seats we'll go ahead and get started tonight's first song we're gonna head
start in 143 for 143 acid assurance 143 singing out we're allowed together on
that first 62 be the glory 62 much coming to steadfast Baptist Church if
you do need a bulletin we still have some printed out get you another copy if
you need one on the front we have her Bible memory passage Psalm 58 child that
can quote the verse of the week is able to receive an ice cream treat
immediately following the service they just have to quote it to one of the
ushers myself or brother Oz and then also we have our service times so many
times regional so many times also listed there church stats please continue to
turn that in I have an updated bulletin and I want to make sure I can I get a
different one also we have several ladies who are expecting please be in
prayer for all of those ladies also we have prayer list we've been praying for
the Negeris for health we've been praying for miss Lucy's mother praying
for brother Cameron's leg we've been praying for Wallach's daughter we've
also been praying for miss Cooley stepdad praying for their Adare family
unfortunately they lost their son John and so we're just praying that the Lord
comfort them during their loss also we've been praying for brother Oz
brother and we've been praying for the Scott family for their health as well
also if you'd be in prayer for brother Conley he got sick too and he's we're
hoping that he can have a quick recovery as well so several people to be in prayer
for we can go ahead and just say a quick word of prayer now as a church family
thank you heavenly father so much for our church for this opportunity to be
here for this service I pray that you'd bless all these expecting ladies please
be with them please help them during their pregnancy please help their
baby's development I pray that you give them a timely birth and that you would
help bless them through that process I pray they'd also help our church family
that's struggling with health please give them strength please give them
comfort if possible I pray that you just give them a miracle give them speedy
recovery church family is just temporarily sick I pray that you would
just help them to get over that very soon and that they could return back to
church also if you'd please help our church family that has various needs
with their jobs with travel with loved ones who they want to be saved I pray
that you would help give favor open doors for them and that you would bless
our congregation so that we could keep giving you the honor and glory and in
Jesus name we pray amen on the back we have note about church reminders
upcoming events we have the mighty men's conference which is happening
tomorrow if you are planning on kind of carpooling we're gonna meet here at the
church and leave around 830 a.m. so if you want to carpool with us from this
location you can the spot that we're gonna be meeting it's not necessarily
super far so some people may just want to drive there directly and that's
totally fine but if you do want to just carpool or ride with us you can show up
and you can probably either ride in the church van or I know some other people
might just be driving down and you can ride with them so really looking forward
to that also if you are planning on coming later or at a different portion
during the event if you're just coming for the evenings and everything like
that's totally fine you might just check the email because I believe the emails
instructions on how to go into the property and where to go sometimes
cell phone reception can be a little spotty at where we're at so don't get
mad at me if I don't respond to your texts or brother Oz or anything like
that because it's very it's very unlikely that we're gonna be responding
to texts or emails or calls in a very immediate fashion so just keep that in
mind but really looking forward to to tomorrow there's also an email that went
out that had a lot of instructions regarding just things and reminders of
what to bring but imagine going to prison and those are the accommodations
that you have what you would like to bring with you so that's that's kind of
a good basis of like what type of things you might need to bring so more than
just a metal cot and you know that's about what you get you get a metal
cots and or wooden cot and running water so that's good but if you'd like like a
pillow or any of those things please do make sure that you're bringing that just
as an FYI that the first year we went we didn't really anticipate all that so
we I just called it prison camp so it was just you know but since then we've
we've updated our itinerary and can plan a little bit more accordingly but of
course we're really grateful and thankful that Pastor Thompson is able to
join us on our men's retreat and I asked him I said hey since you coming all this
way why don't you preach for us on Wednesday too and so it's great honor
that he's here with us and he's gonna be willing to preach for us tonight as
well and so make sure to thank Pastor Thompson for being here and preaching to
us and then also he's gonna be preaching again for our men's conference and so
really looking forward to both of those sermons and I'm not talking about just
tonight both the sermons tonight so the the sermon also in the future that's a
joke because he preaches long okay but none of y'all got that all right all
right you're like does he preach longer than you probably not but it's okay also
FBBF is October 12th of the 15th and we're really excited Pastor Thompson is
also gonna be preaching for us for that event on Sunday morning and then we have
other guests that are gonna be coming and preaching for us on Thursday and on
Friday we're gonna have events on Thursday Friday and Saturday so
definitely if you can or you're able to take off some time that might be a good
time we'll have God willing we'll have our spelling bee on Saturday morning
and we'll also have a couple other fun activities for you and so I'm really
looking forward to that conference and that fellowship also November 4th is an
Abilene Texas soul winning marathon and so if you want to pencil that in on your
calendar that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements we're gonna go
ahead and sing our Psalm of the week Psalm 119 and just again as a reminder
unfortunately the copy I'll have does have one small lyrical change and that's
just on that that bottom repeating chorus where it says the wicked have
laid a snare for me it's actually not supposed to have the snare held out it's
supposed to just go snare to four and then the four is held out so it's kind
of sung like the wicked have laid a snare for me so that's how it should be
sung and written so that's how we we practice it and play it and and sing it
so just as an FYI if you actually can read music I don't know if any of you
can but just the just a reminder of how that kind of flows so you don't get
confused so we're gonna sing it out nice and loud Psalm 119 Psalm 119 in your
Bible or in the laminated handout singing out real loud together on the
verse James for the Bible reads from whence come wars and fighting among you
come they not hence even of your lusts that warn your members ye lust and have
not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye
have not because he asked not he asked and received not because he asked amiss
that you may consume it upon your lusts ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye
not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will
be a friend of the world is the enemy of God that the scripture saith in vain the
spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy but he giveth more grace wherefore
he saith God resisteth the proud but giveth grace under the humble submit
yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you draw nigh
to God and he will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands e sinners and purify
your hearts e double-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be
turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness humble yourselves in the sight
of the Lord and he shall lift you up speak not evil one of another brethren
he that speaketh evil of his brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the
law and judgeth the law but if thou judge the law thou art not a doer of the law
but a judge there was one lawgiver who was able to save and to destroy who
art thou that judgest another go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go
into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain
whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life it is
even a vapor that appear it for a little time and then vanish away for that he
ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that but now you
rejoice in your boasting all such rejoicing as evil therefore to him that
knoweth to do good and do with it not to him it is sin let's bow our heads for a
word of prayer father in heaven we thank you for pastor Thompson I prayed Lord
that you would bless him with the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit as
he preaches to us and help us to apply the message to be doers of the word not
hearers only Lord so that we may serve you to the best of our ability we love
you and in Jesus name I pray amen great to be back at steadfast and see the new
building it's great and I'll have to see the other things that usually are out
there so that's awesome too but I just want to thank pastor Shelley and this
this is Shelley for having me here and the whole steadfast family you guys are
like family to me and so I really appreciate coming out tonight it's nice
to have my other family here Dylan and Jasmine and the girls and she's
expecting another baby so that's awesome and I think Remy's gonna show up late
but he'll be here and I got Brandon from he traveled all the way down here just
to hear me preach he didn't know I think he was disappointed but you'll get to
hear pastor Shelley tomorrow I'm just kidding no but I just want to say thank
you for having me here tonight and I'm I'm preaching kind of a simple sermon
tonight and I hope that's all right but it's kind of like a maintenance sermon
but the title of the sermon is blessings and cursings and so basically you know
obviously we can't be cursed like the unsaved we're never gonna go to hell for
one second but we can be cursed in our lives when we don't do what God wants
us to do but we don't live how God wants us to live and so that's why it's you
know blessings and cursings obviously you know we can be blessed but we can
also get chastened on this earth for the things that we are supposed to be doing
and really you know I basically have just a simple solution for people to get
on track in their spiritual life and and I believe that you know obviously living
a separated life is one of those things you have to learn to you know get
sanctified and that's a process that takes place when we are doing the things
that God wants us to do and you know we need to be faithful to church that's one
of the things that God tells us that he commands in the New Testament that we
are to be in church and we're supposed to give unto the Lord not just
monetarily but also you know of our time and our talents and then we're to
pray to the Lord you know obviously we're gonna get blessings when we pray
and then we're gonna miss out on things when we don't and then obviously we're
supposed to be soul-wanting you know these like I said it's basic right so
I'm gonna go through some of these things and just kind of talk about the
blessings that we get for keeping these types of commandments that God has us to
do in the New Testament and also from the Old Testament but simple things but
yet the blessings and the cursings that might come to follow if we don't do what
God wants so let's look down at you know I had I had a Marie James for but I
think I just know okay it's there all right look at verse number four there the
Bible says you adulterers and adulteresses know you not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with God whosoever therefore will be a friend
of the world is the enemy of God so point number one tonight we need to be
you know that we're supposed to have a separated life so basically the
blessings and the cursing is a separated life versus the worldly life so in James
chapter 4 verse 4 it says you know the he's calling you know Christians
adulterers and adulteresses because we have a tendency to whore ourselves out
to different things that we shouldn't be doing and so he's basically talking
about being a friend of the world so we're not supposed to be you know
obviously God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son we know that
but when it's talking about the world's talk about the things and the lust of
the world the pride of life and you know just being a worldly Christian so look
at 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse 14 because the Bible commands us to be
separated on to the Lord you know we're a holy nation we're a royal priesthood
and God expects us to fulfill those roles and yeah we have the choice of
whether we want to serve him or not but in reality you know we should want to
serve God why why wouldn't we want to serve God especially when he saved us by
his grace we don't have to go and chop up animals and burn them all and have a
barbecue even though that sounds nice right now but you know we don't have to
do those things I mean that was a lot of tedious things that they had to do in
the Old Testament we're saved by grace we really have it easy in the New
Testament compared to the Old Testament people in a lot of ways and but
obviously God's given us more responsibility as New Testament
believers because we have the whole Word of God we know what he expects from us
and so this is just one of those things that when you become a Christian and you
know there's a lot of people here that I've known for a long time but there's
some new people and and I realize that there's a lot you know I talked to a
gentleman before the service so I've been here for two months so these are
things that we all need to be reminded of and we also they don't need to maybe
be here for the first time but look at what it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter
6 verse 14 the Bible says but be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers
so are we supposed to hang out with unbelievers are they supposed to be our
best friends no they're not for what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and the answer of
those questions they don't have we're not supposed to be with the unrighteous
we're not supposed to you know the the picture of the Christian is that we are
the light of the world and so why would we want to hang around with the
darkness right and then it says and what Concord hath Christ with Belial I mean
what do Christ and the devil have in common they don't have anything in
common they're not hanging out Christ doesn't hang out with the devil and so
you know it's just giving us these con these these little you know tidbits to
help us understand that you know he's just driving the point in here it says
or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel so there it is again you know
the believer with the unbeliever an infidel is an unbeliever isn't it it
says of what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for you're the temple
of the living God as God has said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I
will be their God and they shall be my people so think about this we as
Christians we carry God around with us all the time he's in us and so any place
we go anything we look at everything we listen to God is with us in that and the
Bible says we're not supposed to grieve the Holy Spirit of God so to the best of
our ability we should try to live a separated life onto the Lord look what
it says in verse 17 wherefore you know for this reason come out from among them
and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive
you so God does call us to be separated from the world he doesn't want us into
worldly activities you know and look I'm not saying don't have hobbies don't have
fun yes have fun but you know not sinful hobbies not sinful fun because you know
we're not supposed to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season sin is
pleasurable that's why we do it it's pleasurable to our flesh but you know we
are different we're changed and we should live as Christians in this world
a separated life it says that he will receive us and we're not to touch the
unclean thing so stale you and you know what's unclean and what's not and if you
don't maybe you should just read your Bible because the Bible is gonna tell
you everything that you need to know in your life for this world it's the whole
we got the whole counsel of God at our fingertips probably multiple copies in
our house and we're to live a separate life so God's gonna be you know on our
side so to speak when we live a separate life and obviously there's gonna be
trials and troubles from the world and without but God's gonna be pleased with
us that's what's important so yes I'm not and look I'm not saying if you do
all this stuff you're never gonna have trouble in your life because obviously
there's temptations obviously there's trials that we go through and you know
really the worst enemy that we have you know obviously Satan's the worst enemy
that we have but our own flesh it can be our own worst enemy that's why we have
to learn to master these things in our lives and I'll just read James 4 for
again it says the adulterers and adulterous is no you not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with God so when you want to be the world's
friend when you want to love the world's things when you want to count out for
the for the queers and the homos and you want to just you know oh well I found
out my cousin's a homo so now I'm just you know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go
to this church anymore or something you know don't who cares does that person
have some major effect on your life or something your queer cousin or whatever
it's like why would people quit on God and quit on a great church over
something like that so but look what it says also and well you I had you turn
away from it but it says whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world
is the enemy of God so that's strong language isn't it who wants to be God's
enemy in here nobody right but the Bible says if we're gonna be friends with the
world then he's gonna be our enemy and so that would be kind of a curse in your
life wouldn't it I mean who wants to have God as their enemy he's the worst
enemy you could actually possibly have because God has the power you know
obviously he's not gonna destroy our soul in hell but he can destroy our
life here on earth and make it very miserable and so you know this is
something that we have to get under control look at 2nd Chronicles chapter
19 verse 2 2nd Chronicles chapter 19 verse 2 so the first point that I'm
talking about is a separated life versus the worldly life you know you want God's
blessings then separate yourself from the world if you want God's you want to
be God's enemy well then just by all means just continue to do all the
worldly things that you used to do you know and and you know if you're a
Christian you're going to a bar you're a Christian and you know you're looking
at things you're not supposed to I mean obviously there's just a multitude of
things that we can get wrapped up in because the old man always just wants to
get out the old man wants to take control and that's why we have to kill
that guy every single day that's why we have to take up our cross daily and
follow after him it says the second Chronicles 19 verse 2 it says and Jehu
the son of Hineni the seer went out to meet him and said to king Jehoshaphat
shouldest thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord therefore wrath
is upon thee from before the Lord so when you help the ungodly when you love
the ungodly then God is going to be against you and he's going to put wrath
upon your life you know I think that sometimes that we as Christians we just
don't realize that some of the things we're going through might be chastening
from God and we really got to be in tune with that because obviously you know not
everything is persecution sometimes you know we we're gonna get punished and you
have to kind of realize that in your life and say well what am I doing
differently than I was doing last week why is this happening and it's good to
question why things are going wrong in your life number two tonight is the
difference between you know the blessings of someone who's faithful to
church versus the curses of someone who's not now let's look at Psalm chapter
92 verse 13 Psalm chapter 92 verse 13 the Bible calls being in his house a
blessing look at verse 13 the Bible says those that be planted in the house of
the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God so when we're planted in the
house of Lord tonight there's a lot I'm kind of preaching the choir there's a
lot of people planted in the house of the Lord tonight right and the Bible
says that when you do that you will flourish and you know it's if it's
referencing plants you know plants grow and you know when you plant them plants
don't move so don't move as this being the place that you plant yourself on
Wednesday on Sunday morning and Sunday evening and basically just whenever the
doors are open here and there's something going on as much as you can be
be involved in church because you know how you can kill the old man really
easily is be around God's people because you know you're not gonna just want to
just sin in front of all God's people are you I mean it's just like you know
I'm just gonna light up you know I'm just you know what I mean it's like
you're not gonna do wicked thing you're gonna think of wicked things necessarily
when you're in God's house planted in the house of the Lord and then just
doing activities that the church has you know do you think that pastor Shelley
just does activities just because he doesn't have anything better to do and
he's just like well let me just plan another activity no he plans activities
so that you guys can get involved get plugged in and just and obviously this
church is a blessing to people but you know the more that you're in church the
more that you learn the better your Christian life is gonna be and don't
tune out the preaching you know anything can just get get you can get used to
anything you know there's some hard preaching that comes through this pulpit
and we don't want to get numbed or calloused to the things of God because
you can get numbed and calloused even the hard preaching people are sinful no
matter what and will we can learn to callous our hearts we can learn to just
callous over the things of God and then you can just drift away and you know if
you're gonna be worldly that's what's gonna happen you're gonna drift away but
if you're planted in the house of the Lord then that is gonna be good for you
plants don't move plants take roots don't they when you plant them and you
know some good soil they take roots we're supposed to be rooted and grounded
in the faith you know we're supposed to be here the pillar of the in the ground
of the truth which is God's house now we're God's house we're all gathered
together as believers we all have God in us the Holy Spirit is in us but you know
plants grow when they're watered plants grow when they get sun you know and of
course you're gonna get the Son of God preached to you every single time you're
in this place and plants create oxygen out of co2 and that blesses those that
breathe that air and so you're gonna bless each other by being planted in the
house of the Lord and in plants also produce fruit you know a lot of plants
you know some of them don't I get that but the trees that God's talking about
the plants of God's talking about do look at verse 14 it says they shall
still bring forth fruit in old age so how long should you be in church is there
like is it when you retire then you just say well you know it's time for
somebody else to be here and take care of this no we're supposed to still
bring forth fruit in our old age it says they shall be fat and flourishing so you
know there's your biblical reason to be fat right but it's talking about the
plants you know sometimes those plants just get really bushy right and you know
sometimes you know you get the the fruit that's coming on it and it makes it
really heavy but that's a blessing to bring forth fruit when you're older and
you're still bringing forth fruit it's talking about because you were planted
in the house of the Lord so we should stay planted in the house of the Lord
don't skip Wednesday just because you're tired don't skip Sunday nights
because you're tired go to church you'll be glad that you did now let's look at
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 so I talked about the blessings of being in church
obviously there's way more than I can ever talk about I mean I can preach whole
sermons hours and hours long sermons on each of these topics and I'm gonna try
not to do that tonight to you you know pastor Shelley was bringing up how I
preach a long time it's you know you in order to pull the moat out of my eye he
has to pull that beam out of his own eye I'm just kidding but he still has the
record all right anyway Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 the Bible says let us
consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works so this is this
is a purpose of us being in God's house to provoke each other and to consider
one another you know don't be selfish it's important for you to be in church
it's not just important for you it's important for the people around you to
be in church to provoke people to love and good works and it says not forsaking
the assembling of ourselves together don't forsake the assembly what is this
this is the assembly right here don't forsake that don't don't let it get old
to you you know just don't ever don't even have a mindset where it's we're not
you know I don't should we go to church Sunday night should we go to church
Wednesday night because really the main service the Sunday morning service the
Sunday morning preaching service is the one that's the biggest isn't it why is
that because some people don't they forsake that assembling on Sunday night
they forsake that assembling on Wednesday night now if someone lives
like three or four hours away then yeah give them a break right but you know I'm
sure that most of the people live far away and travel on Sunday they stay for
the whole day they want to go soul winning you know hang out and fellowship
with each other and then hit the next service and you know obviously you start
your week off right every week we should start our week off right and go to the
house to Lord pastor Shelley doesn't have a choice he has to show up he's the
pastor if he's just like well you know I just don't really feel like preaching on
Wednesday night so I'm just not gonna come he doesn't get that choice and you
know what I don't get that choice unless I have somebody preaching for me and I'm
somewhere else right so why don't you just say I'm gonna I'm gonna be planted
in the house of Lord I'm gonna not forsake the assembly of ourselves it
says as the manner of some is so some people do it right but exhorting one
another so encouraging one another to good works right and so much the more
as you see the day approaching you know today is closer to Christ coming back
than yesterday was right and you know tomorrow is gonna be even closer and
Sunday's gonna be even closer so the Bible saying hey don't go to church less
go to church more the more as you see the day approaching for if we what's it
say there sin willfully what's it talking about here did it change
subjects no it's talking about sinning willfully it's a sin to not go to
church there's not what it's saying if we sin willfully after that we have
received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which
shall devour the adversary so you know when we sin we should realize when we
sin willfully that we're looking you know you better be looking for that
judgment because it's coming but it's not a judgment that it's going to devour
the adversaries that fire but it's not going to devour us but you know God can
make our lives really uncomfortable and so it says he that despised Moses law
died without mercy under two or three witnesses so was Moses saved yes were
the children were a lot of the children of Israel saved yes if if a saved person
committed murder under Moses's law would they be dead without mercy yes so I
mean it's talking to Christians here but it's also kind of jumping back and
forth and saying hey this is what the unbelievers are gonna get but that
indignation and that judgments can come from God on our lives in this world it
says or how much sore punishment verse 29 suppose you suppose he shall he be
thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God and hath counted
the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath
done despite the spirit of grace look Jesus died for the church isn't that
what the Bible says his blood was shed for the church so why would you despise
you know the assembling of believers the church that he died for you have a
responsibility as a Christian to come to church you have a responsibility as a
Christian to exhort one another you have a response you know to think of
other people beside yourself think about everybody else quit being selfish come
to church as much as you can we need it we need the spiritual recharge we need
every single sermon is preached in this pulpit you guys need that you need it to
grow you need it to to plant deeper roots to flourish more in your Christian
life is for the perfecting of the Saints the Bible says and it says in verse 30
for we know him that has said vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompense saith
the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people so is it talking about God
judging his people yes or no it is so and it's in regards to forsaking the
assembly isn't that what the context was and then it says and this is I think one
of the most scary verses in the whole Bible it is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God and that's a scary verse for Christians because when
it says in the lot and the verse before that the Lord shall judge his people you
know we ought to get we ought to get some fear of the Lord when we just just
willfully sin and break his commandments that's when we should be
afraid and you know well you're like well we're not supposed to be we are
supposed to be afraid of God our kids are you afraid of your dad you should be
because he's the one that probably gives the worst spankings right who kids raise
your hand if you think you're your dad gives the worst spanking raise your hand
all right the moms there's still some moms the moms are lacing into it huh but
you know we should we should fear God because he is our Heavenly Father and
he's gonna he's gonna chastise us harshly sometimes especially when we're
willfully sinning it amazes me how I can preach these verses and yet the same
people skip church over and over again without any fear and I just think they I
know that they heard me I've preached a lot about this in the last year and then
those same people don't understand why their life is falling apart while their
marriage is going bad why they're broke why they're always sick and why their
life seems cursed and I'm just thinking the Bible says you're gonna be judged
and I'm not saying that everybody that's sick okay don't so don't take me out of
context here obviously people still get sick and Job was sick and I get that but
it you know it seems like the people that miss the most church have the most
problems I mean that's just kind of my experience as a pastor and I'm just
like hey dummy get back into church start serving God again start being
faithful to the things of God again encourage other people and provoke them
under good works and then maybe your life will turn around a little bit maybe
God's gonna let off and real and you know here's what we got to do though we
got to confess those sins to God because if we just act like there's no problem
isn't it funny how the people that skip church the most they don't realize that
everybody realizes that their excuses are weak they're like here we go again
it's just like I just look people that people know that you just it's
noticeable when you're not here your pastor notices when you're not here and
obviously there's there's valid excuses to miss church I'm not saying like you
know if you're got a car accident you need to go to the hospitals like church
hospital you know which one should I do but every week it shouldn't be another
excuse why you couldn't make it that's all I'm saying so number three tonight
someone who is giving versus someone who is not so the blessings of those that
give and I am going to talk mainly about just money okay and I know that this is
not a popular subject in the new IFB but it is still true that you if you don't
give unto the Lord you know and I would include the spiritual sacrifices that
we're supposed to make but I'm just gonna mainly talk about money I'm sorry
I didn't clear this with pastor Shelley but I think that you know it's in the
Bible it needs to be preached every once in a while so let's just look at
Malachi chapter 3 this is where everybody goes this is the the main text
where people would go for tithing you're like well tithing isn't in the New
Testament we'll get there but and you're like well you just want money if I was
in this for money look I gave up the golden ticket to be a pastor I knew the
day that I became a pastor that my career was gonna be gone someday and I
just I counted that cost I knew it was gonna happen so when it happened I
wasn't really worried about it you know what my philosophy is on that I was
looking for a job when I found that one so if I actually need to go get another
job I have skills that I could go and work someplace else and be just fine but
you know I mean I put a lot off for the ministry but you know that God calls us
to forsake all anyway so who cares we got way more riches waiting for us in
heaven that cannot be taken away we can't get those rewards are not gonna
disappear we're gonna we need to be stacking up treasure in heaven and not
worrying so much about the things of this earth but look what it says in
Malachi 3 verse 6 it says for I am the Lord I change not therefore you sons of
Jacob are not consumed so obviously it's a very popular verse but the fact that
he doesn't change is an advantage for us because we would be consumed you know
if God changed but he says I'm gonna give you eternal life I'm never gonna
destroy you in hell so look at verse 7 it says even from the days of your
fathers you're gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them return
unto me and I'll return unto you say at the Lord of hosts but you said wherein
shall we return so then they're like well you got the you can ask a dumb
question well here's the here's the good answer well a man robbed God yet you
have robbed me but you say where and have we robbed thee in tithes and
offerings you're cursed with a curse so what happens when you rob God what's it
say there you're cursed with the curse everybody repeat with me you're cursed
with a curse that's what it says right for you have robbed me I mean just
think about the audacity to just rob God and just fully think about that for a
second even this whole nation do you think that the time Malachi wrote this
scripture that there was saved people he's talking to here or is the whole
nation just corrupted unsaved and reprobates no he's right it says the
whole nation so there are saved people that God's talking to here it's not you
know not just the unsaved you know Jews in Israel or whatever he's talking to
his people he's saying you robbed me the whole nation's robbed me but then you
know he gives us these blessings that we can he gives us a way to not be cursed
it says in verse 10 bringing all the ties in the storehouse that there may
be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith say at the Lord of hosts if I
will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall
not be room enough to receive it God says to prove me this is one of the the
great commands that God gives to us he says you know what why don't you prove
me and see if it's true or not give what you're supposed to give give the tenth
that's what God requires well I'm not up here preaching whole check pay check
Sunday I'm not up here saying give till it hurts give till you bleed or
something but what does God require 10% that's what he requires that's what tithe
actually means in case you didn't know that but it says that he will pour he
said prove me that I won't open up the windows of heaven and pour you out a
blessing that there will there not be room enough to receive it and look you
know I used to live before I was like a real faithful tither when I was a first
a baby Christian I would I would I was afraid to tithe because I just the math
wasn't adding up how's this gonna work but then when you get the faith of you
know I mean just think about this we put our trust our salvation trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ and eternal security but we can't trust him with our money
the money that he allowed us to make the money he allowed us to you know to hang
on to and he said just give a little portion back and I'm gonna bless you for
sure it's just gonna happen and I remember like pastors would get up and
say you know when I first started tithing you know I was afraid you know
it wasn't adding up and I was like how am I gonna pay for this bill and then
like a check would come in the mail to cover the exact amount and I was like
is this you know some kind of Benny and stuff or something but I remember when I
the first time I did that and I was I was like I just don't know how I'm gonna
there was a certain bill and I'm not saying it was the exact amount it was
more than what I needed actually but I did get a check of the mail and I was
just like there's no way this is real it's like but it is prove God you trust
him with your salvation trust him what with the the promise that he says he's
gonna bless you for giving I mean isn't that what it says okay this isn't me
just trying to get your money all right so and then look what it says it not
only that not only is he gonna bless us those that have robbed him before but
then it says and I and I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and he shall
not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your vine cast her fruit
before the time in the field sayeth the Lord of hosts so obviously we're not
farmers in this world but you know what does that mean to us you're not gonna
run out of work you're not gonna run out of substance you're gonna be taken care
of you know God's gonna destroy the devourer for your sake and it says and
all nations shall call you blessed for he shall be a delightsome you shall be a
delightsome land saith the Lord of hosts so like there that's that's a pretty big
list of blessings just for giving back something that God already allowed you
to have right now let's turn to Haggai chapter 1 I mean I could probably just
move on from there but let me just tell you something if you just make the
decision tonight maybe you are here and you you don't really fully give to the
Lord like you should maybe you give some and that's great but you're still
robbing him if you're not giving him the whole ten percent so you're right you're
being right but you're being wrong at the same time it's kind of probably
canceling things out because what do you think the opposite of that is if you
continue to rob God what's he gonna do he's gonna send the devourer he's going
to not bless you he's not going to make sure you have enough to make the ends
meet he's not gonna call you blessed he's not gonna call you a delight some
land he's gonna curse your life remember what it said in verse 9 you're cursed
with the curse so in order for the to break that curse what do you have to do
you have to get right with God you have to give what you're supposed to give
right Haggai chapter 1 verse 5 now the context of this is is basically the
children of Israel are kind of just putting off building the temple and
they're building their own houses and making sure that they got the remodel
that they needed and and all this other stuff but God says this in verse 5 now
therefore thus said the Lord of hosts consider your ways think about think
about what you're doing basically you have so much and bring in little you eat
but you have not enough you drink but you're not filled with drink he clothed
you but is none warm and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag
with holes thus saith the Lord of hosts consider your ways so when you're not
doing that which is right when it comes to monetary things like that then it's
like you're earning a check but the money's just dropping out of your
pockets you know you pop a tire on the way you know to not go to church you
know you pop you lose your job I mean God will find ways to punish us but like
the brand-new washer and dryer that by the way the new washer and dryer suck
but I still have old-school wash machines and I just get them repaired if
I need to but maybe God part of God's blessing is gonna allow your car to just
run on you know you drive until the wheels fall off it's like you got
350,000 miles on it or whatever it's still going you know that's a blessing
it's like the children of Israel their feet didn't their shoes of the soles of
their feet didn't wear out the whole 40 years God blessed them and allowed them
that their shoes to supernaturally not lose its tread but God can
supernaturally make sure that that old wash machine you have still works or
that old beater car still getting you back and forth to work there's a lot of
ways that God can bless you you know that the house that you have is still
not they're not raising the rent but you know if you don't trust God with your
finances then all those curses can be the opposite everything you buy sucks
the warranty was worthless you know the cars are all breaking down at the same
time and I mean and you laugh about this stuff but it happens it really does and
then you know obviously we're not supposed to have evil surmises or just
think well they must not be telling you or something you know don't have that
attitude let them deal with that with God in the preaching right look at Luke
chapter 12 Luke chapter number 12 Bible says in Luke 12 19 and I will say to my
soul this is the the guy that wanted to build bigger and plan his retirement and
his hedge funds and his 401k and that was more important than anything else
building bigger barns he says and I said and I will say to my soul soul that was
much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry but God
said unto him thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then who
shall those things be which thou has provided so is he that layeth up
treasure for himself and is not what's it say there rich toward God so we know
God's rich toward us we need to be rich toward God and not just hoard
everything like Scrooge McDuck or something or you know like a literal Jew
right but anyway you know right now we're experiencing a lot of big
inflation and this you know every time something like this happens where
there's like a big recession or things like that the churches are affected by
this and obviously people can lose their job and and that's a big portion of it
but the Bible doesn't say don't tithe as much when the economy is bad does it
is that when you pull back and say well five percent now you should still
continue to do the normal ten percent no matter what's going on in the world and
let me tell you something we can be recession proof as Christians we really
can but when you when you say it's more important to just get you know I would
say this it's more important even more important to give in the lean times
because that really shows how much you really trust in God so I'm not trying to
punch in the money here tonight you know but you know why would God bless you in
the times of lean when you're robbing him so when if you're lean and then
you're robbing him it's gonna be even more lean for you you know I knew a guy
that was a contractor and during like the big house Fannie Mae Fannie Mae
Freddie Mac or whatever it was a lot of people were losing everything you know
what he did he just kept his prices the same as a contractor and he trusted God
with his finances and he never lacked work that whole time because what
usually gets hit construction you know the blue-collar jobs people don't want
to get their bathrooms retiled people don't want to spend extra money for a
roof you know everybody just kind of tightens up but you know God can make
you recession proof no matter what you're doing if you're faithful and
that's just a little bit of advice and I've just seen these things play out in
my life so God can still bless you in the times of lean but don't rob God
just because you're cut short you're waxing short just be faithful and he'll
make sure that you can get through it so there's some maybe there's some you know
instead of cutting God short why don't you just cut your Starbucks bill short
instead of cutting God short why don't you just take your video you know stop
paying for all those video subscriptions you know we can be recession proof but
don't start saying well I'm cutting God short and because I still want to
maintain my abundant life in Starbucks and Dutch Brothers and you know whatever
just whatever it is your hobbies so going out to eat for every single meal
you know when recessions happen that's the time to maybe just hunker down and
you know make some meals at home so don't cut back on the fuel that allows
God's church to function at a high capacity because you guys have a high
capacity functioning church here you guys are doing all kinds of things you
know I I think that the great thing about one of the great things about the
new IP is a lot of great things about it but one of the great things about it is
that we're just we do all these events and then we just put them on with what
God gives us and somehow we always just have enough and that's and that's a
blessing isn't it it's a blessing to be a part of this church I mean your cure
for wanting to leave a church like this just go to an old life be church for
like one service I'm not I'm not telling you to skip church I'm just telling you
to learn to appreciate what you have here because we can start seeing the
moles you know you know we can start you know just seeing the weeds and stop
focusing on how great this church is and how great things are being done through
it and you start just thinking it's just like any old church just go to an old
life be church I'm not saying all of old life be churches are bad I'm just saying
they're different they recently had a someone from our church that was
attending an old life be church and they came back fired up all it took was like a
few altar calls and you know not tithing sermon a lot of times you know
these old life be church will do like a tithing sermon every single service like
you're just having to hear it one time I don't know when the last time that's
really for each of that it is but sure it's been a while but anyway so but now
let me just get to the first Corinthians chapter 9 verse 3 first
Corinthians chapter 9 verse 3 you're like what about the New Testament well
and I just kind of want to say this also not only does you know tithing help the
church to do all these functions but also help support your pastor and do you
want your pastor to have to work like some side job just because you didn't
want to be rich with God so we don't and I'm not trying to say pay pastor
Shelley Moore anything I that's none of my business I'm just saying that when
Paul was asked about this question and he didn't even take a paycheck at this
point but here's what Paul says look at first Corinthians 9 3 it says my answer
to them that do examine me is this so people are always messing with preachers
about the money that they make just that's just a fact how we not power to
eat and drink how we not power to lead about a sister a wife as well as the
other as other Apostles and as the Brethren of the Lord and Cephas or I
only in Barnabas have not we power to forbear working he's like we should be
able to take a paycheck and forbear working a secular job all a lot of the
other Apostles did that's what he's saying who go it to warfare any time in
his own charges who planted the vineyard and it's not the fruit thereof or who
feed at the flock and Edith not the milk of the flock he's saying hey if the
pastor is leading and working and working hard he should be able to or the
full-time worker whatever you want to call it be able to eat the fruit of the
things that he's doing you know the shepherd should be able to eat of the
flock and so on and so forth but look at verse 8 say I these things as a man or
saith not the law the same also so what's he referring to the law of tithing
right so what it says for is written in the law Moses thou shall not muzzle the
mouth that of the ox that treadeth out the corn doth God take care for oxen
he didn't write that for the for the beast he wrote that for the the working
ox that's working hard and plowing the fields of God's harvest right it says or
saith he altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt this is written that
he that ploweth should plow and hope and that he that thresheth and hope should
be a partaker of his hope if we have sown unto you the spiritual things excuse
me spiritual things is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things
what's he saying he's like is it like a big deal that we're we need to pay to
get a paycheck or we should get a paycheck it's not a big deal it's
actually something that the law teaches and so what Malachi is talking about that he
says that my house would be filled that meat would be in my house and that's
that's what the the Levites lived off of the tithes and offerings so it's just
how God's system is and it works beautifully if we're participating as we
should do you not know that they which minister about the holy things live of
the things of the temple and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the
altar even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should
live of the gospel so New Testament tithing is covered this is specifically
what it's talking about that these things help the ministers to be able to
minister in a better capacity turn to Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9 Proverbs
chapter 3 verse 9 I realize I'm taking a long time on this point but I think
it's important especially at the times that we're living in right now and
uncertainty all over the place where do we run let's all be afraid no
let's not be afraid let's just trust God he's gonna get us through it and and
yeah it might get lean I mean in Washington State we have the most
expensive gas prices in the whole nation even over California and it is it's it's
hurting people you know five dollars a gallon what are you guys paying here what
I think I'm called to Texas no I'm kidding 350 wow that's good you guys
are blessed see anyway it says honor the Lord with thy substance and with the
first fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty
and thy presses shall burst out with new wine so it's just it's just saying
give God the first fruits give God what he asked for and you're gonna be blessed
look at Luke chapter 6 verse 38 Luke chapter 6 verse 38 Luke chapter 6 verse
38 says give and it shall be given unto you good measure press down and shaken
together and running over shall men give into your bosom for with the same
measure that you meet with all it shall be measured to you again so it's like
you know the sowing and reaping principle applies with giving of your
monetary things and I'm not gonna have you go to the verses about alms but
giving to the poor that's a separate thing than tithing but it's still
something that you know we should we should help the poor but not you know
derelict bombs that won't work right now so I'm gonna have you turn to 2nd
Corinthians 9 6 and it's just gonna kind of repeat this principle I'm just
gonna read while you're turning there but it says but this I say he that so
sparingly shall reap also sparingly and he would sow it bountifully shall reap
also bountifully every man according as he purposeth in his heart so let him give
not grudgingly or of necessity for God loveth a cheerful giver now before you
start saying well see there's it doesn't says you just have to be a
cheerful giver this is talking about my collection it was for the poor Saints in
Jerusalem this was a love what's called a love offering in our circles or
whatever but it says in God shall be able to make all grace abound toward you
that ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work
so Paul would take this collection he'd go to Jerusalem and help the poor Saints
that were there and he would do like a collection with these other churches but
look what it says in verse 9 you think that money doesn't matter but it does it
says as it is written he hath dispersed abroad he hath given to the poor his
righteousness remaineth forever so I mean it's it is a good work to help
people that are poor and obviously I think that we should help the working
poor you know some people are just gonna be poor and that's just the way it is
but you know it's as Christians we should help each other out when we can
And obviously, this also lacks in the times when it's lean.
But again, you give, however you give,
that's how it's gonna be given back to you.
If you sow sparingly, you're gonna reap sparingly.
But if you are a cheerful giver,
then God's gonna bless you.
So anyway, let's move on to the next point here,
point number four.
Those who pray versus those that pray not.
Those who pray versus those who pray not.
Look at James chapter four.
We'll go back to James chapter four.
James chapter number four, the Bible says in verse two,
you lust and you have not.
You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain.
You fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not.
So what's stopping us from getting blessings and prayer?
Just not asking.
Isn't that what it says?
You know, instead of just fighting and warring
and coveting and lusting after things,
you have a father in heaven,
which you only have to just ask.
I mean, multiple times,
we're gonna see some different scriptures here
that just tell us, just ask.
That's all you have to do is ask.
We'll go over what it says in verse three.
We'll make sure we're asking for the right things.
You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss
that you may consume it upon your lust.
I mean, if you're praying for a Lamborghini,
you're just an idiot.
God's not gonna give you a Lamborghini, all right?
He knows what you're gonna do.
You're gonna crash into a telephone pole and die someplace.
Trying to be the fast and the furious or whatever.
So, you know, it's important, you know,
when we pray that we ask for things in God's will,
and, you know, he's obviously, you know,
sometimes he's just gonna say no.
Maybe we don't need that extra money.
Maybe we don't need that better job.
Maybe we should be staying at the job
that we're already at,
maybe not making as much but being happy.
I know some of the worst things I've ever done
was change jobs thinking that just more money is better
and just work for tyrants and it's miserable.
So just because an opportunity knocks
doesn't mean you need to walk through that door
but look at James chapter one.
We have James chapter one.
So God will give you things willingly
and not sparingly, he'll give you what you ask.
So you have not because you ask not.
In James 1.5 it says, if any of you lack wisdom,
let them ask of God.
Well, how do you ask?
You pray, right?
That giveth to all men liberally and abradeth not.
He's not going to hold it back from you
because of your social status or anything like that.
It says that he'll give it to all men liberally
and abradeth not, and it shall be given him.
And you know, maybe you need to get some wisdom,
but you know how you get that wisdom?
Ask God to give you wisdom.
And it says he'll give it to you, right?
Well, let him ask in faith, nothing wavering,
for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven
with the wind entossed, for let not that man think
that he shall receive anything from the Lord.
Double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Turn to James chapter five, verse 13.
James chapter five, verse 13.
Trying to keep you awake turning all these verses,
so I don't know if it's having the opposite effect or what,
but anyway, James chapter five.
I know it's a Wednesday night.
James chapter five, the Bible says in verse 13,
is any among you afflicted?
Let him pray.
Is any merry?
Let him sing psalms.
Is any sick among you?
Let him call for the elders of the church
and let him pray over Him,
anointing Him with oil in the name of the Lord.
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick
and the Lord shall raise him up
and if he have committed sins,
they shall be forgiven him.
Confess your faults one to another
and pray one for another that you may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.
So basically God's saying you're being held back
from blessings because you're not asking for them.
And obviously God's going to bless us to a certain measure
for certain things, but if you're asking for things,
God's going to give them to you.
Isn't that what it says?
It just keeps saying ask in each passage I'm going to, right?
But you know, God knows what you need.
He knows that you need clothes.
He knows you need food.
He knows you need raiment.
But you know, there's certain things
that you need to ask for.
Well, what are those things?
Wisdom.
You know, and maybe you need a job.
Ask for a job.
But you know, don't ask for a job
and then it's on every time you have to go to church,
you take that job instead of taking a different job.
That's a mistake.
That's not a mistake that Christians make.
I've seen it happen lots of times.
And you know what's gonna get you out of church faster
than anything?
Accepting a job that takes you out of every single service
at church.
It's gonna make you backslidden.
It's gonna happen like, oh no, not me.
I'll just watch online.
That's not enough.
That's not what the Bible says.
So, or you know, some people ask for a wife
and you know, you single guys need to start
asking a little harder.
Ask for a wife and then put yourself out there.
You know, talk to girls and you know,
you'll find a girlfriend and hopefully a wife, right?
You ask for children, you want more children, ask!
What's the Bible say?
Ask, ask for these things.
Look what it says in Luke 11, verse nine.
Sorry I didn't have you turn there.
Luke 11, nine.
Y'all might get out here before 10 o'clock tonight, joking.
You're like, is he serious?
Don't tell me to preach it.
Luke 11, nine.
Luke 11, don't tell me to preach it, so it's his fault.
Luke 11, nine, it says, and I say unto you, ask,
and it shall be given you.
Seek, and ye shall find.
Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
What's the key word there again?
Ask.
For every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh,
it shall be opened.
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father,
will he give him a stone?
Or if he asketh fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask?
You're like, why am I not filled with the Holy Spirit?
Ask!
What do you need?
Ask God.
Did you ask your dad for stuff when you were younger?
He might have told you no a lot.
But you know, we're mean sometimes.
But God might tell you no too.
But you still should ask.
Ask!
Psalm chapter 55.
When should we pray?
And this is, I think, a struggle with a lot of Christians,
especially busy Christians.
But we've got to get better at prayer.
I think that that holds us back from a lot of different things
in our lives.
And you're like, instead of complaining
about what you don't have, why don't you just ask?
That's what the Bible says, right?
Psalm 55 verse 16, the Bible says, as for me,
I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me.
Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud,
and He shall hear my voice.
Why was David a man after God's own heart?
He prayed in the evening, he prayed in the morning,
he prayed at noon three times a day.
And I'm not going to have you go to the verses in Daniel,
but when they made a rule, a law,
that he could not even pray--
I mean, we've never gotten to that point in America.
It's gotten pretty wicked, but maybe there
is going to be a time.
But maybe if you've never were praying before,
it won't be a big deal to you when they try to take it away
later when your smartphone's telling on you or whatever.
Throw that thing-- you'll have to throw those things
in the garbage or whatever.
But it says, "He hath delivered my soul in peace
from the battle," verse 18, "that was against me,
for there were many with me.
God shall hear and afflict them, even he that abideth
of old, see law, because they have no changes.
Therefore, they fear not God."
So God will deliver our enemies, you know,
the enemies that rise up against us.
You know, Moses used to say when he would move
the tabernacle, "Rise, Lord," and let the enemies
of the Lord be scattered.
God will defend us against our enemies,
and sometimes it seems like our enemies are beating us,
but they're never gonna beat us.
They're never gonna win.
They are not gonna win.
These enemies that have come against your church
are not going to win.
God will give you the victory.
Just watch.
But you know what?
Pray also.
You know, sometimes we just say,
"Well, I'll pray for you,"
or, "You know, I'm praying about this."
But are you really?
Because that is something that we
should get right as Christians.
Daniel prayed three times a day.
And just remember this acronym.
I'll just say this really quickly.
The acronym of AXE.
Who's heard of this acronym for prayer?
Anybody?
Okay, just one person, so good.
Well, write this down.
Put it in your Bible.
AXE.
Acknowledge God.
You know, when you go to God in prayer,
acknowledge Him as your Lord,
and just make sure that you're just acknowledging God
when you pray.
It's not like, you're only Father in Jesus' name, Amen.
I mean, that's not how we should pray, right?
I mean, you gotta put some stuff in between there.
You know, you see these heathen,
they'll even pray a longer prayer than that.
These heathen that, like at Thanksgiving,
when you go over to your family's house or whatever,
and they're just like, you know, good bread, good meat,
good God, let's eat, or whatever.
Have you ever heard somebody say that before?
Totally disrespectful.
We don't wanna be like that.
So it says, you know, so Acts, A is acknowledge God,
C confess your sins and faults to God.
So when we're confessing our sins,
God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Thank God for the blessings you get in life.
You know, a lot of times we get victories
or prayer requests get answered.
Do you thank God for those things?
Because you know what, we should.
You know, when your enemies are vanquished, thank God.
When you win a victory, thank God.
When your children are healed from some kind of sickness,
thank God.
When you're healed from a sickness,
thank God.
When you're feeling better, thank God.
We ought to be thankful to God for the things He gives us.
That's the T.
And then S is supplication.
That's when you ask things for others or yourself.
So Daniel was caught making supplication before his God.
Oh, you caught me making supplication.
But what ended up happening?
They throw him in the lion's den.
An angel shuts the mouths of the lions.
Then all those people that went against him,
what happened to them?
Into the lion's den you go, boys, and they were starving.
I mean, they're breaking bones.
I mean, lions are some pretty ferocious things.
They threw all of them in there.
And so God has a way to just turn things around,
that even though things seem bleak,
even though things seem tough,
he's still gonna come through for us
in the clutch every time.
He's always gonna hit the home run grand slam
with all the bases loaded.
He's gonna hit the game winner.
He's gonna hit the final shot in hockey.
What's some other dumb games that you guys like?
(audience laughs)
He's gonna, huh?
He's gonna get the smash and the ping pong or whatever.
He's gonna spike it hard in someone's face
on the final point of volleyball.
I'm just, you know, I'm using sports
because it's just, I don't know how I think.
But you know, God is always gonna come through the clutch,
even in the most impossible situations.
So we were, just remember, we serve a big God.
Sometimes we lack faith that we need to have
a little more faith sometimes.
So, acts is a knowledge, confess, thanks, and supplication.
So, if you're gonna add that into your prayer life,
it might be helpful to you to just kind of
remember that acronym, it's like,
what am I supposed to pray about again?
Oh yeah, let me confess my sins.
That's important.
Acknowledge God, you know, acknowledge His greatness.
I mean, if you read the Psalms,
David's just always saying how mighty and wonderful
and great and merciful and long-suffering
and all these things.
We need to brag on our God a little bit more.
And the time to do it is not when someone's listening
to you do it, it's the time when you're just by yourself,
just you and God, in your prayer closet.
And no, it's not your coat lifting over your head.
But anyway, so, you know, and once God answers your prayer,
don't just spit in God's face and then just say,
you know what, I got everything I want,
now I'm out of here.
I'm gonna quit church, I'm gonna quit soul hunting,
I'm gonna quit all these things that I used to do.
Be careful of that.
You ask for something for God and then you're like,
well, I'm hoping that he's just gonna help me
just have this job that I can take care of my whole family
and then you just take your whole family out of church
and go to Disneyland instead or whatever.
That ought not be how we respond to God's blessings
because remember, he's God.
He can turn it around on you real quick
and everything that you've got
can be just turned around and be made a curse.
So, you know, once you get the wife,
once you get the children, once you get the house,
once you get the new Hemi Dodge,
Ram Mega Diesel Cummings engine,
whatever, Mega Rammer Charger or whatever,
then, and you get that job to support the whole family,
don't give up on God and turn your back on him.
See, it's the times when we're blessed the most sometimes,
or we're the least spiritual.
So, just keep that in mind,
because that seems to be the Achilles heel,
so to speak, of the children of Israel.
They'd have it good, everything was great,
great leader, won the victory,
and then it's like the next generation, done.
And, you know, some of the times,
the main reasons why people will leave a church,
and Pastor Mendes kind of made this list up,
it's not, you know, unique to me,
but I thought that,
I think that the things that he says in it are true.
One of the reasons why people will leave a church
is a new job.
You know, for whatever reason, it's a new job.
A new baby, a death in the family,
when you move church locations,
have you lost anybody on a church location?
More people just keep coming, you guys love it.
So, but I mean, sometimes that is a case where,
you know, that's their time to just jump ship or whatever.
And then buy a new home, acquire more stuff,
because remember the borrower is servant to the lender.
So when you get more money,
people tend to want to spend that money.
They go into debt.
I mean, we had a guy who leave our church
that, you know, he was doing great,
and then he bought a brand new truck.
And it's like, oh, I gotta work overtime
so I can pay for this truck.
And then slowly but surely, gone.
Back in the world.
Over a truck.
And it wasn't even a mega-ram diesel charger
or Cummins engine or whatever.
It was a lesser model.
So, obviously I don't know much about trucks.
But I have one.
I drive it.
That's not all I know how to do.
Anyway, and then the last,
let's go on to another point here.
Someone that's soul-winning
versus them that don't.
Turn to Psalm chapter 126 verse 5.
So the blessing of soul-winning
is that we do get rewards for that.
It's an eternal reward.
I'm not sure how Pastor Shelley feels about this,
but I don't believe that you -
and if he teaches something different,
then I'm wrong, he's right.
But I don't believe you can lose
an eternal reward.
So when it talks about you losing rewards
on the judgment seat of Christ,
I believe that it's talking about things
that you lost the opportunity to.
Or you were doing something
that didn't have an eternal value.
Look at Psalm 126 verse 5.
It says, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy,
and he that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."
So what is the blessing of sowing?
That someone else is going to heaven
because you decided to go out and knock some doors.
Someone's eternal destiny has changed
because you decided to do what God says.
And He said go and preach the gospel to every creature.
John chapter 4 verse 36.
I'm going to go ahead and go to 1 Corinthians 3.
I'm going to read John 4.36.
It says in John 4.36,
"He that reapeth receiveth wages
and gathereth fruit unto eternal life,
that both he that soweth
and he that reapeth may rejoice together."
So the people that we get saved someday,
we're going to rejoice together in heaven also.
And we're going to receive wages,
and that fruit that we're gathering is eternal.
It's something that lasts forever.
And you might have lost track of the names.
Maybe you wrote down the names of people you got saved,
and maybe you've stopped doing that.
But you know what? They're never going to forget you.
When you're in heaven and you're a soul winner,
you're going to have people coming up to you
and saying thank you for getting me saved.
And that's a blessing, isn't it?
Because it's not only a blessing that they get eternal life,
that's a blessing.
That's a huge blessing.
But it's also a blessing because we get rewarded for those things.
And you know, God told us to go soul winning.
Well, He didn't stutter.
We work in His vineyard.
We're co-laborers with God.
We're ambassadors for Christ.
He sent us out to all nations to preach the gospel starting here at your Jerusalem and
then you know to Judah, Samaria, and the other most parts of the earth, right?
Look at 1 Corinthians 3, 9, it says, "For we are laborers together with God.
Your God's husbandry, your God's building, according to the grace of God, which is given
unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth
thereon.
Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon."
So it says, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ."
So everything that we do has to be upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.
He's the sure foundation.
He's the rock, the stone, which the builder's just allowed.
It says, "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones,
wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare
it because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what
sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved
yet so as by fire."
So that's kind of what I was talking about, that there are things that are going to make
it through that fire.
And those are the eternal rewards that we're going to get for being the sole winner.
And what a sad day it's going to be when we have that great reunion in heaven with all
the saints of God at the same time and there's going to be some people there that don't have
any sheaves that they collected.
They don't have anybody because they never went soul winning.
And look, I'm sure most of the people in this room go soul winning or have gone soul winning
or whatever.
If you've kind of slacked off in that area, get refired back up.
You know, it's hot here, I get that, and bring a little fan with you or something so
you can blow that hot air on your face, right?
Develop some sort of suit that has air conditioning in it or something.
But you know, this is probably the toughest time to go soul winning, I'm sure, here.
You know, or when the tornadoes are coming or whatever else you guys deal with.
They can like do everything on the same day here, from what I understand, right?
Rain, snow, sleet, hail, thunder and lightning, and then sunshine, right?
Did I miss anything?
Sleet, hail, tornadoes?
Yeah.
Hurricanes?
That's Houston.
All right.
But anyway, so last thing I have here, and I'll be done as quick as I possibly can here.
Bible readers versus non-bible readers.
Turn to Psalm chapter 1.
Psalm chapter 1, for the sake of time, I'm just going to read it really quickly.
It says, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night."
So our delight should be in the law of the Lord, we should be meditating it day and night,
we should be reading it every single day.
It says, "And he shall be," he's going to use this analogy, this symbol again as
a plant or a tree, "And he shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
So God is promising a blessing to the people that read and love God's Word.
So don't do the New Testament challenge and then just forget about your Bible reading
for the rest of the year, because when you read a lot of Bible, it really can drain you.
So if you're having a problem where you're just not able to kind of keep up with your
plan or whatever, just dial it back a little bit, but still keep reading the Bible.
You need that daily dose of the Bible.
So it says, we'll turn to Matthew chapter 4 so the last verse we'll have to turn to.
But how are you cursed?
Well, how could you be cursed in the Bible reading thing?
Well, how about just not knowing what God's word says?
Because ignorance is no excuse to God.
It's like, have you ever done something against the law and you didn't realize it was against
the law?
Who's done that?
You don't have to tell me.
Okay.
Well, so officer, I didn't see the sign that said 55 or whatever.
But you know what they always say when you say something like that?
The sense of the law is no excuse.
So God expects us to know the whole Bible or to read the whole Bible and we should read
it for all the days of our life.
But you know, because Jesus would mock people when they'd ask him a dumb question, he'd
be like, "Have you not read?
Have you not read?"
Like these are, you're a master of Israel and you know not these things.
I mean, we don't want to be the ones that's like, "Oh, I've never heard that verse before.
I didn't know I was supposed to be tithing.
Well, you know now, suckas."
No, I'm just kidding.
Now you know.
But anyway, Matthew 4 says, "But he answered and said, 'It is written, Man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'"
What is our responsibility not to just go live off bread and your food isn't enough?
You need every word of God.
And so the curse that can come is not knowing what God requires of you.
Not knowing, there's a lot of stuff in this book, it's a big book, and it takes a long
time to read.
But there's a lot of stuff in here that God wants us to know, and the more we read through
the Bible, the more things we're going to pick up.
The more God's going to teach us.
You want to learn all the deep truths of God, well, why don't you learn the simple truths
of God first.
Why don't you drink the milk first, little baby, and then you'll grow up and get your
toddler teeth and you can kind of dig into a little more meaty stuff.
We shouldn't just try to figure out all these crazy, you know, things and just try to, just
looking constantly for this new stuff.
And obviously, God's going to teach you things that you never knew before every time you
read the Bible.
Just ask him.
Remember, ask, you know, show me wondrous things out of thy law.
So God wants to bless his people, but listen, if you're not balanced in your life, and
these are just really basic things tonight, they really are, they're the basic building
blocks of our Christian faith.
And if we can get those things right, then we can move on to perfection, right?
And I'm not talking about walking on water.
I'm talking about just being a balanced, well-rounded Christian.
And when God calls people perfect in the Bible, he's not saying they walked on water.
He's just saying that person, you know, because when we sin, we have options.
When we don't, you know, when we pray, we're supposed to pray, read God's Word, go soul-winning,
go to church, and then that's going to help us become a more complete Christian, right?
So in backwards order, we need to read our Bible, we need to go soul-winning, we need
to have a prayer life, we need to give unto the Lord, we need to go to church whenever
the doors are open, and we need to live a separated, holy life.
And these are the things that we'll get, you know, obviously there's a lot more, but
these are the basic things that you need to really just take off and be a balanced Christian.
And you know, God will bless you when you abide by His Word.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you so much for the Scriptures, and Lord, just even the simple things.
Lord, sometimes we need to hear them over again.
Maybe we're all doing well at most of these, but I'm sure there's people in this room
that aren't necessarily doing all these things.
So Lord, I just pray that you'd help us to make the right decisions in our lives and
not to spit in your face when you give us what we want and what we ask for.
I pray, Lord, that you bless Steadfast Baptist Church and this great church.
I pray that, Lord, it'd be a powerhouse of soul-winning and hard preaching for many,
many years to come.
In Jesus' name, we pray.
Amen.
Alright, in closing, let's go to song number 364.
Song number 364, "Standing on the Promises."
Song number 364, "Standing on the Promises of Christ my King, His praises, glory, shout
and sing, Standing on the Promises of God, and say you're content, Standing on the Promises
of God, Standing on the Promises that cannot, When the howling storms of doubt and fear
assail, By the living word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the Promises of God,
and say you're content, God, turn love strong daily with fear, Sources of God, God, Standing
on the Promises I can, listening every moment to the Spirit, Stinging my Savior as my hope.