Thank you.
Good evening.
Thank you all for coming.
Let's all find our seats
and grab a song book
and let's all stand together
for this first song.
Open that song book up to song
number 257
Look and Live.
Let's all stand together
for this first song
and we'll sing song number 257
Look and Live.
Everybody all together,
nice and loud on that first verse.
Jesus now and then
different for it is
and for it is
only us
only that you
can live
by the message
of the blood of Jesus
Julia
the message of life
and for you
is the message of the blood
of Jesus
Julia
Jesus said
I hope is true
Look and live
I hope and live
Look to Jesus
now and live
is for it
in his word
hallelujah
there is only that
you work and live
what is
offered unto you
hallelujah
eternal life
that so shall have
if you only
look to him
hallelujah
look to Jesus who alone
can save
Look and live
I hope and live
Look to
Jesus now
and live
is for it in
his word hallelujah
there is
only that you work
and live
I will tell you how
I came hallelujah
to
Jesus when he made
me whole
it was believing on
his name hallelujah
I trusted
him to save
my soul
Look and live
I hope and live
Look to Jesus
now and
live
is for it in his word
hallelujah
there is only
that you work and
live
Amen. Let's open our service with the
word of prayer. Father, thank you God, Lord
for allowing us, God, to be here
tonight, Lord, and hear your word preached unto us
God, pray, Lord, that you would bless the service
Lord, fill pastor with your Holy Spirit, God
help us, Lord, in the congregation
God, to be attentive tonight, Lord, and to leave here
edified, Lord. We love you, God.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated.
Song number
65
Just over in the glory
land. Song number 65.
Song number 65.
All together nice and loud
on that first verse.
I'm a home prepared
where the saints
abide. Just over
in the glory
land
and I long to be
by my Savior's
side. Just over
in the glory
land. Just
over in the
glory land
I'll join
a happy angel
band. Just over
in the glory
land.
Just over
in the glory
land. There with
the mighty
hosts I'll stand. Just over
in the glory
land.
I am on my way
to those
mansions fair. Just over
in the glory
land. Where you
sing God's praise
and His glory
share. Just over
in the glory
land. Just
over
in the glory
land. I'll join
a happy angel
band. Just over
in the glory
land.
Just over in the glory
land. There with
the mighty hosts
I'll stand. Just over
in the glory
land.
What a joyful
Father that my Lord
I'll see. Just over
in the glory
land. And with
hundreds saved
forever be.
Just over in the glory
land.
Just over
in the glory
land. I'll join
a happy angel
band. Just over
in the glory
land.
Just over
in the glory
land. There with
the mighty
hosts I'll stand. Just over
in the glory
land.
With the blood washed
strong God will shout
and sing. Just over
in the glory
land.
Let those at us
who claim the Lord and
keep. Just over in
the glory land.
Just over
in the glory
land. I'll
join a
happy angel
band. Just over
in the glory
land.
Just over
in the glory
land. There with
the mighty hosts
I'll stand. Just over
in the glory
land.
Alright, great
singing. Thank you so much for being here this evening.
Just a few announcements before we sing our next song
which will be 120
Jesus, Savior, Pilot, Me. If you want to get that ready
in your songbooks, 120.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and
raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you.
Some important announcements in there.
Our services are as follows. Sunday
morning is at 1030. Sunday evening is at
5 PM. And then we have our Thursday night
Bible study at 7 o'clock and we continue
this evening with the book of Ecclesiastes.
You see the zoning
times and teams, the list
of expecting mothers, the
important reminders there and then some of
the upcoming church events on
it says Saturday, May 1st
but I believe this is actually tomorrow.
Right? The ladies prayer meeting?
So that's wrong. It says Saturday,
May 1st. It's actually Friday.
Which is tomorrow. There will be a ladies
prayer night and so you can see
Ms. Janelle for more details about
that. And then
whoa this is way off. So
Marcos is getting married tomorrow apparently
on Friday. The ladies prayer
night is on Saturday.
And the rapture, no I'm just
kidding. What in the world?
All right. Marcos' wedding
although I'm sure he would love to have it on
Friday, tomorrow, it's actually on Saturday
okay?
You want to switch it? We can switch it if you want.
I don't think you want to put that stress on your
fiance though. All right.
So this coming Saturday is Marcos
and Ariel's wedding and that will be at 3 PM.
And of course the church is welcome to
come to them to celebrate
with brother Marcos and Ms. Ariel.
And of course her family is here with us
tonight. Make sure you greet them
and make them feel welcome. And then you see on Sunday
May 2nd there's going to be a birthday
breakfast. And so all of you
who have your birthdays in May will be on
your new on that day. So make sure
you're here for that. Oh one more thing about
Marcos and Ariel's wedding. There's going to be a
wedding rehearsal tonight after the service.
And so we're going to be clearing out this section here.
Don't mind us. We're just going to go over some of
the things that are going to take place on
Saturday. And so that'll be after the service tonight.
He's not getting married after the service tonight.
It's the wedding rehearsal. All right.
And then Sunday May 9th there'll be
a special Mother's Day service. A gift
for all the mothers who come on that day.
Sermon geared towards mothers.
And so I want to encourage you
to bring your mother, bring someone's
mom, your aunt, your cousins
on that day. And so
looking forward to that. And then
Saturday May 15th
brother Jose is going to be a men's
barbecue.
He woke up.
He's going to help out with that okay.
And so that'll be on
Saturday May 15th. Looking forward to that.
And then Friday May 28th there'll be a men's
prayer meeting. Quiet time resumes
from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the main auditorium
in the mother baby room. No food or drink
allowed in the main auditorium except for water and
coffee. And make sure you silence your phones
during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during
the service. If you can pull out your prayer sheets
there we're going to go over some of the needs
that our church has that you can pray
for and we'll pray for corporately as a church
tonight. Please continue to pray
for God's favor, for the soul winning
the teams there, the
church van. Of course
spiritual numerical growth we've had a lot, we've
added a lot of families over the last couple of weeks
and so
just continue to pray for them.
And then pray for
new people of course. Pray for the
innocent and Omani. And then you see
some of the needs there for church families
and the church of the month.
Please pray for Mountain Baptist
Church, Pastor Jason Robinson
his newborn for the soul winning
there, protection and success.
Now I know I breezed through that pretty quickly
but I need to talk to you about something
before Maury comes up. And
Brother Adam if you could mute me
on the live stream please. So those of you
on YouTube just hang in there for a little bit
nothing's going on. We got some
family business we need to take care of.
Am I good with Adam?
Yes.
Thank you.
you
If you have any additional
prayer requests that you would like to be on the bulletin
make sure you fill that out at the bottom
tear that off and put it into the offering plate
and we'll make sure that it gets on the bulletin for the following
week. Brother Maury why don't you come on up
and he's going to go over these needs here.
This is Bower here in the word of prayer. Dear Lord
thank you for giving us another day. Lord we pray that
the service is fruitful to us and that we're able to
grow and grow closer to you.
Lord we'd like to pay for a favor on our church Lord
we want to pray that our church continues to grow
and that we continue
thriving and doing the first works
Lord we pray that we continue
to be blessed by you as well.
Lord we also want to pray for soul winning efforts and
we pray that we're planting seeds as we're going out
doing the first works and we pray that you bless
us as we do what you tell us to do
Lord and serve you. Lord we also want to pray
for the soul winning teams. We want to pray for the teams
that they're
beacons of
a little community
amongst the church so that people
always have someone and that
people are learning how to go soul winning Lord.
Lord we also want to pray for
the protection of our church
and our families Lord. Keep us safe as we go
to and from work and to and from church Lord.
Keep us safe.
Lord we also want to pray for a church van. We want to pray
for a van that can
meet the needs that we have
as a church. Lord we just
pray that you open the door so that we can have a
van so that we can do more soul winning
for you and do more great works for you Lord.
Lord we also want to pray for spiritual numerical
growth. We want to pray that our church
is growing, growing closer to you every day.
That we're learning and
memorizing your word and being with you every day
and praying with you Lord. And Lord we also
want to pray for numerical growth. We want more people
for the people that have already came Lord. We also want to
pray that these people
are coming into church, getting plugged in
learning what it is to be a Christian Lord.
And we just pray that you continue blessing them and
Lord we also want to pray for
we want to
pray for the innocent in El Monte.
We want to pray that you're with them
you allow them to get saved and
Lord we just pray that you hold off the judgment
until they can get saved Lord.
And Lord we just pray that the door is still
open for them Lord and we pray that you
protect them out of these wicked people's hands
Lord. Lord we want to pray for
for families to grow
and the barren women and expecting mothers
Lord we pray that you
we pray that you work in their lives and
Lord we also want to pray for salvation of family members
for family members
that we haven't had a chance to give the gospel
and if Lord if we're not able to give the gospel
Lord pray that it's
on their heart to come to church so that they can
get saved Lord. Lord we
also want to pray for Mountain Baptist
Church. Lord we want to pray for
Pastor Jason Robinson. We pray that
that you continue working in
his life, continuing to have his family
grow, bless his ministry, bless his soul winning
efforts and Lord we also pray that you keep
that you keep him safe as
as he's preaching the word of God and Lord
thank you for his ministry and
Lord we just want to pray that
that the church service goes well and
we pray that you work through Pastor Mahina
we pray this in your humble name. Amen.
Alright if you wouldn't mind opening your hymnos
to song 120
Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me
Song number 120
Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me
Everybody nice and loud on that first verse
Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me
Amen at this time the ushers will collect the offering
and we will be in Ecclesiastes
by tonight
You
Good evening
We're continuing in Ecclesiastes chapter 5
And the chapter reads
Keep thy foot when thou goes to the house of god and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools
For they consider not that what they do
evil
Be not rash with thy mouth
And let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before god for god is in heaven and thou upon earth
Therefore let thy words be few
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business and a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words
When thou vowest to vow unto god defer not to pay it for he hath no pleasure in fools
Pay that which thou has vowed
Better is it that thou shouldest not bow then thou shouldest vow and not pay
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin
Neither say thou before the angel that it was an error
Wherefore should god be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands?
For in the multitude of dreams and many words, there are also diverse vanities, but fear thou god
If thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent pervading of judgment and justice in the province marvel not at the matter
For he that is higher than the highest regarded and there be higher than they
Moreover, the prophet of the earth is for all
The king himself is served by the field
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase
This also is vanity
When goods increase they are increased that eat them
And what good is there to the owners thereof saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet whether he eat little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun
Namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt
But those riches perish by evil travail and he beget at the sun and there is nothing in his hand
And he came forth of his mother's womb naked shall return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labor
Which he may carry away in his hand
And this also is a sore evil that in all points as he came so shall he go
And what profit hath he that hath labored for the wind?
All his days also he eateth in darkness and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness
behold that which I have seen
It is good and calmly for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that yet
That he taketh under the sun all the days of his life which god giveth him
For it is his portion
Every man also to whom god hath given riches and wealth and hath given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion
And to rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of god
For I shall not much remember the days of his life because god answerth him in the joy of his heart
We thank you. Heavenly father for such a wonderful church. Dear god
We thank you for the years dear brothers and sisters for your holy words
And we ask you to please bless our pastor tonight as he preaches your word in jesus name. We pray amen
Amen, all right, we continue this evening with the book of ecclesiastes. We're in chapter number five tonight
And one of the overriding themes of chapter number five is our conduct in the house of god
We see that being mentioned in the first couple of verses here now before we get into the actual chapter
I just want to remind you that as we're reading through the book of ecclesiastes, we're studying it, you know, obviously there is
Somewhat of a of a dark tone, right?
Very melancholy just very it seems very gloomy and sad because it just everything's just vanity and vexation of spirit
But I just want to remind you that
We when we read the book of ecclesiastes, we should never walk away thinking. Well just life just sucks or something
You know, I mean just like man. What is there to live for? You know?
What should be what we should walk away from the book of ecclesiastes
With a greater appreciation for eternity, right? Because we see all the vanity and vexation of spirit in this world
We see what takes place and all of the the the evil that can befall us under the sun
And what it should do is it should drive us to have an eternal mindset
It helps us to help us to realize man, you know, I can't wait till we go to heaven
I can't wait to you know, the millennial reign. I can't wait to the new heaven and the new earth
I can't wait until we begin eternity with the lord, you know, because this world is vanity and vexation of spirit
But don't let it get you down. Don't let it get you depressed. Don't let it
become
Uh gloominess to you. It should cause you to have a greater appreciation for that which is eternal
And so I just want to remind you because it's going to get really depressing the next couple of verses, right?
No, i'm just kidding. I'm going to give you four points this evening
Regarding chapter five and the four points are this we're going to look at the conduct in the house of god
The crime in the province the curse of abundance and wealth and the comeliness of our portion in this world
Let's look at verse number one. It says keep thy foot when thou goes to the house of god and be more ready to hear
Than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil
So the first thing we're looking at is the conduct in our conduct in the house of god
And the first thing that solomon says is this we need to listen intently when we go to the house of god
He specifically says be more ready
To hear than to give the sacrifice of fools and the sacrifice of fools. We'll see later on
It's referring to the things that people say, okay
Often the sacrifice of our lips is referring to that which we say when we praise god
But the sacrifice of fools is referring to their multitude of wars that they say
the foolish vows that people make oaths that people make
Etc. And god is saying hey when you go to the house of god
Don't go there speaking of a multitude of things which you should go there is with an ear ready to listen to the word of god
Right now go to james chapter number one, if you would james chapter number one
So he's telling us hey
One of the best things you can do when you go to the house of god is make sure you pay attention
Okay, make sure you listen and I would say this, you know, it requires a lot of discipline to listen in church
Okay
There's churches out there that requires a lot of discipline to listen in church because it's just really boring and
You know, it's just like, you know, you just you're just you're just getting by
Okay
But even in a church like ours though where you know, the preaching is exciting, you know
Or you know, you're learning something i'm learning something i'm preaching god's word you're listening to it
You know, we're making relevant application to it even in a church like this. You still have to be disciplined to listen
Okay
And look some of the practical things you can do
To make sure you pay attention to number one turn off your phone. Like I said in the announcements
So you're not checking your phone. You're not going on twitter or something, you know, you're not going on social media
You're not going on youtube. You know what I mean?
Why would you go on youtube, you know, you're here
I'm gonna listen to the pastor right here on youtube, you know
Now maybe you're watching the live stream because the audio is better on youtube or something. Okay, then at that point
That's a different situation
But you know one thing you can do is make sure you just remove all distractions, right?
But number two from a practical perspective is you need to come to church
prepared to get something from god
you need to be ready to hear and even though we you know,
We cover something that you may already be an expert in, you know, because there's so many experts out there in the word of god
Maybe that's something you already know. It's a concept you already understand. It's something you even even taught to others
You should still come ready to listen to the preaching of god's word because the word of god is quick and powerful sharper
Than a twigged sword. It's a living book
It's constantly relevant and you're going to hear something when I read verses when we study a verse
That applies to you today that may may not necessarily apply to you a year ago
It'll be more relevant to you today because of something that happened to you this year or this month this week
And so it's important that you listen
You know why because god has something for you. Okay. God is always trying to sanctify us through his word
And and cleanse us and try to uh, you know, correct us and admonish us encourage us
So it's important that we open our ears spiritually speaking, okay
Look what the bible says in verse 18 of james chapter one
Actually, let me read to you from hebrew chapter two. You're in james chapter one hebrews two verse one says this therefore
We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard
Lest at any time we should let them slip
So he says look we need to make sure we pay attention as much as possible
Because you know what happens is you're going to get a truth from god's word
And if you're not paying attention, it's just going to slip it's going to slip through the cracks
Okay
And I can't tell you how many times i've covered something in a sermon
And I literally have some someone come up to me like hey, what do you think about this whole, you know?
And then they literally ask me about something that I actually covered
You say what does that?
What do you call that? I call it. They just let it slip. They're not giving earnest heed to the preaching of god's word. Okay
Look at verse 18 of his own will
Begat he us with the word of truth
That we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures
Wherefore my beloved brethren
Let every man be swift to hear
Slow to speak slow to wrath now you say why does it say wherefore because of this reason?
Well verse 18 says of his own will begat he us through the word of truth with the word of truth
That we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. So if the word of god because we paid attention to the gospel
It helped us to be born again
It did a supernatural work where it regenerated us and got us saved
He's saying well because of this reason the same word of god that has power
It's for that reason my beloved brethren that we should be swift to hear and slow to speak
slow to wrath
In other words, hey, oh, yeah. Yeah now you're saved. That's great. But you need to keep listening to the word of god, right?
And just as intently
As you heard the word of god when it was being preached unto you when you first got saved
Right in like manner we should give it the same manner of attention and respect and value to recognize, you know
I still need to learn the word of god and I need to be a doer of the word
And not a hero only deceiving my own self. Okay. He says wherefore my beloved brethren
Let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh
Not the righteousness of god, isn't it interesting that god gave us two ears, but one mouth, right?
Most people live as though they have two mouths and one ear
And i'm not talking about malkus, okay
Malkus got his ear restored restored. Amen
You know over and over again in the gospels you hear this concept, you know, he that hath ears to hear
Let him hear and he's not saying like, you know, you have this this cartilage here whoever has that
He's saying whoever's open to listen to the word of god. Let him listen
God gave you ears. Listen to the word of god
Hear it because god has something for you. Don't ever become dull of hearing, right?
And you can you and I can become dull of hearing when we become prideful
We think we know everything we think we've heard that truth before
and we fail to realize the importance of
Re-emphasizing something in our lives that we've already heard before we need to keep hammering it in why because that's giving earnest heed
And we're making sure that it doesn't slip from our spiritual grip. You understand?
So solomon is saying in ecclesiastes chapter five, you know when we go into the house of god
You need to make sure you watch your spiritual steps and that you're more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools
You know if you come here and you're just like well, I want to teach someone something
What you're going to offer you're probably going to offer the sacrifice of fools, okay?
Better to have a humble spirit
a meek spirit
And come with the attitude you want to learn something from god's word instead
Okay
Be ready to hear the bible says for this people's heart is wax gross go back to ecclesiastes if you would
For these people's heart is wax gross and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes
They have clothes lest at any time
They should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand with their heart and should be converted
And I should heal them. This is exactly what happened to the children of israel
I mean think about it children of israel unto them were committed the oracles of god
Moses was read in the synagogues
every sabbath
They're getting the word of god constantly. They're being told of the messiah
They're getting all this biblical knowledge and all this biblical information. And what does the bible tell us? They grew dull of hearing
And it's for that reason that when jesus came into them the bible says he came into his own and his own received him not
They missed the time of their visitation
Why because they were dull of hearing they they just got tired of hearing the same thing
Over and over and over again, okay
We should not have that attitude when we go to the house of god
Keep thy foot when thou goes to the house of god guard yourself
And be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools for they consider not that they do evil
So the first thing he tells us is that we need to listen intently secondly, we need to speak cautiously
He says in verse number two be not rash with thy mouth
And let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before god
For god is in heaven and thou upon earth therefore let thy words be few now. What is he saying there?
You know, obviously when we speak of the things of god, we should speak reverently of the things of god, right?
And not be hasty to just utter anything in prayer to god, you understand
Why because you got to understand something you're speaking to the creator
Don't call him the man upstairs, right? Right. Don't call him my daddy or something
All these cute names that you know liberal christians try to come up with his name is god
And if you want to get specific, you know, his son's name is jesus christ
And if you want to get specific about his spirit, it's the holy spirit. Okay
Don't give them these weird names and the people who do these things are those who don't realize
That god is in heaven and they're upon earth, right?
They don't realize the vast difference between god's divine nature and their sinful corrupt nature
You know, they just think they can speak flippantly of god and call god
They're there, you know, I don't know what words they have out there for them. They're they're their buddy or something like that
You know, god is not our buddy folks
He's our god
He's our creator. He's our heavenly father. Jesus christ is our savior
Now can we call him our friend? Yeah, and in fact, that's that's that's a name that we would want
God to say of us to say that we are a friend of god, right?
And how can we be a friend of god by doing what he tells us to do according to the bible
Okay
but speak
cautiously
Don't have this irreverent attitude towards god when we pray to god when we speak of god
There should be respect and he says look a good way to avoid this
He says there let thy words be few
Did you know that the less you say the more likely it is that you're gonna say something stupid
Right, right
Like man, I just can't I just have a hard time. Just saying really stupid stuff, you know, well, here's the solution just don't talk
Just don't say anything and you're good
In fact, it's a double whammy
If you don't say anything, not only will you protect yourself from saying something really stupid
People actually think you're really smart, right?
That's actually what the bible says
You'll be esteemed a man of understanding if you shut your lips. That's what the bible tells us
You know god's trying to help you out here
Let thy words be few
He says in verse number three
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business
And a fool's voice is known by the multitude of words. I love I like how that sounds okay
now
There used to be this this quote that they used to say back in bible college. They used to tell us this every year
They used to say this
your walk walks
And your talk talks
But your walk talks louder than your talk talks
They would say hey your walk walks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks
You know, don't you know people who just they talk a lot
They talk about what they can do. They talk about how good they are
They are they're always, you know singing their own praises they're boasting themselves of a false gift so to speak
They're talking about their gifts and what they're able to do, but it's different talking that and actually doing it. Okay
And one of the main things that's being uh emphasized here in verse three
Is that he says a dream coming through the multitude of business. I mean think of a dream you think of you know
That what you're imagining
Concepts in your mind whether you know, you're asleep or you're just you're daydreaming you're imagining certain things
And we often use it we use this term today, you know
When you have a dream of a goal that you want to accomplish
You're basically foreseeing the future of what could be right?
I have a dream of raising godly children. I have a dream of marrying a godly spouse
I have a dream of of you know, winning many people to christ and doing something great for god
It's something that you're foreseeing your future. That's that's possible
Now you can say those things right
And it sounds noble sounds honorable like oh, man
I have a dream to do this have a dream to do that, but if that's all you do then it's all talk
A dream never comes to fruition just by talking about it. You got to be about it
You actually got to do it
And in fact, it says there it comes through a what?
multitude
of business
It's not referring to like business like you starting a business it's referring to just doing something
God is all for us having dreams. Amen. I mean he gave joseph a dream of what could be
and uh, you know, he he revealed to him his will for for his life and I believe that you know
It's it's important for us as individuals to dream. Okay
You know to dream of what could be to dream of how god can use us our children our family our church
But here's the thing, you know a dream without a plan is only a wish
And unless you put some steps to that dream and begin to execute those steps that's all it's going to remain is a dream
A dream can only come to pass
With a multitude of business, you know actually doing something about it
You know, oh man, I want to get married one day
I want to marry a godly spouse one day. Okay, so what's the business?
Are you are you about the business
Are you laboring for that? Are you working towards that?
Are you building up your character? Are you walking with god? Are you getting god's favor? Are you growing up?
Are you putting away the video games?
Are you are you manning up? What are you doing? Well, no, it's just a dream
Yeah, but a dream coming to pass with the multitude of business
You understand?
It's one thing to talk about it's another thing to actually do it to actually put feet
To those things. Okay in order to get something done
but let me go back to that original point of
The fool's voice being known by the multitude of words the bible says in proverbs go to james chapter 3
If you would james chapter 3 proverbs chapter 10 verse 19 says this in a multitude of words there wanteth not sin
But he that refrained with his lips is wise. He says look when there's a when there's a lot of talk
When you're constantly talking and you're saying stuff you're not going to lack sin you're going to eventually say something really bad
Okay, you're going to offend someone you're going to say something you're going to regret that you said later on
Why because there's a multitude of words. It's a law of numbers
Proverbs 15 verse 2 says the tongue of the wise
Useth knowledge aright
But the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness
Now james chapter 3 is the chapter that is dedicated to really
Talking about this matter of the tongue and the things that we say
And this is really important. Okay, and you know, I feel like quarterly I have to like preach on this specific topic
Because it's just a problem that christians can often have
They just you know
Sometimes they just let it fly
And and you know, we preach this and then you come to the altar you get right with god
And then three months from now we got to do it again because it's just a constant thing. Okay
And we're not in that season right now
But it but the text calls for it. Okay
Look what it says in verse one my brethren be not many masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation
For in many things we offend all
If any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man and able also to bridle the whole body
So what is the bible saying here? It says that an individual?
Who is not an offensive person?
They're not just constantly offending people with their words
God says this individual is a perfect man doesn't mean sinless. It means he's complete. He's mature
It means he thinks before he says something you understand
And he says and he's able to bridle the whole body
He's probably disciplined in other areas in his life if he's able to be disciplined in what he says, okay
Behold we put bits in the horse's mouth
That they may obey us and we turn about their whole body
This is pretty funny because he's just like talking about all these things
That can be controlled and used as animals
He's like a horse will do what it tells you to do if you like, you know
Put the put the the bit in the horse's mouth verse four behold also the ships
Which though they be so great are driven of fierce winds yet are they turned about with a very small helm
whithersoever the governor listeth
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things behold how great a matter a little fire
Kindleth and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity
So is the tongue among our members that defileth the whole body and seteth on fire the course of nature
And then set on fire of hell. Oh, man, the bible just cussed right there
You just use the hell as you know, not in its literal way what's going on here?
He's basically saying look your tongue can cause a lot of destruction
The bible says that death and life are in the power of the tongue
Now look folks if people get offended at my preaching there's nothing I can do about that
That's between you and the lord
Okay, if i'm a little crass in my preaching if I get a little rude in my preaching
This is what I tell people though. I'd be rude in speech yet. Not in knowledge
Because god wants me to preach the bible unfettered without apology
And sometimes the bible gets a little hot the topics get a little hot and pastor me here gets a little offensive
But you know what if I don't get offensive if I won't get you I won't I won't get your attention
And you won't see the gravity of sin the gravity of iniquity the gravity of mistakes
And and and things that people could get involved in and therefore you won't take it serious
You know why a lot of people in these churches don't take the pastor or the church serious because the pastor is not even taking it
serious
That's why
When he preaches he's just just cotton candy
I want to preach with hot sauce
I want to pour hot sauce when i'm preaching I want it to burn I want to get down deep so, you know
That what god is saying is true
You understand at least you know, i'm serious about it
And the reason I say this because you know as the years go by people are going to get offended
You're going to see it time and time again. It's happened before
Where people literally get we've had people in our church
Where i'm preaching?
And they just get up and just literally walk out
And they're not going to the nursery the nursery the mother baby room. They're not going to the restroom
Like they're just like no, no, no, no, and they just literally just walk out
I remember i'm thinking one time in particular when that happened
And I was thinking myself I was I was shocked
I was really shocked. You say wow. I was like because it wasn't even that hard like my
Like I was just like you think that was bad
This is like like everyone else in our church is just like, you know
It's just like whatever about the point. I don't remember what it was
I was preaching on the jews or something like that
And this person just got up. It was just like no no, it was just like they couldn't take it anymore
They literally walked out
I had another person walk out when I was preaching on the sodomites
And they they unfortunately caught a ride with someone in the church who stayed
So I was like, where are you going?
You know, they had to wait outside the entire time
Until church was over
And I went out there and I didn't even know he he was offended. I went out there and I was like, hey
Thanks for coming. He's like, yeah, I don't really agree with what you're saying
Oh, and then I honestly didn't know what he was talking about. What do you mean?
He's like all the stuff you say about sodomites and all that. I don't agree with that
I'm like, well, it's in the bible, you know, I mean you saw what I said, right?
He's like, yeah, but I just
I don't agree with it. But you know what? It's not me. They don't agree with
It's the bible
It's the word of god
So at that point they get offended. It's just like well, that's not my problem then
If someone gets offended at my preaching hey if someone gets offended at my preaching against the cares maniacs
tough luck
You don't like how I preach against the the tongue-flapping weirdos the charismatic and the pentecostals
And all their false doctrine and that you could lose your salvation and all these other things that they believe
Well, you're gonna have a hard time in our church because I get on that horse quite often
And i'm not rearing back. I'm not apologizing for anything I say
And i'm when I look you know when i'm down here and i'm talking to you guys
And I and I say something that maybe I shouldn't have said i'll apologize. I've apologized to many people in our church
But when i'm up here, I don't believe in apologetics
So
And I don't think men of god should apologize for what they preach
I know that's what fox news wanted me to do
I know that's what you know
All these radio stations ktl a5 wanted me to do they wanted me to just buckle under the pressure
And just apologize for everything I said about the sodomites my own cousin came up to my dad and said he needs to apologize
for what he said
My dad said my unsaved dad
The guy is he's not even saved
He's like he doesn't need to apologize to nobody
He just needs to stick with what he said and that's it
And he's just like hey man, dad, can can you go talk to some of these baptist preachers out there?
Can you go help them with this
Because they have the holy spirit living within them
And yet you don't and yet he seems to have more boldness. Why is that?
Is it the holy spirit's problem? No
It's the individual, okay
chasing a rabbit
but you know
It's gonna it's bound to happen. This is not without referring to okay. This is referring to
Just relationships between one another
Friendships
church members family
You can often damage someone with your tongue. Okay
Look at verse 13 says who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?
He's like who's the one who has wisdom who has knowledge who has all the bible knowledge that they can
Ever hope for let him show out of a good conversation his words with meekness of wisdom
And conversation is not saying his words conversation is referring to his conduct
He says if you know something if you have knowledge if you have wisdom
Show me by your life
And then i'll listen, okay
Go back to ecclesiastes if you would
He says in verse three for a dream coming through a multitude of business and a fool's voice
No is known by the multitude of words
Be a person a man a woman of business action activity that's what that's referring to
And the bible tells us where there is no vision the people perish
You know why church is dying? There's a lot of reasons why churches die
But one of the one of the biggest reasons because they have no vision
They don't know what they're doing. They don't know what direction they're going in
They have no vision for what god wants to do in that church. They lost that vision
Okay
And the people perish because of that god wants us to be people of activity
He told when he when he uh, spake the parable he gave him the pounds and he said what occupy
Till I come
Work win souls to christ preach the word of god disciple people fulfill the great commission do something with your life
for the lord
Be a person of industry
Be a person of business
And i'm not saying go
Be rich. It's just referring to be a person of activity of spiritual activity more than anything else
We obviously understand the bodily exercise profit of little but godliness is profitable to all things
Having the promise of the promise of the life which now is and of that which is to come
first timothy chapter four
So he's basically saying look
If you have a dream, that's great, but you need to put some steps to that dream
And not just talk about it. You need to actually walk the walk. Okay verse four
Now he's going to be now he's going to tell us to beware of vows
He says well now vows to bow unto god defer not to pay it for he has no pleasure in fools
Pay that which thou has vowed
Better is it that thou shouldest not vow?
Than that thou shouldest vow and not pay
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the angel
That it was an error. Wherefore should god be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands
For in the multitude of dreams
Excuse me in many words there were there are also diverse vanities, but fear thou god
So he's basically saying here. Hey, you need to be careful with making vows now in the bible vows
oaths
Uh, i'm missing the third one. What's the third one?
This vows is oaths. Obviously this promises is another word swear
The new test actually condemns this
Okay
And here it's telling you look when you if you vowed, okay, then make sure you pay it
Okay, but the best thing to do is just don't vow at all
You understand and in fact go to matthew chapter five. Let's look at this in the new testament
God doesn't have pleasure in fools
And in context he's referring to someone who just spake hastily
And makes a vow makes a promise and decides not to keep it. Okay, that's actually really wicked in the eyes of the lord
And in fact the bible tells us when talking about I believe it's it's psalm 15
He talks about the righteous man who dwells in the presence of god and his blessing. He says that he basically will pay to his own hurt
So let's say this individual makes a vow and says this is what i'm going to do
This is how i'm going to i'm going to pay or this is what's going to happen
And and they vow that before god they make they strike hands with someone before the lord. They make an oath a vow they swear
Even if that righteous man
Looks at and says whoa, I don't have enough. You know what the bible says that he should do is pay it to his own hurt
If it hurts you pay it why because it's better for you to go broke or into debt
Than to not keep your vow. That's how that's how serious god takes vows
So man, so I really got to watch out. Yeah, we're just don't do it
It's actually safer just not to do it, right?
In fact the bible says let your yay be a and your nay be nay
Okay, look at matthew chapter 5 verse 33. It says again
You have heard it that has been said by by them of old time thou shall not forswear thyself
But but shall perform unto the lord thine oaths, which is exactly what we see in ecclesiastes 5 right perform thine oaths
If you vow if you swear
Pay up take care of whatever you got to do perform it verse 34
But I say unto you
Swear not at all
Neither by heaven for it is god's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool
Neither by jerusalem for it is the city of the great king
Neither shalt thou swear by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black
Now he's not placing like an emphasis on jerusalem
What is he doing? He's just being kind of facetious to say just don't do it anywhere
Right
Because obviously no one can swear by heaven. No one is in heaven who's here on earth
You understand he's just saying no matter where you're at. This applies everywhere. This is a universal law for you. Okay
He says but let your communications be yay. Yay. Nay nay for whatsoever is more than these
cometh of
Evil the bible says, okay
Now there are times when you might make a promise an oath or a vow
And you did it ignorantly or you've counted the cost and you say well, I know I have sufficient to finish this
I know I have sufficient to take care of this task and you do it and it works out great
But what ecclesiastes five is saying is this don't be presumptuous
You understand and presumptuousness is this you don't count the cost. You just make the vow make the promise swear
strike hands
And you're not able to perform that that vow
And the safest thing to do is just just don't do it at all
Now here is the problem herein lies the problem with the modern day altar call
in baptist churches
How many have ever heard of an altar call?
Okay, how many have made an oath at an altar call? Okay. I see that hand. I'm just kidding
Hey right here. I got saved in independent fundamental baptist church and they had altar calls there
They would do altar calls, I mean pretty much every service except I think for like midweek service
But sunday morning sunday night they would make altar calls and and it's it's when you think about it's actually really scary
Because that means every week
Someone is coming to an altar to make an oath to god that they will no longer do or they will begin to do
x y and z
That's dangerous
And in fact, you know you have youth conferences where?
multitudes of teenagers
Will come down and make oaths and vows and swear and do all these things and say, you know
I will never do this again or i'm gonna start doing this and it's like the next week. They're they're back
To their regular sin or they're not taking care of their responsibilities as a christian whatever it may be. They're breaking their vows
That's that's dangerous folks
That's one reason that i'm against the modern day altar. Okay
Altar calls it's not found in the bible. You don't see new testament churches doing it in the in the bible
Okay, this is something that was created by a person an evangelist named dl moody, okay
He was a congregationalist who baptized babies
And it was through him
That the altar call along with bus ministry and sunday school classes everything that baptists do they got it from like some other denomination
Which is crazy, okay?
The bathroom is supposed to be the cream of the crop
But yet they're looking to the congregationalists the presbyterians the calvinists
You know for a pattern of how they should run their ministry and that's how the altar call, you know came about
It's a very dangerous thing folks
Better to just say yes, I can no I can't because whatsoever is more than that
Comes evil the bible tells us, okay
Look, if you don't believe me just look at the example of the bible of jephthah
Right, what did it cost him? He had to sacrifice his own daughter
And not sacrifice her to get married
Not sacrifice her to give her up to slavery
Sacrifice her like they would a sacrifice a lamb
Okay, whatsoever coming before those tent doors lord
I will sacrifice unto thee if you just give me this victory and it's like jephthah god already gave you the victory
Why would you even make such an outlandish vow?
It was already there
Why would you make this oath in this vow to god when god already told you you were going to win?
There's no need for that you could have had the victory and kept your daughter
And slaughtered some lamb and and you know
whatever
To honor the lord thereafter and instead he's like lord if you give me this victory
Whatsoever coming through those tent doors is like did you think you don't I mean what?
She's coming your daughter who your family comes through these doors
You really want to gamble like that?
And then daughter comes in she's like that, you know, and he's like, oh man
And then he ended up sacrificing her
It just shows you
And you say well, that's a ridiculous story. Did that really happen?
Yeah, it's to show you how severe the consequences to making a vow really is
You know, what god often does is he gives you the best of the worst
Right in the bible he'll give you the best story of the worst possible outcome
To scare the living daylights out of you to make sure you don't do that
He talks about fornication he just talks about how he killed thousands of people because they committed fornication
Now I don't think that if you commit fornication, you're just going to die on the spot, but you might
I have a story that I can point to where a bunch of them did
You really think that would happen to you? I mean, do you really want to gamble with that though?
So often he gives you
The best of the worst story in order to instill the fear of god in you to drive a point
That's what the bible says when paul said to make sin look exceeding sinful
He shows you the severity
of the consequences of our actions
And so this is one of them. Okay, go back to inclusiosity chapter five
So that is the conduct that he specifically
Talks about here in chapter number five. He's saying look
Take church seriously take going to the house of god serious be ready to hear
When you're listening to the preaching of god's word
You know stay off your phones, okay?
Stay off of social media
You should have bible in hand
And I know you have your bible app on your phone. Okay, I do too. This is year 2021. Okay
But let me just say this you got a bunch of apps on there as well
You got notifications, you know, you got to see who who liked your post
You got to see who who commented, you know that that reparates back and they're going back at it on the section of your facebook
You know post or whatever, you know, I know you got to see all these other things
So, you know, I don't think anyone in here would be disciplined enough to just go straight to their bible
Oh, let me just respond to this real quick
You know, I know you got to watch your tik tok. All right
Just pull get a physical bible open that up and pay attention. Amen
Just gonna throw it out there
All right
Now we're going to look at the crime within the province verse eight says if thou seest the oppression of the poor and violent
perverting of judgment and justice in a province
Marvel not at the matter
Now I already hit on this a lot. Um
last week
about just
oppression
From the higher ups whether that's government
mayors
You know governors
You know, we see a lot of violent perverting of judgment today, right?
And and you know you think of you know, governor newsom for example
Who apparently they're going to recall at the end of the year?
I wonder why you know
And everyone's rejoicing like yes
We're gonna get them out
All right, who's next bruce jenner?
Yeah, good job everyone
Yeah, let's replace governor newsom who's a devil
Let's let's replace bale with beelzebub
It's the same thing, right?
And I want to ask all of my republican friends the baptists out there
Because here's the thing bruce jenner is a republican
What yeah, yeah
That's a conservative republican
So I kind of want to like ask them like so who are you voting for
Are you gonna vote for bruce jenner?
Are you really gonna stand there and look at me and say that well, you know their beliefs are very much closer to our
It's a tranny
What what
What's conservative about that? There's nothing conservative about that. It's an abomination in the eyes of god
Amen it's disgusting filth
If bruce jenner gets voted in anytime someone asks me what I think about it
But what do you think about bruce? I'm like, I don't we don't have a governor. I don't I don't know what you're talking about
I have no idea what you're talking about
It's the crime, I mean literally there's gonna be a criminal I mean, I guess all politicians are criminals, but I mean this uh, uh a criminal
Might be the governor of this state
It's insanity it's a perverting of judgment, okay, but i'll be honest with you when I heard it when I first heard that i'm like
Oh, it makes sense
This world's going to hell in a handbasket
I think the bible says that the wicked shall be turned into hell at all nations that forget god
So this sounds about right
And people are like we need to vote in a republican
Republican and all this you're gonna get who god thinks you deserve
So if bruce jenner gets voted in what does that say about you
It means that the nation's a sodomite loving nation
Right. Oh you like sodomites. I'll just give you a sodomite trainee beast of a of an animal as your ruler
How you like that how you like them apples?
And i'm not saying apples just because it's a fruit, okay
Okay
Although that would be a very good joke
But when I heard it, you know, I did I didn't marvel because you know what the bible says marvel not at this matter
It's like don't marvel it's just like yeah, it makes sense
Well, everyone's just like what in the world the world is just falling apart biting it's like
For us it's just like makes sense
The world is already wicked
right
Don't
Don't be the one who marvels at these things if you're marveling at them. You just need to read the book of ecclesiastes
more
Because when you read it doesn't come as a surprise to you
Okay
You know, the anti-crisis is not going to regard women the bible tells us
And he's going to be the ruler of the entire world
So we should not marvel when when a republican
You know, how can they be he can't be a republican
How can this be I mean, what did you think like republicans were independent fundamental baptists or something?
Do you think they they're kjv only-est?
What does solomon say marvel not at the matter, yeah, don't let it surprise you
Hey look, obviously it's vexing to us a little bit, right
Kind of making you hit that cringe button
Just like oh man, this is cringe
But look what he says
Marvel not at the matter for he that is higher than the highest
regardeth
And they'll be higher than they
God obviously sees it. He's going to pay it. He's going to recompense them upon their own head
And god is saying don't marvel at this. This is not a perfect system
It's a wicked world
Moreover, the prophet of the earth is for all the king himself is served by the field
So verse nine is kind of like a balance to this view because
We don't want to look at all rulers
And all governors and all mayors and any political person just just think well, they're all just reprobate
He's saying more of the prophet of the earth is for all
The king himself is served by the field. So he's saying look I did set up a system where
We should respect certain offices respect certain people
And yeah, they may not be
You know, uh, uh
A baptist or bible believing but some of these individuals who are in places of position
We should respect that office to a certain extent. In fact, the bible tells us to pray for all people including kings
rulers and governors
Go to romans 13 if you would romans chapter 13 because you know people could take this to the other extreme and just say well
You know forget all government just anarchy
You know
Don't pay taxes
And and look typically people who are of this sort
Are people who are too tied up into the things of this world?
They feel like this is their kingdom that's why they're fighting so hard for it
This is their kingdom, you know, they're entangled with the affairs of this life
But look folks you can't come to that conclusion
When you read the gospels when you read the bible
Because jesus said himself, you know, I am not of this world
And jesus is the king of the universe
The king of the universe humbled himself
The word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And what did he do? Did he just just
Create complete anarchy against the government. No some of these historians would like for you to think that that's what happened
He was an anarchist he was a rebel
Insurrectionist and all these things and that's why they killed him wrong
Okay, they delivered him up for envy the bible says okay
What did jesus do to his government he just submitted to all the stupid things that they asked him to do
As long as it wasn't sinful
right
You know, they try to make him pay taxes he's like just pay the stupid fine
Dude go get a fish. I put a I put a coin in that fish's mouth. Just go get it
Pay him for me and for thee and let's just keep winning souls
Now the people who err on the other side
of the spectrum
You're just like no, we're not gonna pay caesar and caesar's wicked. Yeah, obviously jesus probably knew that caesar was wicked
But you know what? Jesus is thinking
I'm gonna take the crown from caesar one day anyways
It's mine anyways, that's right. Yeah, use your little taxes and silver if you want i'm gonna get it back anyways
That's what he's and you know what? That's exactly what I think
Take my building
Take my possessions take my van
Look at romans 13 verse 3
For rulers are not a terror to good works
But to the evil without then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and that shall have praise of the same
For he is the minister of god to thee for good
But if thou do that which is evil be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vain for he is a minister of god
A revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So
God says hey, the reason I set up these governments is to execute righteousness upon the land
So that murderers are put to death
Adulters sodomites kidnappers righteous laws are instituted
He says wherefore you must need to be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake
For for this cause pay tribute also
For those of for those people who don't believe in paying taxes. Well, that's funny. It looks like paul saying here. We need to pray tribute
For there are god's ministers attending continuing upon this very thing render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due
Custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honor to whom honor?
Oh, no, man anything but to love one another for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law
He says look you need to submit yourselves to the government. Yes
Obviously if it's to the point where they're trying to get you to submit to sinful things
Then at that point don't do it
But here's the problem with this group
They literally define for you what sin is
Like the mask
They take the master and say well, yeah, well that's sinful that's what we're talking about. This is sinful. No, it's not
What?
I mean
I get it that you know the thought of foolishness to sin and when you have like four masks and a shield
and a window
and a wall
And then you're six feet apart at that point. It's the point of ridiculousness. I get that. Yeah
You know, I you've seen it or you know, you're just driving your car you're by yourself
You're just driving the river you're like and the person is just no one's in the car
I say what in the world they've lost it
But some of these conservative truth seekers
Want to make that as though it's like well that's sinful that's wicked
No
You need to read the bible to see what's sinful and wicked and the bible says that sin is the transgression
Of the law and guess what? It's not your law of liberty
It's god's perfect law of liberty. Stop moving the goal post of god's standards and god's laws
And try to redefine what law is according to god try to redefine what sin is according to god
Stop trying to move the fight
I don't wear a mask when I come up here and preach obviously. I like never wear a mask
Sometimes i'm going to the store i'm like man
Today today I went to the store and I had to grab one of my kids masks
It's like it's like this sitting on my face
I'm like this is this looks bad and then i'm like purchasing it's all snap snap. I'm like
What do you do?
Obviously, i'm not for I think it's dumb
But you know, i'm not gonna give someone a hard time if they come to a church with a mask
And I don't think any of you should either
Don't look at them all crazy and you know, oh you're one of those
Let them do whatever they want
Don't it's funny you you want to fight for freedom
But if someone's free to wear it you just want to give them a hard time yeah hypocrite
If that's what they want to do then let them do that
there's plenty of people who come like on a sunday morning and they have masks i'm never just preaching like
Just like what is that if that's what they want to do let them do it
Do it
You know the more they come to church the more than my ass is going to come down it's going to come off or whatever
I'm, not interested in fighting
Their fight
Because their fight when I when I look at the strategy when I look at who the enemy is
I'm looking at it. I'm like, hey you're trying to you're trying to change my bible
Because when I quote them verses they just don't know what the bible actually says i'm like
What makes you think that you're some sort of christian fighting this battle when you don't even know what the bible says, right?
Anyways
Go back to the ecclesiastes
But that is the crime
And look, obviously, I don't think that people should you know
It's really stupid like, you know, the whole thing about oh you you know
You have to wear a mask when you go inside the restaurant
But as soon as you sit down you can remove it
Obviously you look at it and you're just like
Like the rona is like coming at you and then as soon as you sit down like ah another one
You understand
Obviously, that's ridiculous
Or like, you know, sometimes i'll even go to starbucks and they have the the window shields
And both the worker and I just bypass it because we can't hear each other
And we just talk to each other just face to face
Like what if like people from 10 years ago were to get a picture of the future us talking like that
With mask strong and there's like shields and they're like, they're probably like what are they doing? What is this?
What kind of world is this?
So don't think don't think oh you're form you're pro mask i'm not pro mask
I'm pro doing whatever we got to do to keep serving god
Okay
And i'm not i'm not for the government 100 but i'm not 100 against it either
Why because we had the police department in elmani who got our back, right?
They protected us. They even said we're on your side. We're not on their side
We're here to protect you they said
And look i'm not even four police existing I preach a sermon the police should not exist
But and you know what i'm sure jesus believed that the centurions the position of a centurion shouldn't exist
But he won the centurion to the lord, did he not?
So anyways number three the curse of abundance and wealth
He says in verse 10 he that loveth silver should not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase
This is also vanity so, you know the curse of abundance and wealth is the fact that it never satisfies
No matter how much you have
Okay
You can keep accumulating money and resources and and money but if but if you're not
Uh eternally minded you're never going to be satisfied with that. Okay
And then it's a curse also because of because of the fact that it attracts spoilers
Verse 11 says when goods increase they are increased that eat them
And what good is there to the owners thereof saving the behold of the beholding of them with their eyes?
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet whether he little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him
To sleep so you say look, you know why wealth and abundance can be somewhat of a curse
Well because of the fact that you receive it
And then someone just steals it from you, right?
Or you have something that it's very expensive and you're just constantly thinking about it to the point where you can't sleep
Well the way you can sleep and the way you can get some sweet sleep is by laboring, okay?
Because then you're exhausted you just fall asleep or whatever and this is a concept that we see in matthew chapter 6
Where it says laid out for lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth
Where a moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt
And where three thieves do not break through nor steal you say look you need to make sure that you're not attached to the things
In this world, okay
And I brought up the you know, the whole thing about my van because I got stolen and they found my van guys
They found my van
And so what did they find in monobello? No, they found it by by almani
You know, you know that city almani
Really
No, hey marvel not at the matter
Yeah
When my wife told me I was just like oh yeah, yeah, of course
That's where I expected to find it
Luckily i'm not attached to that van
I didn't lay up treasures in that van. You know, I laid up. Oh, well, I didn't lay up treasures nor oil
No gas nor transmission fluid nor windshield wiper fluid. I didn't I didn't lay up anything in that van
In fact russ got to that thing before the thieves did okay
These things are tools folks
Our houses are tools our our our vehicles are tools our money are it's it's tools. It's all tools
I would more readily mourn for a life
That a you know a church member
You know or my family you understand but things that are just
Pass away and what god told me. Hey moth is going to eat that up
Russ is going to eat that away a thief is going to break through and steal that
Better to just not lay up treasures on earth
Lay it up for yourself in heaven and that's what it's saying here the curse of
Abundance and wealth is that someone will eventually take it verse 13
Verse 13 there is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt
And some people have so much. It's just like it's more painstaking to have it
They actually are more miserable the more that they have
But those riches perish by evil travail
And he beget at the sun and there is nothing in his hand. He's like he has nothing to give the next generation
Because sometimes his wealth perishes by evil travail
Verse 15 as he came forth of his mother's womb
Naked shall he return to go as he came and shall take nothing of his labor which he may carry away in his hand
And this also sore evil that in all points as he came so shall he go
What profit hath he that hath labored for the wind?
All his days also he eateth in darkness and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness
He's basically saying just keep in mind the way you came is naked and that's exactly how you're going to return
Maybe with just a nice suit
But that's about it
A box a nice suit and that's exactly how you're going to go and you know what?
It would have done the egyptians well to learn this concept
Instead of being buried with all those millions of dollars worth of gold and silver
And treasures because they thought they were going to take it with them in the afterlife
You come with nothing and you leave with nothing
And then lastly we see the comeliness of our portion in this world. You say man. This is a depressing sermon
You're saying I can't like I mean what's the point of getting wealth? Well, here's the common the comeliness of it
Verse 18 says behold that which I have seen it is good and comely
For one to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun
All the days of his life which god giveth him for it is his portion
He says you know what you should do just enjoy what you have while you have it
We enjoyed the van we took many trips to the park to go spend time with our family
We took it to restaurants. We took it to the family's house. We sung songs in the van
We played jokes in the van. We laughed with our kids in the van
We used the van and created memories in the van and now the van is gone. But you know, the memories are still there
Everything we did is still there
right
So what do you do? I enjoyed the portion
You understand?
And what you're saying is this don't be so attached to these things where you want to tear down barns and build up greater
Use the abundance that you have
And if you really want some really like legitimate wealth
Don't invest into bitcoin. Just kidding. Adam
I'm, just kidding
You know invest into heaven
Because that will never perish
The bank account that you have in heaven
Will never go away
You need to save your money
And I don't mean save your money like save it in the bank account. I'm talking about like save it like send it to heaven
Give money the gospel
by investing it in eternal
things
And you will see those treasures again one day
But enjoy them while they're here
You can't touch this don't touch this is my car
Don't touch this is my toy. Don't touch this is my thing
Just enjoy it let people enjoy it you enjoy it how people enjoy it because it's going to go away one day
Okay, I was telling my son when they found our van. I said hey they found our van
And then we're telling them the whole situation I said, but you know what?
It's okay
Because we were eventually going to lose that van. He says yeah one day it was going to burn dad
I'm like forget it. I don't want to teach you this
And he's just like it's gonna burn he's like everything's gonna burn my books are gonna burn my toys are gonna go away
We're gonna lose everything
I'm like, all right calm down. All right
He's like every everything we're not gonna have anything
Because it's all gonna go away because you know, we're in the book of ecclesiastes. So he's learning all these things
So that's why it's just important that we just enjoy them amen
Every man also verse 19 to whom god hath given riches and wealth and have given
Him power to eat thereof and to take his portion to rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of god
For you shall not much remember the days of his life because god answerth him and the joy of his heart
He's just saying look here's my gift to you abundance
Enjoy it while you have it
Don't be a hoarder. Don't be a miser
Enjoy what you have while you have it because one day it's going to be gone. You're going to regret
Not using it to enjoy life. Amen inspire heads in our word of prayer father
We thank you so much for your word and thank you for the reminder
That the things that we have are temporal
It's like it's like something we need to constantly remind ourselves because we live here
We utilize our possessions and sometimes we get accustomed to having them and sometimes we even take them for granted
I just hope that you'd help us lord to um to be mindful of that which we have
To not only use it for purposeful meaning for purposeful things
But also to be a blessing to others utilize it to come to church to do ministry to go soul winning
to take our wives out on dates or
To utilize it to be a blessing to someone if god has blessed us with an abundance of resources and even money
Let's find someone to be a blessing too
And lord, I pray god that you'd help us to do so
Knowing full well that one day
We will lose it down here
But if we invest it in in the eternal we will one day see it again in jesus name. We pray. Amen
For our last song tonight song number 44 will work till jesus comes
So
Song number 44 will work till jesus comes everybody nice and loud all together on that first verse
Wow
To jesus
He seeks to
Till
Yeah
My
Till jesus
Amen
So