Good afternoon everybody and welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
Good to see everybody here tonight.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
Glad you could all make it.
If we can go ahead and find our seats, we'll go ahead and get started.
For our first song, we'll go ahead and start in song number 413.
Song number 413, stand up, stand up for Jesus.
Song number 413.
Let's sing it out together real loud on the first.
Stand up.
So much for Steadfast Baptist.
We're just so grateful to gather here to just ask you to fill this room with your spirit.
Steadfastest church in Jesus name.
Next song.
Let's go to song number 224.
Song number 224.
There shall be showers of blessing.
Song number 224.
Let's put it out together on the first.
There shall be showers of blessing.
This is the promise of love.
There shall be seasons refreshing.
Sent from the Savior above us are four showers we bless.
There shall be showers of blessing.
Precious reviving against us are four.
There shall be showers of blessing them of us now sweet.
There shall be showers of blessing today they thus we call us are four.
Singing.
Amen.
Thank you for attending the evening service.
If you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand.
We had some bulletins printed out in between the services, so if you don't have one, please
raise your hand.
One of the ushers will get a bulletin to you.
Please raise your hand.
And thank you for coming back to the evening service.
It was a blessing to have Brother Joseph preach this morning, so hopefully you were here and
paying attention.
It was a good sermon.
Tonight we have Brother Marcel preaching, and so everybody have a tentative year tonight
for Brother Marcel.
Pastor Shelley and some of the leadership, Brother Dylan and others, are at the Red
Hot Preaching Conference, if you don't know.
So pray that they make it home safely to us, and it's pretty cool that they were out there.
Hopefully one day I get to go.
I want to go one day.
It would be really cool.
So here on the front of the bulletin here, we have our Psalm 58 verse 4 of our Bible
memory passage.
Try to work on that if you can.
Inside our bulletins, we have our service time, Sunday morning, 10.30, evening, Spanish
service at 4.30, Sunday evening service at 5.30, and the Wednesday evening service at
7 p.m.
We're in the Book of Romans.
This Wednesday we'll be in Romans chapter 8, I believe.
I love the Book of Romans.
It's a very great book.
So come out Wednesday night for Romans chapter 8 and for some fellowship.
Churchwide soul winning, Sundays at 2, Wednesdays at 5.15.
We have a bunch of other regional soul winning times, so be sure if you can't come out on
a Sunday or Saturday, there's other times that you can come out and go soul winning.
So if you don't have a bulletin before you leave, get one or take a picture of it or
something, so you know who's in charge of the soul winning times, so you know who to
get in touch with if you want to go soul winning.
Soul winning is always available at Steadfast Baptist Church, so there is an opportunity
to go soul winning here and with somebody.
Salvation, they're updated, so we were at 50, we're at 80 now, amen.
Year to date, 1,694, baptisms, we had one in July so far, we got 15 year to date, so
keep it up.
Like I said this morning, I believe that coming here we would be blessed by more people getting
saved and the church growing, and it is.
Our church is growing, we're getting more people saved, so even though we're getting
as much or more persecution, it's working, so everything's working out for us, so don't
worry about it.
Everything's working out the way it should be.
Pray for the expecting ladies.
We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
What a blessing ten women are expecting.
Pray for those ladies that they have, that God blesses them with easy, I guess, baby
comes out healthy and everything's okay.
We have a prayer list, so keep these people in mind on the prayer list.
One of the people on the prayer list is the Rodari family from Verity Baptist Church.
Their infant, John, was born with leukemia and is receiving care, so if you have children,
you know that when mom was pregnant, you're praying that the baby's going to come out
healthy and whole.
We can only imagine what that family's going through, and it's the worst nightmare of a
parent to have a baby being born with some sort of complication, so let's keep them
in our prayers.
One of the people I just wanted to highlight.
On the back of the bulletin, just some church reminders while we're in church, some rules
to behave ourselves.
No children on the stage in the kitchen or unattended in the mother and baby room, so
don't leave your children just walking around in the mother and baby rooms.
Both mother and baby rooms are for mothers and their children to and under, so please
leave older children with their father during the service.
If you must bring any older children with you, they must sit quietly in the room with
you.
A baby room is meant for fussy children and for mothers who want to nurse their children.
It's not for playtime for other kids to play with toys and to be a distraction.
That's why we're trying to provide a TV and a sound system so that the mothers and the
younger children can still hear the service and sit down and pay attention.
So reminders about toys should not be shared and only be used in between Sundays services
excluding baby items.
So if you bring toys to the church, just for your kids, especially in the wintertime, we
don't want to spread any type of sickness in the church and we don't want someone getting
hurt with someone else's toy.
So be responsible for your toys and your children and everything should be okay.
And just a reminder, the church building will be observing quiet time every Sunday from
two to four.
Just a reminder, if you stay behind from soul winning, just respect that time.
It's just a quiet time from two to four.
Coming events, we have our Mighty Men's Conference, August 17th through the 19th.
If you want to come and hang out with the guys, do some cool stuff, make time.
Take time off, come.
Last year we did our competition, I didn't win.
And you know, I'm not bitter about it, but I'm training for this year.
So maybe there'll be some events that I can do that I would win.
So I want that to happen again.
We have our Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship coming up October 12th through the 15th.
I don't have a list of all the pastors that are showing up, but I think I heard a bunch
of them, and it sounds pretty cool.
I think Pastor Anderson and others will be showing up.
That's a really good time.
I love conferences.
I've been to a Missions Conference, I've been to a Make America Straight Again kind
of thing conference that we had, the Master Conference.
That was pretty cool.
And so conferences are a really good time to get to know other brothers and sisters
in Christ from around the country and around the world.
The Missions Conference was awesome.
I met people from all over the world that love God, that want to go soul wanting, that
really love just going to church, people that don't have a good church in other parts of
the country.
So feel very blessed that you have somewhere that you can go because there are people that
don't have good churches.
And just meeting people around the country, you know, is a blessing to get to know other
brothers and sisters in Christ.
I think it's great.
So that's all for our notes.
The next song we'll be turning to is Psalm 150.
Psalm 150.
All right.
That was Psalm chapter 150 in your Bible or in your laminated handout.
Psalm chapter 150.
Singing out real loud on the first.
Praise ye the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary.
Praise him for his power, praise him for his mighty acts.
Praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound trumpet, praise him and praise him with stringed instruments
and praise him with the cymbals, let everything that is God the Father.
Great singing everybody.
Bring plates to be passed around.
Go ahead and turn your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 4.
That's Proverbs chapter number 4.
Proverbs chapter 4.
Proverbs chapter 4, the Bible reads, "Hear ye, children, the instruction of a father,
and attend to no understanding.
For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also and said unto me, Let thy heart retain my words, keep my commandments
and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not.
Neither decline from the words of my mouth.
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee.
Love her, and she shall keep thee.
Wisdom is the principal thing.
Therefore get wisdom, and with all thy getting get understanding.
Exalt her, and she shall promote thee.
She shall bring thee to honor, when thou dost embrace her.
She shall give to thy head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory, shall she deliver
to thee.
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many.
I have taught thee in the way of wisdom, I have led thee in the right path.
When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straightened, and when thou runnest, thou shall not stumble.
Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life.
Enter not in the path of the wicked, and go not into the way of the evil men.
Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
For they sleep not except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they
cause some to fall.
For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day.
The way of the wicked is as darkness.
They know not at what they stumble.
My son, attend to my words, and climb thy ear unto my sayings.
Let them not depart from thy eyes, keep them in the midst of thy heart.
For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from thee a foward mouth, and perverse slips put far from thee.
Let thy eyes look right on, and let thy eyelids look straight before thee.
Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left.
Remove thy foot from evil.
Let me pray.
Let us pray.
Father, thank you so much for this opportunity for Brother Marcel to preach this evening.
Thank you for him and his family.
I pray that the power of the Holy Spirit would rest upon him this evening, and that he would
move his heart and help him to articulate what he's prepared for us.
Lord, I pray that we would walk away better Christians, more balanced Christians, and
I pray that everybody would get home safely from the Red Hot Preaching Conference, and
we just ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, I just want to say thank you to Pastor Shelley for allowing me to fill the pulpit
this evening, and it's always a great honor to preach the word of God.
It's a blessing.
While we're here in Proverbs chapter 4, if you would, look down at verse 13.
The Bible says, "Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her, for she is thy
life."
So the title of my sermon today, this evening, is "Take hold of instruction or die a fool."
Take hold of instructions or die a fool.
Now the Bible gives us the importance of receiving instructions, and I want to kind of preach
on this concept because you see this concept throughout the whole Bible where people who
receive instruction, you see the blessing that comes in their life, and you see people
who just don't follow the simple instruction that the Bible teaches or gives, and they
end up dying a fool because they didn't follow the instruction that the Bible has given us.
Now for us to better understand what the word instruction means, I'm going to give you a
quick definition.
It says a direction or order, and another definition says detailed information telling
how something should be done, operated or assembled.
So it's pretty much giving us a way to understand how something should be done, operated, assembled.
A lot of times we order something off Amazon, it comes with an instruction manual and it
teaches us like, "Hey, this is how something should be done."
Now who here has ever tried to build something without following the instruction?
Raise your hand.
Yeah, I've done it before, I got a crib for my wife and I'm trying to build this thing,
and at the end I'm like, "Why this thing only has one leg?"
And it's because I didn't follow the instruction that Emmanuel gave me, and in our lives it's
very important that we follow the instruction that the Bible gives us because we can end
up with one leg in our life from destroying our life or something like that.
But the verse says, "Take fast hold of instruction."
So whenever we're receiving instruction in our lives, we need to make sure that we receive
it quickly.
We shouldn't be opposed to instruction, we shouldn't stiffen our neck when someone tries
to give us instruction, you know, the Bible says to take it fast.
So we need to take fast hold of instruction, and the Bible says to let her not go.
So whenever we receive instructions from somebody, we need to make sure that we keep it and we
hold on to it tightly, right?
Because the Bible says, "For she is thy life."
So our life is actually dependent on the instructions that we receive, you know, we can make a lot
of errors in our life without proper instructions.
Now if you think about like, I just thought about this quick example, but let's say like
if you're drowning or you're in the ocean or a pool and somebody comes with, you know,
a boat and they throw, you know, a floating device, a floating tube, you know, you're
going to take fast hold of that device because your life depends on you holding that floating
tube.
Now it's the same way with instructions.
Whenever we receive instructions, somebody has given us that floating tube, that floating
device to kind of make sure that we're safe, you know, survive that, you know, that error,
we can survive the situation that we're in.
And if we don't receive it quickly, that floating device, you know, we could drown,
we could die.
Now turn if you will to Proverbs chapter one.
Now the book of Proverbs is a great book for young adults.
It's good for all of us, it's something that we should all try to read daily.
You know, there's about 30 chapters in the book of Proverbs and you can read one chapter
a day.
There's a lot of great truths in the book of Proverbs that can help us in our everyday
life and Proverbs chapter one verse two explains what the book of Proverbs is for.
It says to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding.
Verse three, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity.
So the book of Proverbs is given for us so that we can know, we can know the wisdom and
instruction, we can know what good instructions are, we can receive them and it says so that
way we can receive the, we can receive instruction.
Look down at verse seven, it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The Bible says that you're a fool if you despise wisdom and if you despise instruction.
So none of us want to be fools.
The Bible says in Proverbs chapter eight, you don't have to turn there, hear instructions
and be wise and refuse to not.
So if you want to be wise in your life, you know, it's very important that you hear instruction
unless if you don't, you're going to be a fool.
Okay.
Turning your Bible to second Timothy chapter three, second Timothy chapter three.
Now, I don't know if anybody here has ever heard of the acronym of Bible, but I've heard
this before, you know, obviously I don't know if it's true or not, but I like the acronym
for it.
But what the Bible stands for is basic instructions before leaving earth.
So the Bible just gives us basic instructions before we leave earth, before we go to the
new heaven and new earth, where dwelleth righteousness.
So obviously we're not going to need the instructions because we're going to be righteous already,
but there's still a lot of wonderful truths, so the word of God's not going to go nowhere.
But I believe it's true.
Look at the size of second Timothy chapter three, if you're there, verse 16, second Timothy
chapter three, verse 16, the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
So second Timothy three tells us what the whole purpose of the Bible is.
The Bible says this right here, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable
for doctrine, is profitable for reproof, is profitable for correction, is profitable for
instructions in righteousness.
The Bible instructs us how to be righteous in every scenario.
Sometimes we may not know how to be a good husband when the Bible is going to give us
instructions on how to be a good husband.
You might not know how to be a good wife when the Bible is going to give you instructions
on how to be a good wife.
You might not know how to be a good child when the Bible gives us instructions on how
to be a good child, a good child of God.
You know, if you want to be a good coworker, you want to be a good worker, a good boss,
whatever the case may be, the Bible gives us instructions on how to do that the right
way because it's instructions of righteousness.
Now if you would, turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20, Exodus chapter 20.
So the first point I want to go over today is the Sabbath and salvation.
Okay, so the Sabbath is a great picture of salvation, but I want to show you some instructions
the Bible gives about the Sabbath day, and I want to show you what happens when you follow
the instruction of the Sabbath day. What happens if you don't follow the instruction of the
Sabbath day? In Exodus chapter 20, you should be there, look at verse 8, it says, "Remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy." And look at what it says in verse 10, "But the seventh
day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it, thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor
thy stranger that is within thy gates." Verse 11 says, "For in six days the Lord made heaven
and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." So turn to Exodus chapter 31 is not
too much further, Exodus chapter 31. So we see right here in Exodus it tells us that
the Sabbath day is the seventh day, the day that the Lord blessed, and he said, "In it
thou shalt not do any work." You know, this day is supposed to be separated from every
other day of the week. You know, six days shalt thou labor, so we can work Monday through
Saturday in the Old Testament. But the seventh day in the Old Testament, it was supposed
to have a Sabbath day. This is supposed to be a day of rest, okay? This day you're supposed
to do no work. This is time for you to just spend time at home just resting and relaxing,
okay? There's another portion of Scripture that says the same exact thing. Look what
it says in Exodus chapter 31 verse 12. It says, "Then the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
'Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily, my Sabbath shall you keep,
shall you keep. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that
you may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore
for it is holy unto you. Everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death. For whosoever
doeth any work, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be
done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any
work in the Sabbath day, he shall be surely put to death. So the Bible gives us very clear
instructions. It's spelled out for you. The Bible says that the Sabbath day is the day
of rest. No work is supposed to be done in the Sabbath day. And the Bible says that if
you do any work, that actually you're supposed to be put to death. So, you know, if you don't
want to die, this is something that you need to listen to right away. This is a very important
instruction the Bible gives us. Turn if you will to Numbers chapter 15. So if you're in
Genesis, you have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, a couple books over Numbers chapter
15. So the Bible gives us very clear instructions on what we're supposed to do on the Sabbath
day. Now unfortunately there's a person who just don't like instructions, okay? And let's
see what the Bible says about this person who doesn't want to receive instructions,
somebody who doesn't want to follow instructions. In chapter Numbers 15 verse 32 the Bible
says, "And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that
gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day." Now I thought that the Bible said in Exodus that
the Sabbath day it says that you're not supposed to do any work. And this man is over here
gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, okay? And the punishment for gathering sticks, the
punishment for doing any work on the Sabbath day was the death penalty, right? So there's
a man in verse 32 who found gathering sticks. Verse 33 it says, "And they that found him
gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and unto all the congregation. And they
put him in word because it was not declared what should be done unto him." I mean I thought
it was declared in Exodus but you know they wasn't sure exactly what to do. I'm not sure
if Moses already had all his people trained and sent out at this time yet but it wasn't
declared what they should do. And in verse 35 it says "And the Lord said unto Moses,
the man shall surely be put to death and all the congregation shall stone him with stones
without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp and stoned him
with stones and he died as the Lord commanded Moses." So this man right here died a fool
because this man didn't follow the simple instruction that the Bible gave. The Bible
says, "Thou shalt not do any work on the Sabbath day." In Proverbs chapter 15, you don't have
to turn there. The Bible says, "He that refuses instruction despises his own soul, but he
that heareth reproof, getteth understanding." So the Bible goes as far as to say that if
you actually, you know, despise instruction, not only are you a fool, but if you refuse
instruction, the Bible says you just despise yourself. You know, because if somebody's
actually taking the time out to give you instructions to try to tell you how to do something the
right way, it's because they love you. They care for you. You know, if your parents are
trying to give you instruction on how to do something, it's because they care for you,
they love you, and they don't want you to die as a fool, right? Now, just to be clear
though, I want everybody to understand that the Sabbath day is not something that we
follow as the New Testament saints because Jesus Christ has done away with the Sabbath
day. And, you know, so we don't have to wear it today if we're breaking God's ordinance
by not keeping the Sabbath day. We're not going to physically die. But there is people
who actually believe that the Sabbath day is something that we still need to adhere
to. If you will, turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 9. So there's people today that they
think that you still have to keep the Sabbath day. And these people are the Seventh Day
of Ventus. Who here has heard of the Seventh Day of Ventus before? Yeah, so it's a pretty
well-known church. And the Seventh Day of Ventus, I'm going to read this really quickly
about what they believe. So this is coming from their own website, Ventus.org. It says
the Seventh Day of Ventus church has a Christian denomination distinguished by their doctrinal
beliefs that the literal, visible second coming of Christ is close at hand and that the Sabbath
of the Old Testament is still relevant today and is God's true biblical Sabbath. Seventh
Day of Ventus' beliefs state that they are based solely on Scripture. Scripture is the
road map. So they believe that everything that they believe comes only from the Bible
and they believe that the Sabbath of the day is still relevant today and is God's true
biblical Sabbath. So they believe that we still actually have to adhere to this law
that God gave us in the Old Testament. So they believe that we still have to follow
this law, which is completely wrong. I'm going to read another piece of information
from their belief statement. So on their website they have about 28 points of what they believe.
One of these points is the Sabbath day and explains how we need to keep the Sabbath
day. But I want to just show you the hypocrisy of the Seventh Day of Ventus. And I also want
to show you how we don't also need to keep the Sabbath. We also don't have to keep the
Sabbath day. So it says the Sabbath, it says the gracious creator after the six days of
the creation rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a
memorial of creation. The fourth commandment of God's unchangeable law requires the observance
of this seventh day, Sabbath as the day of rest, worship and ministry in harmony with
the teaching and practices of Jesus, the Lord of Sabbath. So they say it's an unchangeable
law. And this is what's funny about it. Look what it says next. You're not reading a book.
It said the Sabbath is a day of delight, communion with God and one another. It is
a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance
and a foretaste of our eternal future in God's kingdom. So once out of their mouth, they're
saying that the Sabbath day is a day that is unchangeable. There's something that we're
still supposed to adhere to today. But another thing they're saying is that it's actually
just a symbol, okay? Now, they're right when the Bible says that it's a symbol of redemption,
okay? Because in Hebrews chapter 9, you should be there. I want to explain to you how the
Sabbath day, all it was is just a picture. It was just a foreshadowing of that which
was to come in the future. The Sabbath day just pictured Christ because Christ is the
Lord of the Sabbath. And it says in Hebrews chapter 9, it says, "Then verily the first
covenant had also," verse 1, "Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine
service and the holy sanctuary." So we have to understand that the first covenant had
a bunch of ordinances that we were supposed to follow a part of that testimony, all right?
And then verse 8, I'm going to kind of just skip a couple of verses, it's talking about
the first tabernacle and the second tabernacle. But in verse 8 it says, "The Holy Ghost this
signifying that the way into the holies of all was not yet made manifest, was that the
first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present, in which
were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect
as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings
and carnal ordinances and pulled on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being
come a good priest there are good things to come." So the Bible says that these carnal
ordinances were just pulled on us until the time of reformation. So the keeping of the
Sabbath, that was just imposed on us until the time of reformation. And what is the time
of reformation? The time of reformation is when Christ came, okay. So this is a good
verse to show people that the Sabbath day in the Old Testament was just a figure of
that which was to come. It was just a shadow, it was just a foreshadowing of that which
was to come. But go to Colossians as well, chapter 2. So these people think that you
still have to keep the Sabbath day today. I'm here to tell you that the Sabbath day
is not something that we have to keep. You know, if you want to take a day off, a day
of rest when you do no work, you have that free will. The Bible says, you know, let one
man esteem one day above another. You know, every man esteems every day alike. Me personally,
I esteem every day alike. You know, I try to work every day if I can. I try to rest
when I can. You know, I like to get home from work. I like to rest. I'm not in sin. On the
Sabbath day, if I want to work, I work. If I want to rest, I rest. You know? Now, the
only day I don't try to esteem alike is, you know, the anniversaries, birthdays, Christmases,
you know? If I don't want to do something, I'm like, yeah, well, you know, I esteem every
day alike, so don't get mad at me, you know? But yeah, obviously, those days, you know,
you can esteem any day you like. So you want to celebrate Christmas, you want to celebrate
whatever, you have that free choice. And if you don't want to celebrate it, you have that
free will. But to be clear, you're not in sin if you don't observe the Sabbath day.
This is just the Old Testament ordinance that we're supposed to follow in the Old Testament,
but we're under the New Testament. There's a better testament, a better covenant. Colossians
chapter two gives us more clear scriptures on the same exact topic. So Jesus Christ,
you know, He's our Sabbath day. And look what it says in verse 13, second Colossians
chapter two, verse 13. It says, "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. And having spoiled principalities and
powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Look what it says here,
"Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or respect of an holy day, or of the new
moon, or of the Sabbath day, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ."
So the Bible tells us again clearly, it says, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or of an holy day, or of the Sabbath day," because the Bible says it was a shadow of that which was
to come. See what happens is the Sabbath day was a picture of salvation, okay? That's why
if you notice the clear instruction that was given in Exodus, it said the Sabbath day is a day of
rest, and you're not supposed to do any work in that day. And if any man is found doing any works
in that day, they're supposed to be put to death. Now in the New Testament, why is that a shadow?
Because Christ is our rest. You know, in order to be saved, the Bible says that you have to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you don't have to turn to Ephesians chapter 2, but it says, you know,
"For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
not of the works, lest any man should boast." So that is the Sabbath right there. When you're
resting in Christ, that means you're not doing any works. That means you're not gathering any
sticks. You know, when it comes to the Sabbath day, you know, when it comes to Christ, there's
no work that needs to be done. The Bible says, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him
that justifeth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." So the Sabbath is a great
picture. It's a great shadow. And we don't want to destroy the Sabbath day by thinking that we have
to keep this commandment in the New Testament because we don't. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath.
He is our rest. And when it comes to salvation, you can rest. You don't have to gather any sticks.
But unfortunately, there's a lot of people today that's gathering sticks. You know, a lot of people
think in order to go to heaven, you have to be a good person. You have to live a good life. You
have to keep the works. And unfortunately, that person is going to be put to death because the
Bible said that is not of works. You know, it's not based upon how we live our lives, what we do.
It's not based upon none of that. It's only based upon the finished works of Christ. And if you
rest in that, you're saved. And you know, the Bible doesn't really say that because they also
use the Sabbath day to do their worship and their ceremonies and stuff like that. The Bible doesn't
give a clear, it doesn't give a clear statement saying that you have to go to church on Sunday
or Monday or Tuesday. But the reason why we do go to church on Sunday is because upon the first day
of the week, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, right? And it actually makes sense. You know,
Brother Joe preached a great sermon about tithing and giving our talents to God. And God expects the
first fruits from us. You know, why are we going to give God our last day of the week when we can
just give God the first day of the week, right? The first day is the Sabbath of rest. We like to
start our week off by going to church, worshiping God, try to get our heads, you know, get level
headed for the rest of the week. So the Sabbath day, you know, is not something that we have to
follow, but all we have to do is just rest in Christ. Now, there's other scriptures as well
in the Bible. You have all the apostles gathering together on the first day of the week and Paul's
preaching to them. So we see it's actually biblical in the Bible that they actually gathered on the
first day of the week, the first day of the week. They had services on the first day of the week.
So, you know, we can follow that same exact example. You know, we do Wednesday because it's
the middle of the week. And Lord willing, you know, the Bible says, "Let us not forsake the
assembling of ourselves together as a matter of some is, but exhorting one another." And they're
saying to go so much tomorrow. I'm butchering that. But the Bible says as we see the day approaching
that we need to go to church so much the more. The more wicked that it gets out in this world,
the more we need to be in the house of God. The more we need the preaching of God's word.
You know it's so hard to just like live your everyday life with the world just trying to
cram all this propaganda down your throat. So coming to church it helps renew our minds,
it helps us get a fresh start, it helps us be around people who are normal, people who you know
are not trying to work on the Sabbath day. But what's funny is that the the church of the Seventh
Day events is they're actually hypocrites because they they worry so much about trying to keep the
Sabbath day and not do any works on the Sabbath day. But they don't realize that they're actually
trying to do works for salvation. They don't actually realize that they're actually working
on the Sabbath day. It's like I'd rather work on the physical Sabbath day than the spiritual
Sabbath day. Because if you found working on the spiritual Sabbath day you're gonna not only be
put to death but you're also going to face the second death. You're going to go to the lake of
fire. And this is from their website about what they believe about salvation. So that way I'm
just not making things up. But what they believe about salvation it says, "However, it still comes
down to choice. God never wanted forced allegiance. The option is ours. We can succumb to sin and
choose to live for ourselves, or we can choose to accept Jesus, Jesus' sacrifice, follow Him,
and get to know Him." So what they say about salvation, if you go on their website, you can
either choose to succumb to sin, so just live for yourself, or you could choose to accept Christ's
sacrifice, follow Him, get to know Him. Now it's pretty vague because if you say accept Christ,
you know, we could probably say the same thing. You know, believe in Jesus, accept Jesus Christ,
you know, once if it was the same. But they're being vague on purpose. When people are being
vague on purpose because they're trying to conceal something, they're trying to conceal
what they really believe. And these people, you know, when somebody says a vague answer,
it's very best that, you know, you try to really pull out of them what they actually mean by that,
you know. And I think they even kind of explicitly just tell us what they believe. It says,
furthermore, it says, "Led by the Holy Spirit, we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness,
repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith." So when they say "exercise faith," that means
works. That means gathering stakes. These people are gathering stakes and they believe that they're
so holy, they're so set apart, but actually, buddy, you're gathering stakes. You're going to
be put to death. And it says, "Exercise faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Substitute example.
This saving faith comes through the divine power of the Word and is God's gift." So you got to
have--so what they say is you got to have saving faith. You know, you got to have the saving faith.
And if you have the saving faith and you exercise this faith, you'll be saved. Well, I'm sorry buddy,
you're not saved. You're not going to heaven. You're going to go to hell because, you know,
you're actually gathering stakes. And that's what's so funny about the hypocrisy, because they
actually believe that they're keeping the Sabbath, but they're not. We're keeping the Sabbath. You
know, to go to heaven, I'm not doing nothing. This is what I look like, you know, about my salvation.
I'm on my couch, feet all the way up, eating chips off my chest. And you know, that's me resting on
my way to heaven because I'm trusting in Jesus. Everybody else is gathering sticks. And you know,
unfortunately, you know, we have a whole entire world that believes that in order to be saved,
you have to do works, you have to live a good life, you have to keep the commandments,
and they're all gathering sticks. You know, and God is not playing when he says, "Whoever is
working on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death." It's a spiritual picture. You know,
if you're working to get to heaven, you're going to be put to death spiritually. You're going to die
and go to hell for all of eternity. Now, even if you like the person, they're still going to go
to hell. You know, the guy that's there gathering sticks, you know, I kind of like the guy. And the
reason why is because he's gathering sticks. Now, what do you call a bundle of sticks? Fags, right?
And what do you do with fags? You burn them. And you know what? This guy might be, you know,
he might be woke or whatever you call him. You know, he might not be, he might not just follow
the agenda of the world. He kind of actually sees the wickedness of these people. But unfortunately,
even though they might be woke or whatever the case may be, they're still going to die and go
to hell without resting in Christ, you know. And that's why the Bible gives us instructions
to be a soul winner. The Bible gives our church instructions to be a soul winner. You know,
that's the reason why I moved to Steadfast, because I wanted to be in a church that's a
soul winning church. You know, when I wasn't in the church, you know, I wasn't that dedicated,
soul winning. But when you come around a group of people who are all soul winners,
it pushes you to be a better person. It pushes you to be a better soul winner.
And it helped me become consistent with my soul and become in a church that's a soul winning church.
You know Jesus told the apostles before he was resurrected. You know he said to go into all the
world. He said to preach the gospel in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the other most part of
the world. And you know our church is doing that. You know we went to Bahamas this year.
We're going to Mexico. Like we're bringing the gospel to afar and near. That's what we're doing
as a church. And most churches aren't following this instruction. You know and you're gonna die
a fool if you're in a church like ours and you're not a soul winner. I mean like everybody in this
church for the most part goes soul winning. You know and if you're not soul winning you're just
gonna die a fool. And all these churches that are not doing the work of God. You know the Bible
tells us in Revelation about the church of Ephesus. He's telling them to repent or else he's going to
remove their candlestick. You know and once he removed that candlestick they're gonna they're
just their church is gonna die a fool. You know and thank God our church is not a fool. The Bible
said the fruit of the righteous is the tree of life and he that with his souls is wise. You know so
thank God that our church we're soul owners. Our church we go we try to stop people from gathering
sticks. You know because most people are probably on day six. Maybe most people on day four or five
and we need to stop them from going to day seven gathering sticks before they die and go to hell.
So yeah I just think it's pretty funny the hypocrisy of the seven day event is
you know because they just try to like not work on a Sabbath day but the spiritual
Sabbath they want to work and they say themselves it's a symbol of our redemption. So if it's a
symbol of our redemption why are you trying to make a physical instead of keeping it spiritual?
You know it's funny but if you would turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 37. So my first point
was about the Sabbath and salvation how the Sabbath day just pictures salvation and the
Sabbath day you know no work is supposed to be done on the Sabbath day which is a picture of
salvation. There's no works to be done to be saved. The Bible says it's not by works of righteousness
which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us. So that's a great picture. We need to
make sure that we're following those instructions. If there's anybody in here who believes that they
have to do any type of work to be saved or they have to like try to their best or feel
sorry for their sins you know you're not saved. You're gathering sticks. If you ask somebody hey
how do you go to heaven? Well you just got to feel bad for your sins. Well you're not saved.
Or if you have to you know if they give you a vague answer just be a good or accept Christ
they're not saved you know. When I got saved I didn't feel bad for any sin. You know I just
didn't want to go to hell. I was like all I gotta do is believe that's it. No works time me up.
It's a free gift. So the second point is the tabernacle and discipleship. Now there's another
great story in the Bible about the tabernacle of how it's being built and there's many different
instructions on how the tabernacle is built but I'm not going to focus so much on every aspect of
the tabernacle because it's too much to go over in the short amount of time but what I do want to
focus on is the Ark of the Covenant, okay. Now in Exodus chapter 37, you should be there in verse
one, it says, "And Bezalel made the Ark of Shitton wood. Two cubits and a half was the length of it,
and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. And he overlaid
it with pure gold, with thin and without, and he made a crown of gold to it round about. And he
cast for it four rings of gold to be set by the four corners of it, even two rings upon the one
side of it and two rings upon the other side of it. He made staves of Shitton wood and overlaid
them with gold. And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the Ark to bear the Ark."
Turn if you will to Numbers chapter 4. Actually go to Numbers 1 because we're going to do 1 and 4.
So we see that the Ark of the Covenant that's being built, it gives all the dimensions about how it's
built. And we see that the purpose of having the purpose of the Ark is so that way we could put
that's where the Tabernacle of the Covenant goes inside. So that when God gave Moses the 10
Commandments, he put those 10 Commandments inside the Ark of the Covenant. Now inside the Ark of the
Covenant, well besides him putting that inside of the Ark of the Covenant, they were supposed to
actually bear the Covenant on their shoulder. They were supposed to bear the Ark on their shoulders.
So that's why they put the poles in it, they put the sticks in it so that way you can have four guys
bearing the Ark of the Covenant and this is how they were supposed to transport the Ark of the
Covenant was by bearing it. Now it should be the number chapter one that tells us who is supposed
to bear it. It says, "But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony and over
all the vessels thereof and over all things that belong to it. They shall bear the tabernacle and
all the vessels thereof and they shall minister unto it and shall a camp rom about the tabernacle."
So we see that who's responsible for bearing the Ark of the Covenant? It was the Levites. Now go to
chapter 4 because it's going to give us a little bit more of a specific instructions about who's
supposed to bear the Ark of the Covenant inside the tribe of Levi because Levi was kind of broken
up into three tribes and you got the Kohathites, the Mararites, and the Gershonites and in chapter
4 it tells us who's responsible to bear the Ark of the Covenant out of the tribe of Levi. It says,
"And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the
sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it,
but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die." These things are the burden of the
sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation. So we see that more specifically is the sons of
Kohath who are the ones supposed to come and bear the Ark to set it forward. So when they're
transporting the Ark they're supposed to bear it and this was their burden. This wasn't something
that was easy, it's something that's difficult because it's a burden. And the son of Kohath
was supposed to bear the tabernacle. Now God gives us, go over with the second Samuel chapter 6,
so God gives us clear instructions on how the tabernacle was supposed to set forward,
how we were supposed to handle it, they're supposed to cover it, no one's supposed to touch it
because it was holy, and if anybody touched it they would die. So it's very clear what the Bible
tells us, it gives us clear instructions, and let's see what happens in 2 Samuel chapter 6.
While you're going there, I'm going to read out of Proverbs chapter 10, it says, "He is in the way
of life that keepeth instruction, but he that refuses reproves erreth." So you're going in the
right way in life if you're following instructions, but if you refuse the proof, the Bible says you're
error, you're going in the wrong direction. So when someone gives you clear instructions,
you're going in the, you know, most likely obviously you have to test the instruction,
make sure they're validated, but you're going in the right way. And if not, you're going to error,
you're going to go the wrong way. So you should be there, 2nd Samuel chapter 6. So here's a story
about the Ark of the Covenant, and the Ark of the Covenant has been taken during the days of Saul,
because he lost in battle to the Philistines, and David is trying to recover this. So the Ark
of the Covenant has been gone a while, so just give you a little context. So it says in 2nd
Samuel chapter 6 verse 1, it says, "Again David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel,
30,000. And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baal of Judah to
bring up from thence the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that
dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the Ark of God upon a new cart and brought it out of
the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahayel, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new
cart." So we see that instead of these people bearing the cart, bearing the Ark of the Covenant
upon their shoulders like they were supposed to, what they do is they're trying to take the easy
route. They're trying to take the easy way. And they put the Ark of God upon a new cart, and what
they do is they drive it. It's kind of like a shopping cart. You know, imagine trying to carry
all your groceries in the shopping cart, you just carry it on your shoulders. You know, if you have
a lot of kids, that's a lot of food, and it's really heavy, and it's difficult, right? And obviously
the easy way is just put it in the shopping cart, just roll that bad boy down the hill, let it hit
something, and pick it all up, right? So they drive the new cart, and let's see what happens.
It says in verse 4, "And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab," notice this is Abinadab,
this guy is not of the tribe of Levi or of the tribe of Kohath, and I believe he's a Benjamin,
I believe he saw his brother, he saw his relative, and it says, "And they brought it out of the house
of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God, and Ahiah went before the ark.
And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made
of fir wood, even on harps, and on salt trees, and on timbrels, and on corn, and on cymbals.
And when they came to Nakin's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God,
and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah,
and God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the ark of God."
So Uzzah died a fool, and God gave clear instruction not to touch it. Now you will say,
well, you know, it was going to fall on the floor, you know, and he tried to save it.
But God gave clear instructions to put it upon your shoulder so that way you can balance it better.
Because if you never put it on the ark, if you never drove it on the new cart,
it would have never felt like that. Because you have four men holding it, walking with it,
and you know, it would have been stable. But there's no stability upon this cart that they
put it upon. So we see that David makes a grave error. I mean, we see that Uzzah, he died. But
I would say that David kind of made this grave error because God commanded the king to read
through the book of the law all his days. And David eventually fixes his mistakes. He realized
that it's only the Levites that are supposed to carry the ark, and they're supposed to bear it
upon their shoulders. So later on in life, David does fix his mistake and his error, and he does
the right thing. But as of right now, David actually is the reason why Uzzah died, because
he should have known that Uzzah was supposed to, you know, the Levites were supposed to bear the
ark and it wasn't supposed to be Uzzah. Now this ordinance is not in effect today. This is not
something that we have to do today. We're not carrying around the ark of the covenant. Like
I said, it was the Ten Commandments were inside the ark of the covenant, and the Bible said that
we are the pistols of Christ, raining the graven in our hearts, you know, so this is not something
that we follow today. But this is an Old Testament ordinance that's supposed to be followed. But even
though that doesn't apply, the principle that applies, you know, and the principle is, you know,
we got to do things the way that God wants us to do them and not just try to do things our own way,
a way that's more convenient, a way that's more easier for us to do. Now, you don't have to turn
the go-to Proverbs chapter 1. Now, bearing the ark of the covenant, like I said, it was a burden.
It was something that was difficult. And that's a picture of discipleship. That's a picture of the
Christian life. You know, living the Christian life is not one that's easy. It's a burden. It's
difficult. Okay? And it says in Luke chapter 14, you should be going to Proverbs chapter 1. It says,
"If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brother and
sisters, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross
and come after me cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsake
is not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." So we see that the Christian life that we're
supposed to bear our cross. You know, the Old Testament, when they were bearing the Ark of the
Covenant, there's a picture of us just bearing our cross. And it was a burden back then. It was
something that they were supposed to do in their lifetime. And it's something that we have to do.
So there's many different areas of a life that we have to bear our cross. We all have different
crosses to bear. But ultimately, you know, it's important that we do bear our cross and it's not
difficult. And I would say because of David's grave mistake as parents, as fathers, you know,
it's very important that we give good instructions to our families, to our children, to our wives,
so that we can make sure that they don't die a fool. You know, because Uzzah could have,
he could have been alive and well if David would have made sure he instructed him the right way.
You know, and our kids, they can make a lot of mistakes if, you know, we don't instruct them,
we don't give them the right rules to follow. Look what it says in Proverbs chapter 1, it says,
"My son, hear the instruction," look at verse 8, sorry, it says, "My son, hear the instruction
of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother." So Bible tells us right here,
it's the instruction of our fathers. Go to chapter 4, chapter 4 verse 1, it says,
"Hear ye children the instruction of a father, and attend to no understanding." So the Bible gives
us clear commands that children need to hear the instructions of their father, you know, and it's
our job to make sure that we're giving our kids clear instruction, because if we don't, they could
die a fool, you know, and you say, "Hey, well, I don't have a father, I don't have a father fixture."
It says, "Hear the instructions of a father." Find somebody who is a father, somebody who knows,
and try to get advice from them, try to get instructions from them, so we can save them.
Now, what I want to talk about today, right now, is just about bearing children. You know,
the Bible says, "I will therefore that young woman marry, bear children, guide the house."
You know, and bearing children is not easy. It's a burden. It's something that's very difficult.
Sometimes, you know, you want to quit, but then you realize the importance of actually doing a
great job because, you know, you love your children. And I don't believe it's just women
that bear their children. Obviously, dad has to work, but when he comes home, he can help
bear the children too. You know, it talks about in Deuteronomy how the Lord bears the children
of Israel. Moses talked about, "Should I bear them like my own children?" So as fathers,
we're also bearing our children. So it's a thing that we have to be in perfect synergy,
you know, when it comes to bearing our children. And in order for us to make sure that we don't
let our children die as a fool, we have to train them up. And the Bible says, "Train up a child,
and the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart." So when I gave the definition
of instructions earlier, one of the definitions was just direction. So when the Bible says,
"Train up a child, and the way he should go," we have to give our kids clear directions in what
path they should go down in life. How to handle themselves in certain situations. Now, before I
give you some things to think about, some things to train your children on, I want to kind of
reference this book. So there's this book called, "The Dichotomy of Leadership." It's a great book.
Brother Joe referred it to me. I recommend everybody reading it. It's a great book on
leadership and finding the balance as a leader. And one of the points, one of the chapters is
called, "Train hard but train smart." And a lot of times, you know, we don't really think about how
do we train our children properly or how do we train our employees or our workers and everything
like that. So you can take this in every avenue. But what the book says in this chapter about
training hard but training smart, it says, "Hard training is critical to the performance of any
team. After all, there's no growth in the comfort zone." So training should be able to push, you
know, push you, yeah, push the limits, push you, you know, above your limits. And it says, "Consequently
training must be hard. It should push the team beyond the limits of their day-to-day easy access."
It says, "Task and prepare them for great challenges. All good training focuses on three
critical aspects." So when he says training, if you want to be a good trainer, there's three
critical aspects that you should follow. And I like these points. It says, "Realism, fundamentals,
and repetition." So it's realism. So it has to be real. You have to practice fundamentals and
repetition. So it says, "Training must be realistic." So the first point, it should push the team
and the leaders, especially into realistic, uncomfortable situation. So when you're training
somebody, you don't want to prepare them for an unrealistic situation. You want to make sure that
they're ready for real tasks that they might truly face in their life. And as parents, as we're
training our children, we need to make sure that we're training them for real things that they
might face in the real world, you know, because we're not going to always be there to hold their
hand. So they need to know, you know, how to handle how to conduct themselves when they find
themselves in a certain scenario in life. So it says training must be realistic, right? And it says
training must focus on the fundamentals. Often people think they know and what often people
think they know them and want to skip through them. But the truth is our brain and memory
don't work that way. Never skip the fundamentals unless you want to forget them. So there's also
practical fundamentals that you should always use when you're going through realistic scenarios.
Okay and for us that's the Bible. You know the Bible gives us every scenario we can face in life
how we can handle ourselves and we use the fundamentals of the Bible to help us conduct
ourselves in everyday life. So it was realism fundamentals and repetition. So it says right
here and that brings me that brings us to our final point training must be repetitive. Repetition
is the mother of learning. So not only should you face realistic scenarios and practice the
fundamentals but there's something that we should repeat on a daily basis something we should repeat
often. The more you repeat this training process the better you're going to become at it. Just
like if you're playing sports you know every sports like a good team they're going to practice
scenarios they're going to do certain scenarios you know and I remember when I played in high
school you know we didn't practice scenarios at all so sometimes we'll be faced with a challenge
and we don't know what to do. Everybody's scrambling, everybody's going all over the place, but like in softball, you know, we have to practice certain scenarios so we can know what to do in that scenario, in that situation.
So let's say for example, we have a runner on first base, okay, and let's say the ball gets hit to shortstop or gets hit to second base.
Now how do you know what to do if you've never been faced with that scenario? How do you know what to do if you don't know the fundamentals, if you don't know what's the rules of the game?
How do you know what to do if you don't keep practicing over and over again so that way it becomes muscle memory?
So if a person on first base and the batter that's up, let's say he hits the ball and it goes to shortstop or it goes to second base, the fundamental, the principle will be throw the ball to second base.
Throw the ball to second base and then try to throw the ball to first base, try to get a double out, there's a double play.
And that's a practical example of knowing the scenario, you know because in life sometimes you're going to be faced with a scenario you might not know what to do unless you have the instruction, the fundamentals on how to do it.
And then not only should you know what to do but we got to keep practicing it, you know so whenever we have baseball practice, all ball practice, you know we're on the same place over and over and over again so that way they're drilled in our minds.
So in the game time we don't have to think we've been faced with the situation, we know exactly what to do in this situation and that way we can execute, we can try to perform it and life is no different.
Now I'm going to play a game with all the kids okay. Kids you like games? So we're going to play Simon Says but it's going to be Daddy Says okay.
Now my kids I want you to come up really quickly because I wanted to give a couple quick examples of training and give you guys like realistic scenarios that we should face.
So I'm going to put a couple chairs here. Now I just told them like two minutes before the sermon so hopefully you know they make me look good.
So these are my kids here, Marcel, Ava, Roman, my nephew, Johnny. If you don't know, now you know them.
So when it comes to like having your kids sit down at church, right, this is a realistic scenario.
I mean we're all in church right now. Everybody's kids here are sitting down. They're doing well.
And this doesn't happen by accident, you know. So you might have a small child that's one years old.
You never have a one-year-old that you actually see what it's really like to actually train little kids.
But the goal is, what I want to do is like, when I'm at home, I practice, you know, I do Bible reading with them.
And I say, "Look, when we're at church, this is how I want you to sit."
So when you sit, you put the seat down, hands on your lap, pay attention, right? And that's all you got to do.
So what they're doing is, this is a realistic scenario. So training phase number one is make sure the scenario is real, right?
So this is a real scenario. I mean, all the kids in here are sitting down at church.
Number two is the fundamentals. So what I want them to do, the instructions that I give them, is you sit down, hands on your lap, you be quiet, and you pay attention.
Now, they're not going to die, but they're going to get a spanking if they act up, right? So you don't want to die a fool by not listening to your parents' instructions, right?
So what happens is they sit down quiet. Now, when they're younger, it's going to be a little bit more difficult. They're going to be a little bit more squirmish.
But what happens is you have to practice corporal punishment if your children are trying to get up, and they're trying to move, and they're trying to play around.
So they just sit down nicely. You know, I wish it was this perfect. Oh, it's back there. They weren't doing it this perfectly, but they're doing a good job.
So, and then repetition. So, you know, whenever you're at church, you know, this is like the game day.
You don't want to wait till the game day to try to have your kids sit down in church quietly with their hands on the lap,
and try to tell them, hey, shh, be quiet. They should be practiced at home, so that when you come to church, they already know exactly what to expect.
You know, sometimes you could put a sermon on, so that way they could sit down, watch the sermon, so they can get used to watching the sermon.
Now, if your child is, let's say, a toddler, one-year-old, two-year-old, you know, you have to just work on the limits.
So, first of all, you might want to start off with 10 minutes, you know, a session.
Gradually work your way up to 20 minutes, 30 minutes.
Sometimes you want to focus on getting them some snacks so they can just eat something much more.
Because a child, a toddler, they can't really sit down for the duration of the sermon because it's real difficult for them.
But the more you do this, the better they're going to be. They're going to be pros. They're going to be experienced, okay?
So, you know, if you want to practice, you know, training this, you know, I'm training them for a realistic scenario.
Also, sometimes some things we don't really think about, like what if you're at your house or you're in a certain area
and there's something that happens that's an emergency, you know, I practice like, you know, I'm not going to do it right now,
but like code red or code black, you know, and what that would mean is like there's a danger.
So what I want them to do, you know, I have my Theo grab his little brother, I have Ava grab the other little brother,
you know, Roman, Jojo, they would just get together and go into a closet and go hide, you know,
because you never know what can happen in life. So you want to make sure that you're prepared for any scenario.
So if somebody's at your door or something, you know, going on, hey, code red, they would know what that means.
They go hide themselves. So, and it's just for practice. It's just something fun. And they like to do it.
They like to just run and just do it, but you never know in real life.
As they get older, then you're going to get a little bit more advanced, like handling a weapon and different things like that of that sort.
Now, that's one scenario in life that, you know, you're going to face, you know, having your kids in church, you know,
give them instructions on what to do, how to handle themselves, how to conduct themselves.
Another scenario is soul winning. So it's difficult when your kids are soul winning, but this is what I expect.
Now the Bible, not the Bible, but in the book he says training must be repetitive.
Repetition is the mother of learning. So the more you do it, the better they're going to be at it.
So don't expect them at three, four, five years old to be perfect at this.
But by the time they get older, you're going to have higher standards, higher expectations.
So stand up real quick, all of you. So Ava, you can hold Matheel's hand, Bubba hold JoJo's hand.
So when we're soul winning, you know, I would like them to just follow you, get in line over here in front.
You come here, in front of JoJo. So when we're soul winning, you know, walk in pairs, you know.
So you just follow me, so like follow Dad. So we're like we're walking the soul winning, they're together.
You know, wherever Dad goes, they follow and they should follow nice and quietly.
You know, this is great training, right? Nice and quiet.
Now when I'm knocking on the door, you know, I'm knocking the door, they should stand right here, just quietly.
You know, and you do this at the house and they love it, it's a game to them.
But if they goof off and they play around, then at home you can correct them.
And now during the training day, if they're still goofing around, they're acting up, when you get home you can correct them, okay?
So this is a scenario of just training. You want to train your kids for certain scenarios, okay? You guys go sit down.
Now even, put these chairs back, go sit over there.
So even like if you go to the grocery store, you know, train your children to how to walk in the grocery stores.
You know, when I have, you know, my children and I teach my wife, you know, you have one child right here holding the cart, you have another child right here holding the cart.
I have one baby in the cart, another baby on the chair of the cart, I have, you know, the bigger siblings right here.
So there's kids everywhere. You know, it's like, you guys got a daycare? No, it's just all my kids, right?
So as we're walking through the store, you know, we're at home and we train and we practice this.
You know, we're practicing, hey, don't touch nothing, you know, because if you touch something, you're going to get in trouble.
You know, you don't want to, you don't want to face that, to face the wrath of dad.
So you don't touch nothing, you walk, keep your hands by your side, you know, let mommy do whatever she has to do, let dad, you know, you can talk quietly.
And because, you know, because I don't often training all the time, you know, their behavior would get loosened up.
And I'm like, you know, I got to, I got to go over this, I got to practice this again.
So, you know, these are scenarios that you have to train your kids.
So like training, remember, like I said, it has to be real, something that you're going to really face.
You know, another thing too, is I have my, you know, I tell my children, hey, you watch your siblings because, you know, you might be in the park or something like that.
And somebody could like, you know, hit your child and they could hurt your child. So you want to make sure the other siblings are watching them, they're taking care of them.
Like, hey, if somebody hits your brother, you grab your sibling and you get out of the situation.
If they're attacking them, you know, you need to make sure you step in and defend your brother right away.
You know, that's why I got my kids in wrestling. I have them in jujitsu. So that way, they're training how to face a real life scenario.
You know, you don't want to be a person who ends up getting into a scuffle and you don't know what to do. You're like a fish out of water.
You know, I don't expect them to be pros or anything like that, but I just want them to know how to handle themselves if they ever have to face a tough situation in life.
You know, as a dad, you need to know how to stop a threat right away. You've got your nine millimeter if it has to get to that scenario, practice training, go to a shooting range.
But you have to be able to defend your family. You have to teach your children, your sons, how to defend each other. You know, there's many different scenarios.
You know, also talk to your kids about if someone touches them inappropriately, what they should do, how they should handle themselves, who to go talk to.
I talk to my kids, there's a certain area you don't touch, your brothers and sisters don't touch, and if they do, you come tell me, you come let me know.
Because a lot of times, if you don't talk to them about this, and something like that happens, they might not know how to handle themselves, they might not know what to do.
So it's important that we get them ready for these scenarios because we know pedophiles exist, we know reprobates exist, and if somebody touches them at the park or at church or something like that,
you want them to know how to handle themselves, how to get past the scenario. What else did I have?
So there's many different points, I don't have enough time for every single thing, but also parents need to instruct their children.
Like fathers, you're going to give your children instruction on how to handle, how men should go and approach women.
Because as a child you might not have those instructions, you might not know how to, thank you sir, you might not know how to approach women.
So it's important that you receive instruction and you're like hey I don't have a dad or something like that, well find a man that's in here that has a wife, he'll let you know exactly what to do.
Now quick tidbit, just talk to as many girls as you can.
You know like before I was married I wanted a girlfriend, I wanted you know back then you know you don't really have, you don't think about the word wife and stuff like that because you're worldly.
But I just wanted a girlfriend really bad.
So I talked to every girl that I could, anytime that I can, you know as many as I can I set up as many dates as possible.
Oh, you're a player. I'm single. I'm not in no sin. I'm not doing anything wrong.
So if you want to get a wife it's not going to happen by accident.
He that findeth a wife, findeth a good thing. So you need to find your wife.
And what's very important too about just as a single guy just talking to many different women because a lot of women could be manipulative.
And this goes both ways, okay? But I'm just going from one angle.
Women could play the good role. They could make it seem like they're all perfect and all sweet.
If you think of in Proverbs 5, you have this strange woman. She's like,
"Have not I looked for you? And I've made my peace offerings and my vows."
So she's making it seem like she's real spiritual. She's real religious.
And really she said, "Well, the good man is not at home. Come, let us take our fill of love."
And then you kind of see the dragon coming out of her mouth.
And you see her trying to actually fornicate with this guy, and he falls right into the trap.
So it's important to be able to build your senses up so you can know who's a good woman and who's a bad woman.
And also with ladies as well, you have to teach your daughters how to conduct themselves as a man comes and tries to talk to them.
Let's say your daughters are married and some man tries to talk to them in the store.
I'm sure every woman in here probably has been hit on at one point or another.
Guys will try to talk to them, so you have to teach them how to handle themselves if somebody comes and talks to them.
Just look away, don't look them in the eyes, just say no thank you, just get away.
Because I know we're all raising good kids, but look at Bathsheba.
She had a great father, her husband was in the mighty man arc, David was one of David's mighty men.
I believe her father was one of David's mighty men as well.
And she made a great mistake. These are things that have to be taught because these are scenarios you're going to face in real life.
So you can think of whatever scenario you guys like because you're grown.
And you can think of different things that your children might face and try to teach them how to handle themselves, how to follow these things.
And you can save them from making a grave mistake like Uzzah did by putting forth his hand on the ark and touching the ark of the covenant and dying.
And you can save them from making a serious mistake in their life.
You go to Proverbs chapter 4 real fast.
But yeah, there's many different scenarios in life that you can train your children.
You can even train your wife, try to teach your wife, hey look, if you face this situation, this is how you handle it.
You know, somebody tries to like rob you or whatever.
Just make them ready so that way they're not, you know, like losing their stuff whenever they're in that situation.
So Proverbs chapter 4, another thing too, you can train your children on what kind of friends to have.
You know, what kind of people to be around.
You know, how do you know who's a good person, you know?
And give them these instructions so they can know how to handle themselves when they're faced with that scenario.
Because somebody might say, hey, you want to smoke a little pot or you want to drink a little alcohol.
You know, I know a lot of people, we all make a lot of mistakes based upon the friends that we had.
You know, a lot of mistakes I made were because of the influence that I had in my life.
You know, if I had a father or somebody teaching me what kind of people to hang out with, what kind of people to watch out for,
you know, I would have saved myself from a lot of mistakes, and I'm sure a lot of you as well.
It says in Proverbs chapter 4, it says in verse 13, it says,
So we see he's giving instructions to his child. He says, look, pass not in the way of evil men.
There's evil people out there. They don't sleep unless they have done mischief.
They don't sleep unless they call something to fall.
I mean, think about what kind of person this is when you can't sleep because you want to hurt somebody.
You know, a lot of us sometimes we can't sleep because we don't work enough that day or we're just not tired.
And the Bible says the sleep of a laboring man is sweet, but these people, they can't sleep unless they hurt somebody.
And in Proverbs chapter 1, it says,
"If sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Go not in the way with them."
They say, "Come, let us wait for blood and let us work privately for the innocent without cause.
We shall find all precious substance. We shall fill the houses with treasure. We shall divide the spoil."
You know, you need to train your child to know that, "Hey, look, if someone's giving me these type of offers,
it says, 'Go not thou in the way with them.' Avoid it. Pass away."
So like, if your children face these scenarios, they need to just pass, you know,
just go as far as they can away from this person because these are evil men, evil, wicked people.
So train your children on how to find good friends, good people.
Look what it says in Proverbs chapter 19. I'm going to read Proverbs chapter 6.
"For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instructions are the way of life."
So the Bible tells us that reproofs of instructions are the way of life.
You know, if you want to be able to live, you know, a Godly Christian life,
the Bible says that all scripture is given for instruction, you know,
inspiration of God and it's profitable for instruction and righteousness.
Proverbs chapter 19, it says, "Hear counsel," verse 20, "hear counsel and receive
instruction that thou mayest be wise in the latter end."
Proverbs chapter 13, I'll have to turn there.
It says, "Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuses instruction,
but he that regardeth the proof shall be honored."
So the Bible tells us over and over again, you know, hear instruction,
hear instruction, he that refuses instruction.
The Bible says he's going to be poor, he's going to be in poverty.
Poverty and shame to him that refuses instruction.
You know, so, you know, if you're a person that wants to be wise,
if someone gives you instruction, the Bible says don't hurt your neck.
You know, he will give instruction to a wise man and he will love thee.
You know, we shouldn't have an attitude when someone instructs us
that, wow, they're trying to make me better, I'm going to be this much better
instead of having like a salty attitude about it.
But I don't have much point, I'll just kind of just briefly go over this last point really quickly.
So point one was the Sabbath of salvation.
We've seen that people died because they didn't follow the instruction that was given for the Sabbath day.
And that's a spiritual picture because if we don't follow the instructions for salvation,
if we do works to get to heaven, you know, you'll go to hell, we'll go to hell for that.
But obviously we believe the truth.
The second point was the tabernacle of salvation.
So we see that God gives clear instructions about the tabernacle.
The Bible often refers to our body as the tabernacle of the Holy Ghost.
This is our tabernacle.
And we have to bear our cross.
And that's many different avenues that you can go down and think about how you can bear your cross.
One thing I just want to talk about with the children.
And the last thing was the physical and spiritual offerings.
If you will turn to Exodus chapter 30.
Exodus chapter 30.
I'm going to start in verse 1.
It says, "And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon of chitin wood, thou shalt make it."
Jump down to verse 6.
"And thou shalt put it before the veil, that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat, that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.
And Aaron shalt burn thereon sweet incense every morning, when he dresteth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.
You shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifices, nor meat offerings, neither shall you pour drink offering thereon.
And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonements.
Once in a year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generation, it is most holy unto you.
Now in Leviticus chapter 10, it says, you don't have to go there, it says in Nadab.
So we see this offering that says that God says that there was supposed to burn incense on it every single morning,
and there was supposed to burn incense on it every single evening.
In Luke chapter 1 it says, "According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went to the temple of the Lord."
So you know, you have to make sure that the incense was burned every single morning, it's a spiritual picture.
But I want to show you what happens when somebody doesn't follow the instructions, so you should get the point by now.
You follow instructions, you go in the way of life, and if you don't, you despise instructions, you're going to die a fool.
So Leviticus chapter 10 verse 1, it says, "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer and put fire therein,
and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not."
So he commanded clearly, he says, "Don't burn any strange incense thereon." In Exodus chapter 30 he said, "Don't burn any strange incense thereon."
And what does Nadab and Abihu do? Exactly what God told them not to do. They go and burn strange fire before the Lord.
And they went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord.
And so we see these people, they die a fool because they just don't follow incense, you know.
And the spiritual thing is this, what incense represents in the Old Testament that they were supposed to burn incense on every morning and night?
Incense is a picture of prayer, you know. So when the incense goes up before God is a picture of prayer.
It says in Psalm 141, you don't have to turn there, "Let my prayers be set forth before thee as incense,
as the lifting up of my hands, as the evening sacrifice."
So prayer is a good sacrifice that you can do spiritually and this is what God does command us.
And it says in Hebrews chapter 13, it says, "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually,
that is the fruit of our lips, given thanks to his name, but to do good and to communicate, forget not,
for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." So we see giving thanks to God, praying to God day and night,
this is a sacrifice that we can do that God is well pleased with and it's an incense that we do.
Like I said, all the Old Testament pictures, just picture something in the New Testament.
That's why I love the Old Testament now, because when you actually figure out like why is this here,
it just pictures something beautiful in the New Testament.
And you know a lot of times, a lot of churches, you heard like certain like the Catholic Church,
you know their priests are not supposed to get married, you know.
And that's not something that God ever commanded them.
God never said if you want to be a priest you can't get married.
Actually God said the opposite. A bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife.
So a bishop is supposed to have a wife. He's supposed to be the example to the flock.
Whereas the Catholic teaches the opposite, well not to have a wife, to be a nun.
The Bible never commands that. You know, if you choose not to have a wife because you want to fully serve your life for the Lord,
amen, more power to you. You know, that's great, but don't make anybody else who has a wife look bad, like they're a bad person.
So we see that as well. Other sacrifices. You ever heard of like people, I don't know what it costs if you know you can help me out,
but like they actually beat themselves, you know, and to try to put their body in subjection, fraudulation?
Yeah, fraudulation. They actually beat themselves, and God never commanded you to beat yourself to put your body in subjection.
It just says use your will, you know, so. But we see here that these people that need to have an ability, they don't follow instructions.
They end up dying a fool because they don't follow instruction. My hope today is that, you know, as if you're a child,
you listen to your parents' instructions. I know that you know it all already. You got life all figured out.
But your parents are telling you because they've already been through that phase of life.
They've already faced that scenario and they're trying to help you get through it better than what they've done
or try to do a good job at it. So, you know, if your husband's giving you instructions, don't harden your neck.
You know, Bible says, "Hear instruction and be wise. Receive instructions."
So if your husband's giving you instruction, man, if your bosses are giving you instruction, don't harden your neck.
You know, receive instruction. Be wise. You know, that way we don't make a great mistake in our life.
So I just hope that we can all follow instructions in our life. We can try to just, you know,
be a perfect and complete Christian. So, you know, with that, let's have a word of prayer.
Lord God, we just thank you, Lord, for this day and thank you for giving us a church to come to, Lord,
to worship you, to learn your word, Lord. Ask that this sermon could be able to be a help to somebody,
Lord, help us all to give good instructions to our children, prepare them for life,
train them up in the way they should go, help us fathers to give our wives good instructions,
and that way we can lead them in the right direction, and our children, help, you know,
the woman to give good instructions to their children. We also ask that, you know,
we follow the instructions of our bosses, Lord. We actually bless the rest of this week,
help our pastor and all the members get home safely from Sacramento.
We love you. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, for our last song, we'll go to song number 220.
Song number 220, "Jesus is all the world to me."
Song number 220.
Song number 220, everybody singing out together on the first.
Jesus is all the world to me.
My life, my joy, my all, my strength from day to day.
Without him I would fall.
I'm sad, him I go.
No other one can cheer me so.
When I am sad, he makes me glad.
He's my friend.
Jesus is all the world to me.
My friend in Trimor.
He sends the sun shining.
He sends the fist and sunshine and rain.
Fist of Jesus is all the world to me.