You got it.
You're really dislocated this one, but we're looking to rest and really wait on this one.
I'm just thinking this is the game plan.
So that's the plan.
You guys can go see if I told you to do this.
Thank you.
They go to the doctor to see what's going on.
Thank you.
Hopefully not.
Let's go right now.
I'm going to get something.
Like braces.
Yeah.
Yeah, we've got it on my back in 50 seconds.
Yeah.
Great to see you all here for our city morning service.
It's great to be back.
You all please have a seat.
Grab a handle and open up that handle.
Song number 22.
Begin this morning's service by singing a song number 22.
Are you watching?
Awesome.
Are you watching?
Okay, put a cast on that.
That's the healing process that used to take place.
Just pray for her to be thinking about her,
if you want to drop her a word.
Maybe even, stop by and encourage her,
I am sure she could stand that.
I did want to mention that as well
alright one more song for preaching.
aw Baz Strington
Sing the OR nevertheless
please
For God's sake
I shall know you, I shall know you.
Amen.
This time, we'll pass the offering plate.
As the plate goes around, let's open up our Bible
to Joshua chapter 1.
That's Joshua chapter 1.
As always, we'll read the entire chapter.
Please follow along silently as the material
reads to us from Joshua chapter 1.
Joshua chapter 1.
Verse 1, the Bible reads,
Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord,
came to pass that the Lord spake of Joshua, son of Nun,
and Moses' minister, saying, Moses, my servant is dead.
Now, therefore, arise.
Over this Jordan, thou and all this people,
unto the land which I can give you,
even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon,
that if I give it unto you, as I said unto Moses,
in the wilderness, in the Slavenly,
even unto the great river, the river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea,
for the going down of the sun shall be your coast.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee
all the days of thy life.
As I was with Moses, so will I be with thee.
I will not fail thee, but forsake thee.
Be strong and of good courage,
and run for this people, shall thou divide
for an inheritance of the land, which I swear unto
their fathers to give them.
Only be thou strong and very courageous,
that thou mayest observe and do according to all the law
in which Moses, my servant, commanded thee.
Turn not from it to the right hand and to the left,
for thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth.
But thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe and do according
to all that is written there.
For then shalt thou make thy way cross-focals,
and then shalt thou have good success.
Had thy command of thee, be strong and of good courage.
Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed,
for the Lord thy God is with thee,
whithersoever thou goest.
That Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
Pass through the host, and command the people, saying,
Prepare ye this, for within three days
he shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land,
which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.
I say to the Rubanites, to the Gadites,
to the half-child of the masses, to think Joshua, saying,
Remember the words which Moses, the servant of the Lord,
commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest,
and hath given you this land.
Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle,
shall remain in the land, which Moses gave you on this side
of Jordan.
And ye shall pass before your brethren on,
all the mighty men of God, and help them, until the Lord
hath given you your brethren rest, as he hath given you.
And they also have possessed the land, which the Lord your God
giveth you.
Then shall ye return to the land of your possession,
and enjoy it, which Moses, the Lord's servant,
gave you on this side of Jordan for the sunrise.
And they answered Joshua, saying,
All that thou commandest us we will do,
and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go,
according as we have hearkened unto Moses in all things.
So will we hearken unto thee, and when the Lord die,
thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.
Whosoever he meeteth doth rebel against thy commandment,
and will not hearken unto thy words,
and all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death.
He shall be put to death, and will be strong,
and with good courage, for thy elders.
Pray for us.
Father God, thank you again for this morning's service,
and thank you for this church.
Thank you for everyone who is here today.
Please bless this morning's service.
Please bless the deacon with the Holy Spirit
to help edify our lives with the knowledge and wisdom
that we need.
With your word today, Jesus' mighty name.
Amen.
So in Joshua chapter 1, of course,
this is kind of a transitory chapter where we're going from.
Moses having led the children of Israel to now
where it's being turned over to Joshua.
And God in chapter 1 is really encouraging Joshua
to not be afraid.
And he's making all these great promises to him.
And one of the great promises he makes there in verse 5,
he says, There shall not any man be able to stand before thee
with all the days of thy life.
As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
So the great promise is that God is going to be with him.
It goes on and says, I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
And that's, of course, a promise that we have today,
that God will never leave us nor forsake us,
that we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
that God is somebody that we can go boldly
before the throne of grace.
And that's something, a promise that also applies to us today,
that God is with us.
But the other promise that he's making to him
here in this chapter is that he would have good success.
As he says there in verse 8, This book of the law
shall not depart out of thy mouth,
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do according
to all that is written therein.
For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
and then thou shalt have good success.
So there's this other great promise
that he's going to prosper and be successful
in that which he is going to endeavor to do,
which, of course, is go in and conquer the Canaanites.
And I want to preach a sermon this morning entitled,
The Secret to Success.
Now let me point out, first of all,
that right here in this passage, in order to succeed in life,
it takes more than just God's presence.
And I don't want to be mistaken this morning
in saying that for having preached some kind of health,
wealth, and prosperity, that if you just get saved
or if you're just in church or whatever,
that all of a sudden God is just going to pour out
this financial blessing on you.
Checks are just going to start pouring in or whatever.
That's not what I'm talking about.
Obviously, in this, there's something that Joshua
had to keep up as well.
There's something on his end of the bargain
that he had to do in order to have good success.
So it takes more than God's presence
to have good success, to prosper.
And really, you wonder, what is the secret of success?
And of course, today, this is something
a lot of people try to promote and sell even.
There's a lot of people that are going to just say,
hey, buy my program.
Listen to my audio book or whatever.
And I'm going to give you all the secrets to success,
how to succeed in business.
And of course, that's one way in which you could succeed.
But really, the secret to success
is that there is no secret.
The secret to success is that it's not a secret.
God's saying, hey, if you do this and you do this,
I'm with you.
And if you keep up your end of the bargain,
you're going to be prosperous.
You're going to have good success.
So God basically lays out the formula here
on how to have good success, which tells me
that there is no secret to good success.
That is the secret.
So let's go ahead and close in Word Prep.
No, I'm just kidding.
Why would you call it the secret to good success
if there isn't one?
Well, that is the secret, I guess,
that there isn't a secret.
That's what all the so-called successful people in the world
today, that's what they try to keep you wondering about.
Well, what is the secret?
And then the secret is to sell suckers a program.
That's how they would define success.
But the Bible has a little bit more of a different definition,
doesn't it?
But notice here the formula, the secret to success
that is not so secret in verse 8.
He says, thou shalt meditate therein.
Well, let's back up in the beginning.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth,
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do according
to all that is written therein.
For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
and then thou shalt have good success.
So notice there's this progression here.
There's a couple things you have to do in order to have success.
So he's telling Joshua, you want to be prosperous,
you want to have good success.
I'm with you.
I will not leave you.
I will not forsake you.
No man shall be able to stand before you.
But you also need to, Joshua, to meditate
in this book of the law.
And thou need to not just meditate and read it
and understand it and know what it says,
but you also have to observe to do what is written therein.
It's not enough to just know the Bible.
It's not enough to just know what the Bible says.
We have to actually put it into practice in our lives
if we want to have good success in whatever area that is.
Obviously, a lot of people are going to apply that immediately
to business or money.
And you know what?
That's fine.
The Bible tells us that it's God that gives us power
to get wealth.
That's Deuteronomy 8 if you want to read it.
We won't take the time to go there.
But God does talk about being prosperous in that way.
That is something that could take place.
But doesn't the Bible have a lot to say about that kind of thing?
Doesn't the Bible have a lot to say about business?
I touched on just a couple points last week
about biblical business practices,
about being ethical and so on and so forth.
Go back and listen to it if you want to.
But there's more to life to succeed at
than just in business or in financial endeavors.
Obviously, the Bible touches every area of our life
and God wants us to succeed in all these different areas of life.
If we're going to succeed in all these different areas,
we have to, yes, of course, know what the Bible says,
but we actually have to observe to do it.
We actually have to put it into practice in our lives.
A lot of times the problem with people
is not that they don't know what to do.
It's that they choose not to do it.
They know what the Bible says, but then they say,
but I'm not going to do that.
I'm going to do my own thing.
Well, that's no guarantee of success.
God's not going to bless that,
especially if what you're doing counteracts the Bible.
It actually goes against what the Bible says.
God will actually work against you.
Keep something there in Joshua.
We'll look at this perhaps a couple more times,
but go to Psalm chapter number one.
Psalm chapter number one.
Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
Obviously, knowing the Bible is a huge part of that equation.
That's why he starts out by saying,
Thou shalt meditate therein day and night.
Now, does it sound like he just wants Joshua to have
just a passing, surface level understanding
of the word of God?
No.
He's saying, I want you to meditate
in this thing day and night.
You need to know everything that's written herein.
Because now he's got the law given.
He's got Moses's commandments have been given.
A lot of things have been written down.
He has a book written down.
He has a book to actually refer to.
Because remember, they're going in to set up the tabernacle.
They're going to start putting into practice
the Levitical priesthood.
They're going to start having the cities of refuge.
They're going to have a civil law that needs to be followed.
He's going to go and write the blessings and the cursings.
There's a lot that now has to be kept up with.
There's a lot that actually has to be meditated in day and night.
How much more so for us today?
Obviously a lot of those things we don't observe anymore.
There is no more Levitical priesthood.
A lot of other things have been written since Joshua's day.
We also have the New Testament.
We have the teachings of Jesus.
We have the epistles and so on and so forth.
We have a lot more Bible to know.
We have a lot more principles even to still apply
out of the Old Testament.
Those things aren't completely done away.
There's a lot of things that we could still glean from
and benefit from in our lives.
There's a lot of things throughout all the Word of God
that would prosper us if we would meditate therein.
The Bible says that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for correction, for instruction,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works.
There's a lot that's been given unto us.
Of course we need to meditate in it.
We don't want to be people who have just this passing,
surface level, shallow understanding of the Word of God.
Because again, what's the equation to prosperity?
What's the equation to having good success?
To be able to meditate and then to do.
Look, you can't do what you don't know.
If you've never read it, you don't know what to do.
If you don't know what's in there, how are you going to know
what it is that you ought to be doing in life?
How are you going to be able to succeed in marriage?
How are you going to be able to succeed in business?
How are you going to be able to know how to succeed in child rearing?
How are you going to be able to know how to succeed in serving God,
in a ministry, in whatever area of life it is, in friendships,
in all of these different relationships that we have?
How are you going to know to succeed and do well in those things
if you don't know what the Bible says about it?
We have to, of course, do the meditating.
That's why he says, meditate therein.
Not once a week when you show up at the tabernacle.
Not once a week when you come to church.
He said day and night, every day, the Bible should be on our mind.
We should be thinking about the things of God,
dwelling on the things of God, reading the things of God,
in order to observe and do it.
It's not like God's presence comes and goes from us, does it?
He's saying, look, I'm going to be with you.
I'll not leave you. I'll not forsake you.
God's going to be present with you, Joshua.
The same can be said of us.
God is going to be present with us. We have the Holy Spirit.
Of course, there's varying degrees to how close we are to God.
I understand that.
Not everyone is as close to the Lord as other people,
but a lot of that has to do with how much we're meditating
and observing to do the things that are written in the word of God.
So, again, the secret is that it's not a secret,
that God lays it out right here, and it starts with meditating.
You're there in Psalm chapter 1, verse 1,
meaning dwelling on the things of God,
knowing what's written in here, knowing what the Bible says,
not having just some surface level, just some shallow understanding of the word of God,
not just thinking about the things of God when you show up on Sunday morning,
and then the rest of the week, God is the farthest thing from your mind.
I understand, obviously, we have other things we have to engage our mind in.
There's other things that we have to do,
but we should be carving out time every day to read our Bibles.
We should grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We should be meditating upon these things day and night.
Look at verse 1 of Psalm 1, of course, a very famous passage.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law, death he meditate day and night.
So he's saying the blessed guy is the guy that is delighting in the law of the Lord
and is meditating therein day and night.
So why is it that some people choose not to meditate on the things of God?
Why is it that the things of God are not on the forefront of their mind?
Because they have no delight in it.
Why is this guy, as it says there, in his law, death he meditate day and night?
Well, because verse 2, it starts out, his delight is in the law of the Lord.
You're going to spend your time doing things that you delight in.
You're going to spend your time doing the things that you find joy and pleasure in.
And if you don't take pleasure in the things of God, if you don't enjoy the things of God,
if you don't enjoy the word of God, you're probably not going to spend time in it.
You're probably not going to spend time meditating in it.
You're probably not going to spend time reading it, memorizing it,
and you're certainly not going to know how to apply it to your life and have good success.
Because look at, you know, it's kind of contrasted here with verse 1.
The blessed man is the guy that doesn't do these things, but rather, verse 2, does these things.
He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful.
You know, if you're going to delight yourself in the law of the Lord, you're going to meditate on those things,
you're probably going to have to get rid of some other things in your life.
You're going to have to take that time that maybe you gave to, you know, these ungodly things,
these sinful things, or these even scornful things.
You're going to actually have to put those out of your life and replace them with the things of God.
You know, this guy couldn't be meditating in the law of God if he was busy walking with the ungodly,
or standing with the sinners, or sitting with the scornful.
You know, and this is something, you say, how would you apply verse 1 today?
Well, this is something that people do.
You know, they walk, and notice the progression there.
They walk, and then they stand, and then they sit, right?
You walk in the counsel of the ungodly, then you stand in the way of sinners,
so you start, you actually come two-way stop, and then you find yourself sitting in the seat of the scornful, okay?
You know, one way that you could apply this today is a lot through entertainment.
You know, a lot of people are just given over to entertainment rather than things of God, okay?
You know, they're taking in the things of Hollywood, the entertainment industry.
You know, this is a major part of our culture today, isn't it?
It's huge. It's a multi-billion dollar business.
And today, people all over the world, you know, all throughout our country anyway,
you know, certainly, they have access to entertainment 24-7.
You know, and all the different forms of television, all the different movies,
all the social media, all the games, everything that's out there to distract you,
to occupy your time, to cause you to meditate on those things rather than on the things of God, okay?
I know this might ruffle some feathers, but, you know, this is where we're at as a society.
This is where we're at as a culture, okay?
And here's the thing, you know, a lot of those things might not necessarily be sinful in and of themselves,
although a lot of it is.
You can sit there and tell me that the, you know, Hollywood and the music industry aren't filled with ungodly people.
Are they producing a lot of wholesome Christian films on cable television?
There's a lot of good, you know, edifying things that are going to draw you closer to God,
you know, coming out of the music industry today.
You know, there's a lot of things, actually, it's quite the opposite, isn't it?
There's a lot of things that are going to actually turn your heart from the things of God
and push you farther away from God.
You know, these, a lot of these artists, so-called, and a lot of these actors,
you know, they are actually, you know, against God.
You know, it's a whole industry that's filled with reprobates and sodomites,
you know, and they're producing just filth that's coming out of there.
So, if we start to walk in that council of the ungodly, you know, eventually it's going to slow us down
and we're going to find ourselves, you know, standing in the way of sinners.
To the point where you're sitting down in the seat of the scornful,
taking in and just consuming, you know, ungodly things, unholy things.
You know, this, that right there, you know, that's what takes up a lot of people's time today, isn't it?
Just entertainment. Doesn't edify, doesn't do anything for them.
It's just a, just a vain passing.
And even if it's not something that's, you know, necessarily wicked or sinful,
you know, it's still a waste of time.
And look, I'm not trying to just, you know, ruin everybody's fun or something like that.
There's plenty of good, wholesome activities that you can go out there and have fun.
And that are, that, you know, aren't going to be, you know, wicked.
But let's face it, a lot of the video games, a lot of the music,
a lot of the stuff that's going on online, a lot of the, you know, stuff that's on television,
you know, there's nothing good there.
Okay? It's a lot of wickedness.
And I know that upsets people, and I know that can, you know, really hair lip a lot of people,
but, you know, that's just the facts.
You know?
And you can, you say, oh, you know, you're picking on my entertainment.
Well, you know, maybe you need to have it picked on.
You know?
You know, if you have a problem with that, well, ask yourself this.
How much have you been meditating on the word of God?
How much Bible reading has been getting done?
How much memorization has been done?
How much, you know, how much have you actually been meditating and dwelling on the things of God?
Or has it all just been this vain, worthless entertainment that is just taking up our time?
Well, you know, if you kind of fall into verse 1, verse 3 is not really going to apply to you.
Okay?
Because it says in verse 3,
And he, the guy we're reading about, verses 1 and 2,
It shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
That bringeth forth fruit in his season,
His leaf also shall not wither,
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
I mean, what a great promise in the word of God.
That anything I, you know, anything I put my hand to is going to work.
Anything that I endeavor to do is going to turn out.
God's going to bless it.
Right?
But not because I'm saved, just because I'm saved, ipso facto, you know, anything I do, everything I touch turns to gold.
No, it's because he's been meditating and delighting himself in the law of God.
You know, and the key word, really, in these three verses is, in verse 2, delight.
Delights himself.
You know, you need to delight yourself in the word of God.
And here's the thing, anyone who starts to actually try to, you know, read their Bible on a regular basis,
and does more Bible reading, what they find themselves doing is actually enjoying it more and more.
I mean, it's a great thing to sit down and open the word of God and have the Holy Spirit speak to you.
I mean, that's such a, it's such a powerful thing. Right?
And that's not something that just anybody can do.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they're spiritually discerned.
You know, your average, unsaved person can't pick up the Bible and have it speak to you, speak to them the way it does to you.
You know, we have that advantage, we have that privilege to be able to get into the word of God, meditate upon it,
and actually have God speak to us through his word.
You know, but that, you know, unfortunately for a lot of Christians, that's not of interest to them.
They're more interested in, you know, what's going on in TikTok.
They're more interested in some stupid trend on social media.
They're more interested in, you know, the score on whatever game.
And look, I'm not necessarily against all of those things, although I might say that about TikTok and a lot of these other things.
You know, but you want to sit down and watch the game and find out the score? Great.
You know, go ahead. But make sure you're also delighting in the law of the Lord, meditating in the things of God.
Because, you know, ESPN Sports Center isn't, you know, knowing what's going on with the latest prima donna in professional sports
isn't going to help prosper you in your life. Okay?
If we want to prosper, if we want to have good success, what's the secret to success this morning?
It's no secret at all. The secret is to meditate on the things of God and to do the things of God. Right?
If you would, go over to Colossians chapter number three. Colossians chapter number three.
This should be one of the defining characteristics of our lives.
People who are reading the Word of God, meditating upon it, and have the Word of God in their heart. Okay?
The Bible says in Psalm 119, I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways.
When are you going to have respect unto the things of God? When you've meditated upon its precepts.
If we're not meditating, if we're not reading, if we're not dwelling on the things of God,
then we're not going to respect the things of God.
You know, the guy that hasn't read, you know, to not forsake the assembling of the cells together as a matter of some is,
you know, their church is not going to be a priority to them.
The person that has not read, going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature,
you know, they're not going to have respect unto going out and preaching the gospel and doing soul winning.
They're not going to have respect unto that.
The person that has not read, you know, Joshua 1, you know, Psalms 1, they're not going to have respect unto Bible memorization.
They're not going to have respect unto Bible reading.
Because it's not important to them. They don't delight in it.
They delight in other things, the things of this world. Right?
The cares of this life choke the word and it becometh unfruitful.
The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and other things creeping in choke the word.
You know, that's what the things of this world will do to the Christian.
It will make you unfruitful.
It will rob you of your reward.
Look at Colossians chapter number 3 verse 16.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
He didn't say, he said richly there.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you mildly.
You know, let it be a mediocre dwelling of Christ's word in you.
Let it just be, you know, this very thin, vapid, shallow dwelling of the word of God in you.
No, it's supposed to be richly.
Look, this isn't a pastoral epistle.
This is written to the people at Colossians.
You know, this is written to all of God's people.
Because some people think, oh yeah, of course it's the preacher's job to meditate and memorize and do all that.
And of course it is.
I'm not saying it isn't.
But, you know, let's not forget, you know, that the reason why there's the pastor and the preacher is commanded to live in a certain way is to be an example to the flock.
So that others would do the same.
And he's saying here, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
You know, some people, that might just put a big yawn in their face.
Singing hymns, reading the Bible, teaching, understanding doctrine.
You know, if that's you this morning, you know what your problem is?
You don't delight in the things of God.
You delight in the things of this world.
You're more interested in what's going on out in the world somewhere, you know, probably from some sinful, wicked source, than you are the word of God.
You know, this holy, blessed, pure book that's been preserved for us throughout all ages that has the power to speak to us and transform us into the very image of God, into the very image of Christ, to know the mind of Christ.
You're less interested in that than you are the things of the world.
You know, you don't delight in it.
Let the word of God, Christ, dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and spiritual songs and grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Now look at verse 17.
And what's he ever do in word or deed to all the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him?
Are you noticing there's this kind of theme that we're looking at this morning?
It seems like meditating is associated with prospering, right?
He told Joshua to meditate therein, to observe to do it.
To be prosperous and have good success.
David in the psalms said that he meditates in the law of God and that he knows that whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
So shall be the man, right?
He said in Psalm 119, I will meditate unto thy precepts and I will have respect unto thy ways.
Notice here also, he says, let the word of God dwell in you richly, meditate upon these things, right?
Be teaching, admonishing, and then it's the doing.
Whatsoever you shall do in word or deed.
What's the secret to success this morning? To meditate and to observe to do.
Meditate and do. That's it.
You want to succeed as a Christian? You want to succeed in marriage? You want to succeed in parenting?
You want to succeed in business? You want to succeed in whatsoever thou doest?
Find out what the Bible says about it, meditate on it, read it, know it, and then do it.
It takes more than just knowing what it says.
Go over to 1 Timothy chapter number 4.
1 Timothy chapter number 4. There's this theme in scripture that if you meditate, then you will do.
These things go together.
You have to know what the Bible says and then do it and then you will prosper.
You will have success.
I mean, who wouldn't want that this morning?
Who would not want to have success in some area of their life?
Can I get a show of hands?
Don't raise your hand.
Me, I would love to fail in every area of life.
No one would say that.
We would all like to think, hey, we're going to have success. We want to have success.
No one starts out in marriage, no one starts out in business, no one starts out living the Christian life saying,
I'm hoping to fail.
I'm sure I'm going to fail at some point.
I'm starting out on this area of my life, my parenting, whatever it is, and I'm anticipating to fail completely.
No one of any sound mind says that, of course.
Everyone wants to succeed.
But wanting something isn't a guarantee that it's going to happen.
You can want something all day, but if you can actually do what it takes, you're not going to have it.
1 Timothy 4, look at verse 13, he said, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
Of course, this is Paul writing to Timothy, and he says, till I come, give attendance to these things.
That's the immediate practical application of the context of the book.
Paul is saying to Timothy, till I come, meaning when I return unto you, until we are in one another's presence again,
I want you to do these things.
But the spiritual application we can make here is that's Christ saying to us, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
How should we pass our time here?
Well, the Bible says we should pass the time of our sojourning here in fear.
What are we going to do until Christ returns?
Look, Christ's return isn't just some Baptist fairy tale that we tell.
That's a real thing.
It's going to happen.
Maybe if we meditated a little bit more on that, we'd be more concerned with what we're doing in our lives, how we're spending our time.
And he's saying, till I come, just do whatever you want.
It doesn't matter.
Just go out there and just please your flesh.
Just entertain yourself.
Just make your life all about having fun.
No, he said, till I come, give attendance to reading.
And the Bible says, much study is a weariness to the flesh.
Some people don't want to read because it takes effort.
It's a lot easier to just go like this.
Is it like this?
I don't know how they all do it.
It's a lot easier to just fix your eyes on whatever and just let it just flash in front of you, whatever it's going to flash in front of you.
It takes a lot more to actually pick up a book and drag your eyes across black ink on white pages and try to comprehend what it's saying.
You know what? That's what we're supposed to do.
That's what he told Timothy.
Till I come, give attendance to reading.
Well, you know, that just tells me don't delight in the things of God.
You have no delight in it.
To exhortation.
You know, we could liken that down to preaching.
You know, the person that just sits down, just counting down how much longer.
You know, I've only got three pages of notes this morning, but I doubt it's going to be under an hour for those of you that are keeping time.
I'll try.
I told myself I'm going to keep it under an hour this morning because they've been over an hour lately, which I try not to do.
But, you know, these are the things we ought to be giving attendance to, to the reading, to the exhortation, to the preaching the word of God.
Well, I know, but, you know, on Sundays I just, you know, that's my day off and that's what all my hobbies are.
Well, then that's what you delight in.
That's where your heart is.
Those are the things that you find pleasure in.
Then it must not be that important to you.
You know, and that's fine.
It's no skin off my back.
I'm going to be okay.
The other people that are faithful and consistent, they're going to be okay because they delight in the things of God.
They're going to prosper.
But, you know, I can't say so much for the person who, you know, just lightly esteems the reading of the word of God.
Lightly esteems the preaching of the word of God.
Can't really promise good success to that individual.
Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, right?
And that's, you know, that would be actual serious study of the word of God, breaking it down, you know, and understanding the teachings of the Bible.
It doesn't happen by just laying down on your pillow at night with your Bible under your head and just somehow it's like this is just going to fit into my head.
You know, you have to read it.
You have to comprehend it.
You have to work on your reading comprehension, understand it.
You know, I have to memorize some things.
You might have to get an Anki deck going.
You might have to break out some three by five cards.
You might have to carve some time out of your day to understand these things.
And, of course, he's saying this to Timothy, but this applies to everybody.
So, again, it's the same principle.
Meditate and do and prosper.
That's the secret to success.
It's no secret at all.
He says in verse 14, neglect not the gift that is in thee which is given thee by prophecy with the laying on the hands of the presbytery.
Meditate upon these things.
Give thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all.
Right?
Now, this profiting, that sounds to me like success.
That sounds to me like, you know, prospering.
Right?
Profiting, prospering, good success.
And he's saying here to Timothy to meditate upon these things so that his profiting may appear to all.
And I don't think he's saying like that, you know, in a boastful way.
Like that Timothy's profiting may appear to everybody else.
Everybody else could say, oh man, Timothy's really blessed and the rest of us aren't or something like that.
Because look at verse 16.
He says, take heed unto thyself and of the doctrine.
Continue in them.
For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
Of course, Timothy, being a preacher, you know, had the additional responsibility of profiting other people.
That's what I think he's saying that your profiting may appear to all.
That the people that hear you, that listen to you, that you teach and instruct are also going to profit.
They're going to be edified and built up in the faith.
Right?
And actually will save them.
You will save thyself.
You know, you take heed unto the doctrine.
You apply these things to your life.
You meditate upon them and you do them.
You prosper.
You're going to spare yourself a lot of heartache for yourself and them that hear thee.
Right?
That's the profiting there.
That it's not just for him.
It's for everybody.
Go over to Deuteronomy chapter 17.
Deuteronomy chapter number 17.
The secret success this morning is no secret at all.
He told Joshua, hey, meditate and observe to do.
Then thou shalt prosper and have good success.
Meditate.
Read the word of God.
Give yourself wholly to these things.
Reading, exhortation, doctrine.
Know what the Bible says and then do it.
Right?
It's a simple two-step process which bothers me because I like odd numbers.
You know, it was meditate and do.
I'm like, can we fit a third one in there, Lord?
He's like, no, that's it.
Right?
I guess the third step would be to prosper.
It would be the end result.
All right.
I feel better now.
All right.
Now the circle is complete.
Deuteronomy chapter number 17.
Look at verse 18.
Of course, these were instructions to the king.
I know we know this.
I know a lot of people if you've come to church here have heard me refer to this verse.
But this is what the instructions were given to when you would have a king in the land,
a leader.
Right?
And it shall be when he, the king, sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall
write a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests and Levites.
So he's gonna take the books of Moses and he's gonna write these things out by hand.
Okay?
And you thought God was asking a lot, just asking you to read the Bible.
Have you actually tried to, maybe you should go home and actually try to start writing
it.
By the end of Genesis 1, you'll be like, you know what, I'll just read.
That's fine.
Okay, I'm good.
When the hand cramps up, you know, and you get the callus, you know, and you're constantly
sharpening or having to get a new pen, you need to literally write it out.
Verse 19, and it shall be with him.
Say, how am I gonna meditate in the word of God?
Have it with you.
And look, if you've got a smartphone in your pocket, you've got the word of God at your
fingertips.
You don't even have to carry around a physical book.
I mean, you could download the Bible reading app that has, you know, pre-made Bible reading
schedules, you know, multiple schedules that you could listen to.
You know, there's, how many different narrators are out there now?
Dramatized versions, whatever, whatever you like.
You know, you could take your pick these days.
The king back then had, you know, there was no one reading it to him.
You know, he didn't have some guy from Brooklyn with an English accent reading to him.
That's Alexander Scorby.
You tell people he's from, he was, he's from Brooklyn, brother.
All good things come from Brooklyn, right?
Right?
But he's from Brooklyn, but, you know, people say he sounds English.
To me, I don't know that he really sounds English.
I don't know.
It doesn't sound like he's from Brooklyn.
That's why most people are shocked by that, right?
But the king back in, you know, Old Testament Israel didn't have Alexander Scorby in his
ear.
He had to write that out.
You know, we have the advantage today.
We can have the Word of God with us, and he shall read therein all the days of his life.
Every single day.
Look, I'm not saying you gotta read the entire Bible every single day, but you should do
some reading.
You should read something.
That he may learn to fear.
What's gonna put the fear of God into this guy?
Reading the Bible.
Reading the Word of God.
Reading all the thou shalt and thou shalt nots.
And here's what happens.
Here's how to prosper, and here's how to be judged.
Here's how to have the blessing of God.
Here's how to have the wrath of God.
You learn all about God, right?
You learn all the nitty-gritty about the Lord when you actually read for yourself.
If you've never read the Bible one time, I guarantee you there's things in here that
will shock you.
You'll get the passage and be like, what?
The Bible says that?
Yep, the Bible says that.
Because, you know, a lot of things aren't being preached today.
Even in Baptist churches, there's passages that they won't touch with a 10-foot pole.
They'll never go near it.
They don't even refer to it.
They'll just hop over it.
Some girly little hop, right?
Some girly little skip.
They don't even jump like a man over that passage and be like.
You know?
That's what it reminds me of when I see pastors and preachers who shy away from certain patches
of the Word of God.
You know, they get to Genesis 19, it's like, Judges 19.
You say, stop doing that.
Stop making that effeminate movement.
That's what I see, though.
That's what I hear.
That's how I feel about some of these guys.
It's effeminate preaching.
It's not the problem.
It isn't what they're saying.
It's what they're not saying.
So many things have become so controversial even in Baptist churches today.
You know, some things that old-time preachers would have ripped on on any given Sunday.
Just would have been another Sunday to people to hear about this sin or that sin ripped
on.
I mean, divorce.
Divorce is controversial today.
It's like, what?
Because then you want, so they don't preach on it, and then it just, you know, then you
wonder why there's so much of it in the world.
Because everyone wants to do this.
Oh, don't preach that.
Don't say that.
Anyway, I'm going to end up going off here.
But that's what I'm saying.
If you read, as he says there, you will learn to fear.
That's why it's important to preach the whole word of God so that the people, that I will
save myself and them that hear thee, they will learn to fear.
And to keep all the words of this law and the statutes, once that last bit there, to
do them.
So the reading comes before the doing.
The meditating comes before the doing.
And both those things, they come before the success.
They come before the prospering.
I like verse 20, since we're there, that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren,
and that he turn not aside.
I mean, this is all from reading.
This reading, meditating on the word of God has these powerful effects in our lives, right?
We do these things, and then what else?
Our hearts will not be lifted up above his brethren.
You know, the Bible will suck all the pride right out of you.
Because the Bible is just basically, you know, just highlighting the failures of man, just
all the way through it.
Every great man of God, every, every, and there's a lot of good things, obviously.
There's a lot of good examples, but there's a lot of bad examples, too.
And then we realize that we're capable of a lot of those exact same things that other
people have done, who are even, you know, greater spiritually than we are, right?
It'll humble us.
That he turn not aside, then we, you know, we read about the things that happen to these
people that have committed certain sins, we say, well, I don't want to do that, so we
don't turn aside.
To the end, that he may prolong his days.
What does that sound like, to prolong your days?
That sounds like prospering.
You know, I'll get ahead of myself, but, you know, in 3 John, it talks about prospering
and being in good health.
You know, prolonging your days is a form of prosperity.
You know, what if you lived, what if you made a lot of money, you know, what if you were
really successful, but then you died very young?
Was it really worth it?
I would say no.
What if you maybe lived a leaner life financially, but you lived longer?
You know, you got to see other blessings, okay?
That's a form of prosperity, to prolong your days.
So that's the first part, okay, of the secret of success, the not so secret to success.
That's probably what I should call the sermon.
It's too late now.
You know, it's the first point is to meditate, right?
The second point is to do.
Isn't that what we've seen thus far, meditate, do, right?
To have respect under these things, whichever you do in word or deed, let the word of Christ
on you richly, go to Deuteronomy 29.
Let's look at the last part of that, do, and I know we've kind of been harping on it already,
but we need to make sure we're doing what the Bible says.
It's not enough to just get people to want to read their Bibles.
You know, they need to learn to do what the Bible says.
You know, when we hear a command out of the word of God, when we hear something, we should
be asking ourselves, am I doing that?
Am I obeying that command or not?
You know, we shouldn't just come to church and tune out the preaching and only hear what
we want.
You know, or we hear the title of sermon and it's not, you know, why all reprobates are
damned to hell eternally.
It's like, well, I'm not going to listen to that sermon.
If it's not me ripping on, you know, sodomites or ripping on, you know, preaching end times
prophecy, you know, some people just like, well, I'll just check out of that one.
That's why it's important to be in church.
So you get all the sermons that you don't want to hear.
I'm not against listening to sermons online.
I do it.
It's great.
But you know what I've noticed is that there's some, I just, a lot of times I just read the
title and say, not that one, because it doesn't excite me, you know, and you know what?
I'm not saying that it probably, if I listened to that sermon, it would probably be a great
edifying and I'm sure I would get something out of it.
But I'm just like the rest of us, you know, I've only got so much time in the day.
I can't listen to 40 hours worth of preaching every week.
You know, I've got, I mean, there's a lot of great preachers out there today online.
They would, I sat down and counted it up once.
If you were to try to listen to every sermon that came out of every new IFB church every
week, it would be over 40 hours of listening to sermons.
That's called a full-time job, okay?
And that's, that's not, you know, so I'm very selective when I go on there.
So that's why it better be a good title if you want to get me to listen or be on a subject,
no, I'm just kidding.
Sometimes it's just, some will just strike my fancy, but my point is this, you know,
that's how a lot of people treat their Christianity.
You know, they don't go to church.
They just listen online.
And the problem with that is, is not, it's not what they're hearing.
It's what they're not hearing.
You know, they see the title, Luke 16, and they're just like, no, and I'm not against
a good title.
But you know, there might have been something in that plain, ordinary, you know, Acts 19
title that would have benefited them.
That's why we ought to be in church.
So that we will hear the things we don't want to hear and learn to do them, right?
When we hear the preaching of the word of God, we have to ask ourselves, am I doing
that?
When we hear something that we should not be doing, we have to ask ourselves, am I doing
that?
And make the change accordingly.
Look at Deuteronomy 29 verse 7.
And when he came unto this place, Sion, the king of Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan,
came out against us unto battle, and we smote them.
So Deuteronomy 29 is Moses recounting the history of Israel up to their time going into
the promised land, the wilderness wanderings that they've been going through.
And he's talking about when we came into this place, meaning east of the River Jordan,
they defeated these kings, okay?
And they gave them, verse 8, and we took their land and gave it for inheritance unto the
Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
Remember, they made that covenant that those three tribes would leave their children and
wives and cattle there.
They wanted their inheritance on that side, which was not the Lord's original intent.
And they were upset with them at first and said, hey, we'll go fight with our brethren,
and then once we've conquered the land, we'll come back to this side of Jordan and we'll
leave our little ones and our wives here, okay?
You'd know that if you read, right?
Verse 9, keep therefore the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper
in all that you do.
What's the command here?
To keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you
do.
So they had to know what that covenant is.
They had to know what the Bible says.
Then they have to do it, and then you prosper, okay?
Go to 3 John, chapter 1.
3 John, chapter number 1, I'll be wrapping up shortly.
Obviously, the only form of prosperity is not just wealth, okay?
There's more to life than money, contrary to what the world would have you to believe,
contrary to what, you know, is coming out of, you know, the hip-hop culture.
I'm afraid to use any kind of the references because I really don't know what they're referring
to, but I'm pretty sure bling is safe, right?
Bling isn't a completely, you got to get that bling.
Are they still using that?
No one wants to admit it.
What are the newest hip-hop references?
Anyone know?
Don't.
Someone's just, don't get them to start spitting bars, right?
You have to cover the children's ears.
Some of the garbage that's coming out of that, most of it.
But isn't a big part of that, and look, I know it's not just them, you know, it's all
these different genres of music and entertainment, they're all promoting what?
Wealth.
The money.
The good life.
Whatever.
You know, of just making a lot of money.
That's what they're about.
Riches.
Look, that obviously is a, you know, doing well and prospering financially is a form
of blessing and prosperity.
I already said that.
But it's not the only one.
And just because somebody isn't prospering financially doesn't mean they're not blessed.
You know, some people can't handle it.
I'm convinced that's the boat I'm in.
God says, I'm not gonna let you do too well financially because I know you can't handle
it.
And that's probably the vast majority of people.
If a lot of us made a lot of money, we probably wouldn't be able to handle it.
That's true.
That's just human nature.
You know, I'm not gonna sit here and be so foolish and say, oh, not me.
You know, if I started making, you know, multiple six figures every year or whatever, if I became
some incredibly wealthy individual that I'd still want to live a godly Christian life,
I don't know that I would.
Honestly, that temptation might be too much.
The Bible warns about that.
First Timothy 6.
They that will be rich, not those that are rich, that will be rich, fall into temptation
and snare, into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some covet it after, they have
erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Using money, chasing wealth, desiring to be rich, will destroy you, will destroy people.
Okay?
And again, I'm not saying, you know, we all have to live like a bunch of poppers, you
know, begging and just living hand to mouth, but if we just make our life all about wealth
and money, you know, that doesn't necessarily mean that we're succeeding.
In fact, it might destroy us.
You know, we should not be like those that think that gain is godliness, okay?
Godliness with contentment is great gain, the Bible says.
We should be content with such things as we have.
The Bible talks about the ungodly who prosper in the world, they increase in riches, okay?
That's how the world prospers, but you know, they have their ungodly, they do that so that
they can live ungodly, wicked lives.
What's another form of prosperity that we can enjoy?
Look at 2nd, excuse me, 3rd John in verse 2.
It says, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health
even as thy soul prospers.
For I rejoiced greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee,
even as thou walkest in the truth.
He's saying, the brethren came and told me that you're walking in truth, and I rejoiced
greatly.
What was it that made John rejoice?
Their obedience to the faith, the fact that they were meditating and doing the things
that they had learned.
They were reading the word of God, they were listening to preaching, and they were applying
it to their lives.
That made John rejoice.
That put a smile on his face.
Not that they were, you know, beings just some huge success in the world, but that they
were, cared about the things of God.
And notice he's saying, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in
health.
You know, I want people in this church to succeed.
I want people in this church, you know, to prosper.
And of course, to be in good health.
You know, when people are suffering physically, that, you know, is a burden to us.
When people are sick or ill or going through some physical trial, you know, that bothers
us.
No one likes that.
No one likes being injured or harmed or ill.
You know, we want our church to be physically healthy, right?
We want people to be in health.
I'm not saying we all have to be, you know, ready to model underwear or something like
that.
You know, that's not even healthy.
You can make the case that, you know, looking like that is probably not healthy.
You know, having these low body fat percentages, right?
But you know, having some level of physical health, of course that's something we want,
but we also want to prosper.
And we want people to do well.
We want people to succeed and not just financially, spiritually.
You know, that's what I want for this church.
I want people to prosper even as thy soul prospereth.
Look, your soul's going to prosper.
One day you're going to die and go to heaven and you're going to have the new man, you're
going to be given that new body, and you're going to be complete in Christ, you're going
to be, you know, made that perfect man.
But until then, you know, we have some things that we have to do.
Our soul is eventually going to prosper.
There's no reason why we can't prosper here.
We can still prosper.
We can still be blessed if we meditate, if we do.
Now let me just close on this point.
If you would, go to Galatians chapter number 6.
Look, the Bible addresses, and I've said this so many times, but it addresses every area
of life.
Every single area.
Life, you know, isn't actually that complicated.
It's nuanced.
I'll give it that.
There's certain circumstances that are tough and things like that, but life's pretty straightforward.
You know, you're born, you have a childhood, you grow up, you get married, you have kids,
you die.
That's pretty much it, right?
I mean, generally speaking, that's kind of the course of life.
You know, we grow up, we do adult things, we get old, we die.
Right?
And pretty much everyone's life follows a pretty similar pattern.
You know, there's certain life events that just kind of come.
It's really not that complicated.
You know, and all the different things they have to consider along that way, you know,
how to raise family, how to have a marriage, how to, you know, be a good employee, how
to be a good employee.
It's pretty straightforward.
It's really not that complicated.
And the Bible addresses every area of life, even the things that may be a little bit more,
you know, unique.
It still addresses it.
There's still an answer.
And we can succeed in every single one of these areas.
Okay?
That's the promise that we have.
That's what we've seen throughout the Word of God.
That if we'll meditate, find out what the Bible says about this area of life, and then
do it, thou shalt have good success.
Why am I preaching that?
Why am I preaching this this morning?
Because just like John, you know, I desire that you prosper and be in good health, even
as thy soul prospereth.
I want people to prosper and be blessed in every area of their life.
You know, but I, so what should we do?
Should we just sit here this morning and go through every single thing that the Bible
touches on?
That'd be a long sermon.
We're going to go through every area of life this morning.
We're going to talk about every Bible verse, and we're going to make application as we
go.
We're going to talk about all of it.
We'd be here for a while, right, because we'd start at birth.
We could talk about all the things that the Bible talks about that are associated with
just even just childbirth and then raising children, you know, and then, and marriage
and dating and courtship and having, I mean, just we'd be here all morning.
That's why you need to meditate upon the word of God for yourself.
Because I try to, you know, I'm lucky to get you out the door remembering one thing.
Just one thing.
Each sermon.
You know, you want to be, you know, anyone who wants to be a preacher one day, that's
the best advice I've ever heard when it comes to preaching.
Make your sermon about one thing because that's typically all people are going to get.
And you know, I'm not saying it is a knock on people.
That's just the way it is.
You know, and especially in the culture that we're living in where people's attention
spans are doing this, getting shorter and shorter all the time, you're lucky if they
remember one thing that you said, okay?
So if you come to church and you just, you know, tune out, you're not going to get anything,
okay?
Can you get at least one thing?
That's why you have to go home and you have to meditate upon the word of God day and night
if you want to succeed.
If you want prosperity, if you want success, here's the secret.
You know, of course come to church, that's a command, but you know, apply the things
that you learn here and apply this this morning.
Go home and read the Bible.
Read the Bible every day this week.
For 15 minutes.
For, you know, read a chapter.
Read one page.
Read something.
Read a proverb and a psalm.
You know, if you've never read the Bible, make it a goal that you're going to read it,
you know, by this time next year.
Say, well, the new year's coming, I'll start then.
You know, nuts to all that.
Who cares about what date you start and finish?
That has nothing, I mean, I know we all, it's like what I was saying earlier, I like my
threes, right?
I like things in a certain order, right?
Well, if I start on January 1st, you know, then I'll finish on December 31st next year
and it'll look good on a calendar.
Who cares?
You know, don't wait another three months.
Start reading your Bible.
Start today and read tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
15 minutes, you'd have the whole thing read.
I don't have time.
Okay, pull out your phone and look at your screen time.
Then tell me you don't have time.
Pull out your phone and see, you know, go to your screen time, look at how much screen
time is on YouTube and then come back and tell me you don't have 15 minutes to read
the Bible one time in a year, okay?
You know, I wish above all things that, you know, like John said, that thou mayest prosper
and be in health and that even as thy soul prospereth.
You know, I want that for this church.
How are you going to get it?
How are you going to prosper?
How are you going to have good success?
By you reading the Bible for yourself, by you meditating upon it and you doing the things
that you read because if the Bible touches every area of life, why would we not want
to know what it says about that area?
Because you don't delight in it.
That's it.
That's the only reason why someone would not, would be disinterested in that.
Well, I'm not really interested in what the Bible says about that area of your life.
It's like, what?
Are you serious?
That's how we're going to have good success and look, you know, let me say this in closing.
Success is not guaranteed in life.
Failure is an option.
You know, and that happens.
The problem is that sometimes if we fail in some area, it's like, what we don't want to
do is just throw up our hands and quit altogether, okay?
Look at Galatians chapter six, verse seven.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
That's not something you can just choose to believe or not.
I don't really believe that.
God is not mocked.
Whatever you've sown, you're going to reap.
It's an immutable law of the universe.
It's as real as gravity.
You're going to reap whatever you sow in life.
It's a fact.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall have his flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth
to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Look at verse nine, and let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap
if we faint not.
He's saying, look, if this is the case, if we're going to reap whatever we sow, let's
not sow to the flesh, let's not be weary in well-doing, we'll reap a reward, okay?
Verse 10, as therefore we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto
those with a household of faith, okay?
So what I'm closing on at this point is that, you know, success is guaranteed, but
if we violate scripture, if we sow to the flesh, if we don't delight in the things
of God, if we disregard, and in a sense kind of mock God, through ignorance or through
just willingly, you know, going against the word of God, we're going to reap that.
You know what that reaping's going to be?
Failure.
You can fail in areas of your life.
But if you have failed, you know, maybe that's us, maybe say, you know, there's some area
in my life I've failed at, okay?
I mean, this might surprise you, but, you know, I could look at areas of my life where
I have failed.
You know, I could look at areas of my life where I could have done better.
You know, time, that's been wasted, that you can never get back.
But that does not mean that success is off the table in every area of my life.
Just because I failed in this area doesn't mean I can't succeed in some other area, okay?
And this is the thing that people sometimes get caught up on, you know, and this can be
very discouraging for people.
They fail in one area of life and they just think life's over.
But you know, there's more than one area to life.
You know, if we fail the one area and it's too late, we've reaped what we've sown, why
don't we focus on where we can still sow good seed and reap there?
Isn't that the promise?
Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.
You know, if we've already sown something and we've already reaped a bitter harvest,
we've already had, you know, reaped of the flesh in one area, well, let's just focus
on another area where we can sow to the spirit, okay?
Because you know, that, you know, success isn't a secret.
You can have success.
You know, and sometimes, you know, people are going to fail.
Failure is also an option in life.
But just because we haven't succeeded in that one area doesn't mean we should just give
up on all the other areas altogether.
We don't want people who just quit on everything because we failed at something, okay?
Don't quit on everything because you failed at something.
You know, you fail the one area, focus on another one where you haven't.
And look, if there's people in the room who haven't, couldn't really say they've failed,
you know, that, you know, the younger people in this room where, you know, life is just
laid out before you, you have options, you haven't, you have decisions to make, life
altering decisions, make wise decisions.
Don't fail in these areas of life.
Don't fail in marriage.
Don't fail in child rearing.
Don't fail in the Christian life.
Don't fail in these areas.
Don't fail by falling into sin.
How am I going to do that?
By meditating on the word of God and doing it.
That's the secret to success.
Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for the Bible.
Thank you for its instruction.
Thank you for its warnings.
Thank you for its promise, Lord, that success can be ours, Lord, that if we will simply
know what the Bible says and put into practice into our lives and we are not weary in well-doing,
we shall reap.
It's not a maybe.
It's a promise that we have in the word of God that success and blessing and prosperity
can be ours as we walk in the spirit and not in the flesh, as we sow the spirit and not
the flesh.
And Lord, if there's those of us that have failed in some area, Lord, help us to, Lord,
of course, feel sorry, feel bad, to ask for forgiveness, whatever it is we need to do,
Lord, to move on and focus on the other areas in our life where we can succeed, where we
can still sow the spirit and reap rewards and life everlasting.
Lord, I pray you just continue to bless us, Lord, as a church and as individuals this
week.
Help us to be in our Bibles.
Help us to meditate on these things.
Help us to do these things.
I ask in Christ's name, amen.
Amen.
All right.
We'll sing one more song before we go.
Amen.
Let's open up our headroom to song number 64.
Song number 64, Shall We Gather at the River.
Yes, we'll gather at the river, On the beautiful, beautiful river.
Gather in the saints and the real, That flows by the throne of God.
Yes, we'll gather at the river, On the beautiful, beautiful river.
Amen.