Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Number 411.
Hold the fort.
Again, that's song number 411.
Hold the fort.
Reinforcements now appearing.
Victory is nigh.
Hold the fort for I am coming.
Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven.
By thy grace we will.
See the mighty host advancing.
Satan leading on.
Mighty men around us falling.
Courage almost gone.
Hold the fort for I am coming.
Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven.
By thy grace we will.
See the glorious banner waving.
Hear the trumpet blow.
In our leader's name we'll triumph over every foe.
Hold the fort for I am coming.
Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven.
By thy grace we will.
Fierce and long the battle rages,
but our help is near.
Onward comes our great commander.
Cheer, my comrades, cheer.
Hold the fort for I am coming.
Jesus, signal still.
Wave the answer back to heaven.
By thy grace we will.
All right, let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father God, thank you for allowing us to be back here this evening. Thank you for this church,
and I just pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with the Holy Ghost so he can preach your word to us,
and I just pray you bless the service and help us to glorify you and that it all be done
for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.
Psalm 15, turn to your white handouts to Psalm 15,
or you could turn to your Bibles to Psalm 15.
Psalm 15.
Lord who shall
abide in thy tabernacle
who shall dwell in
thy holy new
Lord who shall abide in
thy tabernacle
who shall dwell in
thy holy new
He that walketh up rightly
and worketh righteousness
and speaketh the truth
in his heart. He that walketh
up rightly and worketh
righteousness and speaketh
the truth in his heart. He
that backbiteth not with
his tongue nor do with
evil to his neighbor
nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor. He
that backbiteth not with his
tongue in whose eyes a vile
person is content
but he honoreth them that fear
the Lord. In whose eyes
a vile person is content
but he honoreth them
that fear the Lord. He that
swear it to his own hurt and change
it not, he that put it not
out his money to usury
he that swear it to his own hurt
and change it not, he that
put it not out his money
to usury nor taketh
reward against the innocent
he that doeth these things
shall never be moved nor
taketh reward against
the innocent he that doeth these
things shall never be moved
nor who shall abide in
the tabernacle
who shall dwell in the Holy
Hill.
Amen, thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
It's hard to find a church where you can sing against usury but you know, praise the
Lord you can come here and we'll sing the Bible. If you didn't get a bulletin you can lift up
your hand real quick and we'll get a bulletin
in your hand. On the inside we have our service and soul winning times.
One thing to note, Brother David Negara on Saturday morning is going to try and do a
breakfast at 9am just for those soul winners that want to come out.
Please just let him know if you'd like to
participate in that. Also we have our church stats
down below. I'm going to get a count for some soul winning for the last
few days. Is there anything to report from Thursday?
Seven from your group? Okay.
Anything else? What about Friday? Anything on Friday by
chance? One for Friday, another one for Friday.
Two for Friday. What about Saturday? Was there anything on Saturday?
Three for Saturday.
And then what about today?
I don't think I even got the church band numbers so I know we had
three, six,
ten, eleven, twelve, sixteen,
seventeen. Alright. Looks like seventeen for today. Keep
with the great work on soul winning. And also we have our
stats there below. Keep up with the soul winning.
And on the right we have on the right our list of expecting ladies.
Please keep all of them in your prayers. We have several women there mentioned.
Also we have our prayer list. Several people to be praying for
as well. If you have any other prayer requests you can always fill out a communications
card. You can ask an usher for one if you need one. You can put it in the offering
plate. You can also mark if it's a public or private prayer request
as well. Or if you just want to email us.
SteadVest Baptist KJV just put a prayer request in the title
of your email. On the back we have our events. We have a
Ardmore, Oklahoma Soul Winning Marathon sign up sheet over here on the
cabinet. So please make sure to sign up. That way we can prepare all the meals
accordingly. Because if you don't sign up
then it's hard for us to plan accurately for food and everything like that. So
if you are planning on coming please go ahead and fill out that sheet.
It has a couple questions as far as if you want to
basically bum a ride or if you can give a ride. And then just
please put how many people are coming in your party. And then also we have
a couple other events. And so that's pretty much all I have for announcements.
Let's go to our third song 439, Count Your Blessings.
Brother Alberto is going to lead us.
Song number 439, Count Your Blessings.
Song number 439. 439.
Song number 439.
When upon life's billows you are tempest
tossed, when are you discouraged thinking
all is lost? Count your many blessings
name them one by one and it will
surprise you what the Lord had done.
Count your blessings name them one by one.
Count your blessings see what God
had done. Count your blessings
name them one by one.
Count your many blessings see what God had done.
Are you ever burdened with a load
of care? Does a cross seem heavy
you are called to bear? Count your
many blessings every doubt will fly
and you will be singing as the days go by.
Count your blessings name them one
by one. Count your blessings
see what God had done. Count
your blessings name them one by
one. Count your many blessings see
what God had done. When you
look at others with their lands and gold
think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold.
Count your many blessings money
cannot buy. Your reward in
heaven or your home on high.
Count your blessings name them one by one.
Count your blessings see what God
had done. Count your blessings
name them one by one.
Count your many blessings see what God had
done. So amid the conflict with
their great or small do not be
discouraged God is overhauled.
Count your many blessings angels will
attain. Help and comfort give you to your
journeys and count your
blessings name them one by one. Count
your blessings see what God had done.
Count your blessings name
them one by one. Count your many
blessings see what God had done.
As the offering plates are being passed around please turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 5.
Luke chapter 5.
The Bible reads,
And it came to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the
word of God, he stood by the lake of Getcenerate and saw two ships
standing by the lake, but the fishermen were gone out of them and were
rushing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and
prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land, and he sat down
and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he
had left speaking he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep
and let down your nets for a draw. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless
at thy word I will let down the net.
And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes
and their net break, and they beckoned unto their partners which were in
the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled
both the ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter
saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished,
and all that were with him at the draught of the fishes which they had taken,
and so was also James and John the sons of Zebedee, which were
partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not,
from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had
brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. And it came to pass
when he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing
Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou
wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand
and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean.
And immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he charged him
to tell no man, but go, and show thyself to the priest, and offer for
thy cleansing according as Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.
But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him, and great multitudes
came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. And it came to pass
on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting
by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem,
and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.
And behold, men brought in a bed, a man,
which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means to bring him in,
and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by
what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon
the housetop, and led him down through the tiling with his couch
into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith,
he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which
speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?
But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them,
What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier to say, Thy sins
be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk, but that ye may know
that the Son of Man hath power upon earth to forgive sins,
he said unto the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, Arise,
and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. And immediately
he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay,
and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed,
and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen
strange things today. And after these things he went forth, and saw
a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom, and he
said unto him, Follow me. And he left all, rose up,
and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house,
and there was a great company of publicans and of others that
sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples,
saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need
not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to
call the righteous but sinners to repentance. And they said unto him,
Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise the disciples
of the Pharisees but thine eat and drink? And he said unto them,
Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with
them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from
them, and then shall they fast in those days. And he spake also
a parable unto them. No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old,
if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece
that was taken out of the new agreeeth not with the old. And no man putteth
new wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles
and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine
must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved.
No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth the new,
for he saith, The old is better. Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this church. Thank you for all the souls that were won this afternoon. Please, Lord,
fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and allow him to preach boldly your word that we may be edified
in the glory of your son Jesus Christ. We pray. Amen.
Amen. Looking back at verse number four, Luke chapter
five, verse number four, the Bible reads, Now when he had left
speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out
into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
And Simon answering, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night,
and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I will
let down the net. And when they had this done,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break,
and they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both the ships, so that
they began to sink. And when Simon Peter saw it,
he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
Now this is a really interesting story. We have Jesus Christ is coming
unto Simon Peter, and the Bible makes it clear that they had
fished all night long, and they caught nothing.
But then whenever the Lord comes unto Peter, he's telling him, Hey, go back out,
and this time cast your net on the right side, and he's like
thinking, No, this is not going to work, I don't agree.
But because the Lord told him to do it, he's just going to do it anyways.
And he does it, and they bring in this great multitude of all these fish,
and it's more than they can even bring in. There's just so many that
are coming in. But I love Peter's response here, because
notice what his initial response is after seeing this miracle.
He fell down at Jesus' knees in verse 8 again, and he says, Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
One of the things you have to understand about the Bible, and you have to understand about the Bible's characters,
as they saw themselves, they did not look
at themselves as some great man. How does Peter view himself
a sinful man? A sinful man.
And that's really the title of my sermon this evening, is this, A Sinful Man.
Peter's view of himself as a sinful man, and here's the thing,
God uses sinful men.
You know he doesn't use anybody that's perfect? Because there isn't anybody that's perfect.
He uses people that are sinful. Jesus went and found some
sinful men, Peter, and he's going to use him. Now here's the thing, obviously
Peter is someone who believes in the Lord, Peter is going to
end up being used as a great person of God. But when God found him, what is
Peter's own view of himself? Someone who's sinful.
Someone who's made mistakes. Someone who's not worthy to be used
of God, or to follow in God's footsteps, or to
do great miracles by the power of God. He looks at himself as someone
that's inadequate, someone that's not ready
for the job, or someone who's not worthy or deserving of this job.
And here's the reality, none of us are worthy, none of us are
deserving, no one has arrived, everyone is sinful,
and in fact, here's the thing, throughout the Bible, some of the
greatest men of the Bible are very sinful.
And obviously all of them are. Some of them we don't know
exactly what their problems were, some people are more highlighted
as being more sinful than others, but here's the same thing throughout the Bible,
they're all sinful. But here's the thing, a sinful man can still be
used by God. Look at verse number 9.
And all that were with him at the drop of
the fishes which they had taken, and so was also James and John
the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon, and Jesus said
unto Simon, Fear not! From henceforth
thou shalt catch men. So Peter says, I'm sinful.
Like, depart from me, don't have anything to do with me, don't use me,
I'm not your guy, and what is Jesus' response? Fear not!
And he says, From henceforth thou shalt catch men.
So you know what that tells me, and I have three points this evening, is this,
that a sinful man can be a soul winner.
Hey, a sinful man can be a soul winner. You say, well you don't know what I've done.
I don't care, you can still be a soul winner. No matter what you've done as far as your
sins, you can always be a soul winner for Jesus Christ, you can always
catch men, you can always be one that goes out and preaches the
gospel of Jesus Christ. And look at verse 11,
And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed
them. You know, it should be really encouraging that Jesus Christ
finds people that are sinful, finds people that are not worthy, and
says, hey, you want to catch men? Come and follow me, and
I'll make you a fisher of men. And no matter who you are, no matter what
you've done, if you get saved, you can be a soul winner your entire life.
And we should be motivated to constantly be a soul winner
in every area of our life. Go to John chapter number 4.
No matter how backslidden you get, no matter
how much sin you're dealing with, no matter how novice, or
how far you've fallen, or no matter what state you find yourself in,
you can always be a soul winner. You can always
preach the gospel. You can always get someone saved. You can always
preach that old, old story. And I think
that a lot of people, they've screwed
up, or they've done something wrong, or they backtracked, or whatever.
And essentially, they look at the work of the Lord. They look at the call
of Jesus, and they say, depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man.
But here's the thing. That sinful man can still be a soul winner.
And that call is still from Jesus saying, fear not.
Hey, don't fear the fact that you sinned. Don't fear the fact that you've screwed up.
Don't fear the fact that you've backslidden. Don't fear the fact that you may not
be in the right place spiritually, or that you have a lot. Look, you can be a
soul winner at any point. You know when I go to the door and I knock on doors?
I don't have to give them a rundown of how spiritually great I am
at that moment. You know, whether I'm having a good week, a bad week,
if I'm backslidden, if I'm not, if I've done something wrong, or if I haven't, how
many sins I have, how many I don't, you know, it doesn't matter. I'm here.
I got the Bible. You're there. Can I preach you the gospel?
That's it. And the reality is, some of the greatest soul winners in the Bible
were very sinful people. Let me show you an example of one. John chapter 4,
look at verse 16. John chapter 4, look at verse 16.
Jesus saith unto her, go call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said,
I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, thou hast well
said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband.
In that saidest thou truly. So this woman has literally been
divorced and remarried multiple times.
Each time, according to the Bible, it's an act of
adultery. And then beyond that, after being divorced
the most recent time, she didn't even get remarried. She's just
shacking up with some dude. She's just the live-in girlfriend of some
random guy committing more fornication or adultery
or however you want to, you know, obviously, however you want to look at that.
It's kind of like both in a sense. It's really more adultery than anything, but
she's just in this really bad position, and she's lived a
very sinful life. And it's funny how Jesus even asks her.
He's like, hey, go call your husband. He knows he doesn't even have a husband.
Obviously, Jesus realizes this is a very sinful person, okay?
But it says in verse 19, the woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet. So she's like, man, you must be a prophet.
How did you know all that about me? You just met me, yet you know about my whole life story.
And for sake of time, let's skip down. Look at verse 28.
It says, Then the woman then left her water pot, and went away
into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man which told me all things
that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Then they went
out of the city, and came on him. So notice this woman, in the story,
she comes across Jesus. He addresses the fact that she's very
sinful, yet she ends up getting saved in that moment.
She asks for that living water. Jesus Christ gives it to her.
Then she just quits what she's doing. Sounds like Peter, right?
Forsake all that she had. And then she goes into the city. She tells the men,
Hey, come see a man that told me all I ever did.
He knows about every relationship I've had. I don't even know how that's possible.
And they're like, well, everybody kind of knows about you. No, I'm just kidding.
But then they come out and see,
and look what 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 ever I did. Notice this woman is a great soul winner,
but guess what? She's a sinful woman.
She's a sinful woman, and guess what? At any point in time, she can just
break out into the gospel and get many people saved. Why?
Because a sinful man can be a soul winner at any point.
I've heard some people preach weird doctrine on this. They say, Oh, you have
to be living right and right with God in order to preach
the gospel or bring forth fruit. And here's the thing. You have to
abide in the vine, but abiding in the vine means that you're saved,
number one. Number two, obviously, the more
spiritual you are, the more godly you are, the more that you're
reading your Bible and going to church and praying and reading
and studying, the more likely that you're going to be used for God,
the more likely you're going to bring forth fruit, the more you're ready to bring
forth fruit. But at the end of the day, every single vine that's attached to
Jesus Christ and every single vine that's abiding in Christ and bringing
forth fruit, let me tell you a little secret. It's a sinful man.
It's a sinful woman.
There's no one that's like, Well, you know what? I'm perfect, actually, by the way.
No. God uses sinful people, and look, a sinful man
can always be a soul winner. Go to Mark chapter number two.
I don't care what you've done. I don't care where you're at in life.
You can always be a soul winner.
I've heard about people living a pretty backslidden life or kind of
getting out of church or not being very spiritual, but then they run
into a situation. They're around a friend. They're around somebody, and they're like, I just felt compelled
to give them the gospel, and I did, and I got them saved. I'm not going to be like, Well,
I don't know. You weren't in church recently.
Look, if you're saved, you can get someone saved, and you can decide
to be spiritual at any point in your life, and that's a blessing,
isn't it? Isn't it a blessing that you can literally have
been backslidden or been sinful or done wrong, yet you can still be used by God
just the next moment? Just any moment that you decide to start serving God
again, you can just get right back in the fight. There's plenty of other things in your life where
if you kind of quit or you stop doing it, you can't get back
to doing it. Soul wedding to me is like riding a bike. If you don't ride a bike
for ten years, you can still hop on and probably go through,
but there's some activities, there's some things where if you kind of quit or you don't
do it for a long time, you can't get back on that bike, essentially.
You quit playing piano. You quit playing golf. You quit
playing certain things. You can't just get right back into it.
You can't just do it with the same enthusiasm or people that
quit some kind of a career or they quit some kind of activity
that they've done. They can't necessarily just come right back if they want to
because they've forsaken it, but here's the thing.
You can serve the Lord at will. You're in the military,
you can go out and fight, but if you quit the military, you can't just
the next day fight if you want to. But here's the thing, in the Lord's army,
even if you had quit for a while, even if you'd gotten backslidden, even if you stopped,
you can get in the fight the next day. You can get in the fight whenever you'd like to.
There's a constant battle raging and you're a soldier no matter what
and here's the thing, God uses sinful men.
Mark chapter 2, look at verse 14.
Now here's the thing, when we think about the disciples,
yeah, we like to think of a lot of them as being great people or maybe being saved
or godly, but here's the thing, he's finding a tax collector.
Okay, Levi is Matthew in the Bible. He's getting this
tax collector who's not doing things right most
likely, who's probably committing some kind of sins just
through his career, let alone his own personal life, but notice who
Jesus comes and asks to follow him. Someone that's currently
not doing right, someone who's currently not serving him, someone who's
currently potentially very backslidden, and he says, hey,
why don't you just come and follow me? And he just gives it up and just starts following Christ.
But look, Jesus is finding sinful men to do his bidding.
He goes unto Peter, follow me, depart from me Lord, I'm a sinful man.
That was his attitude, but here's the thing, Jesus said what? Fear not.
Don't fear to serve God at any point in your life.
I've heard people say this. I've heard, hey, you want to go out
soul winning? No, I don't know. I don't know if I'm right with God this week or I've been kind
of sinful this week or I've kind of been out of it. It's like, okay,
well it sounds like you need to get in. Fear not.
Hey, at worst you can be a silent partner.
How hard is it to be a silent partner? Fear not.
You don't have to talk. You just have to be a warm body.
You just have to be present. It's not even that hard.
And here's the thing, we need to be encouraged by the fact that God uses
sinners and calls us out of our sin to continue
serving him no matter where you find yourself. Go to Isaiah chapter number 6.
Isaiah chapter number 6. And you'll be hard pressed to find me a man in the Bible
that's used by God that isn't sinful.
At least expressly mentioned in the Bible. There's a couple
people in the Bible that it's hard to find a sin that's really attached to them. You know, Daniel's
a pretty good guy. Job the Bible says
over and over that he didn't sin and things like that. But some of the greatest
people in the Bible that we think of, you can find all kinds of sins that these people did.
And you can find all kinds of sinful conditions that they're in. And notice God still uses them,
doesn't he? God still blesses them and still is
able to give them grace and be long suffering with them and be merciful to them.
Look at Isaiah chapter 6, look at verse 1.
And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, Woe is me! For I am
undone, because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips. For mine eyes have seen the king,
the Lord of hosts. We have the great book of Isaiah.
66 chapters
in this book. I mean, one of the longest books of the Bible
is in the major prophets. And yet, what is
his attitude when he sees the Lord? What is his attitude when
he has this vision? He calls himself as one, he said, Woe is me!
He's like, I am of unclean lips. Why
would God want to use someone like me when I have unclean lips
and I dwell amidst these people that are unclean people
Isn't it the same attitude as Peter?
Depart from me, Lord, I am a sinful man.
Yet, what does the Bible say in verse number 6?
Then said I, Here am I! Send me!
Now here's the question. Who is going? A sinful man.
But obviously, what happened? He was purged by the Lord.
He was purged by the blood. And you know, the Bible talks about in Hebrews chapter
number 4 that we should have boldness to come under the throne of what?
Grace. Now here's the thing. Grace is something you don't deserve.
Grace implies something that you screwed up. Yet, we should have boldness
to come under that throne of grace to realize we can still be used by God
because of what? His grace. Because of his mercy.
Because of his long suffering. And when we get that realization
of, Oh, my iniquity's been purged. Oh, I've been claimed by the Lord.
Even though I'm sinful, even though I've done wrong
things, even though I have problems, I've been purged by the Lord.
And then when the Lord says, Who am I going to send? You can say, Here am I, Lord. Send me!
Yet, there's a lot of men today. They say, Oh, I can't be used by God
because I'm sinful. But here's the thing.
That's just because you don't understand the mercy that God offers you through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Because number one, a sinful man can be a soul winner.
But here's another thing that a sinful man, or a man of unclean lips
can be used to do. Be a preacher.
You can be a preacher. Any man can be a preacher.
Now when I say preacher, I'm not saying pastor. I'm saying preacher.
Hey, I have lots of guys that preach for me and preach the word of God.
And there's lots of opportunities to preach all the time.
And a man of unclean lips can still be a preacher. And don't let the fact,
Well, I'm a sinful man. Okay. Well, guess what?
Your iniquity's been purged by the Lord. You can still be a preacher.
We have lots of guys that preach for us in our Spanish service.
We're constantly using guys. And guess what? I know this about all of them. They're all sinful men.
And you say, Pastor Shelley, have you been following us around? No.
I just read the Bible before.
I know what you're like. I know what I'm like. I know that we're all just sinful men in here.
But you know what? God can still use a sinful man.
Now keep your, don't keep your finger, but let's go to another place for a moment.
I'm going to explain a few things. Go to Romans, chapter number seven. Go to Romans, chapter number seven.
Now what I'm not saying is, I'm not saying that how you live your life is not important.
I'm not saying that you can just go to the bar on Saturday night and show up at church
and be the best soul winner and the best preacher
and that God's going to use you to the greatest of your ability.
What I am saying is this. You know, we shouldn't let our sinful nature,
our sinful problems stop us from serving God to our fullest.
We shouldn't look at our lives and say, well, because I've screwed up in the past
or because I'm currently screwing up, I can't serve God.
No, just go ahead and accept His grace and just go ahead and start being used
in whatever capacity that God has for you at that time.
And you know, there's some people that have committed sins or done things in their past
where it may, you know, alter exactly how they're going to be used.
But here's the thing. Are you being used by God in the capacity that He does allow you to be used in?
And you know, I believe no matter what you've done, if you're saved and you're a man in this room,
you could be a preacher. You can preach a sermon.
You can get up behind the pulpit and preach a sermon.
Now obviously, I'm not just going to let anybody do that,
but someone that's striving to, you know, read the word of God, study,
and wants to preach a sermon and is trying to be used by God,
hey, I try to give people opportunity all the time.
I try to help people fulfill that calling, and I need preachers.
I need people that aren't pastors that want to preach the Bible and want to do a good job
and want to study and want to seek the Lord.
But here's the thing that I also realize, that every single one of those men is a sinful man.
And we need to constantly seek for His grace.
And Paul also realizes that he's a sinful man.
Look at Romans 7, verse 21.
I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
but I see another law on my members warring against the law of my mind
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind I myself share the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Now the Bible explains something kind of deep here,
but it's very simple in the fact that you have two natures inside of you if you're saved.
You have the flesh and you have the new man. You have the spiritual man.
And that old man, or that flesh, it only desires to sin.
It's a sinner. It's already damned. It's already condemned.
There's no good thing in it. He says in verse 18,
For I know that me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing.
So Paul, what is Paul's view of his flesh?
It's not very high. I mean, he's saying there's nothing good about my flesh.
There's no benefit. In fact, all the sin that's in me, it's in my flesh.
But he has another member, that inward man that's described in verse 22,
and he says in that guy I delight in the law of God.
I want to do that which is right.
And he's saying there's this constant struggle every single day, every single moment of life,
if I'm going to what? Fulfill the lust of the flesh, or if I'm going to walk in that new man.
Now this is why this works. Why does God use sinful men?
Well, in one sense he doesn't, and in another sense he does.
But you have to understand this passage to realize what I'm saying.
God doesn't use sinful men at all.
He only uses your inward man, which is not sinful at all.
The Bible makes it clear that the sin that's in you is only in your flesh,
and that's not the real you, that's the old you that will die eventually,
and you'll be clothed upon with a new body that will not desire to sin,
which is incapable of sinning. It's incapable of dying.
But while we're here in the body, it's a part of who you are, it's a part of reality.
It's a part of the infirmity of your flesh.
So the reality is, as long as you have that flesh, you will continue to do something.
It's called sin.
But you know what? God can still use you. Why?
Because at any moment you can decide to walk in that new man.
At any point you can say, you know what? I'm going to go ahead and crucify the flesh now.
I'm going to crucify what I've done and start walking in that new man.
And that new man, there's no sin, he delights after the law of God, he wants to do right.
At any point that new man can come out and start being a soul winner.
At any point that new man can come out and start being a preacher and start preaching the word of God.
And that's why God can use sinful men.
We read through the Old Testament and we look at a lot of different people in the Bible
and we say, wow, this guy kind of screwed up. This guy has a lot of problems.
Why is God using that person?
Well, here's the thing, he's using the inward man of that person.
He's using the new man of that person.
You know, a lot of Muslims or those that are in the religion of Islam,
they'll look at the men of the Bible and they'll say, oh, God wouldn't use that guy, he's too sinful.
Well, here's the thing. In a sense, it's true that God is not going to use some sinful man.
But here's the thing, he is in one sense and not in another.
Obviously, Moses is a sinful man and God uses him, but he's really using the inward man.
He's using the inward Moses, the renewed man that's saved that's inside of them.
Because obviously God, he doesn't like sin, he's not pleased with sin.
Sins obviously are approached.
But at the end of the day, since we're all sinful men, God can use us at any moment.
So whenever you screw up, yeah, you need to get that right.
You need to subdue the flesh, you need to crucify the flesh and deny the flesh.
But realize, God is still wanting to use that inward man.
He's still ready to say, okay, well guess what?
Let's start using the inward man then.
Let's start walking in the Spirit then.
Let's start crucifying that flesh then.
And you know what, you can always be a soul winner, you can always be a preacher.
So if you went to Exodus chapter number 2, go to Exodus chapter number 2.
Speaking of Moses, wouldn't you say Moses is one of the greatest men of the Bible,
one of the men that was used the most in the Bible.
He's looked to with all kinds of reverence and respect.
And in fact, pretty much all the religions, even that are pseudo-Christian, look to Moses.
Even Islam or even Judaism, they look to Moses.
And the Pharisees, they're like, we believe in Moses.
Now they were lying about it, obviously.
But they look at Moses as being this great guy.
But did you know that Moses in his flesh is not a great guy?
You say, why do you say that?
Well, look at Exodus chapter 2, look at verse number 11.
And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown,
he went out unto his brethren and looked on their burdens,
and he spied an Egyptian smiting in Hebrew, one of his brethren.
And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man,
he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
And when he went out the second day, the old two men of the Hebrews strove together,
and he said to him that did the wrong, wherefore smittest thou thy fellow?
And he said, who made thee a prince and a judge over us?
And tendest thou to kill me, as thou killedest the Egyptian?
And Moses fled and said, surely this thing is known.
Did you know that Moses is a murderer?
Now, when I go out soul winning and I talk to people,
one of the sins that they pretty much always throw in hell is a murderer.
I mean, if you say, I say, hey, this guy believes in Jesus, but he commits murder.
They're like, hell for sure.
It's just like, I mean, they're not going to give this guy a break.
I'm sure most people honestly probably don't even know that Moses is a murderer.
I bet if you ask most Christians today, you're like, hey, did you realize that Moses is a murderer?
They're like, I don't know about that.
Moses, the guy that was used by God, the guy that led all of the children of Israel
out of the wilderness was a murderer?
Yeah, he's a sinful man.
And you say, well, I've committed murder.
Well, you could still be used of God.
You could still decide to walk in the new man.
You could still decide to be a soul winner.
You could still even be a preacher.
Moses is one of the greatest men in the Bible.
He was a murderer.
Now, obviously we know the real Moses is not because everyone that was saved,
guess what? Their inward man never sins.
But you know what? That sinful flesh still causes all kinds of sins.
There's all kinds of evil in the Bible.
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter 1.
Look, when we read through the Bible, these guys screw up all the time.
Abraham, this guy screws up all the time.
This guy's constantly doing things that are wrong.
He's constantly trying to screw up the promise that God gave him.
He's saying, hey, you're supposed to have a promised seed.
And he's like, all right, Sarai, you're not my wife, you're just my sister.
He's like almost allowing his wife to commit adultery on two different occasions,
to screw up and to do wrong.
Look, Abraham's not perfect.
He ends up marrying his handmaid or his lies with his handmaid, Agar,
and as an illegitimate child trying to reconcile God's promises through a physical sense.
Look, Abraham screws up.
Abraham has mistakes.
Moses screws up.
How about Judah?
Isn't Judah kind of like a really awesome name?
People love the name of Judah.
It's really well known in the Bible.
Did you know that Judah lay with a prostitute that was his daughter-in-law?
If you told somebody, hey, I was with my daughter-in-law
and impregnated her because I thought she was a prostitute,
they would be like, are you from Kentucky?
No, I'm just kidding.
You should start making fun of New Jersey,
because did you know in New Jersey it's legal to commit incest?
It's legal.
Kentucky, it's not.
I guess they just don't enforce the law there or something.
New Jersey, it's legal.
Isn't that sick?
Isn't that gross?
But you know what?
Judah is considered a great guy, isn't he?
But was that a great moment in his life?
And I guarantee if we were to look at ourselves,
if we were to measure ourselves, if we were to say, what's our worst moment?
We'd all sound pretty bad.
We would all be like, ugh.
Sometimes it's a blessing not to be mentioned in the Bible, right?
Because your worst moments aren't recorded as well as your best moments aren't recorded.
For everyone to know, my sins are separated from me as far as the East is the West,
but some of these guys, we get to read about their sin all the time.
David.
Oops.
That was a pretty big sin that everybody gets to find out about, isn't it?
And even Solomon.
Solomon, you know, it's hard to find somebody in the Bible that wasn't greatly used by
God as much as Solomon.
I mean, Solomon, you got the Proverbs, you got Ecclesiastes.
I mean, this guy, everyone in the whole world wanted to hear him speak.
You know what?
He had his problems too.
He had a lot of sins and he had a lot of wives.
He had a lot of girlfriends.
I mean, this guy had a problem in the area of women.
Now, it explains a little bit of this.
Look at Ecclesiastes and look at verse number one.
The words of the preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem.
Now, let me ask you a question.
Who is the son of Solomon?
A preacher.
Isn't he a preacher?
What was point number one?
A sinful man can be what?
A soul winner.
Point two is a sinful man can be a what?
A preacher.
This whole passage, Ecclesiastes, my Bible says of the title, it says Ecclesiastes or
the preacher because this book of the Bible is just considered like the preacher.
This is just like an epic sermon by Solomon.
It gives kind of a life story.
It kind of gives like things that he did and he kind of is explaining his life's journey
and all the things that he's thought and a lot of things that he's done.
He's explaining that he did a lot of things that weren't right.
Look at verse number 17.
I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly.
So notice, he's not just studying things that are good, he studied things that are foolish.
Madness, folly, things that are stupid, things that are idiotic.
He gave his heart to know them, to understand them, to figure them out.
Look what it says in chapter two, verse number three.
I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine.
You know, the Bible talks about a pastor as being one that's not given to wine.
Notice Solomon saying, I gave my heart to wine.
Meaning what?
He wouldn't have been qualified to be a pastor in the New Testament.
First of all, you know, husband and one wife, that one would have been a little bit of a choke for him.
700 wives and 300 concubines.
It's like, hey Solomon, do you have one wife?
It's like, for every day?
I mean, that's crazy.
Yet, isn't he a great preacher still?
Isn't he being used by God to be a great preacher?
Even though he wouldn't necessarily be a pastor in the New Testament, he's still being used by God.
You know, a lot of the men in the Bible wouldn't have met that qualification necessarily.
Yet, they could be used by God.
They could preach the Word of God.
He even says in this, not only is he giving his heart unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom and to lay hold on folly.
And what's folly?
Folly is things that are stupid, foolish.
He's saying, like, I am laying hold on folly.
I mean, what do we think of folly today?
I mean, to me, I think of just, you know, TV shows, movies, all the things that the media has today.
It's just foolishness.
You know, it's just folly.
And he's like, I laid hold on it.
He's like, I have every movie.
I can quote every line of every movie.
And, you know, I've studied every.
I know all the music.
I know everything.
I've just studied it all out.
I've heard it all.
I saw it all.
I've done it all.
That's not right.
That's not what you should do.
That's obviously being a very simple person.
Okay?
Look at verse number 10.
And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them.
Now, that doesn't sound like a very good thing to do.
In fact, the Bible says the exact opposite.
The Bible says there are certain things you shouldn't even look at.
He's saying, anything I saw I wanted, I just acquired.
Oh, I wonder why you have 700 wives and 300 concubines.
Because every woman that he saw, he's like, I want her.
And her.
And just like any woman that he saw, he just took.
Anything that he wanted, he just took.
And, I mean, this guy is committing a lot of sin.
This guy committed a lot of sin in his life.
In fact, at the end of his life, his heart was turned away from the Lord.
His wives had turned him away from God.
He was complicit in allowing his wives to literally set up altars onto false gods.
People were burning and sacrificing their children onto false gods.
This is Solomon.
This is not just, you know, a random guy.
Imagine if we had this just in.
New IFB pastor is sacrificing children unto the devil.
Do you think anybody would reprobate him?
Do you think anybody would say he wasn't saved?
That's a pretty severe sin, isn't it?
This just in.
If this pastor has 1,000 wives and is sacrificing children unto the molech, you'd be like,
that guy's not saved.
It's Solomon.
He is saved, isn't he?
Why?
Because God uses sinful men.
Now, here's the thing.
Obviously, when Solomon's at the peak of his sinful nature, obviously, when Solomon's kind
of at the worst of the worst, he's not being greatly used of God at that point, necessarily.
But, I believe, when you study Ecclesiastes, it seems like it's kind of the end of his
life.
After he'd screwed up and did all this wrong, he finally had a moment of just clarity, and
he's like, you know what?
I can still preach the word of God and still be used by God, and God was still able to
use Solomon, even at the end, even after he'd screwed up, even after he had gone after all
this folly, after he'd made all these mistakes.
You know what I notice is a lot of people, as soon as they get a little off, they just
decide to be off forever.
Well, I missed church, or I got out of church, or I stopped soul winning, or I stopped reading
my Bible, or I stopped doing right.
They just decide to just be done.
But here's the thing.
God uses sinful men.
You can always get back into the right page.
You can always get back into soul winning.
You can always get back into preaching the word of God.
You can always get back to reading the Bible.
You can always get back into church.
You know what?
God uses sinful men, and as long as you have breath in your lungs, God can use you.
Go to Amos, chapter number seven.
I think sometimes we get offended.
The Bible talks about how a prophet's not without honor, saving his own house and his
own land.
One of the reasons why I think that's true, and this is just my personal opinion as to
why that verse ... The verse is true, but I'm just saying the reason why I think that
happens a lot of times is this.
Because the people that are closest to you, they know about your sins.
They know your problems.
They know your issues.
So then when you start serving God, they're thinking, like, who's this guy to be using?
I mean, if you knew everything that Solomon did, you'd be kind of like, why do you want
to listen to this guy?
You know?
Or, hey, if you had witnessed Moses kill someone, you might be like, why is he leading us, right?
And so whenever you're around your wife, and you're around your family, and you're around
these people, they know all your problems.
They know all your dirty laundry.
They know all your issues.
And so it's a lot harder sometimes for people to end up having respect for you because they
know that you're not perfect.
They know that you have problems.
Now, I'm not justifying that attitude.
You should have respect for the people in your life regardless of how close you are
to them.
What I am saying is this.
We should not allow that realization of being sinful to stop us from serving God.
What if Peter said, nope, I'm too sinful.
Just get away from me, Lord.
What if the woman of the well said, I'm just too sinful.
No one will want to hear the gospel from me.
I mean, I've been with all these different men.
I'm the horror of the city, right?
She could have had a bad rep.
Maybe not.
I don't know.
But I would assume if she's been with five different guys, and then she's just living
with another guy, it's probably likely a lot of people know about that.
You know, if you come to church with a different husband every week, people are going to kind
of start talking.
People are going to be like, what's going on with that person?
There's some kind of an issue here.
And I think sometimes you look at your past, and you think, well, who am I to be abused
by God?
But here's the thing.
Don't dwell on your past.
We're all sinful.
We've all screwed up.
We've all done wrong.
And I don't care if you're more or less, who cares?
Just have the confidence that you're standing in God's grace.
Have the confidence that you're standing in God's mercy.
And even if you don't have the respect of those that are closest to you, you know what?
All you should do is just serve God.
You're just here to serve the Lord.
Whether those that are closest to me ever have respect for me doesn't matter.
The only thing that matters is if God has respect for me.
And you say, well, does God respect your sin?
No.
He's not pleased with that.
But he is pleased when I decide to just turn and leaf.
The book of Ezekiel makes it clear.
Someone that's just been sinful their whole life and screwing up and doing everything
wrong, the moment that he turns, he lives.
And then the guy that was perfect, as soon as he starts screwing up, now he's condemned
to death.
And it's talking in a physical sense.
It's saying, look, God is a God of the moment of now.
Now is the day of salvation.
It's like, when do I serve God now?
It's not what did you do for me 10 years ago.
It's what are you doing for me now?
How are you acting now?
And this is how I liken it.
Children.
OK?
You don't really care what your children have been like in the past.
You only really care about what they're like now.
If they've been a perfect child their whole life, but they're throwing a fit, you're not
going to be like, well, you get a pass because you've been good in your past.
No, you're going to deal with the fit right now.
And the kid that's been a horrible kid for the first 10 years of his life, but all of
a sudden starts obeying mom and dad.
It's like, well, I'm not going to hold any of that against you.
And the same is with God.
God is not going to sit here and hold your feet to the fire.
Just get right with him.
Just turn that new leaf.
Just start walking to the new man all of a sudden.
And what's encouraging me at this message is at any point in time you can get right
with God.
At any point in time you can start being used by God and serving the Lord.
That's encouraging to me that I don't have to wait six months or a year.
It's not like, oh, I screwed up, now I have to wait a whole six months to get cleansed
and start being used by God again.
No, it can be like that.
You can get your heart right with God right now.
You can start being used by God right now.
You can start doing great things for God right now.
And you say, what's holding me back?
You deciding to walk with a new man.
But I think a lot of times it's this, it's fear.
Apart from me, Lord.
I'm a sinful man.
You're not.
Hey, I'm a man of unclean lips.
Well, just let the Lord purge you from that iniquity.
Just let the Lord settle that issue that you have.
And you're like, well, I wasn't anybody great in my past.
Well, Amos wasn't.
Look at Amos chapter 7 and look at verse number 12.
Also Amosiah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah,
and there eat bread and prophesy there.
But prophesy not again any more at Bethel, for it is the king's chapel, and it is the
king's court.
Now Amos has been preaching hard against Israel.
And the false prophets there, they don't like his message because it's not positive, because
he's calling people out.
And you know, you don't make friends by calling people out, which is FYI.
But you know, I'm not here to please men, I'm here to please God.
And my job is not to see how many friends I can get.
See how many likes I can get on Facebook.
See how many people I can make happy and pleased.
No, you're just supposed to do whatever God tells you to do, period.
And just let the chips fall where they may.
What I like about Amos is he's being rebuked and told to quit and, you know, what are you
doing?
Go back home and go preach home and don't come here.
Verse 14, then answered Amos and said to Ahaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's
son, but I was an hermit and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.
And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, go, prophesy unto
my people Israel.
Now this is what I like about him.
He was doing nothing for God, essentially.
He wasn't in the ministry, he wasn't a prophet's son, he wasn't a prophet, he wasn't someone
that was supposed to be, you know, doing this work.
He was just doing his thing, just working in the world.
And then what happens?
God says, hey, go preach for me, and he just goes and preaches for me.
Why?
Because at any point in time, a saved person can be God's preacher.
You can be a preacher, and look, you know why he picked Amos?
Because no one else is getting the job done.
You know why he picked Amos?
Because when he told Amos to go, he went, and he was going to do it.
And he's like, hey, I'm not here on my own volition.
I'm not here because it was my career.
I'm not here because God said I had to be a preacher.
You know why I'm here?
Because God said go, and I was like, okay.
And you know what?
Any man could be a preacher at any moment in time, well, I'm a sinful man, okay?
I guarantee Amos was sinful too, because there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good
and sinneth not.
You know what I like about Amos' attitude?
When God says go, he just goes.
And that he's willing to preach anything, and I mean anything.
I mean, when you're calling people out, that's one thing.
But then when you're calling them out this way, this is really intense.
Look what he says in verse 16.
Now, therefore, hear the word of the Lord.
So he's like, hey, the Lord told me to preach, and I'm going to preach.
You ready?
Thou sayest, prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of
Isaac.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord, thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and
thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line, and thou
shalt die in the polluted land, and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his
land.
I want to talk about hard preaching.
Can you imagine someone getting to your face and being like, you shouldn't preach, and
you're like, your wife's going to be a whore.
Every one of your possessions is going to be stolen and taken away from you, and you're
going to die.
What else is there to say?
I mean, that's like the worst message you could receive.
As a man, you're like, uh, that's, it's over.
He's mean.
Here's a question.
How does Amos mean?
Isn't he just, I mean, imagine a carrier pigeon came to you and gave you a message, and you're
like, that's a mean carrier pigeon.
You say someone texts you something.
That's a mean text message from my phone.
It's like, it's not the text message.
It's the message itself from the, you know, all Amos would do is just delivering the message.
People get all upset about the messenger, but here's the thing.
The messenger's job is just to deliver whatever God said.
The mean messenger is the one that won't tell you what he said.
The mean messenger is the one that won't deliver the message.
It's not about the style.
And look, obviously, I don't know how he preached this.
Does it really matter, though?
What if he said it as nice as possible?
Therefore, thus saith the Lord, thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and my sons
and my daughters shall fall by the sword.
Does it matter?
I mean, do you really care if someone's really nice about it?
Or they were mean about?
It's just the mess, it's the message that hurts, isn't it?
People like mean messages.
It's just the message that they don't really like.
I mean, they like it when they rip on whoever they hate, and they like it when they're mean
against whoever they don't, you know, want to either care about or like.
They like it when they're mean about Muslims or Islam or Mexico or their political candidate
that they don't like, which I don't know which one there is to like.
I mean, it's just silly to get mad at the tone.
And what's the point here?
The point is this, you as a sinful person can be used by God at any point, because God
doesn't care about the messenger.
He cares about the message going forth correctly.
And so at any point, you could say, well, you know what?
I'm sinful.
I screwed up.
You know what I can do?
Just say whatever God said.
And you say, well, what about my style?
Who cares about the style?
Are you just delivering the message?
You know what makes me like preaching?
The message was accurate.
You know what makes me not like preaching?
The message was not accurate.
You know what I care very little about?
How it was delivered.
How it was delivered is kind of inconsequential.
Obviously there's people that are better at delivering messages than others, but what's
the most important thing?
The message is accurate, isn't it?
Go if you would to First Timothy chapter 1, First Timothy chapter 1.
A sinful man, you can always be a soul winner.
A sinful man, you can always preach the truths of the Bible.
It's not like, well, I'm really sinful.
I can't preach the Bible.
Well, then who can?
Who's allowed to preach the truth of God's word if sinful men are not allowed to preach
it?
Look, again, it's not about the messenger.
It's about the message.
It's not about the one that's delivering it.
It's about the one that gave the message.
And when you go out and preach the gospel, look, it doesn't matter who was the one preaching
you the gospel or got you saved.
It doesn't matter who you preached to.
It's the message that we emphasize.
Now here's my third point, is this, that a sinful man can be used and he can always be
a minister.
He can always be a minister.
Look at First Timothy chapter 1 and look at verse number 12.
And I think Christ Jesus our Lord enabled me for that economy faithful putting me into
the ministry.
Now the apostle Paul was put into the ministry by the Lord and he's a minister, but look
at his attitude about himself.
Verse 13, who is before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy
because I did it ignorantly and unbelief.
Notice what Paul says.
I was a blasphemer.
I was a persecutor.
I was injurious.
But you know what?
He straightway preached Christ in the synagogues.
He was a soul winner immediately.
He was in the synagogues opening and alleging that Christ must need supper.
He was a preacher and not only that, he was a minister.
Now here's the thing.
Him saying he's put into the ministry is something very specific.
It's the fact that he's also an apostle and not all of us are going to be apostles.
But here's the thing, the ministry is not limited to being an apostle.
It's not limited to being a pastor.
It's not limited to being a deacon.
Every single one of you in this room is in the ministry.
You can minister to someone at any point.
You can love on someone.
You can help someone.
You can be a servant unto someone at any point and you know who God uses to minister to others?
Sinful men.
Screw ups.
People that have done wrong.
I mean the apostle Paul is not saying like I was just a little bit of a sinner.
He's saying like I'm like one of the worst.
Look at verse 15.
This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came in the world to save
sinners of whom I am chief.
He's saying I was the worst sinner yet I'm still in the ministry.
Meaning what?
A sinful man can be a minister.
You can help people.
You can love people.
You know this attitude of saying well I only want to be ministered to by people that are
not sinful.
This is a Pharisaical attitude.
Let me prove that.
Go to Luke chapter number seven for a moment.
Keep your finger here.
Go to Luke chapter number seven.
Look any person can minister at any point in time.
You're saved.
Minister to people.
Love on people.
Do good unto people.
And don't fear the fact that you're sinful.
You know it would have prevented this great story in the Bible.
Look at Luke chapter seven and look at verse 36.
And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him and he went into the
Pharisees house and sat down to me and behold a woman in the city which was a sinner.
Isn't that an interesting phrase in the Bible?
Which was a sinner.
When she knew that Jesus sat at me in the Pharisees house brought an alabaster box of
ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears
and did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with
the ointment.
You know who ministered unto Jesus?
A sinner.
A sinful woman.
And look obviously everybody's sinful but why is it saying that phrase?
It's because this woman is like notorious.
This woman is considered, oh she's like the worst sinner.
She's like the worst person.
But then guess who's ministering unto Jesus?
The worst person.
This woman.
Now let's keep reading.
It says in verse 39, now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it he spake within
himself.
This just means he's thinking in his head.
Saying this man if he were a prophet would have known who and what manner of woman this
is that toucheth him for she is a sinner.
Look this attitude is not a brand new attitude.
It's always been there.
That people look at someone and they look down upon them ministering because of who
they are.
So she's a sinner.
Why would Jesus let her minister unto him?
Because here's the thing, God doesn't care about that.
She was what?
She wasn't the new man.
Obviously you could say she's not quite saved yet but I'm saying she's trying to get serving
the Lord and look you can minister at any point at any time.
Even if you're a sinner.
Even if you're a notorious sinner.
Verse 40 and Jesus answering said to him Simon I have somewhat to say unto thee and he saith
master say on there was a certain creditor which had two debtors the one owed five hundred
pence and the other fifty when they had nothing to pay frankly forgave them both.
Tell me now therefore which of them will love him most Simon answered and said I suppose
he to him now to whom he forgave most and he said to them that was rightly judged.
He said well I'm a really bad sinner.
Okay well that gives you the ability to love Christ even more and to be thankful that you
get to serve him even more and even when you screwed up and even when you did wrong
you can just say you know what I'm going to serve the Lord and I'm going to do right and
this other this Pharisee wasn't ministering unto Jesus.
He wasn't doing anything.
You know ended up serving Jesus the guy that thought the way below the woman the woman
that thought she was sinful.
You know ended up being one of Christ's disciples.
Peter thought he was too sinful to do it.
You know Christ used to be one of the greatest evangelists and ministers in the world Paul
who said he was chief of sinners.
You know God used to lead all the children of Israel out of the wilderness.
Moses who's a murderer who says send someone else.
I'm not eloquent.
I'm not your guy.
You know you have to overcome that fear of being sinful you have to overcome that realization
that you're not worthy and say well I'm worthy by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Well it's not me.
It's that new man that's going to serve Christ anyways and look in your new man you're not
a sinner.
Go back to First Timothy for a moment go back to First Timothy.
If you're a sinful man you can always minister to someone.
As proved by Jesus and this woman.
These things in the Bible aren't accidental or incidental or coincidental look they're
on purpose to help illuminate to us the truths of the Bible that God uses sinful men.
First Timothy chapter 2 look at verse 7 where in two I am ordained a preacher and an apostle
I speak the truth in Christ and I not a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
The apostle Paul is saying I'm a preacher and look any man can be a preacher.
Or he could be a minister.
Go to Ephesians chapter 3 let's look at another place where the apostle Paul looks at himself.
Go to Ephesians chapter 3 and look at verse number 6 the Bible says that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs of end of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ
by the gospel where of I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God
given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me who am less than the least
of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ.
Look at the apostle Paul saying like I'm the worst of all the same people I'm the worst
of all the same people I'm chief of sinners I'm just a sinful man but I realized that
God's allowed me to minister what by grace it's a gift and at the end of the day if you
have breath in your lungs and you have an opportunity to minister don't say well I'm
too sinful to minister no look at it as this is a gift by the grace of God that I have
this opportunity to minister and minister go preach teach God is wanting to send you
into the mission don't look at the open door that God's open for you and say I'm depart
for me Lord I'm a sinful man no realize God wants to use you fear not go to Matthew 25
the last place I'll have you turn Matthew chapter 25 obviously we need to have a humble
view of ourselves and obviously we need to realize that you know we need to strive to
be the best version of ourselves that we can be you know the Bible says be therefore perfect
even as your father which is in heaven is perfect the Bible says be holy obviously we're
supposed to crucify the flesh obviously we're supposed to die you know on a regular basis
and repent and constantly renew ourselves and we're supposed to strive for these things
you have to realize you're not gonna you're not gonna be perfect and I think sometimes
you know at least for me when I'm striving for something whenever I fail it's a critical
moment in time because the moment that I fail or I slack or I do something wrong there's
this temptation to just quit maybe I make this plan I say all right I'm gonna work out
every day this week which doesn't happen I'm just giving an example all right I'm gonna
work out every day this week you like Monday you work out Tuesday you work out Wednesday
you work out Thursday you don't Friday comes around here's the question are you gonna work
out six days of that seven week are you gonna say well I already didn't do it might as well
quit or are you gonna say you know what I'll work out Friday now then I'll work out Saturday
you know and the temptation is in the Christian life whenever you set goals you're striving
to do something or you're I'm gonna give up this or I'm gonna I'm gonna quit this or
whatever it is whatever area of your life that you're struggling in or want to make
changes in or you're making goals you're probably gonna have a moment where you fail you're
probably gonna have a moment where you step back you're gonna have a moment where something
happens that you didn't plan on happening and and really the defining moment is in that
moment and saying well what am I gonna do now well realize that God uses a sinful man
and just keep going just you know just men fall seven times and rises up again don't
think don't think oh well the only reason that person's being used because they never
fell no the reason why God's using that person is because they got back up it's not that
they didn't fall now that they haven't fallen lots of times it's that they just keep getting
up is that they keep fighting is that they keep battling is they keep realizing hey I'm
a sinful man and I can keep coming to that throne of grace you say when does that grace
run out it doesn't where sin did abound grace did much more abound I'm not teaching you
you have a license of sin what I am telling you is you have more grace than you can ever
use up so don't stop using God's grace because you're a sinful man until you die and we need
all the grace and whenever you serve people whenever you minister whenever you preach
whenever you're a soul winner look you're not just doing it for them you're doing it
for somebody else look at Matthew 25 verse 40 and the king shall answer and say unto
them verily I say unto you and as much as you have done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren you have done it unto me look when you have an opportunity to minister
or to be a soul winner or to be a preacher don't look at it as as just for that person
look at you're doing this for Christ we're all here for the Lord and when we serve one
person we're doing it unto Christ you say well Christ isn't coming unto me and saying
you know come follow me yeah but every single door is an invitation for you to preach the
gospel and look when you're doing on the least of these my brethren you're doing unto Jesus
anytime you have an opportunity to preach to God's people you say well Jesus is in the
room I mean how good a job would you do if Jesus was in the room but you know he's saying
hey you do it on the least of these my brethren you're doing it unto me you're preaching to
Jesus hey when someone's in need and they have something that you could help them with
it's not them look at it as if it was Jesus if Jesus walked in and says I need your shirt
you would rip that thing off in a heartbeat if Jesus was like hey will you walk with me
a while you would you would never stop walking with him hey can I get a ride yeah where do
you want to go he's like Canada let's go I mean you wouldn't you'd pull all the stops
for Jesus wouldn't you but there's this temptation to say well depart from me from a sinful man
now go ahead and embrace what God's given you the gift of grace the fact that we have
the opportunity to serve him at every moment of our lives and never be so discouraged with
your sin that you stop serving the Lord at every moment at every turn realize that God
uses simple men read the book of the read the Bible it's just a sinner after a sinner
after sinner and they keep getting used by God don't they and you know what yet's gonna
hopefully that's your story you say what was my story I was sinful to the bitter end but
I serve God to the bitter end too close in prayer thank you father so much for your word
thank you for the grace that you extend towards us and that you realize that we're gonna screw
up and that we're gonna do wrong and that you've already allotted for that you've already
given grace that's sufficient to cover all of our sin that you purge all of our iniquity
I pray that we would just walk in that grace that we'd walk in the knowledge that you want
to continue using us until we have our last breath and I pray that we wouldn't have fear
to approach unto the throne of grace I pray that we wouldn't be fearful of the the work
that you have for us to do but no matter where we find ourselves in life no matter where
we find ourselves at this moment that we would decide to continue to walk in the new man
and we realize that we minister we're not just ministering to just a random person but
we're doing it unto you in Jesus name we pray amen
all right for the final song we're gonna go to song number 396
song number 396 so little time
song number 396
so little time
the harvest will be over our reaping done we reapers take it home report our word to Jesus
Lord of harvest and hope he'll smile and that he'll say well done today we reap or miss our
golden harvest today is given us lost souls to win all them to save some dear ones from the
burning today we'll go to bring some sinner in many times I should have strongly pleaded
how often did I feel too strictly worn the spirit moved ahead I plan for Jesus
the greatest fall and lost was not reborn today we reap or miss our golden harvest today is given
us lost souls to win for them to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some
sinner in despite the need the ceaseless told the hardship the broken heart for those we cannot win
misunderstood because we're a peculiar still no regrets will happen for us today we reap or miss
our golden harvest today is given us lost souls to win for them to save some dear ones from the
burning today we'll go to bring some sinner in a day of pleasure for a feast of friendship a
house or car or garments fair or fame will all be trashed when souls are brought to heaven and
then how sad to face the slackers blame today we reap or miss our golden harvest today is given us
lost souls to win today to save some dear ones from the burning today we'll go to bring some
sinner in the harvest why with three first few is wasting and many souls will die and never know
the love of Christ the joyous is forgiven oh let us we love and pray today we read or miss our golden
harvest today is good man you are dismissed y'all have a good evening God bless