Amen. All right. It is a blessing to be here. Happy anniversary. This Bible is huge
This is your Bible, huh? Pastor Thompson. Yeah, it's a Philistine Bible right there
It's great to be here. Happy anniversary to you all
It is a blessing to see the house of God full at nine o'clock in the morning
And I thought you guys were fundamental Baptist but apparently not I don't know any Baptist church
that has a service like nine o'clock in the morning, but
It's it's exciting to be here and I'm excited to be here with you all to celebrate this this great occasion with you
And so I'm gonna go ahead and not continue to talk because I know we're on a time constraint
But I hope all you guys come back at least a great majority of you tonight
And so we can fellowship and there'll be more preaching and I'm excited for tonight as well
Look down at your Bible at Matthew chapter 25 and verse 24 says then he which had received the one talent
came and said Lord I knew thee that thou art in hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and
Gathering where thou hast not strawed and I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth
Lo there thou hast that is thine. I thought of my sermon this morning is
Never succeed at doing nothing never succeed at doing nothing
I hope you never succeed as a church at doing nothing at all and the reason you're even at this point right now
It's because of the fact that you have done something you've preached the gospel. You've led others to righteousness
You've been faithful to church. You've been reading your Bible. You've actually been doing something
So keep it up never succeed at just doing nothing at all
Someone just once said when you aim for nothing you hit it every time and so we as Christians
We're called unto good works the Bible says that we are as workmanship
Created in Christ Jesus unto good works that God is before ordained that we should walk in them
And one thing that people seem to forget is that you know, if you're a Christian you're saved
You've already believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, you know, obviously
We don't have to do any works thereafter for salvation
We know that the Bible says not by works of righteousness, which we have done but according to His mercy
He saved us not of works that any man should boast but to him that worketh not but believeth on him to justify the ungodly
His faith is counted for righteousness. And yeah, you know, we don't have to do works to maintain our salvation
But at the end of the day we should do some sort of work thereafter
To earn a reward and because we want to please God and according to the Bible the Bible tells us in James chapter 4 verse 15
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him in a sin
So according to the Bible if you're like, well, I'm just never gonna serve God. I'm not gonna come to church
I'm not gonna read the Bible. I'm just gonna go ahead and just cruise along life and I'm saved
Well, you're involved in some major sin there because the Bible says you know what you're supposed to do
You know, you're supposed to be in church, you know, you're supposed to be reading the Bible
You know, you're supposed to be leading out of this to Christ and if you don't do it you're in sin
Never succeed at doing nothing because of the fact that it is sinful according to the Bible
To do nothing and the reason I picked this parable here in Matthew chapter 225 is because I believe it
It exemplifies this principle greatly, you know, you have this parable that's given
Regarding the kingdom of heaven and obviously this is a series of parables that is being given by the Lord Jesus Christ
And at the end of the day a lot of these parables are against the Jews
Okay, many of them are against the Jews and I remember reading Matthew 25 and kind of thinking I know this is against the Jews
It has to be it just it I just don't see exactly where but I'm gonna by faith though
Believe that it's about the Jews, you know
And I've always used this parable to really talk about talents and you know, God's given you a gift and it definitely applies
but the main
Interpretation of this particular parable is the fact that he likens these three men to the kingdom of heaven
And why is that? Well, if you we just read it, but you have three men
One's given five talents the other is given two and the other is given one talent, right?
and it's a parable this essentially talk about their stewardship of that talent and of course
We know that the five actually is a great steward with his talent and he ends up producing five other talents more
The one with the two produces two talents more and the one who received one talent is a lazy bum
Who does does nothing right?
He succeeds at doing nothing at all with that one talent and it's a great principle of
Stewardship and the fact that whatever God gives you you got to be faithful with that which is little
So you can be faithful over much but the main interpretation here is that what I believe it's referring to it's essentially
Highlighting different believers throughout the ages. Okay, if you think about it
You know the one with the five talents can be compared to us and why is that?
Well, because us Gentile believers who already have the canonized Bible here. We are 2,000 years later
We have a lot of talents per se, right? We have a lot of knowledge of the kingdom of God
Okay, we have the Word of God. We have transportation. We have the internet. We have so much
Available to us to spread the kingdom of God
You know, it's just a lot has been given to us essentially, right?
If you look at the person with the two talents, you know
I would compare that person to the New Testament Christians who you know, for example the book of Acts
That although they have the Old Testament and they were there throughout the ministry of Jesus Christ
You know, they don't necessarily have five towns, but they do have two right they have more knowledge
Than those in the Old Testament they have more understanding of the kingdom of heaven
I mean they're looking at Jesus Christ in the flesh. They're part of that ministry, but you know a lot of them were faithful
I mean you think of the Apostle Paul who with his two talents was able to accomplish a lot
He started a lot of churches got a lot of people saved a lot of the New Testament
Was accomplished of the works of the New Testament was accomplished through his effort and then you think of the one with the one talent
And who's that? It's the Jew. Okay. You say well, why is that?
Well, you think about these Jews who only have the Old Testament old test
Even though it's only the Old Testament still one talent though, right and God expected them to steward that one
talent and do well with that one talent and spread that one talent to at least double it to two and obviously we know that
Many of the Jews, you know did not steward that talent well
And in fact the Bible says that he came into his own and his own received them
Not they received that one talent, you know the Son of God and they didn't do well with that
In fact, they murdered that one talent so to speak
He said well, how do you know for sure that that one talent represents the Jews though?
I'll tell you why and here's a smoking gun that it's it's the Jews
That's referring to this one talent is that you know
The one talent is taken from him and given to the one who has five
Right and the kingdom of God shall be taken from you
The Bible says and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof so it's just like he's gonna take the one from the Jew
Give it to the one who has five and now he has now he has 11, right?
Because he had 10 to begin with because of his stewardship and then he gained one other talent more
And so we see here that this essentially refers to the Jews
But it's a great principle for us to learn from their mistake that we should never succeed at just doing nothing
And you know the Jew could have said well I only had the Old Testament to work with and we had very minimal
things to work with and the ministry was really hard and you know all these nations were against us and we're such a small
Country and we didn't know what to do
But at the end of the day God only wants you to do what you can with what you have
And if you would they would have just been faithful with that one talent and spread the gospel with that one talent
God could have used them in a great way to double their efforts and increase their talents
But it's a great principle to learn that we should never be successful at doing nothing
Let me give you a couple reasons this morning why people succeed at doing nothing, you know
Why is it that Christians today?
2,000 years later with so many things available to them so many resources so much
Technology so many Bibles right that you can purchase so many
Availability of just you know resources and churches and preachers why is it that still Christians do nothing?
Because you think to yourself wow we have the internet now
You know we can reach so many more people but yet so many more Christians stay home
We have so many we have vehicles and airplanes and means of transportation
Then why do so many people not go to church, right?
We have so much at our fingertips when it comes to preaching the gospel and getting people safe
Then why are the laborers still few? Why is it that people are still succeeding at doing nothing?
Reason number one is because of this number one laziness
People succeed at doing nothing because they're slothful and they're lazy and they're sluggards
And in fact in the very parable that we just read the Lord said in verse 26 his Lord answered his sentence him
Thou wicked and slothful
Servant thou knowest that I reap where I sow not and gather where I have not strawed
He tells them so what does he call him?
He says that first of all he's wicked and now secondly that he is lazy and slothful
So it's not that he didn't have enough resources
It's not that he didn't have enough at his disposal at the end of the day
The core reason was he's just a lazy bum. Okay, and you know a lot of people today
Refused to serve God refused to come to church refused to go and win souls to Christ and one of the main reasons because they're slothful
You know, we are the generation that has the most convenience, but the greatest aversion to discomfort
Okay, we don't want to do anything hard, you know think about this, you know
We have something called uber eats now where this is like forget going to McDonald's make McDonald's come to me
I don't even if they bring the food cold and half eaten and the orders wrong
You know, they're still they're still gonna use it
They're still gonna uber eat that thing to bring it to their door
even if the even if the driver, you know took the tithe off of that meal and
The the order is wrong. They're still willing to do that. Well, you know you think about preaching for example
preaching is like spiritual food and
You know preaching is something that the pastor essentially spoon feed sometimes to the congregation
He stands up and he gives you the word of God and he's filling you up with the word of God and all you got
To do is sit there and eat it, right?
Like you got to put in the effort to go home and read the Bible and feed yourself
But you literally have three meals where the pastor pastor Thompson or the evangelist whoever comes to preach here
Literally spoon feeds you they overeat the meal to you and all you got to do is open your mouth and just eat it
It's not hard at all. And yet you have a lot of Christians who are still not willing to do that
Right. They just they're like, I don't want to go to church
I mean, it's just so hard to go to it's it's really easy
You just sit there and someone just yells at you for an entire hour
And if you don't like when they're what they're yelling to you about just tune them out, you know
But at least you're a warm body in the congregation, but there's not much you have to do
It's like oh man, it's so hard to go to church
Why how is it so you sit the entire time?
The person who has the hardest job is the preacher who gets up has to stand up and yell at you. Look at your face
That's hard. Sometimes you say is it really that hard?
Yeah, because you know sometimes and I'm sure pastor pastor Thompson can attest to this and other pastors that like when they're preaching
There's that one congregant who's just giving you that look, you know, they're just like, you know
And you know, look at that person
It's not hard to come here and make faces at your pastor
Amen, as long as you're open your mouth wide and eat what is given to you. That's not hard at all
But yet we have a generation that as easy as it is and even then, you know
You have the internet where if you don't want to even be in the presence of the pastor or anybody else
You can listen from online sometimes right people can listen to preaching online and they often make that excuse like well
You know, we do church online. We rather just listen online
But obviously we know nothing replaces actually be in being in person hearing the preaching for yourself
Fellowshipping with the brethren and not being such an introvert about you know
Fellowshipping and actually like talking to people. Okay, not having this, you know virtual reality type
Christianity or something, you know the metaverse where you're gonna have church
I mean Rick Warren is doing that now or is now he's having church online
Which I wouldn't be against per se if he was actually preaching the Word of God
But I mean, what is he saying there?
That's you know, that's actually profitable and I think someone even put a video of someone going into the metaverse of his church service
And there's like trannies there
There's like people dressed up in weird costumes there. It's just like crazy. So it's better to just come here
How about this, you know, how about when it comes to Bible reading people sometimes are just lazy to read your Bibles and we have
A lot of technology available to us to make it easier for us, right? For example, you know, we have YouTube and
You know, even though Alexander Scorby has been dead for so long. He's still been reading the Bible to us for many years
I listen to him virtually every week of my life
Just put them on and just listen to them and get Bible reading in as I'm going to work as I'm coming back
Just getting more Bible content in but some people are just too lazy to even do that. Why because it's a generation
It's simply lazy. They want to be hearers of the word and not doers, right?
And the Bible is completely against that the more conveniences that we have and liberties the less people
Have a tendency to do, you know, we have a lot of transportation. We have boats in there
I mean I came here on an airplane, you know a good three-hour
plane
Transportation coming here to Seattle never been here before
but what a blessing it is to be able to just go somewhere in a matter of hours and you're just there and
Yeah, people are like well, man, the church is like an hour away though
And it's just too far or it's just it's like two hours away
You know and it's just you know
I have people in my church who drive like three hours to get to our church and I'm sure we have people
There's people here from Canada and I know that's like two hours. But for me Canada is just like in the outskirts of this world
They're fleeing from you know, Canada, but you know, sometimes there are people just like well, you know
It's just and correct me if I'm wrong and it could be it could be different here
But sometimes it's like people don't even come to church even when they live right around the corner
I mean I literally have people who drive hours to come to our church
But there's people who literally live like 30 minutes from us and they can't drag their carcass to church
30 minutes, I mean literally they're so close and it's like yeah
I just you know, I just got so many things to do and it's just so far. I'm like, how far do you live?
Oh, I'm like 40 minutes 40 minutes and they're like, yeah with traffic
I'm like what so sometimes like the people who don't come to our church the most are those who actually live the closest and
Those who actually put in the effort
Those who actually are they're faithful Sunday morning Sunday night Thursday night
They're there so many are those who literally live like hours away
We had a couple who used to drive from Utah every Sunday
I'm like you talk, you know, they're there and they you know, it's Mormon country over there, but they're like, yeah
We just love coming to church. So we'll just we'll drive out here
We'll just spend the weekend out here and I'm like, man, can you talk to some of these 30-minute?
Like good night in the morning and I remember this one guy came to our church and he's just like yeah
I really want to start coming but you know, I'm like 45 minutes away. I'm like, okay
Let me introduce you to some people in our church
And I just introduced him to all the people that drove like three hours four hours and I said now are you gonna come back now?
You know, you know the Bible tells us to not be slothful in business and it's you know
Thank God that we have all this technology and all the capabilities
but sometimes a generation can be so dependent upon technology and
Conveniences that it makes them even more lazy and it's important for us as Christians to recognize
You know, one of the reasons people succeed at doing nothing. It's not because necessarily they don't have the technology available for them
They don't have Wi-Fi. They don't have a car. They don't have transportation. It's not because I'll tell you why it's just they're lazy
Why don't you read your Bible? Oh, man, I just I don't have a really good Bible go get one at the Dollar Tree or something
Yeah, I'm sure your church can give you a Bible. Well, you know, I'm not really good at reading
Okay, then listen to it online. You got YouTube someone will read it to you
Yeah, but I'm just not a I'm not really good at retaining when it's being read to me then slow it down
I mean the technology is available to either speed it up real fast or you can slow it down
Like if I'm if my preaching is too fast for you
You can literally slow it down because people have told me like I listen to you online
But you just you speak too fast though. I'm like slow it down, you know, just make it go slower
We have everything available for us to succeed spiritually. You're like, oh man, I really want to go soul any but it's just the schedule
You guys have yours is after the service you go preach it. It's just like so much then make your own so many times
I don't think your pastor would be against that, you know, don't go so winning another day
Well, yeah, but I got like things to do. Yeah, you're just lazy as what it is at the end of the day
Okay, you know the Bible tells us not to be slothful in business, but to be fervent in spirit
Serving the Lord go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 10 if you would see Ecclesiastes
chapter number 10 never be successful at doing nothing and the reason this church has succeeded and preaching the gospel and
Having members is because you've never succeeded at that and my encouragement to you for your anniversary is you keep
Never succeeding at doing nothing keep doing something for the Lord keep improving as a church
Keep winning people to Christ keep teaching others how to preach the gospel keep being faithful keep
Conveniencing yourself for the Lord and never succeed at doing nothing what's another reason why people succeed at doing nothing
Well, I'll tell you why number one is because of laziness, but number two because of the risks involved
There's just too many risks involved right and you see this with the lazy Jew in Matthew 25
Where he says you know I know that thou art a hard man
Creeping where thou has not sown, you know, and then he's just like I was afraid and so you would think okay
Fear would mean that you're gonna be accountable to this Lord
Therefore you should do something about it knowing full well that he's gonna reckon with you
You should do something, but you know that fear caused them to hide his talent in the earth
And then he was rebuked and greatly ashamed at the latter end. Why? Oh, it was just too much risk
Involved and you know what? Yeah, the Christian life is a risk, especially if you're like in the new IFB
It's risky business, but you know what the risk to reward ratio is great because of the fact that our
Rewards are the blessings that you get far outweigh the risk and you know what if you get bruised
on the way to serving God if you get into tribulation you get
Dislocated you receive pain and trial and sorrow. So be it never succeed at doing nothing because anything worth doing
Requires risk ask your pastor who started. I don't know how what church he's on now
You know church 10 or something like that
Yeah, I don't even know this church existed until he called me recently and they're like, oh you just got another church
Why cuz obviously he's about taking risks. Well, you know, I just I just I'm afraid that if I do
then you know, they're gonna call my job and you know being associated with this church and I just don't know what's good
What's gonna happen in my marriage? Oh, this is what's gonna happen in your marriage. It's gonna get better
Look at Ecclesiastes 10 verse 8. I've always read this passage through a spiritual application of it
But here's the practical interpretation in
Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 8 says he that dig at the pit shall fall into it
Whoso breaketh the hedge a serpent shall bite him whoso remove its stones shall be hurt therewith and he that cleaveth wood
Shall be endangered thereby now
I've always read this as like you know you break through a hedge a serpent will bite you as in like you try to
Break through the barriers that got us placed there for you
You know Satan might bite you right you got to be careful with that and not you know dabble with temptation so to speak
But literally the practical application is this if your job is digging holes
Eventually, you're gonna fall into one so what you know if your job is to break hedges and cut down grass
Yeah, eventually there's gonna be a snake there
And you might get bit that's the risk involved if you're removing stones
Eventually the stones gonna fall on your foot and break a toe or something you got nine other ones
You cleave wood you're gonna be endangered by thereby. What does it say everything has risks involved
It's just like I don't know if I can really go out there and preach the gospel
What if I get cussed out you will get cussed out
Not if not what if it's it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when and you know
You're gonna get people not just cuz that you're you're gonna have some weirdos. You're gonna have people
You know yell at you and say weird things to you and even sometimes try to fight you and and I have all kinds
Of stories. Those are the risks involved, but you know what they make for great stories
I remember one time a couple weeks ago. We're out preaching the gospel and
I knock on the door and I was with my family and this guy answers the door and now and I gave him the question
I gave him the the invite and I said are you 100% sure that if you die today you go to heaven and he's like
I'm a Satanist, you know, and I go. Okay. So are you 100% sure that if you died today you go to heaven?
He's like no, I'm I'm a Satanist. I said oh you go to the Church of Satan. Is that what you're saying?
He said well
Yeah, and I was gonna kind of drill him on that like which particular one because there's like an offshoot
You know what I mean? There's like a reformed Church of Satan. This is the antolum, but I don't think he knew that stuff
You know what I mean? So I said, okay. So where do you think you're gonna go?
He goes well, I'm gonna go, you know to with my master, you know, I'm like, oh you're going to hell
He said yeah, and I said and you've made peace with that and he's he kind of got quiet
He's like well, I mean, I guess I guess yeah, I'm like, okay
Well, just read the invite right there and if you have any questions, you know, we're right there
You know, and I walked away and that was it and you're like, oh man, you know, I
Would feel so awkward to talk to someone like that. Well, here's the thing is that I've had many people tell me stuff like that
Sometimes they troll sometimes they're just want to be disrespectful or they think they they're being funny or something like that
But at the end of the day it makes for a great story and at the end of the day you gain more
Experience and you know what if someone cusses you out and so be it, you know
I had another Satanist that answered the door one time and he said F this and F
Jesus and you know hail Satan and I said, alright
Well, I'll just leave the invite right there on the door if you have any questions give us a contact because honestly
I don't even think they believe that stuff
I think they just want to make fun of Christians and mock or whatever but you say why don't I just feel
Uncomfortable dealing with people like that
Well, that's those are the risks involved because you know what you might actually end up winning that person of Christ and it makes for
A great story, especially if they get saved they come to church and they do great works for God
They're after you say why still you know the risks involved
Well, you know walking out this door has a lot of risks and don't tell me you know
Oh, man, it's just so many risks when you get in the vehicle and you drive in the street
You're always running a risk. You know, I mean women are driving out there today
Risky business out there. You don't know the people who are driving out there. Yeah, you put yourself out there every single time
Driving you run the risk of getting in an accident. You know, how many you've ever flown in a plane before almost everyone, right?
I mean we're running the risk because we don't know who the pilot is
We literally get in the airplane never meeting the pilot pilot could be a woman
Possible. It's a risk. We are all willing to take some time
Everything has a risk and I like what Jonathan said in first hand me chapter 14
You don't have to turn that but let me read to you in verse 6 says and Jonathan said to the young man
That bear his armor come let us go over into the garrison of these uncircumcised
It may be that the Lord will work for us for there is no strength to the Lord to save by many or by few
That's a great attitude to have that every Christian should adopt this mindset that you know what?
Yeah, something crazy could happen when we go out there and preach the gospel
Something crazy couldn't happen if we get faithful to church, but you know what God can say by many or by few
He can do something great. And yeah, you know what a great ineffectual doors open unto us
Yes, there are many adversaries, but at the end of the door at the end of the day
You know the window of opportunity is there and the blessing far outweighs the risk
the blessing of winning people to Christ the blessing of getting your family involved the blessing of raising your children in church the
blessing of having your family listen to godly preaching and being part of a Christian community to edify you in the Lord and
And exhort you in the ways of righteousness far outweigh the risks and you'll learn as the years go by
It's fun. Okay. It's fun to take risks and yeah
It may be painful sometimes and hard but at the end of the day, it's well worth the risk
Let me give you an illustration about this two illustrations, you know, I always hear about this risk to reward ratios with deadlifts
You know what a deadlift is anybody know what that is? All right, and they're like, yeah, you know, I don't know
That's a that's a risky thing to do
You know, you might mess up your back or something, but you know what?
Yeah, but you also might mess up your back being old with brittle bones and weak muscles though
So I'll take the deadlifts any day
You know, and you know, I just deadlifted this last week and I hit a PR and my back hurt
I was hurting for a couple days. You say why which is that's the risk you take and it's sore and it hurts
And it's just you know, but you know what a week passes by and it's fine
And you know what as when I get into my 70s and 80s
I want to be able to pick up my grandkids and have a strong back and you know what the risk is worth
The reward that comes with working out with exercising and being healthy and doing those things because at the end of the day
You know, there's a risk also of being unhealthy. There's a risk also of breaking your bones
There's a risk of just not being strong when you're older. And in fact, they often say like the greatest
Concern for the elderly so to speak is just no muscle, you know, no muscle can often kill you early
And so yeah, there's a risk to reward but at the end of the day the reward is far greater than the risk
Here's the risk that I keep hearing about
In on Internet land and that is, you know, you know, it's from the manosphere
Okay, and it's these guys are like well, it's just I don't want to get married because it's just risky business
You know turn with me through what's a proverb chapter 22
I don't get married is just it's a risk and you just never know who you might meet and it might destroy your life
And women out there are all whores and it's just like oh man, you know
We just never know what might happen and obviously, you know
There's a small percentage of truth in that right because there's a risk to anything but this idea that because there's a risk
I shall do nothing because there's a risk of just marrying the wrong person. Therefore, I'm just never gonna try
You're gonna be all gay and stuff and not marry and you're gonna hang around with your boys or whatever. That's gay
That's homo to say like oh man. I'm just never gonna marry so what are you gonna?
You're gonna hang out with the boys the rest of your life. That's not ideal. That's suspect. That's us
And then there what they often say is like, oh man, it's just that there's no good women out there
You know, and so then they all flee to the Philippines
Don't go to the Philippines to get themselves a wife, right? Call the they call them the the passport bros
Okay, there's no good living in America. Of course there is
there's a ton of men in this church and in my church and other churches who've met godly women and
They we love them and it's great and we have successful marriages. It's awesome. Oh, yeah, but that's that's you
That's like an isolated incident. Yes, so many isolated incidents in all these churches people have been doing it for thousands of years
But they're all isolated incidents, right now you say well, isn't there a risk though pass from here?
Of course, there's a risk, but you know what?
This is how you can avoid, you know getting a really bad woman according to the Bible
And and here's the thing is that a lot of these guys are focusing on, you know looks or they want some
Instagram whore who behaves herself like a godly woman or something like that
And it's just not gonna happen
But what they're supposed to do what the Bible tells us to do is to actually please God love the Lord
Serve God make God happy with us
make sure that we're in right standings with the Lord and he'll bring us the right woman if you're living wickedly and
You don't have a biblical mindset. You're living selfishly. You're not reading the Bible. You're not in this church
You know, you know winning souls to Christ then yeah, you are gonna find a bad woman
So, how do you know look at Proverbs 22 verse 14 the mouth of strange women is a deep pit
He that is abhorred of the Lord shall father in so God says if I don't like you
I'm gonna send you some really bad. So these manosphere dudes are like, oh man
There's all kinds of bad women out there then get right with God
If all you're running to is bad women's cuz you're bad because you're not pleasing God and you know what if you got yourself a
Wicked girlfriend and she doesn't love God and she's not in church
It might be an indication that you're abhorred of the Lord according to the Bible go to Proverbs chapter 19
Proverbs chapter 19. I'm gonna read to you from Ecclesiastes 7 26
It says I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands as bands
Who so pleased if God shall escape from her but the sinner shall be taken by her
So, you know you you don't have to be a part of the Manosphere and have this idea
Oh, man, all women are bad. No, it's just that the bad women will be attracted to you because you're bad
That's what it is. All bad woman will come to you and they're gonna fleece you of your
Resources and they're gonna make your life a living hell because of the fact that you're living like hell
You're not pleasing God
But if you get your priority straight you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
These things shall be added unto you, you know, you get yourself in a good church
Oh, but there's no girls at that church, you know
And you know, I'm not gonna find anybody because there's no women there
It's because you're not like trying though
You know, if you're actually in church and you're praying you're serving God God will bring you someone it happens all the time
He's oh then what's an indicator that maybe you know, if God's not bringing something maybe because you're not ready
Maybe because you're not really doing anything
Maybe because you're hanging around your buddies too much
Maybe because God sees that you just like to hang around the bros a little too much
It's like well, this guy's not grown up yet. So why even bring him anybody, you know
And I've had some guys in my church who kind of had that little philosophy
And then the other guys in my church that didn't and these the ones who didn't guess what they're married now
You're the one there's like, oh, there's just no one here. Then how does so-so get married? Well, that's that's different
That's a isolated incident. What about so-so? Well, that's different. That's a isolated incident
Oh, it's just like how many isolated incidents can we get here?
Proverbs 19 verse 14 says house and riches are the inheritance of fathers and a prudent wife is from the Lord
So the Bible says Bible tells us that you know, you have a prudent wife. That's God's gift to you
Amen. Proverbs 18 22 you don't have to turn to say who so findeth the wife findeth the good thing and obtaineth favor of
The Lord, you know, these guys need to stop being so successful at doing nothing is what it is
Okay. Oh, there's so much risk involved then start serving God, you know start serving God winning people to Christ
You know, how about this mature a little bit? How about putting away the video games? Amen
Put away the video games and all the you know childish toys and actually mature and think about you know
Getting married and having children and having a family get serious about the things of God and God will bring you that prudent wife
Amen. Well, what do you know? I'm married
Anything worth doing requires a risk
I mean you think of the Apostle Peter who said we have left all and follow thee and Jesus didn't say, you know
Well, I don't know what to tell you man, you know, this is just the price you pay and you know
The Christian life is just it sucks. So sorry
No
He said there's no man that have left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or Lance from my
Sake in the Gospels
But he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and Lance with
Persecutions and in the world to come eternal life. What is he saying? He's saying that yeah
There's a risk involved but there's also a reward greater than the risk never succeed at doing
Nothing turn with me if you would to second Kings chapter 7 second Kings chapter 7
Let me breeze through this third point here on why people succeed at doing nothing. Number three is that they are indifferent
sometimes people become apathetic towards
Activity and therefore they don't do anything. It's not because they don't love God per se it's not because they're lazy
They're just like yeah, I don't really feel like doing anything. They're just indifferent. They're not really motivated
They don't have necessarily a fervent spirit so to speak and it reminds me of a story in Luke chapter 10
where a man was beaten and left half dead, right and
Three men passed by the way and they look upon them and they all have different responses
You have one who's a Levite the other who's a priest and they just kind of look at him and they just walk on by
I mean you think about these like these are spiritual leaders a
Levite right and then you have the priests and both of them just do nothing about it
It's very sad and it's a matter of just you know, they're being apathetic
They don't care but it took the Samaritan to actually come not only take care of him
But bring him to an end pay for him to be taken care of he put him on his own ass
He brought him to the end
He went the second mile and he left even money there to be taken care of so he could so he could be taken care of
And recover and was a blessing why because he wasn't indifferent towards a man who was in need right and it kind of this kind
Of reminds me of soul winning because if you think about it
You know people who are not indifferent towards souls are willing to go the extra mile to get someone saved and even after
Salvation are willing to do something to bring them to church
They put them on their ass and bring them to the end and they're willing to pay the price to help that person to recover
From the scars that the world has left, right?
So one of the reasons that people succeed at doing nothing is because they're just indifferent and you know part the the the cure
To being indifferent is this preaching. That's why you need to be in church to hear some fiery preaching to light a
Fire under your blessed assurance to get you going for God and actually say, you know what, you know, I'm done messing around
I want to get on fire for God. I want to serve I want to play one of these instruments one day
I want to songly I want to go and preach the gospel pastor's house
What can I do to be a blessing to this church get on fire stop being indifferent in your church?
You know fix your face when he's preaching. Amen, you know smile
Smile even more broadly when he says something you don't like nod your head even more when he when he when when you don't like
What he's saying, you know, don't don't cry and definitely don't do one of these
Let me let me just he won't tell you this or whoever's preaching here won't tell you this but never do this as a member of your
church
Every pastor hates that. We just want to be like we hate that and then you say like and then and then they'll do this
I'm sorry. Do we wake you? Is that indifferent? Yeah, it's indifferent. You're just being like
You know, what do I do? I got I'm tired, you know, you got to do the classic mouth closed yawn
You guys know what I'm talking about. You clench your jaw and you do this, you know
And in case he looks at you just give him that sir. That's what you got to do be a different in chird
His T-Rex is just
Chewbacca in the back or something. Why are people successful at doing nothing because they're indifferent, but they're also number four
Selfish they're selfish and I'm not gonna read through the entire story here
But of course, this is the story of the four lepers that end up coming upon
Spoiled and this is during a time of great famine and you know, they're lepers and so leprosy is a picture of sin
They're essentially cast out of the city. They are estranged from those inhabitants of the city. So they're looked down upon, right?
They're not really esteemed highly but they come upon this spoil and look at what it says in verse number three
It says and there were four lepers men at the entering in of the gate and it said one to another
Why sit we here till we die if we say we will enter into the city then the famine is in the city and we
Shall die there if we sit still here we die also now therefore come let us fall into the host of the Syrians
If they save us alive we shall live if they kill us we shall but die so basically saying you know what yeah
There's a risk involved, but let's just go fall into the camp of the Syrians. We're gonna die anyways
We might as well try something okay
So they good they get there and of course the Syrians have all fled because God sent a noise
That caused them to become afraid and they just left all their stuff
Look at verse 8 and when they're when these lepers came to the utmost part of the camp
They went into one tent and did eat and drink and carry then silver and gold and Raymond and when it hit it and came
Again and entered into another tent carry fence also and went and hid it so they're like whoa
Look at all this food and clothes and gold so there's all these tents filled with spoiled and they're eating to their hearts filled
But they're but then they're hiding it right and keep in mind
There's a great famine in the lander in this time verse 9 says then they said one to another we do not
Well powerful right we do not well this day is a day of good tidings
And we hold our peace if we tear it to the morning light some mission will come upon us now
Therefore come that we may go until the king's household, and I love that phrase
You know what we're not doing well
We do not well and you know this is a great picture again of the gospel someone who's become selfish or apathetic towards the things of God
You know we find the treasure and you know a lot of people are hiding it under a bushel
They're hiding it under the earth like the guy with the one talent
You know that why because they're selfish you just want to keep it to themselves
You want to keep the Bible knowledge to themselves you wanted to keep this well
I don't want this church to just really grow that much
I just like the us for no more type of mentality you do not well
Well, you know, I just don't want to get too fanatical about you know, so you do not well
You know the Bible says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels
And it's important for us to go out and preach the gospel and get people safe and not have a selfish mentality
One of the reasons that people succeed and not doing anything is because of selfishness
Well, you know, I want to bring my friends
But you know, I'm kind of like the guy who like knows everything about the Bible with my friends and my family
And so I kind of don't want to like say anything. You're being selfish bring your friends so they can learn more Bible than you
Why not? You do not well. Well, you know, I just like to kind of have a you know type of
Mentality where you know, I just don't like the church to grow too much
I'm kind of an introvert and you know inviting people to church and stuff like that
I just don't want to grow too much because then you know, you don't really get to know everyone. You're being selfish
You do not well. Okay, and so people succeed at doing nothing because of selfishness. Let me
Go to second Sammy chapter 18 second Sammy chapter 18. I must hasten here. I got a couple minutes
I'm keeping an eye on the clock here
What's another reason why people succeed at not doing anything and that is because they're not prepared
Some people want to do something. They want to get something done, but when the opportunity comes they were never prepared
Okay. Oh, they want to get their family saved
They want to get strangers say but when the opportunity actually presents itself because they never actually
Practiced or tried or went they were not prepared and it didn't get done now
I think a great illustration of this is found in second Sammy 18 at this point
Absalom who's the son of David has been slain. Okay, and Absalom obviously is a bad guy
But he actually in a sense pictures in this particular story the Lord Jesus Christ
Okay, because of the fact that he's hung on a tree, right and we see that when he's hung on a tree that they
They they thrust him through with daggers
Just like the Lord was thrust through right and then he's thrown into a pit
Just like Jesus Christ went into hell for three days and three nights a lot of parallels there
And so when he dies, you know, there's these two men that want to essentially bring the tidings of his death
Okay kushai and Ahimaz look what it says in verse 19
It says then Ahimaz the son of Zadok then said Ahimaz the son of Zadok
Let me now run and bear the king tidings
How that the Lord has avenged his him on his enemies and Job said to him thou shalt not bear tidings this day
But thou shalt bear tidings another day
But this day thou shalt bear no tidings because the king's son is dead then said Joab to Cushai
Go tell the king what thou hast seen and Cushai bowed himself unto Joab and ran
Then said Ahimaz the son of Zadok yet again to Joab but howsoever let me I pray thee
Also run after Cushai and Job said wherefore wilt thou run my son seeing thou hast no tidings ready
So he's basically telling Ahimaz, you know, I know you want to do this right now
I know you want to go tell the king that the son is dead, but you're not even ready for this
okay, and obviously we see another picture here between Ahimaz and Cushai as
Peter and John both running to the tomb right and one outruns the other just like just like Cushai or Ahimaz
Excuse me outruns Cushai. Okay, he goes it says in verse 23
Bahasuer said he let me run and he sent him run then Ahimaz ran by the way of the plane and overran Cushai
verse 24 and David sat between the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof over the gate onto the wall
Lifted up his eyes and looked and behold the man running alone
The watchman cried and told the king and the king said if you'd be alone
There's tidings in his mouth and he came apace and drew near and the watchman saw another man running and the watchman called
Unto the porter and said behold another man is running and the king said he also bringeth tidings and the watchman said me
think at the running of the foremost is like the running of a hymen as the son of Zadok and the king said he is a
Good man and cometh with good tidings and a hymen as last verse here called and said unto the king all is well
And he fell down to the earth upon his face before the king and said blessed be the Lord God
Which he had delivered up the men that lifted up their hand against my Lord the king
I said it was last verse but it's not verse 29
The king said is the young man absolutely safe a hymen has answered when Job sent the king servant and me thy servant
I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was
So it's like why did you even come then you ran and you even out ran kushai, but you have no tidings
So then of course David says, all right, just stand over here. Okay, it moves them to disease turn aside
But the principle that we can learn here is the fact that sometimes
People are really successful at doing nothing because the reality is a hymen has did nothing
Other than run a lap burn some calories. That's all he did
He goes to the king has no tidings to bear and of course Kusai does have the tidings
But a hymen doesn't why because he wasn't prepared
And so sometimes people succeed at doing absolutely nothing because they're not prepared to preach the gospel, you know
you know a lot of these churches out there that just want to do the track drops and not preach the gospel a lot of
People just unprepared to actually open their mouths boldly make known the mysteries of the gospel and it's just like oh man
I really want to see my family safe. Oh, really. Do you really want to see them safe?
Do you really want to see them say to prepare yourself then well? I just you know I have this opportunity you better get ready then
You know I'm thankful that at the drop of a hat at any given
Moments notice I can talk to any of my family members and give them the gospel right then with or without a Bible
You know it's just like can you preach the gospel even if I don't have my Bible with the tabs and all the notes and every
Cross-reference I can just off the off the head off the top of my head because it's in my heart
I just preach the gospel why cuz I want to be prepared at any given moment to preach the gospel. I was thankful
You know, I got some family out here. They're gonna be here tonight
That I got to see yesterday and I got to get it
I got them saved we're not to eat to dinner last night
You could have those two to the salvation forgot to say that, you know
but you know we went out to dinner and and then we went out for boba afterwards and and I just you know pop the
Question to them and was able to get them both safe
You know, we're there and I just like you know what I'm here because I'm gonna preach at this church
But I'm here because I want to talk to you about something really important and you know
I was able to pop the question and and they listen and they got saved they called upon the name of the Lord and I'm
Thankful for that be prepared at any given time people succeed at doing nothing because they're not
Prepared go to Ecclesiastes 11 Ecclesiastes 11 reason number six why people succeed at doing nothing excuses
Excuses well, it's because I have to fill in the blank
I can't because I have to fill in the blank. Well, I would but I have to fill in the blank
Yeah
I wasn't planning to come to church because of fill in the blank and let me just say this all a lot of reasons that people
Propose why they don't go to church pretty good reasons. I'm gonna be honest with you as a pastor
I think I'm like that was a good reason but the reason to come to church is actually better though
So yeah, you do have a great reason now
The only reason I think it's a legitimate reason not to come to church is if you're projectile vomiting or you're running like a really
High fever, you know what I mean? Sometimes people are just like I made a pastor and they're just like
105 and I'm just like go home
I don't want you because then you know because then it's like leprosy starts spreading and then
Then we end up having a service with like five people because everyone's sick or something like that, you know
But here's the thing is that most people come up with reasons why they can't come to church and you know what?
They might be good reasons, but we just have to realize that the reason to come to church is far greater
Oh, I mean what could be better? Well, how about this? The fact that you'll get preaching you'll be blessed of God
God's hand will be on you
You might even you know
If you're having problems in your marriage your wife might get some preaching that she needs a minute or your husband might get some preaching
That he needs to get right with God or your children might hear some preaching that they need to hear to get right with God
And here's the thing folks, you know, I got seven minutes. I can make it happen
You know a lot of you know what I've learned as a pastor is people always pray for an answer, right?
They're like, I've just been praying for an answer praying for an answer
You know, I'm going through this problem right now praying for an answer and then they don't come to church
I'm like, you know one of the greatest ways that God answers prayer is through preaching
So it's like the one Sunday you decide not to come
That's probably the sermon that God has laid on the pastor's heart for the answer that you need to your prayers and you don't get it
So it's like you miss the time of your visitation
Because you chose not to do don't be successful at doing nothing and then lastly why people succeed at doing nothing the
Paralysis of the analysis. What is that? They think about it too much
They have so many options and you know, it's just like it's like my wife sometimes tells me
She's like I get the paralysis of the analysis like we have so much to do but she just spends too much time just
Analyzing which one should she do first and it's like the laundry, you know or everything else, you know
And it's just like sometimes you can get that paralysis and then what ends up happening is you do nothing
And so here is the word of advice for you with this point
Just choose and do something look what it says in Ecclesiastes 11 verse 4 he that observe at the wind shall not so
What does that mean? Hmm cold today might be hot later might drop a little bit might rain too, but it might not rain
Observing the wind is like shut up and go do something. He never guarded the clouds shall not reap
I don't know if I'm gonna go soul hunting today looks like it might rain
Looks like it might snow looks like it might be too hot as thou know
It's not what is the way of the spirit nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child even so
Thou know it's not the works of God who maketh all in the morning
Sow thy seed and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether it shall prosper either this or that
Or that they both shall be shall be alike good. The Bible says what does it say? Just do something like oh, you know
I'm gonna wait for a perfect time to actually go sowing now is the perfect time today's the day of salvation
Just go like I have so many options though. I don't know if I should go on Sunday or Saturday
Well, here's the day today. Yeah, but today, you know, I don't know like I got my kids and just take them all
I don't know how they're gonna behave go find out
I don't know what we're gonna do about lunch figure it out later
Sometimes the best thing to do is just do something instead of just having the paralysis of the analysis and just oh man
I want to read my body. I just don't know where to start just start anywhere
They bought if I started something really hard
Well, if you're planning to read the whole Bible eventually you're gonna have to get to that hard part
So it doesn't right doesn't really matter now does it I well, you know, I just I want to start exercising
I just I just don't know where to start just go to the gym and live really heavy and there you go
Something is better than nothing. Yeah, but what if I get sore you will get sore if I can't get out of bed
You won't have to go through that experience that but you know if you I don't want to start exercise until I get the right diet
And so I get you know the right exercise. Well, you know right cardio. No cardio. You know the right whatever then
I'll start I get the right gym membership. I got my schedule figured out. You're never gonna
Do you're never gonna get your summer bod?
Those are the paralysis of the analysis. Sometimes you just got you said well, how did you start?
My evangelist literally just said let's just go to the gym and I said, all right, let's just do it and I went
I look stupid doing it. I don't know what I was doing look goofy, but you know what happened?
You have to start somewhere. Yeah, you're gonna go on and preach the gospel and you know what you might be a silent partner
And yeah one day you'll be a talker and you what you know what you might make a fool yourself sometimes
But it's okay. You got to start somewhere
Paralysis of the analysis never succeed at doing nothing because there's too many options
I don't know which one to choose to something. I'm done. Holy I was gonna finish
What's the sermon this morning? You've gotten to this point because you've done something the church has gotten to this point because he did
Something the church has gotten to this point because you came here church has gotten to this point because you preach the gospel
You've gone to this point spiritually because you've read your Bible
Never succeed at doing nothing keep doing what you're doing to succeed in the Christian life. Amen, let's pray father
We thank you so much for your word
Thank you so much for the practicality of the passages Lord help us not to be like that wicked and slothful servant
Who hides the talent under the earth help us to be like the four leprous men who when that took place they understood
We do not well and they ended up bringing all the spoil to the city and saving the city in a practical means
Pray you help us Lord to take these into principles into consideration bless us as we go on our way and Jesus then we pray. Amen