- Good afternoon, everyone.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
Thank you all for coming.
If you can find your seats, we'll go ahead and get started.
We're gonna go ahead and start this evening off
in song number 375, "For the Night is Coming."
Song 375, "For the Night is Coming."
Song 375.
Father, thank you so much for this church
and all the people gathered here together.
Thank you for all the souls that were one today.
Lord God, we ask that you fill Pastor Shelley
with your Holy Spirit,
help him to preach an edifying sermon
so we can always, we can leave better Christians
as we came, or better than we came in, Lord,
for your honor and glory.
It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, next up we have song number 244.
This one should be a little more familiar.
Amazing Grace, 244.
- Coming back this evening.
Step fast, Baptist Church, if you need a bulletin,
you can just lift your hand.
Church can come by and get you one.
We're working on Jonah chapter two, verse three.
It's a little bit more challenging a verse,
so you might start working on it already.
On the inside, we have our service times
and soul winning times and our church stats.
Also, if you have any soul winning maps,
please turn those in.
If you have any soul winning to report,
just make sure to text or message your soul winning captain
so that way they can report that.
We still have some expecting ladies
who can be in prayer for, as well as our prayer list.
Please pray for our church family.
On the back is a note about our conference
that's coming up in October.
We also have a Texas chili cook-off at the end of the month,
and then we have our Miami soul winning marathon.
If you're interested as far as just what kind of events
and general timeline that we have,
we kind of have a schedule there for you,
and so you can pay attention to that as well.
That's pretty much all I have.
We'll go ahead and sing our third song, Psalm 67.
If you'd like to sing it out in your companion hymnals,
here you go.
♪ Psalm 67 ♪
♪ The sands of St. Thomas is base to shine ♪
♪ And the water of Sila, the people praise thee ♪
♪ O God, let us in all our shouts be glad to thee ♪
The offering plates are going around.
Would you please turn your Bibles to Psalm chapter number five?
Chapter number five.
- Chapter five, the Bible reads,
give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.
Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God,
for unto thee will I pray.
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord.
In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee
and will look up.
For thou art not a God that hath pleasure and wickedness.
Neither shall evil dwell with thee.
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight.
Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing.
The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
But as for me, I will come into thy house
in the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear
will I worship toward thy holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness
because of mine enemies.
Make thy way straight before my face.
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth.
Their inward part is very wickedness.
Their throat is an open sepulcher.
They flatter with their tongue.
Destroy thou them, O God.
Let them fall by their own counsels.
Pass them out in the multitude of their transgressions,
for they have rebelled against thee.
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice.
Let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them.
Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous.
With favor wilt thou compass them as with a shield.
Let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
I thank you for the word of God.
I ask you to please bless Patrick Shelley
as he preaches your word.
Please help us to be attentive
and to be better Christians.
In Jesus' name, amen.
- Amen.
I wanna look at the very last verse of the psalm.
It says, for thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous.
With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
And the Bible brings up this idea of favor with God.
And another way to word favor would just be blessing.
We think about blessing, favor as a synonym in a sense,
and just hoping for good, wishing for good,
good things to happen, in a sense.
And when we talk about favor, it's in the same context
that God will give favor unto the righteous
and unto people.
And what I want to talk about this evening
is the idea of God's blessing and how God blesses people.
And the title of my sermon is this,
God blesses what's biblical best.
And really the idea of my sermon is,
and I don't want you to hear
what I'm saying wrong this evening.
So I want to give a very clear caveat.
Obviously we should never sin.
Sin is wrong.
God does not want us to sin.
I'm not handing out licenses to sin.
I'm not the Catholic church.
But what I want people to understand
is that God is so gracious that God will bless people
despite the fact that we have sin.
Because if God was only going to bless people
without sin, no one would ever be blessed
and no one would ever have favor.
And so in reality, God blesses people
and allows people to have favor and grace
in all categories of error in their life
and sin in their life and problems.
And I think because we as fundamental Baptists
strive to follow God's commandments very strictly
because we care very much about getting sin out of our life,
we can sometimes get a weird idea
that God will only bless us if we're perfect
or that God will only bless new IFB.
Like there's some people in this world
that think like if you're not going to a new IFB church,
God's not gonna bless you.
And then some people think like,
well, if you're not a soul winning,
three to thrive new IFB person,
then God won't bless you.
And some people think like,
unless you're just reading the Bible all day
and going soul wanting all day
and just singing hymns in your head
and you never have a bad thought,
that's the only way God will bless you, okay?
There's people that say,
well, you have to be a fundamental Baptist
for God to bless you.
Some people say you have to be a Baptist
for God to bless you.
Some people say you'd have to be a Christian
for God to bless you.
And what I want to suggest
is that God can bless people, period.
That it's not limited to a certain group of people
and they're the only people
that will ever get God's favor,
will only get God's blessing that God can use.
But rather, I want to suggest to you
that God can use anyone at any point in time,
but God is always going to bless what's biblical best.
So if we want to procure the most favor,
the most blessing,
and the most pleasure of our Father in heaven,
then we strive to follow the Bible the best.
But at the same time,
there's many people that God uses, cares about,
and does good things for
that are not doing things very biblically.
And so I want to give a lot of examples,
but before I do,
I want to just show what the Bible says about favor.
Go to Psalm chapter 41, go to Psalm chapter 41.
The Bible says to procure God's favor,
it's through being righteous.
That's what it said in Psalm five.
Psalm 41, it's gonna prescribe more detail on this.
Verse seven, the Bible says,
"All that hate me whisper together against me.
"Against me do they devise my hurt.
"An evil disease say they cleaveth fast unto him,
"and now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more.
"Yea, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted,
"which did eat of my bread hath lifted up his heel
"against me.
"But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me,
"and raise me up, that I may requite them.
"By this I know that thou favorest me,
"because mine enemy doth not triumph over me."
So notice again, this person is getting the favor of God,
and specifically, he knows that the enemy
will not triumph over him.
Says in verse 12, "As for me, thou upholdest me
"in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face forever."
Why is it that God's giving this person favor?
Why is he gonna allow them to have triumph?
Because of their integrity.
So we notice that the more integrity you have,
the more righteousness you have,
the more favor you procure from God.
Go over to Psalm 119, 119.
I wanna show a lot of verses on this.
Psalm 119, look at verse 58.
Psalm 119, verse 58 says,
"I entreated thy favor with my whole heart.
"Be merciful unto me according to thy word."
So here's someone entreating is seeking for,
wanting, asking.
So the psalmist is asking and treating,
wanting God's favor.
So they're trying to procure God's favor specifically
and also recognizing what?
That they need mercy.
Because we all need mercy.
The person who thinks they don't need mercy is prideful.
Because we all need mercy
and we should constantly be seeking for
and asking for God's favor in our lives.
Now I wanna go to some Proverbs.
Go to Proverbs chapter number three.
While you're turning there to Proverbs three,
I'm just gonna read for you.
The Bible says blessed are the undefiled in the way
who walk in the law of the Lord.
The Bible says God's blessing comes to people
who refrain from defiling themselves,
who decide to follow what the Bible says.
The Bible says blessed are they that keep his testimonies
and that seek him with the whole heart.
So when you seek God with your heart,
when you strive to keep God's testimonies
and commandments, he blesses you.
So I don't want you to get this idea
that God's blessing is abstract
from following his commandments
because they're directly tied to following his commandments.
But at the same time,
we have to recognize no one is perfect.
So the person that's even striving for God's commandments,
striving for God's favor is still needing mercy,
even to acquire that particular favor.
So we have a balance there of I'm trying to be good,
I'm trying to follow God's commandments,
I'm trying to do what's right,
and I'm hoping God will give me favor,
but at the same time, it's not something I always deserve,
I still need his mercy in order to acquire that.
Proverbs chapter three, verse one,
my son, forget not my law,
but let thine heart keep my commandments
for length of days and long life,
and peace shall they add to thee.
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee,
bind them about thy neck,
write them upon the table of thy heart.
So shalt thou find favor and good understanding
in the sight of God and man.
So how do you get favor with God
and how do you get favor with man?
Well, it's by keeping God's commandments.
So if you want God's blessing,
if you want God's favor,
it is tied to following the Bible.
The more biblical you are,
the more blessed you're going to be.
And God is always going to bless what's biblical best.
Whatever is the most biblical,
he's always gonna bless that the most.
He's gonna give it the most favor,
the most mercy in every category.
And we just see this over and over in the Bible.
Look at Proverbs chapter 11.
I just want to saturate you with several verses here
and then I'm gonna kind of make some points,
but Proverbs chapter 11, look at verse 27.
"He that diligently seeketh good, procureth favor."
If you want God's favor, how do you do it?
What does it say?
Well, it's very clearly, you have to diligently seek good.
So by following God's commandments, by doing right,
God is gonna bless you more.
If you want God's favor, you seek him,
you follow his commandments, you do what's right,
and that's how you procure God's favor.
Chapter 12, we're right there, look at verse two.
A good man obtaineth favor of the Lord,
but a man of wicked devices will he condemn.
There again, God is illustrating that God
does not give out favor to everybody equally.
The more you follow his commandments,
the better you are, the more good you are,
God will give you more favor.
And if you end up crossing the line and you're a wicked man,
God will punish you according to your wickedness.
Look at chapter 13 and verse 15.
Good understanding giveth favor,
but the way of transgressors is hard.
Notice again, the more you understand
what you're supposed to do,
the more you understand the Bible,
and the more you implement that in your life,
the better your life's gonna be, generally speaking.
And the more favor and blessing you're going to have.
And the more you don't follow the Bible
and go against what God's teachings are,
the more difficult and hard your life is going to be.
So the Bible is saying God is going to bless
what's biblical best.
I mean, have I not just already just shown this
as verse after verse after verse after verse?
Look at chapter 14, verse nine.
"Fools make a mocket sin,
"but among the righteous there is favor."
So notice favor is for the people
that are following the commandments,
being righteous, doing right.
Whereas the people that make fun
of following God's commandments,
what does the Bible say about these people?
Well, you know they're fools.
You can say, oh, you go to church,
you read the Bible, you don't drink,
you don't smoke, you don't tat your body up,
you don't do all these things and they mock you.
Oh, you're a goody two shoes.
Oh, you're a fundamentalist.
Oh, you're a Bible believing Christian.
Oh, you're a Baptist.
And it's like, yeah.
But you know what?
I have more favor when I do those things.
I have more favor when I follow God's commandments
and God is gonna bless what is biblical best.
Now I wanna go to a few stories.
Go to 1 Kings chapter 20,
go to 1 Kings chapter number 20.
We're gonna do a lot of Bible tonight.
So I hope you brought your Bible this evening.
But now that I've established that point,
I want to talk about this in a different context.
Because there's no doubt, no question,
that God will always bless what's biblical best.
But then here's this question.
Where's the line?
How biblical do I have to be?
How godly do I have to be?
How much do I have to follow God's commandments
for him to be willing to bless me in my life?
And I wanna show some examples of people
that were not very godly,
that we don't look at as a good example,
and yet God still used them and still blessed them.
Because I want you to have the right perspective
on this issue.
Look at 1 Kings chapter 20 verse 13.
"And behold, there came a prophet unto Ahab king of Israel."
Now, before we get there,
is Ahab considered one of the greatest guys in the Bible?
In fact, how many people in here are named Ahab?
Who in here knows someone named Ahab?
Anybody?
You know why?
Ahab is not considered a good guy in the Bible,
generally speaking.
In fact, he's one of the most wicked at times,
it seems like.
Has a bad wife, okay?
Bad wife, bad life.
All right, there you go.
It's not happy wife, happy life.
It's bad wife, bad life.
That's what it is for him, okay?
"And behold, there came a prophet
"in the Ahab king of Israel,
"saying, 'Thus saith the Lord,
"'Hast thou seen all this great multitude?
"'Behold, I will deliver it into thine hand this day,
"'and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.'
"And Ahab said, 'By whom?'
"And he said, 'Thus saith the Lord,
"'even by the young men of the princes of the provinces.'
"Then he said, 'Who shall order the battle?'
"And he answered, 'Thou.'"
This is a huge surprise in the Bible.
You're just reading about how Ahab is not a godly guy,
not a good king, not doing right.
And then just all of a sudden the enemies of the Lord
come to challenge the children of Israel.
And he's like, "Well, I'm gonna use you."
And you know why?
Just to prove that I'm the Lord.
Because there's no way anybody's gonna give you
the attribution or the credit for this.
So I'm just gonna go ahead and allow you to order the battle
and you to win the victory to give God the glory.
And so sometimes God will use very sinful people,
will use people that are not very right with God
to do something for him,
just simply to give him more honor and credit.
I mean, we look at the woman at the well
in John chapter number four,
not the most godly woman in the Bible
and arguably not a godly woman at all.
In fact, Jesus is like, go call my husband.
And it's like, which one, you know?
It's like, she's got all these past relationships
and the guy she's with right now is not even her husband.
But then in a moment, God uses her
to reach a lot of people with the gospel and to get saved.
And I think that sometimes we think like,
the only way God could use somebody
is if they're a three to thrive fundamental Baptist.
That's the only person God could ever use
or do anything in their life
and the only people that God cares about.
And you know what, that's a weird idea.
And we shouldn't look down upon others
just because they're more sinful than us
and think like God's about to strike you dead
just because you're not like me.
When in fact, many times God is gonna give grace
and mercy to people that really don't deserve it.
And I'm not justifying Ahab's lifestyle.
I'm not saying Ahab's a good guy.
In fact, I'm using an example because he's not a good guy.
What I'm saying is that sometimes we get confused.
It's like, how is this person doing something for God?
How is this person making this positive thing?
How did this person do something?
And it's like, because God can use anybody.
And he can especially use any saved person.
Go to Numbers chapter 16, go to Numbers chapter 16.
If someone's saved, God could use them
at any point that he sees fit.
Now, let's go back to the title of the sermon.
God blesses what's biblical best.
Is Ahab the most blessed king we have in the Bible?
Not even close, why?
Because he wasn't a very biblical king.
So am I saying, let's be like Ahab,
where our life's a complete train wreck,
but one moment in time we did something good for God.
Now, I would rather do something good for God
my whole life, not just one random time.
But what I wanna explain to you
is that even an Ahab out there
could still do something positive for God
once in a blue moon.
It's just like, whoa!
I can't believe that God used Ahab.
Now, you would think again
that people kinda have to be perfect
and not make big mistakes in order for God to use them.
But I wanna remind you that Aaron,
he made a golden calf.
Did you remember that story?
Who knows what I'm talking about?
Who's heard the story?
Aaron made a golden calf.
Who in here, if you were like,
there's this pastor out there and he made a golden calf,
would you ever think God would use that person ever again?
Like you would think like, this guy's a false prophet.
I mean, can you imagine going to someone's church
and they have a giant golden calf
right in the front of their church,
golden calf Baptist church or something,
you're just like, what in the world?
You would think these people are out to lunch
worshiping the devil.
And look, I'm not justifying that.
I'm not saying that was a good idea.
It was super wicked what Aaron did.
It was super wrong.
But then we get later in the story
and we have a controversy between Korah,
Dathan and Abiram, that's what it says.
And let's just read a few verses here, verse one.
Now Korah, the son of Issar, the son of Coath,
the son of Levi and Dathan and Abiram,
the sons of Eliab and On,
the son of Peles, sons of Reuben, Tookman,
and they rose up before Moses
with certain of the children of Israel,
250 princes of the assembly,
famous in the congregation, men of Renal.
And they gathered themselves together
against Moses and against Aaron,
and said unto them, ye take too much upon you,
seeing all the congregation are holy.
Every one of them, flatterer,
and the Lord is among them.
Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves
above the congregation of the Lord.
When Moses heard it, he fell upon his face,
and he spake unto Korah and all his company, saying,
even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his,
and who is holy, and will cause him to come near unto him.
Even him whom he hath chosen,
will he cause to come near unto him.
Now in this story, God ends up performing a miracle,
he opens up the earth,
and he literally causes these wicked people
to go straight into hell.
It says they went alive into the pit,
or quick into the pit, which means alive.
And so it was like a special death
where it's just immediate death in hell.
Like they didn't have to descend, they were already there.
It was just like straight to hell.
Now additionally though, in chapter 17,
it brings up that he had done this thing
where he asked them all to get a rod or staff,
and their sensor, and bring it.
And he's gonna show why he's picking Aaron,
or a proof that he's picking Aaron and not these people.
And in chapter 17, it says in verse number seven,
"And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord
"in the tabernacle of witness.
"And it came to pass that on the morrow
"Moses went into the tabernacle of witness
"and behold the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi
"was budded and brought forth buds
"and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds."
So they all get these censors from all these guys
and they're all saying like, I'm of God.
No, I'm of God.
No, I'm the real prophet.
No, I'm the one that's God's chosen.
No, I'm the chosen.
And then it's like, well, who's really chosen?
And it's the one who has the fruit
'cause you're gonna know people by their fruit.
That's another thing.
You have all these people claiming
to be the children of God.
You have Christians claiming to be the children of God.
You have the black Hebrew Israelites
claiming to be the children of God.
You have Jews claiming to be the children of God.
You know how you know who's the children of God?
The fruit.
And hey, you know why we're the children of God?
And what's the evidence of that?
The fruit that we get people saved
and that we have the good fruits
in the works of the Lord Jesus Christ,
whereas these other groups don't have that fruit.
And the same is with Aaron.
But this is what I want to explain to you.
Why would God bud Aaron's sensor?
Why would God bud his staff?
When he had committed this horrible sin of idolatry
and making a golden calf.
It's because God can use people despite their sin.
And sometimes we get this idea like,
well, this person is not a good person
or not a man of God because of this sin.
You know, and we could all be guilty of this.
What if there's a pastor out there,
he's right on the gospel, he uses the King James Bible,
but he has a big sin or he makes a big mistake.
Is it really ever even comparable to what Aaron did
when it comes to making a golden calf
and then we attack them?
And look, I'm not talking about any of my friends.
I'm talking about specific like frenemies.
I'm talking about people that have slandered,
railed and done serious problems.
You know, just because they've done that,
and this is why I think people get confused,
it doesn't mean that that person couldn't go out
soul winning and get someone saved.
Like, I'm just trying to be honest with you and saying,
there could be someone that is a bad pastor,
that makes bad decisions, that slanders and rails,
and yet still go outside and knock on someone's door
and give them the gospel and get someone saved.
And it's like, what does that even mean?
You know what that means?
It means that God can use anybody.
But you know what it doesn't mean?
Let's do that.
Because God blesses what's biblical best.
You know which pastor is gonna do the most fruit
and the most good works for God?
Is the one that's following the Bible the best.
And so, at the end of the day,
there's been people that I've fought with,
that I've called out, that I've said,
look, this person sinned.
And it wasn't even like a question.
It was like, here's how they sinned,
here's the evidence, here's the proof.
It's all on the table.
But then I realized, you know,
I'm probably not gonna go to that person's area.
I'm probably not gonna preach the gospel
to any of their neighbors anytime soon.
So does it really make sense for me
to just fight this person?
Or should I just kind of eventually back off
and let them alone and say,
well, I hope God uses them despite their issues
and despite their sin and despite their problem.
And it doesn't mean that I wanna be like them
because God's gonna always bless what's biblical best.
But at the end of the day, you know,
I can just leave it alone and just see what God does.
Go to 1 Kings chapter 13, go to 1 Kings chapter 13.
But I wanna show a pattern of how sometimes people,
they just sin really bad
and then immediately after God uses them.
And it's weird.
I mean, think about, have you ever,
I was reading this actually last night
in our family Bible time.
It's Saul, it's the chapter, the chapter starts out.
Saul wants to kill David.
It's like 1 Kings chapter,
or 1 Samuel chapter 18, I think, or 19.
He wants to kill David and then by the end,
and then he's like sending all these servants
and messengers to kill him.
And every time they go out, they like stumble upon this camp
and they start prophesying.
And you're like, that's weird.
And then he sends like another group and then another group.
And then Saul goes himself and then he prophesies
and he's naked and it's weird, I don't know.
But it's just kind of weird that like he wants to kill David.
Like that's his goal.
And then all of a sudden he prophesies.
And then they say, this is why we say
isn't Saul among the prophets.
And it's like, that's so weird.
Like this guy has a bad heart, bad attitude, bad motives,
doesn't even want to serve God in the moment
and then randomly just starts preaching the Bible
and the word of God.
Isn't that weird?
But again, is Saul the best representation of a king?
Did Saul accomplish the most works?
No, because God blesses with biblical best.
And you know who is better than him?
David.
And the Bible explicitly said that David was better than him.
So should we be like Saul?
No.
But could Saul do something for God still?
Yes, he could.
Yes, he can.
And in 1 Kings chapter 13, this is another crazy story.
Look at verse number 11.
"Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the works
that the man of God had done that day in Bethel, the words which he had spoken unto the king.
Them they told also to their father; and their father said unto them, What way went he?
For his sons had seen what way the man of God went, which came from Judah.
And he said unto his son, Saddle me the ass.
So they saddled him the ass and rode thereon, and went after the man of God, and found him
sitting under an oak, and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from Judah?
And he said, I am.
Then he said unto him, Come home with me and eat bread.
And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee; neither will I eat bread
nor drink water with thee in this place.
For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there,
nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
And he said unto him, I am a prophet also, as thou art.
But an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee
into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water.
But he lied unto him.
Now this is crazy.
You have a man of God talking to another man of God, you have two preachers, two prophets
talking to each other, and one just makes up a complete lie, a complete story, a complete
fiction to encourage someone to break God's commandments, to go against the word of God.
This is what you call false teaching.
This is a man of God preaching lies on purpose to destroy another man of God.
That's really wicked.
And you know what?
It happens.
There are preachers out there, there are pastors out there that will lie and say things that
are not true in an effort to destroy another pastor or a church.
They'll exaggerate the truth.
They'll just make crazy stories up.
I've experienced it.
I've lived it.
I've made videos about it.
It's crazy when it happens, but then this is where it gets even weirder to me.
Verse 19, "So he went back with them and did eat bread in his house and drink water.
And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came under the prophet
that brought him back."
This guy just lied to him and preached lies unto him to try and destroy him.
And then now the word of the Lord comes to him and he gets to preach the Bible.
How does that even make sense?
That's weird to me.
He says, "Then he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, 'Thus saith
the Lord, for as much as thou has disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and has not kept the
commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but came his back, and has eaten bread
and drunk water in the place of the which the Lord did say to thee eat no bread and
drink no water, thy carcass shall not come unto the sepulcher of thy fathers."
This is just crazy.
The man of God, it's like basically if a pastor came up to you and said, "Hey, you
should like rail with me, like we should rail on this person."
And then you do and he's like, "You know what, I'm going to have to kick you out of church
for railing."
You're like, "What?"
I mean, what if I just came up to you like, "Hey, you should drink this alcohol."
And then you drink it and like, "I'm going to throw you out for drinking that alcohol."
It's just like, you're like, "What in the world?"
This is just crazy and it's not only just crazy that he's a hypocrite, it's crazy that
God gave him that word, that God gave him the word of God.
It's also crazy that God punished the good guy in the story, not the bad guy.
Isn't that weird?
I'm just trying to explain to you that it's not so simple to just think, like, I have
to be perfect with God for God to use me or for God to give me favor.
And then sometimes even the good guy gets punished more harshly than the bad guy.
It's all over the place.
Go through to Job chapter one, Job chapter one.
So point one that we established this evening was that God's going to bless the righteous
and he's going to give more favor to those who are seeking him and following his commandments.
Case closed.
But what I also want to show is how many stories and how many examples of God using people
that it didn't really make that much sense and that weren't really on the right path
and weren't even that righteous anyways.
Just because God gives favor to the most righteous people doesn't mean he doesn't just give favor
indiscriminately to other people as he sees fit, however and whenever.
And so God can use anybody at any stage in their life.
But of course the people that are following God's commandments very well are going to
get the most.
Look at Job 1 verse 8.
"And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job?
There is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God in his
shoe with evil.
Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for not?
Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath
on every side?
Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land."
You know what the devil's saying?
Man, this guy, since he keeps your commandments, you blessed him as a result of keeping his
commandments.
He says, "Is Job serving you for not?"
Look, because of the fact that he's serving you, you're blessing him greatly, and you're
protecting him, and you're giving him favor, and you have a hedge about him on literally
every side.
Does that not just prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that God blesses what's biblical
best?
But what happens?
God still allows Job to be tested, and to be proved, and to be tried, and removes that
hedge of protection, and allows him to go through extreme trials to see where he's
at.
And after he goes through that trial, then God obviously puts that hedge back on Job
and allows Job's second half of his life to be even greater and more blessed than the
earlier stage of his life.
So just because you're righteous does not mean you won't have problems.
Just because you're righteous doesn't mean God won't test you and try you.
But also, just because you do bad and you sin doesn't mean God won't just randomly
bless you and give you grace too.
And this is why this is an important lesson, is because many people think, "Well, I sinned
and I'm waiting in pending doom."
And then it doesn't happen and then they think, "Oh, I guess God doesn't care about sin."
Or they start making positive decisions in their life and maybe things don't automatically
go better and then they think, "I guess serving God doesn't really work."
But you know what?
It's just a mixed bag.
And in general, when you serve God and you're doing what's right, you're gonna have the
most blessing and when you're not, you're gonna have the least blessing.
But don't allow your circumstances to dictate the decisions you make in your life.
Because you can see, and I wanna go to a couple of examples, go to Proverbs chapter 18, go
to Proverbs chapter 18.
Let's be honest, our culture and society is very post-Christian.
Our culture is not very biblical.
And you know, one area of our society that is really poor is divorce and remarriage.
There is a lot of divorce in America.
And there's a lot of divorce and remarriage.
And then there's divorce after that and another remarriage.
And it's just a rampant thing that's happening.
But you have to ask this question.
What marriages, when you have two people that are saved, what marriages will God bless?
And the answer is He can bless any of them.
But what marriages is God going to bless the most?
The most biblical marriages.
So if you stay with your spouse and you don't get divorced, you're going to probably have
the most blessing and the most favor.
But you know what, if a couple made a mistake or they got divorced and they got remarried,
what that does not mean is that God could not bless those people in that marriage now
that they've been remarried and they did something that they shouldn't.
It just means they probably won't get the most blessing or the most favor.
And it's not, it's not even saying that they can't, it's just saying it's less likely
because God's always going to bless what's biblical best.
Proverbs chapter 18, look at verse 22, "whoso findeth a wife, findeth a good thing, and
obtaineth favor of the Lord."
Getting married, you procure God's favor.
And what marriages are God going to bless the most?
The ones that are doing it right.
You know, if both parties are a virgin on their wedding night and they get married,
they're going to have the best chance for success.
Now let's say they committed fornication.
They're going to have, they're not going to probably have as much favor.
Let's say one was divorced.
They're probably not going to have as much favor.
Let's say there's all kinds, we can just dream up every scenario.
But what doesn't, what the Bible is not saying is if you weren't both perfect virgins that
were saved and had the best marriage ever, what it doesn't mean is that God can't bless
you.
And this is what people do.
People will do bad things or make bad decisions and not get anything, no consequences.
And then they'll think like that's good.
And now we don't want to encourage people to sin.
We want people to realize God's always going to bless what's biblical best.
But at the same time, we don't want to discourage people that have made mistakes and the thinking
that they have to always look over their shoulder and worry that God's going to strike them
dead or something because they didn't make good decisions or they are in the best situation.
What about this?
What about schooling?
And I think that, you know, of course, we as a church as a whole try to teach and emphasize
homeschooling.
And you know what?
I think that homeschooling is probably the best option, especially in our society.
But what if people that come to our church, their kids go to public school?
Does that mean that God can't bless that family or that those kids are doomed or something
or those kids can't be good kids?
No, that is not what I believe.
But God's going to bless what's biblical best.
And so if you want the best chance of success with your children, if you want your children
to have a good education, if you want them to not be a Democrat communist, then, you
know, it might be better to homeschool them.
Let's also be honest about homeschooling, though.
Some people, when it comes to homeschooling, they have a wide array of what they're going
to do in their homeschooling.
Some people do what's called no schooling.
And what that means is they basically don't really teach their kids much of anything because
they're lazy.
And I'm not saying that's good.
But does that mean that their kids are doomed?
No.
But God's going to bless what's biblical best.
But if they use a lower curriculum, or they use online, or they do their own teaching,
I'm not going to sit here and condemn or doom anybody.
But I want to say this, God's going to always bless what's biblical best.
But if you're not perfect in that area, if you're not doing everything right, I don't
want you to feel like God's about to strike you dead and your kids are going to be awful.
God could still bless you no matter what scenario or situation you're in.
But what are you going to get the most favor when you do things that are biblical?
Let's talk about Bible versions for a moment, okay?
What is going to impact people the best?
It's the King James Bible.
It's not even a question.
But this is why I don't want you to get confused on.
Does that mean that no one could ever have any good thing happen out of a modern Bible
version?
I would say no.
There are verses in the modern versions that don't say anything wrong.
While they may say it differently, they still, in some cases, communicate the right message.
Some people go so far as to say, "I don't even think someone gets saved unless it was
just exactly quoted from the King James Bible."
But I don't believe that.
I think you could show people from a modern Bible a lot of the same salvation verses and
someone could get saved.
But you know what?
What's more likely?
Is it more likely for someone to get saved from a King James Bible or from one of these
modern versions?
It's more likely if it's coming from the King James.
And you know what the evidence is that, is the fact that most people that are doing soul
winning use a King James Bible because of the power of the King James Bible.
And God is going to always bless what's biblical best.
So am I, I'm not saying let's use modern Bible versions.
But you know what I don't want you to do is I don't want you to get this weird idea that
unless it's the King James Bible, it can't even work.
Because then we start getting weird ideas.
And we start causing people that don't already agree with us to think that we're nuts.
They're like, "You're telling me if I don't have an EF at the end of the word, it's like
corrupting God's word?"
And it's like, "No, I'm not a ruck-tart, okay?
You're telling me if I use synonyms, it's somehow changing God's word?
No, I'm not a weirdo, okay?
There are weirdos out there though."
And they get this hyper sensitivity to righteousness to where they think everyone's doomed that's
not exactly like them.
And they become holier than thou.
And so I want you to understand that God's going to bless with the biblical best.
Let's talk about church denominations.
Could somebody make a positive decision in their life and hear a message from a church
that's not a fundamental Baptist church?
Yes they can.
Could someone serve God in some capacity in a church that's not a King James Bible church?
Yes they could.
But you know what?
God's going to always bless what's biblical best.
Look I know people they say I got saved in a non-denom church or I got saved in a Bible
church.
Someone told me they got saved in a Pentecostal church and I'm like well we might need to
preach you the gospel again but no I'm just kidding.
But look maybe it's possible but let's be honest is the Pentecostal church just turning
people out like turning saved people out all the time?
No it'd be despite the Pentecostal church that that happened right?
But I'm just saying we have to understand that God's going to always bless what's biblical
best but that doesn't mean he can't use bad situations.
Let's just use the Bible for a sample here.
Go to 1st Corinthians for a second because I want to give you real examples.
Do you realize that the church at Corinth was a real church that God respected, right?
Let's just get a rundown of what this church was like for a second.
I just want to expose you to something, what the Bible says.
Look at 1st Corinthians chapter 3 verse 3, "For ye are yet carnal."
Just objectively fact, the Corinthian church was a carnal church.
Look at chapter 5 verse 1, "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you,
and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have
his father's wife."
So this is a carnal church with a guy in the church that is married to his dad's wife or
with his dad's wife.
Chapter 6, they have lawsuits, they're suing each other.
Chapter 7, they're dealing with fornication.
Chapter 8, they're dealing with meat sacrificed unto idols that's in the church.
Chapter 11, they're so screwed up on the Lord's Supper, the Bible says that God is killing
some of them because of the Lord's Supper issues.
Look at chapter 14 verse 26, "How is it then, brethren, when you come together, every one
of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation."
He's saying, "You go to this church, everyone's screwed up.
Everybody has their own song, everybody has their own beliefs, everybody has their own
interpretations, there's no unity."
Chapter 15, look at verse 34, "awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge
of God."
Chapter 15, he is saying, "There are some people in this church that don't understand
the resurrection."
Now, are you going to tell me that this church doesn't have problems?
This is a real church with real people in it that God is writing the Word of God to.
How screwed up are they?
And then if we said, "Okay, now let's compare that to a Bible church down the street."
If we just, let's just say, let's all just visit a random Bible church down the street.
Do you think we would expect to find that there's people with their father's wife eating
meat sacrificed under idols and that many people in the church don't even understand
the resurrection?
I mean, it's possible.
I would just venture that they're probably even better than that, aren't they?
So are we going to sit here and condemn them and act like they're of Satan because they
don't have Baptist on the front of their church?
Or are we going to say, "You know what?
There are some churches in the Bible that were probably more screwed up than that one.
Let's keep going.
Go to Galatians chapter number three.
Galatians chapter number three, look at verse one, "Oh, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched
you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ have been evidently
set forth crucified among you."
The Galatians church was mixed up on the gospel.
They had an infiltration of Judaizers screwing them up on the gospel, confusing them on the
gospel.
Look at chapter four, verse 11.
"I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor and vain."
This is a church that Paul thinks that some of them are not even saved, that many of them
are not even really Christian.
That's how bad this church is.
Yet God wrote an epistle to this church through the work of the Holy Spirit in Paul's heart
and his mind, and he wrote the Word of God to this church.
So does that mean that God can't use the Galatian church?
No, God could.
Does that mean that God couldn't use the church at Corinth?
No, of course God could.
But let me ask you this, does that mean that it doesn't matter if we follow the commandments?
No, because God will always bless what's Biblical best.
And for a second time I'm not even going to go there, what if we just go to Revelation?
It's like, wow, these churches have problems.
I mean one of them has a woman preacher preaching a pro-fornication message.
How many of us would think like this church is doomed?
Imagine if we saw a Baptist church and we came in and they had a woman preacher getting
up saying it's okay to commit fornication.
Wouldn't we all say that God's about to just burn that church to the ground?
Like I might be struck dead for having even walked inside.
And look, I'm not saying let's not fear the Lord.
I'm not saying that God isn't about to because God ends up destroying her.
But he gave her grace and he's still writing the epistle to that church.
And God could still even use some of that church to do things for him.
You know, you have the Sardis and Laodicean church.
Let's talk about another issue.
What about the pastors themselves?
Pastors that make mistakes, pastors that do things that are bad.
Does that mean that God couldn't use that particular pastor?
No, of course God still could use that pastor.
You know, I have a pretty high standard personally when it comes to like what I'm looking for
when I want to send someone out to start a church.
You know, I want someone to read the Bible at least ten times cover to cover.
I want them to have at least two kids above the age of two.
I want them to have been leading soul winning times and serving in the church and you know
that's a lot of that is just my own personal interpretation of what the qualifications mean.
But there could be some people out there that differ on what they believe those qualifications
are.
And there have been pastors in the past where they didn't really meet my personal standard
or my personal interpretation of those verses, but they weren't like a bad person.
They just didn't necessarily fit in what I personally believe.
And I didn't want to go against that person and attack them just because I don't necessarily
agree with their qualification.
There have been pastors that I know that friends of ours and other people have supported, been
friends with.
They have no kids.
They literally have no kids and I'm thinking like, how does that make sense when the Bible
says having faithful children?
It doesn't really make sense.
But you know what?
I didn't want to just attack that person necessarily and try to call God's fire down from heaven
on their head or something because you know what?
I'm sure that that person's still gotten people saved in his life.
I'm sure that that person maybe even preached messages or sermons at some point that helped
somebody.
But let me say this, God's going to always bless what's biblical best.
There have been pastors who keep preaching when it's questionable whether or not they
should keep preaching.
And you know, a lot of people have called out Jack Hiles in the past because he had
some serious issues in his family.
He's had a lot of controversy at different times.
You know, if you look at his son David Hiles, guy has committed some wicked horrible sins.
His daughter did like a Ted Talk calling him like a cult leader and just like totally going
against him.
You know, and you could say like, man, it just seems like he failed at raising his family.
And maybe that's the right opinion.
I don't know.
I don't know what the right opinion is on that.
What I do know is that Jack Hiles was still getting people saved all the way up until
he died.
And what I also know is that he preached some sermons at the very end of his ministry that
are some of the best sermons I've ever heard in my life.
And you would think like, how does that even make sense?
But wait a minute.
Didn't one of those prophets lie and then randomly preach the Bible?
So let me ask you this question.
Could a pastor be completely disqualified and should step down and then still end up
preaching a good sermon?
Yeah.
Now is that right?
No.
Because God's going to always bless his biblical best.
But I don't want you to get confused and think like, well this guy did something good,
therefore that exonerates everything he's done in his life.
Or vice versa, that because you've done something wrong, God couldn't use you.
Because God will always bless what's biblical best.
And the churches that are following the commandments the best, God's going to use the best.
That's why I believe when you look at the fruit of Churches Day and you say which churches
are doing the most for God, it's the ones that are using the King James Bible, that
are preaching the entire council of God, that are emphasizing soul winning, that are keeping
high standards.
What churches are God going to bless the most in this world?
The ones that are the most biblical.
And so we should always strive as a church to be the most biblical, but we have to understand
that does not mean that God can't use a random person to do a random thing every once in
a while.
And we want to have the right belief system on this.
What about people that use birth control?
Does that mean that God's going to strike them dead and curse their children?
Not necessarily, but I don't agree with it.
I don't think it's right.
I think you're going to be more blessed if you don't murder your children through birth
control methods.
What about parenting?
What about marriage?
What about all these subjects?
Maybe you're not a very loving husband.
Maybe you're not a very obedient wife.
Does that mean your marriage is doomed?
No.
But you know what?
You're going to have the best blessing of God when you're doing what's biblical most.
When you're being an obedient wife, you're going to have a better marriage.
When you're being a loving husband, you're going to have a better marriage because God's
going to always bless what's biblical best.
But that doesn't mean even if you're not a very good person that God couldn't bless
you.
What about music?
This has become controversial lately.
I don't know why, but it's just super controversial.
So I'm going to talk about it for a moment, okay?
You know, I don't want and I don't believe that we'll ever sing contemporary Christian
music for our church services, okay?
And I never try to say things in an absolute manner anymore in my life, so just give me
grace on that.
I'm not like about to, it's not even a chance, like I don't think it'll ever happen, but
I never like to say things in a never sense.
I don't like it.
I don't want it.
I want to only sing the hymns and the psalms and even the songs that I make, I want them
to seem like that and have a similar style.
Like that is my goal.
That's where I want to be.
That's what I want to be like until I die.
We're going to still sing from the hymn book and, you know, God willing, maybe we'll put
more psalms to music.
Maybe people have written new hymns, but I want them to be a hymn style.
I want them to be hymn lyrics.
I want them to be like that, okay?
I'm not willing to change on this issue.
But can I really just say, just objectively, if someone made a worship song that is contemporary
Christian music and they have lyrics that don't say any heresy, could I really say that
that's bad?
I just think that that's a wrong attitude.
You know, do you really think the normie Christian out there that hasn't been exposed
to much and he's just singing a song like "Worship the Lamb" or something, that God's
just about to strike them down from heaven because it's not a hymn style music, that's
just so weird.
I mean in light of everything that we just read and seen, is God just about on a hair
trigger to just curse and destroy everybody?
I mean he's using people that are lying and terrible kings and making golden calves and
women preachers and fornication in the church and all this crazy stuff.
And then I'm supposed to believe that somebody that made music with lyrics that match the
doctrines of the Bible, but the style of music is not your style of music, that God is mad
at that person.
Like you are a holier than thou.
I'm sorry.
Now again, I've preached against contemporary music in the sense that I don't want to use
it in our church.
And I don't like it when the lyrics aren't so doctrinally distinct that you can't tell
if you're even a Christian by singing it.
Like our God is an awesome God, what deist can't sing that song?
I mean a Hindu could sing that song.
But am I going to sit here and say like, this Christian is wicked for singing that song.
No, that is way over the top folks.
There could totally be a person that loves Jesus Christ in their heart and mind and is
singing that song unto the Lord and God takes pleasure in that person just singing to God.
You know, it's way better that person singing this song than the person that's so pious
than their mind and their heart but they never even sing anything.
Like I think that sometimes we could get so over the top that we start condemning things
that don't make sense.
And there's been plenty of times in history where this has been the case.
Puritans, it starts getting to the point where circles and squares are satanic, folks.
And I'm just like, I don't agree with that.
This is what I believe.
God blesses what's biblical best.
So the more biblical our music is, the better it's going to be and the more of a blessing
it's going to be.
The more spiritual our music is, the more spirit-filled that we're going to be.
And you know what?
There's not even a question that the hymns and the Psalms are superior in every way to
this other music.
But if you take music and you put the Word of God to it, I'm not going to fight you
on it.
And here's another thing.
If you listen to music that doesn't have any sin in it, I'm not going to fight you on
it.
Because you know that everything gives glory to God.
The trees give glory to God.
The sky gives glory to God.
Everything gives glory to God.
If you just write a random song on a guitar or do whatever, and you just say, you just
do it, like hey, there's nothing wrong with that.
Like it's just weird when people get these strange ideas.
I mean, do you realize that the song, or the song of Solomon, is it like a love ballad?
You realize that, right?
It's just a guy singing about how much he likes his wife, and a wife singing how much
she likes about her husband.
So let's just say some random person out here makes a love song, and they sing a love song
to their spouse.
Are they now of the devil because they sang a love song?
Like how radical are you going to get?
And look, some people probably hate what I'm saying right now.
They're like, Pastor Shelley's a liberal, you know.
Oh my goodness.
How liberal you get?
Look, I'm not changing.
I'm just saying, let's not condemn people when there's nothing to condemn, and let's
hope for the best, and let's just realize, hey, I'm not going to be like you, but I'm
not going to get mad at you, and I'm not going to start just damning everything that doesn't
make any sense.
What about clothing?
God is going to bless what's biblical best, but you know what?
There's people out there that don't dress right, that don't follow our standards of
dress.
Does that mean that God is going to curse them?
You know, there's people that come to our church, and they will only wear t-shirts,
and they go soul-witting in t-shirts.
Well, you can't get someone saved if you go in a t-shirt.
Well, you know what?
Almost all of us have already proven that wrong, and you know, frankly speaking, I don't
even -- I've never even thought, like, I get more people saved dressed in a suit and tie
than in a t-shirt.
I have no idea.
I don't even know what the date is.
I wouldn't even be surprised if that's not true, you know?
And I don't -- I couldn't even say, like, hey, coming to church dressed casually is
of the devil or something.
But you know what?
I do know this, that God's gonna always bless what's biblical best, and I think we're supposed
to take church seriously, and I think it's important to dress in a way that's God-honoring.
And if this is the most important institution on the planet, then maybe I should dress so.
So I have high dress standards, I even have high standards for our pulpit, that people
are not supposed to get up behind our pulpit without a shirt and tie on, whether that's
the music leader, the Bible reader, the preacher, you know, I have a high, I'm trying to have
high standards there.
Am I gonna then say, like, this person didn't have a shirt and tie on though, they're literally
of the devil?
No, but I believe that God's gonna always bless what's biblical best, and when we take
church seriously, and we approach God with reverence and fear and holiness, and we set
a high standard for ourself, I believe God is gonna bless that the best.
And I think people are gonna take the reading of scripture more seriously than if a guy
gets up here in a random hoodie, right?
I think we're gonna take the worship of the Lord a little more serious than we get girls
in miniskirts up here swinging and swaying and singing lyrics that don't have any doctrinal
significance.
So we want to make sure that we're being God-honoring and we're doing things the way that God would
have us do.
What about laws in our country?
The laws that are the most biblical are gonna be the most blessed and the laws that are
not very biblical are gonna be the less blessed, the less favored.
Businesses, businesses that are more God-honoring are gonna have more favor and businesses that
are very ungodly are gonna not have God's favor on them.
Jobs are the same way.
We could literally just plug and play anything here, folks.
Go over to Galatians 6 and we'll wrap up.
This is the point of my sermon.
The point of my sermon is this.
I want to motivate you to serve God because you want to procure God's favor, not because
you're afraid God's gonna strike you dead if you're not perfect.
And I think that unfortunately there is this attitude of thinking like God's gonna strike
me dead if I make a mistake.
And this is why this mentality is dangerous, okay?
Is because God will not strike you dead just because you mess up a little bit.
And this is what people then do.
They finally fall.
They stumble a little bit.
And then they're kind of just waiting for impending doom.
And then it doesn't happen.
And then this is what they think.
"Oh, I guess it doesn't matter what I do.
Oh, I guess God doesn't care what I do.
Oh, I guess there's no consequence to not following God's commandments."
And then it's like, wrong.
That is not what God's grace and long-suffering means.
In fact, there will be a consequence.
But at the end of the day, that doesn't mean God is just going to doom you because you
weren't perfect.
What does it say in Galatians chapter 6 though, in verse 7, "Be not deceived.
God is not mocked.
For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap."
You know, could God use a non-Baptist church to every once in a while minister to someone
and get someone saved?
Yes.
But they're never going to be the powerhouse of soul winning.
They're never going to be the place in the institution that is preaching the hard truths
of the Bible and making radical changes in people's lives.
The people that are not using the King James Bible and not going out soul winning are not
going to get a lot of people saved.
Does that mean that someone that doesn't go to our style church and is not an active soul
winner couldn't just have someone come to them and talk to them and ask them about Jesus
and they shared the gospel and they get them saved?
No, I'm sure it happens.
But they're not going to do the most.
Are you going to have the best family by just winging it?
Probably not.
I want you to be motivated to serve God because you recognize you will reap what you sow.
If you invest in the things of God, you will reap many spiritual blessings and procure
the favor of God in your life.
And I hope that you wish to have his favor.
Let us then come alongside the normies and explain to them why they should be like us
instead of trying to say, well, if you're like that, I can't believe God hasn't struck
you dead yet.
You dress like that, act like that, talk like that and just condemning everything that's
not perfect and thinking, well, I have this standard and you're here, so therefore it's
horrible.
Well, you know, sometimes there's just good, better and best.
And so we don't want to necessarily confuse people into thinking like, hey, I'm not saying
what you're doing is not good.
It's just not the best.
Hey, you know, I'm glad that you read your Bible, but here's a better Bible to read,
right?
Here's a better way to get people saved.
Here's a better music to sing in your church.
Here's a better way to dress.
Here's a better way to raise your kids.
Here's a better way to love your wife.
Here's a better type of pastor, right?
Not all pastors are created equal, folks.
And that's why the qualifications are there, okay?
And of course, does that mean that someone couldn't be used by God?
Well, I think God can use anybody.
God could use any church.
God can use sinful people.
People can be doing wrong and just randomly God allows them to be used.
But let us not get confused when that happens and think, "Well, then I'm going to be like
that person."
No.
I want to be like the best that I can.
I want to be the best version of myself.
I want to procure God's favor.
I want to have the best Bible.
I want to have the best church.
I want to have the best family.
I want to have the best standards.
I want to be dressed the best.
I want to speak the best.
I want to have the best soul-winning presentation.
I want to have everything be the best because that's what God will bless the most.
But at the end of the day, let us not look down upon people that aren't exactly like
us and let us encourage others to do what's best and what's most biblical to procure
God's favor and not try to scare them into serving God.
Because frankly speaking, I don't think very many people do very good when they're scared
and they're only serving God out of fear of just being struck dead.
And as soon as they realize that's not how the world works, then they just stop serving
God because they don't see the point.
But then it's too late because they start reaping what they sowed two years ago and
now they're down a bad path.
I listened to, who knows, there's like this Duggar children or whatever, you've probably
heard of these.
Like some of them have kind of deconstructed their faith or turned away from their family.
And I remember listening to this lady explain how she did.
And she basically explained exactly what I told you.
One of the Duggar girls said, "I was so afraid that God was going to strike me dead and kill
me for doing anything wrong."
And she said she was riding in a car with some friends and they turned on the radio
and it was just like normal music.
It wasn't godly music, it wasn't even satanic, it was just like normal music.
And she thought that God was going to cause the car to go off a cliff and they were going
to crash and die.
And it didn't happen.
But you know what?
A seed was planted in her mind that said, "Oh, I guess you can do whatever you want."
And then from there she just kept testing limits and testing limits.
And because she didn't die in a car accident right after listening to that song, she now
thinks that there isn't a consequence to her actions or something.
Or that she won't reap what she sows.
Or that serving God doesn't really have much of a point.
And you know what?
That's a bad attitude.
You know what?
You could probably, because here's the thing, you could probably just quit church and just
focus on making money.
And for the next six months of your life, it could be the best six months of your life.
And you'd think like, "How does that even make sense?
I'm not serving God.
I'm not reading my Bible.
I'm just doing whatever.
And yet everything seems to be going well for me."
Well, that's because God's long suffering.
But let me tell you, you do that for a consistent long period of time, you will reap what you
sow.
And God will always bless what's biblical best.
So I want to encourage you, let's do the right thing, but let's also recognize, even when
we're not doing the right thing, God is still gracious unto us often.
And we don't allow His grace and His long suffering to make us think that He won't judge
us for our actions, or that there won't be a consequence, or that we won't lose out on
favor and blessings that we could have in our life.
Let us desire to seek God's favor and always strive to do what's biblical, because that's
what God will bless.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for all of your grace and all your long-suffering
that you show towards us and not just us, the whole world.
I pray that we wouldn't take for granted the grace that you give us, but rather we would
recognize that it's important to serve God and to follow your commandments to procure
your favor.
I pray that you would help us to have the right motivation and the right desire to serve
you, and I pray that you would continue to be gracious unto us, that you would give this
church favor, that you would bless our church, and that you could use our church, and that
we would understand the importance of serving you, and that you love to use clean and righteous
vessels.
And I pray that when we come alongside other people, we can motivate them to serve you
out of love and appreciation, and that they would seek to procure your favor too.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
All right, our last song is going to be song number 280, "Softly and Tenderly."
Jesus is Calling, song number 280, song 280, "Softly and Tenderly."