be the glory.
162 on the first, to God, be the glory.
Amen. At this time, we'll open with a word of prayer if you'll bow your heads with me.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, for another day to just be gathered together
to learn from your word. I pray that you would just incline your ear to us as we sing out
praises, that you'd fill us with your spirit on this day, the Lord's day, and that you
would just embolden pastor and give him all the clear words to speak and that we would
be ready to receive that message. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, for our next hymn this morning, turn to 323, 323, more about Jesus, 323, more about Jesus, 323, there on the first.
See more of his love who died for me
Brother, could I get a bulletin for myself up here, please?
If you don't have one, please raise your hand
and an usher will bring you one.
On the front, you'll see our Bible memory passage
of the week, Galatians chapter number one, verse 15,
and we still have two full months left in this chapter,
so plenty of time to memorize it.
On the inside, you'll see our service times listed,
Sunday morning, 10.30, Sunday evening, 4.30,
and our Wednesday evening Bible study
through the book of Proverbs at seven o'clock.
Our soul winning times are all listed there and all those meet here at the church building
with the exception of Tuesday so if you'd like to go to that make sure you talk to Brother Eric
and he'll get you set up on the details for that below is our nursing home ministry schedule
Brother John preaching today next week Brother Theodore and below you'll see our year-to-date
On the right side, you'll see our upcoming events.
This evening is our men's preaching night.
There's still time to sign up if you would like to do that.
And it's gonna be 15 minute sermons
if you wanna participate.
And right after, we will have a potluck.
So please do bring something to share this evening
if you can.
Then next Saturday is our soul-winning marathon
in Oklahoma City.
We're meeting at Frederick Douglas Park.
It's right by the Willa D. Johnson Rec Center.
If you're familiar with that part of town.
but it's a good area.
It's gonna be some great soul winning.
We're meeting at nine o'clock for coffee and donuts,
and then we'll start the soul winning portion at 10.
We'll meet back at the same park at noon for lunch,
and then we'll go out again at about two o'clock
for some more soul winning.
So I understand that a lot of churches
are doing the mega marathon that day,
so there's gonna be lots of Christians
out soul winning all over this country and the world,
so make sure to just pray
for a great harvest of souls on that day.
After that the next day is going to be Easter and we're gonna have a great Easter service
We're gonna be catering barbecue right after the morning service and also after the evening service
We will be taking the Lord's Supper as a church family here
May 16th through the 18th is the King James conference a sure foundation Baptist Church
May 31st is another soul winning marathon in Durant, Oklahoma
And we're meeting up with steadfast Baptist Church for that events. There should be
well over 100 soul winners for that one.
June 28th is the Tinker Air Show Fellowship Day,
just hanging out, having fun as a church.
And June 29th, the next day,
Brother Ben Naim from Steadfast Baptist Church
will be preaching.
And it was brought to my attention yesterday
that this was during June,
and it actually was not planned that way.
But you know, Brother Ben is more than welcome to rip
on whatever he wants to,
but if you're listening, Ben, it is June,
so you gotta keep that in mind.
August 27th through the 31st is the fire breathing Baptist fellowship at steadfast
You don't want to miss that highly recommend it and October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas
Mission trip. I'm going to it. I know a lot of people are here and I'm really looking forward to that
Below if you'd like to update your information or if you're a visitor, please do scan that QR code on the back
You'll see our prayer list brother
Alex asked for an update this morning saying that he is not doing well.
He wants some prayer for his health.
I know some other people have been sick, so do pray for those people.
And if you want information about giving tithing, there is information there below that.
That's going to be it for announcements this morning.
We'll go and go to our third song.
Our third song this morning, number 308 308.
I surrender all
Number 308 308 I surrender all
308 they're on the first
and good singing this morning.
As the offering plates are being passed,
turn if you would to Genesis chapter number three.
Genesis chapter number three.
Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field
which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the
garden. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it lest ye die.
And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open, and ye shall be as gods, knowing both good, knowing good and evil.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat and gave also under her husband with her and he did eat and the eyes of them
both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sued fig leaves together and made
the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the
trees of the garden and the Lord God called into Adam and said unto him
where art thou and he said I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid
because I was naked and I hid myself and he said who told thee that thou was
naked
Has thou eaten of the tree, wherever I commanded thee, that thou shouldest not eat?"
And the man said, the woman who thou gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the serpent,
because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle,
and above every beast of the field, upon thy belly
shall thou go, and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her seed.
It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.
Under the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception.
in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife,
and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is
the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and
And thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of
it was thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us to know good and evil,
and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence
he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherryabends.
and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the Tree of Life.
Let's pray.
Gracious Lord, thankful for our church, thankful for those that are gathered here today.
And a thank you Lord for our pastor.
Amen. All right. Well, we are in Genesis chapter three, which is a continuation of the story of the Garden of Eden.
And of course, we know that the Lord gave Adam and Eve many options in the Garden.
He said to them that of all of the trees of the Garden, they were allowed to freely eat.
But there was one specific tree that he said no to, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And of course, we know that the devil tempted and deceived Eve.
She took of that fruit, ate it, and gave it unto her husband.
And we're gonna pick up in the story
in verse number nine of Genesis three,
where the Bible says,
and the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him,
where art thou?
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.
And he, that's God, said, who told thee that thou wasst naked?
Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldest not eat?
Now, of course, God already knows the answer to this question, but I believe God's asking
this question to Adam for our benefit because Adam's response is going to reveal something
about his heart here.
So that's what it says in verse number.
12, notice, and the man said, the woman whom thou gave us to be with me, she gave me of
the tree, and I did eat.
So God asks him a direct question, have you eaten of the fruit of this tree?
And again, God already knew, but I think God wanted to reveal something to us about mankind,
is that when he's asked this question, Adam, he just immediately says, well, the woman
He immediately just shifts the blame, he makes an excuse, he doesn't take ownership of his sin,
he wants to just put it off onto someone else. Okay, and then we'll notice this pattern continue
because look at verse 13, and the Lord God said unto the woman,
What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said, the serpent beguiled me, and I did eat."
So both Adam and Eve, when they're confronted by God of their sin,
they both immediately just shift the blame and make an excuse for their sin.
But as we continue reading in this story, I want you to notice that
though they make an excuse, it doesn't change what they did.
Making an excuse didn't change the consequences of sin.
It didn't change the way that God viewed the situation.
Let's keep reading, verse 14.
So there is some responsibility to be had on the devil,
and God punishes him for that.
Verse 15.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel, unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
thou shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it,
all the days of thy life. Thorns and also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee,
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
So notice how God responds to them giving excuses God didn't sit there and weigh their excuses and
Consider and say oh, that's true. You know I did give you this woman. Yeah, you did have a legitimate excuse here
No, he just punished Adam. He just cursed the ground for his sake
And some people teach that work didn't exist before the fall of man,
but the Bible says very clearly that God gave Adam to tend to the garden
before there was sin. So it's not that the curse here was that man has to work.
It's that work became much harder. It's that the ground was cursed and it was
going to bring forth thistles and thorns. And same thing with Eve,
her curse is that childbirth is going to hurt really bad. Right?
There's going to be serious.
pain involved in bringing forth children.
But notice how them making excuses,
it didn't actually help them whatsoever.
It didn't cause them to not be responsible anymore.
It didn't cause them to evade the consequences
of their actions.
They still had to pay for it,
so their excuses helped them exactly 0%.
And you know, making excuses in my life and in your life
will help us exactly 0%.
And so the title of my sermon this morning is this, stop making excuses.
Stop making excuses.
I want to tell you why because here's a little secret about life,
about your excuses is that no one cares.
And I say that in the nicest way possible, nobody cares about your excuses.
God does not care about your excuses.
This is a tough world, this is a tough life, and this life will chew you up and spit you
out with your excuses, and this train is not stopping for you and for your excuses.
So we need to just adopt a mentality right now that says, you know what, we're not going
to make excuses because they don't help us whatsoever.
Now, I want to make a couple statements about excuses this morning.
Number one, excuses are a cover to disobey God.
Excuses are a cover to disobey God.
You know, there are legit excuses in this life,
and we'll talk about those later in the sermon.
But let me tell you what, most excuses are lies.
Most excuses are just you giving some sort of, you know,
smoke shade to you not wanting to obey God.
And I'll show you an example of that with Moses.
Now look, Moses was a great man.
I'm not showing you this to say Moses was terrible,
but you know what, Moses was human and he was a sinner.
And though he was the meekest man at this time,
he did make a mistake here, I believe.
Exodus chapter 3 verse 10.
Come now, therefore, God speaking, and I will send the unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
So here we got God giving him a very clear task here, and when God tells us to do something, you know what we should do, we should just do it.
We shouldn't sit here and think and wonder, are we going to obey? What's the reasons I should? What's the reasons I shouldn't?
If God tells us to do something, the answer should be, yes, Lord, right away.
Notice, verse 11, And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and
that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Israel.
Egypt. Now on the surface this kind of seems like a very humble attitude
and don't get me wrong this man is a very humble person in general
but I would submit to you that anytime you're resisting something that God is
telling you to do
that's not humility that's pride. Okay so if God is telling Moses to do
something
if God tells anyone to do something the answer should be
yes sir.
It shouldn't be considering like, well, am I worthy?
Am I good enough?
You know what?
God's already decided because he told you to do it.
And so it's actually pride to sit here and resist God's word, resist his charge for your
life.
Notice Exodus chapter four.
All right, wait, one more thing here.
No Exodus 4, I'm sorry guys Exodus chapter 4 my apologies on that verse 1 it says and Moses answered and said
But behold they will not believe me nor hearken unto my voice for they will say the Lord hath not appeared
unto thee." So notice he has some fear in his heart. He has some worry, some trepidation
about what if I go to speak and they don't believe me, right? And this would kind of
go to show how you need to trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine
own understanding. Because God told him to do it. It doesn't matter what the outcome
is going to be. What matters is what you were told to do by God. Look at verse number two,
He said cast it on the ground and he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent and Moses fled from before it
So I kind of view this as God saying without saying to Moses. Hey, I've got your back here
I'm gonna back you up. Look, I'm allowing you to do these miracles
You know, don't worry about if they're gonna believe you or not because what you should be worried about is the fact that I'm with you here
Here you just had this miracle performed and Moses at this point should have realized like okay
I didn't do that. This is obviously God on my side.
He told me to do something. I just need to step out and
faith and do it and not make excuses for it.
Look at how much God wants to back him up. Verse four,
And the Lord said unto Moses put forth thine hand
and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it and it
became a rod in his hand that they may believe
that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom, and he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
And he said, put thine hand into thy bosom again.
And he put his hand into his bosom again
and plucked it out of his bosom.
And behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.
So notice God's just doing all these miracles.
And at this point, he should just get it like,
hey, God's on my side.
I'm throwing down my rod.
It's becoming a serpent.
I mean, could you imagine then picking up a serpent,
turns back into a rod, he puts his hand in,
becomes leprous, puts it back, it's healed.
I mean, what more evidence do you need?
like how much more information and confidence do you need to just listen to God at this point
and just say, okay, clearly I'm on the right path. Clearly this is what God wants me to do,
but notice what happens in verse number 10. And Moses said unto the Lord, here comes the excuse,
oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither here to for, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant,
You know when God gives us something to do he's there to give us the tools
He's there to back us up and you know today
We have plenty of tools to help us in our fulfillment of the Great Commission or just following the commandments of God
Or just serving God right. He's given us a great
Fellowship of believers here.
He's given us the institution
of the local New Testament Church.
He's given us the Holy Ghost who is the Comforter
to help us.
He's given us access to him through prayer,
the perfect word of God in our laps this morning.
I mean, he's given us so many things,
yet today some people still want to make dumb excuses
as to why they can't serve God.
Dumb excuses as to why they can't follow God's commandments,
but I'm here to tell you this excuse
that he gave right here was not true.
And you want to know how I know that?
Because Moses ended up successfully doing what God told him to do.
It's almost like when God tells you to do something,
he's going to make sure that you have everything you need to accomplish as well.
He's not going to give you commandments that you can't follow, that you can't follow through with.
No, no, no. If he tells you to preach, then he's going to help you preach.
If he tells you to go soul winning, he's going to help you go soul winning.
And you know what? This right here from Moses was simply an excuse.
And what this excuse was, it was a smokescreen of him not wanting to obey God.
because he wanted to do his own thing,
he didn't want the responsibility maybe,
who knows what all of the inner turmoil
of the reasons were that he didn't want to do it,
but I can tell you one thing, is that this excuse
was not true.
And that is the truth about a lot of excuses
people give today, is that, yes,
excuses that are legitimate do exist,
and you could find them anywhere you want to,
but most of the time,
your excuses are not legitimate.
Most of the time your fears, your what-ifs, your personal inadequacies that you think about yourself are not even true to begin with.
And what it is, it's an excuse, it's mental laziness. Look at verse 11.
And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?
And you know, that's a good thing to remind us is that God has made all of us different,
but yet He made you the way you are, knowing what He wants you to do.
So it's not like you could use something about yourself as an excuse to not serve God, because
God's the one that created you, God's the one that made you the way you are.
You know, oh, I'm too shy, I'm just naturally an introvert, I can't go soul-winning.
Okay, God made you that way, God knew you were going to be that way, and God still tells
And so someone using that as an excuse, it's a lie, it's not true.
You can't sit here and say like, oh, well, I'm exempt from preaching the gospel because I'm shy.
No, that's a garbage excuse.
And you know what? It's not going to stop people from going to hell, that excuse.
And it's not going to stop God from being angry at you.
Because I want you to notice that God gets mad.
Verse 12,
and teach thee what thou shalt say.
And he said, oh my Lord, send I pray thee
by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
So now Moses is way into stubbornness territory here.
First it's kind of like, hey, God,
I don't know if I'm the right guy.
I'm not sure if, you know, I'm cut out for this.
Then God's like, hey, here's the miracles you're gonna do.
I've got your back.
Then he's like, well, you know, I'm slow of speech.
I'm stammering over here.
I'm not that great of a speaker.
And he's just like, who made man's mouth?
I'm the one who made you the way that you are
and I'm telling you to go.
Then Moses is just like, well, just send someone else.
Look, folks, this is just stubbornness at this point.
This is just an excuse at this point for him to not do
what God wants him to do.
And look, there's going to be times in life
where we don't want to do what God wants us to do.
You know, that is a human reaction, but what separates the men from the boys spiritually
are those who, though they don't feel like doing it, they do it anyways.
But you know what weak people do?
Is they make excuses and they allow those excuses to stop them from serving God.
They stay in a position of excuse making their whole life and they don't move forward.
You know, at least Moses, he ended up doing the right thing.
And they just want people to feel bad for them.
They want people to, you know, excuse them for lack of a better term, from doing what's right.
But it doesn't change how God feels because look at verse number 14.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.
And he said,
Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?
I know that he can speak well, and also, behold, he comeeth forth to meet thee, and when he
seeeth thee, he will be glad in his heart, and thou shalt speak unto him, and put words
in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what
ye shall do, and he shall be thy spokesman unto the people, and he shall be even, he
shall be to thee, instead of a mouth, and thou shall be to him, instead of God."
Notice how the Bible says that God's anger was kindled.
You know, he tried to work with Moses here.
He tried to show him, I've got your back.
Here's the miracles.
I made your mouth.
I'm with you.
And you know what?
God takes offense at us, not trusting in him.
Like when God says, I'm with you.
I've got your back.
What more confidence do you need?
Like, is there some sort of earthly weapon
that's gonna make you feel more secure
than knowing that God is on your side?
Like if God is on your side, that should settle the case.
You should be ready to roll at that point.
You should be ready to obey.
But you know what? This is what people do.
They sin, they don't take ownership of their lives.
They simply just make excuses for it.
And they think, oh, by me making an excuse,
it's going to change how God feels.
Nope, the anger of the Lord is still kindled.
By you making an excuse about why you're failing
in whatever aspect of life,
it doesn't actually change the fact that you're failing.
You know what excuses do?
It makes you feel better about yourself, but it doesn't change anything.
This is why it's so harmful.
This everybody gets a trophy society that we live in.
This little soft society where nobody wants to be made to feel bad about anything that
they do.
That is actually harming people.
And you know, I'm going to say some things this morning.
They're probably going to piss some people off, but I'm telling you that I'm saying this
Because, sure, I could just sit here and coddle everyone's excuses,
but it won't change the fact that you're failing.
It won't change the fact that you're not moving forward.
It won't change the fact that God is angry with you.
All it serves to do is make you feel better about yourself.
And what is that?
That's a bunch of vanity. It doesn't matter.
Let's talk about some things people make excuses for.
Go to Psalm 100. Psalm 100.
Psalm 100 verse 4.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name.
For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations.
We ought to enter into the house of God and we should do so with joy, with thanksgiving,
with gladness.
An excited spirit, excited to be here, excited to hear the Word of God.
Yet so many people today make excuses for not going to church.
Let me tell you something.
If you live in Oklahoma City and you're not going to church, shame on you.
Good night, folks! This isn't the Senital Islands here.
This isn't some deep, dark part of some jungle in the world.
This is America. This is the Bible Belt.
This is OKC, the buckle of the Bible Belt.
If you can't find a good church to go to here, you have a serious problem.
But it's like, oh, I can't go to any church because I don't agree with 100% of the words that flow out of the preacher's mouth.
That's a stupid excuse.
Because guess what? I could look back at things that I've said in the, what, 8, 7 years I've been preaching
and I could find things that I disagree with too.
And here I am in church.
Imagine that.
You know what?
You're not going to agree with every single thing that the preacher says.
But guess what?
The onus is on you to be searching the scriptures daily to see whether those things are so.
But you know what?
You don't get to just say, well, I'm out of church now.
Oh, I just quit going to church now.
Or people won't even go to an old IFB church because they're pre-trib.
That's a stupid excuse.
Because you know what?
And you know what? Why don't you, Mr. Perfect, why don't you, Mr. Super Spiritual, wonderful Christian,
okay, why don't you go get ordained as a pastor some day, and why don't you start the perfect church?
And why don't you be the perfect pastor?
And why don't you just preach every sermon, just the perfect sermon, if you're so great?
You know what? Shut up and stop making excuses and get your butt in church.
Or how about this? I'm tired.
Welcome to being an adult, you idiot.
We're all tired this morning.
Raise your hand if you're tired.
I'm always tired, okay?
But I'm still always pumped up too
because I just said screw that excuse
and I'm just gonna be excited.
I'm just gonna be happy.
I'm just gonna have energy
despite what my stupid watch tells me.
You got four hours of sleep again.
Woo!
Who cares?
You know what, life is about being tired
and just sucking it up anyways.
I'm tired, so you're not going to serve God.
You know what?
That's going to be great when you're standing before the judgment seat of Christ.
And it's like, but Lord, I didn't go to church.
Because I was tired.
You think Jesus is going to say,
Oh, well, that weren't excused.
My good and faithful servant.
Well done.
No, he's not going to say you're excused.
And this is why I'm trying to help you right now.
Get rid of your stupid excuses because a bunch of them are lies anyways.
And a bunch of them are just covers for you not wanting to obey God.
Here's a fact, God wants you to be in church this morning.
So get in church, stop waking up every Sunday, stop thinking every Saturday, shall I go to
church, what's my life schedule looking like, am I tired, have I gotten 16 hours of sleep
last night, why don't you just be steadfast and say I'm going to go to church.
Now look, when legitimate excuses come up in your life and you're sick, stay home.
No problem with that.
one week, two week things, but your default pattern in life should be that you go to church
every time the doors are open.
That should be your default.
You should have some sort of anchor in your life that says, I'm going to be anchored in
the house of God.
I'm going to be steadfast.
I'm going to be consistent.
You know, and people will do this.
Well, I'm not going to church because the church is too small right now.
That's a retarded excuse.
Where is the Bible? Like, where is this Goldilocks Baptist Church?
Not too small? Not too big.
I thought you just need to go to church!
And you know what? There's other people. They won't go to church if it's too big.
They'll go to church if they're friends with the pastor.
They won't go to the church if they're not friends with the pastor.
Look, there's all of these excuses you can think of.
Here's the fact.
It doesn't change the fact that God's mad at you if you stop going to church.
It doesn't change the fact you could have all the excuses
that if you're not going to church, you're missing out in your life.
You're suffering spiritually, you're not pleasing to God and you could make excuses and people could feel bad for you
and you could feel bad for yourself, but it doesn't change the situation that you're in spiritually and that's why I'm not
going to sit here and coddle people. You shouldn't sit here and coddle yourself and you know what?
Even if you have a real excuse in your life, you shouldn't live in this default zone of giving yourself excuses.
You should try to shoo away as many real excuses as you can because let me tell you something.
People that succeed in anything in life, ministry, business, family, whatever it is.
People who actually succeed could give you a thousand legitimate excuses as to why they
should have failed.
You could find legitimate excuses in your life, but you know what?
People who actually are just steadfast and successful do is they don't let those things
stop them.
And so what I'm telling you is you're going to have excuses.
A lot of those excuses sure could be real, but a lot of them are fake.
Go to Matthew chapter 19.
Matthew chapter number 19.
Matthew 19, look at verse 3.
The Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him
Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every notice this word cause?
You know what that is
It's them saying hey
Can any old excuse allow me to get divorced for my spouse?
And you know what people love to do today people love to divorce their spouse
People love to break their vows that they made before man and before God where they said till death do us part
They said for better for worse.
They said for richer for poorer.
They said in sickness and in health.
But then, you know what they get?
They get an excuse.
And they divorce their spouse.
And it's, well, she spent too much money.
He didn't buy me flowers enough.
He was messy.
She wasn't the person I thought she was.
We're not compatible anymore.
You know what? All those excuses
can make you feel better about yourself.
But you know what you are?
You know what you are? You're selfish.
You're only thinking about yourself.
You're not taking into account the damage you're doing
to your family, to your children,
the fact that you're offending God
by breaking His commandments, the fact that
you're violating the Bible. No, it's just about
you. That's what divorce is. It's all about
you. Even though, notice
Jesus' response, verse 4,
and He answered and said unto them,
That he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause
Shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh what therefore God hath joined together notice
Let not man put a sunder
Jesus does not excuse your divorce.
There is no excuse for divorce.
The Bible says that if you get divorced and you get remarried,
that you're committing adultery.
And you know what, there's no excuse for it.
And of course, everyone who gets divorced,
no one's going to sit here and say like,
I was a crappy wife.
I didn't obey my husband.
I didn't take care of him.
No man is going to say, like, I was a terrible leader.
I didn't spiritually lead my family.
I didn't pay the bills.
I didn't love my wife.
You know what they're going to do?
They're going to make an excuse.
And let me tell you the truth is that every single marriage, you could find an excuse.
Because no marriage is perfect.
Don't believe these people that tell you their marriage is perfect.
It's a lie.
Every couple has problems, every husband has problems, every wife has problems, and if
you wanted to, you could sit here and just focus on all the negatives of your spouse
and you can go convince some bleeding heart moron why it's okay for you to divorce them.
And a lot of pastors will listen to your excuses and coddle you and say, yeah, that's a great
decision.
You should get divorced.
You know, ladies, you could go talk to your friends and you could paint your husband in
the worst light imaginable.
And a lot of ladies will just say, you go girl, you get a new man, you trade up, you're
good to go.
But let me tell you something that's not how God feels.
And that's not how we feel at this church.
I will never, ever, ever encourage someone to get divorced for any reason, literally.
Any reason, any reason.
Because it is always a sin to get divorced.
Period end of story.
Now, obviously there could be situations where your life is in danger, where you're like someone's trying to hurt you, okay?
Physical separation to keep your life intact. I understand that could be a situation for some people, but I'm not here preaching the exception.
I'm preaching the rule, and you know what? There's no excuse for divorce, period.
Even if you're in that type of a situation, you still don't have to get divorced because what's your other option?
To get remarried? Well, that's adultery. That's wicked. That is a sin in the sight of God.
Notice verse number 10, it says,
his disciples say unto him,
if the case of the man be so,
it is not good to marry.
And you know that there's a lot of people today
that kind of have that attitude,
where they're kind of giving up on marriage,
they're afraid of what could happen to them.
But you know what, these are excuses.
The Bible says that marriage is honorable in all
and the bed undefiled, right?
So it's a good institution.
It's an institution that God created.
Don't make an excuse to get rid of it.
Go to 1st Timothy, chapter number 4.
1st Timothy, chapter number 4.
How about not reading the Bible?
Look at 1st Timothy, chapter 4, verse 13.
The Bible says,
2. Doctrine. I'll read for you Revelation 1-3.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.
God obviously expects us to read His word, folks.
God did not sit here and inspire His word and preserve it through
thousands of years for it to sit on your shelf collecting dust.
He wants you to read it. He says, till I come, give attendance to
Reading, meaning it should be something that's prominent in your mind,
something that you're actively doing on purpose,
reading the Bible every single day is something you should be doing,
but people like to make excuses for why they don't.
And what do I always hear people say?
I don't have time.
I am calling bull crap on that.
Everyone has time to read the Bible.
You say, I really don't have time.
Okay, let's talk privately and let's look at your schedule
and I guarantee that I will help you find time to read the Bible.
You're not reading the Bible because you don't want to read the Bible folks. That's the truth. There's no excuse
There's no pass and again the stupidity of this
Okay, you you think that you have some excuse as to why you can't read the Bible
But that doesn't change the fact that you're not reading the Bible and that you're missing out on the spiritual blessings of
Reading the word of God that you're gonna be missing out on wisdom and God's commandments
And I'm here to tell you that what you don't know can hurt you
And so what's better, to sit here and coddle you and say,
yeah, you just didn't, you don't have the time to read the Bible.
Just somehow in our first world, United States of America,
living easier lives than most of human history has ever lived,
you somehow are the poor little house slave
that doesn't have time to read the Bible.
Or you, man, are just so busy that you don't know how to read the Bible.
You don't have enough time to know that's an excuse.
That's a lie. You know what it is? It's a cover to disobey God.
And I'm just telling you, I'm just opening up your heart right now.
If you don't read the Bible, you are disobeying the Lord.
And you know what? Your excuses are bull crap.
So don't sit here and tell other people,
I just struggled to read the Bible because I have kids.
There's people that have kids that read the Bible.
Oh, I struggled to read the Bible because I work a job.
Okay, there's people that work two or three jobs
that read the Bible every single day.
It's just amazing what can happen if you actually just get rid of excuses and take ownership of your life
and actually take charge and take power and say, I'm going to read the Bible no matter what.
I'm going to not let these excuses stop me. I'm going to read the Word of God.
Go to Job
chapter number 23. Job chapter number 23.
Here's something in your schedule right away that I'll just help you with.
If you can't read the Bible whatsoever, notice Job chapter number 23 verse 12.
It says, in Job 23-12, neither have I gone back from the commandment of thy lips.
I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
If you are honest to God, so busy, that you cannot read the Bible, then you need to stop
You should literally just stop eating breakfast
because God's words are more important
than your necessary food.
Okay?
And me personally, I don't even eat breakfast.
I don't even like breakfast.
Very rarely do I eat breakfast.
It's not like I'm doing that on purpose
or I really have to try.
I just don't even want to.
I don't wake up hungry whatsoever.
Some people do.
No problem.
Most people probably eat breakfast.
Most people are probably hungry in the morning.
But if you can't read the Bible,
you should just stop eating breakfast then.
Because it's better to stop eating breakfast.
It's better to be hungry than to sit here and not read the Bible.
So there you go. No excuses.
It's just done.
Stop eating breakfast if it's causing you to literally not read the Word of God.
But let's be honest, no one in here is like that.
You have plenty of other time that you could read the Bible.
You could still eat breakfast and read the Word of God.
You're just an excuse maker.
You are just lazy.
You are just covering for your disobedience to God
and you need to knock it off.
Look at Psalm 119.
Psalm 119 you say I can't read the Bible because I'm tired because I don't get
enough sleep okay look at this verse Psalm 119 147 Psalm 119 147 I prevented
the dawning of the morning you know that means he was up before the crack of
dawn he was up before the Sun was up and cried I hoped in thy word
My eyes prevent the night watches that I meditate in Thy Word.
Notice the psalmist here is losing sleep to read the Word of God.
So what's more important, getting three meals a day or reading the Bible?
Reading the Bible.
What's more important, getting sleep or reading the Bible?
Reading the Word of God.
So you know what, sleep shouldn't keep you from reading the Bible.
Food shouldn't keep you from reading the Bible.
These things are excuses.
Look at verse number 62.
Verse number 62.
It says, at midnight, I will rise to give thanks unto thee
because of thy righteous judgments.
So notice, Psalmist is waking up before dawn.
He's staying up till midnight.
He's doing just whatever he has to do
to get the word of God into his heart.
And you know what, sometimes we're gonna go
through seasons of life where we're gonna be much busier
than other seasons of life,
but you are never excused from just not reading the Bible.
There's never a time in your life that it's just okay for you to just stop reading God's word.
Look, you need to prioritize reading the Bible.
It needs to be one of the number one priorities of your life.
It needs to be more important than making money.
It needs to be more important than family.
It needs to be more important than food or sleep.
Like the Bible is a priority, folks.
You need to make sure you do it.
Go to Exodus chapter 32.
Exodus chapter number 32 number two this morning excuses train you
to shirk responsibility.
This is another dangerous thing about excuses.
Number one, excuses are often just lies.
They're often just covers to cause you to disobey God.
But also by making excuses,
it causes you to constantly shirk responsibility.
And you know what, that damages your growth as a person.
It damages your growth spiritually.
We need to be people that take responsibility
for every area of our life.
Why? Because that's actually empowering.
But you know what? It's very easy.
It's just natural for human beings.
It just feels good
to tell yourself,
I failed because
of this.
It just feels good.
Because we let that go
and we say that's not on us.
Or it feels good when someone else tells you,
it's okay.
You failed because you had this reason, and then you feel absolved, you feel excused,
you feel like free of that judgment.
But you know what? What's actually better is to take more responsibility on yourself,
take more control of your life, take more control of your actions.
Look at Exodus 32 verse 1.
And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the Mount,
the people gathered themselves unto Aaron and said unto him,
Up, make us gods, which shall go before us.
For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we what not, what has become of him.
So Moses, he's up in Mount Sinai, Aaron's in charge,
and the people make this request of him, make us gods.
What is that talking about?
I mean, what should the obvious response be here from Aaron as the leader?
He should take ownership of his authority, take responsibility of himself and tell the people no, we're not doing that.
That's wicked. That's idolatry. That's an abomination to God.
He should have just taken that responsibility and done the right thing.
But notice what happens verse two.
and Aaron said unto them break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of
your wives of your sons and of your daughters and bring them unto me I mean
this is insane such weak leadership I mean it's like did Aaron have a gun to
his head here no
They're just like, make idolatry.
He's like, okay, give me your daughter's earrings and everything like, let's do this together.
Let's start making idols together.
It's like, what is going on?
This is just a crazy story here.
Verse 3, and all the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears
and brought them unto Aaron.
And he received them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool
after he had made it a molten calf and they said,
these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
He asks for the earrings, he asks for the gold, he receives it at their hand, he
fashions it with a tool. Like Aaron is very involved in this situation. Aaron
gave the okay, he said yes immediately, and he helped the people carry out this
wicked act. Look at verse number 19.
Verse number 19, it says,
and it came to pass as soon as he came nigh unto the camp,
that he, Moses, saw the calf and the dancing,
and Moses' anger waxed hot,
and he cast the tables out of his hands
and break them beneath the mouth.
So, Moses just got the 10 commandments from God,
and he goes back.
to his little church plant that hasn't had a leader for five seconds and he's so pissed off because
immediately they're in insane sin, just crazy situation. He just cast those tablets down,
breaks them, verse 20, and he took the calf which they had made and burnt it in the fire
and ground it to powder and strawed it upon the water and made the children of Israel drink of it.
He took responsibility.
He took ownership.
He said, okay, here's the situation.
I'm gonna go in and I'm gonna fix that problem.
Moses didn't sit here making excuses.
Moses didn't say here like,
oh, well, here's why we're in the situation,
that we're in, it's not my fault.
He just said, okay, we're in a bad situation.
Let's fix it.
Let's get this going right away.
But Aaron is not the same way.
Verse 21.
And Moses said unto Aaron,
what did this people unto thee
that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot, too late for that.
Thou knowest the people that they are set on mischief.
For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us.
For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
We what not what has become of him.
Aaron completely failed here, just a crazy story in the Bible, and he took zero responsibility.
When the truth of the matter, what we see in Scripture, is that he played a massive part in this sin,
where he just immediately assented to them, he took their stuff, he grove the idol up himself,
he took part of this sin, but then when Moses confronts him, he says,
you know the people, you know how bad they are, you know that their hearts are set on mischief.
you know, up make us gods and part of it is true that they did say that but you know whose
responsibility was to say no, it was Aaron's responsibility. And here is the problem with
not taking responsibility. Yes, it's uncomfortable to do. It's uncomfortable to take responsibility
for your own sin because you have to have the humility to acknowledge that you sinned
and that you're not perfect. You screwed up. But here's the problem with not taking responsibility
Nothing in your life can ever change until you take responsibility.
Because it just feels great to just say like, well, the reason my marriage sucks is because
of my wife.
Well, the reason why my whatever, insert whatever is going on in your life.
The reason why this sucks is because of someone else.
It feels so good to the flesh because you now have no responsibility.
There's no action steps that you could take.
And let me tell you something, when something is your responsibility, you actually have agency,
you actually have power, you actually have authority to change your situation.
And this is why allowing people to make excuses is so damaging for them.
is because you're telling them,
oh, you failed, and there's nothing you could do
to ever change that.
You'll always be a failure.
You'll always be in this terrible situation.
You'll always have this problem.
But it's okay, because it's not your fault.
Isn't that great that your life sucks
and that it's never gonna get better,
but at least it's not your fault?
That doesn't help anyone, folks.
But this is not a loving mentality.
To just coddle people and just let them make all these excuses, the person who actually
loves you says, stop making excuses and take responsibility for your life and do something
to fix it.
Take control of your life and do something to fix it.
What are some areas today that people do not want to take responsibility?
How about perpetually single guys and perpetual single girls who are just for large portions
of their life single, not by choice?
They want to be married and they're just single for their whole life.
These are people that make excuses.
These are people that refuse to take responsibility because you know what's so easy to do.
You know what just makes the flesh feel good is, hey, you know, I'm 40 years old and I'm
single, but it's okay because feminism.
I mean, don't you know how bad American women are?
Don't you know how every American woman is just such a Jezebel and they're all so terrible
and none of them are saved, they're all reprobates and you know I need to go to the Philippines
to get a woman and I'm not against you going to the Philippines to get a woman.
But you know what, sitting here and just blaming all women for the reason that you're single
must make you feel good because you don't have to do anything to fix it.
Or you ever getting a good job, or you getting spiritual, or you knowing how to defend a woman
and defend a family, it's just nice that you don't ever have to do anything because it's someone else's fault.
It's feminism's fault.
And look, feminists are terrible.
Marry zero of them.
Don't marry a feminist. Don't marry a Jezebel.
But you know what, sitting here and saying all American women are bad is stupid.
Don't say that crap in this church because there's a lot of great American women here that love God.
That want to serve God. That want to please Him. That are raising godly families.
You're the leader, man.
You want to be a good leader someday.
Why don't you lead yourself?
Why don't you be someone worth following instead of just sitting here
and worried about feminism?
Yeah, we all know feminism sucks,
but you know what feminism didn't stop me from getting married?
Feminism doesn't stop this church
from preaching the truth.
I mean, couldn't I do this as a pastor?
Oh, you know, we're not going to preach hard against feminism
because you see it'll make everyone mad.
Isn't that true? Isn't that a true statement?
Of course it is.
Couldn't I just make that excuse
of why I can't preach certain things in the Bible
because it's going to make people mad,
because our Google reviews are just going to keep going down the toilet
every time I preach the truth?
Or should I just take responsibility
and say, you know what, there's things that I can do,
that I have control of,
and I'm going to take control of those things and not make excuses.
And you know what? If something sucks in your life, you should just take responsibility for it and work on fixing it
rather than just making yourself feel better because you're blaming other people.
You know what that is? It's mental weakness.
You are a weak man if you blame the reason why you can't get married in America on feminism.
Because you know what? There's still good girls out there and you can lead some young lady and help her to grow.
I mean there's people that just blame everything on the Jews and of course Judaism is a satanic religion
and of course Jews are running a lot of things in this world but it's like the reason I can't do anything in life
is just the Jews, the Jews, the Jews. You're giving them a little too much power my friend
because last time I checked I could do all things through Christ which strengthened it with me.
It's like man I would love to you know have a church where we preach the whole counsel of God
but the Jews will get us. No they won't! We'll still preach!
Throw us in jail. We'll still preach shut us down. We'll still preach give us some lawsuits kick us off YouTube
I don't care. We'll still preach. I'm not gonna sit here and just blame. Well, the Jews exist
Therefore we need to stop serving God shut up
It's weakness
How about this?
Perpetual obesity
Perpetual obesity people it may here's the thing it makes you feel good to sit here and say well
Bill Gates and GMOs, you know
If we just didn't have GMOs, if we just didn't have Bill Gates, if we just didn't have Big Pharma,
if we just didn't live in the 21st century, if my parents had just raised me better,
if I had just gone through a different style of life, then I wouldn't be in the situation.
That must make you feel good, but it's never going to cause you to change.
It's never going to cause you to be healthy again, right?
You know what actually makes sense is to take responsibility and say,
here I am, let's work on it.
And look, there's plenty of legitimate excuses.
There are. But again, we should be people that, though we acknowledge those things exist,
we should try to ignore those things ourselves as much as possible.
We can sit here and be like, okay, I have a legitimate excuse,
but starting today, I'm doing everything that I can.
Pray for God to help you and not sit here and just blame other people.
Longstanding character issues.
You have some sort of longstanding character issue,
and people just make excuses like,
oh, I'm just a jerk. It's just the way I am.
Oh, I'm just, I'm just prideful. I mean, this is okay.
It's just how I am. No, that's an excuse.
Yeah.
Change.
Take responsibility.
Realize that you don't get to just sit here and say,
well, I'm just, God just kind of made me a jerk naturally.
Just kind of made me prideful.
He just kind of, oh, how about this?
I just kind of, I can't help it.
I can't help but flirting with women.
I mean, I'm a man over here, right?
I mean, we all have, we're all of the flesh, right?
I mean, women are beautiful.
We just can't stop staring at them.
Take responsibility.
Don't sit here and just use this excuse, well, I'm a man, how can I not stare at a woman?
It's like asking the sun to not come up in the morning.
No, take control of your life.
And you using excuses, boy, it sure makes you feel good about yourself.
Ah, no big deal, I'm just a man, right?
Makes you feel great about yourself, but you know what?
God's angry.
And you're the one that's still sinning, and you're the one that's still not doing right.
And making yourself feel better doesn't change anything.
And allowing other people to feel better about their sins doesn't change anything.
This is modern church movement in a nutshell.
It's pastors and leadership just getting up and telling people why it's okay
that they don't keep God's commandments.
Why it's okay that we're all just terrible and we all don't want to get better
and we all don't want to preach the Bible.
It's all just about come as you are, leave as you came.
Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace.
No, take responsibility.
And that's actually going to cause people to improve their lives because nothing can change in your life until you take responsibility.
You know what I think is one of the biggest excuses of our generation?
ADHD.
I think ADHD is one of the biggest excuses ever created.
CDC.gov says that 6% of adults have ADHD.
But it's funny because I feel like 80% of adults say that they have ADHD.
Oh yeah, because this is an excuse, my friends.
Even if you say everything about 88, let's just pretend for a minute that everything
that is taught about ADHD is true.
Let's just for a thought experiment, grant them that.
Okay, the CDC says that only 6% of adults actually have that.
So why is it that everyone claims to have ADHD?
If it's one, if it's six out of a hundred people because a lot of people are making excuses and a lot of people their parents and their school teachers have given this excuse to them growing up.
And they have just held onto it as a reason to feel good about themselves for why they fail in life.
Okay, here's what's interesting about ADHD. I went to the CDC website.
And there's an article on ADHD and they say, what is it?
What is ADHD?
This is the CDC's definition of ADHD.
ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders
of childhood.
Neurodevelopment means having to do with the way
the brain grows and develops.
ADHD is usually first diagnosed in childhood
and often lasts into adulthood.
Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention,
controlling impulsive behaviors,
may act without thinking about what the result will be,
or be overly active.
So to me, they didn't even answer the question.
It's like, what is ADHD?
Well, it's one of the most common diagnoses.
Okay, I get you're saying it's one of the most common diagnoses, but what is it?
They can't tell you what is, because you can't go to a doctor to be tested for it.
You can't go to a doctor and get a blood test and say, oh crap, you've got the ADHD pathogen.
You have to go to a psychiatrist.
or a psychologist, which are usually people that are extreme atheists, extreme left-leaning people.
Those industries are bad industries, folks. They're not industries based on the Bible or Christianity
whatsoever. You have to go to them and then they have to do this big ol' personality test on you
and they will just decree to you that you have ADHD. Isn't this great because their whole livelihood
I mean, what kind of psychologist is going to say like, oh, all right, sweet, rich parents
keep bringing me this kid, but actually the kid's totally fine.
The kid just needs a spanking.
The kid just needs to be stopped being put in front of a screen from birth.
But no, of course, the psychologist is going to say, oh, yeah, this kid's super messed
up.
Come to me every week for the rest of your life so that I could get your money.
Oh, I'm sure that's a crazy conspiracy, right?
No one would ever do anything for money.
Here's the diagnosis. Here's how you get diagnosed with it, ADHD and children.
You talk with your child's health care provider. If you are concerned about
whether your child might have ADHD, the first step is to talk with a health care
provider to find out if the symptoms fit an ADHD diagnosis. Deciding if someone
has ADHD is a process with several steps. There is no single test to diagnose ADHD.
This is the CDC. I'm not making this up.
And many other problems, such as anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and certain types
of learning disabilities can have similar symptoms.
One step of the process involves having a medical exam, including hearing and vision
tests, to rule out other problems with symptoms like ADHD.
Diagnosing ADHD usually includes a checklist for rating ADHD symptoms and taking a history of the child from parents, teachers, and sometimes the child itself.
ADHD in adults.
ADHD can last into adulthood.
Some adults have ADHD, but have never been diagnosed.
The symptoms can cause difficulty at work, at home,
or with relationships.
Symptoms may look different at older ages,
for example, hyperactivity,
may appear as extreme restlessness.
Symptoms can become more severe
when the demands of adulthood increase.
Find out more about ADHD here.
So they can't really tell you specifically what it is.
They can't really tell you exactly how it's diagnosed,
how you can find out if you have it.
You just go to a psychologist or a psychiatrist,
they have a checklist, they ask parents, they ask teachers.
So they're just going off of what people say.
It's not like a fact, just going off of what people say.
And then if you need a certain amount of criteria,
they'll just say, you have ADHD,
which is literally just a label that was just made up
to describe a certain group of characteristics about a person.
This is not a disease, folks.
This is not something that you catch.
This is just completely made up, in my opinion.
And you know what I think most ADHD diagnoses are?
I think they're complete and utter excuses.
And you know what it does?
It robs people of their responsibility to change.
Because doesn't it make parents feel nice?
Doesn't it make them feel so good
that their kid fails in school?
Their kid is poorly behaved.
Their kid can't learn.
Their kid can't pay attention.
Doesn't it make parents feel so good to sit there and say,
well, it's not because I didn't spank my kid like the Bible said.
It's not that I don't discipline them.
It's not that I don't love them and train them and instruct them and spend time with them.
I just put them in front of a screen from birth.
I mean, we've all gone to restaurants where the little kids,
they just have the tablet in front of their face, all the meal.
You got to believe if they're doing that in public, it's probably at home the same way.
It's not anything like that. Oh, thank goodness. It's just his brain. Oh, I thought I was a bad parent for a second there.
Whoo! Thankfully I have no responsibility. Thankfully there's nothing I can do to fix the problem.
It's okay because Johnny's brain has ADHD. Let's give him the drugs right now.
Let's give him the Ritalin right now. This is mental weakness. This is excuse making.
This is bull crap. This is lazy terrible parents not taking responsibility for falling what the
Bible says and their kids are being harmed as a result. It must make you feel so good about
Let me tell you, this Ritalin Crap harms kids, turns them into different people.
Kids are hyperactive, folks.
Kids have struggled paying attention, and let's talk about the adults with ADHD.
It must make you feel great about yourself, that the reason you fail at everything in
your life, it must make you feel good, that the reason why you failed in college, you
don't do good on the job, you struggle in your relationships, it's okay that you're
It probably makes you feel real good about yourself,
but it doesn't change the reality of where you are.
And it's not gonna ever change in the future
until you take responsibility for yourself.
What if I told you that we as human beings
have the same flesh and we are all jacked up together?
What if I told you that our flesh
does not wanna work hard?
Did you know that?
Did you know that there's no person who enjoys
Hurting their flesh and working, that doesn't exist, okay?
Oh man, just paying attention is so hard.
Reading is so hard.
It's hard for everyone.
Like, it's so easy to just pull out your phone and just doom scroll, that's why people do it.
It's so easy to not pay attention in class.
It's so easy to not be consistent at your job.
It's so easy to be scattered brain and not be disorganized.
All these things, let me tell you something, it's our natural flesh.
It's our sinful condition.
But you know what is actually loving to a child?
It's saying, hey, you're struggling in this area.
you've got these problems, let's support you, let's give you all the tools that you need,
let's love on you, but you know what? I'm going to tell you, Johnny, don't let this define you.
Don't let this excuse stop you. You know what? You still have to get good grades, Johnny.
You still have to show up at work. You still have to be a good employee, and I'm not going to
That ADHD is completely real, and everything about it is a 100% fact.
Let's just say you believe everything about it is true.
The worst thing, even if that was the case, the worst thing you could ever do is tell
a kid that they have that.
It is.
Let's just say that you believe it's real.
The worst thing you could do is tell someone that they have that.
Because what you've done is you've given that kid an excuse to not work hard.
You've given that kid an excuse to not overcome, to not be challenged and let me tell you something
You are all going to have challenges in life
We all have challenges in life and you know we don't need to be told hey
It's okay that you failed because there was a challenge there
We need to be told hey embrace every challenge and work hard anyways and push forward anyways
And we all have different struggles
I'm sure that there are people who they genuinely do struggle more with paying attention than other people
Okay, I'll grant you that but I'm not gonna sit here and tell a kid
Hey, it's okay that you fail in everything because you have ADHD
You're robbing that child of their responsibility.
Parents are robbing themselves of responsibility, but it's all okay because it makes you feel
good, doesn't it?
You know what?
That's not loving, folks.
That is not something that actually is caring about people, and that brings me to number
three this morning, is that excuses rob yourself of your potential.
Excuses rob you of your potential.
Philippians chapter number four, I hope you believe this verse in verse 13.
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
See, Jesus Christ actually gives us an empowerment, you know, an ability to be empowered and to
take responsibility and to affect change in our life and not through our own flesh and
our own intellect alone, but it's through Christ which strengthens us.
We can do all things through Christ that strengthens us, folks.
some legitimate excuses and if you and I were to talk today
you could probably tell me about some legitimate excuses in your life
that caused you to be the place that you're at. I could give you some legitimate
excuses but you know what we should do is we should say hey
we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us.
You know that there's people with autism that have been very successful in life.
There's been millions of people with ADHD because they give that diagnosis to
literally everyone it seems like.
You know, there's been people with no legs, no arms that have done great impressive things.
People that have gone through severe hardships and trials and excuses beyond anything you
or I have ever experienced, and yet some people have just pushed through.
And you know what? I guarantee you the people that have done that, they weren't surrounded by a culture that says it's okay that you're failing.
No big deal. Don't feel bad about anything that you're at in your life.
I guarantee you that they were either from themselves, from the Bible, from people around them.
Around people saying, hey, take ownership. Take responsibility. Take control of your situation.
Don't let these excuses stop you from growing. You know, you're robbing yourself of your potential.
And this is what pisses me off about the psychology and psychiatrists industry.
I'm not saying that there's a never a time to get help.
There's never a time for even some of those medicines.
Like if you are planning on committing suicide, if you're thinking about that kind of stuff,
I'm not going to sit here and stop anyone from doing that.
I'm not going to have that on me, okay?
Go ahead and get any help that you want.
But this is just what's weird to me from a Christian perspective, folks.
Is that I thought we were Christians.
the Bible. I thought that we believed in something called prayer. I thought that we believed that
God can help us. I thought that we actually believed that we could do all things through
Christ which strengthened with us. And it's like we live in a society where it's like
you can't pay attention, you're stressed, you're fidgety, you're depressed, you're anxious,
and Christians' first response is to go to drugs and to go to God-hating oftentimes,
feminists that work psychology and psychiatry jobs.
Why is that our first response?
And again, I'm not telling you never, ever
seek help for something like that.
But again, it's just like, this is my mentality
with mental health is like, if you are soul winning,
If you are going to church every time the doors are open, if you are reading the Bible,
if you are praying, if you are thinking about other people, if you are hearing hard preaching,
if you are getting good sleep, getting exercise, if you are doing these things, chances are
you're not going to have severe mental health problems.
Okay?
This is just common sense.
Chances are, if you're actually doing all these things,
you're not going to have all these issues.
You could pray and ask God to help you.
But at least, at least check all those things off the box
before you start popping drugs into your kids.
It's like, I don't go to church.
I'm not married.
I don't work out.
I eat cheese puffs all day.
I do scroll on Instagram and on Facebook.
I don't read anything.
I don't pray to God.
And I'm sad and I'm depressed.
It's like, I wonder why.
But I bet you it makes it I bet you it makes you feel good about yourself though to sit here and say I have all these problems
Through no fault of my own
No fault of my own. I have no responsibility. I can take no ownership. I just need to start taking drugs
You know what we need to stop coddling people folks
We need people to take responsibility for their actions
You know, let me let me give you some people who had some legitimate excuses to fail and yet they didn't how about the Apostle Paul
I'm pretty sure that if someone gave us his list of excuses,
we might think like, yeah, okay.
He's like, look, I'm tired of getting shipwrecked.
Tired of getting beaten with rods.
Tired of getting thrown into jail.
I'm tired of people trying to kill me.
I'm tired of all these things.
Like, he's already beaten all the excuses
of my entire life, just in like five seconds.
And I'm pretty sure everyone in here.
But did he fail?
No, he didn't.
He's like, you know what?
Neither count I in my life, dear unto myself.
I don't care about my problems. I don't care about my excuses.
I'm just going to push towards the mark of the high calling of Jesus Christ.
That's the right attitude to have.
Okay, how about Daniel?
when it's literally illegal to pray.
I mean, that's an excuse.
That's a legitimate excuse.
Oh, I can't pray because it's illegal.
But guess what? Did he let that excuse stop him?
Or did he just do what God told him to do anyways?
Did he keep doing what's right anyways?
And you know, we may in our lifetimes
face a situation where some portion of our religion,
of our ability to serve God could be legislated and made illegal.
And you know what we should do?
We should keep serving God anyways.
You know, we should look to our brothers and sisters in Christ in Germany who have been through some real persecution in the last four or five years and look to them as an example.
They could have made all the excuses they want. They could have stopped serving God.
You know what? They went through police raids at their homes, getting their things confiscated, going through criminal trials, going through deportations.
And you know what? They're still serving the Lord.
They're still soul winning. They're still preaching hard. They're still believing all the things in the King James Bible as you and I sit over here and
Complain as we have little kids today in school complaining about their ADHD
folks
Real excuses will exist in your life and in my life and you know you should do you should push through them and not give yourself an out
Mentally saying I'm excused because I have this out. Nope. It's not going to help you go to Matthew chapter number 25
But here is the truth, if you want an excuse to not serve God, you will find one.
If you want an excuse to get divorced, you will find one.
If you want an excuse as to why you're failing in any area of life, you will find a legitimate
excuse to give people and isn't that great to make yourself feel better as you still
fail, as you still don't improve.
I'm here in love today telling you stop making excuses, take ownership, I'm not going to
coddle you, I'm not going to say it's okay, it's all good, I actually want to empower
you and tell you to change, to take ownership, to say I can do all things for Christ which
strengtheneth me.
Let's finish in Matthew 25 and I want to read a good portion of this, it's such a great
parable for what we're talking about.
is as a man traveling into a far country
who called his own servants and delivered them unto his goods.
And unto one he gave five talents,
and to another two, and to another one.
To every man, according to his several ability,
and straightway took his journey.
Then he that had received the five talents
went and traded with the same
and made them other five talents.
Likewise, he that had received two, he gained, he also gained other two.
But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money.
After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord,
thou deliver it, stun me five talents, behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
His Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful
over many things. Enter thou unto the joy of thy Lord." He also that had received two talents
came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents. Behold, I've gained two other talents
beside them. His Lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful
over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
Let's pause real quick in this story before we read some more.
and understand that the two servants were given two different quantities of goods.
Five talents, two talents.
But, though they didn't have the same number of assets, the same number of goods,
both of them were productive with what they had.
Both of them took those talents and brought an increase for their master,
and noticed the master's response to both servants was very positive.
The master was very pleased with the person that made an extra five.
Very pleased with the person that made an extra two.
Why? Because they're being profitable.
They're doing something.
Even though one is making a lot more money,
they're both being profitable with what they were given.
But verse 24 says,
Reaping, where thou hast not sown, and gathering, where thou hast not strawed."
You know what that was?
An excuse.
As to why this person is not working hard, verse 25, and I was afraid, and went and hid
thy talent in the earth, lo, there thou hast that is thine.
And his Lord answered and said on him, Thou wicked and slothful servant.
Thou newest that I reap where I sow not, And gather where I have not strawed, Thou oddest
therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, And then at my coming I should have received
my own with usury.
Take therefore the talent from him, And give it unto him which hath ten talents,
For unto every one that hath shall be given, And he shall have abundance, but from him
And here's what I want to point out about this parable in regards to our sermon this morning.
Is that we all are different in this room and God has not given us all the same talents, okay?
And so we need to realize that some people in life are going to be more successful than others
in a production standpoint, in a quantity standpoint.
Some people are going to have a knack for things that you don't have.
Some people are going to be, you know, having an ability to preach and lead,
Fewer people are pastors than people in the pew, right?
We all have different roles to play.
We all have different talents that God's given us.
Some people have been given 10, five, two, one.
But here's the thing, you have been given something.
You have been given something by God to steward.
You have control over something in your life.
And whatever talents it is that God's given you,
whatever assets, responsibility,
things to steward in your life,
whatever those things are,
God expects you to bring a profit with those things.
He doesn't expect you to take one talent and turn it into a thousand necessarily.
He doesn't expect you to take ten and turn it into a hundred million necessarily.
But he does expect you to take the things that he gives you and work with them
and bring forth fruit with those things and make a profit from those things.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number five.
2 Corinthians chapter number five.
Because a lot of times when people make excuses,
What they're really saying is well, I don't have five talents. I have one or they're saying well
I have five talents. I don't have ten, but what about the five talents that you do have though?
What about the one talent that you have? Like you have something to do. You have something to work on.
You may not be a ten talent guy. You may not be a five talent guy, but just do what you can with what you have.
Be responsible. Take ownership with what you have. Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10.
for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
That everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he have done,
whether it be good or bad.
You will stand before Jesus Christ someday.
You will stand before our Savior, and He will judge you according to your works.
And I will stand before Jesus, and He will judge me.
And I do not want to stand before our Savior and say,
Lord, here's why I didn't serve you. I didn't have a lot of money.
I had ADHD. I was fat.
You know, I had just all these problems. Do you think that that's going to change anything on that day as far as the rewards that I'm going to get?
Nothing's going to change.
He's not going to say, well, ah, man, well done, now good, and faithful excuse maker.
You're excused.
Here's all the rewards, even though you did nothing for me.
Everybody gets a trophy.
No!
Not everyone will get a trophy.
Not everyone will get great rewards.
He will reward you greatly if you do great works with the talents that you are given.
And we're all in different situations.
We're all in different stages of life.
We all have different responsibilities and priorities.
But you know what? Whatever your situation is,
stop making excuses and get to work.
Take responsibility.
Look, and here's the thing.
Some people are going to be very offended by some of the things I said today.
But you're the one that has to stand before Jesus Christ.
And Jesus Christ is not going to sit there and coddle you.
So I would rather hurt your feelings now.
hurt my feelings now and just say like okay I've got a lot of things jacked up
I need to take responsibility and fix these things for the short time that
I'm on this earth and have the ability to do so before I just stand before Christ
and my eternity is locked in my rewards are locked in my works are locked in and
you know what I don't think that we're going to be in heaven feeling so good
about ourselves about our excuses like we do now
Because you know what I think that is? I think that's the flesh right now and that flesh is going to be gone
Okay, you're not gonna be up in heaven giving yourself all these excuses the reason you give yourself excuses today
The reason I give myself excuses today is because we want to be lazy as human beings and boy
Does it make us feel good to know that well we failed, but it ain't our fault
It's not our problem. There's nothing we could do to fix it. This is a loser's mentality folks
This is a mentality of someone that doesn't go forward, that doesn't grow, that doesn't accomplish great things for God,
that doesn't fix things in their marriage, in their business, in their church.
And I'm telling you, you look at anyone in any situation, show me a successful person in ministry,
I will show you a person who had many legitimate reasons to quit, and many legitimate reasons to fail.
You show me someone who's built a big business, I'll show you someone that had many legitimate reasons to fail.
But you know what successful people do?
Especially ones that are spiritual, especially us who believe the Bible, is say, hey, I can
do all things through Christ, which strengthen it to me.
Stop making excuses this morning.
Stop making excuses.
Take control of your life.
God wants to give you that empowerment through His Word, through His help, through the Holy
Spirit of God.
Don't sit here and excuse yourself.
Trust in the Lord.
Don't make excuses.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for this day and we thank you for your word, for the
admonitions they're in. I pray that all of us would take account of our lives
and that we look at the problems and the areas that need fixing and not sit
here and just blame our parents or other people or our circumstances, but we
would just take responsibility of everything that we can, that we would
realize that not all of us are going to be 10 talent people.
but we would just be good and be good stewards with the talents that you've given us.
Help us to work hard until the day of Jesus Christ. We love you in Jesus' name and pray. Amen.
Our last hymn this morning, number 131.
Christ is all I need.
131. 131. Christ is all I need.
131 there on the first.
Christ is all I need. Christ is all I need.
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