("Pomp and Circumstance")
All right, everybody, we're gonna go ahead
and get started this evening.
If you would, find your seat and grab a hymnal
and turn to our first hymn, hymn number 425.
No room in the inn.
Hymn number 425.
425, we'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
♪ No beautiful chamber ♪
♪ No soft, cradle bed ♪
♪ No place but a manger ♪
♪ No bed for his head ♪
♪ No praises of gladness ♪
♪ No part of their sin ♪
♪ No glory but sadness ♪
♪ No room in the inn ♪
♪ No room, no room for Jesus ♪
♪ Oh give him welcome free ♪
♪ Blessed you should hear at heaven's gate ♪
♪ There is no room for me ♪
♪ No sweet concentration ♪
♪ No seeking his heart ♪
♪ No humiliation ♪
♪ No place in the heart ♪
♪ No part of the Savior ♪
♪ No sorrow for sin ♪
♪ No prayer for his favor ♪
♪ No room in the inn ♪
♪ No room, no room for Jesus ♪
♪ Oh give him welcome free ♪
♪ Blessed you should hear at heaven's gate ♪
♪ There is no room for me ♪
♪ No want to receive him ♪
♪ No welcome while here ♪
♪ No want to relieve him ♪
♪ No staff but a spear ♪
♪ No seeking his treasure ♪
♪ No weeping for sin ♪
♪ No doing his pleasure ♪
♪ No room in the inn ♪
♪ No room, no room for Jesus ♪
♪ Oh give him welcome free ♪
♪ Blessed you should hear at heaven's gate ♪
♪ There is no room for me ♪
- Good singing, let's open with a word of prayer.
Dear Father, thank you for the service that we have
and the opportunity that we have
to sing praises unto you and to your son.
I pray that you bless the remainder of this service
at this time and I pray that you'd fill Pastor Oz
with your spirit as he preaches for us this evening,
Lord, in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
For our next hymn, if you would,
turn in your hymnals to hymn number 430.
"While Shepherds Watched Their Phlox," hymn number 430.
Hymn number 430, we'll go ahead
and start there right on the first.
♪ While shepherds watched their phlox by night ♪
♪ All seated on the ground ♪
♪ The angel of the Lord came down ♪
♪ And glory shone around ♪
♪ Fear not, said he, for mighty dread ♪
♪ Had seized their troubled mind ♪
♪ Glad tidings of great joy I bring ♪
♪ To you and all mankind ♪
♪ To you in David's town this day ♪
♪ Is born of David's line ♪
♪ The Savior who is Christ the Lord ♪
♪ And this shall be the sign ♪
♪ The heavenly bait in air shall find ♪
♪ To human few dismay ♪
♪ All be re-wrapped in swarming tents ♪
♪ And in a manger laid ♪
♪ All glory be to God on high ♪
♪ And to the earth be peace ♪
♪ Good will henceforth from head to head ♪
♪ Begin and never cease ♪
(congregation applauding)
- Good evening, everyone.
Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church.
This time we'll go through some announcements.
On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week.
Remember, this is the last verse of the chapter,
so we have this week and next week as a grace week,
and then we'll be handing out those prizes
for those that finished the chapter memorization.
Our service and soul winning times are listed there,
as well as our nursing home ministry schedule,
and over the Christmas break, if you will,
I'm gonna work on getting that first quarter schedule made,
so those of you that are preachers on that,
be looking for that update.
On the bottom is our year to date statistics.
Great job out soul winning today.
So far I've heard we had six salvations, so great job.
Keep up the great work on that,
and one very angry Karen, apartment manager,
but you know that comes with six salvations sometimes,
so it is what it is.
Please be in prayer for Ms. Whitney Reed
for our expecting ladies.
Upcoming event, again, just wanna say thank you
to the halls and to all the kids that participated
in the Christmas choir today.
It was a lot of fun seeing everyone sing.
Make sure that if your parents allow it,
you get your bag of candy if you haven't already.
I think there might be a couple more,
or were they all handed out?
Okay, great, awesome.
Well thanks again for that.
And December 25th, after our Wednesday service,
we're gonna have a cookie bake off,
so make sure to bring some of your entries for that evening.
December 31st is our New Year's Eve party
that's gonna be on Tuesday.
And as a reminder, no service on Wednesday.
So if you come here Wednesday, you won't see anyone.
We're gonna have a immense preaching night on Tuesday,
and then we'll have some games and food after that.
So that is it for the rest of the year.
We have our online giving if you'd like to scan that code,
as well as our prayer list.
Make sure to update me with any requests that you have.
We'd be happy to pray for you.
That's gonna be it for announcements this evening.
We'll go ahead and go to our third song.
All right, for our third songs, if you would take your hymnal
and turn to hymn number 433.
Away in a manger.
Hymn number 433.
Hymn 433, we'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
♪ Away in a manger ♪
♪ Go pray for a bed ♪
♪ The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head ♪
♪ The stars in the sky looked down where He lay ♪
♪ The little Lord Jesus must sleep on the hay ♪
♪ The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes ♪
♪ But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes ♪
♪ I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky ♪
♪ And stay by my cradle 'til morning is nigh ♪
♪ Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to come ♪
♪ And stay close by me forever and love me, I pray ♪
♪ Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care ♪
♪ And take us to heaven to live with Thee there ♪
Good singing this evening.
As the offering plates are being passed around,
turn if you would in your Bibles,
to Luke chapter number 15, Luke chapter number 15.
(gentle piano music)
- Good evening, Luke 15, the Bible reads,
then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners
for to hear him.
And the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying,
this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.
And he spake this parable unto them saying,
what man of you having in hundred sheep,
if he lose one of them,
doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness
and go after that which is lost until he find it.
And when he hath found it,
he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing.
And when he cometh home,
he calleth together his friends and neighbors saying unto them,
rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost.
I say unto you that likewise,
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth
more than over ninety and nine just persons
which need no repentance.
Either what woman having 10 pieces of silver,
if she lose one piece,
doth not light a candle and sweep the house
and seek diligently till she find it.
When she hath found,
and when she hath found it,
she calleth her friends and her neighbors together saying,
rejoice with me for I have found the piece which I had lost.
Likewise, I say unto you there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
And he said, a certain man had two sons
and the younger of them said to his father,
father, give me the portion of goods that follows to me.
And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after the younger son gathered all together
and took his journey into a far country.
And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all,
there arose a mighty famine in that land.
And he began to be in want when he rejoined
and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country.
And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
And when, and he would fain have filled his belly
with the husks that the swine did eat
and no man gave to him.
And when he came to himself, he said,
how many hired servants of my father have bred enough
and to spare and I perish with hunger.
I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him,
father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee
and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose and came to his father.
But when he was yet a great way off,
his father saw him and had compassion and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him.
And the son said unto him, father,
I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight
and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants,
bring forth the best robe and put it on him
and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet
and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it
and let us eat and be merry.
For this my son was dead and is live again.
He was lost and is found and they began to be merry.
Now his elder son was in the field
and as he came and drew nigh to the house,
he heard music and dancing.
And he called one of the servants
and asked what these things meant.
And he said unto him, thy brother is come
and thy father hath killed the fatted calf
because he hath received him safe and sound.
And he was angry and would not go in.
Therefore came his father out and entreated him.
And he answering said to his father,
lo, these many years do I serve thee.
Neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment
and yet thou never gavest me a kid
that I might make merry with my friends.
But as soon as this thy son was come,
which hath devoured thy living with harlots,
thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
And he said unto him, son, thou art ever with me
and all that I have is thine.
It was me that we should make merry and be glad
for this thy brother was dead and is alive again
and was lost and is found.
Let's bow our heads for a prayer.
Father in heaven, we thank you for this day
and help us stay safe out soul winning
and we just ask that you be with those people
that got saved, that received you as your savior today.
And we just ask that you fill our past with the Holy Spirit
and that you help us to pay attention to the sermon
and to help us live a better Christian life
with peace and prayer, amen.
- Amen, all right, we're in Luke 15.
The Bible reads in verse 11.
And he said, a certain man had two sons
and the younger of them said to his father,
father, give me the portion of goods that followeth to me.
And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after the younger son gathered all
and took his journey into a far country
and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he had spent all there arose a mighty famine
in that land and he began to be in want.
And this is of course the story of the prodigal son,
a very famous story.
There's many movies even made about the similar plot
of the prodigal son.
And here at the beginning of the story,
just to set some context, we kind of see the story
of a young man who demands his inheritance now.
You know, he had something that was rightfully his
but it was rightfully his at a certain time usually.
Most people wait until they're older
to get their inheritance or sometimes even
when their parents die.
And often that could be sometimes for cultural reasons
or even monetary reasons, allowing their assets to mature
and get even more wealth.
But here for whatever reason, this young man,
he gets kind of hasty and he demands
that the inheritance is given to him right here, right now.
And one of the interesting things about this story
is that this son that does this is in my view,
clearly the son of a rich man.
It seems like this father here is a rich man.
Why do I think that?
We'll look at verse 15.
It says, "And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country.
And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks
that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him.
And when he came to himself, he said,
how many hired servants of my fathers have bred enough
and to spare and I perish with hunger."
So here he's thinking back
to what he left behind with his father.
And he's thinking about how even his servants
have what they need of his father and even more so.
There's even stuff left over.
So, you know, if his dad not only has servants,
but also has so many assets and things
that his servants have in abundance,
it makes it sound like this man is a very rich man.
You know, this prodigal dad, I guess, of this prodigal son.
But look at verse 18.
It says, "I will arise and go to my father
and will say unto him, father,
I have sinned against heaven and before thee
and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
Make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he rose and came to his father.
But when he was yet a great way off,
his father saw him and had compassion and ran
and fell on his neck and kissed him.
And the son said unto him, father,
I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight
and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants,
bring forth, notice the best robe and put it on him
and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet
and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it
and let us eat and be merry."
And I kind of want to just explain to you again,
'cause this is going to be important later on in the sermon
that this man is a rich guy.
I mean, he's giving the robe to his son,
a robe was not something that everyone at this time
just had available, a ring, that's costly,
shoes on his feet.
I mean, it's not like us today,
we go to the thrift store and just buy any pair of shoes.
Shoes were a cumbersome thing to make that costs money.
And it says the fatted calf, that's always been expensive
no matter what economy you've ever lived in.
The fatted calf is an expensive thing.
And so he just has all these goods
that he could just bless his son with.
Why, because he's a pretty rich guy, he's a rich man.
Now, the reason I bring that up is because this young man,
when you read this story,
he really was born into a great situation.
I mean, most people in this world, if you'd ask them,
would you like to have been born into a rich family
with a rich daddy that could just give you
everything you want?
Most people like that idea, right?
And this guy, he had that.
He pretty much had it all, carnally speaking,
but because of his impulsiveness,
because of him being impatient, he kind of ruined his life.
And he kind of ruined the blessings
that he could have obtained and had of his father
for his temporary pleasures.
And why does God give us this story?
I think one reason is that God does not want us
to be impulsive.
God does not want us to be short-sighted.
We're supposed to look at this story and say,
this was dumb that this guy did.
He should not have gotten so impatient.
He should not have been so rash and hasty.
He should have just been patient and gotten his inheritance
when it was rightfully his.
And so the title of my sermon this evening is this,
do not be short-sighted.
Do not be short-sighted.
This is a lesson that God wants us
to take away from this story.
Now, what does it mean to be short-sighted?
It describes a lack of foresight or long-term planning.
It refers to focusing only on immediate concerns or benefits
while neglecting potential future consequences
or broader implications.
Here's some synonyms of being short-sighted.
Impulsive, hasty, rash, imprudent,
careless, reckless, uncircumstant.
And sometimes in life, you see Christians
and just people in general are very short-sighted.
I mean, you just look at someone's life.
You look at the decision they make
in all sorts of different categories in their life.
And oftentimes a person is categorized
by being just short-sighted, being impulsive, being rash.
This is something God wants us to avoid.
Let me show you this principle
and then we'll make some application.
Go to Proverbs 22.
Proverbs 22, verse three.
The Bible says, "A prudent man foreseeeth the evil
and hideeth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished."
Notice God wants us to be prudent people.
And part of being prudent is having foresight
where you could foresee problems, evils, harm,
and you could actually make a plan in your mind
to avoid those evils, to avoid those problems.
But what does the simple, foolish person do?
They ignore it, they don't pay attention,
and eventually they're punished.
And didn't that happen to the prodigal son?
Of course it did.
He spent all of his living with riotous living
and he ended up coming to himself realizing,
hey, I've messed up, I've lost everything.
The servants are living a better life than me.
And many times because people are short-sighted,
they make rash, hasty decisions
that have life-long consequences.
And sometimes it's consequences
that they can never reverse, never change.
Go if you would to Matthew chapter seven.
Matthew seven.
Matthew chapter seven, verse 24.
Jesus said in verse 24,
"Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine
"and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man,
"which built his house upon a rock.
"And the rains descended, and the floods came,
"and the winds blew, and beat upon that house,
"and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock."
You know, if you are a builder,
if your job is to build homes,
it would be good to be circumspect,
to have a vision, to not be short-sighted,
where you look at a piece of land and you think,
okay, there's gonna come rain, there's gonna come wind,
there's gonna come storms,
and if I build my house right here,
how is this gonna hold up against the storms of life?
And a wise person looks at the Bible,
looks at the things of God, and says,
okay, the storms are coming,
should I build my house on the rock,
the word of God, the Bible,
or should I build it on the sand?
And of course, the man's house,
who's built on the sand, what happens?
It falls, and great is the fall of it.
And that is someone that lacks foresight.
That is someone that is short-sighted.
They don't really think about the long-term consequences.
They're just like, oh yeah, this sand,
looks like a good enough place to build a house.
And they build a house, they spend a lot of money on it,
they invest a lot into it,
but then that first storm comes along
and just wipes them out.
And there's many things like this in life.
Go to Ephesians 5, Ephesians chapter 5.
I'm just showing you this principle first.
In Ephesians 5, verse 15,
that God wants us to be thinking about these things.
The Bible says in Ephesians 5, verse 15,
see then that you walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise.
What does it mean to walk circumspectly?
It means that you're going through life,
cautious, careful, thinking of the consequences,
thinking in your mind, okay, if I perform action A,
what is the consequence gonna be, good or bad?
If I go down this road in life,
where is that going to take me in 10, 20, 30 years?
We don't wanna be fools that just don't think about things,
just make rash decisions.
And it feels like in America, in our day and age,
people have the disease of now.
All they could think about is what they want right now,
what's convenient right now,
what's gonna have the biggest impact on them right now,
not thinking about what life is going to look like
in the future.
What are some ways people get short-sighted?
Number one, don't be short-sighted with your finances.
Don't be short-sighted with your finances.
Go to Proverbs 21.
Here in this story of the prodigal son,
it's really a perfect story of an example
of someone that's short-sighted with their finances.
I mean, they're born into a rich home,
they've got a rich dad,
they've got a big inheritance coming their way,
but because they want something right now,
what does he want?
He wants a party.
He wants to go live his life and have riotous living, right?
He wants to go be Hunter Biden or something like that.
But guess what?
When you live that type of a lifestyle,
money goes real fast.
And people that are just unwise, uncircumspect,
it does not matter how much money they have.
The quantity does not matter.
Someone who is unwise, uncircumspect,
does not have a vision, they're short-sighted,
they could go through money like that.
It doesn't matter how much they have.
And this is a prime example of that.
He's rich, he had a big inheritance,
and he just wasted it all.
Look at Proverbs 21 verse 20.
There is treasure to be desired and oil
in the dwelling of the wise,
but a foolish man spendeth it up.
And you're supposed to look at this story and say,
what a fool.
I mean, this guy was so blessed.
This guy was so set up, yet he just spent it up,
he just wasted it.
And you know us, we need to look at this story and say,
hey, if God's blessed us with some money,
if God's given us things,
we shouldn't just go wasting it
and blowing it on riotous living.
Look, if you're spending money on alcohol,
you're wasting your money.
If you're spending your money on cigarettes,
or gambling, or something like that,
you are wasting your money.
That's not something that God would be pleased with.
You're just being a fool at that point.
And you know, there's nothing wrong
with spending your substance for living, right?
We all have to use our substance to live,
but riotous living is a different story, right?
Yeah, the economy's expensive.
Yeah, we got to put food in our bellies,
but do we have to buy filet mignon every single night,
though?
No, you don't.
We can learn to be content.
We could be content with such things as we have,
whatever God has blessed us with.
We don't have to have a party at all times.
Go to Proverbs chapter 22, Proverbs chapter 22.
Proverbs 22 verse seven says the rich ruleeth over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender.
You know, some ways that people are just extremely careless
with finances is just going into debt for any reason
or no reason whatsoever.
I mean, they want an 85 inch TV and they can't afford it.
They have no second thought about just swiping
the credit card and going into debt
where their interest rate is 24, 25, 26, 27%,
and just getting destroyed by the lender.
They're now the servant to the lender for no reason.
It's not like they needed to make that decision.
And look, it's wise to avoid debt as much as you can.
Obviously, we lived in a debt-based world.
I'm not saying don't get a mortgage.
I'm not saying don't buy a car,
but it's like don't buy a timeshare on your credit card.
Like, that's a bad idea.
Don't go and live a riotous lifestyle on your credit card
when you can't afford that.
That is not wise.
Go to Proverbs 23, Proverbs chapter 23.
Verse four says labor not to be rich.
Cease from thine own wisdom.
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings.
They fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
You know, money, when you have it,
it just has a way of just flying away.
Just seems like, you know, when you come into some money,
it's just life has a way of just causing that
to fly away.
So it's important that what God gives you,
you make a plan for, right?
That you budget out where your money is going
and not just fly by the seat of your pants
and just decide, oh, you know,
I'm just gonna spend money on this and that today.
No, you should be wise,
especially if you're providing for a family
to make sure your bills are being paid
and that your fun money is the last priority in life.
You know, us as men, we should be men
that sacrifice for our families
and we should make sure our families are taken care of 100%
before we ever think about spending fun money on us.
That's just how we should live.
You say, that doesn't sound fun.
Well, you signed up to be a husband and a dad.
So that's your job,
is to take care of your family first, their needs first.
I would say they're fun first as well.
And then you come last.
That's a wise way to live.
Go to Proverbs six.
Let's look at some more financial wisdom here in Proverbs.
Proverbs six, verse six.
The Bible says, "Go to the ant thou sluggard,
"consider her ways and be wise,
"which having no guide, overseer or ruler,
"provided her meat in the summer
"and gathereth her food in the harvest."
So notice how the ant,
without having to be told what to do, how to work,
the ant shows us wisdom
because the ant is gathering together,
providing meat in the summer,
gathering food for harvest.
It's like this ant in a way kind of has foresight.
Saying, "Hey, there's coming a time
"where things are gonna be more scarce,
"and we're not gonna have as many resources,
"and so I've gotta gather more now."
And this is supposed to teach us
that, hey, we're supposed to look at life
and be wise with our finances planning for the future.
I think one way that men could do this
is don't just pick the easiest job that you could find.
Don't just pick the most convenient job
that you could possibly find.
Well, it's like, well, this is the closest employer
to my house, so I just picked this,
or this is just the easiest thing.
No, you should be looking forward to the future
and not being short-sighted and thinking,
hey, how is this gonna look like when I get married?
How is this gonna look like when I have kids?
And you should pick something that's actually hard to do.
You should pick something that's gonna take a long time
to learn, that could eventually provide
for your family really well.
Not just be so short-sighted, be like,
well, this is the easiest job,
and I'm just gonna stick with it.
That's not a very wise thing to do.
And especially when you're young, it's the time to do this.
Especially if you're not married yet,
especially if you don't have kids yet.
Like, if you're not married yet and you don't have kids,
this should be one of the biggest focuses of your life,
because when you invest into it now,
it'll be easier once you are older.
And this is something I thought about.
Like, ladies, their childbearing years could be between,
I don't know, 18 years old and like 40 years old, right?
So 22 years, but men providing from their family
is from when they get married 'til they die, usually.
Like us men, we have to have a little bit more foresight
on this because this is something that we're gonna be doing
for decades and decades and decades and decades
until your body shuts down or you die.
And so it's better to just put the investment
on the front end of your life so that you could enjoy
and reap the benefits later from it.
So here's an example.
If you're gonna go into debt for education or a trade,
pick something that pays well.
I'm not saying college is always bad.
I used to be probably a little more anti-college
than I am now.
I think there's some good things you could do
with a college degree.
There's some good trades that you can learn.
I'm not 100% against those things.
But if you're going to get an education
or go into debt for something,
make sure it's for something that pays off well in the end.
Don't get just a random general degree
on something that's not gonna make you any money.
Get a specialized degree.
Get something that's gonna be paying you well.
Here's an example of a trade.
How about being a pilot?
So right down the road here at Wiley Post,
there's the ATP Flight School,
which granted is like one of the most expensive
flight options you could do.
But the kind of cool thing about their flight school
is that they take you from zero
to airline pilot certifications in 12 months.
Now the catch is you can't work a job.
It's 100% full-time.
It's a full-time thing to go to this flight school.
But if you went to ATP Flight School from zero to 12 months,
you would pay $117,000 for the whole thing.
That's pretty expensive.
Like that's a big loan for sure, no doubt about it.
But if you got hired as an entry-level pilot,
you would make an average of $87,000 a year.
That's year one.
Okay, here's after year five.
The average salary of an airline pilot
after five years of experience is $219,000 a year.
So it's like you pay $117,000 to go to ATP Flight School,
but in five years, you're making $219,000 a year.
Like that would be an example, numerically speaking,
of an investment that just makes sense, right?
But what doesn't make sense is just getting
your random degree that has no actual tangible skill
attached to it, and you're still paying $117,000 or more.
That doesn't make any sense.
That's not good.
So that's just an example.
And like I said, that's like the most expensive option.
If those of you aspiring pilots out there,
you could do this a lot cheaper,
but that takes you from zero to 12 months.
So it's just like a short, quick way of doing it.
And I was telling my younger brother,
he wasn't really doing anything.
He wasn't going to college.
He wasn't working.
And I was just like, dude, 12 months,
you could be an airline pilot.
And he went and joined the military.
But I'm just saying, that could be an option
for someone out there.
Now, this is especially important.
I'll say this.
This is especially important for people
who are not planning to go into full-time ministry
with their whole life.
Because for me, I have been working full-time
in the ministry from 23 years old.
So it's not like I had so much time in my life
to invest in my career.
I was a full-time working for church
since I was 23 years old, I'm 27.
That was my goal since the day I got saved.
That's what I was working towards.
My life isn't here on this earth
to strive for some great career.
That's something that I kind of laid aside
because I wanted to dedicate my life to Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, that being said, it still is important for everyone.
And I still did get a CDL certification.
And I work in IT right now.
And my mentality right now is that I'm gonna work
my secular job so hard as if I'm gonna do it
for the rest of my life.
Like, that's my mentality.
I'm working as if I'm gonna be working secularly
for the rest of my life.
But if that someday, you know, I'm able to drop that
and work full-time for the church, praise the Lord,
I would do that 100%.
But I'm just saying like, us as men,
you gotta have that mentality that like,
I have to do this for the rest of my life.
So I need to like take care of business right now.
I need to invest in this right now
and not just think like, oh, what's the easiest thing
I could do?
What's the most convenient?
What works the least hours?
What's the closest to my house?
What's the thing I could use my brain the least about?
No, like you should try to do something hard with your life.
Go to Hebrews 12.
So, you know, people are often short-sighted
with their finances.
Number two, don't be short-sighted with your virginity.
This is something people are often short-sighted about.
They want something right now and they completely disregard
the consequences that they're gonna be facing
in the future because they have the disease of now.
They just want that right now.
But I'm telling you, that's a foolish decision.
Look at Hebrews 12 verse 16.
Lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau,
who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
For you know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,
for he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears.
You know, the Bible's comparing a fornicator with Esau,
who, what did he do?
Something very similar to the story of the prodigal son,
where he just traded away his birthright
for a little bowl of soup, basically,
because he was hungry, right?
He had a temporary feeling, a temporary need,
and he just said, hey, give me that bowl of soup
and I'll sell you my birthright.
And just what a stupid, foolish thing to do.
And the Bible here is comparing,
that's like someone that commits fornication.
They have a great future ahead of them.
They have all these blessings ahead of them
that God wants them to have.
God wants us to get married and enjoy that relationship.
But oftentimes, people just trade away the future
that they could have just for that short moment of pleasure,
and it's foolish and stupid.
You know, we need to make sure we're not being short-sighted.
Go to Deuteronomy 22, Deuteronomy chapter 22.
And I wanna show you how people are harming their futures
by committing fornication.
Deuteronomy 22 verse 28 says,
"If a man find a damsel that is a virgin,
which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her
and lie with her, and they be found,
then the man that lay with her shall give
unto the damsel's father 50 shekels of silver,
and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her,
he may not put her away all his days."
So in the Old Testament, if some guy went fornicated
with a young virgin, she wasn't betrothed,
she wasn't engaged or anything like that,
he would have to pay money to the father of that virgin,
and he was supposed to marry her.
Now, the father could refuse him,
but that would be the right thing to do,
according to God's law, is that if you do this,
you're supposed to pay money and marry that virgin.
Why?
Because you've defiled her, you've taken her virginity,
and so now you should be the one marrying that woman.
But what I wanna point out, though,
is that there was a monetary value associated
to a woman's virginity in the Old Testament.
There was literally a price tag associated with it,
and how foolish would it be if a woman
in Old Testament Israel, who she could literally
redeem money by getting married,
and some guy's literally gonna pay money
to her family to redeem her, but she just completely
wastes it and gives it away for free to everybody,
that doesn't make any sense, right?
That's so foolish.
Go to Esther, chapter number two, Esther two.
Esther two, and you know, there's money attached to it,
because, news flash, men like women.
Men want to get married, and there's even literally
a monetary value attached to it.
Look at Esther two, verse three.
It says, "And let the king appoint officers
"in all the provinces of his kingdom,
"that they may gather together,"
notice, "all the fair, young virgins,
"unto Shushan the palace."
So when the king is looking for the best women,
what is he looking for in them?
Fair, meaning beautiful, young, virgins.
These are qualities that make a lady
attractive to a man to marry.
And when ladies purposely give away,
or maybe not purposely give away certain of these qualities,
it makes them less desirable to get married.
This would offend a lot of people,
but this is just true, okay?
I mean, if some dude is just like 25 years old,
he's killing it in his career,
he's making tons of money, he's a great provider,
he's fit or whatever, do you really think
that he's gonna marry some 40-year-old divorced woman
with three kids?
Does anyone in here think that that happens?
No, it doesn't happen, because that's not reality, okay?
What are good men, really every man,
what are they looking for?
Young, fair virgins.
This is just, whether you like it or not,
that's just how it is.
Let me read for you, you can go to 2 Samuel 13.
Let me read for you this.
Amos 8:13 says this, "In that day,"
speaking of the day of God's judgment,
"In that day shall the fair virgins and young men
"faint for thirst."
He's kind of highlighting, like look,
the judgment of God is gonna be so bad
that even the beautiful young ladies,
no one's gonna wanna take care of them
or even be able to take care of them.
Why is that even highlighted?
Because it's just so obvious that a beautiful young woman,
there'd be tons of men lining up to take care of her
and want her and desire her.
But he's saying, look, when I'm gonna judge the world here,
when I'm bringing God's wrath on this place,
even the young virgins aren't gonna be able
to be taken care of, they're gonna be fainting for thirst.
God's highlighting the cream of the crop of society
that everyone wants are going to be not able
to be taken care of.
And look, this is still true today.
Good men, high quality men are looking for
a fair young virgin to marry.
And when ladies decide as a young person
to just give away something for free
that should only be given to their husband,
they are literally devaluing themselves as a person.
It's just true, I wish that women wouldn't be doing this
today, but think about it, a man's willing to marry you,
commit to you, provide for you for the rest of your life,
and again, it's not 20 years of childbearing,
it's age 18 to 80 or whatever when you die.
I mean, that's a lot of money he's gonna be bringing in
in all these years, and women will just give it away
to some jack wagon loser for absolutely free.
I mean, what a stupid thing to do.
I mean, you have so much value, you're on the marketplace,
some great guy could scoop you up and marry you,
but you're just gonna give that away
to just some loser scumbag, and any guy that would do that
with you before is probably a loser.
You know, the real man, the one that actually loves you,
is not the one that just says, "Oh, I love you, babe."
Words are cheap, it's the guy that actually says,
"I'll put a ring on it, I'll provide for you,
"I will commit to you, I will vow myself only unto you
"as long as I shall live."
That's the only person that you should ever give
that away to, it's so foolish to do otherwise.
Go to 2 Samuel 13, and of course,
everything I'm saying applies as well to men.
Godly young ladies, they also want the same thing in a man,
but obviously, it's usually the man
that's approaching women for marriage anyways,
and it's usually women that are struggling with this more.
2 Samuel 13, 11 says, so this is a very, very crazy story,
but in verse 11 it says, "And when she had brought them
"unto him to eat, he took hold of her and said unto her,
"Come lie with me, my sister."
So Amnon here, he's kind of fallen sick in love
with his half-sister Tamar.
He had a bad friend who kind of gave him this wicked plan
to feign himself sick, pretend to be sick,
so that his sister Tamar could come into the chamber
and wait on him and serve him.
And then he says, that's where he takes hold of her,
says, "Under, come lie with me, my sister."
Verse 12, "And she answered him,
"Nay, my brother, do not force me,
"for no such thing ought to be done in Israel.
"Do not thou this folly, and I, whither shall I cause
"my shame to go, and as for thee, thou shalt be
"as one of the fools in Israel.
"Now therefore I pray thee speak unto the king,
"for he will not withhold me from thee,
"howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice,
"but being stronger than she, forced her and lay with her."
And of course, this is an extremely just disgusting act.
Not only is this fornication, but this is rape,
because he's forcing her against her will.
Very terrible situation, verse 15.
Notice what happened though.
It says, "Then Amnon hated her exceedingly,
"so that the hatred wherewith he hated her
"was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her.
"And Amnon said unto her, 'Arise, be gone.'"
So at first, Amnon was so in love with Tamar
that he was physically ill from it,
where he's experiencing these emotions of love,
which it was really just infatuation.
It wasn't true love.
But the Bible's saying here that once this act happened,
once he finally got what he wanted, did he love her now?
Does he cherish her now that he got what he wanted?
No, he hated her so much that he hated her more
than any amount of love that he ever loved her.
And this is what happens oftentimes when people fornicate,
is they mistake in their mind love with infatuation,
or they mistake in their mind love with lust.
And when they finally get that,
they realize that they don't even love the person.
And you know, that's a scary place to be in as a woman,
where all of a sudden now you've given that away,
you can't take that back, there's no going back on that.
And now all of a sudden this guy that you thought loved you
now hates you and sends you away.
And it says in verse number 16,
"And she said unto him, 'There is no cause.
"'This evil in sending me away is greater than the other
"'that thou didst unto me.'"
But he would not hearken unto her.
And you know, she's right.
That's why the law of God said,
"Hey, if a man does lay with a virgin,
"and if they do commit fornication,
"the right thing to do is to get married."
Because it is more evil to just send her away after that
than the first sin that was done.
Does that make sense to everyone?
Verse 17 says, "Then he called his servant
"that ministered unto him and said,
"'Put now this woman out from me and bolt the door after her.'
"And she had a garment of divers colors upon her,
"for with such robes were the king's daughters
"that were virgins appareled.
"Then his servant brought her out
"and bolted the door after her.
"And Tamar put ashes on her head
"and rent her garment of divers colors that was on her
"and laid her hand on her head and went on crying."
So notice the just emotional pain that she goes through
because she's been defiled in this way,
she's been forced in this way.
And now not only has she had to endure that,
but now this man doesn't even love her,
just completely discards her as trash.
Let me tell you, this is happening
in college dorm rooms all over America,
where women are just getting used and discarded as trash,
where the man will never see them again,
never talk to them again.
There's all sorts of broken families in America
where children are being produced
as a result of fornication and dad does not care at all.
You see it out soul winning all the time.
The single mom with the kids, dad's gone,
and it's like she's probably experiencing
very similar emotions here.
She's sad, she's eaten up,
her life has been destroyed in a sense,
all because of this foolish decision to commit fornication.
And of course in Tamar's situation,
it wasn't her fault whatsoever,
but let's just be brutally honest
about a lot of people who are in similar situations today,
it was their fault, it was their decision.
And many women today are not just having children
out of wedlock because they were raped.
Look, that's terrible, I feel terrible for those women.
Those men that did that should be put to death.
Okay, that's a terrible crime.
But most people in that situation,
they were just deciding to give it out for free,
and now they're suffering as a result.
Why, because they're being short sighted.
They're looking at something that they want,
they're not thinking about the consequences,
and they're just giving up all the blessings
that they could have received
just because they wanted to commit fornication.
1 Corinthians 6, 18 says flee fornication.
Every sin that a man doeth is without the body,
but he that committed fornication
sinneth against his own body.
Look, we all have to be reminded that it does not matter
what our flesh is telling us is good,
we have to remember what the Bible says is good.
Okay, every single human being
is going to struggle pretty much with this desire,
but you just have to remember the Bible says,
flee fornication.
Do not be short sighted in this area.
Do not think that it's not a big deal.
Don't think that God doesn't really care about it.
No, it's a big deal that could have
life altering consequences.
Whether that's through disease,
whether that's through childhood, teen pregnancy,
no, you need to flee fornication.
Go to 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Corinthians 7.
Now, a similar topic.
Number three, don't be short sighted on who you marry.
Don't be short sighted on who you get married to.
This is a big, big decision in your life.
1 Corinthians 7, verse 34, this is a funny verse to me.
There is difference also between a wife and a virgin.
It's like, oh, you don't say,
this is like a blatantly obvious with Ben moment.
There is difference also between a wife and a virgin.
Yes, the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord
that she may be holy both in body and in spirit,
but she that is married careth for the things of the world,
how she may please her husband.
And this I speak for your own profit,
not that I may cast a snare upon you,
but for that which is comely
and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction.
But if any man think that he behaved himself
uncomely toward his virgin,
if she passed the flower of her age and need so require,
let him do what he will.
He sinneth not, let them marry.
You know, elsewhere in this chapter,
talks about how it's better to marry than to burn.
Talking about burning in your lust towards this person.
The Bible saying, look, there's nothing wrong
with getting married if you're behaving yourself
uncomely towards this person, as long as she's passed
the flower of her age.
People get all weird about that age.
Notice it says past the flower of her age, right?
So this is an adult woman.
This is a fully grown, mature woman.
If you want to, of course, that you're not sinning,
let them marry.
Verse 37, nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast
in his heart, having no necessity,
but hath power over his own will
and hath so decreed in his heart
that he will keep his virgin, doeth well.
And Paul, of course, he himself decided not to get married.
This was something that he could control in his life.
Let me just say this, for 99.999% of men,
this is not you, you are not the Apostle Paul.
You likely should get married.
Now, Apostle Paul is a real person that existed,
but for most guys, this is not the case.
Verse 38, so then he that giveth her in marriage,
doeth well, but he that giveth her not in marriage,
doeth better.
The wife is bound, notice this,
the wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth,
but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty
to be married to whom she will only in the Lord.
Notice what the Bible teaches, till death do us part.
That phrase is a biblical phrase
because the wife is bound by the law to her husband
as long as she lives.
God does not recognize divorce.
Divorce is not something that God wants.
No, the only time that you could be loosed from your spouse
and get married to someone else
is when your spouse has died, that's it.
And so, because this isn't even like men,
I told you men providing for their family,
that's a long commitment.
Okay, marriage is longer, it's literally till death.
And so you want to not be short-sighted with who you marry.
This is a big, big decision and I worry about,
you know, I like the fact that we promote
getting married young.
I preach a sermon of why I think that's a good thing.
But I worry though that on the flip side of that,
that people are just like, oh, I turned 18.
That means I have to get married right now
because that's just what you do in the new IFB.
I mean, you turn 18 and you get married.
Look, there's nothing wrong with that
if it's the right time for you.
But let's just be honest, that's not necessarily
the right time for every single person alive right now, okay?
Some people, it may be just better
and a just different part of your life
for you to wait until you're a little bit older,
a little more mature or things are different.
Why, because it's a lifelong relationship.
Here is some tips, okay, so that you don't make
a big mistake with who you marry.
Ben, don't marry just for looks.
Don't marry just for looks, okay?
I've known guys where that was their number one qualifier,
they ignored major character flaws,
they ignored major family issues, all sorts of big problems
because they were just into that one thing
and they end up not living a very happy life afterwards.
Look, I want you to like how your spouse looks,
you wanna be attracted to the person that you marry,
but do not marry for the sole purpose of looks.
And let's just be honest, it's not women
that are marrying for looks, okay?
It's usually dudes that are marrying
for the sole purpose of looks.
That is a foolish thing to do.
It is till death do us part.
The Bible talks about how it's like gold
in the snout of a swine, it's like a fair woman
without discretion.
It's like, oh, cool, you married a fair woman.
How wonderful, it's like you have a pig
with a little nice little gold thing in its nose.
It's still a pig.
And those looks are only gonna satisfy you for so long
until you realize I've got a pig with me
and I'm not very happy, so don't marry the pig, okay?
Don't marry the pig.
Let me say this to everyone, don't feel pressured
to just marry the first person that comes along.
Don't feel pressured to just marry the first person
that comes along.
Again, there's kind of this culture in Baptist circles
where it's like you turn 18 and you gotta get married.
And look, if that's right for you,
there's nothing wrong with that.
Praise the Lord if that's you.
I know great pastors who have done that,
other people who have done that.
But that doesn't mean that, oh, the first girl
that talks to me is the one I've gotta marry.
The first guy that ever talks to me
is the guy that I have to marry.
That is not necessarily the case.
Now look, if the first guy that talks to you
happens to be just an awesome, godly, on fire,
wonderful Christian man, then praise the Lord.
There's no reason you shouldn't marry him.
I'm not saying that you can't marry
the first person that comes along.
But what I am saying is don't feel pressured to.
Don't feel like, oh, this is my only chance.
I'm 18 years old and no one will ever come around again.
It's like, you're 18 years old, you're okay.
You're still gonna be beautiful for a long, long, long,
long, long, long, long, long time, all right?
Ladies worry about these things and sometimes guys do too.
In fact, I'll just admit my fault to you
of a funny story about me.
This is just, young men are just dumb, okay?
I'll just admit to you, they have issues.
But when I was like, I don't know,
I think I was 19 or 20 years old.
I was working as a pipe fitter
and I was working like 60 hours a week.
I had no time for anything else in my life.
At least I thought so.
Now I live my life now and I realize
it was a lot easier then.
But anyways, I was just thinking like,
how am I ever gonna find a girl
and I'm just working so much.
I'm working around all these rough dudes and constructions.
And I just, I had this foolish thought.
I was like, you know, I just give up.
I'm just gonna join the Marine Corps.
And I went down to the recruiting office
and I was like, I might as well just have some fun
and blow some stuff up.
This is what men do, we're just dumb, okay, I'm sorry.
I went and enlisted in the Marine Corps
and I was going through the background process
and just by chance, my brother had just graduated
from the Marine Corps in San Diego
and on our way back up, I stopped
at the Red Hot Preaching Conference,
which is where I met my wife.
And I said, you know, maybe the Marine Corps is not for me.
And so, praise the Lord, I met my wife at Red Hot
and didn't go down that road.
But look, sometimes young men and young women
can think like, well, I haven't found anyone yet
so I just, I'm giving up or whatever.
Look, that's not reality, okay?
That's not true, you don't have to worry about that.
And thankfully, God was looking out for me
and led me to a great woman.
Here's another tip, use the dating person
to really get to know the person you're dating, right?
Don't waste the opportunity you have
during the dating phase where you're not actually
talking to each other, you're not communicating,
you're not giving your expectations
of what you would like your life to look like,
what your beliefs are, what your philosophies on marriage
and child rearing and church and things like that,
like these are all things you should really be talking about
during the dating phase, not just like,
wow, I like your eyes, oh cool, I like your smile,
oh man, your hair is wonderful, I really like your shoes.
It's like, don't waste your time.
Actually get to know this person
because you're gonna be with them till you die
if you marry them.
So, that is something you should keep in mind.
Here's another thing, don't ignore major red flags.
Now, here's the thing, don't hear me wrong,
we're all sinners, everyone is a sinner
and you don't wanna be having such a high standard
where you're constantly passing up wonderful ladies
or ladies are constantly just passing up good godly men
'cause you have some weird standard of perfection,
but also during the dating period,
you should not ignore major red flags.
And those of us that are parents,
we should be looking out for our children
and looking for those major red flags
and trying to help our children with those things
when those times come,
but you should be looking out for those things.
Here's some red flags,
here's some major red flags in a woman.
So man, this is something you should be thinking about.
A major red flag is when a woman
is majorly disrespectful to her parents.
If a woman is extremely disobedient and disrespectful
to her mother and father,
you are going to be extremely disrespected and disobeyed
when you are the authority.
You gotta realize that how does she treat her authority
right now?
Oh, she crap talks mom and dad,
she doesn't listen to anything that they say,
she breaks all the rules,
you're gonna be in for a world of hurt
when she's your problem.
So when you see that kind of stuff,
that's a red flag that you should not ignore.
Here's another major red flag,
don't ignore when a woman is overly flirtatious
with other dudes
because everyone puts their best foot forward
while they're dating
and if while you're dating,
she's flirting with other guys,
that's a serious red flag.
A woman that refuses to dress modestly
when you're dating her,
that is a major red flag.
And look, I've heard guys say,
oh, I'll never even approach a woman that wears pants.
It's like, dude, come on,
you can go approach a girl,
you could get her saved,
you could try to get her in church
and try to get her to learn the Bible.
You know, you don't have to have this ridiculous expectation
but if you've been dating a girl for a really long time
and then she refuses to dress modestly,
she's being flirtatious,
she's showing off her body to other men,
that is a red flag that you should not ignore.
You should not marry a woman
that you know is a major flirt
and is just promiscuous like that.
That sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
Here is some major red flags in men.
Lack of ambition and work ethic.
Ladies, here's the thing.
You know, us as men,
whoever we marry,
we could force her to go to church
'cause we're in charge.
We could force her to go soul winning with us,
we could force her to do certain things
because we're literally the authority,
we're literally in charge.
You ladies are marrying someone
who you're kind of like giving up the ship
and saying, okay, you're the captain,
you've gotta lead this,
you've gotta be in control here
and if you're dating a guy
who doesn't have any work ethic,
no drive, no passion, no tenacity,
that's not a problem that's just gonna fix itself magically
when life gets hard.
It's like if he can't work hard as a teenager,
if his, and I'm not saying he has to be rich,
but look at the trajectory of his life.
Like is he working super hard?
Okay, the trajectory is good.
He's gonna be successful because he's working hard,
but if while you're dating he's lazy,
he has no drive,
he has no goals,
he has no vision for his life,
that's a major red flag that you should not ignore.
A lack of character or a history of commitment issues,
that's a red flag in men that ladies should not ignore.
Again, men are the leaders.
They need to be people of strong character
because they are setting the tone for you
and for the whole family.
So you don't wanna ignore when you see
that there's just major character issues,
major commitment issues,
he never follows through on anything,
he's constantly quitting jobs,
he's constantly burning people in his life,
that's a major red flag that you should not ignore.
And of course this is the same with men.
A man that is flirtatious with other women,
that is a big red flag that you should not ignore, okay?
Because usually, unfortunately what I've just seen
is that this is something that's just not easily fixed.
Someone that grows up and is really promiscuous,
commits a lot of fornication,
usually, unfortunately, they bring that stuff
into their marriage and causes issues.
And so when you see a man or a woman
overly flirtatious like that, you should not ignore that.
Here's another red flag in men,
when they push boundaries during the dating period.
You know, the young man should be respectful to you,
young man should be respectful to your body,
should be respectful to your father, should honor your parents,
obey your parents' rules, you know,
that is the sign of a man that actually has character
and integrity, you should not ignore it
when the man is constantly pushing boundaries,
trying to do things with you that you know
your dad doesn't want you to do.
Constantly wanting to touch you, things like that,
you should be aware of that.
And last red flag in men is spiritual immaturity.
Spiritual immaturity, do not marry ladies,
especially ladies growing up in church,
going to a good church, knowing what the Bible says,
don't marry a guy that's less spiritual than you.
He should be more spiritual than you.
You should look at him and be like,
wow, he's a really awesome soul winner.
Wow, he's really zealous, he really knows the Bible well,
he's passionate about the things of God,
that's the type of guy you should marry.
Not someone who's like, well, he's got a cool car,
he's never read the Bible, don't make that mistake.
That's a foolish mistake that's being short-sighted.
Why, because you're gonna be with this man
for the rest of your life.
And then you're gonna be with this woman
for the rest of your life.
And unfortunately, I've seen people rush into marriage
and they're struggling.
They're having serious issues because they just like,
all right, I'm 18, I just gotta get married.
Or hey, this is the first girl to talk to me,
we just gotta get married.
And just being short-sighted,
not thinking about the things that I'm telling you.
Look, I haven't given you Bible verses
for everything that I'm talking about,
but I'm telling you, I've just seen this to be true.
Okay, and I would be aware if I were you.
Go to Genesis chapter 16, Genesis chapter 16.
Here's another one.
Don't be short-sighted when it comes to having children.
Genesis 16 verse one says,
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bear him no children.
"She had in handmaid an Egyptian whose name was Hagar.
"And Sarai said unto Abram,
"Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing.
"I pray thee, go in unto my maid.
"It may be that I may obtain children by her."
And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, her maid, the Egyptian.
And Abram had dwelt 10 years in the land of Canaan
and gave her to her husband, Abram, to wife.
So notice, Sarai's getting impatient, right?
She's becoming hasty.
And in her desire to have a child,
she ends up being very short-sighted and says,
rather than just waiting on God
and allowing him to bless us with a child,
let's do something sinful.
Let's just give Abram to another woman.
That's a short-sighted thing to do.
And you could tell it's short-sighted
because Sarai's immediately pissed.
She's ready to burn the world to the ground
because any woman that gives their man to another woman
is gonna be ready to burn the world to the ground, right?
But yet it was her idea.
And man, don't just listen to every idea
that your wife gives you, especially in this area, okay?
Like if your wife ever tells you to do this,
this is a trap, bro.
No, she's a fed.
No, I'm just kidding, she's not a fed, all right?
But this is a bad idea.
This is being short-sighted.
Genesis 2:24 says, therefore shall a man
leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife,
and they shall be one flesh.
The Bible says that a marriage is literally
between one man and one woman.
I know that's real controversial today,
but polygamy is not biblical, okay?
This was a one-time act of adultery.
This was not perpetual adultery,
but Abram going in unto this other woman,
it was a one-time act of adultery
because polygamy was not something that God ever permitted.
It was something that people did, but it was not right.
But because they were short-sighted,
they ended up what, sinning.
Today, sometimes people get impatient,
they wanna have children, and they end up sinning
in order to do so, it's called IVF.
What is IVF?
It's in vitro fertilization.
Literally, that just means fertilization in a lab.
So what is IVF?
This is from the Mayo Clinic.
It says in in vitro fertilization, also called IVF,
is a complex series of procedures
that can lead to a pregnancy.
It's a treatment for infertility,
a condition in which you can't get pregnant
after at least a year of trying for most couples.
IVF also can be used to prevent passing
on genetic problems to a child.
During in vitro fertilization,
mature eggs are collected from ovaries
and fertilized by sperm in a lab.
Then a procedure is done to place one or more
of the fertilized eggs, called embryos, in a uterus,
which is where babies develop.
One full cycle of IVF takes about two to three weeks.
Sometimes these steps are split into different parts,
and the process can take longer.
Here's a simple breakdown of how it works.
Now it's just gonna give us points
of the simple way that it works.
Number one, how does it work?
Ovary stimulation.
Normally, a woman's ovary releases one egg per month.
In IVF, doctors give medication to stimulate the ovaries
to produce several eggs at once.
Number two, egg collection.
Once the eggs are mature, a doctor uses a small needle
to collect them from the ovaries
in a minor surgical procedure.
Number three, sperm collection.
The partner provides a sperm sample,
which is processed in a lab to isolate the healthiest sperm.
Number four, fertilization in the lab.
The eggs and sperm are brought together in a dish.
The sperm fertilizes the eggs,
just like it would in the body, creating embryos.
So what is happening here in the dish,
in the lab, is conception, right?
Fertilization is conception.
So they are literally creating human beings
in the lab with IVF.
Don't let anyone fool you.
That's literally what this is saying.
They are creating human beings in the lab.
Then it says, number five, monitoring the embryos,
which, let's just be honest, is babies, okay?
Monitoring the embryos.
The embryos, fertilized eggs, are watched closely
for a few days as they start dividing
and growing into cells.
It's weird how it's not a life,
but its cells are dividing, I mean, growing.
That's so weird that a non-life would do that, right?
Because it is a life.
Doctors look for healthy embryos
that are developing properly.
Number six, transferring the embryo.
One, or sometimes two, healthy embryos,
are placed in the woman's uterus using a small tube.
This is called embryo transfer.
If the embryo attaches to the uterus lining,
pregnancy begins.
So this kind of begs the question,
if the doctors in the lab are taking the seed and the eggs
and just fertilizing all of these
and bringing conception forth in these little petri dishes,
what happens then to the ones that they don't use, okay?
Now, number one, it says, number one,
not all eggs get fertilized.
Some eggs might not combine with sperm
or may not grow into embryos, okay?
Fertilization didn't happen and life wasn't created, right?
Number two, abnormal embryos.
Some embryos stop developing
because they aren't healthy enough to continue.
These are usually not used.
Number three, freezing extra embryos.
There are extra healthy embryos
that can be frozen for future attempts.
Number four, discarding embryos.
Embryos that are abnormal or not used
are typically discarded based on the couple's
or individual's decision and medical guidance.
So what happens is a lot of times these doctors,
they're taking the seed and the egg.
They're fertilizing it.
Conception has taken place.
Human life has been created.
But they say, hey, you know, we made all these.
We're gonna put two in your uterus, see if one implants.
And then they take the rest
and they just throw it in the trash.
You know what that is?
That's called being short-sighted
because in your haste to have a child,
just like Sarai was just so hasty to have a child.
It's like, okay, just go commit adultery.
Just go into my handmaid.
People today are just so in a rush to have a child.
We're like, hey, let's just create human life in a lab
and we'll just implant some.
And the others will just throw in the trash
and literally murder.
Because life begins at conception, friends.
Life begins at conception.
And when you're taking fertilized eggs
where conception has taken place
and you're just discarding those, that is murder.
That is murder.
And no Christian should ever engage in IVF.
Do not get impatient.
Do not get short-sighted.
Wait on the Lord, trust in the Lord.
And even if God decides to never give someone children,
it's better to not have children
than to have murdered children.
What would you rather have?
Lacking a blessing from God or having a child,
but you've also murdered other children.
That's sick to have that on your conscience.
That's something you should never, ever do.
Do not get short-sighted when it comes to having children.
Go to Luke chapter one.
Luke chapter one.
We gotta get one Christmas verse in this Sunday, right?
Why is it a problem to discard fertilized eggs?
Well, here's why.
Luke 1.31 says,
"And behold, thou shalt," notice, "conceive in thy womb
"and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus."
When conception took place in the womb of Mary,
you don't know who was there, the baby Jesus was there.
And you don't conceive a watermelon,
you don't conceive an orange, you don't conceive a lemon,
you conceive a child.
When a woman has had conception,
she has a child inside of her.
And of course that child was Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the same with every woman who's ever been pregnant.
Conception has taken place and life is there.
I have four beautiful children on this earth,
but guess what?
Two other times conception has happened
or we've had a miscarriage.
I have had six children in reality.
I've got four in this world, two are in heaven
because two were real human souls that were created by God.
And unfortunately they passed away,
but they were real people, okay?
And these babies made in the test tube,
they were real people, real souls.
And those babies are in heaven right now.
But just because they're in heaven
doesn't excuse the wickedness of killing them.
That's sick and disgusting.
Go to Exodus 21, Exodus chapter 21.
It's the same thing as like people desiring to be rich
and being hasty to be rich and lying, cheating,
ripping people off, cutting corners to get rich.
It's like, look, there's nothing wrong with being rich
from working hard and dealing honestly
and God blessing you, that's great.
But there is something wrong
with doing wicked things to get rich.
Nothing wrong with having kids.
There is something wrong
with doing wicked things to have children.
Look at Exodus 21 verse 22.
If men strive and hurt a woman with child
so that her fruit depart from her
and yet no mischief follow,
he shall surely be punished according
as the woman's husband will lay upon him
and he shall pay as the judge is determined.
So notice if two men are fighting,
they hurt a pregnant woman, her child departs,
her fruit departs, the child dies
and it says and yet no mischief follow.
I think that's saying that there was no premeditated murder
that happened here.
This was an accident.
The man is gonna be punished still.
Why?
Because there was a loss of life.
But it says this, and if any mischief follow,
if it comes to light that this was premeditated,
that you purposely hurt this woman,
that you purposely killed her child,
which happens to this day, notice the result,
then thou shalt give life for life.
The Bible says that a child in its mother's womb,
a child that has been conceived is a life.
It is a living being, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning,
wound for womb, wound, stripe for stripe.
You know, if we were to apply this today,
we would have to look at IVF.
We'd have to just look at the facts
and just determine that it is murder.
It is premeditated.
Yes, mischief has followed.
The doctors, the scientists,
they know that fertilization is taking place.
They're not dummies.
And that's why it says like, well, they discard them
based on the individual's preferences
because they know this is wicked.
And they know that people struggle with this idea
because they are committing murder.
The Bible says when you premeditatedly hurt a woman
or with child and kill the child,
that you would get life for life.
Stripe for stripe, burning for burning.
What you did unto that baby should be done unto you
if it was done purposely, is what the Bible says.
And you know, of course we should apply this to abortion too,
that these disgusting abortion doctors
that oftentimes use a saline solution
to melt a precious little child in the womb.
You know, we should just drop those doctors
into a vat of saline solution.
Let them melt like a snail.
Burning for burning, stripe for stripe, wound for wound,
life for life.
Don't be short-sighted when it comes to having children.
Don't also, you know, get pregnant
and worry so much about your future
that you're short-sighted and then you commit an abortion
and kill the child that God has given you.
I mean, this works both ways.
Don't be short-sighted.
If God has given you a child,
he's given you that child for a reason.
Don't discard your child and don't in your haste
to have a child do something that God hates.
Go to Proverbs 29.
Number five, don't be short-sighted with your relationships.
This could apply to family, friends, coworkers.
Just don't be hasty and rash and short-sighted
when it comes to your relationships.
Proverbs 29.20 says,
"Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words?
"There is more hope of a fool than of him.
"He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child
"shall have him become his son at the length.
"An angry man stirreth up strife
"and a furious man aboundeth in transgression."
You know, it's a good reminder to us
not to be short-sighted and hasty in our words.
Because oftentimes, what is it that destroys relationships?
Oftentimes it's the things that we say.
And sometimes people say the most hurtful things
to the people that they should be loving the most.
You know, we gotta remember that in our relationships,
there's gonna be times where you're angry, you're upset,
you feel vindicated and justified
for whatever you're feeling.
But you know what, don't be short-sighted, ladies,
and mouth off to your husband
because you could harm that relationship.
And men, don't be short-sighted and just come down
like a ton of bricks on your wife
and just be a complete jerk to her
because yeah, you're in charge, but you know what,
you could still hurt that relationship
on how you speak to her.
And we should be wise in the words that we use,
not being hasty.
Go to Proverbs 27, while I read James 1:9 says,
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
"let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak,
"slow to wrath."
That's something we need to be reminded of, slow to wrath.
Don't be someone that's just so quick to get angry,
blow off your mouth, scream at your spouse
or at your children or at your coworkers or whatever.
Let us be slow to wrath.
Proverbs 27, verse 10, I love this verse,
"Thine own friend and thy father's friend, forsake not.
"Neither go into thy brother's house
"on the day of thy calamity,
"for better is a neighbor that is near
"than a brother far off."
Don't be short-sighted in your relationships.
The Bible says, your friend and your father's friend,
don't forsake them.
Yet today we live in a society of an epidemic
of people just willing to burn friendships
and relationships at the drop of a hat, right?
And it's so easy for us.
It's just the unfriend button, right?
It's just, it made us mad, it's just the unfriend button.
And look, there's a time and place to use that, believe me.
But we should not be just by default,
so quick to cut people off in our lives.
We should be people that are not forsaking our friends
all the time, forsaking our father's friends.
We should be people that are loyal
to the people in our lives,
and not just immediately forsaking them.
Go to Luke chapter 14, Luke 14.
Number six, don't be short-sighted in big life decisions.
What am I talking about?
Buying a house, buying a car, moving to other states,
changing careers.
These are things that you should not just do
on a drop of a hat, right?
Getting married.
Look at Luke 14 verse 28.
"For which of you, intending to build a tower,
"sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost,
"whether he have sufficient to finish it."
What is that a picture of?
Of being circumspect, of being wise,
of not being hasty, not being prudent,
saying, hey, I wanna build this tower,
I wanna do something great.
What am I gonna do?
I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna count the cost, right?
Before you move to a different city, count the cost.
Before you start a business, count the cost.
Before you get married, count the cost.
Make sure you're not doing these things
on a split decision.
Lastly, this evening, go to John chapter six.
It'll be the last one we talk about.
Don't be short-sighted when it comes to church.
And specifically what I'm talking about is quitting church.
Sometimes people just quit church in an emotional fit,
and it was not a wise decision.
They didn't leave a bad church.
They left a good church for a dumb reason.
Let me show you some people quitting
on a pretty good guy.
His name was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now you think these people are quitting
for a good reason or a bad reason?
Obviously a bad reason.
Look at John six, verse 53.
Then Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in him, and I in him.
As the living Father hath sent me,
and I live by the Father,
so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
This is that bread which came down from heaven,
not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead.
He that eateth of this bread shall live forever.
These things said he in the synagogue,
as he taught in Capernaum.
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this,
said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it?
So notice his disciples are offended.
Now was there anything wrong with what Jesus preached?
Absolutely not, he's the word of God.
Everything was right that he said.
He is the bread of life, but even his own disciples
were shocked by this sermon.
They were upset, they were offended.
And notice Jesus' reaction in verse 61.
When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it,
he said unto them, doth this offend you?
Notice his reaction was not coddling them.
Well, let me explain myself a little more.
What I really meant when I said I was the bread of life,
is that I'm the bread of life?
Does this offend you?
Right, he's not coddling them, he's just saying,
look, does this offend you?
Verse 62, what an if ye shall see the son of man ascend up
where he was before?
Why is he saying this?
Because they're kind of offended at the way
that Jesus is exalting himself,
because he's God.
I mean, he's literally saying,
hey, I'm not talking about the manna
that came down from heaven.
I'm saying I'm literally the bread of life.
And that if you eat of me, you will never be hungry.
Look, there's only one man that could claim that,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
But these disciples are just confused or carnal
or not thinking of Jesus in the proper perspective
that he's God in the flesh.
And he's saying, look, does this offend you?
How are you gonna be feeling then
when you see me ascend up to God the Father?
He's like, you're gonna think I'm a little exalted then?
You're gonna think I'm a little high and mighty then?
When I ascend up in glory to God the Father?
He doesn't mince words with his sermon.
He doesn't take anything back.
He's saying, look, everything I'm saying was right.
Why are you offended?
Guess what, it's gonna get even more glorifying for me.
Verse 63, it is the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life.
He's saying, look, my sermon is 100% right.
In fact, the words that I'm speaking to you are life itself.
He's not backing away from what he said whatsoever.
But there are some of you that believe not,
for Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him.
And he said, therefore said I unto you
that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him
of my father.
Verse 66, notice, from that time,
many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him.
Even the Lord Jesus Christ had people get upset
at his preaching and quit serving God.
And guess what?
There's never a good reason to quit on Jesus.
Jesus didn't do anything wrong.
Jesus didn't preach anything wrong.
These people are quitting walking with Christ
because they themselves are backslidden.
They themselves are carnal.
But it's just so funny because when people even do this today
and people will quit a good church,
they'll never tell you like,
well, it was because I felt like I was pressured
to go soul winning there and I just never wanted to go.
And so I just quit.
Or it's just like, well,
I just really wanted to live a super worldly life
and I really just wanted to embrace feminism.
And so my family was just uncomfortable
and hearing all the preaching about fix your face
and all these things.
I don't like that kind of stuff.
And so I'm gonna walk away and it's like,
they're never gonna tell you those things,
but that's just reality.
If people just impulsively with a short-sighted view
with just not being prudent, not being circumspect,
if they did that to Jesus,
if they just on a dime quit on Jesus,
let me just remind you that it's going to happen
to good churches today.
And look, just the reality is that if you stay in church,
this church in five years is gonna be unrecognizable
from what you see right now.
I wish that wasn't true,
but I've seen it to be true so many times.
And like, I kind of expected it to be that way in five years.
I didn't really expect that to be in five months.
But what I'm telling you is that that's just reality.
In five years, it'll happen.
In five years, it'll happen again.
Five years, it'll happen again.
I mean, this is just what we see happen.
But look at verse 67.
Notice Jesus's response to seeing people quit on him,
leaving his ministry, walk away from him.
Then said Jesus unto the 12, will ye also go away?
Then Peter asks a good question here, verse 68.
Then Simon Peter answered him,
Lord, to whom shall we go?
Thou hast the words of eternal life.
You know, that's a good question
that people should ask themselves before quitting a church,
before quitting on a good church or a good pastor.
What these people should have asked themselves is,
to whom shall we go?
You know, Peter is the only one
who's actually thinking clearly here.
He's the only one that actually has a vision
for the future who's not being short-sighted,
who's actually looking at the big picture saying,
okay, you know, Jesus offended some people.
He's had a hard sermon here.
People are quitting on him.
Maybe outsiders are looking at this saying,
oh look, Jesus's ministry is sinking.
It's getting destroyed here.
But Peter says, but to whom am I gonna go?
He's the one that has the words of life.
He's the one that's God.
He's the son of God.
And it's like, oftentimes,
I think people leave a great church
just because they're upset about one thing
or they're not even,
they could just have misunderstood something.
I mean, these people just misunderstood
what Jesus was preaching.
They didn't understand it.
And they leave a good church,
but it's like, where are you gonna go though?
Are you going to go to the old IFB,
like we talked about this morning,
where they wanna welcome in the pedophiles,
where they wanna welcome in the convicted?
Child predators to sit in the church with you?
Where you, do you wanna hear about tithing
every single service?
Like, do you wanna have an altar call
where the gospels preached every single service
and every sermon is about salvation?
Is that what you want?
Do you want the new King James?
Do you want the NIV?
Do you want the deacon led church
and the democracy church
where the women are voting on everything?
Do you want the pastor and pastor's wife duo?
Do you want the church with no soul winning program?
Do you want the church where hard preaching's
never going to happen ever?
Do you want the church where they preach a Bible study
through Romans 1 and they'll stop
once it gets to the reprobates
and we're going to Romans 2?
We're just reading the gospel part of Romans 1.
Do you wanna hear the pre-trib rapture every week?
Do you wanna hear, let's worship Israel.
Let's worship the Jews.
Oh well, you know, Pastor Ross said a mean thing one time.
Okay, well, you go away also.
But I'm telling you, that's just a short-sighted way
to live your life.
And it's so funny how people will give grace
to these other churches for all these major issues.
But then it's like they're upset at,
they're upset at Jesus here for what?
What did Christ do?
Preach the truth?
Preach the hard sermon?
Oh, sorry that this offends you,
but what are you gonna do when you hear the next sermon
that's also offensive?
I mean, who cares?
But here's the thing.
I do care though, because I care about people
just leaving a good church for no reason,
because it harms them.
It's their loss.
And here's the thing, like I'm not harmed
by people quitting church
because I'm still in a great church.
Like I get to congregate with great people.
I get to go out soul winning.
I get to be new IFB.
I love it.
I'm not suffering from it.
But I do feel bad for people that leave a good church
and go to a much lesser church for no reason.
I do, that does hurt me.
Not because of my personal pride or anything like that,
but because of the betterment of your family
or the hurt of your family.
I mean, where are you going to go?
To where?
It doesn't make any sense.
And you know, praise God,
Oklahoma City does have some good old IFB churches,
but I'm just saying like,
if you actually believe the doctrines that we believe,
you're gonna get sick and tired of hearing about the Jews.
I mean, if you know what the Bible says,
if you've read the scriptures, debunking Zionism,
you're gonna get real tired
of please donate your money to Israel.
Please help us build the Antichrist temple.
Please, would you just pass the plate again
and pay for the Jews that hate Jesus Christ
to bomb some more kids in Palestine?
That's gonna start eating at you a little bit.
And you ought to just stop being so short-sighted
and just say like, where am I gonna go?
You know, sometimes people will move.
They'll just like, oh, I just want to live out
in the middle of nowhere and just build a farm,
build a ranch.
It's like, dude, you live in Oklahoma.
You can do that 20 minutes from church.
Why would you just move super far away though?
You know, to where are you gonna go?
You're being short-sighted.
And people's lives constantly are destroyed by this.
I mean, to where are you gonna go?
Are you gonna go to Anchor Baptist Church
or the Anchor Baptist Church we talked about this morning
where your kids are gonna be forced to go into the nursery,
where you're gonna be publicly rebuked
for having your kids in the service?
Is that where you're gonna go?
Would you gonna go to the church
where the pastor's wife is wearing pants,
where the pastor's wife has a short haircut?
Is that where you're going to go?
But it's so funny, people get so blind.
They overlook everything else
because the one little thing that they're upset about.
And they act like, you know,
they're the most gracious, loving people in the world.
Go to Psalm 119, Psalm 119.
But you know what?
These disciples missed out on the ministry
of God in the flesh
because they got offended by one sermon.
I mean, can you imagine the loss of rewards of these people?
Like you literally were walking
with the word of God in flesh.
You had Jesus before your very eyes.
You could follow Him and you quit on Him.
You stopped following Him
because you got mad by one sermon that He preached
that was true anyways.
I mean, those people had to beat themselves up.
I mean, it's just like,
they get to heaven and it's just like,
all right, here's the mansion of the disciples of Christ
that were killed for Christ,
that suffered persecution for Christ,
that stuck with Him,
that failed at times in life,
but got back up and kept serving God.
And it's like, here's the losers
that got bitter over his John chapter six sermon
and quit on Him.
Yikes.
That's a really sad backstory there.
Psalm 119 verse 165.
Notice this says,
"Great peace have they which love thy law
and nothing shall offend them."
Now, oftentimes people use this verse
and I think it's a fair application
talking about being offended
in the way that we use the word being offended today,
meaning our feelings were hurt.
But I don't think that's the primary interpretation
of what this passage is saying.
To offend oftentimes in the Bible means to cause to stumble,
to cause to cease doing something.
And what the Bible is saying is that
when you love God's law, you have great peace.
Why?
Because nothing will offend you,
meaning nothing will cause you to stop serving God.
That is what that verse means.
It means, hey, I'm gonna be steadfast.
Why?
Because I love God's word that gives me peace
and nothing shall offend me.
Nothing shall stop me from serving God.
Look, no sermon I hear preached
is going to stop me from serving God,
even if it's against me,
even if it steps on my toes,
even if it corrects my actions.
I've told you guys this story before.
I've literally had a pastor come up to me
and say, the service tomorrow is specifically against you.
Don't skip church, come to church and listen up.
You know what I did?
I came to church and I took it like a man.
I wrote my notes, I opened my Bible.
I turned along.
I'm saying, amen, okay, he's right.
Yep, I know he's right about that one.
But people are like, oh, you preached against me.
You said something against me.
You hurt my feelings, I'm quitting.
Well, it sounds like you don't love God's word
because great peace have they which love thy law
and nothing shall offend them.
You know, people who love God,
they could literally have the pastor tell them,
I'm gonna preach against you tomorrow.
And they still show up and they still listen
and they still say amen.
Other people, they think everything's about them.
They're mad at every sermon.
They're super upset at everything.
They're offended, they're ready to quit.
They move on somewhere else
because they don't love God's word that much.
And look, I don't know if you noticed,
I try my best to bring a lot of Bible into my sermons
because I love God's word.
I want you to love God's word.
And it's like, to where are you gonna go?
To the old IFB that has a 15 minute sermon with one verse.
Look, I love God's word.
I want you to love God's word.
And if you do, nothing's going to offend you.
Nothing's gonna cause you to stop.
But look, I need church.
You need church.
I need people to encourage me by going out soul winning.
I get encouraged when I see the children of this church
going out soul winning, preaching the gospel,
that fires me up.
I get encouraged, singing the hymns together,
fellowshiping with God's people.
You know, iron sharpened with iron.
You know, we need church.
Really, really bad in this world.
And it would be so foolish and just short-sighted
to quit on church today.
You know, the closer we get to the coming
of Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says,
the more we should be coming together.
And every day we go on in the future, when you quit,
it's that much more foolish of a thing to do.
Last place, we'll go where we started.
We'll finish where we started, Luke 15.
Luke 15, verse 11.
Look, I'm not just preaching this sermon
to try to beat up on people that have been short-sighted
in the past in their finances or in fornication
or in who they've married, God forbid, or anything like that.
I'm trying to prevent other people
from making those same mistakes.
And I'm trying to help you minimize the damage
in the future, 'cause we've still got a lot of decisions
left to make in our life.
Every day is a series of decisions,
and we need to constantly be reminded, don't be short-sighted.
Let's finish with this.
Luke 15, 11, and he said, "A certain man had two sons.
"And the younger of them said to his father,
"'Father, give me the portion of goods that followeth to me.'
"And he divided unto them his living.
"And not many days after, the younger son gathered
"altogether and took his journey into a far country,
"and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
"When he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine
"in that land," notice this, "and he began to be in want."
Here is the reality, is that in any area of our life,
whether it's finances, marriage, fornication,
sin issues, children, church, when you decide
to make the short-sighted decision
without thinking of the long-term consequences,
this is where you're going to come to in your life.
You're gonna come to a point in your life
where you begin to be in want.
Where you realize, I've messed up,
and I'm lacking some things, and I'm hurting in some area
because of the decisions that you've made.
And we live in a world today that wants to eliminate pain
and eliminate the consequences of bad decisions, right?
That, I mean, that's what abortion is.
It's trying to erase the consequences of bad decisions.
There's all these safety nets trying to save you,
but I'm telling you, God, especially those of us
that are saved, those of us who are gonna be punished
by God, chastised with God, God can make sure
that those safety nets fail for us.
God can make sure that we do feel the pain
and the suffering of our mistakes, and so what's better
is to just not be so short-sighted in the first place,
and be prudent, circumspect.
Last verse we'll read, verse 17,
"And when he came to himself," how many, he said,
"How many hired servants of my fathers
"have bred enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger."
You know, this is what I'm trying to do with this sermon,
is to get you to come to yourself now
before you're in the situation of the prodigal son.
Come to yourself now and realize, hey,
I'm gonna be in a world of hurt on my finances
if I don't start working hard now as a young man.
Or hey, you know, I'm gonna be in a world of hurt
if I'm a woman that has a body count in the teens,
and I've got all these bastard children,
and I'm 30 years old and I've never been married.
Look, that's a situation where you could be
in a big world of hurt, and I want you to avoid that.
Don't want you to have to go through that type of pain.
You know, I don't want you to have to come to yourself
when you've burned all the relationships in your life,
you've burned all your friends, you've burned your pastor,
you've burned your mom and dad, you've burned your church,
you quit on church, you quit on God,
and then you just come to yourself and realize,
I'm an idiot, I screwed up, I wasted my life,
here I am, you know, I'm messing up.
Now, thankfully this story has a positive ending
where the father receives him and brings him back,
and you know, we wanna be that way as a church,
where this world has gone out living
in the pig pen of this world,
they've ruined their lives a lot of time,
and we wanna let them know that hey, God loves you,
God can forgive you, we wanna receive you as a church,
but you know what would be just better all around
is if those of us in this room,
we never had a prodigal son story.
Let us just skip the prodigal son phase of our life,
let's just be faithful children of God the Father, why?
Because we have a really rich dad,
we have a really cool dad, God the Father,
that has so many blessings for us in this life,
why would we just run off on him and quit being his son
and just stay away and just give us the blessings now,
let's just ruin our lives now?
No, let the time pass of our lives be sufficient
for all those things, you know,
let us not be short-sighted as Christians, let's pray.
Lord, thank you for this day and thank you for this parable,
I just pray that you'd help us all in this room,
especially the young people to be circumspect in their lives
and every decision they make
to think about the long-term consequences that it may have.
I do pray that you would be merciful to us
and gracious to us as we navigate life,
of course we are just flesh, Lord,
we make mistakes, we are sinners,
but I pray that we would take seriously every decision,
that you'd help us to have foresight
and not be so hasty in our decisions
and just pray that you would receive us when we sin
and forgive us when we sin,
we love you in Jesus name we pray, amen.
(soft piano music)
- All right, if you would take your hymnals at this time,
we'll go ahead and sing one last song
to conclude the service.
Hymn number 432, we'll sing.
Angels from the realms of glory.
(soft piano music)
Hymn number 432.
Hymn 432, we'll start there right on the first.
♪ Angels from the realms of glory ♪
♪ Wing your flight o'er all the earth ♪
♪ Ye who sang creation's story ♪
♪ Now proclaim the Messiah's birth ♪
♪ Come and worship, come and worship ♪
♪ Worship Christ the newborn King ♪
♪ Shepherds in the field of hiding ♪
♪ Watching o'er your flocks by night ♪
♪ God with their heads down residing ♪
♪ Yonder shines the infant's mind ♪
♪ Come and worship, come and worship ♪
♪ Worship Christ the newborn King ♪
♪ Sages, lead your contemplation ♪
♪ Wider visions beam afar ♪
♪ Seek the great desire of nations ♪
♪ We have seen his fatal star ♪
♪ Come and worship, come and worship ♪
♪ Worship Christ the newborn King ♪
♪ Saints before he alternated ♪
♪ Watching long in hope and fear ♪
♪ Suddenly the Lord descending ♪
♪ In his temple shall appear ♪
♪ Come and worship, come and worship ♪
♪ Worship Christ the newborn King ♪
Good singing this evening.
With that, you are dismissed.