Music
Hey everyone, welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you could please find your seats and grab your song books. We're going to sing song 408, Loyalty to Christ.
408, Loyalty to Christ. Song 408, Loyalty to Christ. Let's sing it out.
From over hill and plain there comes the sickle strain.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. His music rolls along the hills take up the song.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. Come to victory, come to victory.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. His music rolls along the hills take up the song.
His music rolls along the hills take up the song.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. Come to victory, come to victory.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. His music rolls along the hills take up the song.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. Come to victory, come to victory.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. His music rolls along the hills take up the song.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. The strength of youth we lay at Jesus' feet today.
His loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. His gospel we'll proclaim throughout the world's domain.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ. Come to victory, come to victory.
Christ, our great commander on. We'll move at His command. We'll soon possess the land.
Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty to Christ.
Good singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
Thank you for the gift of being able to come together and just to worship you as a body of Christ and just to hear your word preached.
Pray that you would fill our pastor with the Holy Spirit this morning and bless those that couldn't make it.
We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, for our second song, let's go to 238. Christ liveth in me.
This is one of those songs you got to sing out nice and loud with passion.
238, Christ liveth in me.
Once far from God and dead in sin, no line my heart could see.
But in God's word the light I've found, now Christ liveth in me.
Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me.
As rays of light come yonder sun, the flowers of earth set free.
So light and light and love came forth from Christ living in me.
Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me.
As lives the flower within the sea and in the foam the tree.
So praise the God of truth and grace, his Spirit welleth in me.
Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me.
With longing all my heart is filled, that my give I may be.
As on the wondrous thought I dwell, that Christ liveth in me.
Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me.
and their husband and their children and to church.
How about that one?
Yeah, loyalty to church, right?
Also, if you look at the first memory verse here,
this is a challenge for all the kiddos.
If you can memorize the verse and then quote it at the midweek service,
you can get a special ice cream or treat at the evening service.
Those who complete the entire passage, Proverbs 31,
and can quote that to a non-family member can receive a special prize.
Obviously, if it's a shorter chapter, it's usually a smaller prize.
With the bigger chapter, it's usually a nicer prize.
And so I really encourage you, especially you ladies, to work on this one.
And it's a great chapter of the Bible.
A lot of good verses in there.
On the inside, we have our service times, our soul winning times,
and then church stats down below.
Then we have on the right the list of our expecting ladies.
Several who are expecting.
Please be in prayer for them as well as our prayer list.
And if you'd like any updates or to be added,
please make sure to email us or contact us.
Make sure we are keeping this fresh.
And so we want to make sure that we have everything in there accurate.
Also, upcoming events.
February 24th is our next preaching class.
And then April 9th to the 10th is an event that Verity Baptist Church
in Sacramento, California is putting on for teenagers.
It's a youth rally.
There is a poster that we've hung up in our hallway
that has the details and information about that event.
And we'll try to get a sign up sheet going as well.
Just for those who may be interested or planning on possibly traveling,
just so way, if people want to carpool or just have that information, they can.
On the back, we just can't stop with the baby train.
Congratulations to the Chamley family on the birth of Phoebe Henrietta.
She was born on the 17th at 529 AM.
10 pounds, 12 ounces, 21 and three-quarter inches long.
Congratulations to them.
At this point, they should have just known it was going to be a girl.
And then also congratulations to the Warner family on the birth of Titus Judah.
He was born on the 17th at 1117 PM.
8 pounds, 9 ounces and 21 inches long.
Congratulations to them as well.
Dylan said at this rate, we have a baby a week.
Now it's two.
I don't know what to tell you. No, I'm just kidding.
Praise God for that and the blessings.
Let's go ahead and sing our third song for this morning.
Psalm 147.
It's our Psalm of the week.
Psalm 147.
We have a special handout with that.
All right, Psalm 147.
Praise ye the Lord
for it is good
to sing praises unto our God.
For it is pleasant
and praises complete
the Lord God of Jerusalem.
He gathered together
the outcasts of Israel.
He lived the broken
in heart and mind
if a pair rules.
He telleth the
number of the
stars.
He calleth
them all.
He calleth them all
by their name.
Praise our
Lord
and of great
power.
His understanding
is infinite.
The Lord
lived with
me.
He casted
love
to the crown.
Sing unto
the Lord with his
giving.
Sing praise
upon the
heart.
For we are
God who
covered the
heaven
with his grass.
Grass to grow
upon the mountains.
He gave
it to
the
east in smooth
and to
the young
ravens which
cry.
He delighted
God in the strength
of the force.
The legs
of the man,
the Lord taking
pleasure in them that fear
him and those that
open his mercy.
Praise the
Lord of
Jerusalem.
Praise
our God
O
Zion.
Praise the
Lord of
Jerusalem.
For we have
strength in
the force
of thy
gates we have
blessed.
Thy children
within thee he
maketh peace in thy
borders and fill it
deep. With
the finest
commandment
on earth
is worth running
where he's
been given
so like
cool heat
scattered in the
pore frost
like
ashes.
Scattered in the
pore frost like ashes.
He cast it
forth
his ice like
more
so sweet can stand
before his
hold.
He said it
and found his word and melted
then he caused
his wind to blow
and the
waters flow he
shall lift his word unto
Jacob his dad
to send his
judgments unto
Israel he
hath not
held so
with any
nation at
last for
his judgments
they have not
the liberty
the Lord.
At this time as the offering plates are being passed around
please turn to 1 Timothy chapter 2
1 Timothy chapter 2
2 Timothy chapter 2
1 Timothy chapter 2
2
1st Timothy chapter 2
will read the entire chapter
as is our custom prior to the preaching of
God's word. The Bible reads
I exhort therefore that
first of all supplications,
desires, intercessions, and giving
of thanks be made for all men
for kings and for all that are in authority
that we may lead a quiet
and peaceable life in all godliness
and honesty. For this is
good and acceptable in the sight of
God our Savior who will have
all men to be saved and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth. For there
is one God and one mediator
between God and men
the man Christ Jesus who
gave himself a ransom for all
to be testified in due time.
Whereunto I am ordained a preacher
and an apostle, I speak the truth
in Christ and lie not, a teacher
of the Gentiles in faith and
verity. I will therefore
that men pray everywhere
lifting up holy hands without
wrath and doubting. And like men
are also that women adorn themselves
in modest apparel with
shamefacedness and sobriety
not with broided hair or gold
or pearls or costly array
but which becometh women professing
godliness with good works.
Let the woman learn
in silence with all subjection
but I suffer not a woman to
teach nor to usurp authority over
the man but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed
then Eve and Adam was not
deceived but the woman being deceived
was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved
in childbearing if they continue
in faith and charity and holiness
with sobriety.
Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Father in heaven we thank you for today Lord
and just for the
preaching of your word. I pray that you fill
Pastor Shelley with
the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit
as he expounds on the message
you've laid on his heart and I also pray
Lord that you would soften hearts
in the room so that we can receive
this message, apply it to our lives
and make a change in our lives as well.
We love you and in Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Amen. You know I love singing the
psalms because just with that one
psalm we sang more doctrine than the
non-dom church has done in a whole year.
So there you go.
First Timothy chapter 2
look at verse 11 the Bible
says let the woman learn
in silence with all
subjection but I suffer not
a woman to teach
nor to usurp authority
over the man but to be
in silence for
Adam was first form
then Eve. Now this is a really
interesting passage of scripture
because it's alluding to the
creation account and it's
you know in an epistle written
to a pastor and
really the pastoral epistles
which are first and second
Timothy and Titus some
people include Philemon but
essentially this section of scripture is considered the
pastoral epistles are filled with doctrine
filled with the
principles that Christ teaches us
and some of the most important things that
we can learn. But what I find
interesting is how the Bible
is using as its proof text
or using as its source of
authority is the creation
account itself and using Genesis
as its place in scripture
to say the reason why this
doctrine is true is
because of the creation account
is because of the creation story
is because of what Genesis actually
teaches and so
what I find interesting about this passage
is the idea that the beginning
or the creation itself
has significance
to doctrine to
how we understand the world that we live in
and this kind of gave me an idea
to think about
our priorities
as people based on
the creation account itself
and so the title of my sermon this morning is this
creation priorities
and really when it comes to priorities
everyone has
priorities
it's more about what
is your most important
priority or what is priority
in your life whether you've even
thought actively about what your
priorities are your priorities
will be manifest through your actions
through your actions we see
demonstrated what
priorities you have what are you
doing first what's the most important
thing to you what is something that you're not
willing to sacrifice what are the
things that you like the most this comes
out as what your true priorities
are and most
people just live
by just kind of on
a whim they just kind of
let their emotions run their daily life
and run their lifestyle and they just
kind of do as they please
do as they want and that's
essentially shapes the priorities
that they have but sometimes we have to
force ourselves to
go back to what
we should be doing and the priorities that God
would have us you know
have in our lives and
kind of force ourselves to have the right
kind of priorities now
as we keep reading those it
says in verse 14 and Adam was not
deceived but the woman being
deceived was in the transgression
notwithstanding
she shall be saved in childbearing
if they continue in faith and
charity and holiness with sobriety
so according to the text it's
important that men lead because
men are different than women that's
what the Bible teaches the Bible
teaches that men and women are different
that men are to lead
and specifically it's
saying that Adam was not
deceived when the woman was deceived
showing that there's even a level
of deception that men
are less likely
to be taken advantage of than
women and it used to be a pretty
well known fact that salesmen
would take advantage of
women just simply from
the fact that they're women not because
they're less educated not because
they didn't get a college degree not
because of there wasn't enough feminism
in the world no it's just simply because
women are more manipulated
by emotions than
men are and so it's easier
to take advantage of women
it's easier for women to be manipulated
it's easier for women
to be taken advantage of
and so it's important that women
embrace that
you know you should embrace the idea
that that's true because you know what the solution
is is that you lean into your husband
and that you allow a man
to guide you and to lead you
you recognize the fact that I may not
be the best at making decisions
therefore I need to lean into
and trust the decisions
that my husband makes for me
and specifically along the lines
of what scripture teaches for me
and leaning into God's
instruction for me now it's not
entirely different
that men have kind of a similar
situation where we
ourselves also are not very good at
always making decisions and we need to
lean into Christ and lean into the Bible
and the word of God to know how we should
act and how we should behave
but ultimately you know
God did create man first
and then a woman and notice what helps
the woman child bearing
and then continuing in faith and
charity and holiness and sobriety
the Bible teaches that
we're not good when we're idle
like
mankind is just bad when we're
idle it's just generally speaking
it's not just women it's not just men
it's both of us are really bad when we're idle
and so it's important
for man to work it's important
for woman to work and we have different
roles different responsibilities
different jobs that God has gifted us
with different talents and
one of those things that really helps women
is having lots of children if you have lots
of children you're going to be very
busy whether you want to or not
and then those ladies
who maybe don't have a lot of children
or maybe that don't have a lot of
responsibility just laid on top of them
it's good for them to still be busy
it's good for them to do certain things and have
certain activities that they're not just sitting
around the house with nothing to do
you know if my wife was sitting around the house
with nothing to do I would find
things for her to do right I would
help her or and
guide her in a direction
where she can have some activities
that she's doing that's taking up time
now of course I don't think that I have to
force her or I wouldn't have to choose that
but I would want her to have something specific
I wouldn't want her to just
scroll on Facebook all day
or scroll on TikTok all day
or scroll shopping all day
or something like that there's just a lot
of evil that's out there for the
idle mind just like it wouldn't be good
for me if I had no job
and all I do is just scroll through
YouTube and play video games
or do it I mean that would just be a waste
of my efforts and energy
and would cause sin on
both sides of the equation what helps
prevent sin in many cases is just
working it's just having working
and you know what keeps you out of the bar
being pregnant you know I mean
like that'll just keep you out of the bar
it'll keep you out of the club
right you know it'll keep
men in their household it'll keep women
in the household you know having lots of kids
to raise and to teach and to guide
like these are just easy ways
to escape horrible
life decisions and for those
who maybe don't have that
maybe you don't have children yet
maybe you're struggling to have children
pass having children
you know make sure you are
keeping yourself busy
with things that are wholesome activities
working hard
go to Mark chapter number 10 for a moment
I want to show you another passage here
before I get into the meat of my sermon
but when we talk about
priorities
you know priorities dictate our life
they dictate
the decisions that we make
they dictate where we're at
if you're not at church on Sunday morning
what's your
priority on church right
and of course there's legitimate reasons if you're sick
stay home right
we're not mad at someone for staying home
for being sick we're mad at you for showing
up when you're sick okay
but then when you're not sick and you don't show
up then we're mad at you we're like what are
you doing you know like just come
to church right and we want to have
that blend
but of course it kind of shows where your priorities
are by what you're doing
where you're at what's
going on look at Mark
chapter 10 verse 4
the Bible says this
shall be one flesh so that
they are no more twain but
one flesh what therefore
God hath joined together let
not man put asunder
so I use this
passage and I don't want to talk about
marriage yet but what I want to talk about
is the idea that when Jesus Christ is on this earth
notice that he was using
the creation account
to establish doctrine again wasn't he
he was using Genesis
and he was using the creation
account to establish the
principles of marriage
themselves you
say like well the law said
divorce but he's saying you know way before that
we already established marriage
that it's one man it's one
woman they're married together
forever till death do them part
and that they're supposed to leave
father and mother those are the
essential elements of
marriage that are being taught here
in scripture and Jesus
Christ is pointing to the creation account
and the divorce aspect
was something that Jesus brings up as being a
hardness of their heart that this
precept is not always been the case
and of course it's never
the best situation of
course divorce in the Bible is different than
divorce today divorce today
if you just don't like each other you divorce
in the Bible there was one
specific provision that's similar
to an annulment today so it is
not what people think of
as the divorce that's happening
rampantly in our country
divorce should almost not
exist it should be
such an extreme rarity
of society that you
you virtually don't even know about it
you've never even heard of it in real life
if it was followed by a
biblical principle not saying it wouldn't
happen occasionally but that it should be so
rare that we wouldn't even know
about it today it's like 50%
of marriages and
in some cases it seems even higher
than that and it's really a shame
and it's embarrassment that we call
ourselves a Christian nation and 50%
of our marriages are ending in divorce
I mean that's embarrassing how about
loyalty how about
loyalty I mean why do we get up and sing a
song about loyalty and loyalty
to Christ and then people are
divorcing their spouses I mean they don't
care about the words of Christ here
which he really emphasized divorce and what's
a shame is how many preachers today are
using these passages to teach
divorce not to teach them
not divorce they're like trying to
teach about this passage about all the
the reasons why you can divorce
as opposed to the concept that Jesus is
basically saying let not man
put asunder
never just don't do it
now go back to Genesis
chapter number two Genesis chapter number two
what is the most
important priority
that we have well
I believe it follows the same
pattern of the
creation account and
if we look at Genesis chapter two
look at verse number seven the Bible says this
and the Lord God formed
man of the dust of
the ground and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life
and man became a
living soul so the
first thing that happens is God creates
man he breathes into
him life and he becomes a
living soul and now
he has a relationship with
God because he is
the son of God
now I'm not going to take you to this passage
but you go to Luke chapter number three
the Bible tells us that Adam
is the son of God
because he was created of God now he's not
the same as Jesus it's the
same wording but
has a slightly different meaning but
in essence Adam is the son of God
because God is his father God is the one
who really created Adam and so
from a human perspective his
father is God and that
now makes him
have a relationship with
God and our most important
priority that every person
has in this world is their
relationship with God
that is the most
important aspect you can ever have
and the most important task
we have is having a relationship
with God okay
now I want to just
flip the page or look at chapter three for a moment
and I want to show you a few other
verses on this and I want to explain
this now the word relationship is not really a word
you see in your Bible but
the Bible brings up the same this concept
of having fellowship with God
obviously relationships
implied when we talk about son
and father that's just how we describe
that phenomenon of that
relationship and God wants
to have a relationship with us
and beyond just the fact
that we're related he wants to actually
commune with us he wants to talk with us
okay he wants to
quote hang out with us in a sense
okay now in the garden
it was no different and
you kind of get this implied
from the text this isn't necessarily directly
spoken but notice what it says in Genesis chapter 3
verse number 8
and they this is talking about Adam and Eve
heard the voice of the Lord
God walking in the garden
in the cool of the day
and Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence
of the Lord God amongst the trees
of the garden now in Genesis
chapter 3 it opens up with the devil tempting
them with sin they
both sin then what
happens is God comes in
the evening in the cool of
the day and is approaching them
and they withdraw themselves
what I think could be implied from
the text and seems pretty obvious
is that they probably
experienced this in the past
God probably communed with them in the past
but even if that never happened
it's evident that God wants to
that God is coming and approaching
them in the evening wanting to have what
a relationship with them
God is not some distant God
that wants to stay up in
heaven and just look down upon his
creation no he wants to walk
in the garden where
Adam and Eve are and he wants to
have a relationship with them
and it's not just a relationship with Adam
it's also with Eve it's with both
of them because God wants to have a relationship
with both his sons and
daughters he wants us all to have
a relationship with him
what causes us often to
have a
a problem or a
difficulty in our relationship with God it's sin
sin is what causes
issues in our relationship with God
it causes us to want to what
withdraw ourselves from having a relationship
with God and
what's the main
emotion
it's shame because
we've sinned we feel shame
embarrassed and we
naturally withdraw ourselves
from wanting to have a relationship with God
and this is where it
becomes really important that you become saved
okay now
being saved is a concept
that is taught everywhere in scripture including
in this passage and this is what's really
interesting if you think about
this passage and this is kind of cool
but
Adam and Eve sin
and then they're
approached by the voice of the
Lord okay that's what
it says in verse number 8 and they heard the voice
of the Lord God walking okay
which is kind of interesting wording
but a person
that is the voice of the Lord God is
the word of God which would be the Lord Jesus Christ
okay and think about this
the Lord Jesus Christ approached them
when?
in the cool part of the day
we would categorize
this in another word in the Bible
even
at the even the even is kind of a
time when the sun is setting
it's also would be considered the
cool of the day so
at the even we have Jesus Christ
approaching them and they're
sinners okay
now I'm not going to read the whole passage
but if we look a little bit further
in the text he ends up talking with Adam
he talks with Eve he talks about how
they're cursed and everything like this
but look at verse 21
unto Adam also and
to his wife did the Lord God make
coats of skins and clothe
them so they were naked
and they were ashamed of that picturing
how our sin separates us
and there's a shame associated with that
they tried to sow fig leaves
meaning that they tried to repent of their sins
they tried to cover up their own sins
that was rejected by God
that is not sufficient
of a covering and so he has to
make them a different kind of covering
what is that particular covering
well according to this it's
coats of skins now that
would be coming from an animal
and of course
we don't know exactly what happened but it seems
like the illusion here is that
an animal was killed or was
slaughtered and we took the coat
from the particular
animal and we applied it to them
why it has to be
implied that way is
certain animals you can shear
like you could take a lamb
or certain animals and you can shear
and then you can take that
and you can make it into a garment
but to have a coat
you have to have the skin
and here's the thing you can't take
the skin off an animal and it survives
so in order to have
a coat of skins
you know what you have to do?
you have to slaughter the animal
so it's kind of showing
there's no remission without the what?
the shedding of blood
there's a lot of doctrines that are taught
in the book of Genesis and when you have
that shedding of blood
then they apply that upon Adam and Eve
and that covers their sin
it covers their nakedness
and you know the interesting thing about the Bible
is Adam and Eve were naked in the garden
nowhere else in the
Bible does it ever talk about us
being naked again
in heaven we're even clothed
and I think that's probably just to always
symbolize the fact that
we were clothed with Christ's righteousness
that we were imputed his righteousness
upon us and that we're not
going to be naked
we don't hear about the people in hell
getting a garment
we don't know if they have any kind of garment
and spiritually speaking
they have no covering, they have no garment
they have no imputed righteousness upon them
so we have this
happen, what's cool I think
about this and it's something that I recently
thought of is just how
Jesus approaches them
at even and then covers
their sin, well guess what
Jesus Christ died at
even on the cross and
that's what covered our sin
so there's a lot of amazing truths
here that we can find in the book of Genesis
and at the beginning
but that restores the relationship
between God
and man is salvation
is the shed blood of Jesus
Christ and that's really
important to God because he wants
to have a relationship with man
you know he could have just thrown us all into hell
he could have just thrown Adam and Eve into hell
and just started over with some new creation
or some new creature but instead of just
trashing Adam and Eve
he redeemed them, he restored them
he covered their sin
and he showed grace upon them
he showed mercy upon them
and we get to see all the different aspects
of who God really is
we get to see that he really is merciful
you know God could be merciful
but choose not to show mercy and then we would never see it
but God shows mercy
and then we get to see who God really is
God could have chose to only save everyone
and then we would have never seen God's wrath
or we would have never seen God's jealousy
or we wouldn't have seen all of God's emotions
but because of free will
and because of the creation that God has given us
we can see all of the vast
complexities of God
how he can have so many
ranges of emotion
and all the different intricacies
of how he's truth and how he's righteous
and how he has judgment
I mean the Bible says the Lord loves judgment
the Bible says the Lord is jealous
the Bible talks about God as being truth
the Bible talks about God being love
you know not one of those is true
all of them are true
and I always hear about this doctrine of
divine simplicity
and it just sounds wrong
because my God doesn't sound very simple
he's very complex
he's much more complex than anything in this world
or any of the creation that we have
he would be the most complex creature
that exists
if creature is even the right word
probably not
the most complex being
and ever will be
he's God, there's something unique about God
there's the mysteries of God
there's certain things about God
that are too high for me
that are too wonderful for me
I believe that God is way bigger
and more complex
and there's nothing that I can really even understand
in the grand scope of who God truly is
and it's silly to me that
philosophers want to then boil God down
to divine simplicity
we've figured out God
it's like no, that's a foolish attitude
but again
relationship with God
is really the number one priority
it's what God really wants
and the only way to have a relationship
with God is to be saved
is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
to accept his free gift
and to be covered in his blood
spiritually speaking
that is what saves you
and now you have a potential
to have a really great relationship
with God
but it doesn't end with salvation
that's the beginning
that's just the very basic
of having that relationship
but when we sin
we now have an advocate with the Father
Jesus Christ the righteous
and instead of trying to feel ashamed
and withdrawing and hiding from God
we need to still approach God
and we of course
ask for mercy and we pray
and things like that
we have a relationship with God
even though we've sinned
we have grace that covers our sin
and we have Jesus Christ
who is that propitiation
we have an intercessor
we have an ambassador on our behalf
that's helping us to continue to have this relationship
go to Luke chapter 10
keep your finger in Genesis if you want
because we're going to keep coming back
but I want to go to Luke chapter 10 for a moment
and emphasize again
now when we talk about a relationship with God
we're not in the garden
and God's not walking in the garden with us
physically
so that we can have this particular relationship
so how is it
that we do have a relationship
of course the disciples
when they were here
they got to literally have a physical relationship
with Jesus where they handled them
I mean they say that in 1 John
they've handled the word of life
you know it's really special to them
to be able to have a physical relationship
with Jesus Christ
but we can still have a relationship with Jesus Christ
and that is through reading our Bible
that is through reading the scripture
and there is no
substitute for reading the Bible
there's zero
there's none
and I think in this particular passage it brings this up
look at what it says in Luke chapter 10 verse 38
now it came to pass as they went
they entered into a certain village
and a certain woman named Martha received him
to her house and she had a sister called Mary
which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word
but Martha was cumbered about much serving
and came to him and said
Lord does thou not care
that my sister hath left me to serve alone
bitter therefore that she help me
and Jesus answered and said
and Martha Martha thou art careful and troubled about many things
but one thing is needful
and Mary hath chosen that good part
which shall not be taken away from her
now this is important
from the context because
consistently in the Gospels
the women are often ministering
to Jesus Christ
they're serving the Lord Jesus Christ
and it's very important
it's very needful
but Jesus elevates
one thing above this
it's having this time
with Jesus to hear the words of his mouth
and you know
how do you hear the words of the mouth of Jesus Christ
it's the King James Bible
we open up our Bible
we read it
and I love that this passage is centered around two ladies
showing that it's not like
oh men need to read the Bible
no women need to read the Bible
oh men need to have a relationship with Jesus
no women need to have a relationship with Jesus Christ
and you know what God wants us all
to have a relationship with Jesus Christ
and it's a personal relationship
you know
my wife doesn't have a relationship with Jesus
because she's married to me
or like I'm the go-to
I kind of know Jesus and I'm introducing him to my wife
no no no
my wife has a direct personal relationship with Jesus
and she is supposed to commune with Jesus on her own
and reading her Bible
and you know what
that's every person in this room
that you need to talk with Jesus yourself
you need to get alone
with the Bible
and read the Bible
and talk with God
it is the number one priority
of your life
and of course it's coming from Genesis
you're created
you have this relationship
we see the voice of God
coming to approach them
and why is it often that we struggle with this
is because of sin
because of sin it causes us to either get distracted
feel ashamed
embarrassed
and perhaps not want to read
you know why is it that evil people don't want to read the Bible
because they don't want to hear about how bad they are
why is it that sometimes we don't read the Bible
it's just sometimes literally coming from a place of shame
maybe we just feel embarrassed
maybe we feel like we haven't been reading a while
or maybe we feel like
we're not living very holy
or maybe we feel like
we're struggling with bad thoughts that day
and that bad thought could just simply be
I don't really want to do spiritual things today
I kind of want to be selfish
and you don't want to read the Bible
because you want to be selfish
and you know if you read the Bible
you're going to have to wrestle with the idea of being selfish that day
or doing what the Bible says
and so it's important
that on a daily basis
that we're trying to open the Bible and read some
and you know
this is often paralleled in the Bible
you know I'm not going to go all the places
but with manna
Jesus Christ says in Luke chapter 4
that man does not live by bread alone
but by every word of God
I mean what could be more important than eating food physically
almost nothing because if you don't eat you'll perish
in the same way
Jesus is likening that unto the word of God
that we're supposed to read
now of course when it came to the manna
some gathered a lot, some gathered little
but at least they were gathering something
and then God can allow that
to minister unto you
and even those who were gathering very little
the Bible says that they had no lack
and those that gathered much
they didn't spoil any
so you know I'm not really mad at people
depending on how much they read
like to me it's less important
depending on how much you're reading
as opposed to the fact that you're reading on a daily basis
so like even if you're struggling with Bible reading
just do a chapter a day
and I'm not saying like that's my recommendation
I'm not recommending read only a chapter a day
because you'll read
you'll read the Bible in like 4 years or something
ok
I think you should try to read at least once a year
as a minimum
but what I am trying to say is on days that you struggle
maybe a day that you missed
your Bible reading opportunity
life happens life happens ok
especially when you're having kids
and you're trying to raise them
we have work we have all these activities
crazy things are happening constantly in the world
it's easy to miss your Bible reading
just say oh you know what
I'll at least pause to just read one chapter
right
maybe you're using the bathroom
I'll read one chapter
it's lunch I can read
one chapter on my lunch break
right I mean maybe the whole day
the whole day was a train wreck
but before you go to bed you just say
I'll read one chapter
that might even help you go to sleep anyways
ok you know just pick like Leviticus or something
right or Deuteronomy or Numbers
I mean
but
I'm just telling you that this is our
this is why we're here
you know the reason why you're created
is to have some kind of a relationship
with God that's the whole reason
you even exist that's the whole reason
that's why you have a unique soul
that's why you have a unique consciousness
that's why you have a unique spirit
because God didn't want to create
robots he wanted people
to actually choose to accept
his free gift of salvation
and to be saved and then to have
a response to him you know God loves
free will offerings he loves it
when someone just chooses
to actually worship God
and of course he puts no obligation
on it because then it really wouldn't be
worship would it?
it'd be obligation
you know coming to church this morning
no one in this room that's saved
thought I have to come to church today or I'm going to go to hell
you know they decided to come to church
just simply out of their own free will
their own desire
people that read the Bible that are saved
didn't read the Bible today to escape hell
they did it because they want to actually hear from God
they want God to talk to them
people that prayed this morning
that are saved
to you know escape hell
because they've already done that
they were praying because they just want to talk to God
they want to have a relationship
they're asking for his needs
and you know what this is an important aspect of who we are
God created us
to read the Bible and to pray
and to have a relationship with him
and when we stop making that
a priority in our lives
we stop being who God created us to be
and this is what's really great about this
is no matter where you find yourself
and no matter what circumstance
you can always fulfill
priority number one
you know there's been times
where it's been dark and it's been hard to access
a Bible and even in today's world
it's difficult for some people
to have access to the Bible
but for us today we have
we have literally no option
I mean even if you were thrown in jail
they'll probably give you a King James Bible
I mean there's almost no circumstance
upon which any of us in this room
could find ourselves not capable
of meeting priority number one
and I believe this
as long as you're seeking
to fulfill priority one
God will make a way for you to fulfill
priority number one
if you really want to read the Bible
I guarantee God's going to find a way for you to get a Bible
so you can read it
I guarantee those who want to
unless you're just out cold
unconscious you should be able to pray
and even then maybe you can
I don't know
but like there's really no excuse to not pray
and I think
we always get so fixated
on the things that are going on in our lives
that we worry
about other issues that we have
when this is the only issue
we should be really worrying about
you should be focused in on am I able to read the Bible
and am I able to pray
and am I doing those things
every other thing in your life
everything from reading the Bible and praying
is a problem
it's an issue
and we need to constantly recalibrate ourselves
and say am I even doing what I'm supposed to be
like am I really doing
what God created me to do
God created me to have a relationship
with me
I mean what if Adam was reading to Eve
whatever scripture they had
at that point which at least
he knew at least one thing
hey we're not supposed to be eating from the tree in the midst of the garden
right
what if they're reading that and memorizing that all day
it would have been harder for them to what
sin
not saying they wouldn't have but I am saying this
that it makes it harder to sin when you're
having a relationship with God
when you're reading the Bible
when you're praying it's easier to sin
when you're not and of course
the more you get away the easier it is
to get away and just keep getting away
and then you just feel embarrassed
you don't want to read anything
ashamed and it just makes it worse and worse
and I find this
if you haven't read your Bible in a while
it gets harder every single day you don't
and if you just like say
I don't even like reading the Bible
well I've also noticed this every day you force yourself to
it gets easier
it's like you say man
it's going to be really hard to read my Bible tomorrow
ok but if you do it
it'll be a little bit easier the next day
and then it'll be a little bit easier
the next day and then just a little bit easier
and then there'll even be sometimes
when you just want to read the Bible
like you just literally just like
hey I really want to read it today
sometimes as a human
you're just not going to want to read it as much
but you know what you're never going to want to read the Bible
by not reading it
you will destroy your appetite for the Bible
by stop reading it
that's why we have to force ourselves
because your flesh hates reading the Bible
your flesh does not want to read the Bible
your flesh wants to have fun and party
your flesh wants to eat sugar
why do you think it is
I mean think about it this way
when is the most sugary
foods offered
what meal?
it's always breakfast
I mean you go to dinner it's savory
lunch is just kind of typically light
what is breakfast?
it's like pancakes and waffles
and muffins and cinnamon rolls
I mean it's basically every form of
bread and sugar you could possibly think of
okay I mean just
sugar and look I'm not against
breakfast I'm not against you eating these
things but there's a reason why
it's because when your flesh wakes up
you know what it wants? just to enjoy
itself it's just like feed
me yeah
you know what God said? he said
hey you're supposed to be feeding yourself the Bible
it's more important and Job
said that he esteemed the words of his mouth
more than his necessary food
and you know what?
Bible reading is the most important
thing that we can ever do
if there's one thing
that you do to change your life it will be
reading the Bible
there's a reason why people come to our church
it's because they've read the
Bible some
you know if someone's never read the Bible and they come to our church
they won't like our church very much
and it won't take long for them to get really offended
and really upset
because you know I don't necessarily like every
single word of my mouth to show you what verses
I'm talking about
and so they haven't read that portion
and they're just thinking like how did he say that?
like why did he say that? whereas people that have read the
Bible a lot they're thinking like I'm glad someone finally
said that because the Bible
says that you know
and so it's important that people
read the Bible there's a reason why people go to
the non-denom churches is because they haven't read
the Bible and
in fact they don't want to go to a church where
they'll hear the Bible
so they're going to fig leaf Baptist church
okay
they're going and hiding
they're going to some hiding non-denom church
experience
they're going to a church where they're going to literally have the
Super Bowl okay
I looked it up there was a church that had
you know like a Super Bowl
preaching event
it's called Crossroads
and I was just thinking like
who's the pastor of this joke
of a church okay
and it's some guy like Brian Tomay
who's ever heard of this guy Brian Tomay
anybody okay apparently he's really popular
like really well known
his church is giant
I mean I think it's in
the Cincinnati area but of course it's
hard to pinpoint because these churches are everywhere
it's like cancer it spreads
and so it's all
over the place but apparently he
like
he had made some controversy
and I didn't understand
the controversy entirely but I was just watching
a little video just to find out a little bit about
him and I think it was a
guest preacher it was either him or a guest preacher
basically
insinuated that
trans surgeries were bad
okay
and what that means is
that basically specifically they were saying something
like they don't think it's good
for children like
8, 9, 10
11, 12 year olds to get
life altering surgeries
where they were removing parts of
their body because they think they're
a different gender
and based
on the video I was watching
he was responding to how
they had insinuated this in the past
and now he had to apologize about
comments he had made so
basically he was getting up to make
an apology about what had
happened at their church and again
I don't understand the whole controversy I don't really want to know
because I really don't care
but at the end of the day he was apologizing
about how insensitive they were
to people who are getting these
trans surgeries for children
okay
not just trans surgeries
he wasn't saying like I speak negatively about
just trans surgeries in general
trans surgeries for children specifically
okay he feels the need
to get up and read a prepared statement
that he made to
tell everybody how
sorry he is and how they're not
they don't want to be so exclusive
and you know they want to be
inclusive and they don't want anybody
to be feeling hurt you know
by this so then
of course he kind of has to address some
elephants in the room on his doctrine
on these issues and this Brian Tomay
got up and literally says
he's like well some
people you know have left
our church because we're going to adhere to what the
bible says
he's like you know we're not going to do what the world says
and we're not going to do
you know what
what some like
restrict you know
literal interpreters of the bible are going to do
we're going to try and do what's right you know
and if some people get mad at me
for not being fully republican
or not being fully democrat or whatever
then you know that's just the price we're going to
pay and I don't care if our church grows or
shrinks we're going to do what's right
okay we're going to let the bible
dictate what's right
so we've decided that we're
not going to allow
homosexual marriage in our church
okay we're not going to let
and we've lost people over this
but I do want to
make myself clear
that we will
dedicate babies to
married homosexual relationships
and
not only that they can serve
in any capacity in the church
and I know that some people
are mad that we have homosexuals
serving in our children's ministry
but I want to reassure you that there is
zero link between
homosexuality and pedophilia
zero
and if you interpret his doctrine correctly
they could even be a pastor
as long as you know
they're in a monogamous relationship
where they're married even though we won't marry
we'll marry them
but as long as they're married
then we'll treat them with respect
weak, weak, knock, knock
and we want everybody to feel welcome in our church
what bible verse is that?
how can literally
thousands and thousands
tens of thousands of people
go to a church like that
where the guy is literally saying
you're going to take two pedophiles
bring them on stage with a child
and dedicate that to the Lord
what in the world
I mean this is
insane the world that we're living in
number one
that grown men would allow
two fags to be holding
a baby for any reason
I mean
real grown men should be
taking them out and stoning them to death
but you know why? people don't like
that because they haven't been reading the bible
because man has forgot his
number one priority and that's having a
relationship with God and that's
reading Leviticus 2013
that's reading Romans chapter number one
and the reason why
we have so much issue is
because people are afraid of what the bible says about
them so then we just let
sin run rampant
and you know because they want to be so
inclusive to sinners now we're bringing in
pedophiles that
church is literally allowing pedophiles
to work in the nursery
I mean I can't
really think of a worse scenario
like
you're supposed to be a church of God and you're
going to literally let open homosexuals
take care of
your babies
you don't even like
that's insane
I mean you're literally just feeding your
children to wolves you might be better
off just like trying to domesticate
wolves and letting your children
play with wolves in the backyard
like that might be safer
you know it's just
that is so crazy to me
that that's happening and it's not
like this is a small tiny
guy this is a giant church
with multiple locations
running thousands if not tens
of thousands on their weekend
services and he's
you know we're going to do what the bible says
show me a bible verse on that
hey Brian told me read
one verse that the bible brings up
about homosexuality out loud
just read one
and just see if it even matches anything
that you're saying
oh we can't read that we're going to be
inclusive you know
and the guy sounds like a faggot too
which look if you sound
like a fag and you're letting children
go to predators
and the baby you're a fag
I mean there's no way
there's no way a straight guy
is going to sound so queer and effeminate
and then loving and liking
pedophiles to raise children
I mean to be so
I mean you're supposed to be the shepherd
the shepherd thinks there's zero link
between pedophiles
and faggots
I mean you're willingly ignorant on that point
I can see how maybe
a child or a teenager
that's going to Sodom High School
and being brainwashed
24-7 could think that there's
not a link perhaps
but a grown man
that used to be raised in a time when
Sodomy was illegal in this country
remind you
I mean this guy is older than me
I lived in Texas when it was
illegal to be a faggot
it was illegal
folks
based on what?
all the facts and research and science
showing the link to pedophilia
and the Bible of course
that's where it really gets its roots
if you understood American
history at all which is not taught
in the school
you know what's taught? We were racist
that's the only thing that was taught
basically you're a horrible person
because your grandfather
your great great great grandfather was racist
and that was just
a horrible trust
we don't even really know what he believed
we just know he was racist
because slavery
even though there was white slaves
there was Native American slaves
there was one color of slave
and everybody was a racist and everybody's bad
and look, you know
racism is a sin but is it really
the worst sin?
how about letting pedophiles raise your children
how about that? Is that better?
like if I was to go back through history and say
well one side of the family
they were racist
the other side of the family was letting pedophiles
raise children and mutilate them with surgeries
which side of the family history tree
would you be more ashamed of?
I'd be like I love my racist ancestors
like that's the only side of my family
you know?
like I'm not going to embrace the pedophile
tranny surgeries that's insane
that's our world today
it's more okay
to literally mutilate children
with transgender surgeries
than it is to have grandpa
have been racist or something
right? I mean good night
talk about mixed up priorities
again isn't it?
why? because people aren't reading the bible
and look I'm against racism
racism is dumb, it's stupid
I personally don't even think very many
people are racist honestly
by true definition
I think everybody is prejudice
I think everybody believes in stereotypes
but I don't think there's a lot of people
out there that just genuinely think
like all white people
are genetically superior to all black people
I don't think anybody really believes that
hardly anywhere
obviously Hitler was pretty racist
but you know at the end of the day
that was like the least of his problems
he had a lot worse problems
than just being racist
go to 1 John chapter 2
but the reason why people don't like
this church or what I'm saying
is because they don't read the bible
and if there's anything you get out of the sermon
if you leave and you say
what was the point of the sermon
just read your bible
I'm going to bring up other things
if you can only think of one thought at a time
that's the kind of brain that you have
just remember
read the bible
and maybe after reading the bible a couple of times
it will be a little more intelligent
you get two points
next week you can go away with the two points of the sermon
point one read the bible
if that's all you can think of
just write it down
maybe write it on your hand
whatever you need to do
I want to make one other verse application here
verse 28
and now little children abide in him
that when he shall appear
we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before him
at his coming
notice that abiding in Christ
is important because when you're not
Christ is embarrassed of you
whosoever shall be ashamed
of me and of my
words
of him shall the son of man
be ashamed when he cometh
with the power of the angels
so according to the bible
we're supposed to
be reading the bible
we're not supposed to be ashamed of his words
it's impossible to even be ashamed
of something you've never read
you don't even know
read the bible
abide in Christ
and then when you abide in Christ
notice this we may have confidence
and not be ashamed before him at his coming
you can actually be confident and excited
when Christ is returning
not be embarrassed or ashamed
or trying to hide yourself
and look what verse 29 says
if ye know that he is righteous
ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of him
so point one is this
that we need to have a relationship
but then that relationship
will inevitably
alter your
personal life
it'll alter your actions
it'll alter your behavior
and God created us to have a relationship
and then also
from that relationship
to have service for him
do works for him
notice that the people that are doing the works for him
verse 29
if ye know that he is righteous
ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness
is born of him
the only people doing righteousness on this earth
are the people who are saved
are the people who are born again
if they are doing righteousness
then they are saved
that they are righteous
go back to Genesis chapter 2
some people will wrongly
understand this
and I think there's guilt
on both sides of the equation
number one
you don't have to do anything to be saved
salvation is a complete free gift
it's just by faith
and once you're saved you're saved forever
and because we do have free will
and because we do have the flesh
it is completely possible
for someone to then just live in the flesh
for the rest of their days
end up actually accomplishing nothing for God
and still making it to heaven
and the best way to judge
if someone is saved or not
is not based on their lifestyle
but rather is based on what they believe
by asking them
hey, what do you believe it takes to go to heaven
or what do you think it takes to be saved
that is the best way to figure out if someone is saved
here's the other thing that's true though
it is true though that someone
serving God and doing righteous acts
is saved
like there's not a question of whether or not that person is saved
it's not even a question if that's an evidence
it is an evidence of someone's salvation
Jesus Christ you should know a tree by its fruit
so it's like
can something be an apple tree
if it doesn't have apples on it? Yes
but is it an apple tree if it has apples on it?
Yes
every single tree producing apples
is an apple tree
is that an evidence that it is an apple tree?
yes it is
now what some people do is they take fake apples
and they glue them to a tree
and then they try to tell you
that they're an apple tree and you're like
there's something wrong with these apples
okay
these apples look a little funny
or maybe they even took real apples
and then glued them to the tree
I mean isn't there some, like going to church
people could go to church
they're gluing a real apple to a tree
they got baptized
they got a King James Bible
they're gluing a real apple to that tree
the problem is they didn't produce that
particular apple
they could even bring a convert
hey I brought this person to church
but then you look at the convert
you're testing the apple and you're looking at the apple
and they say that salvation is by works
they say salvation is by being baptized
then you're like hey this is a fake apple
this isn't a real apple on the tree
and then they bring you a real conversation
say I talked to this guy he was a Mormon before
now he believes in Christ
hey this guy believed in works
now he believes in salvation
I mean if you're bringing in apple after apple after apple
you know what I know you're an apple tree
it's that clear
okay so that's where we want to make sure
that we have the right balance
and then of course I believe there's a lot of teachers
and a lot of preachers out there
that are getting a little mixed up on this particular issue
and then they try to say like
if you're not producing apples you're not really a tree
you're not really an apple tree
they're wrong on that point
and they're twisting things
I don't think that necessarily means they're unsaved
or they're teaching a wrong gospel
but they're just definitely wrong on that issue
and we just want to make sure that we are championing what's right
and we're championing the truth on these issues
and not confusing people
there's always going to be confusion around
the gospel and salvation and it's frustrating
but at the end of the day
we have to realize that we are here
to serve God
and so we don't want to undermine works
we don't want to say that works aren't important
we don't want to say that works aren't
a main point of our lives
we just always want to make a clear distinction
on salvation
and we try to do that
we do I think a really good job of this
when we got soul winning
but you know when I go soul winning
I don't just like hammer the fact that you don't have to do works
I typically explain why works are important
and why works are different
so I typically explain how look
when you became a child of your parents
you can't change that
but it was still important to obey mom and dad
you know I say if I follow
all of your dad's rules
am I now his son?
like no
if I follow all my boss's rules at work
am I his son?
no
if I follow the rules at church
am I now a son of God?
no
but it's important for me to follow my dad's rules
it's important for me
to follow anybody's rules
my boss's rules
it's important for me to follow the rules at church
but that has nothing to do with who my parents are
that has nothing to do with me being born again
or being God's child
so I have to believe in Jesus Christ
to become his child
now I follow his rules
you know I'm not necessarily trying to get up here and be like
well what if you murder a hundred babies
and you burn them and it's like
whoa buddy
people sometimes are emphasizing sin
like they're just saying
yeah but what if you just murder and pillage
and kill and just destroy people
like is that person really saved
and the person's like I don't think so
like
why do I have to think of this murderous
reprobate pedophile
and then it's like well you're not saved
if you don't think he's saved
you know
it's like think about it
isn't the Bible talking about false professors
doesn't the Bible say
that they went out from us but they were not of us
right
so like if someone came to our church
you be honest with yourself
all you soul owners be honest for a second
if someone came to our church one time
and they said yeah I believe Jesus is my faith
and then we read in the paper how he's an axe murdering
psychopath
how many of you would be like I think he was probably a reprobate
infiltrator
and then when you go soul winning
people are like you're not even saved
because you don't think this guy is saved
quit using weird hypotheticals
ok
look I'm all for explaining the distinction
between works and faith
but let us not dream up
the worst scenarios imaginable
to present to them
as the clearest way to get someone saved
because then people get really confused
they're thinking like what are you saying
you know again
I'm not against it sometimes people bring up
even if I committed you know murder or suicide
or something I'd still be saved and they just
they just genuinely care about getting the person saved
and I'm totally fine with that
I'm not saying you can't say that but I try to
emphasize the importance of good works
while making a clear distinction
just like hey I really try to obey my boss
at work but I'll never be his son
and I try really hard to follow God's
commandments but that was never going to get me
into heaven and in fact even if I didn't
I was still going to be saved
if I believed in Jesus and I think by putting
it in the right context
or in the right frame of mind
it can help people understand
that distinction because a lot of people
they genuinely think like
why would I not want to do good works
or why would I not want to serve God
or why would that not be important
because it is important
because it is emphasized in the Bible
I mean the Bible emphasizes works
the Bible emphasizes serving God
the Bible emphasizes not sinning
a lot of people they're going to think like
you're a psychopath trying to tell people
that they can go around being a psychopath
and be saved you know
I'm not saying that I'm not suggesting that
I'm not trying to insinuate that
I'm trying to teach the salvation of a free gift
and there's ways to teach the salvation of a free gift
without giving them a hypothetical
psychopath getting saved
okay and they probably
aren't that person so you don't really need to
boil it down for them like that right
but look at verse 15 here
the Bible says this
and the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden
to dress it and to keep it
you know God created man to work
and to do service for God
God wants us to work for him
not just to read the Bible
not just to pray
but also to do work
you know there's a lot of Christians today
they'll read their Bible they'll pray
but you know what they won't go out and preach the gospel
they're not going out to the garden and they're not tending the garden
they're not trying to bring forth fruit
they're not trying to cultivate that fruit either
you know it's partly our job
not just to get people saved
but then to try to bring them in
and to get them baptized
get them plugged into church
and you know some people are better at that than others
but you know I really appreciate people
you know
both the Lugos are great at this
I don't know how but they're constantly like bringing people into church
and you know it's really impressive
it's really impressive to see someone's zeal
to not just get someone saved
but actually try to drag them into church
or to try to help change their lives
because you know
our world needs a lot
it needs salvation bad
but we don't need just salvation
we need a lot of people to actually get plugged into church
we need a lot of people to actually
have stable marriages and raise godly children
and build the house of God
and become new soul winners
and encourage more people to get baptized
and you know we need to go out there
and tend that garden
God wants us to do the works
now we want to be careful and not be a Martha
where we're elevating the works over reading the Bible
you know don't be a soul winner
not read your Bible
you know it's more important to read your Bible
it just really is
like the most important priority you have
reading your Bible and praying
you cannot get more important than that
but then secondly is doing the service of God
going to church
soul winning
encouraging people to get baptized
teaching your children doctrine
teaching the world doctrine
and you know what I love about this
is we've done two priorities
the two most important priorities
anybody and everybody can do it
everybody in here can read your Bible
everybody in here can pray
and everybody in here can serve God
you can minister to the Lord
you can go to church
you can go soul winning
you can talk to your friends and family about the Bible
you know what no matter where you find yourself
and here's the thing
people are always mad at every other issue in their life
not realizing you can still do number one and two
it's like the most important thing you have going for you
you can still do
and then the second most important thing you can possibly do
you can still do
you know we should be content
with just one and two
but of course there's more
look what it says in Genesis chapter number 2 verse 20
and Adam gave names to all cattle
and to the fowl of the air and every beast of the field
but for Adam there was not found
and help meet for him
and the Lord God caused deep sleep to fall upon Adam
and he slept and he took one of his ribs
and closed up the flesh and stead thereof
and the rib which the Lord God had taken from man
made he a woman and brought her
unto the man
and Adam said this is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh
she should be called woman because she was taken out of man
therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother
and shall cleave unto his wife
and they shall be one flesh
and they were both naked the man and his wife
and were not ashamed
so if we think about what God has created
number 1 he created us to have a relationship with him
number 2 he created us to serve him
and then number 3 then created marriage
this is important
and if you want to fix your life
get your priorities straight
number 1 read your bible
number 2 church
number 3 marriage
here's the problem
almost everybody in this world
these top 3 don't even exist in their top 10
like it's like
works, cowboys
NBA, fishing
their guns, video games
and then they don't even have anything else
and then they wonder why their life screwed up
or maybe their first priority is
Jack Daniels
and then it's the club
and then it's smoking cigars
and then it's doing LSD
I mean you wonder why people's lives are screwed up
it's their priorities
where are they at? Sunday morning
or maybe it's just sleeping
I mean think about a homeless person
what's their number 1 priority?
sleeping, being lazy, being drunk
I mean basically doing nothing
with their life
and let me tell you something
you want to fix your life
you have to change your priorities
and you say well what does that look like?
your literal hours of your day
you're wrong
you're screwed up
if you're not going to church at all, you're not soul winning, you're not doing anything
you're wrong
and if you're not putting your marriage above every other aspect
of your carnal life
then there's something wrong
there's some kind of issue
now this is why I also say this
that marriage is often the number 1 reason why
I see people getting out of church
or stop serving God
because notice it's the highest priority
and it should be in our lives
after serving God
it's like the most important thing
and for most people it is kind of the most important thing
and when I say marriage
it's mostly just a relationship with another person
because even today unfortunately a lot of people aren't getting married
but they're still seeking what?
a relationship to be with someone
and to have that kind of a commitment
almost every song, every movie
everything's about that relationship
or finding somebody
or being with somebody
or having that particular area of their life
met
and the reason is because it's important to us
but it's partly a spiritual thing
it's partly a carnal thing
marriage is a good thing
notice there's a part of carnal in it
because it literally came out of his flesh
I mean there's a closeness that comes with marriage
there's a special intimacy that comes with marriage
there's a special relationship with marriage
but you know what I like about this
is that even if you weren't married
you can still do number 1 and 2
go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 7
also notice your priorities change
with marriage
because it says you're supposed to leave
father and mother
one reason why a lot of people
have screwed up marriages
is because they haven't left father and mother
leave father and mother
physically and emotionally
both are just as important
physically meaning
you should try your hardest
to not live under the roof
now again I'm not saying you're wicked or evil
for doing this
and of course maybe you're moving
you're in between housing or whatever
and sometimes you just stay there
sometimes you just visit for the holidays
that's enough of a sample to tell you you should never do it again
just the holidays
but I'm telling you
it's dysfunctional
to be living with mom and dad
now
I'm going to make a clear exception to this
obviously when our parents get really elderly
and we need to take care of them
there could be exceptions with that
obviously we need to take care of our parents
but I'm just generally speaking
we need to get away from their authority
get away from their money
all the aspects that mom and dad provide
their authority, leadership, money
once they become elderly and dependent
that completely changes the dynamic
you're taking care of them
you need to leave father and mother as a man
you need to become the man of the house
and you need to become the problem solver
and your wife needs to lean on you
and you're the only man in her life
that is a healthy marriage
if you have your family
deeply entrenched into your relationship
it can cause a lot
a lot of problems
but even if you were never married
or maybe your marriage is screwed up
or you failed at marriage
or all the other possibilities
maybe you're even just widowed
or you did nothing wrong
but you unfortunately just lost your spouse
the Bible gives you some comfort here
because look what it says in verse 27
aren't thou bound unto a wife
seek not to be loose
meaning if you're married
never seek to be loose from her
aren't thou loose from a wife
seek not a wife
now this is Paul's opinion
but in his opinion he's saying like
if you're not married and you don't have to be
I think it's better not to be
not being lustful
and not being married
which is not 99% of people
verse 28
but and if thou marry
thou is not sinned
and if a virgin marry she hath not sinned
nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh
but I spare you
so the apostle Paul is a little jaded
he's like
marriage is trouble
but you know let's just be honest
it is because you're marrying another sinner
so if you marry a sinner
guess what they're gonna sin
and when they sin there's problems
you know no one has a perfect marriage
no one has a perfect marriage
because you married a sinner
according to Paul you're gonna have trouble in the flesh
you will have marriage problems
everybody has marriage problems
everybody has issues
now here's the thing we should all be working on that though
that's not an excuse to just say like
well you know pastor said we're gonna have problems
so I don't have to work on it
but at the end of the day
don't get an idea of like Hollywood
where this couple is fading away
on the honeymoon
you know they never show after the honeymoon
okay
and I'm pretty sure all the Hollywood celebrities
already showed you what's after the honeymoon
it's divorce for all of them
and then they just keep going
and eventually they just stop marrying
because they realize they're just a whore or a whoremonger
and they can't even maintain a relationship
whatsoever
I guarantee Johnny Depp
I mean Johnny Depp and Amber Heard
that's not the love story you want folks
okay
oh it's so amazing I want to be like them
you want to be a drug in court
and have all of your marital spats
that were recorded
aired out for the whole world
I mean how many of you in here would like to say
I would love for the last argument
me and my spouse had
to just be blasted on the internet for everyone to hear
not only that
but also chick who also is going to lie
and slander and misrepresent everything you said
so it's not even the things you said
it's a bunch of stuff you didn't even say
too on top of it
which is every argument you've ever had
I'm just kidding
you only laughed because it was true
no I'm just kidding
but if we keep reading
notice what it says this is where the comfort is coming in
alright I didn't comfort you yet
verse 29
as though they had none
and they that weep as though they wept not
and they that rejoice as though they rejoice not
and they that buy as though they possess not
saying when we get to heaven it'll be as if you were
never even married anyways
in some way it's like it didn't even matter
there's like no extra special
status in heaven like I was married
and I wasn't it doesn't even matter
well I had a big house doesn't matter
well I cried my whole life
doesn't matter
I mean it's saying it's like
it doesn't even matter what happened
why because you know
that's just a carnal thing it's just part of this
life you don't have to
you know if that's a train wreck in your life
well be comforted by the fact that it won't even matter
pretty soon like pretty soon
it doesn't even matter at all
not even in the scope of eternity
it won't matter who you were married to
how good your marriage was
or any of those things
I'm not saying that because I don't think marriage is important
I think you should put a lot of
effort and energy into your marriage you should work really hard
to having a great marriage but I'm telling
you this even if you put a lot of effort
into it and it's not that great
be comforted by the fact that it won't matter pretty soon
anyways it's kind of like your job
you know it's like a job that you're leaving
whenever I'm leaving a job
right especially even after I've put in
my notice I still work
just as hard as I would if I
wasn't quitting but I'm really comforted
by the fact that pretty soon
I don't have to deal with any of y'all's problems anymore
it's like
you know what I mean it's such a
nice feeling especially when you work for a company
that's kind of a train wreck and has a lot of problems
I mean I worked at a software company
that was very dysfunctional
and my boss was very
you know dysfunctional and bipolar
and what was amazing to me
is usually in the tech industry when you tell
you're quitting they strip you of all
your privileges and rights and you basically just don't do anything
for a few weeks they kept my privileges
to the last second
and I was still just doing work and coding
all these problems and I just kept thinking
like I'm so glad that I don't have to do
another ticket as soon as I'm gone
all of this code that sucks
and y'all can't function
as a proper unit I don't have to worry about
as soon as I leave but you know what I'm going to do this
I'm going to work as hard as I can and I
literally coded till the last
second and I was committing changes
and putting in work and I was helping them
and I wasn't even coding in a way like
you're not going to like this change I was doing it like
this is going to be good I'll help you guys
I'll work as hard as I can so you know that's how you should be
in marriage it's like pretty soon we're not going to be
together
that's not a love song sorry
all the love songs are like I'll love you forever
it's like pretty soon we're just going to be like
bros and sisters you know whatever
but you know what I'm going to work really
hard I'm going to work as hard as I possibly
can until you die
or I die like I'll love
you the best that I can because it's important
it's important but
but you know what
I don't have to worry about
you know this being a train
wreck or not being perfect because
eventually it won't even matter anymore
it's kind of like my house too you know
it's like I'm going to take care of my house and I want my
house to be really nice but when I
die I don't really care anymore
like it's like oops
you know it's like a car it's like hey I'll take care
of my car but as soon as I sell it and give it to
someone else it's like it's your problem now like
I don't really care what happens to that car
it's like it's done with you know
and so it's just trying to say like from the scope
of eternity you know what mattered
serving God
go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12
you know the Bible says in Proverbs 16 it says
this a whisper separated chief
friends
don't be telling your parents about your marriage
unless it's positive
don't be telling your friends
about your marriage unless it's
positive don't be telling your
children about your marriage
unless it's positive
basically you should not be telling
other people about marriage issues
I mean obviously there's a
case for some counseling from like
a godly pastor or something like that
but even then you want to be limited
in what you're talking about and
the reality is when it comes to
relationships they often are
destroyed because you're complaining about
your spouse to other people and
the most common is I think parents
you're telling your mom or dad
like I don't like him or I don't like
what he's doing or this is happening
you know that's the worst thing
you can do do not do that
don't tell your gossipy friends
you know if you have a
crappy marriage don't let
everybody else know
that's my I'm strongly for
this opinion because
in some ways it's almost a self
fulfilling prophecy because
what happens is word gets around
and that person's just like
I'm such a terrible person
you keep telling everybody that
and everybody thinks that way so then they just
have no motivation to even keep being a good person
and there's
a truth to how you speak
about yourself you know the prosperity
preachers and the word of faith movement really
emphasizes this but there's some
truth to the fact that the way you speak
things come to pass
if you're a really positive person if you have a lot of
energy if you're excited if you're
kind of talking about the positives of your spouse
often it tries to encourage them
to do the positives when you bring up the
negatives it usually kind of
brings them down and causes them to be less
motivated to do right and so
it's important to be careful how you speak
don't talk about these
issues and a whisper separated chief
friends you and your spouse can be so tight
but then you reveal
secrets to mom and dad
you reveal secrets to friends and
it starts to pull that relationship
apart it starts to dissolve
the trust that you have between each other
you know like you should have a special
bond between you and your spouse
and you and your spouse should have secrets that
no one else has you have your
own language
you have your own secrets you have your own
intimacy it's a special union that's
just between you you know the bedroom is supposed
to be that way too unfortunately the whole
world likes to share everything right
and it's gross nobody wants to know
you know you should keep the bedroom
you should keep marriage issues between
husband and wife
don't be telling other people
don't be broadcasting it to other
people don't be mentioning it to other
people you know I'm not
getting up here on a soapbox telling you all the
terrible things that my wife did
mostly because she never does anything wrong okay
but secondly even if she did hypothetically
I wouldn't tell you
okay and at the end of the day
there's no point in me sitting up here and
ragging on my wife you know I've been to churches where the
pastor rags on his wife who's heard
that before it's weird
you know they do it as like a sense of humor
it's not funny
like it's just awkward I'm just thinking like
I'm glad I'm not riding home with you you know
it's just like that's weird
you know we should constantly compliment and praise
our spouse and talk positive you know it should
be a Song of Solomon
type situation now of course there's
times in your marriage private between y'all
where y'all are discussing issues
and you need to but
we shouldn't be telling other people these
issues we shouldn't be bringing them up
and this is usually the
guys it's just like oh I want
help but then they're just gossip
oh I just need advice
gossip look you have enough advice from
the Bible and from sermons
and you know whatever you don't need that
kind of advice you need to just
keep your mouth shut that
will help your marriage you're not
causing you're not blessing your marriage by speaking
evil plus it'll affect your heart and mind
you're supposed to be thinking on things that are pure and
lovely you're not supposed to constantly be bitter
against them and harboring unforgiveness
against them and ought against them
we need to be constantly letting these things
go
the last point and I'm not going there for a
second time but it's supposed to be
children obviously he created
man he gave him work to do
he gave him a wife and then he gave him children
we want to make sure that we have those priorities
I don't need to emphasize that point because I
don't want to we're emphasizing
reading our Bible
we're emphasizing serving God and then of course
marriage is important and marriage
typically gets you out of church if you're not
if you're screwed up on it but don't let it
you know I've known people that have horrible
marriages and they're still serving God
and there's people that have great marriages
that are not serving God but at the end
of the day you know that's usually a common factor
between people that struggle
when it comes to the priorities of
our lives
Ecclesiastes sums it up
and I want to just look at the last
two verses here look at verse 13
let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter
fear God and keep his commandments
for this is the whole duty of man
at any point in our
lives we can do this
I don't care what you
have if you're Job and you've lost everything
you can still fear God and keep his commandments
if you have everything if you're King
Solomon and you have wives
aplenty you can still
fear God and keep his commandments it doesn't matter
if you're Solomon, Job, anything in between
we're supposed to fear God and keep his
commandments why? because the creation priority
we're supposed to have a relationship with him
reading our Bible we're supposed to
serve and minister you know
and you know I didn't bring this up
but to give you a practical
solution here serving God
the Bible brings up ministering
to the saints
ministering to the saints by
preaching the gospel and getting new saints
and by loving people in this room
you can always love other people
stop being so fixated on yourself
and your problems and your issues
you know that's why our world's so screwed up
is everybody so narcissistic and selfish
we need to be worried about
having a relationship with God
by ministering to other people
going to church, preaching the gospel
I mean when you're preaching the gospel you're not being selfish
there's nothing selfish about preaching the gospel
it's hard work
it's a thankless job
a lot of people get mad at you
when you're praying for other people
there's not anything you're going to get out of that carnally
but you know what, it'll change
everything inside of you when you're just blessing other people
it'll make you happy
isn't that what everybody wants, happiness
but you know what, you're happy when you're reading your Bible
and you're happy when you're praying for other people
and you're happy when you're going soul winning
and you're happy when you're going to church
and you're happy when you're right with God
and you're happy when you're serving your spouse
and you're happy when you're serving your children
you're miserable when you're not reading the Bible
you're miserable when you're not going to church
you're miserable when you're not treating your spouse well
and you're miserable when you're not doing anything for your children
that's why the celebrities are so miserable
they're doing none of that
and you know, you want to find happiness
find it in the right places
let's go some prayer
thank you Heavenly Father for giving us this creation account
and these principles and these doctrines
I pray that we would take them seriously
I pray that you would help every single person in this room
and me included
to just read our Bible more
to draw closer to you
I pray that you would help motivate our hearts and our minds
to do ministry and to serve
and to work
and to love other people
and I pray that you would help us to love our spouses
and love our children
and to make sure that we're maintaining the right priorities
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen
for our final song this morning
let's turn to song number 18
take the name of Jesus with you
song number 18
take the name of Jesus with you
song 18
take the name of Jesus with you
take it, then where ever you go
Precious name
O how sweet
hope of earth and joy of heaven
Precious name
O how sweet
hope of earth and joy of heaven
Precious name
O how sweet
hope of earth and joy of heaven
take the name of Jesus ever
as a shield
from every sin
if temptations
round you gather
greet that
holy name in prayer
Precious name
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
Precious name
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
Precious name
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
At the name of Jesus
now we
falling cross
straight at his feet
King of kings
and men will crowd him
when our journey
is complete
Precious name
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
Precious name
O how sweet
hope of earth
and joy of heaven
Thank you all for coming
God bless
You are dismissed
Thank you for watching