to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua, the son of
Josadak, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is left
among you that saw this house in her first glory, and how do you see it now?
Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O
Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josadak, the
high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, saith the Lord, and
work. For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts. According to the
word that I covenanted with you, when you came out of Egypt, so my
spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not. But thus, saith the Lord of hosts, yet
once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the
sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all
nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of
hosts. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The
glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the
Lord of hosts, and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.
In the fourth and 20th day of the ninth month, in the second year of
Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Thus saith the
Lord of hosts. Ask now the priest concerning the law, saying, If one bear
holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, with his skirt he touch bread
or pottage or wine or oil or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priest
answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body
touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priest answered and said, It
shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai and said, So is this people and so is
this nation before me, saith the Lord, and so is every work of their hands.
And that which they offer there is unclean. And now I pray you, consider
from this day and upward from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the
temple of the Lord. Since those days were when one came to a heap of 20
measures, there were but 10. When one came to the press to draw out 50
vessels out of the press, there were but 20. I smoke you with blasting
and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands. Yet
you turn not to me, saith the Lord. Consider now from this day and
upward from the four and 20th day of the ninth month, even from the day
that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid. Consider it is the
seed yet in the barn. Yeah, as yet the vine and the fig tree and the
pomegranate and the olive tree hath not brought forth from this day. I
will bless you.
And again, the word of the Lord came into Haggai in the four and 20th
day of the month, saying, Speak to the probable governor of Judah,
saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth and I will overthrow the
throne of kingdoms and I will destroy the strength of the
kingdoms of the heat of the heathen and overthrow the chariots and those
that ride in them and the horses and the rider shall come down everyone by
the sword of his brother in that day, say at the Lord of hosts. Will I
take the as the robo? Will my servant, the son of reality will
say at the Lord and I'll make thee as a signet for I've chosen thee say
at the Lord of hosts. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, I thank you for this
opportunity to assemble here in your house and just us that you would
bless pastor from here with your Holy Spirit. Now please bless the
preaching to our edification in Jesus name. We pray. Amen.
Amen. Okay, we're in Haggai chapter two and looked at your
bibles of verse number 11. It says, Let's say the Lord of
hosts. Ask now the priest concerning the law, saying, If one
bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment and with his skirt
do touch bread or pottage or wine or oil or any meat, shall
it be holy? And the priest answered and said, No. Then,
said Haggai, if one that is unclean by a dead body touch
any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priest
answered and said, It shall be unclean. And the thought of
my sermon this morning is sin is caught. Righteousness
is not sin is caught. Righteousness is not now what
is being referred to here in Haggai chapter two? Let me
give you some context of what's taking place. This
would be considered what's called a post exilic passage,
meaning that this is the Children of Israel after they've
gone into captivity and after they've returned from that
70 year Babylonian captivity. And so God has brought
him back into the land. They've been in Babylon for
70 years, and it's during this time that they're
reconstructing the temple. They're trying to get
things back together again. They're trying to go back
to the rudiments off their practices of worshipping
the Lord. But, of course, being in Babylon for 70
years, you pick up on some bad habits, some bad
practices, and obviously they're not perfect. And
so what is being referred to here by Haggai? He's
basically telling them, Hey, let me give you this
illustration of the Levitical law. And he says
to them, you know, or he talks to the priest and
he and he asked them, You know, if someone who is
pure, ritually pure and they're holy, they are
clean. You know, if their garment, if the hem of
their garment touches any type of type of substance,
whether that's bread, pottage, wine, oil or any
kind of meat, will it will that holiness transmit
to the actual food? Will it have any effect on
the substance? And the obvious answer is no. You
know, that's not the way things work. Something
that is clean cannot make something else clean as
well, just by mere contact, right? And then he
says, Well, what if a person is unclean? They
touch a dead body. They're contaminated. What if
they touch any of those substances? Will it will
it be unclean? And they said, Of course it will
be. And what he's trying to get across here is
the fact that just because the Children of
Israel are brought back to the promised land, it
doesn't mean that they're going to be good
people. Understand why? Because, truthfully,
they've been in Babylon for 70 years. It
probably been a little contaminated. And so just
because you put someone within the realms and
the confines and the guidelines of God's land
and now you're freely, you're free to worship
the Lord, you're free to read the word of God
and you're where God wants you to be. It
doesn't necessarily mean that the righteousness
of that land will be transmitted to you, right?
Because changing a geographical location
doesn't change the person. And in fact, what
what's really being stated here is because
they're in Babylon, because they're polluted
and contaminated, at least some of them, when
they come back, they could actually pollute the
land with idolatry and sinfulness and
iniquity because the principle is still there.
Now, the way we can apply this today, you
know, in a practical sense is that, you know,
a healthy person cannot make an unhealthy
person healthy by mere contact, right? You
know, if I'm a healthy individual, if I eat
right, if I exercise and I don't have any
diseases or any type of viruses or bacteria,
you know, if I come into contact with
someone who isn't healthy, you know, just
by mere contacting them, my health is not
going to transmit to them. You know, just
by merely touching them or being in contact
with them. Obviously, I could influence them
and try to help them to become healthy, but
at the end of the day, physical contact with
that person will not help that person at all.
You know, it's not health by osmosis.
If that were the case, you know, we would
all be healthy because all we have to do is
just touch people who are healthy and then
we'd be fine, right? And obviously, the
exception to this would be Jesus Christ,
but no one's Jesus here, and so we cannot
touch the hem of his garment and have virtue
be transmitted to us. But let me say this,
an unhealthy person who has some sort of
contagious disease can contaminate a healthy
person, right? You know, and it depends on
what you have, but you know, if it's
something contagious, you know, if you have
like the flu virus, or you have a cold
or something, and you have a tendency to
just kind of shake everyone's hand, and
you're coughing in your hand, you're hacking
and all this stuff, and you're not, you're
not doing one of these, you're not
giving the fist bumps, you know, then
yeah, you're going to contaminate other
people because diseases, viruses, they are
contagious, okay? And the basic principle
is that sin is caught, diseases are caught,
but righteousness is not. Now let me read
to you from Numbers chapter 19, just to
kind of get a brief description of the law
here in this regard, it says in verse,
you don't have to turn there, Numbers
19, 11 says, he that touches the dead body
of any man shall be unclean seven days.
Verse 16 says, and whosoever touches one
that is slain with a sword in the open
fields or a dead body or a bone of a man
or a grave shall be unclean seven days.
Now let me give you this morning two principles
in this regard that I've already essentially
covered, but we're going to cover them
a little more extensively in this sermon.
Principle number one is that righteousness
is not contagious, and of course we drew
the parallel here that the children of Israel
were placed in the promised land, but the
promised land is not going to make them
righteous, the land itself will not make
them godly, you cannot possess righteousness
by merely being in close proximity to it.
Now how can we apply this?
Well let's look at the most basic
of principles, how about salvation, right?
Placing an unsaved person into
spiritual locations cannot make them eternally clean.
But yet you have people all around
the world today who are literally
meeting in spiritual locations, they're
going to churches or they're trying
to place themselves around spiritual people
and they literally think by doing that,
that's going to make them saved,
that's going to make them clean,
if they just go to church faithfully,
if they're just devoted to a certain religion,
that somehow that will add for
their salvation or whatever.
But that's not the way it works.
Righteousness cannot be transmitted
to you just by you being in a spiritual place.
Go with me if you would, hold your place there
in Haggai, go to Romans chapter number four
if you would, Romans chapter number four.
Righteousness is not contagious.
Hey, growing up in a Christian home
does not mean that you're going to be a saved person.
Now obviously these spiritual locations,
whether that be a church, a Christian home,
things of that nature will give you
the biggest probability of getting saved, right?
If you're growing up with a Christian mom
and a Christian dad and they are very much
devoted believers, they know what the Bible says,
it's very likely you're going to get saved.
Because if that's a household that is
holding the Bible and the things of God
as being preeminent in their lives,
their lives revolve around the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Bible and doctrine and things of that nature,
then you're more likely to get saved
rather than someone who doesn't grow up
in a Christian home.
They're in a godless home, they're in a Buddhist home,
they are in a Catholic home,
they're in a Mormon household.
Obviously that person's probably not going to get saved.
I mean, they can if someone gives them
the gospel outside of that household.
But the probability is far more higher
if you're actually growing up in a Christian home
where you have parents who are saved,
they're soul winners, they know what the Bible says.
Well, in like manner, you know,
an unsaved person coming to a church building,
the church building's not going to do anything for them.
And we never want to have this superstitious view
of church, right?
Where somehow, ooh, this building, somehow,
when you, I just came in and I just felt
the presence of God in here.
That's not the way it works.
You know, you're like, well, don't you feel
the presence of God all the time?
By faith.
But my, you know, like, my body doesn't feel
any different.
You know, I don't get like a, I don't know, what is it?
I don't get, okay, apparently you get the,
I don't get butterflies in my stomach or anything like
that, apparently Cody, you know, he comes from Babylon,
so he's, don't be contaminating our congregation,
brother, no, I'm just kidding.
Yeah, you know, the butterflies in the stomach,
or you're just like, man, I just get these good vibes
here or something, you know?
Where it's just like, they all base it off of feelings.
Folks, this is just a regular building.
We're just, we rent this place in order to meet.
You know?
And the reality is this, is that coming within
this building will do nothing to you spiritually.
Now, obviously, it'll increase your chances
of getting saved because of the fact that there's
a ton of soul winners in here that can actually
give you the gospel.
You are in close proximity to the truth.
You're hearing it from the pulpit,
you can hear it from other people.
It's an environment conducive to getting people saved.
There's no, I mean, there's probably a couple people
here who are not ready to give the gospel,
but the vast majority of people here can give you
the gospel at the drop of a hat,
and not even break a sweat, you know what I mean?
They can just open up the Bible, get you saved,
because they know the truth.
But here's the thing, being in close contact with them
just by merely being here will do nothing for you.
Why?
Because righteousness is not contagious like that.
Romans four, verse three says,
For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward,
not reckon of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him
that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
I love this passage here, verse six says,
Even as David also described it,
the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
Now that's a big word there, imputeth, right?
The doctrine of imputation is essentially
referring to the fact that God transmits
his righteousness to you by your faith in Jesus Christ.
Not by your works, not by your church attendance,
not by you repenting of your sin,
doing good works, trying to keep God's commands.
Righteousness can only be transmitted to you
imputed to you by your faith in Jesus.
And you can do all kinds of works,
but righteousness is not contagious in that manner.
You can live the rest of your life
calling yourself a Christian.
You can live the rest of your life
going to church three days a week,
reading the Bible every single day,
and praying every single day,
and trying to read the Bible every single day.
None of that will get you saved,
because righteousness can never be transmitted in that way.
It's not contagious like that.
You have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And of course, this is referring to salvation.
The reason we know that is because verse seven says,
saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.
So what does the righteousness of God
being imputed upon you, what does it result in?
The forgiveness of past sins.
Then it says, whose sins are covered, present sins.
Verse eight, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sins.
And that's future sins.
So he's basically covering the entire scope
of your sin and your iniquity, your transgressions.
He's paying for it all.
God doesn't go 50-50 with you.
Well, let's just go 50-50.
You pay for your half, I'll pay for my half.
No, the blood of Jesus pays it in full.
Pays for past, present, and future sins.
And obviously, you have people out there
that have this misconception
that the blood of Jesus only pays for our past sins.
So you're responsible for your future sins.
Folks, all our sins are future relative
to where Jesus Christ died on the cross.
All our sins are.
He died 2,000 years ago on this earth.
So everything's future thereafter to him.
So he died paying for your entire life scope of sins.
Understand?
And so, obviously, there's various ways
that the Bible describes salvation,
God given to us eternal life,
to live forever, to resurrect, to never die.
But one great way that he describes it as
is having the forgiveness of sins.
And the reason that's a great way to describe it
is because of the fact that the wages of sin is death.
And so it's these past, present, and future sins
that are gonna make you split hell wide open
if you're not saved.
And so we need to be exonerated of those sins.
We need those sins to be completely wiped away.
And it doesn't happen by coming into close contact
with spiritual things.
Relics and icons and idols.
Coming into close, getting baptized.
Coming into close contact with water
and calling into baptism.
Pouring water over your head or whatever.
None of that stuff saves you.
Because righteousness is not contagious.
You have to believe on Jesus Christ.
Go to John chapter four if you would.
John chapter four.
Sin is caught, righteousness is not.
And in the context of salvation,
you can live the most devoted, quote unquote, godly life.
A life of religious practice
and that still will not transmit righteousness
to your account because that's just not the way it works.
That's not how God's economy works.
Now look at John chapter four.
This of course is the story of the Samaritan woman.
She ends up getting saved by Jesus Christ, of course.
Jesus is the one who wins her to himself,
is what I'm saying.
And she's excited and of course,
she ends up going back to her city, to her town,
to proclaim the fact that this man
is not only a prophet but he's the Messiah.
And it says in verse 39,
and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him
for the saying of the woman which testified,
he told me all that I ever did.
So when the Samaritans were coming to him,
they besought him that he would tarry with them
and he abode there two days.
And I want you to notice verse 41.
And many more believed because of his own word
and said unto the woman,
now we believe not because of thy saying,
for we have heard him ourselves
and know that this is indeed the Christ,
the savior of the world.
This is a good example of the fact that
even the people that we get saved or we lead to Christ
at the end of the day,
they have to choose to believe on Jesus Christ.
They have to hear him for themselves.
And obviously we are the conduit
by which they hear the gospel
but it doesn't remove the importance of them
making the conscientious decision
to believe on Jesus Christ.
They have to make that choice.
And you know what, that provides a level of comfort
for us as soul winners
because sometimes people don't get saved
when we preach the gospel unto them.
And we think, oh man, is there something wrong
with my gospel presentation?
Am I not eloquent enough?
Am I not giving the right illustration?
But at the end of the day,
what it is is that sometimes people just reject the truth.
And a great example of this particular principle
is Judas, is it not?
Because was not Judas in close proximity to the truth
for three and a half years?
And we don't know what was going through his mind.
We don't know if he literally thought
that righteousness was contagious,
like just being with Jesus would just save him.
But we do know that in Matthew seven,
it gives a description of a man who possibly,
like Judas, will say unto the Lord,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name,
and in thy name have cast out devils,
and in thy name have done many wonderful works.
Because we can say that Judas did all those
because he was an apostle.
And then I will profess unto them,
I never knew you, depart from ye that work iniquity.
So doing those works, participating in exorcisms,
doing many wonderful works,
this guy thinks highly of himself.
He's like, I not only did works,
I did many wonderful works.
You know, there's high quality stuff here, okay?
And I prophesied in your name,
you know, I was on the corner preaching
with a megaphone, and I tried to proselytize,
and I did all these things.
And God's like, my righteousness
was never transmitted to you.
I don't know you.
And so we see that there,
and of course, Judas is a prime example of that.
Being close to the Lord physically,
I mean like, yes, he could literally
just grab salvation right there,
and he just never got saved.
Why?
Because righteousness is not contagious like that.
Because even as close as he was to Jesus Christ,
I mean Jesus Christ ordained him to be an apostle.
You know, he basically was with him
for three and a half years,
he selected him, yet in spite of that,
he still didn't get saved, he's burning in hell today.
Why?
Because the Bible says in John chapter six,
he didn't believe from the beginning.
So that's showing us that in order for righteousness
to be transmitted to another person,
you can literally be in the presence of Jesus Christ,
and that won't do anything to you,
you have to believe on him.
And the proof of that is the fact
that he was here 2,000 years ago,
physically on this earth,
and a lot of the Israelites did not get saved.
They re-did, he came into his own,
his own received him not,
showing us full well that many of them,
you know, rejected him,
even though they're in close proximity
to the Messiah, to the Christ, okay?
And so salvation is not contagious.
People have to believe on Jesus Christ
in order to be saved,
and you know, you have millions of people
meeting together today,
in different congregations, in different buildings,
and many of them, they're thinking to themselves,
this, you know, I'm racking it up,
racking up my righteousness right here,
you know, they think that just being there
in that church, being there in that particular place,
is gonna somehow earn them some sort of merit
and favor with God,
and it's just really what it's doing
is making their hell even hotter.
Say, why would you say that?
Well, because of the fact that
God does not take lightly
when a person places themself
in close proximity to the truth,
and does nothing with it, or rejects it.
You understand what I'm saying?
If you're willingly placing yourself
in a geographical location of spiritual activity,
and you're still rejecting the truth,
you know, God doesn't take that lightly,
he doesn't like that,
and so, righteousness is not contagious,
but let's talk to Christians,
you know, righteous living is not contagious either.
Turn with me if you would,
go to Numbers chapter 19,
Numbers chapter 19 if you would.
Placing Christians in an optimal spiritual environment
does not guarantee righteousness.
I hope you don't think that
just because you're here at First Works Baptist Church
that somehow you're gonna be like a super Christian now.
Now, everything in here is optimal
for your spiritual growth,
but I can't make you do nothing.
I can't make you read your Bible,
I can't make you pray,
I can't make you sow in,
I can't make you come to church three times a week,
I can't make you like repent of sin,
like you have to do those things.
I can yell at you for three hours a week,
and just be like, it says it right here.
Listen, you know?
And I can convey these truths week in, week out,
but at the end of the day,
righteousness is not contagious, you know?
I mean, I wish I could just throw a Bible at you.
That's it, that's how I wish I could just compute.
I wish I could just throw a Bible at you
and then it's just like,
the righteous living is just imputed, right?
I mean, wouldn't it be great
if spirituality and righteousness was just by osmosis?
If every morning you just go, you know?
I saw this video of this Chinese kid
and he was like studying,
and he had a book and he was going,
he like flipped the page and he's like,
he's like putting the knowledge in.
I don't know if it's an exercise he does,
he probably did pass the class though,
I'll be honest with you.
But you know, it doesn't work that way, right?
You know, it's not like, okay, I have the Bible,
let me just sleep with the Bible under my pillow
and somehow the knowledge of the Bible
will be transmitted into my brain, doesn't work that way.
Our righteousness is not contagious.
It's not gonna be given to you
just by coming into mere contact with it.
And you can have the right Bible,
you can have the right church,
King James only, fundamental Baptist church
with the right doctrines, optimal for spiritual growth,
it doesn't guarantee
that you're gonna be a righteous person
because at the end of the day,
you have to decide that this is how you're gonna live.
And it's just like, oh man,
you know, new IFP churches are the best,
they're better than the old IFP churches,
but hold on a second,
there might be some members in old IFP churches
that are far more faithful than you are
to your new IFP church.
There might be some old IFP members
working in very primitive conditions, spiritually speaking,
who actually read the Bible more than you do.
I guarantee you, that is a very strong possibility.
And it might even be a reality for many people.
You know, there's probably some old IFP church members
that go to an old IFP church
where the preaching is just very watered down.
They probably get like a 20-minute sermon or something,
but they might apply more of that 20-minute sermon
than you do to the hour sermon.
Why? Because righteousness is not contagious.
Placing you in an optimal environment
does not make you an optimal Christian.
It's just conducive to your spiritual growth.
It may not be said that some old IFP member
has more discipline than you do, of course.
That's another challenge for another day, right?
Like, well yeah, but they believe wrong,
but you know, the things that they do believe right,
they're actually doing good with it.
You know what I mean?
The right environment will increase your chances
of being a Godly Christian, absolutely.
And it's good to be in an optimal spiritual environment,
but at the end of the day, the pastor,
the church member, you know,
we can only do so much to help you to be,
or to get to that destination of being pleasing
in the eyes of God, living a righteous life.
Look at Numbers 19, this is the same passage
in regards to cleanliness here.
Verse 18 says, and a clean person shall take hissop
and dip it in the water and sprinkle it upon the tent
and upon all the vessels and upon the persons
that were there and upon him that touched a bone
or a slain or a dead, or excuse me,
or one dead or a grave, and the clean person
shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day
and on the seventh day and on the seventh day
he shall purify himself and wash his clothes
and bathe himself in water and shall be clean at even.
So what does it say?
If an unclean person wants to be made clean,
he does require the aid of a priest, right,
of the Old Testament, to aid him in being clean.
And in fact, the person who's clean
has to go through like this entire list of things, right?
He has to sprinkle the tent, the vessels,
he's gotta sprinkle the persons who were there,
you know, he's gotta, whoever touched a bone or slain,
he's gotta sprinkle it on the third day
and then on the seventh day.
I mean, this guy's gotta put a lot of work in.
Look at verse 20.
But the man that shall be unclean
and shall not purify himself,
that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation
because he had defiled the sanctuary of the Lord.
The water of separation has not been sprinkled upon him.
He is unclean.
You know, at the end of the day,
the unclean person has to make the decision
to go to the clean person and be sprinkled.
Now, what is this a picture of?
Well, it's a picture of somebody,
whether that's the pastor or the member that exhorts you,
sprinkling you with the word of God,
washing you by the water of the word
on the third day, right?
It's just like three services on Sunday,
I'm just like super soaking you guys with the word of God
you come back Thursday night, I'm spraying you again.
You come Thursday, we pull out the book of Isaiah,
I'm spraying you then.
But here's the thing is that at the end of the day,
you have to like actually apply what's being said.
Or first of all, you have to just be here to get sprayed.
And so yeah, you know, it does require
the aid of another person, but at the end of the day,
you know, you have to recognize that you have
to do your part to come to the priest.
You have to do your part to come to church.
You have to do your part to just obey the Bible
in order for that righteousness to be given to you
or for you to grow in righteousness.
Look at verse 22,
and whatsoever the unclean person touches
shall be unclean and the soul,
and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
Let me read to you from Ephesians chapter five.
This is of course in context to marriage,
but it could be applied even to a church.
It says, husbands love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it,
that he may sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the word,
that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Go to James chapter one, if you would, James chapter one.
So what is the principle here?
The principle is this,
is that righteousness is not contagious
even when it comes to a safe person.
If you are gonna benefit from the principles
that are being put forth,
if you're gonna benefit from the cleansing power
of the Bible, you have to read it.
It's just like, oh man,
this is such great water on Sunday,
but you gotta also pour that water on yourself
even on Monday, and then on Tuesday,
and then on Wednesday,
you gotta actually get up and read the Bible yourself,
put in the word to actually read through the Bible.
And let me just put this out there,
every Christian in this building
should be reading the Bible, Genesis to Revelation.
There should be no excuse why anybody in this building
is not reading the Bible.
It's just like, well, I'm just too busy,
then you're too busy.
Because reading the Bible is one of the most
highest priorities of a Christian.
Man should not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
And we need to steam the words of his mouth
more than our necessary foods.
Well, you don't understand, I'm just going through a lot.
Well, you know, God can actually aid you
through that trial if you read the Bible though.
And this is one of the greatest disciplines
that you can adopt in the Christian life
is the discipline of reading the Bible every single day
and stop putting it off.
You're just like, well, I'm just tired,
then you know what, read it when you're not tired.
Because you're not tired all day,
and if you are tired all day,
then you need to get some exercise in
or stop drinking so many energy drinks
or I don't know what you gotta do.
But you know, it should be a priority,
a priority that you give yourself
the energy necessary to read the Bible.
Put away the video games, close the social media,
you know, outlets and platforms,
if that's taking away a time from your Bible reading,
and read the Bible.
Tomorrow wake up and make it a priority.
Think about reading the Bible.
Go home tonight and say,
I mean, tonight I'm gonna think about
reading the Bible tomorrow.
I'm gonna think about the chapter
that I'm gonna be in tomorrow.
Are you making such a big deal about it?
Yeah, because it is a big deal.
Because in order for you to stop struggling
with that particular sin or that particular mindset
or that conflict that you keep having,
probably it's because you're not
reading the Bible enough.
The Bible's the answer to all
of our life's problems, folks.
It gives a solution for everything.
And so we need to be a church,
listen to me, we need to be a church,
oh yeah, we're King James only,
can you read the King James though?
I'm King James only, I don't mess with that NIV,
ESV, it sounds like you don't even
mess with the KJV though.
Because you don't even read it.
Think about that.
And so renew yourself tomorrow and say,
I'm gonna read the, and even if it's like a chapter.
And if you're not even accustomed to reading a chapter,
then read half a chapter, do something.
And accumulate the discipline of reading the Bible
every single day because that is a way
that righteousness can be transmitted unto you
is by the washing of the water of the word.
Jesus said, sanctify them through thy truth,
thy word is truth.
You know, if you're struggling with your thoughts,
if you're struggling with fear,
depression, discouragement, it's often because
you're putting too much trash in here
and not enough cleanliness in here.
And this is the cure, my friends,
this is what you need.
The food that your soul needs
in order to function properly as a Christian.
You need to put the word of God in.
And I understand, you know, people get busy schedules,
but sometimes we just need to be creative.
And in the day and age in which we live
with the technology that we have,
you can be as creative as you want.
You know, read one chapter and then listen
to another two chapters through audio,
Alexander Scorby, that still counts.
Listening to the Bible counts.
And it's just like, yeah, but if I listen to the Bible,
I'm not gonna, you know,
I just have a hard time paying attention.
Then pay attention.
See, you come to church for good advice,
that's good advice.
Hey, just pay attention.
I just, my mind wanders, don't let it wander.
Like you gotta exercise those brain cells to do that.
Bring your body in subjection, amen.
And say, no, I'm gonna pay attention.
I'm gonna listen.
And let's just be honest, a lot of times
people just get distracted
because you just allow yourself
to be surrounded by distractions.
Social media, you know, music or whatever.
And so you need to be creative, get in the Bible.
Look at James chapter one and verse 21.
It says here, wherefore lay apart all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness,
and receive with meekness the engrafted word
which is able to save your soul.
So this is the exchange.
We need to make sure we cleanse ourselves
from filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness,
and we need to allow the word of God
to be engrafted into us as we read it and hear it.
Says in verse 22, but be doers of the word
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer,
he is likened to a man
beholding his natural face in a glass.
We would say today, like looking into a mirror, right?
For he beholdeth himself and goeth his way
and straightway forgetteth with manner of man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty
and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer
but a doer of the word,
this man shall be blessed in his deeds.
Now there's two ways to interpret verse 24.
Because we could say a person who looks
into the perfect law of liberty, excuse me, verse 23,
he's beholding his natural face in a glass,
meaning that, you know, he sees all his flaws
when he reads the Bible, right?
Like you read the Bible and you're like,
man, I need to work on this, I need to work on this,
and you see all the flaws.
But another way you could interpret this is that
when you look into the perfect law of liberty,
you see the new man.
And you see that which is most important.
You see the spiritual matters are important.
You see that soul winning is important.
You recognize that everything here is temporal.
And we need to be living for the eternal.
But the problem is that once you walk away
from that mirror, you forget what manner of man you were.
You just kind of go about your business.
So it sounds like God wants us
to remember what we read.
And here's the best way to do it.
Be a doer of the word, not a hearer only.
One thing you'll notice is that when you actually
do the things that you're reading,
it actually becomes a part of your life
and you just don't forget it.
You know, that's why it's good to talk about the Bible.
When you're in church, it's like,
just spark up a conversation about the Bible.
Don't be all weird about it, you know?
Don't be giving me no weird interpretations of the Bible.
You know, some, I don't want, you know,
if every interpretation is about end times,
then you need to go read like, you know,
Leviticus or something, you know, just,
get into a different genre of the Bible, you know?
But hey, talk about the Bible though.
Talk about the principles of the Bible.
Why, because it actually helps you
to engraft the word into your heart
when you actually talk about it.
Notice that the things that people
more naturally talk about are the things,
or that they know are things that they
most naturally talk about all the time.
You know, what if I just brought you up here
and just talked about your favorite hobby,
you'd probably just be able to like,
right off the bat, your job, a hobby that you have,
you know, whatever it is, you can just
speak out of the abundance of your heart
because it's there.
Well, in like manner, God wants the word of God
to be in your heart.
He wants you to be able to talk about it
because the more we talk about it,
the more we realize that we can live
in accordance to it.
It's in your mind, you make it a part of your household,
you make it a part of your life,
and this is how righteousness, righteous living
can be transmitted to you, okay?
And this is why, you know, the Bible tells us
not to allow filthy communication to come out of our mouths.
You know, you need to replace some of your
conversations with godly conversations.
And I'm not saying you have to be this
hyper spiritual person when all you talk about
is the Bible, because after a while
you just start running out of things to talk about
when it comes to the Bible, you know.
I'm not saying to talk about your job
or hobbies are wrong, I'm just saying
that in order for you to allow for righteousness
to be transmitted to you, the best way to do it
is to talk about it.
And take advantage that you're in a church
where that's like a normal thing.
Because there's churches out there that that's not normal.
They don't like that.
I've been in churches, if I talk about the most,
you know, easiest passage, it's just like,
oh man, you know.
They're kind of like repelled by that.
They're just like, you know, it's like taboo
to talk about the Bible in church or something.
You know, you start talking about doctrine,
you mentioned the word doctrine.
And it's just like, oh, you've been listening
to the new IP, huh?
It's just like, what?
And so righteous living needs to be transmitted
via reading the Bible, not just having a Bible.
Obeying the preaching, not just listening
to the preaching.
You know, spiritual maturity.
How about spiritual maturity?
You can't be spiritually mature in this church
just by coming here.
Will things rub off on you every once in a while?
Yeah, but at the end of the day,
you have to actually implement the principles
that are being put forth.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 13, verse one,
a wise son heareth his father's instruction,
but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
Proverbs 21 and 11 says, when the scorner's punished,
the simple is made wise, and when the wise
is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.
Let me ask you a question.
Would you consider yourself to be a wise person
in that regard?
When you hear instruction, do you seek to obey
that instruction, or do you think you know more
than the instruction than those who are older
than you spiritually are given to you?
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 25, verse 12,
as an earing of gold and an ornament of fine gold,
so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
It's a great passage there.
It's essentially saying that the wise reprover
and the obedient ear kind of go hand,
they kind of complement each other.
They go hand in hand.
And when an obedient ear is willing to listen
to the instruction of a wise reprover,
that wise reprover almost looks like
the ornament of gold on their ear.
It just makes them look better.
And you know what's very attractive in a Christian?
Someone who is humble, takes correction,
takes instruction, and is willing to keep growing.
What's unattractive is the prideful, arrogant
individual who can't learn anything.
They need an ornament of gold, an ornament of fine gold.
A person who is humble, who takes instruction,
who listens, who is willing to keep learning,
that person, the Bible says, is like adorned
with that ornament of fine gold,
because they haven't attained perfect knowledge yet,
and they understand that.
Let me say this, is that being in a loving church
will not make you more loving and friendly.
Oh, I left that other church
because they were just so unloving.
What about you, though?
I mean, do you have to be in a loving church
to be loving?
That's like your choice.
Here's the thing, I would consider our church
to be very friendly and loving.
I mean, that's what I think.
That's how I feel when I come here.
And when I observe others, I feel like they're
very kind and loving to other people.
But at the end of the day, a man to have friends
must show himself friendly, the Bible says.
So you can have a different perception of that,
but at the end of the day, it's because
maybe you're not exercising and exerting friendliness,
being loving to others and kind to others.
You understand?
Because being in that type of environment
doesn't really change you.
So the point that I'm making here
is the fact that righteousness is not contagious.
Don't think that just because you're
in the optimal environment for spiritual growth
that somehow that's gonna change you.
It can aid you, it can assist you,
but it can't make things happen for you.
And the reason that's important
is because sometimes people leave church
because they're like, oh man,
this church is just not loving enough.
I've had people say that.
That's not, I'm just not learning anything here.
Well that's funny because there's
a ton of other people that are.
And there's a ton of other people that feel loved.
Well I just left that church
because I'm just not making any friends.
Well that's funny because there's a ton of people here
that make friends with other people.
That's conflicting data.
So, you know, who's lying here, you know?
Well I just, I'm just gonna leave here
because I just feel like people
don't really care for me or something.
Well here's the thing is that Christian life
is not about being cared for by caring for others really.
So you have your Christian philosophy
kind of mixed up there.
Because here's the thing, you know,
obviously we want to be cared for.
Obviously we want people to love us,
but the Bible does not say
go to church to be loved by others.
The Bible does not say go to church
expecting for others to love you.
Now that's what the modern church will tell you.
You know, select your congregation
based upon all these, you know,
what do they have to offer your kids?
What ministries are there for the kids?
What kind of activities do you have to offer?
Do you have a Christian school?
How are the cell groups?
All these things that the Bible doesn't even talk about.
And I'm not saying they can't be used for good,
but let's just be honest here.
You know, people put that as a priority
and they don't put enough priority
in what they can do for the church.
Because really what, the way it should be viewed
is like I'm gonna come to church
and see why I can be a blessing to,
not look for someone to bless me, right?
Like come to church and say, all right,
let's see, maybe Geo can bless me a little bit.
But he kind of failed last week, so I don't know.
Oh, there's Miss Courtney.
Maybe I can talk to her.
Nah, she kind of offended me last time.
Like do you just come here?
She didn't, by the way.
How's that rocket?
I'm just kidding.
I'm just joking, I'm just joking.
She knows I'm playing.
You know, you come here looking for someone to help you
what we should do is come here looking to help someone.
And if everyone just carries that attitude,
then we get to help and be helped.
We get to bless and be blessed.
We get to love and be loved.
Why, because the selfless attitude
is what God wants us to have.
And so in order for you to view this church
as a loving church, why don't you do it first, right?
Be the change that you want to see in this world.
Can't believe I just said that.
The one time it actually applies.
Righteousness is not contagious.
You know, having a godly marriage is not contagious.
Just because you come to a church
that maybe you see some marriages that are godly
doesn't mean that yours is gonna be this way
because you have to put in the work to do that.
You have to put in the work to actually love your wife
and, you know, love your husband
and reverence your husband.
You actually have to apply the principles
that those successful couples did apply
and that's why they have a successful marriage.
You know, being here and the optimal environment
will help you but it cannot make you
to have a godly marriage or raise godly kids.
You're like, yeah, but you don't understand my marriage.
Folks, let me just say this.
All marriages are the same, okay?
With various levels of degrees, but most part,
they all experience somewhat the same problems.
Maybe some change based upon how violent it gets.
I don't know, you know?
That's a possibility but to you I say duck.
And it's just like, yeah, but you don't know my husband,
he says all these things, get in line.
Because you know what?
I can point to a bunch of other wives
who say things to their husbands.
And I can point to a bunch of husbands
who say things to their wives and you know what?
That's how marriage is.
I'm not saying that that's right to do it.
I'm just saying that's how marriage is.
We're not in heaven right now.
You guys understand that?
Like this is like, you know,
this is spiritual warfare here sometimes.
So never have this unrealistic expectation of marriage
that you're not gonna have any conflict, you know.
Oh man, my wife cussed me out.
Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but cuss words will never hurt me.
But she's a Christian and all this.
I mean, I'm just telling you.
I'm not saying that my wife cusses me out.
Because I don't even know if she knows cuss words,
but you know.
But the thing is, you know,
we've gotten some tips, you know.
She hasn't swung at me yet or anything.
Because I'll just, no I'm just kidding.
I'm just joking.
I'm joking, okay.
Put her down real quick.
I'm kidding.
But you know what, we've had some trials.
Yeah, of course.
We've had some hard trials.
We've had some extremely hard trials.
Where it just kind of brought us down to our knees.
And it was very difficult.
And we felt like the world was falling apart around us.
Where I felt like, you know, it's just like,
is this what marriage is?
Like this is so hard.
And so that's, you say, but you're the pastor.
Yeah, you know what, and you're the church member
and guess what, we both have conflicts in marriage.
And I'm not saying my wife's leaving me
anytime soon or anything like that.
We have a great marriage.
My wife loves me and I love her.
And you know, we're best friends.
I'm just saying that, you know,
even a godly marriage doesn't come without its fights.
Physical or not, you know what I mean?
You're gonna have some conflicts in marriage.
And you know what, just being in church
with, you know, a good example of a pastor
and it's pastor's wives and they have a great marriage,
doesn't mean that you're gonna have that.
Because of the fact that you actually have to
put in the work to make it work.
Okay, don't look at my grass.
And be like, wow, that grass is nice.
Yeah, but you know what, I've had to like mow it.
I've had to, you know, take,
I don't know anything about landscaping.
You gotta do the things that like Margo's does
and stuff, you know, like, you gotta take,
and Jacob, you know, you gotta take care of it,
gotta do all that stuff, gotta fertilize it,
put in work, blood, sweat, tears.
You gotta do all those things to make it look like that.
And then you just look over the fence,
you're like, man, must be nice.
No, it's not nice all the time,
because it takes work.
You just didn't see when I was putting work.
And when my wife was putting work to make it work.
You just happened to look over the fence
and see all the green grass.
But you can have that green grass,
and in fact, you can have it even greener
if you actually put in the work for it.
What I'm saying is, looking over the fence
and looking at my green grass
will not make your grass greener either.
You have to fertilize it, work on it,
and you know, because righteousness,
godly living, godly marriage is not contagious,
you actually have to put in the work for it.
And don't, look, listen to me,
because we've got a lot of young couples here.
You know, cut out the word quit from your mouth
and from the dictionary from your marriage.
There is no quit.
Stop acting like it's the apocalypse or something
every time you go through some trial with your spouse.
Folks, look, I'm in a household with five kids,
it feels like every night I come home,
it's the apocalypse.
It's like the great tribulation every single time.
It's like war with the saints.
Get used to it.
Don't quit, it's just like,
I don't know if this is gonna work.
Oh really, what's the alternative then?
Is there an alternative?
Are you implying that you wanna leave each other
or something, because that's not an option.
If thou faint in the day of adversity,
thy strength is small.
That's what the Bible says.
And you know what, when I read that,
it kinda like pokes at my ego a little bit
to make me not wanna quit.
I don't wanna say it, I don't want my strength to be small.
So you just push through it.
So you know when you're going through a hard time
in your marriage, that's not an indicator
that you picked the wrong person,
because you guys are married
and now it's the right person.
And you guys are God's will for each other now.
But just because you go through a hard time
is not an indicator, oh yeah, this is it,
I'm gonna quit, she threw a frying pan at me or something.
No, it's just an indicator of one,
you need to work things out, and two, you need to duck
or hide the frying pan.
You just need better solutions.
But it should never be, we need to reconsider this.
Never use the D word in your marriage, amen.
Divorce, and say, oh man, I think I'm just gonna
get divorced or something.
That's nonsense, that's stupid,
you're allowing the world to influence your mind.
You're being weak is what you are.
Can I just be honest with you?
You're just being weak.
You're weak-minded, your soul is being weak,
your flesh is weak, and you need to strengthen yourself,
you need to gird up the loins of your mind.
And get with the program, and you know what?
Start applying biblical principles to your marriage,
because success does not happen overnight.
You need to work at it.
And I promise you, if you just work at it,
you'll look five years, five years, yeah, five years.
I mean, aren't you planning to be married
for like more than that?
You'll look five years from now and say,
you know, I'm so glad that I actually applied
these principles, and now we have
a godly, successful marriage.
And now, when we fight, I know it's coming,
so I hide the frying pans, and all the sharp objects,
and now I don't have to take a trip to the hospital,
I have to refi, you know, it's...
What I'm saying is that godly marriages
are not contagious, you have to actually put in the work.
Raising godly kids is not contagious.
You gotta put in the work.
All right, go back to Haggai, chapter two.
So principle number one is that
righteousness is not contagious.
Principle number two is the most obvious,
and that is that sin is contagious.
Sin can contaminate you by simply
coming into contact with it.
Children of Israel could bring the uncleanliness
from Babylon and contaminate the land.
You know, the saying is true,
one bad apple can't spoil the whole bunch.
This is why the Bible's very strict on church discipline.
That when someone is involved in the particular sins
highlighted in First Corinthians chapter five,
according to the Bible, it's like little leaven
that's gonna leaven the whole lump,
it's gonna contaminate the church,
which is why God wants us to extract that person
from the congregation if they're not willing
to go through the cleansing process, right?
Then you gotta remove them,
because then they'll contaminate other people.
This is why you have churches where
fornication is rampant, because the pastor
is not sprinkling the word,
he's not exercising church discipline,
he's making empty threats.
There's no empty threats here.
You either get it right, or you gotta go.
Says in Haggai 2.13, then said,
Haggai, if one that is unclean by a dead body
touch any of these, shall it be unclean?
And the priest answered and said,
it shall be unclean.
Now, how do we apply this?
For the next 10 minutes,
let me give you some applications here.
Contamination, when it comes to the company you keep.
It's always important to have Christian friends.
People that you're close to that are Christian.
You know, obviously, you're gonna associate
with people who are unsaved.
We live in an unsaved world, that's just how it is.
But the close company that you keep,
I believe the Bible teaches that they should be Christians.
Why?
Because you have a job to do as a Christian.
And part of that job is that you need to be clean,
right, you need to be righteous.
And if you're constantly around the wrong type of people
that are gonna tempt you to do the wrong type of things,
then guess what?
That person is gonna end up contaminating you.
The Bible tells us,
he that walketh with wise men shall be wise,
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
If you're constantly around short-tempered people,
you're gonna be a short-tempered person.
The Bible tells us,
make no friendship with an angry man
and with the furious man that shall not go,
lest thou learn his ways, the Bible says,
and get a snare to thy souls.
Hey, if you are around mukbang people,
the older people don't even know what I'm talking about,
they're just like, is that a gang?
Mukbang are the people who just like eat a lot.
You know those videos where they're just,
it's typically Asians, let's just be honest, you know.
They're just eating, they're really skinny Asians too.
You know, it's like, where does it all go?
But they're eating just an inordinate amount.
If you're constantly watching that stuff,
you're gonna be a mukbanger.
Because it says, be not among winebabers,
among righteous eaters of flesh,
for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty
and drowsiness shall clothe the man with rice.
Hey, if your closest friends are lazy,
you're gonna be lazy.
If your closest people are just apathetic, lazy, drowsy,
they just wanna play video games all day
and do just vain things, that's how you're gonna be.
My father-in-law used to tell me,
I know the kind of person you will be based upon,
in five years, based upon the people that you're with
and the books that you read.
And that's true, you show me your close friends,
I'll tell you what kind of person you're gonna be
in the next five years.
Why, because their bad habits will contaminate you.
Turn with me if you would to Acts chapter 14,
Acts chapter 14.
Let me read to you from Proverbs one verse 10, it says,
my son of sinners enticed, he consent thou not.
If they say, come with us, let us lay weight for blood,
let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause,
let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole
as those that go down into the pit.
We shall find all precious substance,
we shall fill our houses with spoil,
cast in thy lot among us, let us all have one purse.
My son, walk not thou in the way with them,
refrain thy foot from their path,
for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood.
The Bible says in Acts chapter 14, look what it says,
but the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles
and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren.
Now let me say this, in this regard,
you know, gossiping is contagious.
And we need to make sure, I didn't hear anything
by the way, I don't listen to gossip, just kidding.
We need to make sure that gossip doesn't become
a practice in our church, where people talk bad
about other people.
Why, because you can make someone's mind
evil-affected against someone else.
And as a pastor, I've seen it in our church.
Not recently, but I'll just say in the lifespan
of our church, since our church has started,
I've seen this, where literally, listen to me,
literally, you'll have like a little click, right?
You'll have a little click forming in the church,
and these people are just always around each other.
They're just kind of always, they're just,
that's their, that's their, you know, mukbang, you know.
And you know what happens?
Is that they become, they start to get critical
about other people in the church.
They start to get critical about the leadership
and about the pastor, and I literally see people
getting like recruited into that group,
and then they come out just as bad as those other people.
And I've literally seen like the countenance
of people change the longer they're around
a particular person, or it's just like,
and then their fire dies out,
they don't have a desire for the things of God,
they don't even walk around with a smile
on their face anymore.
In our church, that's happened before.
And in my mind, I'm like, oh, this person's
been contaminated, because they're around this group
of people who are just constantly criticizing
and are negative towards the stances of the church,
my stances, what I teach, they're negative against others,
they think like they're the superior model
of Christians in the church or something,
and they contaminate others.
And I've seen some people in our church,
it's just like, whoa, they've been contaminated
because their countenance is not as they were before,
like they just kind of seem sad now.
Critical, angry, sad.
But what's funny is that once that contaminated group leaves,
now the people are back to normal again.
They're actually pleasant to be around.
And I've seen the transition,
how it's just like you remove the uncleanness
from that person's, that company,
and then that person begins to change,
and now, you know what, now they come to church,
now they're like happy.
I see their teeth now, because they smile.
They have like joy in their life.
It's like they're like a Christian or something.
You know, they shake hands,
they get involved in the conversations.
You know, because you ever notice
that people have like a brightness about their face
when they talk to you?
Like you see them, they're just like,
you guys know what I'm talking about?
Or are you guys all just miserable or what?
You know, obviously there's people
who just have that face, right?
It's just like, I don't want to say,
you know what I'm talking about.
You know what, you know the phrase I'm trying to say,
but I cannot say, because it's the pulpit.
The person in our church taught me what that was one time,
and I was just like, that's a great way to describe it.
I shall add that to my repertoire of things,
of definitions.
You know, and it's just like,
but there's other people who are just like,
they're bright-eyed, they're happy,
they're just kind of like filled with joy.
Well, now they're back to that again.
And if I could say like,
what was the determining factor?
It's people, the company that they keep,
because you end up adopting the bad disposition
and attitudes of the people that you're around
every single time.
They're constantly critical, they're downers,
they're just always angry, upset, bitter.
You're gonna be like that person.
Why, because bitterness springs up
and troubles the people around them.
So if you're around a bitter person,
you will be a bitter person.
You will be just angry and sad and depressed
and just like, you come to church
and you're just like.
You know?
In my opinion, it's just like,
I kind of want to tell them to just stay home.
I don't want to look at your face.
I don't want to look at your bitter face
and just stay home.
Or wear a mask or something.
Because we want to be around happy people.
Why don't we be around people
who enjoy themselves, right?
And luckily, we don't have people like that anymore.
We did in times past,
and now people seem to be happy once again.
Why, because of the fact that sin is contagious,
that's why.
A bad attitude is contagious.
Gossip is contagious.
Having a negative disposition and a critical attitude
towards the church, towards leadership, towards others,
is very much contagious.
Now obviously, we should have a negative attitude
towards false prophets, false religion, wicked individuals.
God wants us to have a negative disposition towards them.
But not towards God's people and God's church.
Don't allow your mind to be evil-affected by others,
and the way you can do this
is to stay away from those people.
Okay?
I'm gonna skip some things here.
Two minutes.
Go to Esther chapter one, Esther chapter one.
Hey, covetousness is contagious.
If you're constantly around people
who talk about money, talk about possessions,
that's all you're gonna think about,
and you're gonna end up being a covetous person.
You're gonna have the love of money.
The Bible tells us that.
Fear is contagious, right?
If you are constantly listening
to a bunch of fear-mongering podcasts,
YouTube videos, or even people in our church,
you will become a fearful person.
I have no interest in that.
God did not give us a spirit of fear
but a power of love and a sound mind,
and we need to make sure we stay away from that.
In fact, let me read to you from Deuteronomy 20
before we get into Esther.
Deuteronomy 20 verse eight says,
and the officers shall speak further into the people
and they shall say, what man is there
that is fearful and faint-hearted?
Let him go and return into his house,
lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.
So whenever they go to war, it's just like,
all right, let's see a raise of hands.
Who's afraid?
And everyone raise, a bunch of people raise their hands,
like, all right, you guys go home.
You guys can't go to war with us
because you are a liability.
Because if we're on the battlefield
and you're being a wuss, you're gonna make your,
the guy on the left and on the right,
as afraid as you are because fear is contagious.
And so stay away from fearful talk.
Stay away from fear mongering, especially this year.
Some of you need to go on a fast of politics.
Fast all that stuff.
Well then I'm not gonna know what's going on.
Yeah, good.
Because you can't change your life
whether you know about it or not.
You're still gonna be like the same person.
The only difference is, if you pay attention to that stuff,
you're just gonna be a fearful person.
And it's gonna be annoying.
All right, here's the last one.
Is feminism as contagious?
That's right.
It is.
Being a feminine is contagious too.
But having
feministic characteristics is contagious.
And this is why we have to teach what the Bible says
about the roles of a man and a woman.
And you know what, you may not agree with this,
but this is a Christian church,
we do believe the Bible here,
so you should not be surprised
that you're gonna hear something like this.
Feminism is a disease.
You know, and a lot of people in the world
are kinda waking up to that.
You have some guy give a speech
at a college or something.
Everyone's like, ooh, you know.
Like, wow, you said that women should stay home
and be mothers and all that.
They're all happy about that.
And it's just like, dude, we've been saying that for years.
You're late.
But you know why people are saying that now?
It's because of the fact that they know
how poisonous feminism really is.
Look what the Bible says.
Let me just give you a couple verses here.
Ezra 1, 16 says,
And Mamucon answered before the kings and the princes,
Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only,
but also to all the princes and to all the people
that are in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus.
For this deed of the queen shall come abroad
unto all women, so that they shall despise
their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported.
The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen
to be brought in before him, but she came not.
Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media
say this day unto all the king's princes
which have heard of the deed of the queen,
thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.
He's basically saying like Vashti
is gonna cause the women of the land
to essentially try to usurp the authority
of their husbands because of her actions.
Why?
Because feminism is contagious.
Rebellion is contagious.
And you know what?
We need to make sure regardless
of what the world is promoting,
even if the world is promoting traditional trad wives,
make the Bible your standard of what that means,
not what they're saying.
And look, you need to take credit too, by the way.
And be like, this guy's late.
These women are late.
Don't let them be your teacher.
You already knew this if you believed the Bible.
Your standard is higher than that
if you believe the word of God.
You know, the world is gonna take credit
for as though it's like a new thing happening.
New thing has been happening for thousands of years.
What are you talking about new thing?
Christians have always done this.
We're instant in season, out of season.
It just so happens that it's popular now.
We did it before it was popular.
You know, there's certain trends,
it's just like, don't you feel good
when you're like, I did that before it was popular?
You know, I don't know, what's a trend out there
that's like now it's popular,
but you've like always done it?
Can someone think of one?
Fishing, is fishing popular now?
Well, you know what, Jesus fished.
And so did the disciples.
So yeah.
Well, what was another one?
Carnivore diet.
Oh man, you're treading on,
everyone's just like, yeah.
What else?
I said popular, no I'm just kidding.
Yeah, hey, hiking, yeah, all right.
There's certain things that just become trendy to do,
and you think to yourself,
like I've been doing this for years.
Well, you know what,
the world can promote biblical concepts
as though like it's a novel new thing,
but you know what, that's gonna die out with them
and we're gonna continue to do it.
Because we do things not because they're popular,
but because they're biblical.
That's the bottom line.
And so you know what,
if they are out there promoting trad wives
and traditional families or whatever,
just know we got it first.
That's what the Bible always promoted.
But the point that I'm making here
is that feminism is contagious.
And so it's important for us to continue to promote
what a godly marriage is,
what the role of a man is,
what the role of a woman is,
what the role of the children are,
and maintain that unit as the way the Bible puts it.
Maintain those principles and not waver on it.
Because you know what these people
are gonna do in the world?
They're gonna take that,
I guarantee you,
anybody who's pushing the trad family,
trad wife thing,
there's loopholes in what they're doing.
I guarantee they make all kinds of exceptions.
I guarantee you it's not even,
it probably doesn't even line up to what the Bible says.
They would look at us and be like,
oh you guys are just radicalists.
Yeah, I saw some guy on YouTube
and he's just like,
he's promoting orthodoxy to this Christian guy.
He claims to be a Christian,
I don't even know if he's saved.
But the guy responded,
or he said, you know,
Protestants typically,
they're just like sola scriptura.
You know, but we're about sola scriptura and traditions.
And then the Christian was just like,
I don't know anybody who wouldn't agree with that.
Like obviously it's sola scriptura,
but it's all sort of traditions as well.
And the only people who I know,
he said, that are like,
all about only the Bible
are like fundamentalists or something.
It's like, yeah.
You got it right.
Yeah, you got it right.
So he even understands.
Because he's a Protestant talking to an orthodox,
which is basically,
you know, devil and devil light.
And they're both undermining the word of God.
He said, well, they believe in both.
No, no, no.
If they're adding traditions,
that means they're undermining the word of God.
That's code for traditions
are more important than the word of God.
Bottom line.
But I'm thankful that this guy recognizes
the only people I know
that believe in that sola scriptura
or they only believe in the Bible
are like these radical fundamentalists.
That's what he said.
I'm like, right on.
Wear that proudly, amen.
What's the sermon today?
The sermon is simply this,
is that righteousness is not contagious.
Make sure that you're working on yourself
and you're placed in an optimal environment
with the word of God,
with the best type of people that can help you grow.
Take advantage of that.
And also be aware,
beware of the fact that sin is contagious.
Watch the company you keep.
Watch the things you listen to.
Watch the things that you watch and that you listen to.
Why?
Because all that stuff can just latch onto you
like a bed bug.
The master hitchhikers of this world.
And you know what?
That's how sin is too.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word
and thank you for the principles thereof, Lord.
Pray you help us as your people
to take things to heart
and recognize that we cannot
just be good Christians by osmosis
just because we grew up in a Christian home.
Doesn't mean that salvation will be granted to us
just by transmission.
People need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
individually.
And not only that,
but just righteous living in general, Lord.
Help us as your people to recognize
that we cannot ride on the coattails of a church
or of other godly people.
We need to put in the work to become godly ourselves.
And may you help us to be vigilant and aware
of the pitfalls of sin
and recognize that even the smallest of sins
can destroy us.
It's the foxes that spoil the vine, Lord.
I pray you bless us as we go on our way.
Bless the fellowship, the soul winning in all there is.
We love you.
We thank you.
Pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.