🎵Music🎵
Good evening and welcome to
Vanity Baptist Church.
Let's go ahead and find our seats
this evening.
Find a seat, find a hymnal
close to you and turn to page number
two hundred and seven.
Find a seat,
find a hymnal close to you
and turn to page number two hundred
and seven.
We're going to open the service
with only a
sinner.
Again, that's song number two hundred
and seven.
Not have I gotten
but what I received.
Song number two hundred and seven.
Let's go ahead and sing it out
on the first.
Not I have gotten
but what I received.
Praise have been stood
since I have believed.
Boasting excluded
pride I abased.
I'm only a sinner
saved by grace.
Only a sinner
saved by grace.
Only a sinner
saved by
grace.
This is my story
to God be the glory.
I'm only a sinner.
Song number two hundred and seven
on the second.
Once I was foolish
and sin ruled my heart.
Causing my footsteps
from God to depart.
Jesus has found me
have been my
case. I now
am a sinner
saved by grace.
Only a sinner
saved by grace.
Only a sinner
saved by grace.
This is my
story.
I'm only
a sinner
saved by grace.
Tears
unavailing
no merit had I.
Mercy has saved me
or else I must die.
Sin had
alarmed me
fearing God's face.
But now I'm a sinner
saved by grace.
Only a sinner
saved by grace.
Only a sinner
saved by grace.
This is my story
to God be the glory.
Saved by grace.
You guys are singing well.
Let's finish strong on the last.
Suffer a sinner
whose heart overthrows
those who love him
and seek more to tell
what he knows.
Once more to tell him
what I embrace.
I'm only a sinner
saved by grace.
Only a sinner
saved by grace.
Only a sinner
saved by grace.
This is my
story.
I'm only
a sinner.
Amen.
Great singing.
Welcome to the Sunday evening service here
at Verity Baptist Church.
I pray that everyone here this evening
bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to you this evening,
Lord. We thank you for everything that you've
done for us, Lord. Thank you for keeping us safe,
Lord. I pray that you would bless the service tonight
and I pray that you would just help us,
Lord, to listen and actually pay attention
to the things that we're going to
hear, Lord. I pray that you
help us with all the decisions
that we're going to make tonight.
I pray that you bless the service. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Alright, now it's time for favorites
to be here selected. We will sing a stanza
from the song that you pick.
Let's go start with Daniel.
Song number 46.
Amen.
Song number 46.
My Savior
first of all
when my life
work is ended on the first
when my life
work is ended and I cross
the swelling tide
when the bright and glorious
I shall see
I shall know
my Redeemer
when I reach the other side
and His love will be the first
to welcome me
I shall know
Him
I shall know
Him
and redeemed by His side
I shall stand
I shall know
Him
on the top of nails
and His hands
Ah, Jamie, go ahead.
356
Song
356
I must tell Jesus
on number 356 on the first
I must tell Jesus
all of my
trials
I cannot bear
my burdens alone
in my distress
He kindly
will help me
He ever loves
and cares for
His own
I must tell Jesus
I must tell
Jesus
I cannot bear
my burdens alone
I must tell
Jesus
I must tell Jesus
Jesus can help me
Jesus alone
Stand and go ahead.
441
Song number 441
And
Amen great is thy faithfulness
Oh God
my Father will sing it out on the first
Great
is thy faithfulness
O God, my Father, there is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not like all passions they fear not,
as Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.
Whose great is Thy faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness,
morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided.
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.
Say, Eva, go ahead.
What was that?
303.
Brother Luke was waving at me.
Song number 303, My faith looks up to Thee.
Sing it out on the first.
My faith looks up to Thee.
Thou Lamb of Calvary, say, New Divine,
now hear me while I pray.
Take all my guilt away.
Oh, let me from this day be holy Thine.
Go ahead, Brother Luke.
216.
He's been texting me for the last two months.
Song number 216.
Can we do the third verse?
No mind.
All right, sing it out on the third.
When I walk through the darks of some valley,
my Savior will walk with me there.
And safely His great hand will lead me to the mansion
He's got to be in.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.
Oh, the days, oh, the days of my life.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.
Oh, the days, oh, the days of my life.
Let's sing it out.
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
And I shall feast at the table spread for me.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.
Oh, the days, oh, the days of my life.
Let's sing one more song on this side.
Ms. Laura Beth, go ahead.
138.
That's the last song for our favorites.
The Haven of Rest.
Song number 138.
Sing it out on the first.
My soul in sad exile was not on life's feet.
So good and lifted and distressed.
Till I heard a sweet voice saying, make me your choice.
And I entered the haven of rest.
I make my soul in the haven of rest.
I'll sail the wide sea is no more.
The tempest may sleep for a while.
So be deep in Jesus.
I'll stay evermore.
Amen.
Way to sing.
Amen.
All right.
Well, let's take our bulletins tonight.
We'll look at some announcements.
If you did not receive a bulletin on your way in,
just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up
and we will get one for you.
The verse this week, Psalms 62.1.
Truly my soul waiteth upon God.
From him cometh my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defense.
I shall not be greatly moved.
That's a good verse there.
We like that.
And I want to say thank you to all of you who
were praying for my family and I as we were traveling.
We were at Holdfast Baptist Church in Fresno this morning.
And I was preaching there for their one year anniversary.
And of course, that's the church that we started in Fresno
with Pastor Buzarnsky.
And we had a good time there.
And they're doing a great work there.
So I appreciate all of you that were praying
for us as we were traveling.
And then, of course, we had a lot of BBC family
down in Fresno this morning.
We've got several of them still there tonight.
This morning here in Sacramento, there
was 211 people in church.
And that is including the fact that there
was 20 from our church in Fresno.
So those are all good numbers there.
And praise the Lord for that.
And I'll just be in prayer for the rest of the group
as they come back up.
I know many of you came back up already.
And we appreciate that.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events,
of course, you see our church services.
Sunday morning service, 10.30 AM.
Sunday evening service, 6 PM.
We do invite you to be with us on Wednesday night
for the Wednesday night Bible study at 7 PM.
If you look at our soul-winning times,
our main soul-winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 AM.
And we have additional soul-winning times
on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 2 PM.
And if you are a soul-winner, don't forget to add
your salvations on the communication card.
Let us know that you had salvations
so we can add those to the bulletin.
If you have a map that you did not finish
or if there's something wrong with it,
please clearly mark what was done, what was not done,
and put it in the bin in the foyer so we can update it
and rotate it back into the rotation.
And if you're running late, you can call us at the number.
They're 916-868-9080.
Let us know your plan on being there, but you're running late.
That way, our team captains can have a map for you
and all those things that you need.
If you need to be baptized, please let us know.
We'd love to baptize you.
The baptistry's filled, the water's warm.
And all you have to do is at the end of the service,
while we're singing the last song after the preaching,
if you step out that door, one of our staff guys
will meet you there and we'll get you situated for baptism.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events,
of course, we have our series, Journey with Jesus,
and we're gonna take a break from that this week.
We'll be back in that next week.
And then Soul Winning Seminar's coming up
Friday, September 9th, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
You can sign up on your communication card.
Family and Friend Day is the big announcement.
We'd love for you to join us for Sunday,
September 18th, 1030 a.m.
as we celebrate our church's 12-year anniversary.
There's gonna be several things,
of course, special things on that day.
The choir's gonna be singing,
the orchestra and choir will have special music.
We'll give out the anniversary mugs
to every family in attendance.
We'll have candy suckers for all the kids
after the service, and then we'll have food
after the service, so we'd love for you to join us for that
and make sure you're inviting friends and family.
Next week, we'll have invitations in the bulletin for you,
so you can have some invitations ready to invite people with.
And then, of course, we have our Soul Winning Push
for Family and Friend Day on Thursdays,
September 15th at 6 p.m.,
Friday, September 16th at 6 p.m.,
and Saturday, September 17th at 10 a.m.
We'd love for you to join us for all of that.
The choir practice this afternoon, Home School Group.
If you are part of our Home School Group,
we want you to know that PE class is starting back up
on Thursday, September 8th at 10 a.m.
If you have any questions about that, you can see my wife.
She can give you all the information you need.
Upcoming cleaning crew, you can check for your name there.
There's other things there for you to look at.
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off
and place them on silent during the service
so that they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin,
birthdays and anniversaries for the month of August,
we have Brother Vladi Vakocha's birthdays
coming up on August 30th,
Brother Fred Ramiro's birthday, August 31st,
Brother VJ Nathan's birthday, August 31st,
Ms. Docma, holiday's birthday, August 31st,
and then the first week of September,
Ms. Karen Jimenez's birthday, September 1st,
and Calista Gibbs' birthday on September 2nd.
Praise Report, Muddy Matters,
all those things are there for you to look at,
and I think that's it for all of the announcements.
So let's go ahead and take our song books.
We'll go to page number 261.
Page number 261, and we'll sing
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
as we prepare to receive the offering tonight.
261, you gotta sing it out, all right,
with some passion on the first.
Oh, soul, are you weary and troubled?
Oh, no light in the darkness you see.
There's light for a look at the Savior,
and light for abundant and free.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and praise.
261, we're gonna sing it out on the second.
It's a beautiful song.
Let's sing it out together on the second.
Through death into life everlasting,
can we follow Him there?
Over us and no more hath dominion
for more than conjures beyond.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and praise.
Good, sing it out on the last.
His word shall not fail you,
He promised, He became,
and all will dwell.
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation dwell.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and praise.
Amen.
Good singing.
We'll have the guys come up
and help us with the offering at this time,
and let's go ahead and bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord,
we do thank you for allowing us
to gather together tonight.
Lord, we thank you for the wonderful service
we had our church had here this morning
and for the church in Fresno.
Lord, we pray that you'd bless our church people
still in Fresno and that you'd give them safety
as they drive back home tonight, tomorrow.
Lord, we pray that you would bless the offering,
the gift and the giver.
We ask that you'd meet with us tonight
as we open up your word today in the Bible together.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Please open us to 1 Kings 10.
1 Kings chapter number 10.
If you need a Bible, just put your hand up
and I'll just remind you of your Bible.
1 Kings chapter number 10.
If you need a Bible, just keep your hand up
and the show will come by.
1 Kings chapter number 10.
We will read the entire chapter as our custom.
1 Kings 10 beginning in verse number 1.
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon
concerning the name of the Lord,
she came to prove him with hard questions
and she came to Jerusalem with a very great train
with camels that bear spices
and very much gold and precious stones.
And when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
And Solomon told her all her questions.
There was not anything hid from the king,
which he told her not.
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom
and the house that he had built
and the meat of his table
and the sitting of his servants
and the attendance of his ministers
and their peril and his cupbearers
and his descent by which he went up into the house of the Lord,
there was no more spirit in her.
And she said to the king,
It was a true report that I heard in mine own land
of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
Howbeit I believed not the words until I came,
and mine eyes had seen it, and, behold,
that half was not told me.
Thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame which I heard.
Happy are thy men,
happy are these thy servants,
which stand continually before thee
and that hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the Lord thy God,
which delighted in thee
to set thee on the throne of Israel,
because the Lord loved Israel forever.
Therefore made he the king,
to do judgment and justice.
And she gave the king in 120 talents of gold
and of spices very great store,
and of precious stones.
There came no more such abundance of spices
as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
And the navy also of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir
brought in from Ophir great plenty of almond trees
and precious stones.
And the king made of that almond trees pillars
for the house of the Lord
and for the king's house,
harps also and salt trees for singers.
There came no such almond trees,
nor were seen any unto this day.
And King Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba
all her desire,
whatsoever she asked,
beside that which Solomon gave her of Israel a bounty.
So she returned and went to her own country,
she and her servants.
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year
was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold.
Beside that he had of the merchant men
and of the traffic of the spice merchants,
and of all the kings of Arabia,
and of the governors of the country.
And King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold,
six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.
And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold,
three pound of gold went to one shield,
and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory,
and overlaid it with the best of gold.
The throne had six steps,
and the top of the throne was round behind,
and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat,
and two lions stood beside the stays.
And twelve lions stood there on one side and on the other
upon six steps.
It was not the like made in any kingdom.
And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold,
and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon
were of pure gold.
None were of silver.
It was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon,
for the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish
with the navy of Hiram.
Once in three years came the navy of Tarshish,
bringing gold and silver and ivory and apes and peacocks.
So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth
for riches and for wisdom.
And all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom,
which God had put in his heart.
And they brought every man as present,
vessels of silver and vessels of gold,
and garments and armor and spices, horses and mules,
arrayed year by year.
And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen,
and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots
and twelve thousand horsemen,
whom he bestowed in the cities of chariots
and with the king at Jerusalem.
And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones,
and cedars made heat to be as the sycamore trees
that are in the veil for abundance.
And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt and linen yarn.
The king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price.
And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt
for six hundred shekels of silver
and an horse for one hundred and fifty.
And so for all the kings of the Hittites,
and for the kings of Assyria,
that they bring them out by their means.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening.
God, I thank you for your word, Lord, for our church.
And I say please, meet with each one of us tonight.
God, just give us ten hearts for the message.
I say be of the pastor's strength.
In the name of God, and in the name of the spirit.
We love you.
And in Jesus' name, pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, we're over there in 1 Kings,
chapter number 10.
And, of course, tonight we are not in the Gospel of Luke.
We're going to take a break from our series Journey with Jesus.
And I'm going to be preaching a different sermon tonight.
And, of course, this morning we were,
my family and I were in Fresno at a whole fast Baptist church
for their one-year anniversary.
And this morning I preached the sermon
for their one-year anniversary there
out of 1 Kings, chapter 10, entitled
Ingredients for a Great Church.
And I've made a habit recently,
and I don't know how recent, it's been maybe years or two now,
whenever I preach somewhere else
that I'll preach that same sermon
to our church family either before or after.
And, you know, the saying goes,
what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
And if it's good for Hold Fast in Fresno,
it'll be good for us here.
And so I'm preaching on the subject of
the ingredients for a great church.
Now, I realize that some of you were in Fresno this morning
and you heard this sermon this morning.
So the phrase for you is what's good for the goose once,
what's good for the goose twice, I guess.
You're going to get it. You're going to get it again.
Some of you are hard-headed, so you need it.
Brother George had a failure in helping me this morning
with a question, so you know what word
I'm looking for tonight, right, brother?
You'll be able to help me with that, and I appreciate that.
And so we'll learn this again.
It's good for you to hear it again.
It's good for things to be repeated.
And, of course, I'm joking, but I appreciate all of you
being here tonight, especially if you've already heard
the sermon and you know when to laugh,
you know when to say amen,
and you know when to get right with God, all those things.
So you'll be ready to go.
We're there in 1 Kings 10.
If you look at verse 1, the Bible says this,
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon
concerning the name of the Lord,
I want you to notice these words.
The Bible says, She came. She came.
Here we have in 1 Kings 10 a story of the queen of Sheba.
In the New Testament, she's known as the queen of the south,
and she came to Solomon's kingdom
as a guest of Solomon to come,
and the Bible says there in verse 1,
She will prove him with hard questions.
Notice there in verse 2, the Bible says,
And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train,
with camels that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones,
and when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
Many years ago, I heard a pastor say that a church
should be like a family expecting guests.
And that's really what Verity Baptist Church is,
and what every church should be,
a family of believers who are expecting guests.
On Sunday morning this morning,
I was told there was several guests here this morning.
We have guests every week at our church,
and we often have guests in the evening services and midweek services,
and that's what a church should be.
It should be a church family expecting guests.
And here we have King Solomon in his kingdom,
and he receives this prestigious guest, this woman, the Queen of Sheba.
And what I'd like to do tonight is use this story
of the Queen of Sheba being a guest to King Solomon's court as an example.
Obviously, this was a literal story.
This actually happened.
But I'd like to use this story as an example,
or you could call it an allegory or a parable,
just a representation of a church expecting guests.
There are several things that happened in this chapter
that were told about this chapter.
This visit from the Queen of Sheba was a very successful visit,
and there were some things we can learn that happened here
that we can apply some ingredients that were a success
in regards to her visit to King Solomon that we can apply to a church.
I'd like to give you tonight three ingredients needed for a great church.
And if you're taking notes tonight,
I always encourage you to take notes.
Maybe you can jot some of these things down.
I want you to notice the first thing there in verse 1.
The Bible says,
And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord,
she came, I want you to notice these words,
to prove him, to prove him.
The word prove is defined as to establish the truth of something.
It is the idea that someone is searching for evidence.
They are trying to find proof of something.
And the Queen of Sheba had heard some things about Solomon.
She'd heard some things about his kingdom,
and she came to prove to see if it was true what she had heard.
Notice the Bible says she came to prove him with hard questions.
And I want you to notice that she did not necessarily come with the greatest attitude.
I don't think she came with a bad attitude,
but she didn't really come with this hopeful attitude
because later on in the story, if you look down at verse 7,
the Bible tells us that she says to Solomon,
look at the first part of verse 7,
she says,
I was told about your fame and your glory and your wisdom,
and she said,
But I didn't believe it.
In fact, when I came,
I came to prove you with hard words to see if these things were true.
And I want you to notice that people will often come as a guest to a church
in the same way that the Queen of Sheba came as a guest to Solomon's kingdom.
They will often come with problems and doubts.
They will come with hard questions.
They will come with questions regarding their lives.
They'll come with questions regarding their marriage.
They'll come with questions regarding their child-rearing.
They'll come with questions regarding their relationships.
They'll come with questions regarding habits and addictions
and habitual sins in their lives.
They'll come with these hard questions,
but they don't necessarily come very hopeful.
They come to prove to see if there's anything that could be done for them at church,
because the truth of the matter is that most of the time when people come to church,
they come to church with problems,
and when people come to church with problems,
we're usually their last resort.
Oftentimes, people will say,
well, let's just try church before we get a divorce.
Let's just try church before our son ends up in prison.
Let's just try it.
They've already tried everything else,
and they'll say, well, let's just try church.
Oftentimes, people will show up with problems and with doubts,
and that's exactly how the Queen of Sheba shows up.
She shows up to prove Solomon with hard questions.
She doesn't even believe that she can get the help.
She's got these problems. Those are the hard questions.
She's got these doubts. That's when she comes to prove him.
But our job, and I want you to notice,
what Solomon did was that he gave her the answers to the questions.
Look down at verse number 2.
The Bible says,
And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train,
with camels that bear spices, and very much gold, and precious stones.
And when she was come to Solomon,
she commuted with him of all that was in her heart.
And Solomon told her all her questions.
Notice she comes with hard questions,
and the Bible tells us that Solomon told her all her questions.
What does that mean?
That means that he answered her questions.
He answered each one of her questions.
You say, what are the ingredients of a great church?
When people show up, they've got problems.
They're disheartened. They don't have hope.
They don't know what to do.
They find themselves in these situations.
What do they need from a church?
And if you're taking notes and you're writing these things down,
write down number 1.
A great church, the first ingredient of a great church,
is practical preaching.
Practical preaching is the way that we give the answers to people
the answers that they need for their lives.
Here we're told that Solomon told her all her questions.
Solomon answered her questions for her.
She shows up and she says,
I've got all these hard questions, Solomon.
And he says, shoot.
And she starts asking these questions.
And the Bible tells us that Solomon told her all her questions.
Now, what I think is interesting,
and I want to kind of tease this out for you a little bit.
I'm going to make a big deal about it and we're going to come back to it
at the end of the sermon.
But what I think is interesting is that the Bible seems to emphasize something for us
about the answers that Solomon gave the queen of the south,
the queen of Sheba.
So the Bible tells us that she came with hard questions to prove Solomon.
And in verse 3 we read,
And Solomon told her all her questions.
Now, if the verse ended there,
there was a period and that was the end of the verse,
that would all make perfect sense.
If the verse said Solomon answered all her questions,
that would make perfect sense.
But that's not what the verse says.
The verse says,
And Solomon told her all her questions.
Then there's something that's emphasized.
And it is this.
And there was not anything he hid.
And there was not anything he hid from the king which he told her not.
It's an interesting idea that when the Bible tells us that Solomon answered her questions,
the Bible goes on to emphasize for us that as he was answering her questions,
it seems to indicate that there was an opportunity maybe to not answer everything,
to not give her everything she needed,
to maybe not give all the answers,
not give all of the advice,
not give all of the counsel.
But the Bible tells us that when she came with these hard questions to prove Solomon,
he answered her questions.
And it also highlights the fact that Solomon did not hide from her anything.
Look at the last part of verse 3.
The Bible says,
There was not anything he hid from the king which he told her not.
Now keep your place there in 1 Kings chapter 10.
That's our text for tonight.
But go with me if you would to the book of Acts in the New Testament.
Acts chapter 20.
Acts chapter 20 in the New Testament.
You have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts.
Acts chapter 20.
And if you could, put a ribbon or a bookmark or your bulletin or something there
because we're going to leave the book of Acts and come back to it
and I can be able to get to it quickly.
Acts chapter 20.
Here the Bible tells us that Solomon told her all her questions.
There was not anything he hid from the king which he told her not.
In Acts chapter 20, there's a similar phrase, a similar idea used by the Apostle Paul.
In Acts chapter 20, the Apostle Paul is speaking to the elders at Ephesus.
He's getting ready to depart.
And he says to them in his departing speech, his departing sermon to them,
Acts 20 and verse 26, he says,
Wherefore, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men.
Verse 27.
He says, For I am not shunned.
You see that word shun?
The word shun means to keep away, to withhold, to avoid.
He says, I am not shunned.
I am not withheld.
I am not avoided.
He says, I am not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Paul said, look, to the church at Ephesus, he said,
I have not avoided giving you the entire counsel of God.
I have not avoided answering all the questions, giving you all the advice, giving you all the instructions.
I have not shunned to declare all the counsel of God.
Now, as I was studying for this sermon, a couple of things stood out to me that I don't know that I'd really seen before.
In Acts chapter 20 and verse 27, this is a verse that we've read a lot.
I mean, I've read it thousands of times, you know, hundreds of times.
It probably came up in sermons and preaching and things like that.
But here the apostle Paul says, For I am not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
And usually when we go to this verse, we go to this verse as a proof text for the fact that we as Bible-believing preachers are supposed to preach the entire Bible.
When we say, when Paul says I'm not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God, we'll say we preach everything, everything the Bible says.
We're not going to take anything out. We're not going to avoid anything. We're not going to withhold anything.
We're not going to keep anything from you. We're going to preach even the radical chapters, even the radical messages.
We'll even preach through the book of Leviticus and we won't skip the first chapter of Romans.
We're going to declare the whole counsel of God.
That's usually what we're proving when we go to this text.
But what stood out to me recently was this word counsel.
Because Paul does not say, For I am not shunned to declare unto you all the scriptures of God.
Now that could apply and I think that is the application and I'm not saying that's not the application.
He doesn't say I'm not shunned to declare unto you all the doctrines of God.
He doesn't say I'm not shunned to declare to you all the Bible, all the word of God.
He said I'm not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
The word counsel is the same idea in ministry that we use the terminology when we talk about giving counsel or we talk about doing counseling.
You say what is counsel? What is pastoral counseling?
It's when we give advice.
It's when we give direction.
It's when we give instruction.
It's when we tell you what the Bible says to do.
And here Paul says look I am not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel.
He said I preach everything.
I preach the entire word.
But he said I've given you all the advice.
I've given you all of the instructions.
Here's what he's saying.
He says I've answered all the questions.
I've given you all the counsel.
Now here's what I've learned over the last 12 years of ministry.
My wife and I as a result of being in ministry for over a decade have learned and had the opportunity to do a lot of counseling.
In fact several years ago we started doing so much counseling when it came to our church.
And let me just make something clear.
We believe in counseling.
I think counseling is a good thing.
We've been able by God's grace to help a lot of people in our church and even people outside of our church with very difficult issues in their lives and drugs and alcohol and other sort of just burdensome habitual sins.
And the Lord has given us a lot of success in helping people with regarding to those things.
And several years ago my wife and I even received formal training in regards to counseling where we earned a certificate in counseling just so that we could have that as something that we accomplished and got into that.
And even now we're still receiving training and going through just trying to get better at these things because it's something that we do a lot.
So I want you to understand what I'm telling you.
We believe in counseling.
We think we want to make ourselves available to counsel.
As a pastor I counsel men.
I counsel couples, my wife counsels, ladies that need it.
We believe in all of that.
But something I've learned over the experience of counseling is this, that oftentimes people will show up with a question.
And here's what I've learned.
People often ask the wrong question.
In fact, they'll ask a lot of times the question that they're trying to ask you in a counseling session is usually just mark it down the wrong question.
They're trying to avoid the right question.
Because a guy will show up in my office and say, my wife doesn't respect me.
And their question is, how can I get my wife to respect me?
And I think to myself, you're asking the wrong question.
The question you should be asking is, how can I get a job?
Because you're unemployed and that's why your wife has no respect for you.
People will often show up and they'll have this question.
My marriage is falling apart.
You know, pastor, help me fix my marriage.
And it's like, no, the question you need to be asking is, how do I quit being a drunkard or quit being an alcoholic because that's what's ruining your marriage.
See, oftentimes when people show up, they've got all these questions.
I've got this question, pastor, I need you to help me with this question.
But what I've learned is that people often ask the wrong question.
They don't actually want to deal with the proper question, the right question.
See, there's the question they're asking and then there's the question they should have asked.
Then there's the question they refuse to ask.
There's the question they ask, the question they did not ask, the question they should have asked.
And the Bible seems to indicate, keep your finger right there in Acts.
Let's go back to 1 Kings chapter 10, that the Queen of Sheba shows up with these questions.
What those questions are, I don't know.
They were probably a lot of knowledge type questions, science questions, poetry questions, nature history questions.
But I do believe that she asked personal questions.
I'll prove that.
We've already talked about that in our Luke series, but we'll look at it again tonight.
The Bible seems to indicate that she comes and she asks these questions.
She's asking these questions.
And Solomon thinks to himself, you're not asking the right question.
You're asking a question.
I hear your question, but there's a question you ask, the question you don't ask, the question you should have asked.
And the Bible seems to indicate, 1 Kings 10-3,
And Solomon told her all her questions, and there was not anything hid from the king.
You say, what does that mean?
That means King Solomon was a good counselor.
He was able to engage in conversation and say, well, why are you asking that?
Let's unravel this a little bit.
Let's peel back this onion.
Nothing was hid from the king.
He had the discernment he needed.
He had the wisdom he needed.
He had the experience he needed.
And as a result of there was not anything hid from the king, notice what the Bible says,
which he told her not.
He made sure to answer not only the questions that she asked, but he also answered the questions she did not ask,
and he answered the questions she should have asked.
He says, look, Queen Sheba, I know you're having a rough time with your marriage.
Let's talk about that.
But let's also talk about this.
Let's also talk about this issue.
See, you can't just show up and say, well, I've got this one sin problem.
Look, nobody just has one sin problem.
There's all sorts of sin problems that are connected to the problems we have in life.
And the Bible says that Solomon told her all her questions, the questions she asked.
But then he dug in.
There was not anything hid from the king.
And he found the questions she should have asked.
She refused to ask.
And he told her those too.
He answered those too.
See, you know what Paul says?
Go back to Acts chapter 20, verse 27.
He says, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Here's what Paul's saying.
Paul's saying, I've answered for you the questions you asked, the questions you should have asked,
the questions you failed to ask.
I've answered them all.
You say, what makes the church a good church?
The kind of church, you say, Pastor, I just want to show up.
And I don't want you to tell me all this stuff about me being a loser as a husband.
I just want the sermons about the preacher of rapture.
You can preach about the Jews.
You can preach about the homos.
You can even preach about the homeless.
But don't tell me about me taking personal responsibility.
Don't tell me about walking with God and having a walk with God.
Don't tell me about all these other things.
But let me tell you something.
My job is to give you to stand up here and say, I have not shunned to declare all the counsel of God.
I'm going to answer the question you're asking, but I'm also going to answer the question you should be asking.
I'm going to answer the question you should have asked, the one you're refusing to ask, the one you're avoiding to ask,
the one you're trying to manipulate everybody around and trying to say, well, look over here.
It's actually because of this.
And Solomon says, what about this?
Paul says, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Go to Second Timothy chapter four.
If you would find the T books, they're all clustered together.
First Second Thessalonians, First Second Timothy of Titus, Second Timothy chapter four.
Here's what I've learned about Christianity, Christians.
So we like to give a lot of lip service to the Bible.
You ask somebody, do you believe the Bible is the word of God?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. The Bible is the word of God.
But then when you get down to where the rubber meets the road, you say, well, here's what the Bible says.
You're supposed to know about this situation.
Here's what you're supposed to do.
Wow, yeah, that doesn't apply to me.
Well, if you do my, if you understood my situation.
Second Timothy, go to Second Timothy chapter three.
Look at verse 16.
Second Timothy three, 16.
Second Timothy chapter three and verse 16, the Bible says all scripture.
You see that?
All of it.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
And it's profitable. It's profitable.
This is one of those other verses that we usually go to as approved texts.
Usually we go to Second Timothy three, 16 to prove the inspiration of God.
That the inspiration of the word of God, that God spoke, that God breathed,
that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
They're the words of God.
That is true, and that's what the verse says.
But let me help you understand something.
That's not the main point that the Apostle Paul is making in that verse.
When Paul says all scripture is given by inspiration of God, praise God for that.
That teaches us a lot about the inspiration of scripture,
but that's not the point he's making.
He's not saying, by the way, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, period.
I just wanted you to know that.
That's not what Paul is saying.
Paul is saying all scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and because all scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and because all of scripture is what God spoke,
and because everything in the Bible is what God wants you to know,
he says it is profitable.
And then he tells us what it's profitable for.
What's it profitable for?
Doctrine.
What's doctrine?
That's the right thing.
For reprove.
What's reprove?
The wrong thing.
For correction.
What's correction?
How to turn the wrong thing into the right thing.
For instruction.
What's instruction?
How to keep doing the right thing.
For instruction in righteousness.
You say, what is the point of Bible preaching?
What is the point of the word of God?
What is the point of scripture?
Here's the word of scripture.
The whole point of scripture, it's given by inspiration of God,
and that should give you confidence to know that it can teach you the right thing to do.
It can teach you the wrong things you shouldn't be doing.
It can tell you how to fix the wrong thing into the right thing,
and how to keep doing the right thing.
It's instruction in righteousness.
And my job as a pastor is to give you practical preaching,
applicable preaching,
where you don't walk out of here thinking, I wonder what he meant.
Where you walk out of here thinking, I wonder if he knows.
Does the pastor know that I'm...
Look, I'm busy.
I don't know, but you know who does know?
The Holy Spirit.
I feel like he's preaching at me.
Well, if you feel like he's preaching at you, that's called a guilty conscience.
That's the Holy Spirit.
Maybe instead of getting mad at the messenger, you ought to just get right with God.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
We're not going to shun to declare any of it to you.
You're there in 2 Timothy 3, go to 2 Timothy 4, look at verse 2.
2 Timothy 4.
2 Timothy 4, look at verse 2.
Notice what Paul tells Timothy, he says, preach the word.
Preach the word.
He says, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
He says, preach the whole thing.
You say, what if it's not popular?
Instant in season and out of season, whether it's popular or not,
whether people like it or not.
Reprove, that means to correct.
Rebuke, that means to reprimand.
Exhort, that means to encourage with all longsuffering and doctrine.
That's what the Bible says.
And look, I'm bringing all this counseling stuff up to say this.
When it comes to counseling, my wife and I have received, like I said, formal training in counseling.
But even more than formal training in counseling, we've just been a pastor and a pastor's wife for 12 years.
We just have a lot of experience.
We have a lot of experience with counseling.
I was recently reading in a book that they did this test about what excites people
in regards to good things and bad things, anxiety.
And they were talking about how young people, they put all these young people in a room
and they showed them a screen and they flashed all these pictures that were meant to bring up emotions.
Some were meant to be happy emotions, some were meant to be negative emotions.
And with young people as they looked at the waves in their brain,
they noticed that their amygdala, which is where they process emotion,
would light up both at pictures that were meant to make you happy
and pictures that were meant to be like, oh, you know, sad.
Then they took a group of older, mature, successful people that are balanced in their lives
and they brought them and showed them the exact same picture
and they noticed that they had trained themselves to, when something positive pops up,
their amygdala would glow up and they would respond to it.
And when something negative would pop up, their amygdala would not respond to it.
And what they learned is that as people mature and become more balanced,
they learn to deal with negative situations.
I was telling my wife, I read this and I was telling her,
I'd like to pay for you and I to take that test.
Because in ministry, I mean, I can tell you something,
we're at the point in this ministry where nothing surprises us.
I mean, there's nothing you're going to say to me that we're just going to be like,
what in the world, I can't believe, oh, really?
I mean, that's to the point like, okay, we can help you with that.
You're not shocked? Get in line.
There's no new thing under the sun.
There are no temptations taking you, but such as is common to man.
You start realizing people kind of just deal with all the same stuff.
And praise God for that because there used to be a time in our ministry
where I'm just like, what are we going to do with this?
Now it's just kind of like, okay, can I schedule you in for Tuesday or Thursday?
Let's talk about this. Let's help you.
The Word of God can help you.
Experience has taught us that we can have confidence in the Word of God
because God has all the answers to all the questions.
The Bible says, you don't have to turn there in 2 Peter 1.3,
according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
The Bible says, look, God says, I've given you everything you need that pertains to life and godliness.
Everything you need for life is in the Word of God.
Everything you need for life is in the Bible.
I often tell people, whenever we sit down to do counseling, I tell people,
look, there's no magic thing about entering into my office or sitting down with my wife.
There is nothing we're going to say to you differently behind closed doors
than what I would say to you from behind the pulpit.
Now when it comes to counseling, there are two types of counseling that happens.
Let me just kind of explain this.
A lot of times there's the one-time counseling session.
Those tend to be pleasant.
And look, I believe in counseling. I think it's good.
If you need counseling, I hope you don't think me bringing this up is I'm down on counseling because I'm not.
Sometimes it's the one-time counseling session.
And the one-time counseling session is just people sitting down with me or my wife
and saying, Pastor, here's the situation. Here's what's going on.
I need some advice. What do you think about this?
And myself or my wife, whoever is speaking with a virgin, we take biblical principles,
plus our experience, we put those together and say, well, here's what we think.
Here's what you should do. Here's what the Bible says.
Here's what we've seen other people be successful with.
Here's the answer, X, Y, and Z.
And those are usually nice conversations.
They're like, thank you. I appreciate that.
I feel like I know what to do and I've got some direction.
God bless you. And they're on their way out.
Those are the one-time counseling sessions.
Then you've got the long-term counseling sessions.
Those are the ones where people just have sin in their lives.
Habitual sins, pride, things that they just rooted down deep in their hearts that they're not willing to let go.
Those are not as fun sometimes.
And I'm not down on it because I do understand that sometimes people just need,
sometimes people just need someone to sit down with them on a regular basis
and hold their hand and walk them through getting victory in their lives
over some of these burdensome sins and habitual sins in their lives.
I understand that. I'm not down on that.
I hope you understand the point that I'm making.
I realize that that's needed from time to time and we're happy to do that.
But I'm saying all that to say this.
You need to understand one thing,
that on Sunday morning when the Word of God is opened and it's preached,
on Sunday night when the Word of God is opened and it's preached,
on Wednesday night when the Word of God is opened and it's preached,
what's preached from this pulpit is all the counseling you need.
We have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
I mean, I can make you this promise.
You say, I'm too shy to ask Ms. Joanne.
Usually, see, you're asking the wrong question.
You're too proud is probably the reality there.
But you're not in my counseling session, so let's not go there.
You say, I don't want to bother Pastor.
I don't want to bother Ms. Joanne.
Okay, well, let me just help you out with something.
I promise you, if you decided today, August 28th, to say,
okay, here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to show up to church Sunday morning.
I'm going to show up to church Sunday night.
I'm going to show up to church Wednesday night,
and I'm just going to do everything the Bible tells me to do,
everything the man of God teaches from the Word of God.
If it's from the Bible, I'm going to do it.
Whether I agree with it, it doesn't matter.
I'm going to do it.
If it's difficult, it doesn't matter.
I'm going to do it.
Whether I think it or what, it doesn't matter.
I'm going to do it.
I'm just going to do it.
I'm going to apply it.
I'm going to do everything it tells me to do.
I promise you, if you did that, you would wake up a year from now
and you would look up and not recognize yourself.
You would say, wow, my life has been transformed.
Wow, my marriage has been transformed.
Wow, my children have been transformed.
Wow, things have changed in my life.
You say, how can you say that?
I can say that because the Word of God has all the answers.
It has the answers to the questions you're asking
and the questions you should be asking,
the questions you failed to ask.
See, people show up here with problems and doubts.
But you know they should leave with answers and hope.
They show up asking hard questions,
but they should leave with the answers they need for those questions.
And I'm just here to tell you something.
I don't just get up here and I'm not just yelling for my own entertainment.
This stuff can actually help you if you do it.
You say, my boss won't give me the Wednesday night off for church.
Well, look, you know what Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night is?
It's a counseling session.
I mean, it's group therapy.
My boss won't give me Sunday night church.
Tell him, look, I've got to go to group therapy.
You wouldn't keep me from going to group therapy, would you?
Oh, you've got to go to group therapy?
Yeah, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, group therapy.
Who's your counselor?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God.
I mean, just say, look, I've got to go to my group therapy session Sunday morning.
Because what you're getting behind this pulpit every week is the counsel of God.
It's the advice of God.
It's the instructions of God.
It's what God has for your life.
You say, what are the ingredients of a successful church?
What are the ingredients of a good church?
What are the ingredients of a church that actually helps the people that show up?
Well, number one, practical preaching.
We've not shunned to declare the answer of God, the whole counsel of God.
And if you leave here mad because I stepped on your toes,
and if you leave here mad because I said something and you didn't like it
and you thought I was preaching at you and you thought this and you thought that,
then why don't you just wear that shoe, get some responsibility,
get right with God and deal with it.
I think the pastor was preaching at me.
Then I probably was.
Well, did you know that? Does it matter?
And look, half the time, no, I don't.
But if the shoe fits, wear it.
Put the stinking shoe on and become a better husband.
Put the stinking shoe on and go get a job.
All right, if you're not going to come here, the pastor is preaching against me.
Well, stop being a loser.
Go to 1 Kings chapter 10.
Every time I come here, the pastor is preaching about wise, being submissive,
and I feel guilty.
Okay, well, start being submissive. You won't feel guilty.
Every time I come here, I preach about soul winning.
It makes me feel bad.
Become a soul winner. You won't feel bad.
In fact, you know who likes it when I preach about soul winning?
The soul winners.
You know who doesn't feel guilty when I preach about Bible reading?
People who read their Bibles.
You know who likes sermons on prayer?
People who pray.
Look, it's not my fault you put yourself on the done side of the aisle every time.
Every time something's preached on the roof.
Well, I don't do that. I don't do that. Well, I don't do that.
Well, why don't you start doing some things?
We have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
You say, why are you upset about this?
You know why I'm upset about this?
Because sometimes people try to make us feel like we failed them somehow.
Like, we failed them.
And it's like, how did we fail you when we've told you everything you need to know from the word of God?
It's not our fault you're not doing it.
What are the ingredients of a great church, practical preaching?
And look, you can say what you want about me and Very Baptist Church,
but you're getting practical, applicable preaching from this pulpit.
Practical preaching.
But I want you to notice, secondly, there's another ingredient.
Another ingredient. 1 Kings chapter 10.
Not only is there practical preaching, but I want you to notice that she was impressed by their professional program.
Look at 1 Kings chapter 10 and verse 4.
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom in the house that he had built, verse 5, notice what it says.
And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers,
and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord,
there was no more spirit in her.
I want you to notice that she was impressed by how meticulous King Solomon had organized the program there
that he was carrying out in his kingdom.
I mean, not only did she show up and get the answers to the questions he was asking,
and also answers to the questions she wasn't asking.
She looks around and she says, wow, this is a well-run machine.
I mean, she looked at the meat of his table, the sitting of his servants,
the attendance of his ministers, their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent.
She looks at all these things and how well it's organized.
She looked at the professional program, and the Bible says there was no more spirit in her.
Let me tell you something. You need to step up in regards.
You say, well, the practical preaching, that's your job, pastor.
Okay, I'm going to give you practical preaching.
Now, here's your job with the practical preaching. Do it.
Apply it to your life and do it.
But here's something you can do. Get involved in the work of God.
Step up and serve.
You know, in the average church, 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
And that's just the reality of everything.
At your job, probably 20% of the people do 80% of the work.
And the church is no different.
And you know, if you're that 80% that's not carrying your weight, step up.
1 Corinthians chapter 4, if you kept your place in Acts, go to Romans, 1 Corinthians.
1 Corinthians chapter 4.
You say, pastor, I was in Fresno and you weren't this upset about it in Fresno.
I don't know those people.
The Holy Spirit has helped me to know you.
You got to step up. 1 Corinthians 4, 6.
Moreover, it is required. I love the nervous laugh.
It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
You got to step up and serve.
You got to step up and serve. Go to Proverbs 25.
Proverbs 25, if you open your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely to follow the Psalms.
Right after Psalms, you have the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 25.
Hey, let me ask you a question. Where do you serve?
Don't answer out loud, but answer it.
When would you like to be answered? Right now, in your head.
Where do you serve at Verity Baptist Church?
I didn't say soul winning. We're all supposed to go soul winning.
My service is soul winning.
We're all supposed to go soul winning.
My service is tithing. We're all supposed to tithe.
Question I have for you is where and when exactly do you fit into this category in the house of God
and the meat of His table and the sitting of His servants and the attendance of His ministers
and their apparel and His cupbearers and His ascent?
When are you involved in the program of the work of God at the house of God, Verity Baptist Church?
When do you serve?
I can't answer that question. Why not?
You ought to step up. You ought to get involved.
See, a great church is not a one man show. It's not a one couple show.
It's not a one man and his wife show.
It requires people getting involved and stepping up and saying, hey, I'd like to help.
Some of you need to develop this habit. You've got to write this down.
I'm going to give you some deep counseling right now. Write this down.
You've got to learn to ask this question. How can I help?
When you are watching other people work, don't just sit there and wow, that's amazing.
Look at those people. They must really love the Lord.
When you watch people work, you ought to walk up to them and say, how can I help?
How can I help? How can I get involved?
What can I do to further the work of God, the church of the Lord?
You've got to step up to serve.
Proverbs 25, 19, confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint.
Have you ever had a sore tooth? You know what it is? Annoying, irritating.
You know what confidence in an unfaithful, unreliable, untrustworthy man is?
You know what it is? Annoying, irritating.
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9.
See, a great church not only has practical preaching, but a great church has a professional program.
People step up and they serve.
And then let me say this, not only do they step up and serve, they take their service serious.
They take their service seriously.
They get involved and they want to do it right and do it with excellence and do it for the glory of the Lord.
The Bible says, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Ecclesiastes 9, 10 says, Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.
Look, if you're going to do something, do it right. Put effort into it, energy into it. Do it well.
Years ago, I told this story this morning in Fresno.
Years ago, I mean, way before I was a pastor, I joined the United States Air Force.
Let me give this big disclaimer, all right?
I do not recommend anybody join the military.
Young people, don't join the military, all right?
Say, I want to join the military. You join God's military, the army of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you serve Him.
And don't let Uncle Sam own you.
So I'm not telling you this as an endorsement of the military.
I'm just a statement of fact. I joined the military.
And in the Air Force, when we went to boot camp,
I remember sitting there with my wife.
We were talking to the recruiter, and he was talking to me about how boot camp was going to be,
and he was telling me the things that we were going to emphasize and things we were going to focus on.
And he asked my wife this question.
He said, How long does it take your husband to wash the car?
And she was like, I don't know, 20 minutes, 25 minutes?
And he told her, when he gets back from boot camp, it's going to take him like three hours to wash the car.
And he was making this point because he was trying to tell us,
when you go to boot camp, they're going to drill into you this idea of attention to detail.
Because in the Air Force, you've got the Air Force core values.
And the Air Force core values, those of you that were in the Air Force, you remember them?
Integrity first, service before self, excellence in all we do.
And they really drill that into you.
And here's the thing. I don't recommend the military. I don't recommend any of that.
But I kind of do wish that there was some sort of system where every grown man could have got.
Because there was something special about having these buff, you know,
TI boot camp instructors just scream and yell at you.
Because, you know, they would do things like this at boot camp.
They would, you know, they'd show you a picture.
You'd have a drawer with all of your, you know, shirts and pants and socks and all the things you needed.
They would show you a picture and say, we want you to replicate this.
And they'd put it away and set it down.
And you were supposed to make it look exactly like that.
Everything was, I mean, you had to make your bed a certain way.
There had to be a certain crease, and the crease had to be this long and that.
I mean, everything was exactly the same.
And then, so you would get it all together.
And then they would come to inspect it.
And they'd look at the bed that you made.
And if they found any mistake, they would just take the whole thing and just throw it.
This is crap. You idiot.
Why can't you do it right? Just pay attention to detail.
They'd take the drawer and just throw it out.
You'd spend like 45 minutes on that thing and just start again.
But, you know, I came out of the Air Force with this idea that everything we do,
and I think it's been, I brought this to Very Baptist Church,
everything we do, we do with excellence.
We do with excellence.
We pay attention to detail.
We don't start late.
Things look nice.
Things look right.
You say, why?
Because if they do it for Uncle Sam, we ought to do it for the King of Kings, the Lord of Kings.
The King of Kings, the Lord of Lord, the Lord of Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ.
If they teach the military to dress and look and act a certain way,
and to have dignity and excellence in all they do,
then we should do it for Christ.
And look, to some extent, I'll be honest with you,
I was already kind of a type A personality before I went in the military,
and they just made me go, like, it just went crazy.
I mean, it's my spiritual gift.
I mean, I walk into a room and, you know, I tend to be negative,
and, you know, I walk into a room and I just see, I walk into this.
I mean, you say, why do you go straight to your office when you come?
I walk in this room, and the first thing, I mean, it's my spiritual gift.
I just see everything that's wrong with everything.
I mean, I walk in and I'm like, the picture's crooked.
That usher's not wearing his coat.
The music's not on.
I'm just like, Isaac, I gotta go to my office.
I can deal with this.
I'm gonna have a nervous breakdown.
You know, it's just like, you know, it's just my thing.
And I'm sorry, you know, it's just I like things to be done well,
especially if we're gonna do them for God.
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.
Make sure it's right.
My sons have been working with my brother-in-law, Jose,
sometimes when he has extra jobs, they'll go and help him.
And I'll drive him to these jobs, and as we drive there,
I give him some instructions, you know, about work.
I'm trying to teach them while they're there to work.
You know, you can ask my kids every time we drive,
look, make sure you're always busy.
You need to always be doing something.
Don't be the guy that's got his hands in his pockets
while the boss is working.
You do what the boss tells you to do.
When the boss is done, you don't know what to do,
you ask, what would you like me to do next?
If you don't know, maybe he's on the phone,
you just start doing whatever he was doing.
If that task is done, and he's talking to the customer,
and you can't, you just start putting, cleaning stuff up,
putting stuff away, stay busy, be proactive.
You know, I'm teaching them these things.
I'm teaching them, you need to go as fast as possible,
but as slow as needed.
As fast as possible, but as slow as needed.
And I tell my sons, look, you know what your boss doesn't want?
He doesn't want you, you're just, I got it all done,
I got it all done, but it's all so sloppy and bad,
it's like, well, it's got to get all redone.
Your boss doesn't want that.
You know what your boss also doesn't want?
He doesn't want, well, I was so meticulous and so slow,
it's perfect, but we missed our deadline and the customer's dead.
You know, they don't want that either.
You know what your boss wants?
He wants you to go as fast as possible and as slow as needed.
He wants you to take pride in your work.
He wants you to have excellence in all you do.
And here's what I'm telling you, if you would do it for a carnal boss,
and I think you should, then why not do it for the Lord Jesus Christ?
I'm just telling you, you ought to serve, but if you're going to serve,
then take it seriously.
Because I'm doing it for you, Pastor.
You're not doing it for me, you're doing it for Christ.
You ought to serve as unto the Lord.
Go to work and work for your boss as unto the Lord.
Volunteer at Verity Baptist Church and volunteer as unto the Lord.
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.
See, this woman, the Queen of Sheba, she shows up and she says,
Man, the meat of his table, the sitting of his servants,
the attendance of his ministers, the apparel and the cupbearers and the ascent
by which he went unto the house of the Lord.
There's no spirit in her.
She said, these people take their jobs seriously.
She said, what was the Queen of Sheba impressed with?
She was impressed with the practical preaching.
He answered all her questions and he even answered the questions she didn't ask.
What was the Queen of Sheba impressed with?
She was impressed with the professional program, that people actually cared.
Look, you men care about the work you do.
It's a testimony unto you, your boss and other people.
She looked at it and she said, wow, these people take their jobs seriously.
Let me give you a third one tonight.
Look at verse 8.
Well, look at verse 6 just to get the context.
1 Kings chapter 10 and verse 6.
And she said to the king, it was a true report that I heard in mine own land
of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
Howbeit I believed not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen it.
And behold, the half was not told me.
Thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame which I heard.
Notice what she says in verse 8.
She says, happy are thy men.
Happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee
and that hear thy wisdom.
You know what she noticed?
Not only did she notice that the preaching was practical.
Man, Solomon is answering my questions
and he's even answering the questions that I was not wanting answered.
Not only was she impressed with the preaching that was practical,
not only was she impressed with the program that was professional,
but she was also impressed with pleasant people.
She said, you know something I notice is the people around here, they're happy.
Happy are thy men.
Happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee
and that hear thy wisdom.
Let me tell you something.
These people were happy in the service of their king.
Who was their king?
Solomon.
You know, you and I ought to be happy in the service of our king,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
I like that song we sing.
I am happy in the service of the king.
I am happy, oh, so happy.
I have peace and joy that nothing else can bring.
In the service of the king, in the service of the king,
every talent I will bring.
I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the king.
Hey, I'm happy in the service of the king.
I'm happy, oh, so happy.
Through the sunshine and the shadow I can sing in the service of the king.
You know, we ought to be happy in the service of the Lord.
There's a prayer that I pray.
I told the story in Fresno.
There's a prayer that my wife and I pray on a regular basis regarding our children.
I'm not telling you you should pray this prayer.
I'm just telling you this is a prayer we pray.
And one prayer that we pray is this.
Lord, would you please reveal to me anything that I might regret in the future
that we're doing with our children.
I realize, and this is just the reality of life,
that I'm going to get 20 years down the road, 30 years down the road,
and I'm going to realize that there are some things that maybe I did with my children
or I shouldn't have done with my children or whatever that I'm going to regret.
Every parent has regrets. I get that.
What I'm trying to do is minimize those regrets as much as possible.
So oftentimes my wife and I will pray this prayer,
Lord, if there's anything that we're regretting,
if there's anything we're doing right now that we just don't realize,
we're not thinking, our eyes aren't open, anything we're going to regret,
would you just help us to know what we're doing that we would regret,
what I'm doing that I would regret so that I could stop.
Now usually, I'll just be honest with you,
and I'm not telling you I'm perfect, okay,
but usually I pray that prayer and I think to myself, I don't know of anything.
I can't think of anything, Lord, but if there's anything, would you please, please let me know.
You know, recently I was praying that prayer,
and I felt like the Lord just pressed this upon my heart,
because you may not know this about me.
I'm going to tell you something you don't know.
I tend to be negative. Maybe you don't know that.
This morning I couldn't remember the word.
What was the word, Brother George?
Brother George is not there. Good night.
He's happy in the service of the king somewhere.
Now I can't remember the word. What was the word?
The opposite of introvert. There you go.
Introvert, thank you. Somebody's paying attention.
George failed me again. Good night.
I'm just kidding. I love Brother George.
Well, we love his family. Brother George is Brother George.
I told my wife, you know, I think I'm an introvert.
My wife said, I don't think you're an introvert. I think you just don't like people.
And I was like, I thought that's what it meant, but that's what being an introvert meant.
Like, nah, I don't think those are the same thing.
You know, but I tend to be negative, just being honest with you.
But one thing that I feel like the Lord just kind of convicted me about,
just me personally, I'm just telling you,
is that I don't want my children to remember me as being negative about the ministry.
I'm not going to lie to you. The ministry is difficult at times.
It's hard sometimes.
We carry burdens, and we help people, and sometimes our hearts are broken, and I get that.
But I want my kids to look back on their childhood and say,
you know, my dad, you know, my mom, they were happy in the service of the king.
You know, they were happily married.
They're not perfect, and they made mistakes,
and everybody makes mistakes, and I understand that.
But the Queen of Sheba, she looks at these people, and she said, they are happy.
You know that the world's not happy today?
I mean, people go to work today, and everybody's miserable.
They go to work, and everybody's miserable.
They talk to their family, and everybody's miserable.
They talk to their friends, and everybody's miserable.
Their lives are so terrible, they have to get drunk every weekend to forget their misery.
That's how miserable they are.
I want them to come to a place like this and say, wow, those people are genuinely happy, and they're sober.
I mean, he actually likes his wife, and his wife actually loves her.
You know, like, what is going on here?
We should be pleasant.
My wife will often tell the children, I've told you this before.
You know, if you've got children, you know this is true.
When you get the report, one kid, so-and-so spit on me.
And then a few minutes later, another kid, so-and-so kicked me, and they're talking about the same kid.
And then a few minutes later, so-and-so slapped me.
And it's like, okay, listen, you know, you take that one child, you're like, you are the problem here.
You're just, you know, and it reminds me of that verse about Ishmael in Genesis when it says that their hand was,
his hand was against every man, and every man's hand against him.
That's how some Christians live their lives.
Everything's just negative. Everything's just angry.
Everything's just upset.
And I don't even think that, you know, they come to church, and they just criticize everything.
They're upset about everything.
The pastor can't do anything right. Mr. Joe, I can't do anything right.
The staff is just completely worthless. I mean, nobody can do anything right.
But you know, the truth is, they're not negative about us.
They're just negative about their own life.
That's just the lens in which they see the whole world.
Everything's bad. Everything's negative. Nothing is good enough.
Let me tell you something. Don't be that person.
Find joy and contentment in the Lord.
Realize that the people of God should be joyful people, happy people, happy in the Lord.
Paul said it this way. You don't have to turn there in 1 Corinthians 11 and 16.
He says, But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.
There should be no custom in the Christian life of just being contentious and angry.
Look, I realize we have to earnestly contend for the faith.
Sometimes we have to stand up and fight.
Sometimes we have to stand up for the right thing and stand up for the word of God and fight the battles.
I'm all for that. I think I've proven that over the last 12 years of ministry.
But just because we're contending doesn't mean we have to be contentious, just unpleasant.
My wife will often tell the children, You're being disagreeable.
You're just upset about everything.
You're not mad about what we had for dinner because you're mad about what we had for lunch and you're mad about what we had for breakfast.
You're just mad about everything.
Let me help you out, you groan.
You're in your group counseling session right now. Let me help you out.
Learn to be agreeable.
Learn to just get along.
Learn to just be not so opinionated and so just burdened.
Everything's a big deal and everything's a big problem.
Just learn to be happy.
Say, I don't like what's for dinner.
There's going to be like 100 other dinners.
At some point, you're going to get something you like.
So just say thank you.
Thank you for serving this for me.
Thank you, Lord, for providing this meal for me.
Thank you.
The fact that there's people that I literally wish they could eat this.
Thank you.
Just learn to be agreeable.
The Christian life, you know, it's funny.
I grew up as a Christian.
I grew up in a Christian home, so I can speak from experience.
Christian kids grow up in the greatest homes and they just complain about everything.
Everything's terrible. Everything's bad.
You know what's terrible?
Having a drugged out dad.
You know what's terrible?
Having a mother who's a whore.
You know what's terrible?
Growing up just where you don't even know your dad and your whole life's miserable
and your mom's just bringing man after man into the house and they're molesting you
and they're hurting you.
That's terrible!
Your life is good!
So you say, how do you know my life is good?
If they got you here tonight, your life is good.
So be agreeable.
Be happy.
Be happy in the service of the Lord.
I'm not sure where you're at.
Go to Proverbs 13.
Look at verse 15.
Proverbs 13, 15.
Good understanding giveth favor.
And by the way, let me just tell you something.
You know that people will like you more if you're just agreeable?
I'm not talking about being a compromiser.
But on things that don't matter, just be agreeable.
What do you want to eat?
It doesn't matter.
I'm happy.
What do you want to do?
Learn to esteem others better than yourself.
Learn to prefer others before yourself.
Proverbs 13, 15.
Good understanding giveth favor.
Notice this phrase.
But the way of the transgressor is hard.
The way of the transgressor is hard.
Look, I'm not going to lie to you.
There is pleasure and sin for a season.
It's true.
But it's for a season.
And then it runs out.
And then the way of the transgressor is hard.
You don't believe me?
Go look at these homeless people.
I'm going to do what I want.
Nobody's going to tell me what to do.
The way of the transgressor is hard.
We get to live the greatest life on earth.
And even if everything goes wrong and everything goes bad
and everything works out the way we thought it was going to work out,
we get to die and go to heaven.
So you know what?
I can just be happy in the service of the King.
I can just be joyful.
I can find something to be thankful for every day.
I can find something to pray about and praise God about
and smile about every day.
Acts chapter 20, if you would.
Acts chapter 20.
Look at verse 24 while you turn there.
In Nehemiah 8, 10, here's what Nehemiah said.
He said, For the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Acts chapter 20, verse 24.
Acts 20, 24.
Notice what Paul said.
Acts 20, 24, the Bible says, But none of these things move me.
This was Paul speaking.
He said, But none of these things move me.
Neither count I my life dear unto myself,
so that I might finish my course.
Now, this is a phrase that Paul used elsewhere in 2 Timothy,
and it's a famous phrase.
When Paul said, I have finished my course,
he said, I have fought a good fight.
I have kept the faith.
He said, I have finished my course.
That's the famous one.
But I like Acts 20, 24 because he says,
I finish my course with joy.
My wife and I started buried in a Baptist church.
We were 25 years old, 12 years ago.
I'm 37 years old right now.
I could potentially pastor this church for another 40 years
if the Lord gives us health.
I'm not saying that God will allow us to do that.
I'm just saying that would be amazing.
I think it would be awesome if my wife and I could get to the point
where we started and been the pastor and the pastor's wife
of this church for 50 years.
I think that's a great goal to have.
I hope we reach that.
I want to get to that goal.
And I just, well, we got here 50 years.
I want to get there with joy.
I want to get there happy.
I don't want to get to the end of my life
and married to the same woman.
And they go, well, we got here.
Come hell or high water.
I mean, we never got a divorce.
That's not success.
I want to get to the end of this thing
and be old and be cranky because I'm old,
I've been a little cranky.
I want to get to the end of this thing
and have children that are serving God and grandchildren
that we're watching serve the Lord and great-grandchildren.
I want to see your children grow up and get married and serve God.
Hey, I want to get to the end of this thing and be happy.
Be happy in the Lord.
Be joyful in God.
Be happy in the service of the King.
She was impressed because she said these people are happy.
I've never seen this.
Look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you.
Go to Matthew, Matthew chapter 12.
I'm not going to tell you that the ministry isn't difficult.
It's hard, honestly.
This morning when we were in Fresno,
they were celebrating their one-year anniversary,
and I told them this story.
I've told you this story before.
But I was reminiscing because I was thinking
about their one-year anniversary,
and I was thinking about our one-year anniversary.
We started our church in our living room,
and we celebrated our one-year anniversary in our living room.
But to be honest with you,
I can't really remember the one-year anniversary.
I mean, I know I could go back and look and see what I preached,
and I know we gave out the mugs.
But I don't have a lot of memories of the one-year anniversary.
But I have a very distinct memory
of the first Sunday of the year right after our one-year anniversary
because we celebrated our one-year anniversary in September,
and then a few months later, it was the first of the year.
And I remember that first Sunday of that year,
the church that had sent us out, they had these banners.
Just like we have this banner,
they had banners that they would change every year and had a theme.
And one of the banners, if you've ever seen our old videos,
you'll see we had this theme.
It was from Luke where it said,
We never saw it on this fashion.
And they had given us those banners.
And I was really excited, and I put those banners up
for the first Sunday of the year.
And I was going to preach this sermon called,
We never saw it on this fashion.
And I thought it was really fitting because,
if you're familiar with the story in Luke,
it was a story where Jesus was preaching in a house.
And at the time, our church was meeting in a house.
And the story is about there were so many people in this house
that just packed out that they brought a man to be healed of Jesus,
but they couldn't get him into the house because the house was so full
that they tore up a hole in the roof,
and they brought the man down before Jesus.
Just the house was so full, and Jesus heals the man.
And it's just a wonderful story.
And I was going to preach this sermon about how,
going into this new year, they're going to say,
because they said when Jesus healed the man,
the people said, We never saw it on this fashion.
And I was going to preach this sermon about how,
We're starting, we're in this house, and we're going to reach people,
and people are going to come to this house,
and they're going to say, We never saw it on this fashion.
When they get to meet Jesus and be healed by Jesus,
and we're going to introduce him to Jesus.
And I had this whole thing. It was going to be great.
And then that first Sunday of the year goes around,
and nobody showed up.
I mean, nobody came that day.
We had people that were consistent and faithful at the time,
but, you know, it was right.
It was like the first Sunday of the year.
I mean, people were on vacation or whatever,
and we had this service, and nobody came.
Just me and my wife and my children.
And I already had planned for this because I thought,
You know, this could potentially happen.
Starting a church, in your house, trying to knock doors.
Obviously, this could happen.
Well, we have a service, and nobody's here.
So I already had told myself, If this happens,
we're just going to start on time.
We're going to sing the songs.
We're going to go through the bulletin.
We're going to do the offering.
I'm going to take that offering plate in front of my wife.
We're just going to do the whole thing.
And that's what we did.
My wife sat down.
And at the time, we had church in our living room,
and in our downstairs bedroom was our mother-baby room.
And our mother-baby room was literally just a baby monitor.
You know, like, we had a baby monitor camera on the piano,
and then we just had this, like, little TV baby monitor.
That was our mother-baby room.
And, you know, we get to the service,
and I read the text, the chapter, and I close my eyes,
and we start praying before the preaching.
And I close my eyes, and I'm praying.
And as I'm praying, I can hear my wife.
My eyes are closed because our baby started crying.
And I can hear my wife, like, trying to calm the baby down
and getting the kids together.
And I can hear, like, grabbing her bags.
And I hear her, as I'm praying, step out of the living room
and go into the mother-baby room.
And I'm thinking to myself, like,
Honey, what are you doing?
There's nobody here.
You're not going to distract anybody.
Like, you know, like, she would do that, obviously,
if there was other people there.
She didn't want the baby to distract them.
And I'm like, nobody's here.
You can stay.
You know, like, she's going to the mother-baby room.
And I'm like, what in the world?
And I remember I just, I prayed.
I said, amen.
I opened my eyes, and Miss Jovita
was just sitting right in front of me.
Miss Jovita was this little Filipino lady.
She lived down the street from us.
I knocked on her door a week before the church started.
She was at our very first service.
She was a faithful member.
You know, she ended up moving to the Philippines and whatever.
But I remember Miss Jovita had came in while I was praying.
I didn't realize it.
And the baby started crying, and she sat right next to my wife.
The baby started crying, so my wife went into the mother-baby room
to not distract Miss Jovita.
So I opened my eyes, and Miss Jovita was just right in front of me.
I said, Pastor, what did you do?
I preached.
They never saw it on this fashion.
And I preached about the house being packed and full,
and we're going to reach people,
and we're going to introduce them to Jesus,
and their lives are going to be changed,
and their marriage is going to be healed.
They're going to say, we never saw it.
I preached my whole sermon.
And I remember, you know, I finished the sermon,
and I said, Amen.
And I did what I do now.
I went to the door to greet guests on their way out.
And Miss Jovita walks up to me, and she shakes my hand.
I remember, she looks me in the eye.
I said, great sermon, Pastor.
And she walked off.
And I remember when she walked out,
I remember just kind of like, oh, what are we doing here?
This is just a failure.
I'm just telling you, the ministry has its lows.
Sometimes you're just not on the mountaintop.
But God is always good.
And you can always be happy in the service of the Lord.
You can always be happy in the service of the King.
In fact, you ought to be happy.
You should be happy if they testimony
to other people around you.
Are you there in Matthew chapter 12?
Notice our first time guest, the Queen of Sheba.
She shows up.
I showed this to you in Luke on Wednesday night,
but I'm just going to show it to you quickly.
She shows up with hard questions.
She shows up not very hopeful.
She shows up to prove, to prove Solomon.
She's got all these questions.
He ends up answering her questions,
and he answers the questions she asked.
He answers the questions she didn't ask.
He answers the questions she should have asked.
Then she starts looking around, and she's like, wow,
this is a professional program.
These people take this thing seriously.
And then she starts looking at people and saying, wow,
these people are happy.
They've got a joy.
They've got something that I just don't have.
That's how the Queen of Sheba came.
Why don't you notice how she left?
Matthew 12, 42.
The Queen of Sheba shall rise up in the judgment.
We saw this on Wednesday night, so I won't spend a lot of time
on it, but I want you to see it.
The Queen of Sheba shall rise up in the judgment.
What judgment?
The great white throne judgment.
Now, she's not at the judgment being judged.
She's there because we're all going to be there.
She's not being judged.
She's helping do the judging.
She's condemning.
The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment
with this generation and shall condemn it,
for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
And behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
You say, how do you know that Solomon asked questions
that she didn't ask?
You know how I know that?
It's because when the Queen of Sheba showed up,
she wasn't saved, but when she left, she was saved.
She came with all these questions.
She's asking Solomon all these questions, and Solomon says,
you know what?
You're asking all the right questions.
Let me answer all your questions,
but you're missing some questions.
There's some questions you should be asking, Queen of Sheba.
Let me ask you a question.
Do you know for sure if you died today,
are you on your way to heaven?
I don't know if you answered that question,
but they got into some conversation,
and she ended up getting saved because the Bible says
she's going to be at the judgment,
at the great white throne judgment,
and she's going to be condemning the people
that were rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ,
and she's going to be saying,
hey, I came from the uttermost parts of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and you ignored and rejected the Lord Jesus Christ
who's greater than Solomon.
So you say, how did the Queen of Sheba,
how did she leave?
You know how she left?
She left saved.
But that's not it.
She didn't only leave saved.
Go back to 1 Kings chapter 10.
We're almost done.
1 Kings chapter 10.
Remember, she comes with a bad attitude.
The Bible says there in verse 1,
last part of verse 1,
she came to prove Him with hard questions.
The Bible says there at the beginning of verse 7,
I believe not the word.
She said, I heard about you,
but I didn't believe it.
But when she left,
not only did she leave saved,
look at verse 5.
And the meat of His table,
and the sitting of His servants,
and the attendance of His ministers,
and their apparel, and His cupbearers,
and His ascent,
by which He went up into the house of the Lord,
there was no more spirit in her.
Not only did she leave saved,
but she left surrendered.
She came with a high spirit.
I'm going to prove Him.
I got these questions.
But when she got there,
she said, you know what?
I surrender.
There's no more spirit in her.
You know, it'd be good for some of you
to finally surrender.
I'm not talking about being saved.
You don't have to surrender anything to be saved.
But with that said,
just because you're saved
does not mean you're living a surrendered life
unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
So how do I know if I'm surrendered?
Are you taking the advice,
the counsel given to you
from the Word of God?
Are you doing what the Bible tells you to do?
She came with this apprehension,
but when she left,
there was no more spirit in her.
Why don't you notice,
she left saved.
She left surrendered.
But one last thing.
Notice there in verse 6,
she left satisfied.
Verse 6,
And she said to the king,
It was a true report
that I heard in mine own land
of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
Howbeit I believed not the words
until I came and mine eyes had seen it.
And behold, she says,
behold, the half was not told me.
Thy wisdom and prosperity
exceeded the fame which I heard.
She said,
she came to church,
she's like,
I don't know about church.
I don't know about those old hymns.
I got to sit there
and listen to some guy scream at me.
I don't know about that.
But she left
saying the half was not told me.
That was better than I expected.
I'm satisfied.
I can do something with that.
Thank you for answering the questions
that I asked
and the questions that I did not ask
and the questions that I should have asked.
She left saved.
She left surrendered.
She left satisfied.
And I hope you
will leave the same way.
Let's bow our heads
and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father,
thank you Lord for your word.
I know life can be difficult.
I get it.
Life is hard.
And there are some things
that people in this church
have gone through,
are going through,
are going to go through
that I would never minimize.
But I know like the apostle Paul
we can say
that I have learned in whatsoever state
I am therewith to be content.
Lord I pray you would help us
be right with you.
And not just serving out of duty,
but to be happy
in the service of the King.
We love you.
In the matchless name of Christ
we pray. Amen.
Now brother RJ come up and lead us
in a final song.
And of course I want to remind you
to be back with us on Wednesday night
for the Wednesday night Bible study.
On Wednesday night we're going to be back
in the book of Luke
in our verse by verse study through Luke.
And we're going to be talking about
the Christian testimony.
Your Christian testimony on Wednesday night.
So I want to encourage you to be here
as we learn that at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.
If there's anything we can do for you
please let us know.
And again I just want to say thank you
to all of you who prayed for us
as we were traveling.
Thank you to those of you that went down
to Fresno with us and came back
and been praying for the rest of the church family.
Some are still there.
They'll be coming back tonight
and maybe tomorrow.
Just pray for them
as if they have safe travels.
If there's anything we can do for you
please let us know.
Go ahead brother RJ come up
and lead us in a final song.
Hey man let's grab our song books
and turn to page number 384.
Song number 384.
We're going to be ending the service
with in the service of a king.
I'm happy in the service of a king.
Let's sing it out on the first.
I am happy in the service of a king.
I am happy oh so happy.
I have peace and joy that nothing else can bring.
In the service of a king.
Every talent I will bring.
I have peace and joy and blessing.
In the service of a king.
I am happy in the service of a king.
I am happy oh so happy.
Through the sunshine and the shadow I can see.
In the service of a king.
Every talent I will bring.
I have peace and joy and blessing.
In the service of a king.
Let's sing it out on the last.
I am happy in the service of a king.
I am happy oh so happy.
Through the sunshine and the shadow I can see.
In the service of a king.
Every talent I will bring.
I have peace and joy and blessing.
In the service of a king.
Amen. Great to see you. Before we dismiss, if anyone has questions about salvation, church members, church membership, or baptism, the pastor will be at the door. He would love to talk to you.
I have brother Matt, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer?
Amen.