Alright, we're in Deuteronomy chapter 32, and look down at your Bibles at verse 28.
It says, Therefore they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding
in them.
Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter
end.
And the title of the sermon this morning is, Considering Thy Ladder End.
Consider Thy Ladder End.
Now what does that word, ladder, mean?
It's not necessarily referring to that tool that we use to climb up buildings.
It's referring to being near, or comparatively near, to your end, or the end of your life.
And here, in the book of Deuteronomy, we see that it's a repetition of the law that Moses
had given to the people of God in Exodus.
The difference being here is that in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy also carries the blessings and
cursings.
He basically tells them, hey, you'll be blessed if you obey God in this area.
Or guess what?
You'll be cursed if you do not obey God in this area.
Let me say this.
That is very much different from what we hear from the pulpits of today.
We hear that God is happy with you at all times, He's not angry at you, you'll always
be blessed.
Whereas the Bible tells us here, and it shows us in the book of Deuteronomy, that if you
disobey God, God's wrath is on you.
If you disobey God, then He's going to discipline you, He's going to chastise you.
He will not be happy with you, and that's why He places within the scriptures in this
book the blessings and cursings of obeying Him or disobeying Him as well.
Now look back in Deuteronomy 32, look down at verse 17.
He tells them that they sacrificed unto devils and not to God, to gods whom they knew not.
To new gods they came newly up, whom your fathers feared not, of the rock that begat
thee that are unmindful, and has forgotten God that formed thee.
And when the Lord saw it, He abhorred them because of the provoking of His sons and of
His daughters.
And He said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be.
For they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God.
They have provoked me to anger with their vanities, and I will move them to jealousy
with those which are not a people.
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn into the lowest hell, and shall consume
the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap mischiefs upon them, I will spend mine arrows upon them.
They shall be burned with hunger, and deviled with burning heat, and with bitter destruction.
I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, and with the poison of serpents of the
dust.
Look, this is not a good list.
He's just driving in the point, I'm going to destroy you.
In every way imaginable.
After you'll die of hunger, you'll be burned, serpents, snakes will come and bite you and
poison you.
This is not a good thing that's taking place here.
Verse 25, the sword without and terror within shall destroy both the young man and the virgin.
The suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
I said I would scatter them into the corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease
from among men.
Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave
themselves strangely, lest they should save, our hand is high, and the Lord hath done all
this.
For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this.
Understood what?
Look, you need to consider your ways.
You need to make sure that you obey God.
You need to make sure that you obey the commandments.
Why?
Because if not, he'll destroy you.
And it says, oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider
their latter end.
So he's saying this, look, the wise person considers the latter end.
The wise person considers their last days on this earth.
How is that?
Well, they consider it by taking the right actions today.
They pay attention to their actions today, recognizing that the actions today have repercussions
tomorrow.
Their actions today have repercussions in their latter days when they are older or right
before they die.
So throughout the Bible, God gives us this cause and effect.
Go to Galatians chapter 6, Galatians chapter 6, we're just giving an introduction here.
The title of the sermon is Consider Thy Ladder Days, Thy Ladder End.
Galatians 6 verse 7 says this, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth
to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.
What is he saying there?
There's a cause and effect to everything.
We believe that if someone believes on Christ, they will never go to hell.
But you know what?
That does not mean that they will not suffer the consequences of their actions on this
earth.
And by the way, the consequences of your actions on this earth will become severe.
God will chastise you.
God will punish you.
He doesn't just spank a little bit on the bottom.
He makes sure that the chastisement that he gives you, you feel it.
He will make sure that it stings, that it hurts.
Why?
Because it's with the purpose of correcting your ways so that you would consider your
ladder end.
Now, you don't have to turn there.
Go to Ephesians chapter 5.
I'm going to read to you from Psalms 90.
You go to Ephesians chapter 5.
It says here in Psalms 90 verse 11, who knoweth the power of thine anger, even according
to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
See, a lot of teenagers and young people need to like memorize this verse here.
You know why?
Because a lot of times, young people and teenagers, they feel like they're going to live forever.
They're risk takers, but they're a little careless, and they think they're just going
to live forever.
They're like, well, I'll just start living for God.
I'll start sowing.
I'll start getting serious about the things of God in my latter years.
No, it doesn't work that way, because you know what?
Teenagers die too.
And here's the thing is, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Your ladder end could be today.
You could be living in your ladder end today.
So it's not like, well, you know, I'm making decisions now for 50 years from now.
You don't even know if you have 50.
You don't even know if you have the end of the day.
So best to make the right decisions today so that you could be blessed by God in case
this is your ladder end, okay?
The Bible says in Ephesians 5 verse 15, see then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools,
but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil, wherefore being not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
And may I say this, is that the wisdom of God is accessible to anybody.
The wisdom of God is accessible to the old person as well as the young man.
It's accessible to everyone right in the middle, so no one has an excuse why they don't have
the wisdom of God.
He says right there, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 19 and 20, hear counsel and receive instruction that
thou mayest be wise in thy ladder end.
He said, you know, I don't appreciate the sermons where you're screaming at me and you're
calling out my sin and you're getting on me.
Well, you know what?
I'm trying to instruct you.
I'm trying to give you wisdom.
Why?
So that you can be wise in your ladder end.
It helps nobody if I'm up here giving you a positive only message saying, yeah, go ahead.
Just ruin your life.
It's okay.
God is still pleased with you.
That'll destroy your life.
Better to tell you how it is, receive instruction, gain wisdom so you can be wise in your ladder
end, so you can prosper in your ladder end, so you can succeed in your ladder end.
The Bible tells us also in Job, go to Job 42, so what helps us to be wise in our ladder
end?
Counsel, instruction, and often the people who have the hardest time accepting counsel
and instruction, believe it or not, is sometimes the oldest people and sometimes the youngest
people.
Why is that?
Because I know everything.
I've already been around the block.
And you know what?
There's a lot of truth to that, but that doesn't mean you stop learning.
Amen?
And look, the Bible is inexhaustible.
It's timeless.
So it has principles.
It's quick and powerful, sharper than your two-edged sword.
We can always learn from the word of God.
It's alive.
Therefore, it can teach us things that are relevant to our lives today, even if you're
in your latter years.
But may I say this?
There's also a group of people who refuse instruction, they refuse wisdom, and those
are the young people.
How are you going to tell me what to do, you know?
I want to live my life and do whatever I want.
And what happens?
They end up suffering the consequences of their actions because they feel like they're
wise in their own eyes.
You know?
Young people, you need to mature, get wisdom, and hear instruction.
When someone's instructing you in the ways of the Lord, don't just say, well, yeah, you
may be right about that, but you know what?
I'm the exception to the rule.
No, you're not.
The Bible tells you you don't have to turn there.
Job 8, 7, though that beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
You see, we as Christians, we should have this desire that our latter end, our latter
lives would be like, you know, we're succeeding.
We finish our lives well.
We're increasing.
We're doing well.
We can look back and say, you know, I started off right, but I'm ending off right, too.
The Bible tells us in Job 42, 12, and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed
for his friends, also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Then came there unto him all his brethren and all his sisters and all they that had
been of his acquaintance before and did eat bread with him in his house, and they bemoaned
him and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.
Every man also gave him a piece of money and every one an earring of gold.
So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning, for he had 14,000
sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 sheep asses.
So what do we see with Job?
Well, Job started off right.
He went through a season of trial and tribulation, of affliction, but you know what?
He still finished off right, too.
Great example of what we as Christians should basically emulate ourselves according to.
Be like Job and say, you know, I want to start off right, no matter what happens in the middle,
I want to end off right as well.
Be just like Job.
Go to 2 Peter chapter 2.
Consider thy latter end.
A wise person considers, hey, what's going to happen when I'm not around?
What's going to happen to my children when I'm off the scene?
Don't have this Hezekiah mentality that says, well, you know, peace and truth will be in
my days, but forget the next generation.
That's wicked.
You know, the man who is wise considers the coming generation.
They make decisions based off of how it's going to affect their children in the long
run.
The Bible tells us in 2 Peter 2.19, while they promised them liberty, they themselves
are the servants of corruption, for of whom a man is overcome of the same as he brought
in bondage.
For after they had escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome.
The latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
Now, this reference is, it's talking about false prophets, but this principle could even
be applied to those who are saved.
Why?
You have Christians who start off right and they end off terrible.
They end up worse than when they started.
They start off, they get saved, they get on fire for God, King James only, they're soul
winning, they're doing well, and what happens in their latter end?
They soften up.
You know, they don't take a strong stance anymore for truth.
They don't stand up for the King James Bible.
You know, they start preaching soft sermons and they're trying to please their congregation.
What happens?
They're worse at their end than they were at the beginning.
We don't want to be that kind of Christian.
We don't want to be that kind of husband, wife, child, church member where you're starting
off great and then 50 years from now, you're just as watered down as days long.
That's an embarrassment is what it is, okay?
Go to Deuteronomy 31.
Deuteronomy 31, and look, every person who gets saved starts off right.
Why?
Because they got saved, amen?
They're saved.
They have eternal life.
They're going to heaven.
They understand the truth, but the decisions they make after that really determines their
success here on this earth because success doesn't happen by osmosis.
It doesn't even happen when you come to the right kind of church.
You know, God can provide you all the assets and resources necessary for you to succeed
in your Christian life, but if you don't apply it to your personal life, you ain't getting
nothing.
You know, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Yet not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
You know, in order for us to succeed, we need to make sure we have character, discipline,
that we apply the principles that we're learning and consistently do them.
But not only that, don't be double-minded.
The Bible tells you, you don't have to turn there, Deuteronomy 8, verse 16, who fed thee
in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee and that
he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end.
So God is telling us here that he tested the children of Israel.
You know, he proved them, he tested them.
Why?
So he can basically bless them in their latter end.
And a lot of times, Christians, they get saved, they get into church, and they go through
some persecution, or they go through some sort of trial, and what happens?
They get out of church.
When God was allowing that trial into their lives, what, to make them better?
Don't run away from problems.
Don't be a snowflake.
Yesterday, we had a men's activity, and we played volleyball.
And I thought, volleyball?
And I tell them, I'm like, look, we do a lot of trash talking when we play volleyball.
Very offensive trash talking.
And if I catch anyone wincing at the trash talking, I tell them, I'm like, you need some
thicker skin.
Don't be a little snowflake, right?
Don't be a little snowflake.
You need to toughen up a little bit.
Because if you fold in a volleyball game with trash talking, woe unto you when the sodomites
come.
Woe unto you when your family is getting on you.
That's good training grounds, amen?
These guys are just getting mad at each other and stuff like that.
And the family from Verity was here, and I said, look, we're not like this on Sunday,
right?
On Sunday, they're like, shoulder bumping and stuff.
We get along great.
But during that time, I say, hey, you know, and by the way, trash talking makes the game
interesting, right?
It would be a horrible game if we're playing, and you're like, that was a good shot, brother.
And it's just like your opposing team member.
Great job, man.
You know, we're all winners here, aren't we?
No, you're a loser.
By the way, I lost, all right?
And I accept it, but I want a rematch.
You know, you need to make sure, we don't have consolation prizes here.
And by the way, God doesn't have consolation prizes either.
Either you obey God, and you get the reward, or you don't get it.
Ye shall be saved, yet so as by fire, the Bible tells us.
There's no consolation prize there.
Well, what about salvation?
Salvation is not a prize that you earn, okay?
It's a gift that God gives to you.
And after that, God allows you to earn rewards, but you know what?
There's no consolation prize, and it's like, well, you know, you were in that church.
You did it right, so I guess we'll give you a little something.
No, there is no a little something after that, okay?
So we got to consider our latter end.
Look at Deuteronomy 31, verse 29.
I'm sorry, I went off on a tangent.
What I'm talking about here is that, you know, there's trials in life.
You know what trials do?
They toughen you up.
They give you thick skin.
Don't run away from problems.
Don't run away from trials and tribulations.
Why?
Because it makes you stronger, all right?
Now look at Deuteronomy 31, verse 29 says, For I know that after my death ye will utterly
corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you, and evil will
befall you in the latter days, because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to
provoke him to anger throughout the works of your hands.
This is sad.
Moses is telling them, look, I know when I'm gone, you guys are going to screw it all up.
You guys are going to corrupt yourselves.
I mean, how unspiritual and immature do you have to be that when the leader is not there,
your authority is gone, you just go to the devil?
You know, it ought to be said that we do right, not just in the presence of our authority,
but also much more in their absence, okay?
That means, hey, you act like a Christian when you come to church, but guess what?
When you're home, you're a Christian.
You act like a Christian when you're at church, but you also act like a Christian when you're
at work, okay?
You ought to have the same character here as you have at your job, at home, wherever
it may be, but here we see that evil will befall them in their latter years.
Why?
Because the leader's not there.
Look, that is true even in the midst of, what about your children?
When the mom and dad are gone, they die, they go home to be with the Lord.
How are your children going to behave themselves when you're gone?
You know, thinking about that will help you make the right decisions today, like chastising
your children, okay, disciplining your children, so that when you're gone, you train up the
child in the way it should go, and when they are old, they will not depart from it.
But you know, the careless parent, the one who doesn't consider the latter end, doesn't
consider those things, and therefore, they lose their children in the latter end, okay?
Look, who's an example of this?
Saul.
Saul's a perfect example of this.
You know, Saul, you know, he started off right, but he ended off bad.
He was, even to the point where he was going to a witch for counsel.
Solomon is also an example of this.
Go to 1 Kings chapter 11.
He said, well, what about, you know, Saul, I mean, weren't his kids living for God?
They died with him.
Samuel came to him and said, thou and thy son shall be with me tomorrow.
You know?
He said, but Saul committed suicide.
Yeah, but if he wouldn't have committed suicide, the Philistines would have came and killed
him anyways, because God sent them to kill him.
So him and his sons died dishonorably, okay?
You don't want to end your life dishonorably.
Consider your latter end.
1 Kings 11.
Now, Solomon's a great example of this, or a bad example of this, because Solomon started
off right.
He was a very humble man.
And look, in Solomon's days, there was no war, okay?
His dad had fought all the wars, and in his time, there was a time of peace.
And because he was, in a sense, immature, he asked God to give him a wise and understanding
heart to judge his people.
He's very humble.
And God gave him wisdom.
He gave him understanding.
He gave him all these things, and on top of that, he gave him riches.
He prospered him greatly because of that, because he was humble.
But what happened in his latter end?
He didn't end it off right.
Look at 1 Kings 11, verse 1 says, it says, but King Solomon loved many strange women.
He said, what's a strange woman?
Well, listen to the sermon, my sermon last week on She is Loud and Stubborn.
And I pretty much go into great detail what a strange woman is, okay, if you don't know
who that is.
It says, but King Solomon loved many strange women.
So he just didn't like one.
With the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians,
and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord sent unto the children of Israel,
ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will
turn away your heart after their gods.
Solomon clave unto these in love.
You see, he was supposed to leave and cleave unto his wife.
He left and cleaved unto many wives.
And these wives ended up turning his heart away from God in his latter end.
Look what it goes on to say, verse 4.
For it came to pass when Solomon was old, what does that mean?
That's near the end, right?
That his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect
with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination
of the Ammonites.
And Solomon did evil on the side of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord as David
his father.
Then did Solomon build in high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that
is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.
And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrifice unto their
gods.
And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of
Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing,
that they should not go after other gods, but he kept not that which the Lord commanded.
And when did that happen?
When he was old.
He started off great.
The wisest man, he gave us the book of Proverbs.
But what happened?
He didn't even take his own advice that he wrote in the book of Proverbs.
He gave us Proverbs 2, 5, 6, and 7, talking about the strange woman.
He told his son, hey, stay away from that strange woman.
Let's not after her beauty.
He gave many admonitions to his son, yet he himself didn't even follow his own instructions.
And his heart turned away from that.
By the way, that goes to show that even if you believe right today, it doesn't mean you're
going to believe right in your latter end.
That's why repetition is key.
You always talk about the faggots and all this stuff.
Yeah, because repetition is key.
Because if not, you might forget by next week.
Hopefully not that soon, amen.
But that's why we repeat these things over and over and over.
And you're going to hear them over and over again for the next 20 and 50 years.
Why?
Because we forget.
I mean, Solomon wrote an entire book, chapters dedicated to this strange woman who's a whore,
and yet he went after many of them.
And look, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
So he basically, my father-in-law used to say this.
What you do in moderation, your children will do in excess.
What David did in moderation, Solomon did in excess.
He went after one strange woman, Solomon went after many strange women.
Consider thy latter end.
Go to Joshua chapter 14, Joshua chapter 14.
So this principle is important that we consider the end of our lives, that we consider our
latter end.
Why?
Because it really determines the actions and the decisions that we make today.
And look, this really applies to everyone, but it really hits home for young people.
Because if you don't die today, which hopefully you don't, if you don't die in the next 10
years or 20 years, Lord willing, you don't, you have a lot of potential to make a lot
of good decisions to have a successful future.
But on the other side, the flip side of that coin is this, is that you can make a lot of
stupid decisions that'll destroy your life.
If you're 18, 19, 20, you can make the stupidest decisions that will affect you for the rest
of your life.
You will spend the next 20 years picking up the pieces of the mistakes that you made.
And look, there's people in our church who have made mistakes, and if you don't believe
me, go talk to them.
And they agree with me on this point.
They'll tell you, yeah, don't make the same mistakes that I made.
So don't be, don't have this haughty spirit that says, well, I know everything, I'm fine
where I'm at.
No, take heed unto wisdom and instruction to judgment.
Learn from the reproofs of life, not yours, but the reproofs of other people's lives.
The mistakes that they've made and say, I don't want to do that.
I want to be successful.
I want to prosper.
I want to live right for the Lord.
I want to finish off correctly.
So let me give you some points here regarding this principle.
Number one, don't regress in your latter end.
Don't regress in your latter end.
Deuteronomy 34 says that Moses was 120 years old when he died.
His eye was not dim, and his natural force, nor his natural force abated.
Now this is physically talking about Moses that even in his latter end, he was still
strong.
Now how many of you feel like you're starting to lose your sight a little bit?
Like you can't really see, you probably need glasses.
Be honest.
Anybody like that?
Okay.
So you know what?
Man, you're young.
Really?
I'm just kidding.
You know, he was saying, look, my eyes were not dim, 20-20 vision.
His natural force was not abated.
That means he was as strong when he was young as he was when he was later on in his life.
Spiritually speaking, that's how we should be.
Well, we're not blind in our latter years.
We can make good judgment and good decisions, spiritually speaking.
But knowing that, our natural force is not abated either.
We're not weak in our latter end.
We become stronger in our latter end, spiritually.
Now a good example of this is Caleb.
Look at Joshua 14, verse 9.
And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land where on thy feet have trodden shall
be thine inheritance, and thy children's forever.
Because that was holy fall of the Lord my God.
And now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even
since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the
wilderness.
And now lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old.
As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me, as my strength
was then, even so is my strength now.
For what?
For war.
Amen.
Both to go out and to come in.
Verse 12, Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day.
For thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great
and fenced.
If so be the Lord will be with me, then I will be able to drive them out, as the Lord
said.
So he's in his 80s.
And in his 80s, he's like, my strength, the way it was when I was young, I still got that
same strength today.
And it's not like he was just strong just for the sake of being strong.
He goes, no, to go to war.
You see, we want to make sure that in our latter years, we're still fighting.
We're still going to war.
Oh, you know, that was in my glory days.
My glory days are today.
My glory days, so what about in 20 years?
Those will be my glory days too.
The glory days don't finish.
I want my strength, spiritually speaking, to be even stronger in my latter years.
Because right now I have physical strength, but you know what?
As I grow older, I begin to have wisdom strength.
Couple those two together, you can do great things for God.
So I want to be strong in my latter years.
For what?
Just so you can be strong?
For what?
So we can fight and go to war.
Man, but when are you going to get tired?
When are you going to stop fighting in the millennial reign?
I got a thousand year vacation, amen?
We got a thousand years to just hang out, be the boss, and judge cities.
You know, we have a thousand years, and to eat meat, just have to throw that in there,
you know?
We have a thousand years to basically just reap the rewards of the wars.
We get to reap the spoils in the millennial reign from the wars here in this lifetime.
But here's the thing is, a lot of people don't think that way, and in fact, you know, in
their latter years they start like regressing, they start deteriorating in their latter years.
You know, they put it on cruise control, all right?
Now, go to Jude.
You see, Christians will spend their entire life going forward, and then they just put
it in cruise control of their latter years, or they just begin to destroy that which they
built up.
Look at Jude 1, verse 20 says, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
So it says there, man, you need to build yourself up.
The problem is this, is that Christians, they stop building.
You know, oh, you know, I already lived a successful Christian life in my 20s, and when
I was a teenager, and in my 30s, no, keep building now.
It's just building up yourselves, it doesn't give you an age factor.
It doesn't say building up yourselves, teenagers, or just, you know, young adults, or if you're
in your 30s, everyone, building up yourselves on your most holy faith.
It goes on to say, verse 22, And if some have compassion, making a difference, and
others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted
by the flesh, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God,
our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.
Amen.
Well, when is he presenting you in your latter end?
When your latter end is over, that's when he presents you.
But you know what?
Before that, you need to make sure you're actually doing something for God.
Now, this reminds me a lot of pastors who, they started off right.
Yeah, I'm going there, okay?
They started off correctly.
They were strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
King James only, soul winning, preaching against the homos.
But what do we see in their latter years?
They're a part of Snowflake Ministries now, where they want to love everyone and they
stop fighting.
In fact, not only do they stop fighting, they start fighting those who are actually fighting.
Embarrassment.
And we use their younger years as an example of how it should be.
And yet, all of a sudden, they get in their 50s and 60s and whatever, and then they just
stop fighting.
And they get mad at those who are fighting.
Pastors will spend a lifetime building up for God and then spend their latter years
just tearing everything down.
So they're all about soul winning, and then later on, they're like, well, it's all about
track drops.
Soul winning doesn't really work anymore.
What about those last 20 years?
When you're actually winning people to Christ, did it not work then?
Well, you know, it's outdated.
Soul winning is never outdated.
Are you talking about building a church or are you talking about seeing people saved?
Where are your intentions?
What's your goal?
If your goal is to build a church, yeah, maybe soul winning doesn't work, but you know, soul
winning works for seeing souls saved.
It's always worked for that.
So they'll spend their lifetime building up.
They preach these great sermons and hard-on-sin, and they inspire and provoke the next generation
to be what they were in their younger years.
Then when we become what they were, they're like, then they spend the rest of their ministry
tearing us down, calling us sheep stealers.
These guys are sheep stealing.
You cannot steal.
Let me just park it here for a second.
You can't steal well-fed sheep.
If you don't want your sheep to come to my church, then stop feeding them spiritual tofu.
You know, stop giving them sermons full of soy.
I'm not stealing anybody.
I don't have a list of people who I call and say, hey, you need to come to my church.
You know, I don't do that.
If they come here and they keep coming back, it probably means that they're being fed
fairly well, and it probably means that you're not feeding them very well.
So here, this is what you do, pastor.
Start ripping face from the pulpit, teach doctrine, and maybe they'll go back.
You cannot steal well-fed sheep.
That's what people say.
That's what they say since this church has started.
Oh, he's just a sheep stealer.
No, you're just a garbage cook for a pastor.
That's just it.
I mean, can we be honest here?
You need to make sure that you're feeding your sheep.
And look, the Bible's an interesting book.
There's a lot of interesting, very, a lot of good doctrine here that if you just touch
on it, people would stay in your church.
Even if you want to be pre-driven Zionists, as long as you teach some good doctrine, people
will probably stay.
That was free.
But then what do they do instead?
They start tearing down the other cooks who are feeding filet mignon sermons.
You know, tearing down those who stand for truth, tearing down those who have convictions.
Okay?
And look, what I mean, when I talk about don't regress in your latter years, I'm talking
about you need to keep growing.
And look, you need to change.
You see, this catchphrase that I hear all the time is, Bruce, you've changed.
You've changed.
Yeah, I have.
For the better.
You're supposed to change for the better.
Do you see smoke and purple lights here?
You see, you know, the faggoty song leader up here with the skinny jeans leading the
worship?
No.
What do we see in your church?
What's that?
So when the Bible tells us to change, because by the way, Romans 12 tells us to change,
to be transformed, right?
That means to change.
That means to change for the better.
Yeah, but you know, you didn't used to hate people.
Yeah, but guess what?
Now I grew, and now I do, okay?
That means I grew.
That means I changed.
But see, here's the thing.
What God doesn't want you to do is change for the worse.
Where you used to be hardcore, you used to be zealous for the things of God, you used
to hate the things that God hates, and guess what?
Now you're just like, well, you know, I was wrong back then.
You know?
I met a guy, and he lived in the apartment complex where I lived, and he moved out already,
but he was telling me, he said, you know, I got saved years ago, and he goes, I used
to be on fire for God.
And I was like, really?
And he told me, it was a Baptist church that he went to.
And then he said, he says, yeah, I was just like you, man.
He said, I was just like you.
And he goes, I remember when I first got saved, he goes, I hated everything.
I hated everything.
And he talked about everything that's wicked, and he goes, but it's not like that anymore.
You know what that is?
That's someone who regressed, okay?
That's not what we want, to deteriorate.
You know, they think that changing, what they say is when you say like, you know, you need
to change for the better, that means you need to get softer.
You need to become more sissy-like.
You need to love the homos.
That's what they mean.
When they say, you know, oh, you've changed, it means like, you're not like one of us,
these sissy snowflake aristocratic Christians, you know, who just loves everyone.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 24, they that forsake the law praise the wicked, but such
as keep the law, contend with them.
So the Bible tells us when you forsake, how do you know you forsook the law?
If you're praising the wicked?
If you're praying for the homos and want them to come to your church, that means you
forsook the wicked.
And then it says there, but those that keep the law are those who contend with them.
What does contend mean?
You fight.
You're constantly fighting.
You're preaching hard sermons against them.
So who's keeping the law and who isn't?
Well just listen to the sermons and you'll find out.
They begin to degenerate.
They're regressing in their latter end.
Now what else do they do?
What does it look like when you're regressing?
Well you start depending on your past victories, you know.
This last year was a great year for Faith Ward Baptist Church of L.A.
You know we're close to, I think within the next two weeks or week and a half, we're going
to hit 2,000 souls.
And praise God for that.
But you know what?
I'm looking towards the future because in the future there's going to be tens of thousands
of souls.
And in 10 years I'm not going to be looking back and say, hey remember when we used to
go soul winning?
Remember when we used to go to Compton and see people saved and stuff?
No I'm going to be like, yeah that was great but you know what, there's something better
happening next week.
You got to look forward.
You can't dwell on past victories.
And you talk to any of these pastors who are kind of straddling the fence whether to be
our friends or not, they'll say this, well look man, I agree with you.
I mean you know I used to preach hard against the homos.
You know I used to do that and I used to do this.
I used to, yeah you're used to be here.
I used to be here.
Used to be your Baptist church.
Go to the place where they used to do all those things.
And all their sermons are all the same illustrations that they always use about the same person
they went to the Lord 20 years ago.
What about new illustrations?
What about the new fights?
Don't have them.
Why?
Because you're living in the past.
This is Philippians 3, 13, brethren I count on myself to have apprehended but this one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things
which are before.
We often apply that verse when something bad has happened in our past.
But you know what?
We ought to also forget even the good things that happened because if we don't then that
can actually restrain us from doing great works in the future.
I already did my part.
I already did my good works.
I already was zealous for the Lord.
No you know what, you need to forget those things which are behind and do greater works
in the future.
Okay, reach your potential.
Let's see here.
So how can you keep yourself from regressing because that's not what we want.
I don't want to regress.
I don't want to start like you know watering down in my latter years.
How can we keep from doing that?
Go to Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter 10.
How can you keep from regressing?
Well number one is add knowledge to your zeal.
Add knowledge to your zeal.
Look at Romans 10 verse 1 says,
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge.
And look, sometimes people when they first get saved they're very zealous for the things
of God, aren't they?
But they don't have knowledge because they haven't read their Bibles, they don't know
too much about the Lord, they don't know a lot about the word of God.
But they're very zealous for the things of God.
Well, if you're going to keep being zealous, if you're going to keep going forward for
God and doing great works, you need to add knowledge to that zeal.
What does that mean?
You need to start reading the Bible.
I hate homos, but have you read the Bible yet?
I'm post-trip, but have you read it from cover to cover?
Because if you didn't, then it doesn't matter.
Because you haven't even read the Bible through once.
Add knowledge to your zeal.
Don't forsake zeal.
Don't abandon zeal.
You just need to add knowledge to your zeal, okay?
You see, I'm thankful that I'm more zealous today than I was when I first got saved 11
years ago.
When I first got saved, I was zealous, I was excited for the things of God, but I can say
with 100% assurance that I'm more zealous today at 32 years of age than I was when I
was 21 years old when I first got saved.
Why?
Because I added knowledge to my zeal.
And if you want to stay excited or even get more excited in your latter years, you need
to learn the Bible.
It's okay to have zeal, but you need to add knowledge to your zeal.
And the problem with the former generation is that they were zealous, but guess what?
They stopped growing.
They weren't reading the Bible.
They felt like they knew everything there was to know about the Bible.
At the March, I mentioned this on Thursday, at the March of the Zion Conference, I was
talking to Pastor Anderson, and we're talking about languages right now.
And he's really on languages, and I'm studying languages, and we're just conversing about
that topic.
And he was telling me, he said, you know, he said, Brother Mejia, anyone can get to
a point where they just feel like they already know the Bible.
He goes, I've read the Bible scores of times, and I've gotten to a point where I feel like
I'm reading the Bible, and I'm like, I already know this.
And he said, but you know what?
We don't know the entire Bible, and we need to keep reading the Bible because we'll forget
these things.
And he goes, and you always learn something new.
And he said, I learn new languages just so I can read the Bible in that language.
And it keeps my walk with God just exciting and alive and current, and it just allows
it to thrive, you know?
And he said, you need to figure out what you need to do when you start getting bored with
the Bible, because you will get bored with the Bible.
You need to figure out what you have to do to light a fire under your hindraparts to
keep reading the Bible, okay?
But here's the thing.
I'm sure the majority of us are not there yet.
So right now, guess what?
You just need to read the Bible.
I hate homos, and I'm post-trib, and the Jews are the sons of the devil, amen to all of
that.
But have you read the Bible?
Have you added knowledge to your zeal?
And look, I'll take a guy who's zealous over a guy who only has knowledge any day, okay?
If a guy only has knowledge, but he's just looking down on those who are zealous and
they hate homos and stuff, you know, give me the zealous guy.
But you know, more so than that, I'll take the guy who has knowledge with zeal.
Because not only are you excited about the things of God, you know what you're talking
about.
You're screaming at the top of your lungs because you know what you're talking about
and you can show people from the Bible.
You know, make sure you add knowledge to your zeal, grow in knowledge.
Go to 2 Peter chapter 1.
2 Peter chapter number 1.
It should be that as you get older in the Lord, that you learn more.
And don't ever get to a point where you think you know everything.
Always come to church with an open mind, willing to learn something new.
And if you feel like you didn't learn anything new, thank God that something was reinforced
of something that you already believed.
Reinforcing, learning something new.
Reinforcing the old, learning something new.
That ought to be the balance when you come to church is that you're constantly learning
and reinforcing that which you've already learned.
Because what are you reinforcing?
Something that was new to you, you know, a year ago.
That's being reinforced.
And if it's not being reinforced, then guess what?
You just learned something new.
But the goal is to constantly be learning.
And God can give you a platform through which you can learn something.
He can give you a great church, people who know the Bible, soul winning, all these things.
But it's really up to you if you're going to really apply those things.
Well, I'm here and, you know, I'm part of Faith and War Baptist Church.
But are you learning?
Are you growing?
Or are you making the same stupid decisions that you made last time that caused you to
fail in your Christian life?
Something's got to change.
You know, insanity, they said, is doing the same thing the exact same way and expecting
different results.
Don't be insane.
You know, something's got to change.
So look what the Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 1.
We need to keep adding to our faith.
Verse 2 says, Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and
of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain
unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue,
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world
through lust.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge
and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to
godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye should neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten
that he was purged from his old sins.
What is he saying there?
If you're not adding to your spiritual life, you're regressing.
You're subtracting is what you're doing.
Don't subtract.
Add.
And once you add, guess what begins to happen?
You begin to multiply, okay?
You need to keep growing no matter what stage of life you're in.
And look, you know, maybe 2018 was not a good year for you.
But 2019 is right around the corner.
You know, you're like, I didn't finish reading my Bible or whatever.
Okay.
Well, 2019 is right around the corner.
You're gonna give out some Bible reading schedules, you know, for you to read through
your Bible in a year or two times in a year.
Okay.
You can start over again.
But don't just like throw up your hands and just give up.
You know, don't regress going forward.
A lot of problems with these pastors and Christians of different churches is that they just throw
up their hands.
Well, they can't win against the homeless because now they can get married.
So what does that have to do?
What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
She's just gonna throw up your hands and just start welcoming in church because now they
can get married?
That's retarded.
You know, let the world change.
Let them do whatever they want.
Don't let your church change.
Keep growing, keep adding, keep doing that which is right on the side of the Lord.
First Corinthians, go to First Corinthians chapter three.
So how do you keep from regressing?
You need to keep adding to your faith.
And look, this sermon should be applied today.
Apply the sermon today.
Don't leave saying, man, that was a great sermon.
And just continue in your ways or whatever.
Oh, that was good, man.
Paperwork is so cool.
Apply it.
Apply the wisdom, apply the knowledge, apply it so you can succeed, so you can prosper.
You know, don't come back next week and say, man, what was that that was preached last
week?
You know, what was I supposed to do again?
Subtract?
He said something about math.
It was a sermon on math.
Apply it today.
Don't wait till tomorrow.
So keep adding, keep building as well.
Look at First Corinthians 3 11 says, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid
which is Jesus Christ.
For if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble.
The work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed
by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he hath built there upon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved,
yet so as by fire.
So this passage of scripture is teaching us that our foundation for salvation is Jesus
Christ.
We lay that proper foundation.
We get saved.
It's by faith alone.
We have the right foundation.
Now we need to begin to build there upon.
That's by doing good works.
That's what the Bible tells us to be careful to maintain what?
Good works.
You say, where should I start?
You can start by soul winning.
Well, I don't know how to soul win.
Then go out as a silent partner and learn how to soul win so you can start building
there upon.
You don't want to get to heaven and be like, man, I only have the foundation.
I didn't get to build anything.
You know, I want to make sure I have a skyscraper when I get to heaven.
You know, and build, build, build so you don't regress.
You know, because if you're building, you're not regressing.
You're focused and you have goal, you're goal oriented.
And I ask this almost every week, but what are you doing this week?
You have some goals this week.
You have some plans.
You have some things, some aspirations to do something this week that's productive.
You know, don't just sit on your lazy rear end, play video games and watch TV.
You need to go do something productive with your life.
You need to go build there upon.
Well, I don't know where to start.
Learn something.
Be productive.
Learn something.
Look, if you're a silent partner and you don't know how to soul win yet, spend this week
memorizing verses.
Spend this week practicing with your spouse.
Win her to the Lord.
Win your husband to the Lord.
You know, it may sound silly, but hey, you know what?
You're building there upon.
You're like, you know what?
By next week, I want to have the Roman's road memorized and then some.
I want to be able to have my introduction down by the time I come soul winning next
time.
Okay?
You want to make sure that you're doing something productive so you can be successful in your
Christian life.
So keep building.
So keep adding, keep building.
And this is a really important one.
Keep fighting.
Now who are you fighting?
You're fighting the world, the flesh, and the devil.
But look, you need to keep fighting, not just the world, but believe it or not, sometimes
we have to fight this castrated Christianity, okay?
This soft Christianity that wants to castrate the men, spiritually speaking, and just render
them useless, trying to remove their stones, you know, so that they don't fight.
They think they've, oh, you're in the flesh.
Yeah, I'm in the flesh.
This is my flesh.
I'm here.
But I can be spirit filled in the flesh, okay?
And the spirit is provoking me to make sure that I fight for the right doctrines, that
I have a fighting spirit within me.
Whereas Christianity today is like, oh, you know, you have a mean spirit.
You know, I have the Holy Spirit, okay?
And you need to go ahead and study what the Holy Spirit says to your holy man of God in
the Bible.
You need to study Romans 11 when he quotes David, who's filled with the Holy Spirit,
cursing the Jews, asking God that he would not let them be saved.
You know, I would think that if the Holy Spirit walked into some of these churches, the pastor
would be like, hey, you're not filled with the Spirit.
You're not acting like the Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit.
You know?
Well, no, you know what it is, is they have a wrong perspective of who the Holy Spirit
is.
They think he's like Casper the Ghost or something, who's nice to everyone and nothing but, no,
read the Bible.
You know?
The Bible tells us that the word of God is the Spirit.
This is the, these are the things that he's saying.
Cursing people, fighting, have a fighting spirit.
You know, our church, I want to make sure that we have this atmosphere.
Look, by the way, I'm not saying don't be nice.
Be kind to people.
And you need to learn the balance, right?
When you're not soul winning, be nice to people.
Don't argue with people, okay?
Be kind to them.
Be nice.
Don't get into arguments.
Don't put people down.
You know, if you run into someone who's like a Repent of Your Sins or a Jehovah's Witness,
just move on and curse them under your breath, amen?
But, we need to be nice to people when we're out soul winning, kind, nice.
Put a smile on your face when you go talk to people.
Because, look, we're not winning people just to say, all right, I got three, I got four.
We're winning people because we love people.
We love souls.
We don't want that person who's at the door to go to hell.
And it ought to be that if they reject you, it ought to break your heart is what it ought
to do.
There ought to be a sense of grief that you feel when you walk away from that door thinking,
man, I wish that person would have gotten saved, you know.
Maybe hopefully we could come back and knock on their door.
It's not like, pfft, I showed them.
Heretic.
No.
Be nice to them.
Now some dude comes up in here, tries to spread false doctrine and heresy, yeah, at that point
the story changes.
Because the church is for believers.
Church is for saved people, okay.
We're trying to get the unsaved out there, give them the gospel, get them saved.
But let's be nice out there.
But let's keep that fighting spirit.
Don't in your latter years look back and, you know, oh, man, I used to be such a troublemaker
back then and, you know, I was dumb and, no, that was when you were actually spirit-filled,
you know.
Solomon who your heart has turned away from the Lord, you know, think, look in the Bible
and look at all these times that God praises people who did crazy things like Phinehas
who made shish kebab out of an Israelite and a woman because he was fornicating with her.
He was like, give me a second, I'll go take care of this, grab the javelin and thrust
them through.
And what did God say?
He said, I'm going to keep the plague, I'm going to take away the plague for Phinehas
because he was zealous for my sake.
You see God come down and say, whoa, Phinehas, that was a little politically incorrect.
That was a little mean-spirited there, you know.
You're in the flesh there.
No, he's like, you know what, I'm going to spare these millions of people here because
of you because you're zealous for my sake, okay.
And I'm sure there are people that, hey, man, that was, you could have dealt with that a
little better.
Why don't you have a counseling appointment with them and meet with them on a regular
basis, you know, until they get married three years later, you know.
No, he was just like, you guys are dead and that's it.
And God blessed him because of that, okay.
So we need to keep fighting, right.
And you know, I'd rather have a guy who I kind of have to pull the reins a little bit
because he's a little too mean than someone who's just not mean enough or just like, you
know, you need to like get going, man, you know.
Look, in a kickboxing or a boxing match, you never win being passive, right.
Never win being passive.
You never win.
You never win blocking.
You know how you win by knocking them out.
That's how you win.
So we want to be the knockout church where we're always fighting.
And even in our latter years, you say, well, you know, I'm not going to have the strength
I have in my latter years, but we could be strong in the Lord and in the power of his
might.
Why?
Because we could read the Bible over and over and over.
We'll become more wise in our latter years, okay, and it'll help us.
Now go to, go to Proverbs 22.
Spend a lot of time on that.
I need to breeze through some of these points here.
Number two, consider the latter end of your children, and I mentioned some of that already.
Proverbs 22 verse six says, train up a child, 22 verse six, train up a child in the way
he should go.
And when he is old, what is that referring to?
Their latter end.
When he is old, he will not depart from it.
And I already mentioned this, but it's worth mentioning again.
The decisions we make today will determine our children's future tomorrow, okay.
You know, oh, you guys just want to do this integrated church just because of X, Y, and
Z.
We're doing it for their latter end.
The latter end of the children who are in these Sunday school type churches, you know
what they're going to want in these junior church type churches?
Their latter end is going to be filled with liberalism.
That's what it's going to be filled with.
You know, singing stupid songs and all these things.
These are just adult stupid songs in these liberal churches.
But the Bible tells us in 3 John 1, 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth.
You know, my goal as a father is that my son would be more zealous than I am when he's
older.
That you would win more souls to Christ than I would.
Don't you want your son to be a pastor?
I don't care if he's a pastor or not.
I just want him to love the Lord.
I want him to see souls saved, and I want him to please the Lord when I'm gone.
You know, I want to lay a good foundation for my son so that when I'm gone, he can take
care of himself, spiritually speaking.
He knows what he believes.
Because look, in the heart of every parent, we think about those things.
And if you're not, you know, sometimes we worry about those things.
Man, what's going to happen to my children when I'm gone?
Well, you need to start making right decisions today so that when you're gone, he's A-OK.
She's A-OK.
Put him in the right hands of a man who wants to marry her or he marries the right girl
and they just live for the Lord and they hold strong to those convictions.
But remember, what you do in moderation, they're going to do in excess.
OK?
Now, I'm going to skip some things here for the sake of time.
Go to Deuteronomy, or excuse me, go to 2 Timothy, chapter 4, and look, there's tons of examples
of dads in the Bible who just messed it up for their children.
You know, Eli, Eli produced reprobates.
You want to know who's the saddest dad in history?
Simon.
You know who Simon is?
He's the father of Judas.
Remember this, Judas had a dad.
Judas had parents.
And he's probably burning in the lowest hell.
I mean, he grew up in this God-centered, biblically-centered society and his son wasn't even saved.
The saddest parent in history is Simon, who's the father of Judas Iscariot.
You know, you don't want to be like Simon.
You know, the most important thing in your life to your children should be, number one,
that they get saved.
You know, pray for their, I pray for my sons and my children's salvation every single day.
I want them to get saved.
But after that, you know, I want them to live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord.
But that doesn't happen by osmosis.
It happens through purposeful training.
Now, number three, your ladder end is an example to others.
Just keep that in mind.
Your ladder end is an example to others.
Look at 2 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 7.
I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto them also that love his
appearing.
So what do we see here is that Paul the apostle is finishing off his life right.
And for thousands of years, we've used his ladder end as an example of how we should
live our lives.
You know, it should be that the older people in our church, hey, finish right.
I'm thankful to God that we have people in our church who are older, okay, they're older
than me obviously, but they're much older in their years.
And guess what?
They have not changed.
You know what grieves me is when older Christians condemn the younger guys.
But what blesses my soul is when someone who's the equal years of those people agree with
me.
In fact, they're excited about soul winning.
They hate homos as much as I do.
They love the truth.
They love hard preaching.
And they're finishing off their years right.
You know, I think of, I think of a brother Perry, look, I'm not calling you old, right,
brother Perry?
Hey, I'm thankful that I can't preach a sermon hard enough.
Or he's just like, that was good.
That was great.
I like that.
You know, I think of a Dr. Rita back there.
You know, who if the Bible, if the Bible allowed it, she'd probably be saying amen most of
the time.
She does this a lot.
She has to like restrain herself from saying amen.
I'm thinking, I thank God for that.
There's someone in their latter years supports the younger preachers.
And they agree with them.
What is it?
They're like Paul, who they have not changed in their latter years.
They are what these other pastors and Christians in their latter years could have been.
They could have been the examples.
We look to these people as examples, because they're part of that generation.
So don't give me this, well, you know, you guys are different than us.
They're just like us.
And they're in your same generation as well.
They learn the same exact things.
They have not changed.
In fact, guess what, they've gotten better.
They didn't use their age as an excuse to say, well, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not
gonna grow anymore.
No, they're still growing.
They're still learning.
And we're blessed to have them in our church.
I think of brother Eddie.
Where's brother Eddie?
Is he here?
I saw him here somewhere.
There he is.
Thank you, brother Eddie.
Brother Eddie, man, he's jealous for the things of God.
That is a treasure of jewels right there, of knowledge.
I enjoy talking to brother Eddie, and he, like, we had Spanish night on Friday.
And he was sitting right there, you know, just, and after the service, after, I preached
on reprobates in Spanish.
And after church, he was like, you did a great job, because he's really excellent in Spanish.
And he goes, but here are the words you need to work on.
He's like, you pronounced this wrong, and he had, like, a long list, you know.
He's all, but other than that, it was great, you know.
You know, some other people would be like, no, you know what I was like, I was like,
yeah, tell me what I need to fix, because I want to be better.
I want to be a better preacher in Spanish.
I want to be a better Christian.
And so how is that going to happen?
I need to utilize those who have more wisdom than I do.
More wisdom to make me better.
He's not my enemy.
He's helping me actually become better.
But you know what?
That's what happens when a man or a woman, they stay in the way, and they keep growing.
They don't change for the worse.
They change for the better.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16, 31, the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found
in the way of righteousness.
You need to respect your elders.
Yeah, I will if they are found in the way of righteousness.
I can't believe you said that about that old pastor over there.
Well, you know what?
Believe it, because he's not found in the way of righteousness.
But if one is found in the way of righteousness, they have my respect and they keep my respect
as long as they're found in the way of righteousness.
But if you forsake the righteous way, you lose my respect.
And look, this book is older than you.
And if I'm preaching from this book, guess what?
I have the authority of a book that's older than you.
But until then, someone who is found in the way of righteousness who's older, guess what?
I respect them.
I honor them, and I learn from them.
Young people, don't let these people, these older people in our church, slip by you.
They've been around the block.
They've lived life.
And guess what?
They believe just like you.
So it's the best of both worlds.
Go talk to them, ask them questions, because obviously they're successful.
They're successful people.
Go learn from them, because they have a lot of wisdom, okay?
So go to James Chapter 4 when I'm done.
What's the message today?
Consider your latter end.
And the last point is this, is that keep in mind that your latter end starts today.
Because latter end means the end of your life, but the end of your life could be today.
So don't see your latter end as if it's going to take place like 10 years from now, 20 years
from now.
No, your latter end could possibly be today.
You see, if you think that your latter end is 50 years from now, you'll wait off on making
those right decisions until later, because you feel like you have a good amount of time.
But if you recognize that your latter end is possibly today, you'll start making those
changes today.
The Bible tells us in James 4 verse 13, go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will
go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain, whereas
ye know not what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appear for a little time and then vanish at the way.
For then ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.
But now ye rejoice in your boastings, all such rejoicing is evil.
Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
What is that saying?
You need to make those changes today, because if you know you're supposed to be doing good
and you're holding it off for 20 years from now, you're sinning.
He that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Why?
Because your latter end begins today.
Look, people often will say, man, I wish I could change the past.
I'm sure all of us can attest to something like that, where it's like, you know, I did
some things in the past and it just messed me up and I wish I could just change the past.
Well, here's the thing, you can change your past.
You know why?
Because today is tomorrow's past.
Today is tomorrow's past.
So you want to change your past?
Change today.
Today is yesterday's tomorrow.
Today is also tomorrow's past.
So instead of just constantly thinking about your failures of years ago, why don't you
change today so that tomorrow you can look back and say, I made some good decisions yesterday.
And I'm succeeding today based upon the decisions that I made yesterday, which was in my past.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 27, verse 1, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest
not what a day may bring forth.
What's the message today?
Consider your latter end, because really it affects the decisions that you make today.
Don't wait off till tomorrow.
Don't wait off to read in your Bible tomorrow.
Don't wait off of sowing until tomorrow.
Don't wait off to train your kids until tomorrow.
Don't wait to make the right decisions until tomorrow.
Do it today.
Start today, because today is tomorrow's past.
Amen?
Spire heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you for your word, and thank you for the fact that there are blessings
and cursings in the Bible, and they often provoke us, they admonish us, they encourage
us, they scare us into making the right decisions, because everything has a cause and effect.
We reap what we sow.
And I pray, God, that you'd help us to just consider our latter end, consider it today,
because we understand that tomorrow, we're not promised tomorrow.
And I pray, God, that you'd help us to do so, help us to continue to fight the good
fight of faith, and to not change for the worse, but change for the better.
And we praise these things in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.