Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Good evening.
Thank you for coming.
Let's all find our seats.
Grab a song book and let's all stand together
for this first song.
Song number 23.
There is power in the blood.
Let's all find our seats.
Let's all stand together
for this first song.
Song number 23.
There is power in the blood.
Let's all find our seats.
Let's all stand together
for this first song.
Song number 23.
There is power in the blood.
Song number 23.
All of us standing together
on this first song.
Nice and loud on that first verse.
Would you be free
from your burden of sin?
There's power in the blood.
Power in the blood.
Would you be
full of victory
when there's
powerful power in the blood?
There is power, power,
wonder-working power
in the blood
from the land.
There is
power, power,
wonder-working power
in the precious
blood of the land.
Would you be
free from your passion
and pride?
There's power in the blood.
Power in the blood.
Come for a place
with some power inside.
There's wonderful
power in the blood.
There is
power, power,
wonder-working power
in the blood
of the land.
There is
power, power,
wonder-working power
power, power,
wonder-working power
in the precious
blood of the land.
Would you be
finer, much
tighter than snow?
There's power in the blood.
Power in the blood.
Since
things are lost in
this life-giving flow,
there's wonderful
power in the blood.
There is
power, power,
wonder-working power
in the blood
of the land.
There is
power, power,
wonder-working power
in the precious
blood of the
land.
Would you
serve us for Jesus
again? There's
power in the blood.
Power in the blood.
Would you
live daily as
praises to see?
There's wonderful
power in the blood.
There is
power, power,
wonder-working power
in the blood
of the land.
There is
power, power,
power,
wonder-working power
in the precious
blood of the land.
Amen.
At this time, let's open our service with a word of prayer.
Father, thank you, God, for
allowing us, Lord, to be here tonight, Lord,
and hear your word preached unto us, God.
We thank you, Lord, for the power that's in your
blood, God, and we ask, Lord,
that you would bless the service, Lord, that you would fill pastor
with your Holy Spirit, God, as he preaches to us, Lord.
We also ask, God, that you would be with us in the
congregation, God.
Help us to be attentive, Lord, and edified tonight, Lord.
Leave here differently than when we came in.
We love you, God, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated.
Song number
245.
The old account was settled.
Song
number
245.
Song
245.
The old account was settled.
And that first verse?
There was a time on earth
when in the book
of heaven
an old account was settled.
I said, do not forgive.
My name was at the top
and many things below.
I went unto the
keeper and settled
long ago, long ago,
long
ago.
Yes, the old account was
settled long ago,
long ago.
And the record's clear today
for he washed my sins away
when the old account
was settled long ago.
The old
account was large
and growing every day
for I was always
sinning and never
tried to pay.
But when I looked ahead
and saw such pain and woe,
I said that I would settle.
I settled long
ago, long ago,
long
ago.
Yes, the old account
was settled long ago.
And the
record's clear today
for he washed my sins away
when the old account
was settled long ago.
When
in that happy home
my Savior's
home above, I'll
sing redemption's story
and praise Him for His love.
I'll not forget
that book with pages
wide as snow
because I came and settled
and settled long ago,
long ago,
long
ago.
Yes, the old account was
settled long ago,
long ago.
And the record's clear today
for he washed my sins away
when the old account
was settled long ago.
Oh,
sinner, trust the Lord.
Be cleansed of all
your sin, for
thus He hath provided
for you to enter
in. And then
if I should live
a hundred years below,
up there you'll not
regret it. You settled
long ago, long
ago,
long ago.
Yes, the old
account was settled long
ago.
And the record's clear
today for he washed
my sins away
when the old account was
settled long ago.
All
right, great singing. Thank you so much for being
here this evening. Just a few announcements
before we sing our next song, which will be
song number 46, my saviors.
First of
all, 46, right? Song number 46
if you want to get that ready in your song books.
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 information on there. Of course,
our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at
1030. Sunday evening is at
5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible
study at 7 o'clock. And then we continue this
evening with the book of Ecclesiastes
where chapter number 7
you see the sowing times and teams, the
list of expecting mothers. We can remove
Miss Cecilia Breidenhagen. She had
her baby, Bethany Elizabeth
Elizabeth Breidenhagen, 5 pounds
10 ounces, 18 inches
born on May 5th at
3.32 a.m.
So congratulations to brother Frank and
Cecilia on their new baby.
And so if you want to be a blessing to the family,
of course, during this time, they're kind of
getting assimilated. You want to
bring a meal to them or send a meal to them. Please see
my wife for more details about that. I want to
encourage you to sign up for that. Okay.
You want to make sure that you're a blessing to the
people in our church, especially during a
time of transition when they just had a baby.
And if it's like, well, you know, they're
just too far, I'm not gonna be able to go out there,
then Uber eats them
a pizza or something like that. But just try to do something
to be a blessing to them. And you
will regret it in the future. Amen.
And so just keep that in mind. Please see my wife
for more details about that. You see the important
reminders there. And
some of the upcoming church announcements
or church events, excuse me,
this Saturday, May 15th, we have the Men's
Smoke Alley, men. And that
will be officially at 5 p.m.
Okay. So this will be
at Dr. Rita's house. She's
she's lending us her
home so we can eat, drink,
and be merry. Okay. And she has
a pool there. And I think she's warming up the pool.
And so for us, there's a jacuzzi
there. And there's gonna be a live band.
I'm just kidding, not in a live band.
But we are, the pool's gonna be there. So
you're welcome to bring your sons
with you if you want to go swimming with your son.
If you don't know how to swim,
bring your floaties. Amen.
I'm just kidding. But you know,
everyone's welcome to swim.
And of course, we're just gonna have a great time.
We don't want to stay there too late because
it's Saturday. And what comes after
Saturday? Sunday. And what's on
Sunday? Church. Okay.
So every individual that we see at the
at the smokeout on Saturday, I expect to see you
on Sunday in church on Sunday morning. Amen.
So we're looking forward to that.
It's gonna be great. And brother Jose
is smoking the meat.
And so make sure you
say thank you to him afterwards
because he's putting in a lot of work
to prepare all the meat
and the drinks and diverse washings on that.
So we're looking forward to it. It's gonna be great.
Friday, May 28th, we have the men's prayer
prayer meeting.
What's today's date?
Today is the 13th. Okay.
We're still good.
Is it tomorrow?
Alright, so that's the men's prayer meeting.
And then on Sunday, June 6th, we're gonna be celebrating
the June birthdays with breakfast in the
morning. And so in honor of everyone
whose birthday is in June. Sunday, June
20th, we have a Father's Day service. We'll have a gift
for every dad who comes. Invite your dad
to invite someone's dad to come on that day.
And the service will be geared towards
fathers. Sunday, July
4th is the July birthday breakfast
and we'll have something special also for
the 4th of July on that day as well.
Quiet time resumes from 3 p.m.
to 4.15 on Sundays
in the main auditorium in the mother baby room.
No food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for
water and coffee. Make sure you silence your
phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction.
If you can pull out your prayer sheet, we're gonna go over
this briefly. And then Brother Maury
Lemons is gonna come on up and pray over these.
Of course, as the church corporately
continue to pray for God's favor,
pray for the sowing and missions
trips that we're gonna be taking in the near
future, spiritual and numerical
growth, and of course, pray for the new people in our
church. We've had a lot of new families.
And so, I was
thinking to myself, let me just
veer off the prayer sheet a little bit.
I was thinking, you know, we got a lot of new families
and we're entering the month
of June soon. And
month of June is
a very wicked month and, you know,
me as a pastor, I preach on
sodomy throughout the month of
June. But the thing is, you know,
the new families in our church,
they may not be used to that kind of preaching.
So pray that they're able to digest
that, okay?
Because those are the
sermons you can't save for, like, a Thursday night
service. You gotta preach it on a Sunday morning.
That's when the most people are there, right?
You know, we don't have that philosophy of the old IFP
where it's like, we gotta gear the service towards
new people on Sunday mornings and
the deep doctrine on Sunday night. No, we
gotta give them the meat on Sunday morning.
And so pray for them.
I know it's kind of funny, but at the
same time, we want them to stick it out
in spite of how hard
the preaching gets. And pray
that they would see it the biblical way. And of course
we're gonna have a lot of content
to help them. But hey, be a
blessing to them and help explain
those concepts to them as well. Amen?
Bring them under your wing and teach them and love them
and help them in those areas.
So pray for the new people in our church. Pray for more
laborers. Pray for pastors
in training. You see the church families there.
You can look
over that. And then, oh
man, we forgot to take off
Pastor Robinson
in Mountain Baptist Church. We don't want to pray for them anymore.
No, I'm just kidding. We have them on here,
but we're actually gonna pray for Pastor
Joe Jones and shield the
faith Baptist Church in Boise, Idaho.
Nothing against Pastor Robinson. He's actually a
great friend of mine. But we were trying to
rotate the churches,
different churches on our prayer bulletin
every month. And so we're gonna pray
for Pastor Joe Jones and his family
and Shield the Faith Baptist
Church up in Boise, Idaho. They're doing
a great work getting a lot of people saved.
And so please pray for them. If you have
any additional prayer requests that you would like
to be on the bulletin, even
if it's anonymous, you know, sometimes
you might have a prayer request that you don't
want really like the public to know about. You
can place your name and then put
a dash and say unspoken.
Okay. And basically
we'll take that to the Lord in prayer. And obviously the Lord
knows that need. But if you want that on there,
please write that on there.
Tear off the sheet. Put it into the offering plate when it comes
by. And we'll make sure that it gets into
the bulletin for the following week. All right.
And that's pretty much it. This time, Brother Maury
is gonna come on up and pray over this.
All right. Bow your heads, please.
Dear Lord, thank you for giving us another day. Thank you for
allowing us to be able to come to church and
allow us to be in the house of God.
And Lord, we just pray that we continue to
go closer to you. Let us continue
worshiping you and
serving you in our day to day lives, Lord.
Lord, we want to pray for your favor on our church.
We want to pray that we have
your favor on our church, that we're doing the things
that you want us to do. We're so winning.
And Lord, we just pray that you continue
blessing our efforts as a church. We want to pray for our
so winning efforts that people are getting saved, that people
are coming to church, that
people are being warned of the coming
judgment, Lord. Lord, we also want to pray for a
church van. We open the doors that we can have a
van so that we can
serve you in a
different capacity, Lord, and just allow us to be able
to do more
missions trips and so winning trips as well, Lord.
Lord, we also want to pray for the new people.
We pray that you be with them as they're
getting acclimated
to the church. And Lord, we just pray that
you're walking with them
and they're growing closer to you and they're
drawn closer to you and wanting to learn the truth of
what your word has to offer, Lord. Lord, we also
want to pray for the pastors in training. We want to pray for those men
that are seeking a good work. And Lord, we
need pastors. We need people to
stand between the head. And Lord,
we just need people to
stand up and just say, I'm going to preach the word of God,
Lord. And Lord, we just pray that you're with them,
that you're helping them, guiding
them. Lord, just pray that
you're working with them in their lives, Lord.
Lord, we also want to pray for family
salvation. We have some people
here that we have family
members that needs to be saved. Lord, we just pray that
you're with them, you're working with them, Lord, and
you have a, then you ultimately
get them saved. And Lord, we just pray
that you soften their hearts so that they can
accept the gospel and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, Lord. Lord, we also want to pray
for the new moms and the
mothers and expecting moms and the newborns, Lord.
And we just pray that you're with them, that
they're healthy, the deliveries are healthy, the babies
are healthy. And Lord, let us just do
a great job as we're raising our children here.
Lord, we also want to pray for the health
issues that we have for our family members in our church,
Lord. And Lord, we just pray that
you have a hand of healing and protection over them.
And then Lord, we also want to pray for
our Church of the Month, which is
Shield of Faith Baptist
Church. Lord, we pray that you continue blessing him,
blessing Pastor Joe Jones
and allowing him to continue
to do the work of the Lord. And Lord,
we pray that you bless their soul-winning efforts.
And Lord, we also pray that
that you have, that their
that their
ministry is successful, Lord.
And Lord, we just pray that you keep them
safe as they're
doing just their ministry
things that they're
doing in their
time with you, Lord.
Lord, thank you for just giving us another day.
Lord, we pray that the message is
fruitful to us. And Lord, we pray that you have a
lovely name. Amen.
Alright, please turn your hymnals to
song number 46,
My Savior First of All.
Paul's gonna lead the next song.
Song 46,
My Savior First of All.
Song number 46,
My Savior First of All.
Everyone nice and loud
all together on that first verse.
When my life
ended and I
crossed the smiling tide
when the bright and glorious
morning I shall see
I shall
know my Redeemer
when I reach the other
side and his smile
shall be the first to welcome
me
I shall know
him I shall know
and
repeat by his side
I shall stand
I shall know
his love
shall know him
by the print of
the nails in his hand
Oh
the soul-thrilling rapture
when I knew his
blessed face and the
luster of his tightly
leaning eye
Now my
fool heart will praise him
for his mercy's loud and
steady glory I
mention in the sky
I shall
know him
I shall know
and repeat
by his side I shall
stand
I shall know
him I shall know
him by
the print of the
nails in his hand
Oh the
dear ones in glory
how they beckon me to
come and are parting
at the river I
recall
to the sea there's
a beat and they will sing
my welcome home
but I long to be my
savior first of all
I shall
know him
I shall know
him and repeat
by his side I shall
stand
I shall know
him I shall know
him by the
print of the nails
in his hand
Through the
gates to the city
in a row of spotless
white he will lead me
where no tears will ever
fall
In the glad song
of ages I shall
go with delight
but I long to be my
savior first of all
I shall
know him
I shall know
him and repeat
by his side I shall
stand
I shall know
him I shall know
him by
the print of the nails
in his hand
At this time
the ushers will collect the offering and we will be in
Ecclesiastes chapter number 7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
And the chapter reads
A good name is better than precious ointment
and the day of death than the day of one's
birth. It is better to go
to the house of mourning than to go to the house
of feasting for that is the end of
all men and the living will lay it
to his heart. Sorrow is better
than laughter for by the sadness
of the countenance the heart is made better.
The heart of the wise is in the
house of mourning but the heart of fools
is in the house of mirth. It
is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
than for a man to hear the song of fools
for as the crackling
of thorns under a pot so is the
laughter of the fool. This also
is vanity. Surely
oppression maketh a wise man mad
and a gift destroyeth the heart.
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning
thereof and the patient in spirit
is better than the proud in spirit.
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry
for anger resteth in the bosom
of fools. Say not thou
what is the cause that the former days were
better than these. For thou does not
inquire wisely concerning this.
Wisdom is good with an inheritance
and by it there is profit to them that see
the sun. For wisdom is
a defense and money is a defense
but the excellency of knowledge is that
wisdom giveth life to them that have it.
Consider the work of God
for who can make that straight which he hath made
crooked. In the day of prosperity
be joyful but in the day of
adversity consider God
also hath set the one over against
the other till the end that man should find
nothing after him. All things
have I seen in the days of my vanity.
There is a just man that perisheth in
his righteousness and there is a wicked
man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.
Be not righteous over much
neither make thyself
over wise.
Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
Be not over much wicked
neither be thou foolish. Why
shouldest thou die before thy time?
It is good that thou shouldest take hold
of this, yea, also from this
withdraw not thine hand for he that
feareth God shall come forth of them all.
Wisdom strengtheneth
the wise more than ten mighty
men which are in the city.
For there is not a just man upon earth
that doeth good and sinneth not.
Also take no heed unto all
words that are spoken.
Lest thou hear thy servant curse thee
for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth
that thou thyself likewise hath cursed others.
All this have I proved
by wisdom. I said I will be wise
but it was far from me.
That which is far off and exceeding
deep who can find it out?
I applied mine heart to know and to search
and to seek out wisdom
and the reason of things and to know the
wickedness of folly even of foolishness
and madness and I find more
bitter than that the woman
whose heart is snares and nets
and her hands as bands
whoso-pleaseth God shall escape
from her but the sinner shall be taken
by her. Behold this
have I found saith the preacher counting
one by one to find
out the account which
yet my soul seeketh but I find not.
One man among a thousand have I found
but a woman among all these have
I not found. Lo this
only have I found that God
hath made man upright but
they have sought out many inventions.
We thank you Heavenly Father for your gracious
words dear God and precious. We thank you for this
wonderful church. We thank you for our pastor and please
fill in with your Holy Spirit as he preaches your
word tonight in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Okay we're in Ecclesiastes
chapter number seven tonight
and look down at your Bibles at verse number one
of Ecclesiastes seven it says a good name
is better than precious ointment
and the day of death
than the day of one's birth
and one of the things you're going to notice right
off the bat going into the first at least the first
ten verses of chapter seven
is the fact that
Solomon keeps using
his statement of something being better
superior than
another condition or another state of being
he uses that better type
of a statement throughout those ten verses
and if you look at it it says in verse
number one a good name is
better than precious ointment verse two
it is better to go to the house of
mourning verse number three
sorrow is better than laughter
verse number five it is better to hear the rebuke
of the wise you see
verse number eight better is the end of a thing than
the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit
is better than the proud in spirit
so you see this is something that is heavily
emphasized in the beginning of chapter
number seven and if you look at what
he claims to be more superior
it doesn't really seem to make sense because of the fact
that he's saying these negative things
are actually better than the positive he's saying look
you know death
is better than the birth and
you know sorrow is better than
laughter and
these just seem to be very negative statements and he's
basically saying this state of being
is actually superior to
its counterpart and when you look at
that you're like why is that you know why is that
better we would think that
mirth is better we would think that laughter
is better we would think that someone being born is
a lot better why is that why is it
that he's saying that well look at verse number ten for some context
it says say not
thou what is the cause
that the former days were better than these
for thou does not inquire
wisely concerning this
so he says don't ask the question
hey why is it that when I'm going through
mourning or difficulty
there's death there's
all this misfortune so to speak
you know why is it that the
former days were actually better than this when I could
laugh when there was mirth when everything was going well
and Solomon is saying that's the wrong
question to ask okay
he says for thou does not inquire
wisely concerning
this and he's saying look don't
ask why those things are better that's actually not
the right question to ask the right question
isn't necessarily
why is this bad thing happening to me
the right question is actually
what can I learn because of this
bad situation that's happening to me
this matter of consideration
is what he's emphasizing there
and you know it goes without saying
that the times of difficulty
are better than its counterpart
because of the fact that it has a
significant impact on our lives
it actually teaches us better
pain is a better teacher than mirth
important lessons
are learned during hardships
and trials
and when everything is going well
we don't take the time to consider and actually
reflect upon life situations
when everything is going good
your health is going well
your finances are going well
the bills are getting paid
the monkey door in your christian walk
and you're not being punished
you're not going through affliction
you're not going through hardships
you don't really learn from that
you don't really learn from success
where do you learn
what area of life do you learn the most in when you're failing
when you're being chastised
when you're going through affliction
and here's the thing the most valuable lessons
are in those times
but not many people want to experience afflictions
or not many people want to learn those lessons
but not many people want those afflictions in their life
being afflicted
that causes us to really review
and consider
our current state
and in fact look at verse 14
this is basically the theme of the first half of chapter 7
it says in the day of prosperity
be joyful
so it says look when everything is going well
be happy, be thankful, have gratitude
have joy that everything is going well
nothing wrong with
appreciating
and being joyful during times of plenty
and prosperity
but then it goes on to say
but in the day of adversity, consider
be joyful in the day of prosperity
but when there's adversity
you need to reflect, you need to consider
God also had set the one over against the other
to the end that man should find nothing
after him
and let me just say this is that reflecting
considering
taking things into consideration
is actually a lost art today
it actually uses the term meditation
when you
meditate upon God's word
or just meditate upon the things of life period
not many people really take time
to reflect and think upon
their current situation
whether it be
a good or bad situation
or just meditating on God's word
people don't take time to reflect
consider or meditate
and obviously we live in a day and age
where the internet is very prevalent
we have internet on our phones
so it can be very difficult for some
to just get away from all the noise
and just shut everything off
be quiet and just think
people don't like to be by themselves
to just think by themselves
and meditate in their heart
and commune with God
upon their bed
they're used to either having music on
or going on social media
and when everything is just quiet
they'd rather just not have it be that way
unfortunately we grew up with a TV in our home
you guys know what a TV is right?
it's a box that people used to have in their homes
ours was huge
it was a massive box
it was heavy too
and it had this thing
where you just pull
to turn it on
and it would go
and make a crackling noise
it would have to warm up
no one knows what I'm talking about
and you need an antenna
that's how old I am
but I was
used to even coming home as a child
from school
I was a key latch kid by the way
I was a key latch kid
I came home before my parents were home
I had a key to my house
and the first thing I'd do when I'd go home
was just turn on the TV and walk away
it was just to have noise in the background
and it's kind of like the society that we have today
where something always has to be going on in the background
we have to have some sort of
activity or
something plain in the background
and that's not necessarily the best
sometimes it's better to just be still
and know that he has got
right
now I'm not saying go into isolation
because isolation is not good
okay
and what's associated with this matter of isolation is that
you're just trying to get away from people
and typically people who isolate themselves
in that matter
they become very depressed
they become emotional
they're just kind of left alone with their own thoughts
and they become more anxious and depressed
and sad and all those things
I'm more so talking about solitude
when you purposely go into solitude
by yourself
so you can spend time in prayer
you can spend time meditating upon God's word
you can basically turn off your phone
or put it away from you
and just kind of get alone with God
and just read the Bible, pray, meditate, reflect
look outside the window
and just think
upon certain things, think deeply
that's actually very beneficial
to your Christian life
for you to take time to think deeply
so much shallow thinking today
and people don't really
get into the deep things of God anymore
or they don't think deeply about life anymore
it's good to just kind of
get a cup of coffee
sit down, close the door
and just reflect and meditate
and that's really what this
initial couple of verses is talking about
it's talking about the importance of reflecting
and again I'm not saying isolating yourself
where you're just trying to get away from everyone
because you're just depressed
and I'm not saying that you should live solely like this
either, because we are social beings
the Bible tells us that
we require fellowship
we need friends, we need
family, we need to
speak, we need to talk, we need to share ideas
we need to commune with God
obviously we need to pray and read the Bible
but there are times
when it's just good to set aside
a certain amount of time just for you to reflect
and be quiet, be still
think upon God's word and
commune with the Lord in your heart
and again that's a foreign concept to a lot of people
you know, it's just like, well I'll do that
but I need some music, I need something in the background
to go on, I just don't like it when it's too quiet
why, because you're left alone with your thoughts
that's why, you know
but that's actually one of the best things for you to do
and I want to encourage you to
create that habit in your life
that's actually a really good discipline for you to have
and let me say this
it's one of the best things for you to do to study the Bible
you actually learn more of the Bible
you actually get
deeper layers of meaning
in the Bible when you meditate
and reflect upon it
you know, by yourself, in solitude
and in prayer, okay
I believe it's when the Holy Spirit really begins
to teach you those truths because you're kind of
blocking out all of the
voices, so to speak
that are without, they're not without
signification as the Bible puts it, okay
and so we see
the first couple of verses really talking about the
value of reflecting
okay, and the first verse
we see that he encourages
the reflection on a reputation
you know
while you're still alive
and more so, what you leave behind
after you die, verse one says
a good name is better than precious ointment
and the day of death
than the day of one's birth
now think about this
ointment makes you smell good, we can say perfume
you know, something that just
makes you not smell
it's good to take a bath
obviously as well
but even aside from that, you know, ointment
causes you to smell, have a delightful
scent
but ointment is also needed in funerals, right
because of the fact that a corpse
can kind of stink after a while
and you can see why people
will place an importance on ointment on a funeral
but you know what's worse than having a stinking
corpse, is having a stinking
reputation after you die
that's why he says a good name
is better than precious
ointment and the day of one's death
than the day of one's birth
because when someone dies, when you die
you will leave a reputation behind
and you can, you can have
all the ointment
that you want
you can perfume your body
and make your casket look beautiful
but the reality is, if you had a stinky
reputation as you were
alive, that's not going to do anything
it's not going to do anything, it's like putting cologne
on a person who just doesn't
take a bath, okay
all you do, you're not masking anything
you're just kind of mixing those
scents together and you know what I'm talking about
you know, it's just like you get a nice
smelling cologne but you smell like onions
kind of mix those two
it's just like, you're trying to mask
the fact that you don't bathe
and you know what, in like
manner, you can
put a nice suit on
that corpse, you can give it a nice casket
you can give it a beautiful ceremony
but if your life
was just meaningless
if you didn't live a life with purpose
for Christ and win souls
to Christ and live a life of biblical
meaning and eternal value
your reputation is going to stink before the Lord
your reputation is going to stink before the believers
and of course, who cares what
the world thinks of us, right
I mean, when the world looks at us, they think we stink
no matter what, right, we're not trying to
please the world, but I'm saying
live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord
but also having a good reputation
before other believers, you understand
go to chapter 10 if he pleased the
aspies if you would, so he says a good
name is better than precious
ointment, now, better to have
both, right, you should have both
but if you were to choose one over the other
choose the good name
it's better than any type of ointment
that you could ever receive
and in fact, look at Ecclesiastes 10 verse 1
it says dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary
to send forth a stinking
saver, so doth a
little folly him that is
in reputation for wisdom
and honor, goes without saying
that it takes a lifetime to build up a good
reputation, but it only takes a
little fly to mess it all up
right, and
you think of, for example
a life that's lived for God
you know, if an individual gets
involved in some gross sin
they might have done righteousness before or after
but they have that blemish
they have that
that chink in the armor, so to speak
and it ends up being a stinky
reputation after they die, for example
who's a person in the Bible who has
one of the best reputations in the Old Testament
how about David?
He's a man after God's own heart
right, he's a man after God's own heart
he's a sweet psalmist of Israel, did a lot of great
words, loved the Lord, gave us the book of Psalms
I mean he was a great man, but hold on a second
didn't he have like a stinky reputation, so to speak
because of his
adultery with Bathsheba
because of, you know
him murdering Bathsheba's husband
I mean he has that
blemish on his reputation
because a little folly can destroy
someone who is in reputation for wisdom
and honor, go to 2 Corinthians
chapter 2, 2 Corinthians
chapter 2
I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 22 verse 1
it says a good name is rather to be chosen than great
riches and loving favor
rather than silver
and gold, you can't buy
genuine
admiration and
genuine favor with
silver and gold
requires for you to have a good reputation
2 Corinthians 2.14 says now thanks be unto
God which always
causeth us to triumph in Christ
and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge
by us in every place
for we are unto God a sweet savor of
Christ in them that are saved
and in them that perish
to the one we are the savor of death
unto death and to the other the savor
of life unto life and who is
sufficient for these things
and again when I talk about
a good reputation I'm not talking about before the world
because a lot of people
even these lame Christians
sicified Christians try to
point at us and be like
oh you guys are giving Jesus a bad name
well you know what? You're giving Jesus
a bad name to Jesus
you're discouraging people
from going to church, that's a flat out lie
the way you preach
and the things you believe you're going to scare
people away from Christ, no you're weak
Christianity is actually something that scares people away
from Christ and you know what?
even if you didn't scare anybody away from Christ
God is not pleased with your reputation
if you are
taking soft stances
on specific doctrines
or on the sins of this nation
or the perversions of this world
if you don't take a hard stance on it
you're a stinking savor to the Lord
you have a bad reputation before God
so obviously we understand
we don't want to be man pleasers
and try to please the world
and seek to downplay
the doctrines of the Bible
soften up our preaching
or change the way we do our services
just to please the world
that's obviously wrong
we can care less what the world thinks of us
and the reality is, even if we did those things
the world will still hate us
because we're not of this world
so it's a lose-lose situation when you try to do that for the world
so better to just go all the way
if you offend people then you offend them
but here's the thing, we don't want to offend the Lord
and we don't want to
cause the Word of God to be blasphemed
because of our bad reputation
and so the Bible tells us in Proverbs 10 verse 7
the memory of the just is blessed
but the name of the wicked
shall rock
go back to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 if you would
it's important to have a good reputation
it's better than ointment
and you know what
in its most literal sense too
if you come to church
and you have all your ducks physically in order
you know, you're dressed nice
you smell nice
you just look great
but you just have a bad reputation
people will actually overlook
how you look
and just solely focus on the fact that you're just not a good Christian
okay
and I don't think there's anyone in here like that
but lest there should be, right?
we should reflect upon this
think upon this, consider it
take it to heart, lay it to heart
and say, man, how is my reputation
before the believers?
do I have a reputation that is above reproach
before believers?
you know, Daniel and Joseph are two men in the Bible
that you can't explicitly see
a specific sin, now we obviously know that they were sinners
because as we're going to see in chapter 7
there's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin is not
but
we can say that there were men who lived lives
that were above reproach
there's nothing you can point to and say, man, this person was weak
in this area
even if there was weaknesses in their life
which I'm sure there was, God chose nothing to point it out
which kind of goes to show us
you know, if we sincerely
and genuinely want to serve the Lord
and have a good reputation, sometimes God
can sort of blot out
our bad reputation
or not our bad reputation, our bad qualities
okay
because we're trying our best
you understand?
and so, a good reputation
is better than ointment
in the day of one's death and the day of one's birth
why is the day of one's death better?
well, due to the fact that
you can change a lot of people's lives
when you die, right, based upon the life that you lived
okay
look at verse 2, it is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting
for that is the end of all men
and the living will lay it to heart
so it's actually better
to stay home and cry than to come to the men's barbecue
okay, I'm just joking
we're going to the house of feasting
we're going to the house of feasting on Saturday
okay
but you know what, the house of mourning
and by the way, it's not saying don't go to the house of feasting
what is it saying?
it's saying that the house of mourning is actually better
what is mourning?
mourning is when you're weeping
you're sad, you're sorrowful
you're going through a difficult time
and although
Solomon is the one who's writing this down
and I believe it's his opinion
I believe it's God's word
what he's saying here is actually biblically correct
when he says this is actually better
okay
you know, when you suffer
it's actually better for you to suffer than for you to go to a house of feasting
and
he says for that is the end of all men
and the living will lay it to heart
what does that mean?
well, when you suffer
when you go through a difficult time
other people watch you
and when they see how you respond
to that difficulty, you know what they do?
they lay it to heart
they consider it
it causes them to think
what would I do in that situation?
would I respond correctly as this individual did?
they lay it to heart
or how about this, you know, when you go to a funeral
a funeral makes you think
you see that corpse there
you see that person
and you think to yourself, man, you know what?
I'm going to die one day
you lay it to heart
when these things take place
it's important that in the Christian life
you recognize that you're going to go through difficult times
you're going to go through trials and persecution
and afflictions
it's important that you stick it out
why? well, first of all
don't be a quitter
don't just quit, don't just throw in the towel
don't be the kind of Christian that
you're just kind of like a mushroom Christian
where you grow overnight and you're just toppled over
at the first kick
be a redwood
where it takes, you know
it takes a lot to kind of blow you over
to knock you over
but more so than that
how about this, the fact that there's people watching you
hey, if you're parents
your children are watching you
right? and if you're discouraged
and you're just going through a difficult time
you're going through the house of mourning
you know
and you're tempted to quit and throw in the towel
and get out of church or get another job
or something where it's going to take you out of church
you know, why don't you think about your kids
and how they're going to view that
they're going to lay it to heart
hey, when we
minimize the importance of church
that's exactly what
our children receive from that
they see that and say, well I guess church isn't important
when we stop reading our Bibles
our children take that to heart, they lay it to heart
and they begin to learn
our patterns
okay, that when we go through a difficult time
what do you do when you go through affliction
whatever it is that you do, that's what your children
are going to do
they lay it to heart
and so, you know
it's important to reflect upon
these things and recognize
that
sorrow is important
look at verse 3, sorrow is better than laughter
for by the sadness of the countenance
the heart
is made better
the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning
but the heart of fools is in the house
of mirth
now this, you know
it's kind of
it's kind of crazy if you think about it
because God's telling you, you're going to learn
more, you'll have more wisdom
if you're sorrowful
and this doesn't mean like you make
yourself sorrowful
it's like, I'm just going to start crying every day
and just get offended at everything
I'm just going to be like this
little softie and just, you know
no, it's referring to the fact that you're a
face, that you're humble
and
the reality is, in the
Christian life
you're always going to experience a time of difficulty
my father-in-law used to say
you're either coming out of a trial
you're in a trial, or you're about to go into
a trial, and that's definitely
true, and I say
it's even more so for the Christian
who's actually living a godly life
because all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution
a lot of old IFBers, they may be going through
a difficult time, but a lot of that is self-inflicted
sometimes
you know, whereas, you know, a lot of my friends
they've gone through difficult times, but it's because
they're preaching God's word, they're being persecuted
for righteousness sake
and they go through a difficult time, a time of sorrow
and you know what it does?
Sorrow, the reason he says that sorrow
is better than laughter, is because
sorrow humbles the heart
makes you
humble
you say, why do I need to be humble?
because you're prideful
because you are filled with
pride and haughty
you think a lot of yourself, okay
and sometimes
God has to allow the carpet to be swept
from under us, to help us to
realize that we're not all that we think
we're cracked up to be
and what does it do? It creates sorrow
in the heart, the sadness
and the countenance, but hold on a second
the heart is made better
because of it, okay
and the Bible tells us, blessed are the poor in spirit
right, turn with you
if you would to
go to Hebrews chapter 12
you know, I would say
look forward to the times of sorrow, but that's
obviously difficult to do
I can't wait till I'm sad again
I can't wait till I'm just
crying myself to sleep again
I can't wait till I'm depressed
or something, you know
obviously it's not a pleasant thing
I can't wait till God chastises me
again
and look, if you know anybody who
says that, that's the person who needs to be a base
because
that's the person who's prideful
who thinks that they're just above that
you know what I mean? Oh yeah, I can't wait
no one looks forward to that
but here's the thing, you know, it's in times
of difficulty that you actually draw closer
to God
you're actually closer to the Lord when you're
going through times of sorrow
and initially it may not
feel that way because there's times of
sorrow where you feel like God is far from
you, you know, I've had times in my
Christian life where
I was just going through a difficult
time and I felt like the Lord was far
from me and it was just a time of
testing and it didn't mean that
He wasn't with me, it was just a time of trial
where it just felt like He wasn't there
He wasn't helping me
He wasn't, I
felt like He wasn't blessing me at the time
and you know what it caused me to do? It caused me to
reflect, consider, Lord is there any sin in my life?
Am I doing something that's
not pleasing to you?
And it causes you to examine yourself
and that's great
and here's the thing, Psalm 34 verse 18
says this, the Lord
is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart
and save it such as be of a contrite
spirit, so when you're going through a difficult
time and you're of a sorrowful heart
the Bible actually says that God is
nigh unto you, He's drawn close
to you, okay?
Psalm 51 verse 17 says the sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit
a broken and contrite heart
oh God, thou will
not despise, so God is
nigh unto those who are of a contrite heart
if you're going through a difficult time, don't think
well, you know, is God going to think I'm just
weak because I'm weeping, because I'm going through
a hard time, no in fact He's nigh unto you because
of it, if you call out to
Him obviously, ask
Him to help you, you
seek His presence, and you know what
when you're going through a time of plenty
when you read your Bible, it's not as
rich as if you were to read it when you're going
through a time of sorrow, when
you go through a difficult time and you open up the Bible
it's like everything is popping
out, everything is like oh
this is for me right here, oh man this is comforting
here, yeah, because you're drawing
eye to God, and He's drawing eye to you because of your
sorrowful heart, okay
the Bible says in Proverbs 15 33
the fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before
honor is
humility, just know this
in order for God to exalt you
He has to humble you
like why do I need to be humble
because you're prideful
I'm prideful, we
are often, we think too much of
ourselves sometimes, we think we're
afraid or we start accomplishing things
and we're just like look at everything that I've
done, we have this Nebuchadnezzar type of mentality
and God often
has to come and humble
us in order to exalt us
He says before destruction the heart of
man is haughty and before honor is
humility, Proverbs 22 4 says
by humility and the fear of the Lord are
riches and honor and
life, so you can see based upon these verses
why He's saying that sorrow
is better than laughter
we love laughter, I love to laugh
it's part of my
personality, I just love to
laugh, that's why I'm going to live very
long
a merry heart, do what's good like a medicine
and even when I'm going through a sorrowful
time, I can still find
things to laugh about, people to laugh at
I can still find
a mirth a little bit in that
I've gone through difficult times where I just don't
want to smile, I don't want to laugh
and it's not comfortable
it's very hard
it's very difficult
and it's like you're bearing the weight of the world
on your shoulders kind of thing
but that's like the best position for you to be in
and let me just tell you
every single one of you, let me just say this
every single one of you are going to go
through a very, very difficult time
or you're going through one
right now
and every single one of those difficult times
is just
has the potential to
knock you out of the will of God
so don't take it lightly
okay
every single one of you are going to go through it
every single one of you because you're
God's children, amen
you're God's children, you're saved
you want to serve the Lord
you're reading your Bible
so God is going to allow you to go through a
very dark time
a dark valley
say pastor are you going through a hard time?
no actually I'm going through the house of mirth
right now, I'll just be honest with you
I'm having a great time
I'm not sad at all
but I've experienced
this valley
I've experienced this wilderness
where you're deep into the wilderness
and it just feels like you're never going to get out
I've experienced that
and the longer you're a Christian
the more frequent that's going to come
and let me just
say this is that
don't isolate yourself
and not just
isolate yourself from church, isolate yourself
from God, isolate yourself from
your family, you need
solitude where you commune
with God and allow
that difficult time to draw you closer
to the Lord, not become bitter towards
the Lord, not become bitter towards your spouse
or your children or the
church, those are times when you
have to draw an eye to the Lord
I know you want some hard preaching
tonight but I need to talk
about this because the chapter covers it
sorrow is very much important, think about this
the Bible says of Jesus that he's acquainted
with grief
and the Bible
says that when we want a fellowship
with the Lord, what did Paul say?
that I may know him
that I may know him in worship songs
you know, praising
the Lord in worship, no, he said that I may know him
in the power of his resurrection and the
fellowship of his suffering
you know, put that
in your liberal pipe and smoke it
you live pastor
why don't you preach from that
we're gonna draw close to the end of service
put on the purple lights and the smoke
and sing these really gay
songs and just, you know
it's like, that's not drawing close to God
if you really want fellowship with the Lord
you actually have to suffer with him
that's what he considers fellowship
is when you partake
in his suffering
so how do I partake in his suffering?
by being rejected with him
by being hated with him
by experiencing
being forsaken
you know, all of us to a certain extent have felt
maybe at one time or another that God has forsaken us
the only difference is that Jesus was actually forsaken
right?
why hast thou forsaken me?
there's been times when you're gonna feel
and I've felt
where God has forsaken us
it's a difficult feeling
but it's in those times that you're actually
gonna grow as a Christian
so don't throw in the towel
don't use a difficult time
as an excuse to get out of church
to get out of the will of God
to just take a break
I just need to take a break from church a little bit
I just need to take a break from the Bible
no, you need
your heart is broken
and you need to draw an eye on the Lord because of it
so he can mend those wounds
and let me say this
if you respond correctly to those trials
you actually
come back
pretty spirit filled
and you grow
because of it, you'll come back a different person
which is the goal
of the house of mourning
see
we go down this life, this street
called life
and on the right hand side there's the house of feasting
everything's happy, everything's great
and on the left hand side there's this decrepit
house of mourning
and most people go to the house of feasting
that's where they rather be
but the reality is
in order to really get wisdom
and growth and maturity
and even God's blessing
if you really want to learn the Bible
you gotta go to the house of mourning
that's where you'll find it
look at Hebrews 12 verse 6
for whom the Lord
loveth, He chasteneth
and scourgeth, verse 6
and scourgeth every son whom
He receiveth
chasteneth means He spanks you
He whoops you
and this is something that He does to every child
of God
and sometimes, you know, there's times
when God chastens you
and you can't really figure out why He's doing it
you're just kinda like, why is this happening
to me, I'm not, I don't think there's sin in my life
but when that happens
just reference John 15
that He's basically
pruning you
He's removing certain
undesirable qualities from your life
because you're being fruitful
and if you're being fruitful
He's looking at you and saying, alright, let's make him a little more fruitful
but here's the thing
if He just makes you fruitful right off the bat
you know what that's gonna do? It's gonna cause you to be prideful
and arrogant
and haughty
and think a lot of yourself, so what does He have to do?
He has to prune you
He has to cut away some undesirable qualities from you
He has to purge you
so that you're humble enough to be exalted to that position
or that knowledge
or whatever it may be
but just mark it down
God will chasten you
and I'm not saying that this massive hand's
gonna come out of the sky and just slap you
although, I really think that
that should happen sometimes
God should just reason
and just backhand some people, some Christians
wake them up a little bit
but that's typically not what happens
and by the way, I deserve that sometimes too
amen?
but look what it says in verse 7
if ye endure chastening
now look, if it's saying you have to endure chastening
that means the chastening's pretty bad
when you spank your children
they're just like
that's kinda what you have to do
you know
um
sometimes when my kids get spanked
you know, they know what's coming
cause they disobeyed
or they hit their brother or sister
or did something bad
and they're about to get it
and you can see it in their face
they're just like, alright, just endure it
and they're just like, bah
you know, and the little one
he has a high pain tolerance
so he just kinda takes it
he knows how to endure
but let me say this
it's like, you know, we have to endure
because sometimes it hurts
when God chastens us
he says if you endure chastening
God dealeth with you as with sons
for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not
but if ye be without chastisement
whereof all are partakers
then are ye bastards and not sons
so God is saying, look, obviously if you don't
receive any chastening because you're involved in sin
then you're probably not even saved
and this, I would say, is a good
uh, way to
determine whether someone's saved or not
you know, I would doubt
someone's salvation if they're, like, just
involved in just really wicked sin
and they're just prospering
as a Christian, and God is just
not chastening them, I'm like, okay, maybe they're not even
saved, because according to the Bible
you know, when they're, if you're saved and you're
partaking of those things, it just proves that you're
saved, okay
furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh
which corrected us and we gave them reverence
shall we now much rather be in subjection
unto the father of spirits and live?
for they verily for a few days chastened us
chastened us after their own pleasure
but he for our profit
that we might be partakers of
his holiness, so he's saying, look
God chastens us so we can
be holy like he is holy
okay
he says, now no chastening
for the present time seemeth joyous
but grievous, no one likes to be spanked
no one likes going through a difficult time
no one likes trials, no one likes
tribulation, no one's like, yeah, let's do this
trials, tribulation, you know, and if
you do that, okay, you're
overcompensating a little much
obviously when we go through tribulation
it's an indication
that we're doing right
but
in the thick of it, you're not
really enjoying it that much
looking back at January
man, we had a great time
we had a blast
as the pastor, our first
protest, we've only been around for three
years and already got the church blown up
dude
this is great
we went down in history
first independent fundamental Baptist
church to ever get bombed
that's awesome
I'm thankful, but you know what, like looking
back and I was like, wow, that's great
and, you know
looking back, it's just like
that was actually kind of fun
you know, fighting and battling
and being threatened and doxxed
and, you know, everything that we went through
was great
but when I was in the thick of it, it wasn't that great
now it might have been great for you
still, because
you go home
but they come to my home
you know, they're
stealing my vehicle and all these things
and
harassing us and threatening us
and when you're in the thick of it, it's just like
man, this is hard, you know, this is difficult
but
it's important that you just endure
you say, did you ever want to quit?
no, I honestly, if I were to be honest with you
I never had a thought in my mind where it's just like
I can't do this anymore
I never had a thought like that, I never had a thought
where it's just like, I just need to, like, quit
I did have a thought where I was just like
okay, now I'm getting kind of weary
I'm growing tired
now this is kind of like
weighing on me quite a bit
the pressure is getting thick
I can feel the heaviness
of it
and it's like the pressure
the spiritual pressure that's coming down upon you
I felt that
and I remember thinking, well, I mean
God doesn't give us more than we can handle
and apparently he thinks I can handle this
even though I feel like I can't
and I remember telling my wife
like, hey, I'm not telling you I'm quitting
or anything like that, I'm just saying
I'm going through a hard time
sleepless nights and everything and all that
but you know what, I learned a lot
from God's word during that time
I drew close to the God during that time
and
luckily, I was trained
in times past how to deal with trials
and one of the key things
that they tell you is like, it's not going to last forever
just endure
endurance is not necessarily a quality
that's hard to learn
you've just got to kind of wait it out
and the worse it gets
the closer you are to the end
so when the building blew up, it's like
oh man, we're close
pretty freaking bad
you know
and so
but you know what it did
I remember
meeting with the men
we were having a prayer meeting
and just kind of
just kind of being, you know, speaking heart to heart
with the men and just saying, hey, we need to read our Bibles
more, I remember
Brother Albert coming to us and saying, hey, we need to humble
ourselves more because we need God
to be with us
we need to be humble and pray
and read the Bible more
and examine ourselves
and it was a great time
we're in the house of mourning, so to speak
but we grew
because of it
so you see the value in that
he says, no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous
nevertheless, afterward it yielded
the peaceable fruits of righteousness
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby
so he says, look
at the end of it, it's going to be good for you
spankings are good for you
wherefore
he says in verse 12, lift up the hands which
hang down
and the feeble knees
make straight paths for your feet lest
that which is lame be turned out of the way
but let it rather be healed, so he's saying, look
instead of just like, I don't think
I can do this, it's like, lift them up
you know
and your feeble knees
correct your ways, walk straight
just endure it
ok
follow peace with all men in holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord
looking diligently
looking diligently unto who?
unto the Lord, right?
lest any man fail of the grace of God
lest any root of bitterness spring of trouble you
and thereby may be defiled
so he says, look, you need to endure this trial
and you need to look unto the cross
look unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith
get your eyes off of the Lord
the danger is that you can become
bitter
and there's nothing worse than a bitter
Christian, folks
and they become bitter towards God
bitter towards the pastor, bitter towards
others, and what happens is they become
bitter and many are defiled
because of them
so this is a danger of
not enduring
if you don't endure chastening
you don't endure difficulty
if you don't endure trials and tribulation
you know what's going to happen?
and you're not looking unto Jesus
you start veering off
you're going to become bitter towards God
and look, Christians can become bitter towards God
it happens
why did you let this happen to me?
why is this happening to me right now?
why is this going on?
the question is not why
the question should be what can I learn from this
ok
and look
you say well yeah that makes perfect sense pastor
gotcha, check
I'll do it
yeah until you actually receive a trial
that makes you question
until you actually start going through something
where you're just like, yeah why is this happening to me?
because then it comes
straight to you
because then it hits where it hurts
and it's at that time you have to remember
ok don't ask why, I need to ask
what can I learn from this
ok, and obviously you got to examine yourself
make sure that you're right with God
you don't have sin in your life
I mean it gets to a point where you're like Job
and you start confessing sins and you never even
you start confessing other people's sins
I'm sorry for what brother Marcos did that one time
and you know
let me just go through his list real quick
Lord, you start confessing other people's sins
you start ratting people out, snitching them out
before the Lord
because you just want to make sure
that everything is just where it needs to be
he's not involved in sin or anything like that
at least I don't think so
but what you do is you examine yourself
but look, if you don't
if you don't look into the Lord
you're going to become bitter
ok, and when you become bitter
that's a deep pit
that is very difficult to get out of
it's not impossible, but it's very difficult
I've met bitter Christians
and when you
examine them from the outside
you say to yourself, well this could be fixed in three easy steps
but those three easy steps
are like three miles apart
from each other
to them
when they're down deep
you know, better to look into Jesus
and you're three miles away from that
than to become bitter
and you're three miles down deep in the pit of bitterness
and I'm telling you, it's very difficult to get out of
ok
and so
look what it goes on to say
it says, lest any be a fornicator
profane person as he saw who for a morsel
of meat sold his birth right
for you know how that afterward
he would have had inherited the blessing
he was rejected for he found
no place of repentance
though he sought it carefully
with tears, what does it say, he became bitter
and here's the thing
you may think to yourself, well you know
I have it pretty good though, I think I'm a pretty strong
Christian and I think my walk
with God is good, my family
is good, my marriage is
great, then good, you're a great
candidate for a trial then
because it looks like you're
due for a trial then
come on down
you qualify
for tribulation, why?
because you're doing well
by the way, don't get this idea that God's
just waiting for you to have a good time
alright, now I'm going to get him
there's no house of
peace in my house
no it's more like oh he's being fruitful
okay I'm going to allow a trial into his life because
I want him to become more fruitful
I want him to appreciate the things more
I want to bless him more
you understand
and so
if you get nothing from that just get this
think it
not strange
okay, when that fiery trial
should come upon you, you know don't think why is this
happening to me, think what
can I learn from this and I'm just telling you it's
going to happen to every single
one of you
especially in a church like this
it's going to happen to you, okay
David said before I was
afflicted I went astray but now have I kept that
word
he's like before I was before you spanked
me Lord I was going astray I was doing
all kinds of stupid stuff but then
when I got afflicted I learned the word
he says it is good for me in verse 71
Psalm 119, it is good for me that I have been
afflicted that I might learn thy
statutes, hey when you pray
Lord teach me the word of God
help me to learn the deep truths of God
just know that it might take this
I was like oh you want to learn some
you want to learn some deep truths
you want to get the layered meanings of the
Bible, okay
it's going to take a little bit of affliction though
verse 75
says I know O Lord that thy
judgments are right and that
thou in faithfulness
hast afflicted me
I'm not saying be joyous when you get
afflicted but just know it's a part of life
okay affliction is part of life
and if you find
yourself in this situation right now and
you find yourself kind of getting bitter
well there's a reason that this sermon is
being preached so you probably
haven't dug yourself deep into the pit yet
but you're probably
on your way
so get out of the pit while you can
forgive
whoever offended you
begin to change your perspective on your
trial and
get right with the Lord and
go into solitude
and have that prayer time
have that Bible reading
ask the Lord to fill you with the Spirit
have the right perspective, go back to
Ecclesiastes if you would
chapter 7
so now do you see why he says it's
better?
he says it's better because you actually benefit more from it
you benefit more from affliction
from sorrow, from
trials, you benefit so much more from it
you get God's blessing on your life
it's wonderful
it's not wonderful when
you're in the thick of it but it yields
the peaceable fruits of righteousness
you can't expect for the Christian life
to just be all roses and daisies
and a bed of roses and everything is going to be hunky dory
and nothing bad is ever going to happen
if you
have that attitude, man, you're going to be offended
when you get persecuted
you will be offended
because you're going to be like, why is this happening to me?
I was serving God, I was doing all these things
why is he allowing this?
oh, it's because you're a Christian, that's why
and this is part of life
look at verse 5
so what is he saying?
first and foremost, he's talking about rebuke
and he's saying there
that open rebuke is better than
secret love
it's better to have
sermons
geared towards rebuking
than just encouraging
okay
right?
I mean, we need encouragement
but let's just be honest, sometimes we just need more rebuke
and reproof
and if all you get is encouragement
you're not really going to grow from that
we need encouragement
we need to be exhorted to get through the week
hey, this sermon is kind of like an encouraging
sermon
encouraging you not to be a wimp and not to
quit and all that stuff
I'm just joking
it's important to have these types of sermons
but it's really important to get the rebuking
and he says there, it's better to
hear the rebuke of the wise
than for a man to hear the song of fools
open rebuke is better than secret love
and rebuke is a
lost art even in churches today
where pastors do not want to rebuke
anything and if they
even slightly reprove something
they apologize for it
they're just very soft
they don't want to offend anybody
but what they're actually doing is
they're kind of doing a disservice to their church members
because rebuke is necessary
and we often change the most
when we are being rebuked
we get right
encouragement just helps you kind of stick in there
stick it out, rebuke helps you
to kind of purge yourself a little bit
especially when we start talking about your sin
right, something maybe
you're particularly involved in
and it's a character flaw
whatever it may be, when something is
preached on like that, you know, you get embarrassed
a little bit, you get a little
red in the face, okay
I remember
you know, my father-in-law, what he would preach
and he would find out about some
character flaw that I had, he would
automatically utilize that for
sermon content
and I would always sit in the front, like I'd be sitting
where Vince DJ is, because you know
I was dead center right there in the front
and he would, I'm like man
he's preaching against me
he's talking about
me, and he's just like ripping
and then you know, the men in the church
didn't make it any easier either, because they're like
come on Bruce, they would call
they would call out names in the service
how many remember that
from Pacific, yeah
they would literally call out names, because you know
sometimes they knew that you're the person that he
was talking about, and they'd be like
that's right Bruce
it's like dude
it's like that one time where Alex Solis called out Alex
Brash, you guys remember that
it's like that
and I remember
and I remember thinking to myself, it's good that I'm
in the front, because then no one can see how red my face is
right now
so embarrassing, you know
but here's the thing, I love the Lord
and because I love the Lord, I'm like I need to change that
I need to correct this
because this is embarrassing
and you know
it benefited me in the long run
and you know, my father-in-law
I was close to my father-in-law as my pastor
and he saw
the blind spots
that I couldn't see, he can see what was in my
blind spots, he can see the flaws
and the things that I needed to work on
and he would openly rebuke me in church
but he would also privately rebuke me as well
sometimes I'd have meetings with him and he'd just rebuke
and then we had this thing called staff meetings
okay
and staff meetings is where we would really get it
pretty good, right?
they would have these little sheets
and the itinerary for the staff meeting
it was on Fridays or Tuesdays
and you look at it and you go down the line and you're like
aw man, I'm about to get it
I remember for a long time
you know, when I first got on staff over there
I was kind of like late to everything
just late
and man, he let me have it
so much on that
and then finally I realized I'm like
I think he's talking about me
and then you know
we'd come late into the staff meetings
and I'd walk in
and he'd look at me and he'd go
go on
and he's just talking to someone and I'm like
oh man
and then at that point I realized
well maybe it's actually important to be punctual
to meetings and stuff
and I changed
and I became punctual
and then there was another guy
I'm not going to say his name
I'll just say this, he was on staff there
he was a pastoral staff
that guy was late to everything and he never changed that
he never
no matter how much it was
on the bulletin
no matter how much it was preached on
no matter how many times it was hammered
stop showing up late
you're a pastor
he'd just always be late still
15-20 minutes late sometimes
he'd say well what happened to that guy
well remember the beginning of the sermon, the reputation
yeah he stunk
and to this day he still stinks
he's not a reputable person
he's not a person of honor and respect
he's not a person you wouldn't want to emulate
as a man of God
guy lacks character, can't even be on time
to a staff meeting
okay
but that rebuked helped me
because now I'm on time to everything
I'm really early to everything
I'm here hours and hours before
right
and so that was beneficial to me
but it required a rebuke though
it required for him to sit down with me and say
you're late, why are you late
why are you being late
what is this character flaw that you have
you can't be on time
and it helped me
and there's far more other
instances where that took place that I'm not going to share
with you because I want to save myself the embarrassment
okay
but the point is open rebuke is better than secret love
I will say this
don't take this to an extreme
and think that you can just start rebuking each other
okay
because part of rebuking in order to do it effectively
is like the person who's doing the rebuking
or the person who's being rebuked
has to know that the person who's doing the rebuking
actually cares for them
and so you know
if they don't think you care for them
they can become offended
and the Bible says that a brother
offended is harder to be won than a strong city
and his contentions are like the bars of a castle
so
offenses from a different brother
well that's what you need to hear
but did he need to hear it in order
for you, did you want him to change
though
because if the goal is to change him
that's probably not the best way to do it
the best way to do it is win that person's heart
then rebuke them and they know that you're doing it
because you love them
and so
by the way if you see me being hard on some of the guys
in our church
just know that I probably have a really good relationship
with them
I'm not just going to rebuke them
if we don't have a good relationship or something
but if I'm really hard on some of the guys
in our church, don't feel bad for them
don't feel bad either
they're just like oh okay
they're just kind of taken
because they know that I love them
I love them, I care for them
and that's why, because here's the thing
I rather openly rebuke them than secretly love them
you understand
and so
that's very much important
okay
look at verse 8, better is the end of a thing
than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit
is better than the proud in spirit
because we're actually past time
I'm going to have to finish this next week
but if you get anything from this
the initial beginning of this chapter
is that it's important to reflect
it's important to meditate
to think upon certain things
and just recognize this on the road to life
you're going to have the house of feasting and the house of mourning
most of us
myself included
will visit the house of feasting far more often
than not
but it's important for us to realize that
we need to take trips to the house of mourning too
and look, sometimes you're just forced into the house of mourning
sometimes
you have no choice
the house of feasting is closed for you
and the house of mourning
has a vacancy and has your name on it
and people
want to avoid going to the house of mourning
they want to avoid going through a difficult time
but it's inevitable
it's unavoidable, you're going to experience it
okay
do not try to avoid it
don't try to bypass it
you need to accept it and recognize
it's going to make you a better Christian
in the long run
and go into that with the thinking of
I need to stay in my Bible
I need to stay in prayer
I need to stay in church
and I will say this
one of the best things for you to do when you go through a difficult time
aside from Bible reading
and prayer, is this
you're brothers and sisters in Christ
now a lot of people
a lot of people will go into isolation
and they just don't talk to anybody in the church
about the difficulty they're going through and that's not good
I'll just be honest with you
it's a really bad choice for you to make
because God has allowed
certain people in our church to go through difficult times
and trials
in order to be equipped to help you
through your difficult time
so you're kind of letting their trial
go to waste
because you're not sharing that, you're not talking about that
you understand?
when you go through a difficult time in your marriage
or you feel like you're going through a difficult time
in your child rearing
talk to the other ladies in our church
I'm embarrassed
well, develop relationships with the ladies in our church
and you won't be embarrassed
because these are your sisters in Christ
they're here, they're going through
and look, we have
the advantage that we have a lot of
young couples
other churches see that as a disadvantage because they think
well you guys don't have enough old people in your church
because it's beneficial to have
elderly people in our church
but here's the thing, we're all going to grow old one day
so we will have old people
we're going to have a lot of old people in our church
and you know what?
in the next 25, 30 years
of our church
not only are we going to have old people, we're still going to have young people
because of our children, right?
where was I going with that?
James, you're throwing me off buddy
cute little guy
but he threw me off
what was I talking about?
he threw you guys off too, huh?
yeah I know, I was talking about trials
let's just pray
I'm just kidding
what I'm saying is this, is that you know, develop relationships
you know, oh that
now I'm back on the train
develop relationships in the church
because when you go through a difficult time
you're going to need your church
you need your church
church is not just where you're going to get preaching
you need the people in your church
to kind of help you along the way
let's pray
Father we thank you so much for your word
and Lord thank you for the difficult times in my life
thank you for the difficult times that other people have gone through
and Lord
I remember observing people going through a tough time
and they just came out of this cold
and I remember observing them thinking
man, how can someone go through so much
trial and difficulty
and just endure that
and they're an example
and to me, I appreciate their suffering
I appreciate their affliction and their response to it
help us Lord to have that same attitude
and that same response
when we go through a difficult time
maybe it's going to be a death in our family
maybe it's a sickness, maybe it's a financial woe
maybe it's relational
it's marriage problems
it's child rearing problems, whatever it may be
there's no temptation taking us
but such is as common to man
and I pray that Lord you'd help us
throughout that time
and help us to value the house of mourning
and not
it's easy to value the house of feasting
but it's the house of mourning that we need to value
and reflect upon those times
and consider well our steps
and our walk with you
and that we may be of a humble and contrite spirit
so that we can better
be used of God
I love you so much Lord and we thank you for these things in Jesus name
Amen
must Jesus bear the cross alone
everybody nice and loud on that first verse
and there's a cross for me
the consecrated cross I'll bear
till death shall set me free
and then go on through a crown to wear
for there's a crown for me
upon the crystal peak
and down at Jesus' visit here
joyful I'll cast my golden crown
and give in name repeat
oh precious cross
oh glorious crown
oh resurrection day
ye angels from the stars come down
and bear my soul away