Harden there was multiplied to me, There my burdened soul for liberty at Calvary.
By God's word at last my sin I learned, Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned,
Till my guilty soul and flooring turned to Calvary.
There was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me.
There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.
Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan. Oh, the grace that brought it down to man.
Mercy there was great and grace was free There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary
Now I'm given to Jesus everything Now I gladly own Him as my King
There was great, and grace was free.
Oh, the great, the great, the great, the great, the great.
My burden's all found liberty at Calvary.
Amen.
Wonderful scene.
Let's start off our service with a word of prayer.
Lord God, Emily Father, we thank you
for giving us another day that we can come here to your house
and hear the preaching of your word.
We ask that you bless our service this morning each and every aspect of it
Please bless the singing that it would be pleasing to your ears Lord and that it would give us ready ears to hear the message
Prepare our hearts for the preaching and most importantly, please feel past me here with your spirit as he preaches unto us
And gives your spirit in the congregation as well Lord that we may leave here changed in Jesus name. We pray amen
You may be seated
Please turn your song books to song number 30
Song number 30 nothing but the blood
All together nice and strong on that first verse.
I know nothing but the blood of Jesus for my part and this I see nothing but the
blood of Jesus for my cleansing this my plea nothing but the blood of Jesus
White as the hoe, no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Nothing can force in a tone, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Not of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is the flow that makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
This is all my hope and peace
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Oh, precious is the flow
Makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
All right, great singing.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here.
Before we sing our next song, which will be 343.
If you want to get that ready in your song books, 343.
If you did not get a bulletin.
Go ahead and raise your hand.
One of the ushers can get one for you.
Some important information on there.
Of course, we welcome you to come back
to our Sunday evening service at 5 p.m.
and then we have our Thursday night Bible study
at seven o'clock and we are currently going
through the book of John and we will be
in John chapter four this coming Thursday.
So we hope to see you then.
We are a family integrated church
and so infants and children, as you notice right here,
stay in the service with their parents.
But for your convenience, we do have a mother baby.
various mother baby rooms throughout the building and so you can talk to an usher if you want
to locate one, if you need to slip out for a little bit, if your child gets a little
out of hand maybe to get a little fussy you can take them out of the service for a bit
and then come back in at your discretion.
There are changing tables, speakers and screens available in there as well so you can still
tune into the preaching.
and uh so just keep that in mind you have the soul winning times and teams the list of expecting mothers
today is our birthday breakfast and so i'm not gonna forget this month
i got it so let's go ahead and find out whose birthday is in august anybody in august right
here got two here all right got one back there one here one here okay anybody else all right
Anybody in the pit right here? Nobody? All right. All right. We're gonna we're gonna go acapella, Sarah
Okay, so you don't have to worry about messing me up here. Just kidding. All right. Let's see if I can remember the note here
All right, ready here we go. Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday. God bless you
to you. Alright, happy birthday to you all in August. Hope you enjoyed those delicious muffins.
You have the stats there for salvations and baptisms at the bottom left hand corner on the right hand side is the upcoming church events
We have the ladies ladies prayer breakfast coming up on Saturday August 9th meeting at the building at 10 a.m
You can coordinate with miss Jeno Gonzalez for more details about that
TJ missions trip is coming up on Saturday August 30th leaving the building at 9 15 a.m
Of course the expenses are paid for just make sure you bring your passport and coordinate with brother Hernandez
Men's Prayer Night is coming up on Friday, September 5th, meeting at the building at 7pm.
Dinner will be provided for all those who come.
And then lastly, the Church Anniversary is coming up on Sunday, September 14th.
We'll give you more details as far as what we're going to be doing on that special day as the day approaches there
I do want to mention. I don't know if you noticed something going on here on the corner there
You might have not have noticed that coming in but we're expanding and so please make sure you keep your kids away from the plastic and
Away from that particular area. It should be good to go by Thursday
And so they still got some more work to do tomorrow Tuesday and hopefully by Wednesday
It'll be done, but that way we can put some more chairs in that area. We won't be so crammed and we can spread out a little
bit and it'll be room for growth. For how long? I don't know because the church is growing quite a
bit and so thank God for that but just keep that in mind. And then lastly please make sure you
silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service.
And that is it for our announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song 343. Song number 343.
All together nice and strong on that first verse
We praise the oh God for the son of thy love
For Jesus who died and is now gone above
Hallelujah, I'm the glory
Hallelujah, amen
Hallelujah, I'm the glory revive us
For thy spirit of line, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen.
Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again.
All glory and praise to the Lamb.
our sins and has cleansed every stain. Hallelujah, Thine, the glory. Hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah,
Thine, the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again.
Amen.
Great singing.
This time the ushers will come forward to receive the offering.
You can turn your Bibles to Joshua chapter number one, Joshua chapter one.
Good morning, we're in Joshua chapter one, Joshua chapter one, the Bible reads.
Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord came to pass.
The Lord spake unto Joshua, the son of none, Moses minister, saying, Moses,
my servant is dead.
Now, therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people under the
land, which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon that have I given it to
you as I set into Moses.
From the wilderness and this great Lebanon,
even unto the great river, the river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea,
unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your coast.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.
As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.
I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Be strong and of a good courage.
For unto this people shall thou divide for an inheritance,
the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them.
only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law,
which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left,
and thou mayest prosper with this wherever thou goest."
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth,
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night,
that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein.
For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage,
be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed,
for the Lord thy God is with thee, whether so ever thou goest.
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
Pass through the host and command the people saying prepare you vitals for within three days
You shall pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land which Lord your God giveth you to possess it
And to the Rubenites and to the Gaddites, and to the half-trap of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying,
Remember the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, saying,
The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land.
Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side, Jordan.
But ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of Valor, and help them.
unto the Lord hath given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land, which the Lord your God giveth them.
Then you shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side, Jordan, toward the Sun rising.
And the answer, Josh, was saying, all that thou commandest us, we will do, and withest
whoever thou sendest us, we will go.
According as we hearken unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee.
Only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.
Whosoever he be that did the rebel against thy commandment, that will not hearken unto
thy words, and all that thou commandest him, he should be put to death.
Only be strong and have a good courage.
Let's pray to Lord God. Thank you for all that you bless us with and ask that you would fill our pastor now with your Holy Spirit
As he preaches your word unto us, please give us ears to hear and introduce him and pray amen
Amen.
Okay, we're in Joshua chapter 1 this morning and the title of my sermon this morning is
Possess Good Success.
I'm going to talk about success this morning.
Look at Joshua chapter 1 verse number 8, but this book of the law shall not depart out
of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to
do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
Good success, the Bible says.
True success, according to the Bible,
is a result of engrafting the word of God
into our hearts, obeying the word of God,
obeying the commandments of the Lord.
This is what the Bible deems as having good success.
And it's important for us as Christians
to allow the Bible to define for us what success is.
Why is that?
Well, because the world is constantly throwing at us
what success truly is.
Our friends are constantly telling us
what success truly is.
media is constantly promoting a false narrative of what success truly is. We
have family members who are constantly telling us what success truly is and at
the end of the day sometimes the voice of the Bible often gets drowned out
within all these other voices that are trying to define for us what it means to
be prosperous and what it means to have good success. Well this morning I want to
talk to you about being prosperous as a Christian and what God deems to be a
as a successful person, a successful Christian.
Go to Jeremiah chapter nine, if you will.
Jeremiah chapter nine.
Let me read to you a couple of verses here.
Psalm chapter one, in verse number eight,
excuse me, verse number one says,
blessed is the man that walketh not in the council
of the young godly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor siteth in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of the Lord.
And in his law doth he meditate day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither."
And I want you to notice this.
And whatsoever he doeth,
shall prosper, the Bible tells us.
So just as Joshua chapter one, verse number eight says,
that whatsoever you do shall prosper,
you shall have good success in like manner.
The man who meditates upon God's word and grabs the word of God into his heart, whatever he does,
whether things in the church, whether serving God, whether at your job, whether with your family,
whether with your friends, relationships, whatever that you do, you essentially have the golden touch
because whatsoever you do shall prosper, the Bible says.
John chapter 15, you don't have to turn there and verse number four says this,
Abide in me, referring to Jesus Christ, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except that abide in the vine,
no more can ye accept ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth to me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit,
and I want you to notice this, for without me ye can do nothing.
Now obviously what this is referring to is that we can do nothing of any significance,
of any eternal significance without the Lord Jesus Christ. We can experience any
form of success this side of eternity as believers if we're not abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And of course abiding in Jesus Christ can be defined as reading the Word of God,
obeying the Bible, walking with the Lord. This is how we can experience great success.
a branch, and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned."
Essentially, you're referring to the fact that a person who isn't walking with God, they're
not abiding in the Word of God, they're essentially worthless.
That's what it's saying.
Because He's saying He's going to gather you like men would gather sticks who have fallen off the branch
and all they're good for is to be burned, right?
He's saying you're good for nothing, you're just made to be taken and to be burned
and essentially a worthless type of a person in the eyes of God.
And yes, that does exist in the Bible.
And in fact, in another portion of Matthew chapter 5, Jesus Christ specifically says that they are good for nothing.
But to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men referring to the salt who had lost its savor.
It goes on to say, if ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
Now that is a wonderful promise, is it not?
It's an ironclad promise where Jesus Christ says, look, if we are in fellowship together, we're in communion one with another.
If you're walking with God, if I'm abiding in you and you and me, you can ask anything you want.
and I will do it for you."
I mean, that is a wonderful promise for the Christian.
He says,
Herein is my Father glorify that you bear much fruit,
so shall ye be my disciples.
What's the point of these passages?
It's to show us that success for the Christian
is directly related to a devotional?
No.
Directly related to a podcast?
Absolutely not.
Directly related to philosophy and vain deceit?
No.
It's directly related to the Bible.
So, if we want to know what success truly is, we need to go to the Word of God, not to
some leadership guru, not to some worldly philosopher, not to some pseudo-knowledgeable
person of this world.
We need to see what God says about true success and abide by that regardless of the narrative
of this world.
Good success, according to the Bible, I'm going to give you a couple points this morning regarding what true success, good success, is in God's eyes.
First and foremost, let me start off by saying that success at the most elementary level is this, knowing God, that is success, okay?
Now, when I say knowing God, I'm not referring to salvation, because salvation is when God knows you.
Salvation is when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and according to the book of Galatians, it's when we are known of God.
You see, knowing God and being known of God are actually two separate things.
Being known of God is when we're justifying the eyes of God through Jesus Christ according to the Bible.
Knowing God is a lifelong process that requires us reading the Bible, right?
You know, people could say, well, yeah, of course I'm saying I know God.
Well, have you read the Bible? No. Then you don't really know God now, do you?
Because how do we know God? We know him through his word.
We obviously know at the entry level we know him through Jesus Christ the Son,
but after that, in order for us to gain the knowledge of God and understand who the Lord is,
we need to be reading the Bible, okay?
Now look at Jeremiah chapter 9 and verse 23 if you wouldn't.
Jeremiah chapter 9 and verse 23 says this,
Thus saith the Lord,
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom.
What does it mean to glory? It means don't brag about how much wisdom you have.
He says, don't let the wise men of this world brag about his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might, the fact that he's physically strong, physically fit, physically
athletic.
He says, letting out the rich men glory in his riches.
These billionaires and tycoons, don't glory in the fact that you have accumulated wealth
beyond anybody's imagination.
Don't glory in your wisdom, don't glory in your might, don't glory in your riches.
but let him that glorious glory in this,
that he understandeth and knoweth me,
that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth,
for in these things I delight, sayeth the Lord."
So the Bible's telling us here,
if we're gonna brag about anything,
let us brag about knowing God, right?
Now again, out there on internet land,
there's a lot of people who claim to know God.
Oh, that we have a relationship with God.
And you know what? That term has been abused, it's been misused,
and most of the time, when people say they have a relationship with God, just mark it down, they don't.
Because what they're referring to is this emotional attachment that they think that they feel,
this emotional experience that they have when they go to church or when they listen to their CCM song
or whatever it may be, it's more of an emotional experience that they're talking about
and they associate that with knowing God.
But that's not knowing God and that's not having a relationship with God, okay?
Now we don't really use that term as as Baptist and specific archers
We don't really say we have a relationship with God, but let me just say this we have copyrights to that word actually
Okay, that word actually does belong to because we do have a relationship with the Lord because we emphasize the importance of reading the Bible and
Knowing God through his word, right?
To know God is to know the word of God it's to walk with God
It's to read the Bible day in day out to study to show
Thyself or approve them to God and work men that need it not to be ashamed
Rightly dividing the word of truth knowing God is not an experience
As far as, oh excuse me, an emotional experience, sometimes it's a spiritual intellectual experience
where we're actually opening up the Word of God. We're consuming the content of the Bible
and through the Word of God we see who truly is. You see, the problem is that when people claim
to know God or have a relationship with God, they often make a God in their own image.
They create God out of their own image what they think God to be. Oh, I just don't think God would say something like that
I don't think God would do something like that. Well, then you probably just never read the Bible then
Because the Bible is the testament of God of who he is and this is why he says, you know
The person who should glory is the one who knows God that he's a God of loving kindness, but hold on a second judgment
and righteousness right
So he says these things I delight in so you know hey judge not we'll hold on a second the Bible says here that God
Delights in judgment. So when we judge God's like I like that
And if you sit there and say to yourself, well, I just don't think God would do something like well
Of course, you know because you don't have it right Jeremiah 9
If you read Jeremiah chapter 9, you would see that God actually delights in.
He favors judgment, loving kindness, and righteousness.
Success, according to the Bible, is not acting like you know who God is.
It's actually knowing who God is.
And let me say this, you know, very few people in this world, obviously the unsafe cannot know God
unless they get saved and begin to read the Word of God.
But let me say this, the vast majority of Christians in this world don't know who God is.
You know, because you can be saved and not read the Bible for the rest of your life.
It's an unfortunate fate for the Christian who does that, or doesn't do that, but you
know, at the end of the day, you can be a believer, you can actually even go to church,
not read the Word of God, not consume any Bible content, and just literally lose out
on the opportunity to know the God of the universe.
And let me say this, people have lived and died,
they've gotten saved, they've lived and died
and just never knew anything about the Bible.
Never knew the height, length, breadth, and depth
of the love of Christ, the passeth knowledge.
They've never understood the unsearchable riches of Christ.
They've never understood why God is so lovingly kind,
judge, that he is filled with judgment and righteousness.
Why?
Because they never actually started reading the Bible.
And this is why at our church we promote being successful by reading the Bible.
Not a commentary, not a devotional, not listen to this particular podcast.
Open up the Word of God and read it.
Read the Bible through every single day, every single year, throughout your lifetime.
Why? So you can succeed by knowing the Lord.
Mark chapter 12.
You don't have to turn there, but go with me if you would to John chapter 14.
Mark chapter 12 verse 29 says this Jesus answered him the first of all the
commandment is here oh Israel the Lord our God is one Lord and down shall love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul
So obviously the Bible is not against having an emotional experience when we worship God, right?
There are times when we worship the Lord, we hear Him, we read a Psalm, we walk with God, and we shed a tear.
We have a sense of joy swelling up within us.
But the Bible also says, to love Him with all our heart, our soul, and I want you to notice this, and with all our mind.
Well, the mind is that which is used to consume the word of God to understand what the Bible says.
He says, and with all thy strength, this is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
And of course, this is the scribe who's asking this question to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the scribe responds by saying, well, Master, thou hast said the truth.
For there is one God and there is none other but He, and to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, with all the strength, to love His neighbor as Himself is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
So this scribe understood.
Man, this is true success right here is to love the Lord your God with all your hearts,
soul, mind, and strength. This is far more important than any whole burnt offering,
any service, any worldly accomplishment is to love the Lord your God with all your hearts,
soul, mind, and strength.
And, of course, Jesus saw that he answered screedly and he told them,
thou art not far from the kingdom of God, and no man after that
asks him any questions.
Look at John chapter 14 and verse 21, my first point being,
true success is to know God.
And let this be a reminder to you today, a reset button to you today
that you should be reading the Word of God.
If you're not, you're missing out on the most successful accomplishment that you could ever have this side of eternity,
which is to know the Lord Jesus Christ through His Word.
John 14-21 says this,
What is he saying here?
Well, it's not enough to just read the Bible, you actually have to obey the Bible too.
So, to know God is to read the Bible, but to know God is also to keep His commandments,
to be someone who actually endeavors to obey the commandments of the Lord.
And let me just tell you right now, according to Jesus Christ, if you do not keep the commandments,
you can say you love God all you want.
It's not true.
It's all lip service.
Well, I love him in my heart. Well, we want to love God on his terms, not our terms and according to his terms
He says here that those who keep his commandments are those who love him
And in fact, he says elsewhere if you love me keep my commandments
Well, that's more of a religion
I'm more about the relationship.
Well, the relationship includes the religion,
and the religion is to keep the commandments of God.
Okay?
He says in verse 22,
Judah saith unto him, not as scary it.
Of course, we want to clarify that, right?
If I was like, don't get this guy mixed up.
Lord, how is it that thou will manifest thyself unto us
and not into the world?
Jesus answered and sentenced him.
If a man loved me, he will keep my words.
And my father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him."
You know, one way to have God's hand on you, God's blessing on you, God's blessing on
your family and on your marriage, on your relationships, on whatever endeavors that
you have in your life is for God to abide on you, to abide with you as a result of you
keeping God's commandments.
Communion with the Lord this is important in the eyes of God the Apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 3 and verse number 10
Then I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering
being made conformable unto us that the Bible says.
So the apostle Paul, in spite of all of the other achievements
that he accomplished as an unsafe Pharisee,
all the acclamations, all of the statuses that he received
for serving in the religion of the Jews,
he said, that's all done.
Most important thing for me now is to know him
and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his suffering.
So we know God through his word,
but we also know God by suffering.
By going through hard times and not quitting on God, you know, you really want to know the Lord
Here's a great way to know the Lord go through a very difficult time and don't quit on God
That's one of the best ways to commune with the Lord Jesus Christ is participate in the fellowship
of his suffering. We often associate fellowship with food and laughter and
mirth and feasting, but there's another type of fellowship in the Bible that
includes suffering with those who suffer. And according to the Bible, Jesus Christ
views you not quitting on him, serving him through trial and tribulation as the
highest form of fellowship that you can experience this side of eternity. What
am I talking about? I'm talking about having good success in this world.
And the way you can have good success this side of eternity, first and foremost, is you better endeavor, have as your goal to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
It would not be a wasted life if all you did this side of eternity is seek to know God, the Lord Jesus Christ, through His Word.
You would be a successful person regardless of how much money you have in the bank, regardless of whatever worldly accomplishments you achieved.
You will be a successful person if you can stay at the end of your life.
I know him that he is a God who delights in loving-kindness and judgment and righteousness.
I know God because of the attributes that the Bible exalts about God.
I know these things about the Lord. I know God. I delight in that and I glory in that.
Good success, according to the Bible, is knowing God.
But also, turn with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 6. 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Also, good success is, listen to this,
possessing the virtue of godliness with contentment.
You see, the world defines success as what?
As being wealthy, having lots of money,
making lots of money,
and unfortunately Christians often bite
into that same philosophy.
They think money can make them happy.
They want to make more money because they want more possessions.
They want to feel more fulfilled.
They want to accumulate wealth and possessions.
Why? Because the world is constantly promoting that type of narrative.
But hold on a second.
We need to do the Joshua 1a, the Psalm 1,
and recognize what is success according to the Bible.
Is it accumulating a lot of wealth?
No. According to the Bible,
it's actually being godly and having contentment
whether you have wealth or not.
You see, the Bible is not against having wealth.
The Bible is not against you having money and accumulating possessions.
If first you have godliness and contentment.
Okay?
Let me read to you a couple of verses here before we get into 1 Timothy chapter 6.
Psalm 73 verse 12 says this, Behold, these are the ungodly who prosper in the world.
They increase, listen to this, in riches.
It goes on to say in Psalm 52 verse 7,
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
You see, obtaining happiness through the avenue
of accumulating wealth and possessions is a fool's errand.
It's a fool's errand, why?
Because silver cannot satisfy anybody who has it.
Money is a tool. Money is a commodity that we have in order to...
It's obviously a necessity to pay the bills, but it's also a commodity if we want other things aside from the things that we absolutely need, right?
They can provide for once. The Bible literally says that money answereth all things.
When you have money, you have more opportunities. More options are available, right?
However, having and making money is not the end goal for the Christian. It should never be, okay?
The Bible defines success as possessing the virtues of godliness and contentment, whether you have wealth or
not. What is godliness? Well, godliness is the attribute of being eternally minded, right?
It's esteeming the spiritual far above that which is earthly. Now, that actually is kind of difficult to do.
You know why? Because we live on this earth.
We are dealing with the fleshly every single day.
It's constant being thrown on our faces.
You know, we have to have faith in the eternal.
Well, a godly person seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and then these things are added unto you, right?
That's what godliness is to be eternally focused spiritually minded spiritually focused
Making decisions based off of how does that affect your relationship with the Lord how that affects your service for God?
contentment listen to this is
satisfaction with one's current position
Possessions and wealth while still possessing a form of ambition to do a little more if you can
So contentment is not like well, you know, I'm broke right now, and I'm just cool with being broke for the rest of my life
And so therefore I'm not gonna work
You know contentment is not laziness
Contemptment is not idleness
Contemptment is satisfaction with your current position even though your current position may change later
It's being happy when you're broke, but it's also being happy if you're not broke
It's being the same person when you're wealthy as you were when you were a broke person
It's having the same spiritual convictions as a wealthy individual as you had when you were a broke individual
That's what contempt is is the ability to be satisfied with what you have and to praise God and be thankful for what you have
Regardless of how much you have or how little you possess, okay?
Let me read to you a couple of verses here.
Philippians chapter 4 verse number 11 says this,
The apostle Paul saying, look, I'm not complaining about my lack.
He says, I've learned, which is, by the way, showing us
this is something that you have to learn.
It doesn't come naturally.
You have to adopt this mentality.
You have to renew your mind and teach yourself
how to be this way.
He says, I have learned, and whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be content.
I know both how to be a base, meaning
that he knows how to be just a broke joke.
Beans and tortillas and I know how to abound, you know
Where he's gaining weight because he's eating a log as he has an abundance. He's has extra on the side, right?
He's you know, he's just enjoying life. There is no lack. He knows how to be a base
He knows how to abound
Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry
Both to abound and to suffer need the Bible says so he specifically says look
I know how to prosper and succeed in any state that I'm in why because he was a godly person
and he possessed contentment so he was happy with the beans and tortillas
he was happy with the menial foods that he had when he didn't have anything
but he was happy with the feast that he was able to participate in as well
he was happy with both and none of those situations deterred him from serving God
he won as many people to Christ when he was broke as he did when he was wealthy
He went to church as much as when he was broke than when he was wealthy.
He did everything the same exact way, when he was wealthy, when he was poor, why?
Because he was a godly individual and he learned contentment.
And one thing we have to understand as Christians is that as Christians, as believers in this
life, we're going to have an ebb and flow of being broke and having wealth, right?
It's like sometimes there's good months, sometimes there's bad months.
Sometimes you're in debt, sometimes you're not.
You have an overabundance.
The point is that as your wealth goes like this, your spiritual life should go like this
and like this and like this.
You've got to have godliness with contentment because let me just be honest with you folks.
People make bad decisions when they're wealthy, but they also make bad decisions when they're
broke.
You know why they make bad decisions because they don't have godliness with contentment
Godliness with contentment are the governors of our spiritual life that helps us to kind of stay on track
When we're suffering need or when we have an abundance because both can change you can they not?
Having an overabundance can change you.
It can make you a covetous, greedy person.
It can make you a person who's discontent.
It can take you out of church.
It can cause you to stop reading the Bible.
It can cause you to not win souls to Christ, right?
But being a broke person can also do the same thing.
Being a broke person can get you out of church.
It can get you to stop reading the Bible.
It can get you to prioritize things that are not spiritual.
It can cause you to focus on the here and now
and essentially get you off track spiritually speaking.
This is why it's important that we as Christians
prioritize being godly and having contentment.
And look folks, this is where it starts.
Lord, teach me godliness and teach me contentment.
Help me to learn these virtues.
And don't be afraid of it either, okay?
Oh man, does that mean God's gonna make me broke?
Or you're gonna be broke anyways.
You're gonna go broke anyway sometime this year maybe in the next couple years. It's gonna happen. Okay, learning
Godness with contentment is learning how to remain godly while you're broke
Learning spiritual disciplines, even though you have an over an abundance. Don't let it get to your head if you become wealthy
Okay, don't let it be don't let it transform you into a wicked person if you become broke
The Bible goes on to say you say well, man, this is it just seems impossible
You know, just to live a godly life and be a millionaire, is that even possible?
Well, I know some millionaires who are Christians and they're great Christians.
In fact, you would even know that they're millionaires because they're godly and they
have contentment.
But you know, I also know broke people who don't have a whole lot and yet you wouldn't
know that because they're godly and they're content, they're happy, they're joyful.
How did the Apostle Paul do it?
Well, he finishes off this particular passage by saying this,
I can do all things through Christ which strengthened him.
Now, people use that verse for everything, right?
You know, they're climbing Mount Everest and like,
I can do all things through Christ which strengthened him.
You know, and you can apply it through on different,
you know, areas or whatever, but specifically,
it's referring to being able to do all things,
serve God while you're broke.
Why? Because Christ strengthens you throughout that time.
Doing all things, such as being, having an abundance and remaining godly,
why? Because God enables you to be that way, because you have godliness with contentment.
Jesus also said in Luke chapter 12 verse 15, and he said unto them,
Take heed, what does it mean to take heed?
Pay attention, give heed, pay attention, be aware, and beware of covetousness.
For a man's life consists of not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth
Don't find your identity in the things that you have
You know things are great to have
Possessions are great to have cars are great to have houses are great to have clothes are great to have
But don't allow yourself to be identified as though by those things
Don't seek your identity in the things which you possess because your life doesn't consist of that
Because let me just remind you there's a man by the name of Job who lost it all in one day
But you know what that man was godly and content and he said you know the Lord gave the Lord had taken blessed to be the name of the Lord
Whereas most people if that were to happen to them. They're like God. Why don't you do this to me?
They'd be pointing finger at God and saying you know charging God foolishly of because you know this happened to them or whatever
You know, obviously, Job was a perfect and upright man, the Bible says.
He was godly, he was content.
He did not identify with the abundance of the things which he possessed.
Let me read to you a couple more verses, and we're going to go to 1 Timothy in just a bit.
Proverbs 22, verse 1 says this,
A large bank account is rather to be chosen.
No, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.
According to the Bible, reputation is far more valuable.
Then money right because you could have a lot of money just have a rotten reputation and
Reputation is something that money cannot buy
It's something that you create over a long period of time by the way a good reputation
Takes years to build but it only takes like one day to ruin right that's how valuable it is
He says, in loving favor, rather than silver and gold,
the rich and poor meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all.
So before you think to yourself, oh man, I'm somebody because I have a lot of money,
well, you are actually alongside the poor guy because God made both.
God allowed you to obtain wealth. He allowed you to obtain riches. He allowed you to be broke.
They're at the end of the day. God is basically the same. Don't esteem these
financial, you know, successes that you find yourself in or
the poverty that you find yourself in because at the end of the day everyone's experienced these types of situations.
God is the maker of them both.
You say, well, I just think that if I had a certain amount of money, I'll be happy.
You know, I just think I'll be satisfied.
I can pay off so many bills.
I could, you know, we could,
Pastor, I can buy you a building.
If I just had this much, there's so much that we can do.
I would, the tides would be so big.
But you know what, let me just tell you this.
If you're thinking that, you're probably not gonna get
any wealth at all.
Cause God often knows the heart of the person
who thinks that way.
Let me read this verse to you.
Proverbs 132 says this,
for the turning away of the simple shall slay them,
And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
You know, thank God that you're not wealthy if you're not wealthy.
Thank God that maybe in your attempts to become wealthy,
you failed miserably because it's a possibility that God has been protecting you from destruction.
Because he knows that if he allowed you to prosper, gave you millions of dollars,
you'd probably be destroyed by it.
You know, the Bible tells us better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a stalled ox and hatred they're with.
You're esteeming the virtue of just having friendships, a good relationship with your spouse.
You know, there's people in this world who are extremely wealthy and they don't have a friend in the world.
Anyone who's around them is only around them because they got money.
Because a man is friends to those who give gifts to them, right?
You know, they're only with them because they got money. They pay their bill. They pay their their lunch
You know, it's better to have a legitimate friend with you not just one
I mean, I'm sure all of us have a
Variety of friends around us and it's not because we're ballers. I don't know if that's like an old word now
That might be you guys Jen's you may not even know what that is. You know, what's the what's the equivalent to baller now?
What
Is it still ballers?
Well, you're not Gen Z.
You're in my generation.
Anybody, is that, is it still a thing?
Yeah, like, you know, you're not necessarily
a wealthy person, you're not a baller,
so, you know, your friend's actually
like you for who you are.
That's a great, that's a valuable trait.
That's something that the millionaires of this world
wish they could buy, but they will never be able to buy.
They have a hard time even marrying someone,
because they don't know if that person's marrying them
for their money.
Hey, if your wife married you when you're broke that's a keeper
When you had the the bootleg clothes the off-brand all this and you're you're just
You know, it's possible. She married you for your looks maybe but we just never know
You know what I mean? Maybe she's just a compassionate person and has empathy for you
But at least it's not for your money though. At least you'll know that for sure
I heard an amen back there on the testimony.
All right, look at 1 Timothy chapter six, verse number three.
It says, if any man teach otherwise
and consent not to wholesome words,
so if anybody's telling you the opposite
of what I'm telling you right now,
because these are wholesome words
of what I'm giving you, right?
He says, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ
into the doctrine, which is according to godliness.
So if a person is coming to you through a podcast,
through a YouTube video,
Prosperity preachers, your aunt, your uncle, your family member, your cousin,
they're trying to get you to become rich, to love money.
The Bible says in verse 4,
He is proud, knowing nothing,
but doting about questions and strives of words
where I've come with envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,
and destitute of the truth, listen to this,
supposing that gain is godliness.
So he's like there's people out there that will tell you oh, no if you really want gains you got to make a lot of money
They suppose that making a lot of money is a result of you just being godly
This is the prosperity gospel type thing, right? Oh if you serve God, you're just gonna make all kinds of money
Now I'll get into that point later because there is a little bit of truth to that
You know God can bless you, but hold on a second that we can't paint that with a broad brush though
Sometimes it does bring a little bit of debt.
Sometimes it brings people suing you for preaching the word of God
and you suffer for that and guess what?
There's no financial prosperity in that area.
And it tells us that when you have someone in your ear constantly telling you,
hey, you need to make money, you need to get rich,
you need to get this, you need to buy this particular car,
get this particular house.
Look what the Bible says in verse 5, the latter end,
from such withdrawal thyself.
To get away from people like that
Don't associate with people like that don't fellowship with people like that. Why because let's just be honest
We're easily influenced to become covetous as well
We're all easily influenced because you know, we're not Amish
And you know, the Amish are covetous too.
One's looking at the horse and buggy of another,
and it's like, man, that thing looks nice, you know?
And look at the wheels on that horse and buggy or whatever.
And one's looking at another one's beard or lacquer up,
and I was checking it, you know?
There's covetous no matter where you are in the world, OK?
Doesn't matter what you have.
Obviously, godliness and contentment is something that's very important.
Look at verse 6.
But godliness with contentment is great gain.
So, gain isn't godliness.
Godliness with contentment is great gain, meaning true success is measured by the virtue of godliness and possessing satisfaction and contentment.
And why is that?
Look at verse 7.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out.
Let me just remind you, everything you have stays here.
We're not Egyptians.
We're not Egyptian pharaohs that are getting buried in our sarcophagus with all the gold.
Folks, Tutankhamen stuff is still here.
And now it's placed in a museum for everyone else to enjoy but him.
And Tutankhamen has been in hell for the last, whatever, 3,000 years, and not an ounce of gold went with him.
That's the reality because we brought nothing into this world
It's important for us to understand that we don't determine success based upon how much wealth and possessions we accumulate
Because all that stuff is gonna stay here
We can carry nothing with it. Nothing we can carry none of it to the other world now
Obviously whereas we're gonna look in just a bit we can send it forward though
right look what it goes on to say
verse number eight and having food and Raymond Raymond is just another word for clothing
Let us there with be content.
So if you have three meals and buy the looks of this crowd,
it's probably been more than three.
Probably a little more, maybe three and a half.
Maybe three meals with a couple of snacks in between.
Couple of Starbucks, couple of smoothies,
couple of crack boba, there's a lot going on, right?
And having rainmen meaning you're clothed,
you're not exposed to the elements of this world.
And let's just be honest, all of us here have more than food and raiment.
We have like well above, we have too much food, we got too much raiment.
But he's saying just those basic needs, you should be content with life.
And if you have food and raiment, you're still not content, that's an indicator that you
are not godly and you have not practiced contentment.
This is verse 9, but they, that will be rich, have a desire to be rich, endeavoring to be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, a snare is a trap.
And into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.
So if you're a person who just wants to be rich, you just want to have money, you just
want to make millions, well it's likely that you're going to open yourself up to temptations,
traps, it says there, hurtful lust because money not only does it open opportunities
for other opportunities of success, it also opens up opportunities for you to sin.
He says, hurtful lust, which drown men in destruction and
perdition?
And if you don't believe me, just look up the lives of
those who've won the lottery.
There's hardly ever, happily ever after, a story with
someone who bought a lottery ticket, $1 million, and they
finish their lives well.
Most of the time, they get killed, they overdose, they
go back into major debt, live a life of destruction.
He says in verse 30 or I'm sorry verse 10 for the love of money is the root of all evil
And let me just clarify something if this is does does not say that money is the root of all evil
That would be a nonsensical statement to make it says the love of money
covetousness greed right
The love of money is the root of all evil which while some coveted after they have aired from the faith and pierced themselves through
With many sorrows so according to this verse
It's not saying rich people pierce themselves through with many sorrows, it's just those
who have the love of money.
So you can actually destroy yourself being a broke person loving money.
That's the sad part.
It's like you didn't even get the money you destroyed in your life.
That's how powerful money is.
It can destroy you even if it doesn't let you have it.
Verse 11, but thou, and you apply this to you, the listener, the one who's reading it, but thou, O man of God,
flee these things. Flea what? Flea loving money.
Flea the will to be rich.
Flea these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
What is this telling us? It's telling us be a real successful person and
endeavor to accumulate
godly virtue instead.
Because you know what, if you possess and adopt Godly virtue, God can make you rich and it won't destroy your life.
God can give you wealth and it won't destroy you.
God can give you poverty and it won't destroy you.
You're essentially immune to the destructive effects of having money or not having it because you have these Godly virtues protecting you from them.
You understand?
It's powerful.
What does this tell us?
You know, if you really want to be successful, be someone who learns righteousness, be someone
who learns godliness, be someone who's rich in faith toward God, meaning you pray things
down, you have faith in the Lord, be strong, seek after love, seek after patience, another
word for endurance, seek after meekness.
And you say, well, Pastor, this is often talking about the person who has the will to be rich.
They love money.
Which I don't know if anybody even here does or whatever.
I might be looking at a very broke crowd right now.
But you know, I don't know.
There might be some rich person here.
You might be a person of wealth.
You might have more than your average individual.
Okay, here's the commandment to you.
Look at verse 17.
Charge them that are rich in this world.
And by the way, what does rich mean?
It means having an overabundance.
So yeah, you may not be driving a Lamborghini,
but maybe you have more than what is meat,
Right? Like you pay your bills and then you have some extra left over. You're a rich person according to the Bible.
Don't let the world define for you what a rich person is.
But, you know, the world tries to define a rich person as having five cars, you know,
the hip-hop lifestyle or whatever, and, you know, living the life of a celebrity.
No, according to the Bible, a rich person is simply someone who has an overabundance.
They're able to pay off their bills and still have extra left not only to enjoy themselves,
but other people can enjoy it as well.
So he says here, charge them, command them that are rich in this world, that they be
not high-minded.
Don't be an arrogant individual if you're rich
Nor trust in uncertain riches. So here's another danger of riches is that it can often cause people
To trust in them why because money answer with all things and sometimes people think well
I will be fine because we have this much in the bank
Oh, we'll be fine because you know, I got this coming in later
We'll be fine because I have the savings or whatever, but let me just remind you is that God can literally just make it go away like that
So you better place your faith in God place your faith in your walk with God
Because if things if those if those if that money grows wings, which it can't often do
Disappears you want to make sure you don't fall off though. You know the the path of righteousness
Stop serving God because of that because if you did that would be an indication of what that you're trusting in these certain riches
No uncertain riches
Riches are uncertain, they're not reliable and it's just paper and quite frankly it's less than paper now
We don't even see the money that we have. It's just like it's just invisible
He says in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy
Here's another charge. He says regarding the rich of this world that they do good
that they be rich and good works,
ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
What does it mean to communicate, to give?
Meaning don't be a miser, okay?
Be a frugal person, but don't be a stingy person.
And let me just explain to you
the difference between the two.
Because sometimes you have people that are like,
oh, I'm not stingy, I'm just frugal.
But then they're just accumulating all this wealth
and they're not being a blessing with it.
They're not using it for anything.
They're saving it for a rainy day.
A rainy day never comes.
They die and it ends up going to someone else or something.
You know, the reason, the purpose of being frugal
or being cheap with yourself, if that's you,
is to be a blessing to other people.
Okay?
Not to, you know, get just a good deal just to get it.
You want to make sure you save money, be frugal in order to allocate the resources to something
else.
As the Bible says, to be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
And then lastly, he says in verse 19,
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation
against the time to come that they, referring to their resources, their riches,
may lay hold on eternal life.
So look, you know, God is not against you having wealth.
God is not against you saving wealth.
But, you know, be smart about it.
And if you really want to keep it, you'll send it ahead.
Instead of saving money, save money, right?
Instead of saving money on this earth,
why don't you redeem the money, send it forward
by investing in eternal things,
and you'll see that wealth when you get to heaven
through the rewards that you receive
because of your investment in the work of God.
What am I saying here?
Good success, according to the Bible, is learning godly virtue.
And you know what?
This is something we got to work on
for the rest of our lives.
Because again, there's so much out there.
There's so many voices out there.
We have so many friends.
We have family members.
And if we're not careful, those who are next to us
can often have more than us, and it
can cause us to become discontent with the things
that we have, right?
Oh, man, I wish I had that.
Oh, man, I wish I had a house.
Oh, man, I wish I had this vehicle.
Oh, man, I wish I had this, that, and the other.
Just be happy with what you have.
Just be thankful for what you have
Because let's just be honest God can immediately take away what we have now have less than what we have now
Right, and then we would just be really upset
But God in this incantation just says you know what I'm just satisfied. I'm thankful for what I have now now like for example
You know, this isn't a church building so to speak, right?
This is a church. This is not necessarily church building. This would not fly in most churches
They're just like, this is a strip mall,
this is office space, you know?
We want the high steeple type of,
you know, with all the ornate things, whatever.
And look, those buildings are nice too.
But I'm not gonna go around, you know,
thinking like, that's what I want right there.
And look, I'm happy with what we have now.
You know, I'm happy with this section
that we're gonna get here.
And you know why I'm happy with it now?
Because if God gives us something better,
I wanna be happy with that too.
This building's great, and some of you, you know,
you're like, oh man, this is like an office,
yeah, you weren't in El Mani.
Okay?
You've never visited El Mani.
That building was absolutely atrocious, okay?
It's by a miracle that when they bombed it,
it didn't literally just fall apart.
And in fact, the Bobby might have even fixed
some of the problems that it had.
I remember that building, like you guys remember
the ceiling was like this, it was like slanted.
It was like, you know, everyone had to listen like this,
you know, and the floors were all messed up.
You know, ladies, and I think Mr. Cole particularly,
tripped over that bump on the, you guys remember that?
There was like a, there was literally a massive lump,
and every once in a while people would just fall over
and then we'd put like tape there
and people would still fall over, I mean,
no one complained though.
You know our our our courtyard was a dumpster
So we'd go out there and fellowship next to the dumpster
Yeah
You heard right, you know our our fellowship hall was probably
Smaller than this particular air from my office to here
That's how big it was and everyone would just cram in there and we just gossip and you know
Just talk. I mean, hey, how about this? There was no parking
Some of you might complain you have to park all the way down over there
By the by the liquor store or how about this? There was no parking
You had to park in front of someone's house and walk yourself and you know that might not have seemed bad
But when you're getting protested, it's pretty bad
You know we actually have you know a parking lot here. There's trees there
You know, you know, you know when you come here you have a parking attendant. You have John Michael
With the vest on you know what we had in Omani a dead German shepherd in a dumpster who had been cooking in the summer
Right in front of our church
Brother Mark, can I get a witness?
And then, you know, they're open,
and then open the door, the smell of the carcass
is just coming through and Miss Janelle's like sick
and she's like, you know, she's pregnant.
She's not complaining, she's just plugging her nose.
Then me and Mark have to like move that thing
around the corner.
We'll deal with this later.
Hey, but you know, we were happy though.
We were content.
Why?
Cause all we wanted was a church.
We just wanted to hear preaching, fellowship.
Oh man.
And then the mushrooms.
I don't want to get into all that.
But you know what, we were happy.
Ask me about the mushrooms after.
We were happy.
And you know what, we were so happy
that when we got this, we were even more happy.
You see, when you have low expectations,
you actually are grateful when you get anything.
When you don't expect anything,
when you do get something, you're just like,
hey, this is nice.
But when you have high expectations,
it's like, oh, what, a PS4, that's all?
And Xbox, I wanted something else.
This is now what I wanted, you know?
Whereas if you don't expect anything,
you're just happy with whatever you get.
That's godliness and contentment, OK?
Let's move on here.
Go to third John, if you wouldn't, third John.
Point that I'm making is, if you want to be a successful person, learn these virtues.
You know, learn the virtue of godliness, learn the virtue of contaminant, because they are
governors, virtuous governors that protect us from either state.
They protect us from the effects of poverty.
They protect us from the effects of riches.
They keep us on the straight and narrow.
They keep God's hand on us while we're having
an abundance of riches or poverty.
No matter what we have,
we are protected and guided by these particular virtues.
We're happy no matter where we're at, okay?
Good success is knowing God. Good success is having Godliness with contentment.
Good success also, listen to this, is achieving worldly feats.
Yes, you heard right. Achieving worldly feats as a result of Godly living.
That's actually good success.
Because look folks, I'm not going to sit here and say only have spiritual goals, no worldly
goals allowed, no worldly accomplishments allowed.
That's nonsense.
Obviously, we should be seeking to endeavor to achieve worldly feats, even if they are
temporary, even if none of it we can take with us, but they should be a result of our
You say, well, what's the point if you get the same result, no matter what?
Well, here's the point.
How about pleasing God?
That's the point.
How about just being right in the eyes of God?
How about God being pleased with you?
How about our Heavenly Father being happy with how we do things because we're being
honest and righteous about it?
Because look, folks, there's plenty of people out there that have accomplished great things
through dishonest means, through lying, through cheating, through stealing, through whatever.
That's not a righteous thing to do, especially for Christians.
We want to be able to accomplish worldly feats, worldly things that we do in this world as
a result of God's hand being on us, okay?
The Dhamma is prosper and be in health.
Health is referring to the physical, right?
And it says here, even as thy soul prospereth.
So he's saying, look, as successful as you are spiritually,
I hope you're just as successful in your health
and in everything else that you do, right?
That's a great desire for someone.
He's saying, I want you to prosper in your health.
I want you to prosper in your finances,
prosper at your job.
Hey, prosper in your hobbies.
As thy soul prospers, may you be a well-rounded successful person, right?
That's what it's telling us. Achieving other goals in this world is important even if it's not as a means for eternal rewards or significance.
But it's important that those achievements come as a result of God's blessing, not crooked dealings,
dishonesty or compromising biblical convictions and
excusing them away as God blessing us because he's just his hand is on us. Okay. We want to achieve things in this world
not as a result of us compromising what the Bible says.
You know, oh man, you know God blessed me with all these riches. Yeah, but but here's the thing though like you don't win any souls to Christ
You don't go to church. You don't read the Bible
So can we really say that God blessed you or is it just as a means of your hard work or maybe by chance as the Bible puts it?
Yeah, you got the same results for sure, but you're still you're losing in God's eyes though
You still took the L on that one though
So yeah, you might have gained hundreds of thousands of dollars, you might have gained the recognition of many,
but hold on a second, you did it by wicked means, and so in God's eyes means nothing.
Go to turn with me to Matthew chapter 20, Matthew chapter 20.
I'm going to read you from Genesis chapter 26 and verse 12, it says here,
then Isaac sowed in that land
received in the same year a hundred fold and the Lord blessed him and the man
waxed great and went forward and grew until he became very great and he had
possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and he had great stores of
servants and the Philistines envied him the Bible says but why I'll tell you why
because the Lord blessed him
Because Isaac was being honest, he loved the Lord and God blessed him for it.
And look, we can point to many others who waxed great, had great possessions,
possessions of herds, great stores of servants, people envying them,
but it's not because they were righteous.
They got it by wicked means.
We're not talking about the result, we're talking about how we got those results.
We're not talking about success in order to gain servants, gain acclimations, gain whatever,
you know, we're talking about how did you get it, because that's important to God.
You know, I'll give you an example.
There's plenty of influencers out there on Instagram, hundreds of thousands of followers,
millions of followers, but they're half naked, or they're promoting false doctrine.
or they're promoting just nonsensical ideas, stupidity,
doesn't mean that God's blessing them.
Or they just bought their followers, how about that?
They buy, I don't know, comments or whatever, you know?
So here's the thing, yeah, you might have a great following,
a lot of people following you, but what is it for?
Is it because you're just a wicked person?
You know, I think of a guy, this one guy who was
like a Christian prankster, it's an oxymoron, obviously.
He's like, he accumulated so many followers
by just doing some of the most inappropriate,
godless acts out there,
just completely violating the word of God,
dressing like a transvestite,
acting like a complete liberal.
Oh yeah, real honoring.
Oh, but he got so many people to follow him.
He just blew up.
But you think God is pleased with that?
Absolutely not.
You know it's important for us to understand that true success is not necessarily the result
but the process of how we got those results, okay?
You know, hey, did you get a raise because you're a hard worker because you were honest
or did you lie a little bit?
in order to get that raise.
You understand what I'm saying?
Did you get that, you know, account?
Did you get that money?
Did you get that raise?
Did you get that position through wicked means?
Or did you actually get it because God's hand is on you
and you're like a Joseph
and you have the golden touch and God just blessed you with it?
Look at Matthew 20 verse 25 if you wouldn't.
It says, But Jesus called them unto him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles
exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but
it shall not be so among you.
But whose servant will be great among you?
Let him be your minister, and whose servant will be chief among you?
Let him be your servant.
And let me remind you, this is coming from the Lord of Lord, King of kings, God himself,
who is the greatest above anybody else.
He created the universe and everything that exists, and he's saying you need to be a minister,
you need to be a servant if you want to be great, which is exactly what Jesus Christ did.
And, of course, that's why he's the greatest.
Go with him if you want to...
Actually, we'll skip some of this.
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 8.
Ecclesiastes chapter 8.
You know, put it this way.
Another worldly feat, for example,
would be like obtaining knowledge.
Just being a knowledgeable person, right?
And a lot of people in this world have a lot of knowledge.
They go to college, they go to universities, they read a lot of books.
And you know, you may think to yourself like,
wow, this person just is really knowledgeable.
But according to the Bible, you know, God wants us to gain knowledge by what?
By fearing the Lord.
Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, is the beginning of knowledge.
So God doesn't esteem the knowledge of the person who doesn't have God, who doesn't fear God.
He esteems the person who has knowledge as a result of fearing Him.
That's what he esteems the most.
That's considered good success.
So here's the point.
The point is, fear God.
Learn how to fear God.
Learn how to do things the right way, the honest way,
not by cheating, not by dishonesty,
not by lying, not by being a perjured person,
as the Bible puts it.
Be someone who's honest.
And you know what, sometimes being honest
means that you come out losing.
Sometimes being honest means that you make less money.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
You know, sometimes being honest is making a vow and then you actually end up hurting
in the long run because of that vow.
You know, you underestimate how much it would cause to do a certain project and now it's
going to come out of your own pocket.
That happens sometimes.
But you know what?
That is pleasing in the eyes of God.
You know, for example, you know, we've done many projects
and the person that I'm working with right now,
he specifically told me like,
this is how much it would cost for this.
I said, all right, great.
He came back and he said,
it's actually not gonna cost that,
that's actually gonna cost more,
but I'm sticking to what I told you
and I'm not changing the price.
And I know what he was telling me,
he's telling me it's gonna come out of his pocket.
And I said, I don't mind if you go a little bit above budget.
He says, this is what I told you I would do
and this is what I'm gonna do.
He's a righteous person.
Whereas I've had other people in times past do projects and they'll say like hey
This is how much it's gonna cost like oh great, and then a couple weeks later. It's like actually it's like $5,000 more
It's actually gonna be $10,000 more like that's a little over
The budget there is like adding you know for C, but the Bible says to vow to your heart
Okay, meaning even if it costs you something
It's better to be right in the eyes of God let your pocketbook hurt a little bit and God will end up blessing you in the long run
Because of it because you're an honest person because it's better to be honest than to be rich
It's better to be honest than to than to you know save a couple bucks or whatever
God wants us to be honest. He wants us to get the worldly
Accomplishments by good means, okay, and this is why I'm against steroids
I'm not gonna say steroids is sinful
because the Bible doesn't say steroids is sinful
because the steroids didn't exist back then.
Because I can't, you know, I can't say it.
Let me just tell you, because you know,
this is something that, this is a conversation
that always comes up.
We cannot say the steroids is sinful.
The only thing I can say is the sinful aspect about it
would be what are you using it for?
And let's just be honest.
No one is using steroids for any health reasons.
Okay, they're using it because they wanna get jacked
And they want to just kind of, it's for Vainglorious,
what it is.
So obviously that is sinful, right?
Being Vainglorious is sinful.
Can I get an amen on that?
All right, you know.
And so, but you know, I can't say steroids is sinful
because I've taken steroids.
Yeah, I did.
Can't you tell?
I'm just kidding.
You know, a couple of years ago,
or two years ago or something,
I had that throat infection.
And it was like literally impeding my breathing.
So I went to the hospital and they're just like,
well, we'll just give you a shot of steroids of deca.
I'm like, deca?
And they'll, yeah, it'll clear it right.
Cause you know, steroids basically lowers inflammation.
And so they, it's a fat needle that is gonna hurt.
I'm like, do it, you know?
Cause I wanted any kind of relief just from the pain.
And they gave it to me like,
you're gonna feel the effects right away.
And literally 15 minutes in, my throat was fine.
And I ended up flying to Sacramento, and I preached hard.
And you could even tell that I was sick,
because it was just like, it helped.
And thank God for the service that helped me with that.
Just clearing that infection in my throat
that I had that I felt like was just destroying me.
So obviously I'm not going to say all steroids are simple because it helps sometimes if you're
in dire straits.
But if you're healthy, you're fine, you know what I mean?
And you're young, why don't you just eat your protein goal, work out, be an honest person
and stop simping over jacked dudes on the internet.
Stop being so gay.
And you won't be discontent and look I get where people are coming from though because body dysmorphia is a thing
But just be content with how fat you are and
how little your calves are and
You know just the numbers it's just it's just the way it is sometimes, okay?
And so the point that I'm making here is you know, we don't want to achieve
even physical
Feets by cheating right
by, you know, enhancing yourself, you know, filling yourself up with what's that oil called?
Synthol.
You know, to making yourself look like bigger than what you really are. That's a thing, okay?
Okay, let's move on here because I've offended a lot of the young guys in our church.
Alright, good success. We're talking about good success here.
You're in Ecclesiastes chapter 8. We're almost done.
People don't really realize, and this is something that I struggle with as a pastor, is being able to
kind of explain to people in our church how important it is to have judgment, how valuable it is to have judgment.
Because you know at the end of the day you can accumulate Bible knowledge, you can know verses, you can know the Word of God,
you know, you can be a great soul winner, but there's always this one element that is lacking sometimes in
New York Christians, and it's just part of life, and that is discernment.
The ability to make right choices, that's so valuable.
The ability to make right decisions is so valuable.
And I know this for a fact that sometimes Christians,
even the best of Christians, who read their Bibles,
they get, you know, they're godly people,
they love the Lord, they love lost souls,
they're just great church members,
but they just don't have discernments,
so they make bad decisions sometimes.
And people don't realize how important it is, listen to me, to just get on your knees and say,
God, please, I'm begging you, give me wisdom and judgment, give me discernment.
Help me to discern between good and evil, between making the right decisions and the bad decisions.
I learned this early on in my Christian life.
I learned the importance of just getting the mind of Christ
in different, various situations.
And there's times when, you know, I thought to myself,
like, you know, I need discernment,
but I just don't have the experience, right?
Because sometimes some discernment comes from experience.
You can only get certain things from experience.
I didn't have the experience,
but I had the discernment to know,
let me ask someone who does have the experience.
And I'm telling you right now,
most Christians don't even do that.
They're just like, yeah, I'll just go for it.
We'll see what happens.
And obviously, if you love the Lord,
it's gonna work out together for good
and God will end up working out together for good.
But let me just say this,
I'd rather just make the right decision to begin with.
Discermin' in your family. Discermin' with the people that you're around.
Discermin' with your job. Discermin' with your words.
Discermin' with your actions. You don't really understand how important it is to be able to judge righteous judgment.
That is successful. That is a marker of a successful Christian.
If you're able to discern, you're able to make proper judgments. Think about Solomon.
Who was given the wisdom of God and he was able to discern and make judgment with his people and end up magnifying him as a
Great king people esteemed him, but he was able to also save lives because of it
Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse number 5 who so keep at the commandment shall feel no evil thing
And a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment because to every purpose there is time and judgment therefore the misery of man is great upon him.
We are all affected by time and judgment and you know what most people are affected in a negative way because they don't possess discernment to determine what to do at this time.
What kind of decision should I make now?
Okay, and a lot of times, you know people
Make bad judgments and let me explain to you why because they feel like they need to make the decision right now
Right hasty
that's one of the the the weaknesses of Christians is
That when they are confronted with the major decision
They allow themselves to be boxed in to be forced to make a decision right now
But let me just say this, the Bible promotes not being hasty in our decisions.
You want to start your journey in making good decisions?
When you have to make a decision, wait a while.
Just say, you know what, as much as everyone's pressuring me to make a decision right now,
as much as my family's pressuring me, my friends are pressuring me, you know, let me just sit
on this for a while.
Because let me just tell you right now, sometimes we have to make judgments and we're just like
Because you're so emotional you end up just making the bad decision and then like a week later like thing
I wish I wouldn't have said that
But if you sleep on it you eat a four by four
You take a nap
You just go do something else you go work you participate in your hobbies
You become level-headed then you realize like that would have been a really bad decision to make actually and I'm glad I didn't make it
You know sometimes we just need other people to kind of guide us through right?
Sometimes we just need someone to tell us,
like, don't make a decision, just sit on it.
Just wait on it for a little bit.
I know you're feeling this way right now,
and it's okay for you to feel this way right now,
but just don't do any decisions for like a month or so.
And you know what?
99% of the time, I'm telling you right now,
when I've said that to people,
a month later they're like,
man, I'm so glad I didn't make that decision.
But even that requires judgment on the person's behalf
to listen to that wisdom, you understand?
You know get knowledge of the Bible for sure
We promote having knowledge of the Bible
But can I just encourage the young men in our church to get on your knees sometime this week and beg God for judgment and discernment?
To just be men of judgment of wisdom and discernment. What a valuable
Value of commodity the the ability to discern is to be to the ability to just give the right counsel to someone
The right judgment to someone because you know sometimes people think they have the right advice, but they have horrible advice
Right and let me just say this you know sometimes you might go to someone for some advice
And you're like oh, that's good advice, but then I catch one of them like that's bad advice
It's not good advice at all
You know we need to and I'm just trying to emphasize the importance of having judgment because people will come to you
And let me say this sometimes they come to you because they think you're a person of great advice
But sometimes they come to you because they know you're gonna tell them what they want to hear
So just keep just remember that
You know, you understand what I'm saying?
But if you're the person that people are coming to,
pray for wisdom.
Beg God for discernment.
Lord, please, help me to have the wisdom necessary
to not only make the right decisions for myself,
but just to expound the right decision for others to make.
Why?
Because a person's life is sometimes
hanging in the balance.
And you don't wanna just kind of flippantly
throw something out there,
just because you think it's right.
We need to be 100% convinced
of these type of decisions that people make.
Okay, and that might have gone over your heads, but you'll remember this later. Okay
The Bible says in Proverbs 23 verse 3 a prudent man for seeeth evil and height of himself
But the simple pass on and are punished. Why because they make bad judgments. They're making bad
Decisions and I'm not up here saying that I make all the best decisions all the time. I'm a sinner. I'm fallible
But in general, I'm just telling you right now. I try my best to
beg God for wisdom, to ask God for discernment, ask God for judgment.
When you come to me and ask me for counsel, I'm not tuning you out.
I'm just in my mind praying, Lord, please give me wisdom and discernment to say the right thing right now.
The Bible says in Proverbs 20, verse 5,
Evil men, listen to this, understand not judgment, but they to seek the Lord and understand all things.
And there's a lot I could say about that, but I'm going to stop there.
Let's see here. Here's my last point. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7.
1 Corinthians chapter 7. Man, I have so many more points, actually.
Winning souls to Christ, that's how you can succeed.
Getting sin and keeping sin out of your life, that's how you can be a successful person.
Find joy in the things that truly matter. That's how you be successful. Success is longevity in the Christian life
That's successful. But here's my last point. I'm done. Okay, because I'm way above my time
Don't look behind you to look at the clock because it'll only make me preach longer
Success is obeying and serving God in whatever state you're in
Okay. Now, let me explain what I mean. Okay
because I
This is important and I'm glad I'm kind of leaving this for last
this means that
A successful Christian is a single Christian
who's able to find the right spouse.
Okay?
But it's also the Christian who's already married
and has the wisdom to be the right spouse.
But it's also the person who may not be married
and may have already that ship has been sailed
and is able to be the right Christian
as a single person who's not gonna get married again.
All three of those people can be 100% successful
in whatsoever state they're in.
And if you could understand that, embrace that, and adopt that way of thinking, you'll be successful.
Look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 7, which is the marriage chapter, by the way.
Look at verse 17.
But as God had distributed to every man, as the Lord had called everyone,
so let him walk, and so ordained I in all churches.
Is any man called being circumcised?
Let him not be uncircumcised.
As any called in circumcision, let him not be circumcised.
Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but to keep another commandment of God.
Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
Art thou called being a servant, care not for it, but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's free man.
Likewise also he that is called being free is Christ's servant.
You're bought with the price, be not ye the servants of men.
Brethren, let every man wherein he is called, listen to this,
You know what God is saying?
Wherever you got saved, and whatever situation you're in,
you can succeed as that particular person
in that particular situation.
You can please God.
You can have God's hand on you.
The success story is if you're able to serve God
in that particular state.
You know, if you got saved and you're not married,
that's great.
Make sure you apply the principles
to find the right spouse,
if you wanna get married, right?
If you're saved and you were already married,
well guess what, and you're like,
oh man, they weren't a Christian,
well, you know, it's God's will now though, okay?
Now, be a successful person by being the right spouse.
If you're divorced and the ship has sailed
and you get saved, abide in that calling.
And God will be pleased with you.
You can literally succeed in that particular area.
If you've been divorced and you've already gotten remarried.
Okay, stay married.
and serve God in that particular position,
let's not overlap is what I'm saying, okay?
Do not overlap and think, well,
I want to be successful in this area, though.
Yeah, but if that ship has already sailed,
you could experience success in your particular position
and be pleasing in the eyes of God.
and not sin and be right in the eyes of the Lord.
I know this is not a popular message
because in our society divorce is promoted,
remarriage is promoted, but I don't care.
I'm not taking tickets as to who agrees with me or not.
Sorry, it's just not gonna happen.
I'm just gonna tell you what the Bible says.
And at the end of the day,
we need to make sure we promote godly marriages.
Then you know what?
If you're a young man, if you're not married,
you should marry someone who hasn't been married.
Amen.
Amen?
Yeah.
You should seek someone who has not been married.
Yeah.
And obviously that can be enforced upon you.
I'm just telling you, I'm just giving you that discernment.
You should marry someone who has not been married.
And you should seek out a woman that is pleasing in the eyes of God
and use the biblical conditions that we see in the Word of God to look for a spouse.
But if you are married, don't look at everyone else's marriage in comparison to them.
Be a successful spouse in your marriage.
Be a successful wife in your marriage,
be a successful husband in your marriage,
you know, and you're like,
oh yeah, you don't know my wife,
you don't know my husband.
Yeah, but I know you though.
And the Lord knows you.
And you know what?
God's not expecting you to change your spouse.
He wants you to change you.
He wants you to be a good husband.
He wants you to be a great wife.
He wants you to succeed in the state
that he's found you in.
Okay, so you want you the singles to succeed and find a great wife because you know a prudent wife is of the Lord
The Bible says right
But he also wants you to succeed as a spouse if you've already gotten married and then you got saved later
But if that ship has sailed, you know, God wants you to be happy in the situation that you're in
He wants you to be content in that situation
And you know what let me give you a prayer, you know ask the Lord, you know, I'm just not happy
Help me to be happy. Help me to be content in the situation that I'm in
Do you think God's gonna be like,
nope, you figure that on your own?
No, of course he's gonna enable you.
Because whatever the Lord commands us to do,
he enables us to do.
Understand?
What's the point that I'm making?
True success is not necessarily getting married,
is not necessarily not getting married.
It's not necessarily you know, whatever idea you have in your head staying single
You know what success is is just being successful in whatever role you have right now
That's true success
Because let me just say this I know divorced people who are way more successful than some married people and I'm not talking about in our church
I'm just talking about in general
Showing you that some people just embrace whatever situation they're in and they go forward from there
Okay
And so, you know, I'm trying to teach us as a church
how to have true success.
This is how you can have it.
Let's not let the world define for us what success is.
Stop letting your aunt define for you what success is.
Stop letting your worldly siblings define for you what success is.
Stop allowing your coworkers to define for you what success is.
You be the standard in your relationships for what success truly is.
Let's pray Father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the word of God that helps us to have good success
And to prosper if anything Lord help us to remember to have godliness with contentment
And I pray that you'd help us as a church to have success
Obviously spiritual success above all else
but we do want to have some form of worldly success because we're living in this world.
We want to stay motivated and do other things and I believe you're pleased with that
as long as we have as our foundation godly virtues that govern us and protect us from the
effects of the failures or the successes that we experience in these worldly feats.
I pray that Lord you enable us please give us wisdom and discernment
Please turn your song books to song number 245
Song number 245 the old account was settled
Song number 245
All together, nice and strong on that first verse.
There was a time on earth when in the book of heaven
An old account was standing for sins yet unforgiven
My name was at the top and many things below
I went into the keeper and settled long ago
Long ago, long ago
Yes, the old account was settled long ago
And the records 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 trying to pay
But when I looked ahead and saw such pain in woe
I said that I would settle
I settled long ago, long ago
Yes, the old account was settled long ago, hallelujah, and the records clear today, for he washed my sins away, when the old account was settled long ago.
Went in that happy home My Savior's home above
I'll sing redemption 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, hallelujah!
And the records 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 we have provided
And then if you should live a hundred years below
A pair you'll not regret it, you settled long ago
Yes, the old account was said a long ago
Hallelujah!
And the records clear today
For he washed my sins away
When the old account was said a long ago
Amen, we have a baptism this morning.
Please turn your songbooks to song number 148.
Song number 148.
Song 148 all together on that first verse
Oh, wow, all right.
Come here, I've got it there.
Scoot up a little bit.
I'm not ready, all right.
All right, tell us your name.
Isaac.
Isaac, have you trusted Jesus as your savior?
Okay, upon your public profession,
I'm gonna baptize you in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Go ahead and cross your arms over your chest.
Bear it in the laxness of his death.
Raise the walking inness of life.
Congratulations.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
People come out this way.
Congratulations, we got one more watch your step don't worry about getting
anything wet
watch your step watch your step you're gonna sit here facing down with your
legs forward okay there we go sit on your bottom scoop forward scoop forward
scoop forward bend your knees a little bit there we go all right tell us your
Jimmy, have you trusted Jesus as your savior?
Absolutely.
Okay, upon your public profession, I'm going to now baptize you in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, going across your arms over your chest, bearing
the Lexus of his death.
Praise the walking units of life.
Thank you.
All right, let's pray. We'll be dismissed. Father, we thank you again for a great day.
Thank you for all those who came. Help us, Lord, to leave these walls with the mentality of having
good success in the Christian life as defined by the Word of God. And may you be honored and
glorified in all that we do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Before we dismiss, before I forget,
Brother Jimmy actually brought fajitas outside, and so there's lunch provided, but we need to be
The line will start where,
Brother Paul, can you raise your hand?
That's the aisle where you're gonna start right there,
and then you're gonna make your way around.
There's gonna be ushers to direct you all along the way,
and that's pretty much it.
God bless you, and have a great one.
I know