Now part of the chapter that I want to focus on is at the end of the story here, of course Abraham's
nephew Lot was taken in battle basically because he was living in Sodom where he should not have
been living. He was living in a wicked place and because of that when Sodom was attacked by these
four kings basically he was taken captive, his family, everything he owned and he was basically
a prisoner of war. Well Abram hears about this and he arms up his train servants and he actually had
all these men, 318 men that were his train servants. He's a very wealthy man and so he
had his own operation, his own business and these men have been trained to fight and so he took
these men and he went and rescued Lot and defeated the enemy by ambushing them. Well when he recovers
all the goods of Lot and his family he also basically liberated all the other prisoners
included which included a lot of people from Sodom and these different places. Now Sodom was a very
wicked place if you remember. Sodom was the place where the men were wicked sinners before the Lord
exceedingly. I don't know if at this point they had degenerated to the point that they were at
in Genesis 18 and 19 where they were just completely homosexual and they were trying
to attack Lot and violate Lot himself, okay, who's a righteous man living there.
But the Bible says that even in chapter 13 that the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord
exceedingly. Already I mean it was it was a really bad place, it was an exceeding bad place, it was a
very wicked place and the king of Sodom here in this story basically represents if we were to take
a spiritual application of this Satan and basically Melchizedek is of course Old Testament parents of
Jesus Christ. We read about that in the book of Hebrews in the New Testament and basically there's
a statement here and I'm going to use this my springboard and I'm going to go to a lot of other
verses but there's a statement here that the king of Sodom says in verse 21. This is when Abram has
just recovered them all back and he says in verse 21, and the king of Sodom said unto Abram give me
the persons and take the goods to thyself and the title of my sermon tonight is this give me
the persons. Give me the person. Now that's what the king of Sodom is saying here and I think the
application that we can take here is that the devil will look to you today and say you know give me the
persons take the goods to thyself. He realized that the most important thing in life is not the goods.
The thing that has the most value is not material objects but rather the person is what's more
important the persons and the devil would love to make the same trade with you today just as he
said to Jesus Christ we tempted Jesus Christ and brought him up on the pinnacle and said all these
things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me. You know he'll offer you the fame the
fortune the money and so forth rather than serving God rather than Jesus Christ's mission to seek and
to save that which was lost the devil offered him material gain and wealth and of course he's not
tempted because he was God in the flesh he could not be tempted with evil and so of course he just
told Satan to get out of here okay but let me give you some examples of this but first of all look at
Matthew uh look at Matthew chapter 20 I'm sorry Matthew 16 verse 26 in the New Testament the first
book of the New Testament so it's about three quarters of the way through the Bible look at
Matthew 16 26 here's a profound thought from Jesus Christ it says in Matthew 16 26 for what
is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul and look at this last part
for what shall a man give in exchange for his soul basically according to the Bible the soul
of a human being is worth more than all the money in the world than anything because he says what
would a man give in exchange for his soul what would be the fair price if you could put a price
tag on a human being if you could put a dollar amount on a soul you you can't value it I mean
a person's life is worth more than any amount of money think about this how much money would it
take let's say one of my children died how much money would it take to to replace that void
you know what price would be paid to make up for that somehow there's no price you couldn't
even put a value on a human being on a life and yet we today live our lives in many cases
more for things than for people and for souls of people that are made in the image of God we're
more interested in things we care more about things like for example turn if you would to
Psalm 127 I'll give you just here's just one example this is right in the very middle of
the Bible if you let your Bible fall open and just in the dead center you'll be in Psalms
look at Psalm 127 famous passage of course says except the Lord build the house they labor in
vain they build it except the Lord keep the city the watchman wake in front of vain is vain for you
to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows for so he given his beloved sleep look
at verse 3 Psalm 127 verse 3 lo children are in heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb
are is his reward as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man so are children of the youth happy is
the man that hath his quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with
the enemies in the gate the Bible here is telling us that children are a blessing from God the Bible
says children are in heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward now stop and
think about this how many people today will say wait a minute I'd like to have kids but I just
can't afford it and what they mean by that is that they want to maintain a lifestyle where they're
surrounded by things at the expense of bringing a human life into this world that God said is a
major blessing and that's worth more than any amount of money and that's a reward straight
from God that's a blessing and yet people would choose another vehicle than another child I mean
they'd rather choose a swimming pool in the backyard and so didn't somebody tell us that
getting a swimming having a swimming pool was the exact same cost a built-in pool in your backyard
was the same cause as caring for another child that's what's really cool and it's true by the
time you spend the chlorine and the maintenance and all these different things they said it's
like caring for a child like financially and what would you rather have you know a human being
a child a person what's worth more or a pool or an SUV or a fancier house or a bigger thing and
we make our decisions based upon things instead of people and we put a bigger value upon things
than upon people now I remember when I was a lot younger and you know somebody said something to
me and it kind of you know I kind of I don't know I don't know if I want to say it hurt my feelings
or it just it just kind of cut me to the heart because of the fact that what they were saying
I felt like it was kind of true what they were saying you know and and usually when somebody
says something to you and it's not true it doesn't really bother you that much right I mean if
somebody just rails on you with some outlandish accusation you just oh that's a good one you know
yeah right but you know when somebody criticizes you and it kind of cuts to the heart because you
you kind of feel like they hit a little too close to home you know what I'm talking about
well I remember when I was a young man it wasn't really a criticism of me but this just kind of
cut me to the heart and I was young and I didn't know a whole lot but I remember somebody said to
me they said to me I was talking to them about how you know if you do the right things God's
going to bless you and God's going to take care of you and this and that and you know this person
basically said to me they said you know what they said I look at your life right now and they said
you know I see you going to church three times a week and this is a long time ago that's when I
was first married you know the early day I think I've been married a few years actually you know
I've been married several years but it was a long time ago it was a few years ago and they said you
know I look at your life you're in church three times a week you're out soul-winning
you read the bible like madness you know and you're you're you're tightening you know you're
giving to missions and they say but look at your life they said you know God's not blessing you
I mean look you're you're dirt poor you have no money you know you're not getting ahead you're
not getting anywhere you know things aren't going great for you so how are you going to sit there
and tell me that if I do the right thing God's going to bless me you know when I look at you
you're not being blessed and at the time I mean I was struggling really bad financially I mean we
were very poor things were not going good and it just kind of hurt me because I was just thinking
to myself you know why isn't God blessing me more you know what I mean I am doing the right things
you know but you know what God was blessing me because I was out getting people saved
because I was having children with my wife and you know we look at it and say you're not being
blessed because your car is a piece of junk and and you don't have any money and you can hardly
even pay your bills and you know and I you know thank God ever since I've been married the only
time I've ever been laid out a bill was just because you know I just forgot to send it out
I mean I've always had the money for bills but sometimes that's all the money I had and we there
were times when we had no furniture I mean for years we had no furniture no food what was the
thing that was brought up honey the other day that I always forget to mention when I'm talking
about how poor we were she brought up just the most extreme example and I was like man I should
have brought that up I mean just to get you to realize I mean we had nothing and this person
looked at that from the outside and saw that you know that we were just struggling and just God's
not blessing you but you know what we got the blessing of God all mixed up and you know you
got your prosperity preachers out there the health and wealth gospel that's going to tell you about
how God's going to bless you financially you know God's not necessarily going to bless you
financially but you know what God will bless you with something that's more important I mean what
is the value of getting somebody saved I mean that's treasure in heaven I mean that's a human
being I mean is a human being worth more or things and we need to realize that people are
what's important and not the and this philosophy carries over to every part of life and I remember
at the time thinking to myself you know what I don't know if I can afford to have children but
you know I'm just gonna I'm just gonna pray that God provides I'm just gonna have faith in God and
you know God did provide and yes we were lean yes we were scraping by but we always had food to eat
we were able to pay our bills and we we lived we survived we made and you know I remember I said
to somebody at the time I said well I said I can always make more money later and straighten my
finances out later but I can't go back and have a bunch of kids later you know what I mean and
and I saw the value in a human being you know I can look at my children's faces right now and be
glad that I chose people rather than things you know here's the next example turn to Romans chapter
16 and this is just one example I mean there are so so many scriptures on this there are five
direct mentions of this it's right I was talking to my friend brother Jimenez the other day
and he told me he said hey I'll listen to your sermon again on why we started in the house he
said I'll listen to that again you know because he started a church in September and he said he
said you said something in the sermon you said that there's five mentions of church meeting in
a house but he said he said no he said there's more than five because of the fact he said you're
not counting all the times in the four gospels when Jesus is preaching in a house you know and
and and other times in the book of Acts where they're having a church service in a house like
when the guy thought of the window I was just basically looking at the five where he just said
you know the church in my house but he said if you go to the four gospels and acts that there's
way more mentions of that and it's a common occurrence in the bible but I'll just I'll just
show you one of them I mean we could we could look at a lot of them but there's one here in
Romans I hope I turn to the right chapter I hope it's not first corinthian 16
it probably is first corinthian 16 I'm sorry let's go to first corinthians 16 we're not leaving that
until we find this so if you help me find it since I wrote down the wrong chapter and then
the sooner we get out of here no I'm just kidding
okay I'm not going to go on this wild goose chase I'll just turn to Philemon okay look there's five
of them okay but anyway I'll just go to Philemon because I know where that one is this is written
in Philemon chapter one I guess you could call it or you could call it the final chapter of the book
of Philemon where it says in verse number two it says Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ and Timothy
our brother unto Philemon our dearly beloved and fellow laborer and listen to this and to our
beloved Appiah and Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church in thy house now if you stop
and think about this almost nobody starts their church in their house anymore now again I'm not
for this house church movement of like we don't go to church me and my family just sit around
the bible and we call that church that's not church I mean church is the congregation of
believers it's not just my family you know it's it's a group that's going on and reaching people
and there's a pastor and there are people coming but what people miss today is that it's not about
the building it's about the people you know and so that church a bona fide legitimate church could
meet in a house because that's what we see here in Philemon verse two the church in thy house
but today when people want to go out and start a church they're not doing it the way brother
Jimenez is doing it they want to go out and first get the big building I remember I had a friend he
was going to start a church I called him up how's it going you know this was more of an acquaintance
but I called him up after he said well we're just still trying to find a building still trying to
find a place to meet that was his progress on starting a church you know a church is a
congregation of people and I'm glad that when I moved here to star faith for baptist church
I didn't go looking for a building I went looking for people I went and knocked the door to give the
gospel to preach the gospel unto someone and get them saved not out looking for a building because
the material the physical the building is not what's important it's the people that are important
you know we're meeting in a church building right now because the fact that obviously you know you
can only meet in the house for so long you know it gets too crowded and whatever and you know we've
got a building now but you know what we didn't want to just waste a bunch of time finding the
money for a building and finding a building we just wanted to go get people saved and build a
church not a building and this church this building is not a church by the way we might say hey I'll
meet you down at the church but really what we ought to say is we'll meet you down at the church
building unless the people are here because the church according to the bible is the people not
the building and the emphasis is all wrong when we're all about building a fancy building we
ought to be using our time and resources more wisely to get people saved than to beautify some
palace of a building you know and having a nice building is great but that should never be the
priority having a nice house is great but you know what I'd rather have my wife and children
and live in the most messed up possible house than to live in a big mansion all by myself
think about that I mean I can live in a great big mansion and I mean it would have all the amenities
as swimming pool just by myself or would I rather be with my family you know in a hotel you know
you know I'd rather be with my wife I mean and when we got married we were poor
but we had each other we were happy I mean it was just me and my wife and you know people today
they want to get married they want to have they want to have it all they want to have everything
and that's why they wait till they're 30 to get married you know or they just can't get girls
hang out with them but that's another sermon you know no I'm just kidding you know they want to
have it all together and all laid out and before they have a child it's like they want to have a
minivan before they have their first child you know we had a family of five in a Ford Escort
that's how we rolled okay I mean that's what we did because it was more important to to have my
family than to have the things and the money you know and God provided the things that we needed
you know God provided when the time came where we outgrew the Escort you know and had to get
into something bigger a minivan you know God provided at that time but you know what I'm glad
that I started with nothing anyway because you can only go up from there I mean I'm glad that
when we were married we had two plates two forks two glasses and two spoons you know what I mean
and we basically just we ate off them and then we washed them and then we ate off them again
and we didn't have a table we didn't have chairs we got married we didn't have a couch we didn't
have a bed we just had a mattress a twin size mattress for both of us you know that's why me
and my wife are so close to this day but anyway you know it's just we get so worried about the
things instead of the people and God is trying to tell us look it's the people that matter
I'll reward you oh God are you gonna give me more money am I gonna get a raise at my job
am I gonna have gold and silver president he said no reward I'll give you children
no I'll reward you when you go out so many you'll get people saved
that's your reward I mean so many you say am I going to get rewarded for going so
so many is the reward right I mean when Paul gets that God to heaven he said what is our hope
what is our joy or crown of rejoicing he said are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ in his coming for ye are our glory and joy he said look the reward that I'm looking forward
to when I get to heaven in first Thessalonians 2 he said is just to get to heaven and see the
people that I won to Christ that's going to be the reward I mean you want to get I mean if you
get there and there's just tons of people there that you won to Christ or if you got there and
there's just you know nobody there that you won to the Lord I mean think about would you rather
get there and have God hand you all kinds of silver and gold it's or would you rather see
the people that you want to go would you rather see Jesus Christ himself the person
than the streets that are paved with gold I mean that's what how God values it you know today one
ounce of gold is worth what 1400 bucks or 1300 bucks for one ounce of gold and yet God just
paves the street ahead with gold just to show you look it means nothing to me I mean it's not what's
important yeah we'll fight over it and and we'll fight in war because we lust and desire to have
things that we don't have we will just pinch it and and fight it and and and lust after it and
covet it and it's just money and it's going to perish and turn to dust and it means nothing
I love what it says in that turn if you would to proverbs chapter 30 proverbs 30
I mean there's so many places we could go in the sermon you know but but people today it seems like
money has become the driving force in so many things whether it be our so-called family planning
you see what do you do for family planning basically I just get on my knees and just pray
for more kids you know what I mean that's it you say what kind of foreign birth control do you use
just getting on my knees and just praying for more kids you know that's pretty much the only birth
control that we use you know you say is that something I get at Walgreens no it's something
you get from the bible it's something that you get from God you know what I mean and so that's what
we ought to emphasize today instead of emphasizing oh you're gonna get that college degree you know
so you make more money you know I'd rather have wisdom and knowledge than a piece of paper telling
me you know you're gonna need this piece of paper because otherwise people won't know that you know
anything because you don't but this piece of paper show this to people okay this says that
you know what you're doing you know what I mean because they're not gonna be able to realize that
unless you show this to them and if they come to your church they're gonna think this guy doesn't
know what he's talking about but if you put this on the wall they'll say well maybe he does know
what he's talking about because he's the master of theology and the doctor of divinity you know
he has his own titles and names but you know really you can just listen to somebody preach
the bible and tell whether they know what you're talking yeah you know what they're saying you can
watch somebody do their job at work and tell whether they know anything you know but today
it's all about just the outward show and the money and the fame and the popularity you know what we
need to get out of the world's philosophy and say you know what's important the soul the inside
people not things people and people are more valuable than things okay look if you would
at proverbs chapter 30 here's a good philosophy that you ought to get in your life pray this to
god it says in verse number seven two things this is basically a prayer uh speaking to god it says
two things have i required of thee deny me them not before i die remove far from me vanity and
lies give me neither poverty nor riches basically you know he's praying and saying don't make me
rich god he said give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me that's
not talking about like a drive-through fast food he says feed me with food convenient for me he's
basically kind of saying give us this day our daily bread he's saying you know i don't want
to be rich and have an overabundance but i don't want to be poor look what he says he says lest i
be full and deny thee and say who is the lord basically he said i don't want to get to the
point where i'm like well who's the lord like what do i need him for he's the poor where you don't
have to rely on god or you think you're self-sufficient and you don't need god he said
lest i be full and deny thee and say who's the lord or lest i be poor and steal and take the
name of my god of it you see i don't want to get so poor to where i'm like stealing just to have
food and you know then i'm taking god's name in vain because i'm you know so hungry okay he's
saying look give me food convenient for me i don't want to be ultra rich i don't want to be
ultra poor just give me what i need you know god just just provide for me my daily food just keep
me alive keep me going you know keep me to where i'm serving god and that ought to be our goal in
life not to be rich he said labor not to be rich cease from lying on wisdom now you may come into
money somehow and find yourself rich you know god may bless you in such a way where you end up
having all kinds of money being rich but the bible says they that will be rich he said this in
first timothy 6 10 you don't have to turn there he said uh for the love of money is the root of all
evil but before that he said this he said for they that will be rich and the will there means
want to be rich like they're willing to be rich he said they that will be rich fall into temptation
and it's true people who have a desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and 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 coveted after and by the way that's one of the ten
commandments thou shalt not covet which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith
faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows but thou o man of god flee these things
and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness these are the things that
matter in life not money desire faith and meekness long-suffering goodness these are the things we
should strive for in our life not money i mean if i lost a bunch of money but if i learned a
valuable lesson about life or if somehow i was brought closer to god through that experience
or through that trial then that's worth all the money in the world we need to understand that
we as a person and who we are personally is more important than what we possess jesus said this
beware of covetousness for a man's life consistent not in the abundance of things which he possesses
he said is not the life more than meat and the body than raimond look at john chapter
six if you would matthew mark luke john the new testament about halfway through the new testament
john chapter six about eighty percent of the way through the bible john chapter six
and he says this in verse 25 john 625 and when they had found him on the other side of the sea
they said unto him rabbi when camest thou hither jesus answered them and said verily verily i say
unto you ye seek me not because you saw the miracles but because you did eat of the loaves
and were filled labor not for the meat which perishes but for the meat which endureth
unto everlasting life which the son of man shall give unto you for him hath god the father seal
and then here's the verse that garrett alluded to where he said then said unto him what shall
we do that we might work the works of god said we want to do the works he said wait a minute
jesus answered said this is the work of god that you believe on him whom he had sent and he said
what they said therefore in him what sign showest thou that we may see and believe thee what does
that work our fathers did eat manna in the desert as it is written he gave them bread from heaven to
eat and then of course all for sake of time jesus basically tells them you know what that manna was
for a purpose and this was this is all the way in deuteronomy chapter chapter eight verse three they
didn't even need to hear this from jesus because it's already in the bible he said he said he fed
thee with manna and suffered thee the hunger that he might show thee that man did not live by bread
alone but by every word of god does man live you know we're so concerned about our physical body
and the nourishment and staying in shape and staying fit but really who we are spiritually
is more important than that our spiritual health the person is more important than the goods
the spiritual is more important than the physical the soul is more important than the body i mean
i know people who would not dream of putting anything in their mouth that's hydrogenated
or that's you know sodium benzoate or high fructose corn syrup or that's gmo
they would not even be caught dead consuming red 40
okay but
but the filth that they put into their mind you know and jesus said this it's not what goes into
the body that defiles a man it's what comes out of his mouth and what comes out of his mouth is is
basically what comes out of the heart and that's what defiles the man and we're so concerned with
the goods instead of people we're so concerned with the physical body instead of spiritual
you know well-being that we'd write you know we wouldn't dare consume mcdonald's and i wouldn't
dare consume it by the way so you know i i'm with you on that but you know what i'd rather
feed my kids mcdonald's than to feed them what's being served down at the public school spiritually
yeah i'm talking about the teaching and the philosophy and the education that's coming across
that deck i would rather put a quarter pounder in their hand and just say god bless his food
our bodies you know i mean like somehow god just changed this and you know what's funny you're
laughing i prayed that prayer before like when i was out in the middle of nowhere and i'm searching
for something decent to eat and all there is you know and i don't i never go to mcdonald's i'm 28
years old i've never finished a mcdonald's ever i tried one once and just said no now i've eaten
thousands of burger king i'm sure that's just as bad but let me tell you something i don't mess
with i don't do mcdonald's but every once in a while i'll be just really in a bind i mean i'm
in the middle of nowhere there's nothing that gnawing pain of hunger and i make the mistake
and i just say like you know long john silvers it is you know that's one of the exceptions that i
make okay and i just i you know and i you know it's one thing to just pray for your food like
a ritual like you know i'm there to use bless food right man i it's no ritual when i get that
bag of long john's i'm like god you know my heart here i've tried to find something healthy to eat
you know i tried to find organic and i'm just like god you're gonna have to bless this food you're
gonna have to you're gonna have to do something there and i'm like god you're the god that
multiplied the five loaves and two fishes and fed five thousand you can do this i believe
and i'm kind of kidding but it's true yeah it's serious i have done that many times you know
but you know what i'd rather feed my kids junk food that's going to defile them less than what
goes into their eyes and their ears and what they hear and see on television at the movies
from the music you know we care about the wrong thing we care about the things that are seen
which are temporal we ought to care about the things which are not seen which are eternal
the soul of man is what is what's more valuable than the entire world the bible says one person
is more valuable than the whole world i mean literally if i spent every dime that i have i
mean if i sold everything in my house if i sold everything i own if i gave every penny that i had
and then donated every drop of blood in my body that i could give and still be alive and then
sell it for twenty dollars to the blood plasma bank if i could take all that money and just
lay it down and say this will get one person saved it would literally be worth it
i mean if you think about it rather than to get to heaven and have nobody saved
you know to you've wasted your life oh i built a business i did it but you wasted your life you
did nothing because it's all going to be gone one day it's all going to be dust what did you do with
your life did you fall for the devil's ploy the king of sodom who says to you oh yeah just give
me the per take the goods have money things cars but you know whatever you want the clothes the
the the the fancy foods that that eat drink and be married but he said just give me the persons
and you've got to say no that's the only thing that matters i mean do you think that abraham
took his 318 soldiers out there to get some goods back it was all about getting the stuff no it was
about saving lot's life it was about getting lots family home safely it was about lots wife
it was about lots of children and lot didn't even understand that lot didn't care enough about his
family spiritual growth he moved them to sodom because of a financial opportunity in genesis 13
why would you take your family your daughters your wife and bring them to a place like sodom
francisco where he took them you know i mean why would you take them to sodom
and say well you know it's well watered you know what let's face it phoenix isn't well watered
i mean you want to talk about a place that's not watered you're living in it
but you know what i'd rather be here with my family getting the preaching of god's word
and i'd rather be in a place where we can live a clean and righteous life
than to go to sodom because it's well watered because there's money there and lot cared more
about things than he cared about his own family and guess what he ended up doing losing both
he lost his whole family and he lost all his goods you say well a lot of people don't lose
their goods everybody loses their goods eventually if they don't lose them today
they'll lose them tomorrow and if they don't lose them tomorrow they'll lose them when they're 80
years old and they breathe their last breath it's all going to be gone you can't take it with you
job said naked came i out of my mother's womb and naked shall i return either the lord gave
the lord taken away blessed be the name of the lord the bible says this for we brought nothing
into this world first timothy chapter six and it is certain that we can carry nothing out
having food and raiment let us be there with content everybody here clothed
all right good just do a quick clothing check okay
who here has had nothing to eat today zero zilch nada did you have a root beer float oh wait
liar ice cream is food did it have a scoop of ice cream in it mr righteous
hey is that what you call fasting i saw a root beer float in your hand
i want to i want a root beer float fast basically that's all i consume
you know what everybody here has food and raiment we ought to be content
and he said but i don't know what i'm gonna eat tomorrow you know what
that's tomorrow today's today god's gonna have to provide tomorrow
and so the bottom line is we need to not live our life focused on
things we need to live and focus on people now do we need certain things sure we do you know we
obviously we need food we need a house to live in or some place to live in you know with this
apartment whatever we need a roof over our head you know we need food for the kids we need clothing
we need those things and you know as men we go to work and we work hard to provide those things
don't we that's our job that's what god tells us to do to work by the sweat of our brow you know
six days shout out labor i mean and i'm not saying i'm not saying it's wrong to work seven
days you know we're not we're not living in the jewish old testament you know we work seven days
a week you know i do and so the bottom line is that you know we go out and work and strive but
you know what let's not just find ourselves constantly laboring for the meat that parishes
instead of laboring for the meat that endures unto everlasting life okay we ought to decide
in our life you know i'm going to seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these
things will be added unto me that i need my heavenly father knoweth that i need of all these
things i'm going to be more interested in getting people saved and that's going to be my priority
and that's going to be my measuring stick from for success in life did i win people to christ
how did i do with my wife or my children or with the people that i won to christ or my church
you know did i invest in the local church and i'm talking about the people
was i a friend to someone did i did i bring someone to church did i did i give someone
the gospel did i get somebody saved did i do something with my life that mattered
to people not did i do something that amassed things and by the way you may not think so but
you might come to a time in your life where everything is taken away from you everything
but you know what the people that you want to christ can never be taken away from you
you know and if your family is saved you know even if your family is taken away from you you'll
see them again in heaven amen right you know and we ought to get our minds straight here and say you
know what it's the people that matter not the things it's the people that matter not the building
not well your truth building is you know somebody said now is it a real church building or is it in
a strip mall you know no it's a fantasy building you know what i mean like we just we just close
our eyes and imagine that we're in a building you know it is a real building oh yeah it's a great
big cathedral and it has we our church has stained glass windows of a of a you know a bunch of nude
people you know and and it's got you know but it's spiritual so don't worry about it it's not
and then you know we got the steeple and the cross and we have a big belfry we have a big bell the
swings and you know what i'd rather just say hey the word of god is preached in a corner of the
wall somewhere you know what i mean under a staircase somewhere you know what i mean in a
house somewhere under an underpass somewhere whatever you know and i thank god we do have a
really nice building i mean it's a great building it's it's very big and spacious and nice
thank god for it but you know what if we lost this building tomorrow which you know
we're not in danger of losing but if we didn't have this building tomorrow would the church
cease to exist we'd find somewhere to congregate to meet and have preaching and sing praises to god
whether we're at the park or whether it's at somebody's house or whether it's outside whatever
because this church is more than what you see it's what you don't see it's the souls it's the
spiritual let's prioritize that word of prayer father help us never to fall into this trap dear
god of saying well just give me the goods you know you take the people god help us to realize
that it's the people that matter it's the spiritual that matters help us to keep that
focus dear god whether it's if we're thinking about having children or when we look at starting
a church or if we're thinking about our where we're going to live where we're going to we're
going to you know plan our roots down and raise our family help us not to look at the water
right raining from the sky dear god and the water flowing through the ground help us to rather look
at what's flowing into us spiritually instead of just a physical stream of water god help us to
keep our priorities right and we love you and thank you in jesus name we pray amen