If you don't have a Bible, there should be one in the seat in front of you.
And as is our custom, we will read the entire chapter, so please follow along as we read
the entire chapter silently.
Matthew chapter 24, the Bible reads, And Jesus went out and departed from the temple,
And Jesus said unto them, See, not all these things, verily I say unto you, there shall
not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.
And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying,
Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the
end of the world?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you, for many shall
And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.
See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nations shall rise against nations and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and
pestilences, and earthquakes in diverse places. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted,
and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many.
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations,
and then shall the end come.
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
Then let them, which be in Judea, flee into the mountains.
Let him which is on the housetop, not come down to take anything out of his house.
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, hear is Christ, or there, believe it not.
for there shall arise false Christ and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders in
so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you
before, wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold,
he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and
For, wheresoever the carcasses, there will the eagles be gathered together.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon
shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven
shall be shaken.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes
of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming, in the clouds of heaven
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,
and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree.
When his branch is yet tender and puteth forth leaves,
ye know that summer is nigh.
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things,
know that it is near, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and
giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.
And knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of
Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
But know this, that if the good men of the house had known, and what watch the thief would come,
he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Therefore be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.
Who then is faithful and wise servant whom his Lord had made ruler of his household to give them meat and due season?
Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing
Verily I say unto you
That he shall make him ruler over all his goods
But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunken
The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him,
and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder,
and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Amen, alright we're in Matthew chapter 24 and this is a great, one of my favorite chapters
in the whole Bible actually.
And, you know, our church, it's our seventh year anniversary and there's, I thought about preaching about the blessings and the, the, about, about seven years of being completion, you know, the number of completion, but our church isn't complete.
And, you know, we've done a lot of great things in our church, we've had a lot of people saved in our church, and we've baptized a lot of people in our church, and we've done a lot of great things in our church, but we're not really complete.
you know so we I want to go way past seven years and what I really kind of was on my heart though
to preach about this morning is to be mission ready and that's kind of a term in the military and
I've never been in the military before but I still like the term
And this passage really kind of draws that to our attention to the very last passage,
part of the passage here where it says be ready for in such an hour as you think not,
the Son of Man cometh.
And you know, in Mark chapter 13, Luke chapter 21, these things are drawn in to our attention
and in Mark it says, you know, to, it says to all for us to watch.
are kind of synonymous in these passages, and it's telling us...
It's not just about paying attention,
but when you think of the watchman on the wall,
what are they doing?
They're watching for danger,
but this isn't just taught,
because it's not dangerous necessarily for us,
if we are saved and we're doing what we're supposed
to be doing and we're doing what the Lord's will is,
it's not a dangerous thing for us,
but we're still supposed to watch, aren't we?
We're supposed to be ready,
but it's also liking it to us that,
Being watchful and being ready is also being faithful and wise, and being blessed.
But I just kind of got this off the internet
about being mission ready.
I just want to kind of define what this means.
And it is a military term, but we're in the military
when we're in the Lord's army, right?
So, and you might not have known that you were signing
on the dotted lines when you got saved, but it is true.
So, but listen to what it says about being mission ready.
It said, being mission ready generally refers
to the state of being fully prepared.
both physically and mentally to accomplish a specific task or objective, particularly
in high stakes or challenging situations. It often implies having the necessary skills,
knowledge, equipment and support systems in place to succeed.
military context it means being prepared for combat and fulfilling assigned
missions encompassing both functional personal and training and logistical
material and support aspects so that's kind of what it means is that you're
ready to and you have the equipment and the training to be able to do these
things and that's what the local church is for that's what leadership is for and
So when the Bible says that we're supposed to be ready,
when Jesus says we're supposed to be ready,
he's saying that in the context of the local church.
What if you're out,
what if you're one of these people
that's just like, I don't believe in church?
How is that person ready for the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Now, when Jesus, these disciples asked Jesus
about when are these things gonna happen?
What is the sign of,
what are they gonna be the signs of the end of the world
and when are you coming back?
and he tells them, but he knows that he's not coming back
in their lifetime and any lifetimes in the past 2,000 years.
He is talking to them, but he's also talking
to all generations leading up to us
and whatever generation it is that he's coming back to.
But he's also saying for all those generations
to be prepared to be ready.
So why because he wants us to be prepared he wants us to be ready
He wants us to be in that state at all times and even when the military is not in a state of war
What are they always doing being ready?
They're always training. They're always doing something. They're always doing these exercises, right?
Where they're pretending to be in war, you know, they're they're if they're not pretending to be in war
They're training and and they're and they're getting in physical shape and staying in physical shape to do those things and as Christians
We're supposed to be mission-ready
Watching waiting being prepared being trained owning our skills ready to adapt to any challenges that come our way
in the Christian life and to endure the hardships of the Christian life and to say thank you sir
may I have another. You know when the hard times come as Christians storms of life come as Christians.
You know it's not always cookies and Kool-Aid and candy and all this other stuff it's not always
that kind of it's not always a Sunday school life for the Christian.
Because Sunday school, I mean, if anybody has ever been to a Sunday school class, you know, it's always positive, it's always candy, you know, you're always getting prizes and everything, but that's not what real Christianity is like.
And, you know, I loved Sunday school.
I loved being a, you know, I wasn't a Sunday school teacher,
but I was a junior church preacher and teacher.
I liked doing fun stuff like that.
And I liked, you know, interacting
and doing fun things with kids.
But it didn't prepare them for big boy, big girl church.
As soon as we lost them, like as soon as they had
to go upstairs and go up to real church, they were gone.
Those bus kids wouldn't come back.
They'd come for a couple of weeks,
These songs oh
I have to sit still in church. I can't we can't play games
So what we were really preparing them for was Joyce Myers Church
We were preparing them for you know for church that doesn't isn't a reality
And so that's why they all go and go to some other church. It's more fun
So the songs that are more exciting like somewhere in outer space God is prepared
You know all these you know fun songs father Abraham had many sons
You know and look those the songs are fun, but that's not the reality of Christian congregational singing
so
Let's turn let's turn over before we get to Matthew. Let's look at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 3
And look, I like to have fun.
We had fun yesterday.
I had fun watching the kids race and beat each other
and get competitive and watch them cry when they lose.
And that's a part of the game.
And some people did get consolation prizes at the end,
but I mean, it wasn't like everybody got a trophy.
Every time somebody went, I'd still
give the other person a prize, because I'm not
that kind of coach.
I would coach people when they lost a couple times, but I just don't believe in that.
So because that's not how life is.
We can't teach people that way.
Then they just think that we have to believe everything they have to believe eventually.
So anyway, 2 Timothy 2 verse 3, it says, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier
of Jesus Christ.
So are we soldiers?
Yes or no?
Do we endure hardness?
Well, not everybody does but we're supposed to endure hardness says no man that war is
Entangle with himself in the affairs of this life. So do we war? Oh
We're always just fighting. It's always just fighting. It's always drama. Well, you know the Bible says that we war
If you're a soldier you eventually have to go to war don't you?
That he may please him
who have chosen him to be a soldier.
Are we supposed to please God yes or no?
And he's chosen us to be a soldier.
Like I said, you didn't know that necessarily
when you got saved, but he chose you to be a soldier.
It says that if a man also strived for masteries,
yet he is not crowned except he strived,
what's that say there?
Oh no, doctrines of devils lawfully.
Lawfully. Yes, we have to strive lawfully. We have to fight within the rules
But we still have to do that lawfully
so
Now number one this morning that was kind of introduction, but to be ready is to be faithful and
wise and blessed
To be faith to watch is to be ready to be faithful and wise and blessed look at Matthew 24 verse 42
Matthew 24 verse number 42
Feel like that watch is wrong or that clock there. Is it wrong?
Super wrong. I have no frame of reference. All right. I'll just preach as long as I want them. Okay
Matthew 2442
Watch therefore
Watch therefore for what for this reason for you know, not what hour your Lord doth come
Now I just kind of want to explain this really quickly turn to second Thessalonians
And most of the people in this room know this,
but I just want to make sure that people do understand this.
We don't know what hour our Lord does come or is gonna come,
but we know it's not gonna be today.
We know it's not gonna be within the next three years.
We know it's not gonna be within the next six years.
We know it's not gonna be within the next seven years
from this day right now.
Why? Because we know that, you know, it's gonna take some time for certain things that have to happen first
in order for him to come back.
Now, but I think that
the reason why he said that we have to be ready is because it can happen in our lifetime.
That's why. Because it can happen in a generation. It can happen in a lifetime.
You know, seven years can happen in your lifetime.
You know we all live more than seven years most of us right I mean unless something you know happens
You know that shouldn't but look at 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2
It says now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him
What's that the rapture?
That you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word
Nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand
Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come
Except there come a falling away first
and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition.
So what has to happen first?
That man of sin, the son of perdition, the antichrist
has to be revealed first.
So has that happened yet?
No, it hasn't.
When does that happen?
At the midpoint of the final seven years.
Not the tribulation, the midpoint of the final seven years.
So it can be easy if you've been in an old life be church to say the tribulation, but it's not the tribulations over after the mid point about 70 days after the midpoint.
So it can't happen. Jesus can't come back before the man of sin is revealed. That's halfway through the final seven years.
tracked down, beheaded, and killed during the great tribulation,
which starts at the midpoint of the tribulation,
and then goes about 70 days or so.
Then Jesus is going to come back,
and He's going to save them that are alive and remain,
which is probably going to be, you know, not very many people,
them that are alive and remain,
but first He's going to raise those people
that have already died before from the dead.
I don't have time to get into that full doctrine because that's not really what I'm preaching
about but I did want to make this point that yes we are supposed to be, you know, waiting
and watching.
Why?
What are we watching for?
Well, the signs that were all in Matthew chapter 24 talks about all those signs and all those
things.
Well, what are we supposed to be watching for?
These things that are going to, you know, when you know that fruit is growing on a tree,
or you see the buds on a tree, you know that at some point fruit is going to come on that tree.
Well, you know that it's getting closer.
You know that it's growing nearer.
If we see a temple getting built over in Israel,
you know it's getting close, okay?
Because the Antichrist is gonna walk into that temple
according to, let's see, verse four.
It says, who so opposeth and exalted himself
above all that is called God or that has worshiped
so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God
showing himself that he is God.
So he's going to do that. So what does that tell you that there has to be a temple built in order for that to happen?
So that has not happened yet. There hasn't been a temple in an Israel since
and in Jerusalem since
70 AD so
We know that there's time that has to wait, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be ready
Because that construction project could happen immediately. They could think that could start tomorrow and we don't know if that
There's you know, there's some
Treaty that has to happen, but we don't we don't know whether that treaty is even going to be announced publicly or not
So we don't know if it's gonna take seven years to build that temple
I don't know if that coincides with the treaty. We don't really know that the Bible doesn't really say that
So we a lot of people assume things like that that could be it
Well, there could be some war that happens and breaks forth and then there's a treaty
is signed and then the temple gets built at the same time as the treaty.
I don't really know, but it doesn't actually even say Israel is part of that treaty.
I assume that that might be true.
It seems like that might be true, but the Bible doesn't specifically say that.
Anyway, moving on, let's look at Matthew 24-42.
Again, it says, Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come.
But we're still supposed to be in this time of watching and still being prepared well so anyway we you know
We've seen how fast things can happen with just the COVID stuff.
All of a sudden, trying to get us to download stuff on our phone so
that we can be, what is it, where they can track who you got in contact with that had it.
They kept, I don't know, who had that where they kept trying to download that stuff on your phone?
Hey, accept this new download or whatever.
I think eventually they just downloaded on your phone anyway, whether you wanted to or not.
I was resisting. I was like, no, no, no, no, six, six, six. No, I was just kidding. But
I didn't want that. You know, they're tracking everybody. But I mean, we just know how fast
they can, I think that that was just like a test launch to see, you know, who's going to fold
under pressure. Who, you know, I don't think it was, I don't think it was the mark of the beast.
There was people saying, it's the mark of the beast. No, it's not. But what it is is a test launch.
You can't come to work unless I can scan your forehead.
You can't come to this hospital unless I can scan your forehead.
That's what they were doing.
And then they were saying, you can't work
unless you take this vaccine.
You can't come into the building unless you
let me scan your forehead.
Because they were, oh, you have to take your temperature.
So it's a precursor.
It's a test thing.
You have to wear this mask.
You have to put this on your face.
You must comply.
And that's what they were kind of doing.
And at first, like at my work,
there was like 70% of the people that worked there
were like, no, I'm not taking the vaccine,
I'm not doing that.
And then when they said, well, you can't work here,
then I think in the end, 5% of the people I worked with
were refused to take it.
And most, a lot of people just quit
that didn't want to take it.
So I mean, I just figure that's probably what the percentages will be like when you know
The mark of the beast thing happens. Maybe even less will not want to take it
Because it's not gonna be that you just can't work. It's gonna be you're dead
You know if you're a Christian, they'll just chop your head off. So
Anyway, those people that came
Generations before us, you know, I think that they expected it could happen in their lifetime. We should expect
that things can happen in our lifetime,
we should live our lives according to that fact.
Jesus is coming back.
He promised to come back
and we should live and act accordingly.
That final seven years can hit faster than we realize.
And depending on how we are,
when this stuff starts to launch forth,
There's something to be said about those that are ready when big things happen and those that are not, you know
You like you're like well when it does happen. I will be ready, but you're not ready now
You know those people that like do the food storage preparedness
The you know Mormons are big into that which that's not too dumb, but they're not gonna make it at all
So I'll just go to the Mormons houses that I know and just take their supplies or whatever
but
Just know where your nearest Mormon, you know neighborhood is and then that's where do you go?
It's like I got all their stash, but
Anyway, let's look at that 24 verse 43
But now but know this that if the good man of the house had known and what watch the thief would come he would have watched
would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Anybody you know what you know
they has ever had their house robbed would have been like men if I would have
just you know been there. Yeah everybody thinks that. They wouldn't
have allowed their house to get robbed but he says therefore for this
reason like be also ready for in such an hour as you think not the son of man
cometh. So what's he saying? Watching is like being ready.
So because he said watch if he would have watched then the next verse therefore be also ready
So see how he's tying together watching and being ready
It's it's it's the same thing. So when you're watching you're ready
when you're ready, you're watching.
And so you're paying attention to what's going on around you.
Watching and being ready is being faithful and true.
Also, look at verse number 45.
It says, who then is a faithful and wise servant?
Who his Lord hath made ruler over his household
to give them meat in due season?
Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh,
shall find so doing.
Fairly I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods
So that generation when Jesus does come back when he when he comes back and they are doing the the servants that are doing
What they're supposed to be doing? What's he say?
they're gonna be blessed and
Whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing
That's gonna be a blessing. They're being faithful. They're being a wise. What's it say there?
Servant what does servants do they serve they do things they are helpful they
are ministering there it says that they're they're giving their they're
giving meat in due season so that person's gonna be blessed that person
is you know when isn't it cool like you guys out there that have bosses you know
someone that comes and checks up on you
Or you've probably been in this situation if you've ever worked a job before where the boss comes and he catches you working
That's a good feeling
You're like yes, I was working hard
I'm so glad that when I he came around the corner and I was just like you know shoveling like crazy and sweating
But have you probably seen who's had that happen where you come around?
You know the boss comes around and you're working at least working
because if you're sitting there with your feet on the desk and
He comes in you're like oh
You're just like pretending like you're doing something you know
That's bad
So you want the boss to catch you working Jesus is the boss and when he comes back
He wants you to be working. He wants you to be faithful. What does that mean?
Faithful to the things that he's asking you to do be in church be doing you know be faithful to soul winning be faithful to church
Be faithful to your family be faithful to your spouse be faithful children to your parents
Obeying them when they ask you to obey them
You know, I mean be wise
Knowing the scriptures knowing being ready in the situations of soul winning, you know
If someone caught you at the grocery store and they're like hey
Notice that you're a Christian on your Facebook page, you know some friend of yours and they say hey
Would you tell me how to be saved and you're caught without your Bible?
You just happen to not have your Bible with you and your phone
I mean really you can't be caught without a Bible. You have no excuse
Could you give him the gospel?
Could you give him the gospel without your phone?
Could you do you have the scriptures memorized? Are you ready to preach the gospel? Paul said that he is ready to
He was ready to preach the gospel
We should be ready to give an answer to people when they ask us of the hope that is in us
We should be ready for those things
We should be ready for the seven years of you know the final seven years on earth to kick off at any time
But if we're just lofing and not caring and being apathetic then we're not going to be ready
But don't you want the boss to catch you doing something when he comes back?
Don't you want the boss? I mean because he sees what you're doing, you know, it's like
If you're just grabbing the shovel right when you know that things are about to kick off
It's like it's not like he didn't know that you were lofing before that or something
It's like he sees everything that we do
But he sees our heart, he knows how much we care, he knows how much we're into it.
And you know, he's going to act accordingly.
He's going to bless us accordingly.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 57.
And you know what, we do go into battles.
We do get into ruts.
You know, we do get into hard times and there's times when we just do feel apathetic.
You can't help it. We're human beings. We're sinful and if we're not feeding the spirit of God
in us, that new man, then we're feeding the flesh. And when we feed the flesh too much,
then, you know, we're going to be walking in the flesh.
So we got to be mindful of those things that we need to walk in the spirit and that we won't fulfill the lust of the flesh
But first Corinthians 1557 says but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory
Through our Lord Jesus Christ
We are always winning
When the sodomites are attacking our church, we're still winning it's still drawing attention to us whether people are mad about it or not
Somebody's you know when we the last time we had them come we had people stop by and go. What's going on and like
These weirdos are you know attacking our church? I hate us because we don't like sodomites and they're like good job
good
We had packs of kids come over and go we don't like them either, you know
It's it's not like
We just think that just because all the media is against us and the sodomites are against us that other people aren't like
Silently going yeah
They are silently going yeah, but they're just too afraid to say something
There are people that stand with us silently
They're the you know the sons of the prophets that are hiding in the cave or whatever, but at least at least they're
still silently cheering for us
Just because the media you know, you know how you know the media is lying
They just open their mouth
I mean they're lying about our church in Indianapolis making just false reports on even you know
Saying there was only seven people in the service when there was 47. I mean, it's just the old playbook
What did they do when Pastor Jimenez was getting?
protested. They said there was like 40, 50 people in the church and there was like 200
something. Just lying. They were sitting in the service. Lying. They got called out for
it too. And a great sermon. But I mean, and then they were saying there was thousands
of protesters outside when there was maybe, you know, 700 or something. There might have
been, you know, five to 700 or something. But see, they just lie. They can't help but
Last week on a news report that I saw is that we're trying to force them to commit suicide
Like how do you how does that work?
they actually
They drew a mat. They did like a
Photoshop with the guy that you know preached the sermon that they're all mad about and they photoshopped a MAGA hat on top of his hat of his head
and said, we're calling Trump to put homosexuals to death or something.
And so they make it like he preached that sermon
with a MAGA hat on or something.
And then somebody messaged me about that
and I went onto the sermon that's still up on Rumble
and I screen captured it.
He doesn't have a MAGA hat on.
And I sent it to him.
I said, the media lies, you know, it's just like,
but they're so enraged because they think
that everything that the media says is true.
Some tranny,
gets on, they're on Facebook, just blatantly lot,
they're saying, I'm gonna go in next week
and try to gain access to the church
and go to the worship service.
And it's a transgender man or whatever.
And it's pretending to be a woman or whatever.
And I'm gonna go, and if they don't let me stay,
then I'm gonna protest with the protesters.
So then they parked in our parking lot.
I already told them they weren't welcome to come in.
And we already knew that they were trying to do this.
They parked in the parking lot,
and as soon as they came in, they knew exactly who it was,
said, hey, you can't be here, you can't be on the property.
And then they protested with the protesters,
and the news interviewed them,
and then they told their little fake story,
and the news put it on there like,
like we just didn't want anybody coming to our church.
That's, you know, they just spun it to a point
Like they had no idea that they were we weren't going to let them in or something. It was totally planned
It was planned from the get-go and they just lie and make believe that it's true
And you know we have people they're going to just attack us and lie about us and
And just say all manner of evil against us, but we should rejoice in those things and know
That God's going to give us the victory, no matter what through our Lord Jesus Christ over 58 says therefore my beloved brethren be steadfast
Unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord
Not not just not doing anything
Not just you know moving this way and that and blown about by every wind and doctrine
Not just you know going and moving every which way but loose
Being steadfast and movable always abounding the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is
Not in vain in the Lord. So, I mean you can't just read the New Testament without reading that God wants us to labor
Our salvation is not tied to our labor, but he still wants us to labor
And yes, the more you labor the more rewards you earn
And motivation for soul-winning has never been to me
about rewards.
I've never thought about that when I go out soul-winning.
I'm not just out there with a checklist going,
oh yeah, I talked to this many people,
I swear to this many scriptures,
and I know I'm getting this many rewards.
I don't know how many rewards I'm getting.
I have no idea.
That's not my motivation, it never has been.
You know what my motivation is to go soul-winning
and to lead people into going soul-winning
is that people get saved.
And whatever God decides to do, that's up to him.
But this idea that the person that never goes soul-warning,
or they, you know, they've never won a soul in their life,
and then someone that goes soul-warning multiple times a week,
they get the same rewards in the heaven,
that's ridiculous.
It's just not true.
It's just complete, it's a complete lie straight from hell,
is what it is.
And if someone was doing it to get rewards in heaven,
that's not a wrong motivation because
there's many systems in this world
that are backed by reward systems.
I mean, even work, you know, hey, get this many
and you get a bonus.
Is there something wrong with that?
I mean, if you're undercutting people
and you're doing it for the, you know,
you're hurting people to get those bonuses,
that'd be wrong.
But if you're like getting more people saved,
To get more bonuses in heaven like is that wrong?
Now if you're doing it to be seen of men that would be wrong if you're doing it for a wrong motivation
Of course, that's wrong
But if you're just doing it because you want to help people and get rewards nothing wrong with that
Nothing in the world wrong with that and to teach otherwise is complete heresy
So turn to Proverbs chapter 14
My wife had a salvation on Thursday and when I got home from church
She was telling me about it and the guy was an atheist
So when when you knock on the door and some person says they're an atheist don't just give up right then and there
Because then he said his his family was a family of Satanists
So a lot of people would just be like, okay, that's strike two. Let's strike one and two. All right. I'm done
You know every walk away
But some people, that can have the opposite effect.
You know, when you're up, you're grown up like that
and people are just like, no, no, God's not real, whatever.
That can just turn them the opposite way.
And this guy was seeking.
He was looking for answers.
And she'd not, that was the first door she knocked
and he ended, he was super receptive.
Said, I've been, I've been seeking.
And then he ended up getting saved.
Like out of all the people that you would think you'd bump into on a Thursday night and then the guy gets saved super easy and
Even when he has some kind of you know strength, you know because people will have strange ideas when they're seeking
You don't you don't believe the whole truth, but you're still watching videos online and you know
stuff like that and
You know just plow through that stuff and go right for the gospel
You know and then they get saved and all that other weird stuff that they're into they're gonna eventually lose that
They're gonna lose that too. Hopefully, but um
You can believe dumb things and still be saved, you know, and then you can get rid of that belief
But anyway, so and so that's a great. That's a great thing that happened
But what if she had not gone there? What if she'd not gone on Thursday night?
Would that guy be saved?
No, what if she just waited?
For people to ask her at what must I do to be saved?
How many people do you think that she'd get saved?
How many people will we get saved at this church if we just waited for someone to come up and ask you?
Well, what makes you such a great worker?
Well, what must I do to be saved brother drew?
What makes you such a great carpet layer sir
Do you just have that work ethic?
Sir, I perceive that that were a profit
That is stupid
Now obviously you can show forth your works through your work ethic and things like that and maybe every once in a while
Somebody can say something like that too. I'm not saying you shouldn't let your you know your work shine through in your daily life
but
How many times do people actually ask you stuff like that? It's probably very rare
But Jesus said to go forth and preach the gospel
so
Ms. Amy got, did you get three?
Where's she at?
She's in the baby room.
Two and maybe three, okay.
She didn't want to count the third one
because she isn't just trying to cram the number
so she can get that third reward or whatever
but maybe they did get saved.
She wasn't sure.
But these three girls, I don't know what the ages were
but because I'm just hearing this like third hand,
Apparently there were, their mom was a witch?
Oh, their aunt.
So, the aunt was a witch, and she gets them saved, and then tries to go find some bibles,
because they said they wanted bibles, and by the time she got back to them, you know, she was like,
She was freaking out and and she wouldn't even accept the Bible. She was like we're bisexuals and we're witches
Like why don't you just throw Satanists in there too because you know, they're they're the devil
But I mean at least they're saved right?
So that's the that's the great thing about it, but you know this Amy
She she went out with a purpose yesterday to go and preach and seek and say that which was lost
Because she wanted to be ready. She wanted to you know
Do something she wanted to be faithful. She wanted to be a wise servant and do what the Lord Jesus Christ asked her to do and
She's probably like her face is turning red inside the mother baby room probably right now
She just doesn't like to be talked about very much
But you know those are two those are some demographics that don't happen on a weekly basis here, but they do happen
There are people out there that need to be reached and unless we knock on their doors and unless we tell them
About the Lord, they're not going to get saved
And people get saved here every week
And I know it's a rough area to soul in and it's not as receptive of it as it used to be
But you know if you're faithful people will get saved they will and thank God for the
two girls that got saved that had an aunt that was a witch and you know the timing of it
I mean they got saved right before she came home. Do you think that's accidental? It's not accidental and
The atheist
Well, and here's the thing about the the the ones my wife the one the guy my wife got saved is that she knocked
And then she waited she was talking to her so many partner
Which is a good thing to do and she was just like you know sometimes you'll you'll sling her at a door
And you don't even realize you're doing it
And then she knocked again
And then she was talking and talking and I think she was with Kathleen, yeah
And so they're just talking they're having this conversation and then she was like, oh, I've been here for a while
And then all of a sudden he opens up the door
so
Sometimes all like if I'm in a rough neighborhood like where people aren't answering at all
I'll just start I'll just I'll go fast and I won't take the time to stay at the door long enough
And I was like feeling bad about it because
You know, here's my wife. She's at her first door
Or maybe second door or whatever the first door that opened the door anyway, and
She lingers for such a long time that someone finally answers the door and then he gets saved and he's a
Satanist
You know he's raised by Satanist and he's an atheist and he gets saved. Oh, I think that's cool
I think it's cool. I'm sure everybody in this room has stories of cool
Salvation that they got and if they're we're not sending people out to go get saved and people aren't awake and
Ready in this church, then it's not going to get done
we have to be awake and ready for the Lord and
Doing what he asks Proverbs 14 verse 21 the Bible says he that despises his neighbor Sineth
You know we're supposed to love our neighbor as ourself and if we despise our neighbor the Bible says it's sin
But he that hath mercy on the poor happy as he Jesus said we're supposed to preach the gospel to the poor
And the Bible says that you're if we have mercy on those people we're happy
Do they not err that devise evil but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good in all labor
There is profit, but the talk of the lips tended to penury
Now if you apply that in into seeking and saving the lost
Hey, there's an all labor that we do when we're growing out so winning sometimes we're reaping sometimes we're sowing
Sometimes we're watering
But there's a lot of people that talk the talk,
but they don't walk the walk,
and they don't knock the knock either.
They don't do anything.
They think it's just okay to do nothing.
So what is your church doing for the Lord anyway?
If you're not going out and seeking saving the lost,
then you're just not even a real church.
That's what the Bible teaches.
You know, when he wrote those letters
to the angels of the churches,
And said, you know, I'm going to come and take your candlestick except you repent
You know, he's going to take the candlesticks of the churches that aren't doing anything when it comes to
Preaching doing the first works preaching the gospel. Look verse 25. It says a true witness
Deliver his souls. Hmm
Wonder what that means
But it is seatful witness speaketh lies. Oh, you don't have to go soul-winning
That's just for some people
That's for the evangelists. That's for the pastors. Invite someone to church today
so I can preach the gospel to them at the 11 o'clock hour like I do every single week while everybody else has the gospel glaze.
Let your kids get saved for the 15th time this year and come up to the altar. Let the deacon lead them in a repent of your sins gospel.
It says in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence.
and his children shall have a place of refuge.
You know, we're not supposed to fear the Lord though, right?
Don't be afraid, even though the Bible says it hundreds of times in the Bible.
Fear the Lord, depart from evil.
So, mission readiness in the Lord's army is like
You know, like in the military involves ensuring personnel are adequately trained, so when we're talking about that applying to the church is, you know, soul-warning, preaching, you know, and when we equip people, what do we need to equip them with?
Well, we've got the greatest weapon on the face of the planet. We have the Bible, the King James Bible. We equip people with Bibles. We equip people with invites that have, you know, the necessary things on it.
Prepared for combat. How do we do that?
Well, we preach we preach and prepare you for those types of things your personal Bible reading is going to prepare you for those
Things and sound doctrine is going to prepare you for those things
But if you're listening to lies at a church that just preaches lies
Then you're going to be in trouble or if you're just watching
Internet gurus that don't even have a real ministry
They're like a pair of church ministry then you're going to be in a lot of trouble and all they preach about is the
the Nephilim and the Flat Earth, you're in deep trouble.
Because neither one of those things are true.
So, but this includes not only individual skills,
but also effectiveness of teams and units.
Look, we go out, we kind of like have operational tactical
units that go out in different times,
different so many times, and we go to different places.
We're like, here, this is the map,
this is how we're gonna attack it.
We're gonna have two people on this side,
two people on that side.
And, you know, make sure you have your guns,
you know if there are new soul winners we have their little uh their color coordinated spots to
check you know what verses are going to go to you flip to this verse you flip to that verse
and these are the things that are preparing you
How do you get better? Well, you keep practicing you keep going and you keep doing it
And that's how you're gonna get better at souling and you know when you need new stuff
You just say hey, we need this we need pastor. We need more Bibles pastor. We need more more invites
We need more this we need more that and I'll get you the stuff that you need
You know we have this term in in
Doing the type of work I used to do which was
putting like street line markers and stuff like that and crosswalks and
digging holes and putting signs and stuff like that like stop signs and
things like that but the engineers sometimes would they would be wrong on
their measurements and stuff like that and sometimes we'd have to do what's
called field fit.
We'd field fit the measurements to what they're what they should be
You know, they didn't they didn't actually go out in the field and measure things that they were supposed to
They just looked at some graphic from their office and didn't check the stuff
And so we would call and say hey, we got a this isn't gonna work. What's gonna we're gonna put it here
So when we're sold in sometimes we have to do things to field fit sometimes
We'll have a map and we don't know that that apartment complex was gated and we're not getting in
So, we have to field fit the situation, we have to be adaptable to our situations, right?
And we can't just say, what are we, I don't know, what are we going to do?
What are we going to do? I don't know, what are we going to do?
You know, we just feel, we just get this, you know, we get the captain,
you know, the captain's going to have to find a new spot and we get it done.
We adapt and we overcome those situations and don't fuss over the things.
but getting the mission completed.
You know, we have all these people meeting up for a spot.
Well, let's meet up for that spot.
And if it's a bad spot, we move and go to someplace else
that makes sense.
So other situations that we might run into,
the police getting called.
I mean, Brother Alex has a little sheet that he has,
and the police got called on him and Brother Drew last week.
You guys got somebody saved anyway, though, didn't you?
Yep.
And was it right before the cops got there?
But the cops got there fast, he said.
So we get this happen all, this happens all the time.
Police get caught, I'm going to the police.
You know, it's super Karen.
She flies with her cape on and takes pictures of us
or whatever, yells at us, falls us around.
We have all kinds of stuff like this happens all the time.
We just have to adapt to the situation.
You know, they'll throw us all out or whatever,
but
We adapt to these situations and and he has a sheet that he shows them
Hey, this is what the law says. This is what the Supreme Court's ruled and the police were like
Yeah, how do I know that you didn't just print out out on the internet? Well, he probably did print it out on the internet
Because that's where you get a lot of sources from but it doesn't mean it's not true
Why don't you just look it up yourself?
You know like we're yeah, we're just lying that the Supreme why can't you just why can't you just stand there and do your stinking job?
officer flat foot and take your phone and look it up yourself right there but
it's our responsibility to tell you what the law is you know what I really don't
like I don't like cops that are crooked I don't like cops that won't do their
job just because they don't like Bible-believing Christians I don't like
cops that
I mean, I like police that do their job.
I like police that are doing their duty,
but I don't like police that abandon women and children
to be accosted by psychopath, rep, or bait fags,
or to have some Karen run us off an apartment complex
because she doesn't want everybody else to get the gospel.
I don't want that.
I don't like that.
I don't like them.
So ours is a lot nicer than I am.
I probably would have been taken to jail.
But I don't know, maybe not.
Depends on what kind of mood I'm in.
But I mean, Brother Alex, I'm sure he,
Brother Drew said that Brother Alex was like,
you know, a lawyer up there.
You've done that before, apparently.
No, that was the first time?
Need Brother Alex to go to law school.
Anyway, so.
But we have these types of things that we have to adapt to.
That is part of being ready.
And Brother Alex was ready.
It doesn't always work out, but he was ready.
So, as Christians, we should always be ready.
And if you're learning, you're new, that's okay, you know?
That's good, at least you're learning.
But we, as Christians, should always be
in a state of learning.
We should always be sharpening and owning our skills
and being ready and not drawing back
or retreating and backsliding,
but we should be like soldiers
and always being brave, always being true,
always being ready.
and you know like G.I. Joe now I know and knowing is half the battle right so and when we're not in
a state of mission ready look at Matthew chapter 24 verse 48 then that is a bad thing you know we
want to be in a state of mission ready but when we're not look what he says in Matthew 24 48 he says
and if that evil servant shall say in his heart so
This is kind of interesting the way he's phrases that here because
He's taught I think he's just talking about it as opposed to someone. That's a faithful and true servant if an evil servant
so
You know when it says in verse 51 at the end it says there shall be weeping a national of teeth and
That you'll be appointed. He'll cut him a sunder and appoint him a portion with the hypocrites
You know, I'm just guessing that like
You know this person is saved, but like it there are people who are pretenders
That aren't really saved that say that they're saved, right?
But anyway, let me read it says in verse 48
But and if the evil servant shall say in his heart my Lord delayeth is coming
But this you know, I've just was a say that this person is saved the quitter
the backslider and heart
and she'll begin to smite his fellow servants.
Because Saul was saved, wasn't he?
But was he trying to smite David?
Was he throwing javelins against the wall
and trying to slay his own son, Jonathan?
Yeah, he's like, oh, Jonathan, you want to protect David?
Well, how about this?
And then throws a javelin at him too.
So it's interesting how it says
that he began to smite his fellow servants
and to eat and drink with the drunken.
What is that saying?
Well, they're definitely not acting Christian.
If he's you know, this is like Christians going after other Christians, but what do we see today?
We see people and sometimes we're like is this person even saved?
Yeah, and that's kind of how people that are saved that become Saul like in their behavior
You you're like because people are like people think that Saul's not saved a lot of people think he's not
But the Bible is clear that he is
He was just really bad
So you can be pretty bad and still be a Christian
but when the Bible is queer that someone is saved, then they are.
But this type of person, Jesus said, if you're like this,
you're not being faithful, you're not being true, you're not ready,
you're not awake, you're not paying attention to what's going on,
you're a backslider, you're a quitter,
and you're smiting your fellow servants.
This could even be just going against them about what the Bible says.
No, the Bible doesn't say that.
You're wrong. You're wrong about what the Bible doesn't say that at all and you're going at them
But I mean this could literally be
Smiting their fellow sovereigns because what is this time happening?
You know, this is the time when Christians are being killed.
This is the time when, you know, I mean, you could apply this to a lot of things, a lot
of different eras, but, you know, to eat and drink with the drunken, the Lord of that servant
shall come in a day when he looketh not for him.
So the people are not prepared in the time that he actually comes, and in an hour when
he is not aware of, and he shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites.
So the hypocrites are the people that aren't saved, right? The hypocrites are the ones that pretend
there should be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So I'm not saying that this person's not necessarily saved, but
it's just interesting because usually when he says there should be weeping and gnashing of teeth, he's talking about people that are not saved.
But we know that when Jesus comes back and someone is saved, they're gonna get raptured with everybody else. So
there's no punishment after
being raptured
so
It's just interesting, but we don't want to be that person. That's not
Doing what they're supposed to be doing that's not you know, I mean obviously there is some kind of a
There is some kind of a cutting the Sunner doesn't sound like fun
and being appointed a portion with the hypocrites.
But obviously nobody can lose their salvation,
so it is kind of a tough verse there.
But I just think that we just don't want to be that guy.
We want to be the one the boss catcher is working.
The one that doesn't get caught not working,
they're the ones that are getting trouble, don't they?
well, what are you doing? What have you been doing all day? You know, it's like, oh, you know,
you're going to be embarrassed for sure. So, you know, resources, you know,
when you're just like in a state of unreadiness, when you're, I'm just saying,
not even during this time, I'm saying just in general as a Christian, when we're
in a state like this person is,
where you're smiting your fellow servants,
you're talking trash against fellow Christians,
you're drinking.
Cause it says drink and eat with the drunken.
That means you're what, hanging out with unsaved people.
You're partaking in wicked things like drinking.
You know, if you're a drunkard,
you're not even supposed to be in church.
So these people are, if they're saved, they're wicked.
And you're not paying attention to what's going on here.
You're not looking for Jesus.
So that means what?
Jesus is not in the forefront of your mind.
Jesus is not something that you're even aware of.
You're not even aware of what's going on around you.
When you're drunk, your judgment is completely off.
And when you're just hanging out with unsaved people,
you start to become just like them.
That you really can't tell the difference
between you and them anymore.
And so why wouldn't you be treating fellow Christians
the same way?
Because you're not even in fellowship with them.
So
Your what happens then while your resource constraints become God cursing your life
So your budget your personal budget your equipment anything that you have is hindered
When you're not obedient your blessings are going to disappear in this life
people think that they can just go back to Egypt anytime they want and just
hang out with the Philistines whenever they want and and just dabble in all
the sin on the outside and then come to church and act like everything's normal
well I'm not gonna necessarily catch that but you know who is God's gonna
catch those things and so the best thing for us to do is just you know walk
One of the things that can be a hindrance to us being mission ready is keeping pace
with technological advancements and integrating new technologies.
We always got to keep up with everything that's going on.
The internet is a big thing, but we've been hindered by all the woke, deleting of videos
and not letting us be on all this stuff.
You're just completely out of the fight. You're completely out of the loop
You're not using all that stuff to your advantage because you're not even involved
but as Christians we should be involved and have the state-of-the-edge technology and
Be using it for the Lord for the work of the Lord
Maintaining physical and mental well-being is also
Very important and it can be in hindrance if we're not in a great physical and mental well-being
Going forward going you know when we're in the battle and we're in the life
But when people are a wall that means absence without leave
You start to lack in your training. You start to lack in your edge. You start you start to just not care about those things and
Your mental well-being is gonna be off. You're gonna be off balance. You're gonna be out of balance
You're gonna be out of touch with the things of God
But when you are mission ready, you are gonna be physically and mentally
Training yourself in the things of God
You know when the military isn't at war again, you're constantly training doing exercise and keeping ready and watching and waiting logistical complexities
Can be a hindrance when?
Your mission ready we you know those types of things logistical deployment operations, you know
we always have someone is always like kind of a
It's always kind of like chasing cats, you know, it really no matter what you do it can still you can have everything just
Completely lined out brother Alex. You probably know this and then when you get there
It's like nothing is like what I wanted it to be certain people don't show up
There's you had everything planned out. It just does it's just it's never it's never a hundred percent right
but
You know when God's hand of blessing leaves you and you're not you're not going sewing it at all
Then your personal logistics just completely go out the window and you're just under the curse of God
So we don't want to be a people
that are completely just
Under the curse of God not mission ready, but when we're mission ready even these logistical complexities can create obstacles
But at least we're ready for it because when you're when you're on mission
You're gonna be able to just figure this stuff out on the fly brother Alex does a really great job of doing that
when we're out there and it's like things aren't going the way they're supposed to,
he's just like, okay, well, let's just do this.
We'll switch this person for that.
And we're just, we're just on it.
We're on mission.
We're team ready, ready to go.
So, you know, we don't want to be in a state of not being mission ready.
We want to be in a state of being mission ready.
Let's look at a couple more passages.
We're out here.
Heber chapter.
Actually, I'm going to just skip this one.
Let's go to Mark chapter 13 verse 32.
We all need to be vigilant to watch and pray.
So one of the things, and this isn't in Matthew,
but it's in Mark.
We need to be vigilant to watch and pray,
not to fall asleep on duty.
This is one of the things, you know,
this is one of, I think this is a takeaway from the sermon
is that what do we do when we kind of get in this place
where we're not wanting to be vigilant,
we're not wanting to watch?
In one of the parallel passages in Mark it helps us here in verse 33
But look at verse 32 first it says but of that day in that hour knoweth no man
No, not the angels which are in heaven neither the Son
But the Father so even the Son of God
Just does not know the day or the hour nobody does but it says take heed watch and pray
So when you get into a place where you're just not wanting to be ready or you're kind of backsliding or whatever
You know, there's this really great thing that God gave us the ability to pray
I think that a lot of us just lack in this area and
You know, we forget
You're like you get so busy like did I even pray today? Like that's not a good thing. That's not a good place to be
He's Jesus said take heed watch and pray for you know not when the time is
We don't know when the time is and he wants it that way on purpose
He doesn't even know when the time is God the father knows when the time is but Jesus doesn't know when the time is
It says, for the son of man is as a man taking a far journey who left his house and gave
authority to his servants.
Who's that?
That's us.
And to every man his work, not his play, his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
That's the person that guards the door.
Watch ye therefore.
For you know, not when the master of the house cometh at even or at midnight or at the cock-crowing or in the morning
Less coming suddenly he find you sleeping
Christians ought not to be sleeping when they should be awake
And what I say unto you I say unto all not just the Jews
Watch all everybody
All Christians need to be watching and if we want our personal walk with Christ to last,
we need to be in that mission-ready status.
If we want to influence the next generation to follow Christ,
if we want our children to be saved, we want our grandchildren to be saved,
we need to watch and teach them to do likewise.
If you want to last as a church another seven years,
we need to be faithful and true stewards
of the things that God's given us
and the gifts and abilities that we have
and care about the things of God
and not just care about ourselves.
After seven years, many have come and gone.
There's people in this room
that have been here from the beginning
and there's some, there's a lot that haven't,
that are not here anymore.
But
would just say let's turn to a couple more scriptures and we're done Philippians chapter 3 verse 13
But you know, and there's some that I'm sad that are not here. There's some that I think are we're better off without
There's some that did have that
So many mentality of I just want to show my numbers or whatever. I
Don't think our church is like that at all anymore. I don't think that we have a bunch of look what I did and you know
hyper-spiritual type people. I don't think we really have that here. I do truly
think that the weirdos have left, so I think our church is really, you know,
lacking weirdos, so I'm glad for that. But at the time, I didn't really think that
necessarily. At the time, I was like, you know, really sad about it, but I mean,
because I love those people, you know.
But anyway, Philippians 3.13 says,
Brother, and I count not myself to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind.
See, this is our seventh year anniversary,
but I want to forget those things behind,
and not just, I mean, obviously I have fallen memories,
but I'm just saying, let's not count those things
that we did before, or let's keep going
and doing bigger and better things.
But this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth under those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God and Christ Jesus.
Let me just ask you this today.
Just think about this question for yourself.
Are you pressing toward that mark?
Are you pressing at all?
Because press indicates pressure.
Are you pressuring yourself to do better?
Or is there things that you're like, man, I wish I really, really do this.
You know, don't be a hearer of the word and not a doer.
You know, the man that's going to be blessed or the woman that's going to be blessed is the one that hears the word of God and does it also.
You can't just be a hearer and then forget everything that you heard when you walk out the door here.
You've got to be a hearer and a doer.
And that man will be blessed in his deed.
Do you put pressure on yourself to do better? Do you put pressure on yourself to hey?
I'm gonna I'm gonna do more soul winning or I'm actually gonna start going soul winning
I'm gonna learn I'm gonna do it or I want to start doing something that I'm gonna memorize scripts for more scripts
Or I'm gonna read the Bible cover-to-cover. I'm gonna start a Bible
plant reading plan
I'm gonna pray more.
I'm gonna wake up and think of God in the morning
when I wake up and acknowledge him and pray
and read my Bible.
And maybe you just need to wake up earlier in the morning
and you're like, I don't have time.
You have time.
You have more time than you think.
How much time do you spend on social media?
Because I mean, my wife was talking about this last night
we're like, people probably spend more time
on social media than they realize they do.
And, you know, time flies when you're on social media.
What do they call it, doom-scrolling?
I'm not really sure why.
Does anybody know why they call it doom-scrolling?
Does anybody know?
Anybody?
We'll have to talk about this after church.
But, I think it's just like, yeah, I mean,
maybe it's because you see all this doom and gloom on it
or something, I don't know.
It's not really helping you. I'm not saying it's like inherently evil. I'm not saying I don't go on
I go on social media too, but how much time do we actually waste on that and it's like, oh, I don't have time to read my
Bible. Yeah, you do
because
Seven and a half minutes in the morning seven and a half minutes in the evening. You'll have your Bible red cover to cover in one year
And you and I know you spent more time on Instagram than seven and a half minutes in the morning
and seven and a half minutes in the evening.
That's 15 minutes.
You probably take more time making sure
your filters are right than.
I don't do filters though, just so you know.
But I'm not young, so there's no fix in this face.
Anyway, let's move on.
Last verse here, last place I'll have you turn,
Hebrews chapter 12 verse one.
Well, let's press toward that mark for the high calling of God and Christ Jesus
So I was stepping on your Instagram feelings there, but I didn't even I didn't even address tiktok. So
He was chapter 12 verse 1
Bible says wherefore seen that we are compassed about was so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us
Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. There's a lot to unpack in that verse
You know, we got people watching us cheering us on
You know, it's like that's kind of the what's Paul's setting up for us like people used to watch people
You know people watch people race you watch a sporting event people are cheering you
Well, that's kind of what he's set in the picture for here. We're compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses
There's heaven and earth or the saints in heaven are watching us get work done and cheering us on.
And it says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which stuff easily beset us.
That's holding us back. The things that we engage in and do that would hold us back from doing the things that we should be doing or want to be doing.
And if you have a lot of weight on you, it's hard to run.
So it's not easy to run when you are heavy.
So let us lay aside the weight and the sandwich
that's easily beset us and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us.
Look, the Christian life is of decades.
We should have a pace set before us.
It's not a sprint, it's not a jog, it's not a crawl.
It is a race, but you've got to pace yourself.
It says looking unto Jesus.
Isn't that what we're supposed to look for?
Isn't that what this whole, what that Matthew chapter 24 is all about?
We're supposed to watch, we're supposed to wait, but who do we look for to our example?
Someone that did it better than we ever could, and we just, you know, he's the one that set
the mark, he's the all-time statistical champion of everything.
Conquered the most sin lived the perfect life. I mean we have we can never match his stats
He's like way beyond the Michael Jordan of the man the the greatest man of all kind of all of all time
That's why the Bible says looking unto Jesus the author and finish of our faith who for the joy that was set before him
Endured the cross
Despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God
He's our he's the one that we should be looking up to and looking for
and we should be watching and waiting for him.
and acting accordingly, let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for this great church
and we thank you for a great seven years
where we've been able to accomplish so many things
through you Lord and pray that you just help us
to continue to run the race with patience
and keep in mind that there are people watching us
and that you're watching us Lord
and help us to set aside sin and our own ambitions Lord.
And Lord, we still
You know, we need to work jobs and we need to raise our children and we need to do our things in daily life.
But Lord, let us not put you on the back burner, let us put you first.
And we thank you for all the blessings and the salvation and baptisms in this church.
And I pray that you just help us to continue to accomplish great things for you.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Closing him is 323 be there on my vision
Three two three in the blue
choice, O bright and sun. Put up my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all.
The cake is already cut up back there, the ice cream is already cut up.