All right, so as many of you guys know we are packing our bags where we've been trying to
get ourselves ready for our big move to Sydney and you know with a big family there's a lot,
there is a lot to do and I'll just think about what to preach on this afternoon and well I'll
give you the title for the sermon. The title is lessons I've learned from packing, lessons I've
learned from packing. I thought there were great some great parallels with packing up you know
moving from one house to another I mean if any of anyone has ever moved from house to house
you know how much work it requires how much thought it requires and I could see just a lot
of parallels with that you know accomplishing something doing something with just accomplishing
something great as a Christian you know doing something for the Lord you know in a sense when
you get saved you kind of you know are prepared to pack your bags you know and say well this is
no longer my home I'm no longer going to live the way that the world has told me and I'm going to
live after Christ I'm going to set heaven as my new home mentally spiritually that's my new place
in a sense you get ready to pack and the Christian life you keep packing you keep packing you keep
preparing yourself for the big move one day the Lord's going to come back and he's going to take
you to be home with him for eternity so let's look at Luke chapter 14 there and I've got a few
points here lessons that I've learned from packing I've got five five points to look at but point
number one is have a basic plan have a basic plan Luke 14 verse 28 for which of you intending to
build a tower sit if not down first and count off the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it
okay lest happily after he have laid the foundation and he's not able to finish it
all that behold it began to begin to mock him saying this man began to build and was not able
to finish and so this is similar to that concept you know the the end of a thing is better than
the beginning okay when you start something it's great but even better than starting something is
finishing it and so what we've been instructed here by the word of God when you plan to do
something hey create create a plan create something start measuring things up what needs
to be done and the best way to create a plan it's not that complicated brethren the best way is to
ask yourself two questions number one where am I now what do I have what situation am I in right
now and then number two where do I need to be where do I need to go what does the end result
need to look like once you've established what the end result is and you've established where
you are now well now you can start saying well these are the steps that I need to put into place
this is what I have to have in order to reach that end goal point number one is have a basic plan
you know when before we started packing Christina would come up to me you know every few days says
well I'm thinking about doing it this way I'm thinking about packing these things first I'm
thinking about throwing these things and I'm thinking about putting these things over there
and putting that over there hey what do we need to have down in our house in Sydney before we get
there we need to make sure that we have a fridge we need to make sure we have a a washing machine
a dryer and so we went to get those things and put in place but before we did any of that we started
to say well this is the plan this is the plan that we need to have and brethren you as a Christian
in order for you to keep packing your bags till you go home to be in heaven you need to establish
yourself a plan okay where do I need to be how can I achieve this you know when you start reading
the bible you should have a plan to say I need to read my bible cover to cover okay I need to
establish a plan how long does it take how much can I read every day and you establish that plan
in order for you to achieve anything for the Christian life for the lord you have to establish
a plan I plan one day one day I want to be a soul winner I want to get out there and win souls well
you need a plan okay how am I going to present the gospel when am I going to go out I need to
I need to be a silent partner I need to experience what it is to knock on people's door preach the
gospel what are the verses that I need to know what are the verses that I need to memorize how
do I explain these concepts and ideas what illustrations can I have to help people understand
the power of the gospel you establish a plan and you know what our lives ought to be we ought to
have a basic plan in our lives can you please go to proverbs proverbs 16 we're not going back to
luke 14 we're just taking that one thought there the importance to have a plan luke sorry proverbs
16 proverbs 16 verse 3 proverbs 16 verse 3 when you establish a plan don't do it independently
from god okay proverbs 16 verse 3 reads commit thy works unto the lord and thy thoughts shall
be established to have an established plan a well-thought-about plan you must commit that to
the lord say lord I need to achieve this you know these are the goals these are the steps that I
need to do in order to achieve this please help me please guide me please help establish my steps
I don't know what your plans are maybe as a child your plan is to you know one day get get a job you
know get get well I need this job therefore I need this education therefore I need this skills
and you start planning for your future listen if you have no plan you're going to be in the
same place you were before if you have no plan to grow as a christian you're going to stay a
babe in christ you're never going to grow we must establish ourselves a plan commit those plans that
work unto the lord and he will help you establish your path drop down to verse number nine proverbs
16 verse 9 a man's heart deviseth his way but the lord directeth his steps you see when you
establish a plan it requires you to come up with a way it also requires god to establish or direct
those steps okay this is quite often why I would pray to the lord and say lord
I've got all these options I know any of these options are right you know none of these options
are wrong none of these options are sinful but lord can you help direct my steps that I take the
best option what is the best option can you close the doors can you open the doors can you make
the best way easy and quite often in my life the easy way okay I'm talking about a righteous one
not about sinful way the easy way is usually the one I take because I've been praying to the lord
please guide my steps and sometimes the you know where I want to go those doors are closed it
doesn't work out say well lord you must be leading me somewhere else but I'm involving
the lord god in my plans please go to proverbs 15 one chapter back proverbs 15 verse 22
it says without counsel purposes are disappointed but in the multitude of counselors they are
established you know what when you establish a plan there's nothing wrong with you going to other
people and asking hey can I have some of your thoughts can I have some of your ideas you know
when I was talking about my plans of moving with brother Michael he would say to me well you know
one thing that really helped me in my move was every box that I packed I gave it a number and
then I don't know if it's a spreadsheet you know on in my spreadsheet on that number I would have
these are things that were packed in those boxes because it says you know even after you pack
certain things you're going to realize oh I need that right now which box was it in which bag was
it in yeah unless you document those things you're not going to know you're going to have to open up
every bag every box to find that item that you're looking for hey so that's good counsel that's
someone that has had the experience of moving from one country to another you know who has had to
pack many things and yeah that's that's the advice of a council and so when you're making a plan
hey involve people who have done it before you know before I came to start this church
I sought out my past my pastors in the past I sought out the advice you know I came up here
before I established the church I caught up with pastor Paul Stevenson you know the first time I
met him I caught up with him I said look I'm thinking about starting a church on the Sunshine
Coast what are your thoughts you know you've been doing it for some time you've been pastoring for
some time you've been pastoring on the Sunshine Coast you know what words of advice can you give
me you know I sought out words of advice of other men that have have started churches in this area
I've also sought out the advice of my previous pastors when they started churches when they
got into the ministry hey you know what did you do well if you could go back what could you change
because I want to have to make the same mistakes that they've done before you know I sought the
advice of other counselors and so when you're preparing a plan ask the advice of others who
have done or accomplished those same tasks that you're trying to accomplish now I'm going to read
to you from Psalm 143 verse 8 it says cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning
for indeed do I trust cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto
thee the psalmist says to God Lord calls me to know somehow Lord show me let me know which path
I need to take when I make these plans all right so point number one the lesson that I've learned
from packing point number one is have a basic plan if you've got no plan you're not going to
achieve anything either it's going to be a disaster or you're just going to still be where you were
before never achieving anything never accomplishing anything hey you need to establish a plan in your
spiritual life if you haven't gone soul winning yet create a plan Lord I want to be a soul winner
I want to tell people about your gospel help me accomplish that what do I need to do Lord
hey and you haven't done before go to the people that have done it go to the people
listen we all started somewhere we were all nervous to begin with you know what before I
knock my first door I still have butterflies in my stomach you know it takes a little time to get
into the soul winning routine you know it but here everyone you know we have different people
in this church that have done that have accomplished that hey you need some counsel ask
people who are comfortable going door-to-door soul winning and like I said if it's reading
your bible establish a plan in reading your bible establish have a basic plan or you're
never going to achieve anything now if I can get you to turn to Isaiah 28 please Isaiah 28
Isaiah 28 the next lesson that I've learned from packing is sort out the simple things
first sort out the simple or the easy things first okay so when we're when we're ready to
pack our things obviously we have clothing and like for example when it comes to clothing we're
coming into the summer months now aren't we so we're not going to need our jumpers and our
jackets we're not going to need our warm clothing right now when we get down to Sydney the winter
months are cooler than they are up here so we're going to need those items down in Sydney
okay now that's an easy thing we're not going to need that here hey this is an easy thing to pack
right now we know we're not going to need it now but we're going to need it down there hey this is
something we can pack we can get it out of the way okay what have I learned to sort out the simple
things first okay listen we're still living in that house if I were to get rid of that fridge
the first thing well we'd be going several weeks without having any food in the fridge
now that would be complicated no that's a complicated thing that's something toward the end
but hey there are some things when you start to pack there's a lot of easy things to do
sort out the easy things first what are you talking about Pastor Kevin hey this is a big book
there's a lot of commandments of God there's a high standard in fact the standard is perfection
okay the standard is Jesus Christ it's a big book not every page is about salvation most of
the bible is about Christian living okay how to live godly well listen you can't expect as soon
as you're saved you can't expect to be the super Christian you can't expect to be perfect on day
number one you can't expect to think I'm going to have no sins in my life I'm never going to
struggle with sins anymore as soon as you get saved what do you do you sort out the simple
things first work out what is easy enough for me to change in my life I got saved all right
what's something I could do I need to get baptized that's something simple go in the water get out of
water it takes a few seconds you're done sort it out it's done the first step of obedience
get baptized all right lord I've got certain sins here I've got certain things in my life
help me overcome those sins take care of the simple things first okay you're in Isaiah 28
verse 9 it says whom shall he teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand doctrine
them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast so speaking about a little child here
all right a little baby for precepts must be upon precept precept upon precept line upon line line
upon line here a little and there a little listen when you're new to the faith when you're a new
Christian when you've picked up your bible don't start in the book of revelation okay start with
the simple things first there's a reason why the book of revelation is right at the end because God
wants you to get through everything first okay work out all the other things that are much easier
to understand there are doctrines that are difficult there are doctrines that are complicated
there are doctrines that are required to be understood as long as you have the right
foundations in place when you're a new Christian establish your foundations first establish the
fundamental doctrines first the deity of Christ salvation by grace through faith without the deeds
of the law establish the trinity the understanding the father son the holy ghost you know establish
the simple things first that God created all things in six days some six thousand years ago
those are simple things for you to read and understand sort out the easy things first worry
about the complicated things later once you sort out the easier things the foundational things then
you can start building on that you know when it came to to move in we looked at the situation in
our house and said wow you know with 11 kids we've got so many things clothing toys you know
disposable things food and and furniture and it's like you know if we didn't start with the easy
things our house will still look like it's full of things you know we just got really okay these
are easy things to get rid of these are toys without kids don't need to play with these toys
now they can worry about when they get back or maybe we can take a few with us you know sorting
out the easy things and all of a sudden our house looks very empty right now you know most of it's
in boxes but they were easy things to get sorted okay we're only left with the complicated things
we're only left now with i need some men by the way you know just letting you guys know there's
there's coming a day where i'm going to need you guys to come help me out you know to carry the
fridge out the washing machine that's why i'm preaching this the dryer okay the couch i need
you guys to come and help me because we've got the complicated things at the end okay but listen
the reason i can see all the complicated things is because it's easy things have been sorted
and brevin you need to have patience in your christian life don't think that you're just
going to be the super christian with all the knowledge i've seen so many novice christians
they learn a great truth they learn a great doctrine hey maybe they even learn something
that their pastor is wrong about and all of a sudden they think they're wise enough to teach
this whole church all of a sudden they think they've done it they've accomplished wow i know
something the pastor doesn't know hey i should be the one preaching behind the pool but that's all
right you know there are a lot of things that we need to work out in our lives i mean honestly if
you stopped and thought about things for a moment you'll probably notice that there's a lot of
christian living or christian doctrines that you're trying to work out that are very complicated or
very challenging but there are still simple things that you've not sorted out you know maybe you're
still quick to anger maybe you're still struggling with patience maybe you're still struggling with
love in the brevin hey these are the things that ought to be simple things that you need to
establish first in your life okay sort out the simple things first can you please go to uh luke
no no please go to first peter go to first peter chapter two
first peter chapter two verse one
let me show you some simple things that you need to sort out in your christian life
first peter chapter two verse number one it says lane sorry wherefore lane aside
and we've gone through first peter recently so you've seen this before but wherefore lane aside
all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings you know what this
list are simple things are basic things things that god expects you to sort out now or that
should be sorted out already because then it says in verse number two as newborn babes this is
something that you should be accomplishing early in your christian life you know if you've been
saved for some time if you've been saved for some years and you're still struggling with malice go
hypocrisy envies evil speakings you're still a babe you haven't grown you're trying to sort out
complicated major things and you haven't gone to the basic things that you need to clean out of
your life as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby if so be ye
have tasted that the lord is gracious the milk of the word of the lord is beautiful is beautiful
too many christians like i said i want to know about the end times just saved i want to know
about this doctrine and that doctrine you know listen just desire the sincere milk of the word
milk is good for you milk helps the baby grow all right and if you find yourself still struggling
with the simple things it's because you still need the sincere milk of the word of god nothing
don't be ashamed of it just get back to the milk sort out the simple things and then you can start
growing into the meat of the word of god little by little line upon line precept upon precepts
okay now please turn to with me to ecclesiastes the book of ecclesiastes chapter three ecclesiastes
chapter three so point number one is have a basic plan point number two is sort out the simple
things first ecclesiastes chapter three verse number one
ecclesiastes chapter three verse number one says to everything there is a season and a time
to every purpose under the heaven i'm not going to read through it all but drop down to verse
number six a time to get and a time to lose a time to keep and a time to cast away you know
the third lesson that i've learned from packing is you've got to throw out the trash okay you've
got to throw out the trash i mean kids i don't how many times have we gone to the tip so far
it's probably at least three or four times i reckon all right so you know you don't realize
how much trash you've got in your house until you start packing okay and obviously look you've got
to make a decision when you want to travel in order for you to get somewhere you've got to
travel lightly you can't have all this trash around you and you know what in your house right
now guaranteed brethren if you were packing you would find lots of trash you would find a lot of
stuff it's like it's just sitting there doing nothing it's rubbish it should have been in the
bin it should have been taken care of and what i found is we're packing it's like wow we still
have this that's still laying around hey we need to take this our bins are full we've got to take
it to the tip you know and so point number three is throw out the trash we're to say a time to get
a time to lose a time to keep a time to cast away there comes a time in your christian life there
are certain things you have to throw out get rid of the trash what's that it's the sin the sin you
have in your life brethren as you grow as you plan to be more like jesus to live and please the lord
and to live righteously you've got a lot of trash in your spiritual life it's your sin okay it's the
temptations that you struggle with it's those things that draw you back into the world it's
trash okay it's trash it's rubbish it's slowing you down you need to get rid of that in order for
you to accomplish the plan you have to live godly you know what you've got trash in your life right
now i don't care how long you've been saved you've got trash and your goal is to have less trash
when jesus christ comes back hopefully it's almost gone and then jesus christ takes care of the last
of it gives you a new resurrected body where you're no longer struggling with the you know
the sin nature that you have okay but you need to get rid of your sin you need to turn away from your
sins listen turning from your sins is not required for salvation sin has to be taken
care of in salvation it gets taken care of by jesus christ it was put on christ it was nailed
to the cross okay but now that you are saved and you need to live righteously the opposite of living
righteously is committing sins right you can't continue a life of sin and also think you're going
to be living righteously it's one or the other you know the old man or the new man
the flesh or the spirit you got to decide where am i going to walk listen we all have sin in our
lives if whether we do it in the body or it's something that we say or it's something that we
think about the wicked thoughts that might be coming from our hearts we need to take care of
that sin we need to throw that sin out take it to the tip you know you know have a desire of of
not doing that anymore jesus christ give me the power give me the ability give me your saving
power to get rid of that awful sin in my life help me to have victory over that sin now brethren you
know i don't promise you that you'll get rid of all your sins because it's you know the bible
says that if a man say he have no sin he deceives himself and the truth is not in him okay but it
would be negligent of me to not say to you you need to clean up your lives you need to get rid
of the sin okay and and as a child of god if you're sinning listen the lord's going to bring
his chastisement upon you he'll bring his rod of correction and sort you out but we don't want to
live a life where we're just being constantly chastised we only live a life where we learn from
the chastisement we learn from the lessons because we've gotten rid of those sins that upset the lord
god you cannot have fellowship with god if you're living a wicked lifestyle of sin you get rid of
that sin you confess it before the lord asking for victory understand that you're going to make
mistakes okay but hopefully you're cleaning up your life hopefully you know as you continue to
grow for the lord you're getting rid of one sin after another remember it's a process it's a plan
you're not going to do it on day number one it's not going to happen on day number one
okay get rid of the trash now if you can please go to uh ephesians chapter four
ephesians chapter four verse 21
ephesians chapter four verse 21 the Bible reads if so be that you have heard him
and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus that ye put off
concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts listen if you are saved you are commanded to put off the former conversation conversation
your former behavior your former lifestyle the old man our requirement brethren as saved people
is to get rid of the trash listen the old man is trash okay this flesh is trash what's it say
there uh the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts the reason you you you
live a corrupted life the reason you struggle with lust and temptation is because the old man
is present listen brethren every time you sin remind yourself oh it's the old man it's still
here that old man Jesus wants me to get rid of that old man Jesus says he wants me to get rid
of that thing right and live in the new man live after Jesus Christ get rid of the trash understand
that former man that former man that you have the old man is trash in comparison to the new man in
comparison to the new life that Jesus Christ has given you it's trash you've got to get rid of that
old man I'm going to read to you from Colossians 3 8 but now you also put off all these anger wrath
malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth lie one sorry lie not one to another
seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds okay now some people misunderstand
salvation they think as soon as you are saved the old man is gone that automatically you're
just going to live right okay the idea that you've just jumped from there to there no okay if you
automatically lived right then you wouldn't need these verses telling you to put off these things
right I mean it's written to the Colossian church the church in Colosseum these are believers these
are believers in Jesus Christ they're being written a letter by the apostle Paul and Paul
is telling these believers look you got to put off these things you're still struggling with
these same things what were they again it said there anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy
communication out of your mouth you know it takes time I realize and I've seen this in church where
someone who has filthy mouth you know someone that that speaks despicable things they get into church
they got they got saved they get into church and sometimes it still slips you know they still
struggle with it and you know you got to understand it takes time and those same people I see after a
few years after a few months they finally got that filthy communication out of their mouth it's because
they're so used to saying those words they're so used to speaking that way and they don't realize
that it that you know it's not the right way of speaking they're so naturally used to it but they
require time to get over that you know everybody requires time to get past their sins and this is
what I mentioned in the sermon this morning and I'm you know I don't want to see this in my church
where you go up to another brother and sister in the Lord and tell them that they're living
wrongly that they're in sin yet they're in sin but so are you again we're all at different stages in
our Christian life we're all on this plan to live righteously and be like Jesus we're all trying to
run that race we're all trying to walk that path but some are behind some are ahead some
have been saved longer hey but just because you've been saved longer doesn't mean you're ahead in the
path you could be saved and never really try to live righteously or godly you know you need to
get rid of the trash in order for you to be successful in your plan and listen I you know
I really want to drive this home just because you know somebody in this church is in sin that's no
surprise to me you don't have to come to me and tell me someone's in sin now unless it's those
sins that we see in 1st Corinthians 5 where that person is required to be kicked out of church
right like drunkenness like fornication like extortion those kinds of sins yeah at that point
yeah let me know but listen when it comes to someone's daily living if they're living
you know after the world they're living like the world I don't need to know about it I know they
live like that I know some I know all of us struggle with sin we still have that old man
that we're trying to get rid of the trash okay it's no surprise to me I don't need to know about
everybody's dirty laundry you know I want to think the best of people I want to be thinking
everybody's trying to serve the lord listen you clean up your life and if you're a parent you
clean up the lives of your children you focus there and let other people focus on their walk
with the lord it's not your job to point them out okay I don't even I don't even go even as a pastor
I don't even go into someone's house and tell them how they should live my job is to preach
the bible okay that's my job preach the bible and hope that the words of god will you know motivate
people to live christ-like that's my job but that's it I preach here I hope you go and change
whatever you need to change but I'm not going to go to a house and tell you this is something you
need to change okay I'm just going to preach the word of god without compromise that's my job
all right so the first three things were number one have a basic plan number two sort out the
simple things first number three throw out the trash now there is something else when it comes to
well I kind of thought about listening this under trash but it is its own separate thing
okay please go to hebrews chapter 12 hebrews chapter 12 for me
and we looked at this passage with the men on wednesday on saturday
with the mountain climb that we did hebrews chapter 12
but the next lesson that I've learned in packing is that clutter is a secret intruder
clutter is a secret intruder this is not necessarily trash this is not necessarily rubbish
this isn't necessarily sinful okay but it's just things that you slowly add to your life
things that you know you buy this item you buy here you know we go several years we keep adding
certain things to our house you know to our life you know kids they buy you know they get birthday
presents christmas presents or whatever it is that they're celebrating you know eventually your house
is full of clutter but it's not like you went out and tried to clutter up your house it's just
slowly just a little item here a little item there you know I pulled out one of my drawers
and my bedside tables all these papers everywhere it's like what are these papers I don't even know
anymore it's not that it's it's not it wasn't necessarily trash some of those documents were
important it's just it was clutter you know I had built up I was like one day I'll need that
piece of paper one day I'll need to go back and check what that is or what that was for okay
but clutter is a secret intruder okay hebrews chapter 12 in verse number one
so clutter is not necessarily wrong it's just distracting it's just distracting it just takes
up space okay hebrew chapter 12 verse number one we're foreseen we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight every weight now this every weight
is not sin because lay up aside every weight and then it says and the sin which doth easily beset
us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us and so the sin which doth easily
beset us is obviously the trash but then we also have every weight we have weights in our life that
are not sinful and this is just clutter okay it's like trying to run a race and you put weights on
your legs you know you put you put weights on your arms you put weights on your body it's not going
to allow you to run the race effectively you might run the race you still might be on that trajectory
but you're not going to be able to accomplish as much if you didn't get rid of those weights
and so those weights that clutter are not sinful things but they're just distracting things the
things of this world that are out there that you might enjoy again not necessarily sinful but it
stops you prevents you it distracts you from running the race with all your mights and you
know when it comes to clutter it's just it's amazing how it builds up you know we're going
through and we're looking at you know we had all these mugs the only people that really drink tea
and coffee in my house is me and my wife so we only really need two mugs but we're going through
it's like man it's like what's that 20 mugs or something we just had all these mugs because
it's sort of like the idea you know um you know the kids might buy you a father's day present
you know with a father's day mug and then a mother's day mug but then this happens every
year right and before you know you got all these mugs it's like well we're the only two that drink
anything that's all this kind of it's not sinful it's not wrong like i said it's not trash but it's
just stuff that takes up space you know those cabinets could have been used for other things
rather than you know all the clutter that gets built up over time and what you'll find in your
christian life you will have clutter in your life now again it's not necessarily that you have to
uh you know not enjoy life and not have your hobbies listen some of your hobbies can be
clutter some of your hobbies can be a weight all right you know the you know you want to say well
what are things that might uh you know what are some of the weights that might be stopping me in
my race well number one if you're unable to go to church because you've got some other project to
accomplish hey that's a weight that's stopping you from doing something for the lord you know if
instead of going soloing you rather do something else you know that's stopping that's a weight
that you need to cast away to run the race you know if if you're not reading your bible because
you'd rather watch a television show or or read some other book okay maybe that thing in itself
is not sinful but it's stopping you running the race that's clutter that's stuff that you've built
up in your life and it's stopping you from being effective in the race you got to get
rid of that clutter you got to get rid of that clutter now please go to uh romans chapter 12
romans chapter 12 and verse number one romans chapter 12 and verse number one
while you're turning there i'm going to read to you from second timothy chapter two verse number
four which says no man that warth now we are commanded to go to war we are soldiers of jesus
christ we are in a spiritual war so this is for all of us but no man that warth entangle himself
with the affairs of this life that he may please him who have chosen him to be a soldier okay so
you can in your christian life entangle yourself with the things of this world again these aren't
necessarily sinful things it's just things that are stopping you from being an effective soldier
stopping you from serving the lord okay you need to cast aside these weights these entanglements
with the world before we read romans chapter 12 um one great word of advice that i received from
my very first ifb pastor you know i remember where i wanted to get serious with the lord i've
been saved you know saved from the age of four but i only really wanted to get serious you know when
i got about 20 when i really wanted to live for the lord and learn and the bible that took many
years to develop and so in my life i had uh you know movies just different things just different
forms of entertainment that i had and i looked at it and i was like i didn't know should i get rid
of this stuff because like i'm just i'm sort of starting to learn now i'm starting to learn what
it is like to be you know i was trying to go from zero to 100 straight away you know and you're
trying to you know get rid of everything that might be stopping you from serving the lord and
i remember going up to my pastor because i didn't know whether i should get rid of certain things
and i asked him you know i've got this i've got that you know is this a sin are these sinful
things and uh should i get rid of them and he said to me look what you're telling me they're
not necessarily sinful things but this is the word of advice he gave me and to me it's been
the best thing he goes when in doubt throw it out okay when in doubt throw it out he says look if
you end up throwing it out and later on you realize hey you know what that wasn't really
a sinful thing or that wasn't something stopping me because you can just go back and get it later
okay but you'd rather throw that thing out and you know i hear sometimes stories of people
different people for example you know they might have a collection of of uh you know uh of music
you know rock music or something you know a music that definitely does not please the lord you know
they built an album after album after that well these days it's all on mp3 right it's all on your
device but before you know back in the days you'd have your records you have your cds all this stuff
right and it's like well i want to live for god now i realize this music does not uh please god
in fact it's sometimes it's music even blasphemes god i need to get it rid of it you know get rid
of it out of my life you know and so you they get rid of it but then they don't really chuck
it out they just put in a box somewhere you know somewhere in the house in some corner you know
just in case but what happens once you put it aside like that you'll be tempted you know you'll
always be tempted because you've got that old man the old man who likes that music this is why you
go to the shops and and the music's playing in the shops you go bowling and the music's playing
in the bowling and all of a sudden you're singing the lyrics why because the old man loved it and
you put yourself in that position again where it's being brought back to your remembrance
listen when in doubt just chuck it out get rid of it it's been the best it's been the best advice
that i got it's one of like one of the first advices i got from my pastor and i still live by
that today when in doubt just chuck it out okay and so christina comes to me sometimes should we
keep this we're packing right should we keep this i'm like just chuck it out if you're gonna ask me
should we keep this just throw it out okay and if sometime later we find we really need it we can
just go back and buy it again i guess if it's that important okay but you always have this mentality
with clutter that one day one day i'm gonna need it later all right i'm gonna need it sometime but
you realize you know when we moved here three years ago we still have boxes in the garage
that we've not opened that's clutter you know we're just like we probably need it one day
three years later oh we still forgot about this box it's still there you know that's something
that should have just been thrown out and so this is uh the next lesson lesson number four
uh clutter is a secret intruder now going to turn to romans chapter 12 romans chapter 12 verse number
one the bible reads i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service what
does god expect from you just a reasonable service and what is that reasonable service
that you would present your body a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto god how do we
do this well verse number two answers it verse number two and be not conformed to this world
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of god listen the process we're going through is a uh what is it
it says uh a renewing of your mind okay renewing of your mind so before you got saved
okay you you've got a certain way to live you you've used certain
systems and uh you know philosophies of life and and uh you've got a certain way of thinking about
things you know maybe you've got a feminist worldview you know or you've got uh maybe you
came from that position where you thought abortion was okay in certain circumstances you know you
you're fooled into thinking that the baby never wasn't a real baby in the womb or something all
right and it didn't feel any pain wasn't a real life no these are these are things or maybe you've
come from an understanding you thought you know you believed in evolution you believe that you
know we're just evolved species and and these are things that have been taught to us and and today
our children like us i preached this morning have been taught that you know the lgbt homosexuality
just a normal lifestyle you know the world is is is is is it's confusing us you know it's
brainwashing us it's leading us away from understanding the bible okay and so we're
commanded to renew our minds you know our minds weren't right and then it needs to be changed it
needs to be changed it says you renewed uh the renewal of your mind that you may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of god so what you have to do once you are saved
you know you've got to realize you've got all this stuff you've got all this clutter of your mind
okay you you can't think clearly and whatever it is that you do you need to take that and prove it
and say god is this acceptable to you is this in the will of god you know maybe in the past you
were used to partying that up going clubbing you know getting drunk off your face you know and you
get saved you may not necessarily know what all your sins are and and next time your friends
invite you to that you're like lord is this i'm going to prove this is this acceptable to you
is this your will for me and when you find it no i'm going to get rid of that that's not that's
all right i need to renew my mind you know you take entertainment that you once enjoyed and you
take it and say lord is this is this pleasing is this according to your will is this what you want
me to live by you know you got to take every little thing and examine it through the lens
of the bible does this please god okay when in doubt just chuck it out though okay when in doubt
just chuck it out but we've got to be renewed in our mind we've got a lot of clutter in our brains
you know even today even though i've been saved i've been brought up in a christian home
you know even though i've been going to church almost my whole life even though i'm a pastor
and i've had several years of christian maturity i guarantee you there are still thoughts little
things that i have in my mind that i haven't fully submitted to christ that i haven't fully
gone to god and say god is this acceptable to you you know so this is a process that we need to
go through we need to get rid of the clutter the clutter of our mind as well all right can you
please actually know you're in romans 12 just stay there the last point that i have let me go through
the four points so far number one it was uh lessons that i've learned from packing number
one have a basic plan number two sort out the simple things first number three throw out the
trash number four clutter is a secret intruder and number four i've learned that packing requires
a team effort okay packing requires a team effort you know if it not for my uh three uh older sons
and and isabel as well if we're not for my older children packing would have required a lot more
of my time okay now when we first moved up here a lot of my kids were a little young so i was the
main one sitting up the beds you know uh doing a lot of that heavy lifting well my boys have
got them a little bit bigger now over the last three years and guess what i've been getting them
to do take down the beds all right learn grab the tools grab the screwdriver grab whatever it is
that you need you know take down the beds break things down let's take it to the tip you know a
lot of the heavy lifting has been recently been done by by my children what a blessing what a
blessing that means i can be focused on other things that need to get done and so what i
realize with packing especially when you've got a larger family is that it requires a team effort
for you to uh do it uh well to do it quickly the more hands you've got on deck the better and that's
why just another reminder man i need you that day okay i need a team effort to get rid of that dryer
that washing machine that fridge and those couches get yourselves ready for that big day okay that's
not going to be the big day if everyone's helping out okay if we've got a team effort we'll make it
easy now i'm going to read to you from ecclesiastes 4 9 which says two are better than one because
they have a good reward for their labor i was saying that if you have two people you can
accomplish more with two obviously then we've won okay now you can have one person doing a work
another person doing another work but still if you get them working together if you get an effective
team that the the team of two together can do more than one by himself and one by himself
okay we can do more with one verse number 10 says for if they fall the one will lift up his fellow
but woe to him that is alone when he fall off for he hath not another to help him up
and i this is why it's so important now there are times that i do go out doors of soul winning by
myself but those are rare occasions you know you should always go with a partner two are better
than one if you fall if something happens to you you've got someone else there to help you out
you know if you get a dog attack or something there's someone else to fight off that dog
you know someone makes a false accusation about you you know you've trespassed on their property
or whatever you know but you've got someone you've got another witness you've got someone else there
to help you out all right what does it say it says in verse number 11 again if two lie together
then they have heat but how can one be warm alone so two husband and wife in a bed you can have
heat right verse number 12 and if one prevail against him two shall withstand him and a three
fold cord is not quickly broken so if one is attacked hey two will withstand the attacker
and if you've got three a three-fold cord it's not easily broken the more people you have the
greater team you have the more effective the more protection that you can have the more you can
accomplish together okay but packing requires a team effort now this is why church is so important
so important because this is where the team effort is this is where it should be now look we've got
our homes we should make our families a team okay make our families a team in serving the lord
okay instead of you just being the only one serving god hey get your kids involved get
your family involved do it together do projects together have fun together have a team together
that's great that's a great team to have and a family unit is a great team to have to serve the
lord but even a greater team the more you have the more you can do is come into church with
other like-minded believers other brothers and sisters in the lord coming together and we come
and do the work of god together hey we can motivate one another we can provoke one another
unto love and good works you know there are too many online christians living in their mother's
basement living to listen into online preaching and thinking that they're accomplishing great
things for god just because i sit there listening to sermons you know and maybe go on social media
and attack people like that's not you're not accomplishing anything okay the work that we do
in the house of god when we're together listen yes i preached a bible but i wouldn't be able
to preach if it wasn't for you guys okay you have to preach to people and listen we serve
one another this is the way i serve you guys have different ways that you can serve one another
church is a team effort and listen we get out soul winning you know some just just having
other people going soul winning encourages you to get out there as well and say well if brother
so-and-so's doing it i should be out there doing it you know if this person's out there hey he's
only been saved for what six months and he's out there preaching the gospel i've been saved for
20 years and i'm still not doing it that's going to provoke you to get out there requires a team
effort it encourages you to do that job all right packing requires a team effort accomplishing
something requires a team effort i'll read to you from psalm 133 verse 1 it says behold how good and
how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity in unity now this is one of the challenges
of a church because as i said we all different backgrounds different thoughts we haven't all
renewed our minds some of us are still transformed or conformed to the to the world right and some
people get offended when people are a little bit differently they think differently or whatever
like that but it's a beautiful thing it's good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity
you know i would love nothing more for but for this church to always be unified to always be
together and whenever little things come up little disagreements and little arguments come up
that it gets quickly sorted so we can continue just living in unity continue serving in unity
we need to do these things together brethren you know jesus came again he purchased the church with
his own blood he came to establish the new testament church church means corrugation the
assembly not a building but the people we're here to be a team to work together to encourage one
another you're in romans chapter 12 look at verse number three romans chapter 12 and verse number
three for i say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly according as god have dealt to every
man the measure of faith so god has dealt to every man god has given every person here a measure of
you all have been given by god a certain measure okay now when you have this measure of faith again
it says uh not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think think soberly god has
given me this faith god has given me this gift this way that i can serve the church how can i
put this into place okay verse number four for we sorry for as we have many members in one body
and speaking about our physical body we have our hands our arms our elbows shoulders heads knees
and toes knees and toes knees and toes we've got all that right we've got the our hips we've got
our spine we've got eyes we've got a mouth we've got a nose we've all got different members in this
body all right so let's keep going for as we have many members in one body and all members have not
the same office okay so your hand doesn't do what your nose does your ear doesn't do what your feet
do all right they all have a different office so we be many are one body in christ and everyone
members one of another not only are we members of a local church we're members one of another in
order for this church to function we all have to be working together working together if we had no
song leader this afternoon all right we would be we'd be hey what's the song we need to function
we need the man out there right we haven't got some reading the bible we need someone to read
the bible if we didn't have someone cleaning the church it'd be a mess you know everybody needs
to chip in and do something okay if we weren't so winning we're not doing the first works that
god has given us to do we all need to function in the measure of faith that god has given us
and then it says here in verse number six having then gifts so that's the measure of faith that's
been given to us having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us
whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proper proportion of faith or ministry let us wait
on our ministry that's service serving or he that teacheth on teaching or he that exhorteth that's
encouraging on exhortation you know some of you have the gift of exhortation some of you have a
gift of just encouraging other brothers in the lord that might be all you get given by god but
that's your task then if that's all you have i can encourage my brethren then you better use it and
go encourage a brethren you know some people that i talk to in church and after i talk to him i just
feel uplifted why because i have that gift of exhortation and says he that giveth let him do
it with simplicity so even giving to the local church is something that we all have different
measures of faith in he that ruleth with diligence and he that show mercy with cheerfulness let love
be without dissimulation dissimulation it says don't let your love be fake okay don't let it be
like a like a simulator that's the dissimulation okay that's got to be the real thing not just a
simulator abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good and so the church the service that
we ought to do for god in these new testament times is requires a team effort all of us
working together never take the attitude that new life baptist church oh that's pastor kevin's
church hey what church do you go to pastor kevin's church no what church do you go to
new life baptist church that's my church that's what you should be thinking about it this is
my church it's not just this person's church or that person's church you've got to take the
attitude this is my church this is my team i'm part of this body i'm a i'm a member in this body
i'm a member one to another i'm important i'm you know i'm i'm required in this church to function
if we're missing people if people are not in church and not serving in church we're not
functioning properly we're like a disabled person that can't walk we're missing the foot we can't
walk if we're missing the eyes we can't see everybody is important to make this church
function you know it requires a team effort so let me just go through those points one more time
lessons that i've learned from packing number one have a basic plan number two sort out the simple
things first number three throw out the trash number four clutter is a secret intruder and
number five it requires a team effort let's pray