the same place, and I wouldn't argue
with you, but whenever I've read that, I've always kind of thought about it like this. Look,
if we're planted in the house of the Lord here, we're going to flourish in the courts of our God
there. We'll shine forth as the sun there. We'll have rewards there. We'll be given
different levels of authority. The Bible teaches all this, right?
But look, you can't have one without the other. A lot of people say, well, I'm just content to
go to heaven, and at least I'm not going to hell, and look, that's great. We can rejoice over that,
but the instant you're in heaven, that philosophy is going to go right out the window.
You're going to regret having ever thought that. When you see brother so-and-so or sister so-and-so
wheelbarrow full of crowns, just laughing. I'm over 10 cities, brother. What'd you get?
This mop? No, there's probably no mopping in heaven, but you know what I'm saying,
right? Say, well, hey, at least you're saved, right? That's what you said on earth,
right? Going to church wasn't that important. Soul winning wasn't that important. Bible reading
wasn't important. Raise your family. For God wasn't important back then, and you said at
least you're saved, right? Yeah, right. That's not what you want. You want to flourish in the
courts of God. You want to get to heaven and just be flourishing there. You want to have a lot of
fruit in heaven, right? Well, then you're going to have to plant yourself in the house of the Lord
and get planted. Put some roots down. That's how things flourish, by the way. If you've ever
planted a fruit tree or anything like that that brings forth fruit, you have to plant it, and you
can't just keep, well, I don't like it there. I'm going to move it over here, and I'm going to move
it over here, and I'm going to move it over there. You have to plant it in one spot. You have to pick
a spot and say, that's where that plant goes, and then you have to do what? Water it, feed it,
prune it. It's not like you just go put the seed in the ground, and overnight you've got fruit
hanging, just bows, just weighed down with fruit. What does it take to get that? It takes patience,
doesn't it? But is it just a waiting, or is it an active patience? It's an active patience
of pruning and trimming and watering and feeding and mulching and weeding and making it that way.
Look, it's great to plant yourself in the house of the Lord, but it's not just this passive thing.
Being planted in the house of the Lord means you're there and you're serving. You're
doing the work of the Lord, and there's a lot involved there with the work of the Lord. I
understand that, but bearing fruit takes time, okay? If you say, well, look, I want to flourish
in the courts of our God. I want to do that. Then get planted in the house of God and bring
forth fruit with patience. Let's go ahead and pray.