sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, I just pray you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and let us all have
ears to hear. We love you in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen. Part of the chapter I want to focus on is in verse 31 where the Bible read,
Therefore take no thought saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or
Wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly
Father knoweth that you have need
of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and
all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow,
for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof. And the morning sermon is entitled, Having the Right Priorities.
Having the Right Priorities. And so I want to focus here on this passage and really expound
on some other places in scripture that we can look at, but the Bible makes it clear
that we need to have the right priorities. We need to make sure that we have things stacked
in the correct order, that we don't start putting things above other things that are
more important, that have a higher priority. And the Bible tells us that the most important
thing is seeking the kingdom of God. It says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God. It doesn't
say second, third, last, maybe if you feel like it, when it's convenient, just Sunday
morning. Nope, it says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and notice, and his righteousness.
So when it comes to priorities in your life, as a Christian, your number one priority is
God, period. It should be God, it's always God. There's never any kind of substitute.
The Bible doesn't give any kind of caveats. The Lord Jesus Christ doesn't just kind of
soften the message. No. He says, Hey, seek ye first the kingdom of God. That's what you're
supposed to look to. That's what you're supposed to prioritize. And the Bible makes it crystal
clear in so many places in scripture. I want to look at a few more. Go to Luke chapter
number four. Luke chapter number four. But the Lord Jesus Christ compares God with many
other earthly things today, and in comparison, we're not supposed to esteem the earthly thing.
We're supposed to esteem him. There's nothing carnal, nothing earthly, nothing fleshly that
should ever get in the way of us serving God or putting God first in our lives. The Bible
says in Luke 4, four, Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every word of God. Saying, Hey, you don't need just food. You
need every word of God. And the Bible puts the word of God above your food. And food,
I mean, what person here is not going to eat today? I mean, maybe you're fasting and I
don't know it, but at the end of the day, most of us eat every single day. You know
what? We need to seek God and his words more than our food. Go, if you would, to Job. Keep
your finger and go to Job, because we'll come back to Luke. Go to Job 23, right before the
book of Psalms. If you just let your Bible kind of fall in the middle and right before
the book of Psalms, look at Job 23. Look at verse number 11. And this is Job speaking,
so we know that what he said was right. It says in verse number 11, My foot hath held
his steps. His way have I kept and not declined. Verse 12, Neither have I gone back from the
commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary
food. Notice that he says, hey, food's necessary. You can't survive without physical food. You
can't survive without eating. We all have to eat. But he says, you know what? If you
want to be godly, you have to esteem the words of God more important than your physical food.
More important than your necessary food. I would rather skip breakfast than church. I
would rather skip any kind of meal than doing the work of God. Even the Lord Jesus Christ,
he skipped lunch just so he could give a lady the gospel. Just so he could make sure that
she was on her way to heaven. And it wasn't even a Jew. It was a Gentile. It was a Samaritan.
It was somebody that, you know, was kind of like not really even of the people he's supposed
to go to. But he has an opportunity to give her the gospel. He's not so concerned with
food. He's concerned with serving God. He's concerned with the things of God. Go back
to Luke and look at chapter 14. The Bible takes serving God to an extreme. It's not
a minor topic in the Bible. Look at verse 26, chapter 14, verse 26. If any man come
to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters,
yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his
cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Now, obviously the Bible's not saying you
should hate all your family. It's not saying you should be mean to them and curse them
and swear them. That's not a Godly attribute. The Bible says to honor thy father with my
mother. So obviously you're supposed to be respectful of your parents and you're supposed
to love your parents. But if it becomes between you and serving God, your parents somehow
get in the middle of that, you're supposed to hate your parents' relationship. You know,
I don't want any kind of relationship to get between me and God, whether it's my father,
whether it's my mother, whether it's my children. I don't care, even my spouse. There's not
a person that's supposed to come between me and God, period. And in comparison, I should
despise whatever it would be that would draw me away from God. If my father was trying
to pull me away from God and get me out of serving God and didn't want me to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, I should hate that relationship and esteem God right, and esteem
Him more necessary, and love Him more. And you can't be God's disciple when you're elevating
personal relationships over serving Him. A lot of times it's not taken as such an extreme.
Well, I'll give you a little bit more practical application. Obviously it's probably not a
life or death situation, but what people do is they'll prioritize their family, their
mother, their mother, their children, over serving God to the point where they never
serve God. And he's saying, hey, you're not my disciple then. The true disciples of the
Lord Jesus Christ of God are those that don't put any relationship in between them and God.
They're making sure to keep them and God tight and any other relationships at arm's length.
Hey, I don't have any space for you because God's right here. God's in my bosom. God's
the one that I have with me right here, and I'm not going to let that be threatened. If
you're going to come and threaten that relationship, it's going to get to the point where I'd even
hate you. That's what the Bible's teaching. Look at chapter 16. Look at verse 13. No servant
can serve two masters, for either you'll hate the one and love the other, or else he will
hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Some people,
they won't replace God with a physical relationship, but they'll replace it with money. They'll
let money come in between them and serving God. If their job's threatened, they're going
to just stick with their job. Hey, if that 401k's threatened, they're going to stick
with the 401k. Whatever it is financially, whatever comes of the financial, well, if
I do that, I can't have this house, and I can't have this car, and I can't have all
these luxury items, and we can't travel all the time, we can't do all these things. So
they'll stop serving God. Well, if I go to church all the time, I mean, I can't go on
all the business trips that I need to, and I can't work all the overtime that I need
to. On Sundays, I get paid double. On Sundays, I get paid even more. I can't go to church.
I can't do these things. Look, you can't serve God and mammon today. Well, why would I go
soul winning? I mean, I could be making 50 bucks an hour by going to my job, or by selling
these things. I could go out and be a door-to-door salesman. I mean, I'm not making money going
out soul winning. At least Pastor Shelley frowns on that. Yeah, you'll get in trouble
if you're selling things at the door. Hey, I got this Bible for you, and this cool DVD.
It's on sale. No, you give those out for free, all right? Don't be Satan Claus, you know,
where everything's a reward or whatever. But we can't put things in between God and us.
Family, your money, your finances. Go to Psalms 145, Psalms 145. Now, I'm going to help you
make this practical, okay? How can I know, Pastor Shelley, if my priorities are screwed
up right now? Well, I have seven things that you can test in your life right now to see
if your priorities are screwed up. Are you reading the Bible every day? Your priorities
are screwed up when you're not. Hey, are you praying every single day? Your priorities
are screwed up. Hey, are you praising God every single day? No, I don't ever sing. Your
priorities are screwed up. Look at Psalms 145, where I'm having you turn. Psalms 145.
Let's read a couple of verses here. Just read the Psalms. They're great. They'll tell you
that there's something really important. It's called praising the Lord. Look at verse number
one. I will extol thee my God, O king, and I will bless thy name forever and ever. Every
day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and
greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise
thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts. Do you every day declare the
mighty acts of God under the next generation? Are you teaching your children to praise the
Lord or are you singing to the devil with the worldly music today? Are you singing about
your adultery and affair and your beer? That's country music. Yeah. My dog and I'll go into
the bar, you know. They'll get up and they'll praise every day liquor and drugs and booze
and women, but why can't you praise God who gave you life? Your priorities are screwed
up. There's some people, they'll listen to secular music every single day of their life
and they never praise God. Your priorities are screwed up. You're messed up. You need
to make time for God and sing praises unto God. That's what you need to start doing.
Hey, if you're not going to church every time the doors are open, your priorities are screwed
up. Say, man, this reposheth me also. It's going to get worse, right? Hey, if you're
not reading every day, your priorities are screwed up. Hey, if you're not praying every
day, your priorities are screwed up. Hey, if you're not praising God every day, your
priorities are screwed up. If you're not coming to church every time the doors are open, your
priorities are screwed up. There's something in place of you serving God. And we'll get
to those later, okay? But you're not seeking ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
You're not esteeming, hey, church more important than your necessary food. If you love me,
keep my commandments. Hey, are you esteeming God more important than your father, than
your mother, than your children? What is it that's in place of this? Your finances? I
don't know. Your job? If you're not going soul winning every week, your priorities are
screwed up. Look, we need, look, your life is to get saved and to serve God. Fear God
and to keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. This is what God has
for us. God is extreme. He wants full attention. He doesn't want partial attention. He doesn't
want you to serve Him with half your heart, some of your heart, when it's convenient,
when you get off. Hey, no, He wants you to seek ye first the kingdom of God. You know
what I should do when I plan my day? Well, first I'm going to read. Well, first I'm going
to pray. Well, first I'm going to make sure I praise the Lord. Well, you know what? Before
I decide what other activities I'm going to do, I'm going to be in church. I'm going
to set that first. You know what? I'm going to make sure that I'm going soul winning every
week. That's going to be first. Then I'm going to decide all the other stuff. Here's another
one. If you're not tithing, your priorities are screwed up. It's supposed to be the first.
Go to Proverbs chapter number three, Proverbs chapter number three. We're testing ourselves
to see, hey, where am I at? Is God truly first in my life? Look, there's probably more. I
have seven that I feel like are a pretty good start. If you get these seven all fixed up
and tightened up and going strong, you're going to be good. Read, pray, praise, church,
soul winning, tithe. Look at Proverbs chapter three verse nine. Honor the Lord with thy
substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase. Whenever you seek God first,
you know you're going to say, hey, I'm going to set this aside first for God. Then I'm
going to worry about what I'm going to do with the rest of the 90%. Look, don't let
some liar come to you and say, oh, 20%, 30%. I've been to churches like that. Look, it's
just 10%, but God can do more if you give it to him first with that 90. First of all,
why do I need that extra 10%? You know, the Bible said in the Old Testament that you're
not supposed to glean the corners of your field. They're supposed to be reserved for
the poor. Hey, that's considering the cause of the poor, because guess what? They have
to go actually work and glean the field themselves and get that food. You're not gleaning it
for them and then handing it over. Like, I don't just glean my fields and then just hand
it to some poor derelict loser that won't work. No, he said, hey, if you want some food,
come glean the corner of my field. You can have it. You know what? I'd like to bless
you, but I'm going to consider the cause of the poor. I'm not just going to give to
some drunkard standing out there that refuses to work. And look, the people that are homeless
refuse to work. They will not work. They will not be sober. They will not do anything. I'm
not going to give money to that person. You know who I'll give money to? The person coming
to church three times a week that can't make it. That's the person that I want to help
out. That's the person that I would rather give my money to. Somebody that's in the church
is actually working hard and trying and they just come on a hard time, but hey, they're
still seeking first the kingdom of God. Maybe I can be that blessing to help them out financially.
But I'm not going to go give my money to some loser jerk out there. That was a side note,
right? But if we're not tithing to God, you're not seeking first the kingdom of God. How
can you tell me with an honest heart? Yeah, I'm seeking God first, but I don't give him
any money. Sounds like money is more important to you than serving God. Lastly, it's the
commandments. Go to Psalms 119. Go back to Psalms 119. Now look, the Bible says there's
not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. For all of sin comes short
of the glory of God. No, there's none that doeth good. No, not one. Okay? Everybody's
liar. Everybody's stolen. Everybody's done wickedly. Everybody's sinned in here and I
guarantee it's worse than lying, okay? But here's the thing. Serving God, loving God
comes with following his commandments and departing from iniquity. If you have sin in
your life that you're not trying to fix, you don't love God. Whenever you have a sin problem
in your life, when you have a struggle in your life, you ought to be trying actively
to fix that. You ought to be trying to repent of that daily and confessing your sin and
forsaking your sin and departing from iniquity. That's what God's people need to do. We need
to be he holy, even as your Father which is in heaven is holy. Now obviously, no matter
what you do, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? I mean, look, grace is going
to abound, but God forbid is what the Bible says. And we believe once saved, always saved
all day long. I don't care what sin you get into, you're saved. But here's the thing.
Why would you do that? Why would you count the blood of the covenant wherewith you were
sanctified an unholy thing? You need to esteem God's commandments is very important in your
life and you're not seeking first God whenever you're not trying to depart from iniquity.
Look at Psalms 119 verse 1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of
the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart. They
also do no iniquity. They walk in his ways. Thou has commanded us to keep thy precepts
diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Then shall I not be ashamed
when I respect unto all thy commandments. I will praise thee with uprightness of heart
when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments. I will keep thy statutes. O forsake me not
utterly. Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to
thy word? With my whole heart have I sought thee. O let me not wander from thy commandments.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee. This is the guy that's
seeking God first. He's saying, hey, I'm trying to get out of iniquity. I'm trying to memorize
the Bible. I'm trying to walk in the right way. Hey, I'm trying to get all these things
out of my life. The ungodly person, he just keeps dabbling in sin and keeps living the
same life. He's not trying to forsake his sinful ways. You know, whenever I sin, I start
reading Psalms 119, and man, it's convicting. That guy says he does no iniquity. Why would
I want to go out and keep committing sin and keep suffering the consequences of sin? God
is not mocked. Whatsoever man doeth, that shall he also reap. If I'm truly seeking God
first, I'm going to identify things that are causing me to stumble, causing me to break
his commandments, and I'm going to try and put safeguards in those areas. I'm going to
try and build fences and defenses around those things. I'm going to try and do something
different, and ultimately, he tells us right here, I'm going to hide God's word in my heart
so that I won't sin against him. Very important. Seeking first the kingdom of God. Go to Second
Corinthians chapter six, Second Corinthians chapter number six. Where are you at this
morning? And don't evaluate your spouse or your children or your neighbor, the guy sitting
in front of you, the guy that didn't show up to church. Evaluate yourself. Hey, are
you reading every single day? Hey, are you praying every single day? Hey, are you praising
every single day? Hey, are you going to church? Are you going soul winning? Are you tithing?
How are you doing on the commandments? Those are the people that are seeking first the
kingdom of God, and notice, his righteousness. He didn't say, oh, just seek me with dirty
hands. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double minded. That's
what the Bible says. It's not seeking God just, you know, the people that don't clean
up their lives, they're like a crash and burn Christian. Because, look, following God and
seeking him first with dirty hands, it gets messy, it's rough, you're going to have all
kinds of other problems. The cleaner you are, the more God is going to want to use you.
The more faithful you're going to end up being. The more steadfast you're going to actually
end up being. Look at Second Corinthians chapter six, verse number fourteen. Be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore
come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you. The Bible teaches separation. Now, how are you going to separate
yourself from the world? By following God's commandments. Look, you don't have to actively
try to separate yourself. All you have to do is just try to follow God's commandments,
and you'll separate like oil from vinegar. I mean, it's just going to happen. The world's
not trying to follow this book. By you trying to follow this book, you're going to stick
out like a sore thumb. You're going to be like light in darkness. If this whole room
was just pitch black, and then you just turn on a bright light, everybody's going to notice.
That's what the Bible's trying to get us to do. Be shining lights for the Lord, walking
in his righteousness. You know, let our light shine before men, that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven, is what the Bible says. So hey, we're
supposed to shine bright. We're supposed to depart from iniquity, is what the Bible says.
Now, I've been focusing here for a moment on putting God first. And look, all these
are extremely important, the seven that I've mentioned. But one to me is just going to
keep you on the right track over and over and over, and that is church. People get out
of church, they stop doing all the others. First of all, where are you going to tithe
when you're not going to church? And I run into people having this problem. They say,
I don't even know where to tithe. Well, don't tithe the Joel Osteen, okay? I'd rather you
not tithe than tithe the Joel Osteen. But obviously, you need to tithe to a good church.
You need to just find the best church in your area and tithe to that church. Whatever
church you're going to, tithe to that church, but find the best church in your area and
go there every time the doors are open. And look, that's going to motivate you to want
to read your Bible. That's going to motivate you to want to pray. That's going to motivate
you to praise God. And God willing, that church is a soul winning church. They're going to
motivate you to go out soul winning. And whether your church goes or not, you need to go. Even
though it's hard. And look, if you say, hey, I don't have enough character to go soul winning
if my church isn't, then go to a soul winning church. Make sure you're in a church that's
going soul winning and provoking you and getting you to go out there and participating every
time. And whenever you're going to church, you know what's going to happen? There's going
to be somebody get up behind the pulpit and they're going to scream about your sin. In
fact, you don't read the Bible and that you don't pray and that you don't tithe and that
you're not trying to give up the sin in your life. And you're going to feel this thing
called the Holy Ghost convicting you with scripture and he's going to try and get you
to do things that are right and to get better. Whenever you're not going to church, you don't
want to clean up your life. If I just sit home and watch football, I don't want to clean
up my life. I want to do more sin because they showed the Budweiser advertisement and
they show all these scantily clad women called cheerleaders. They're just glorified whores.
I mean, it's weird. The things that are on television. Look, if I don't serve God, if
I don't go to church, I'm not going to do the rest of these things. I won't. And in
my life, I pretty much went to church just period. I always went to church growing up.
Church was super important to me. When I was in college, I started going to church the
least. I started skipping church some weeks and I felt like I had good excuses because
I was on the golf team and they'd make me work the concession stands on Saturday nights
for the football game. That's usually when I went. You can still go Sunday morning, Pastor
Shelley. I know. But I would sleep in. I wouldn't go. And look, if you're going to say, when's
the most sinful you ever were in your life, Pastor Shelley? It was college. And hey, just
happens to be I wasn't going to church at the same time. You know, the one thing about
me that I know is true is that I've always believed church is super important. And I
believe that's always kept me on the right path. Now, I grew up in a bad church. Let
me just be real frank. It's bad. Okay. Real bad. Okay. But at the end of the day, I thought
that that church was the best church in my area. I wasn't compromised. And I've always
had to drive far to church. I mean, we lived in a city called Canyon and we drove to Amarillo
for church, which is not super far, but it would take 20, 30 minutes or something like
that. There's plenty of churches in Canyon I could have gone to. But no, we're going
to the church in Amarillo that we thought is the best church in the area. And in fact,
my decisions in my life were always based on church. When I was a young man, I would
think, well, I could go to college here, but then I thought, well, I can't go to church
here then. And this is the best church, so I don't want to prioritize that. Or, hey,
I could get this job. I could move over here and I could make more money. You know, whenever
I was little, I thought Dallas-Fort Worth is the coolest place. Okay. I was like, hey,
I could move to Dallas-Fort Worth and I could make a lot more money. Because you can make
a lot more money in Dallas-Fort Worth than in Amarillo, Texas. Let me just wake you up,
okay. It's not necessarily a beacon of economy, okay. But I thought, where am I going to
go to church? This is the best church. I want to just go to the best church. Whether I have
the best job or not, I want to go to the best church in my area. And I truly thought that.
And it took a while of me reading the Bible and studying to realize my church is horrible.
I was an idiot. But at least I thought, okay, well, then what's the best church in my area?
And look, when I decided to leave my church, I said, what's the best church in this entire
area? I even considered Lubbock, which is two hours away. I said, where's the best church?
Where's a church that I can go and learn soul winning and they're going to have the King
James Bible and they're going to preach it with conviction. Where can I go? And I went
to the best church that I could possibly find, period. And you know when I showed up, every
time the doors were open. Then I went to Faith Lord Baptist Church and I went every time
the doors were open. And then I went to Pure Words Baptist Church and until I came to be
the pastor of this church, I didn't miss a single service. Ever. Why? Because church
is the number one priority. Because I'm going to seek ye first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness. And look, whenever you decide church is my number one priority, everything
else has to fit into church. But what do people do? They don't put church number one. They
put other things number one. And then church just kind of fits in where it feels good.
Where it just kind of works. Where it just kind of is convenient for them. And I want
to parlay, we've been on 2 Corinthians chapter 6, I want to parlay into the number two priority
that you should have in your life. Okay? And talk about this. But your number two priority
in your life should be your spouse. Should be your husband or your wife. Your number
two priority. But we already read that it's important to not be unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. That's why it's so important that you don't marry someone that's not saved.
You make sure that they're saved. You make sure that they know the Lord Jesus Christ
and that they love the Lord Jesus Christ because I've seen many people marry someone, oh she's
pretty. Oh he makes a lot of money. And they're not saved and it destroys their marriage.
I know somebody, they married for money and now the guy is, well he's not in jail, he
should be, he should be dead. He's molested their own children. Oh and then I know another
family did the same thing, child molester. Hey you know what prevents you from marrying
a child molester? If you die today are you 100% sure you go to heaven? Look and if you're
a father, you better ask your son-in-law, future son-in-law about salvation and make
sure he's saved. You better believe I'm going to know the salvation of my, anybody wants
to even consider dating my daughter, let alone marry. Good night. But we need to make sure
that we're not unequally yoked together. Now here's the problem, some people, they're already
married and then they start seeking the Lord. You know, they're in this situation already.
What do I do, Pastor Shelly? Well here's the thing, it's still important to have that same
yoke. It's still important for you to become equally yoked. And even if one gets a little
bit further than the other or vice versa or whatever, you need to try your best to help
them be yoked together with you. But here's the reality, you're not going to become equally
yoked when you're not both going to the same church. And look, I know a lot of people,
they go to church without their spouse. It's not one person, it's not two, it's dozens,
it's dozens of people. Now let me give you both sides for a second. Let's say you're
the wife. I know a lot of women, they go to church without their husband. There's been
a woman that's been faithful to a church that I go to every single service virtually and
her husband's never darkened the door. But you know what, bless God, bless her that she
would be willing to still serve God even though her husband doesn't want to. And as the wife,
I believe that you should go to the best church in your area as long as your husband
isn't taking you to another saved church. So if my husband was going to take me to a
Catholic church, if I was a wife and my husband was going to take me to a Catholic church,
I'm going to still go to the best Baptist church in my area. I'm not going to go to
some den of iniquity. Or I'm just going to sit around and watch football. I'm going to
go to church and I'm taking all the kids with me. I'm going to be like Eunice and Lois.
We're going to take Timothy with us and he's going to serve the Lord. I'm going to sanctify
my home. Now if your husband's going to take you to a church where they're saved, you go
to the church where your husband's taking you. But if you're the husband, if you're
the man of the house, you find the best church in your area and you take your family to that
church. You bring them to church. Because you know what, they're not going to become
equally yoked when they're not coming to church. You're not going to be motivated to
read your Bible. You're not going to be motivated to pray. You're not going to be motivated
to sing songs to the Lord. You're not going to be tithing. You're not going to want to
depart from iniquity. And look, the more that you become unequally yoked, the more strain
there is on your marriage. And I don't want people to have just horrible marriages. Look,
as the man, you need to figure out a way to get your wife into church. And I believe that
you should be like Jacob here. You need to lead on softly. You need to be gentle. You
need to be loving. Talk to your wife and say, hey, I'll do whatever you want. I'll hang
out with you all Saturday. I'll take you out to dinner. I'm going to do things that help
make going to church more comfortable. I'll hold the toddler, the whole service. I mean,
whatever it is in the flesh that you can do to bring your spouse into church, do it. But
say guess what? You're getting in the car and we're going to go to church. And unless
you're sick, you're coming to church. Unless you're pregnant, like you're about to give
birth or you just gave birth, you're getting in the car and we're going to church. Why?
Because serving God is too important. And the people that serve God faithfully for a
long time, they usually have a good marriage. I'm not saying there's exceptions that prove
the rule. But here's the thing. The people that have that strain in their marriage, it
makes it too difficult and they eventually stop serving God. They eventually stop doing
the things of the Lord. I want you to work on becoming equally yoked. Now, there's no
more important relationship on this planet than your spouse. There's none. It's not even
close. It shouldn't even be close. My kids are a distant third or fourth between me and
my wife. But you know what? There should be a huge gap between your spouse and God
too. I'm going to read my Bible over spending time with my spouse. I'm going to serve God
over times with my spouse. Look, there's no relationship more important than serving God
and I'm going to go to the best church. You know in heaven you're not going to be married
anymore? But you're going to be with Christ. That's going to be a long time. You've got
to work. And let me give you a testimony. Me and my wife have not always been equally
yoked together. There's been times where she was more righteous than I was and there's
been times where I'm learning new things and trying to serve Him more. It's been kind of
a different thing. But you know what? Through constant prayer, consistency and pleading
and doing that which is right, we're very equally yoked today and I praise God for that.
Get on your knees in the morning and beg God to change your spouse's heart. He can do miracles.
Be consistent and love God and show the love of God to your spouse. You know a lot of times
people they're not even loving their spouse at all and then they want them to make these
radical changes for them. Why don't you start making radical changes for your spouse and
see if they'll be able to reciprocate that radical change. Say I'm going to spend more
time with you. I'm going to do more things for you. I'm going to love you more and talk
to you more and appreciate you more. Maybe now you'll want to go to church with me. Then
the only time you're willing to spend with them is at church. They're like, well I'm
not into it. Spend a lot of time with them doing the things they want to do. I bet they'll
want to do some of the things that you want to do. Go if you went to Ephesians chapter
5, Ephesians chapter 5. Apply gentle loving pressure on your spouse. And obviously as
a wife you're supposed to submit to your husband but you ought to beg God rather than man.
If my spouse was going to stop me from serving God I'm still going to church. I'm going to
still do that which is right. But if it's not a direct commandment of the Bible, there's
other commandments in the Bible that say submit to your husband and obey him in everything
is what the Bible says. So if he's telling you something you say, this sucks. Well don't
marry a jerk. And then teach your children not to marry jerks. And to teach them to marry
someone godly. And you just need a good example anyways. And I guarantee the Proverbs 31 wife,
her husband doesn't have a hard time loving her. Obviously that's an ideal. But we can
always improve. Ephesians chapter 5, look at verse 22. Wives submit yourselves and your
own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is
the head of the church and he's the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Wives ought to
obey their husbands, period. Whatever they say goes. The only exception would be if you
had a clear commandment from the Lord. You know, he's telling you to kill somebody and
you're like, no. You laugh, but how many husbands put pressure on their wives to murder their
babies because they don't want to provide for them, because they don't want to have
them. You say no. You don't kill your baby, period. You don't break God's commandments.
But here's the thing, if your husband's telling you anything else, yes sir, you should do
it like the Lord. It's as if the Lord was commanding you to do it. Do you really look
at your husband in that way, that this is God's commandment? Because that's what it
is. Whenever your husband tells you to do something, look at verse 25. Husbands love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Husbands were
supposed to love our wives. Is love doing good, evil? Look, love is loving them when
they don't deserve it. God loved us when we didn't deserve it. I deserve hell, and
he, by his grace, died for me. That's the type of appreciation a husband should have
for his wife. It says in the next verse that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word. So just as Christ wants to clean the church up, the husband
should want to clean up his family, should want to sanctify his family and to separate
his family. Verse 27, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So
ought men to love their wives as their own bodies, he that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord the Church. So the Bible says, hey, just as important as your own physical body
should be your spouse. How much love and appreciation. We ought never put other things above our
spouse. We ought not put our job above our spouse. We ought not put our children above
our spouse. We ought not put a friendship above our spouse. No, you need to look at
it as your own body. How would you treat your own flesh? You need to love that spouse. You
need to honor your spouse and take care of your spouse. And notice, nourish, nourish
that spouse. Cherish that spouse. Esteem her of great value. Esteem your husband of great
value and love them and take care of them and do good unto them. It's the most important
relationship you can have on this earth is a spouse. The Bible says that you become one
flesh. Think of it as your own body. There's nothing more important. Don't let anything
have a schism. The Lord hateth putting away. The Lord hates divorce. The Lord hates the
separating. We ought to stay married forever. Look, it's your new growth, okay. Whether
you want to separate or you shouldn't. You should, we're attached with the hip. Till
death do us part. Actually mean it today. It's sad how many people don't mean it today.
You need to nourish and cherish that spouse. Don't let anything come in the way of it.
Here's one thing that I thought of, and this is just kind of my own personal opinion, but,
you know, communication is a very important aspect of a relationship. Us talking to God,
praying to God, reading our Bibles. But even in marriage, it's a very important aspect.
And I see a lot of people, their spouses speak different languages. And I believe that what
you should do is you should try to learn the native languages of your spouse. If your spouse
is a different native language, you ought to learn that with them so you can communicate
even better. And look, you have the best person to learn from, your spouse. Just tell
them to stop talking to you in your language and learn their language and love them and
appreciate them. That's a great way to get closer to your spouse. And it's a benefit
because tongues are a gift. If I had, you know, if that was the situation, I believe
it would be right to try and learn, you know, your spouse's language and try to grow closer
to them. Go to Proverbs 31, Proverbs chapter 31. You know, the Bible says, what's the two
greatest commandments? To love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. And that first
neighbor is your wife. Your first neighbor is the spouse, all right? The Bible says in
Proverbs chapter 31, we're getting our priorities lined up this morning. God first, your spouse
number two, says in Proverbs 31, look at verse 10, who can find a virtuous woman for a price
as far above rubies? You know, more important than any money is your spouse. A good spouse,
you can't put a price on it. And you ought to nourish that spouse and love that spouse
and sanctify that spouse and just say, hey, you're more important than any kind of rubies.
Obviously the Proverbs 31 woman, because she's such a rarity, because she's so godly, her
price is far above rubies. But you know what? Even if my wife's not the Proverbs 31 woman,
okay, she's still far above all rubies. You can't put a price on it. She's more valuable
to me than any other earthly possession that I have. And yes, she is my possession. She's
mine. You can't have her. Not for sale. And don't put your spouse for sale today. Don't
say, well, I could spend more time with my spouse or I could make more money. I could
travel more. You know, if I had the option between choosing a job where I could be home
with my spouse more or I have to travel more, guess what I'm going to pick? Be home with
my spouse more. Yeah, but I could make double. Yeah, but she's more important than all the
rubies. She's more important than all the riches. I'd rather live in a one bedroom efficiency
and be with my spouse every week than be off traveling for weeks on end and never seeing
her. What's more important to you? Look, being around my spouse is more important. Esteeming
her of greater value. Now look, at the end of the day, we all have to provide and nobody
pretty much works from home. I mean, some people do. You have to go out and get the
food and bring it back in. So we're not saying you have to be around your spouse 24 seven.
You got to go out and hunt and kill and tie down that deer and bring it, you know, skin
it and bring home some bacon. She gets a little bit leery whenever you bring the animal home
fresh and you have to kill it in front of her and, you know, filet it and everything
like that. Just bring home the bacon, all right? You don't have to bring home the pig,
okay? If you're a farmer, no offense, okay? Some of those guys, they'll let their wives
kill them. That's great, you know. But go to chapter 19, chapter 19. But at the end
of the day, if I have, like I said, the choice between a job that's going to give me more
time with my spouse over another, I ought to consider that as more important than, oh,
I'll just make so much more money though. I mean, I'm sure I could go to New York and
live apart with my spouse and make the most money or San Francisco or San Jose where their
salaries are way higher. I'm sure I could make tons of money. But you know what? I'm
not interested in just seeing how much money I can line my pockets with. I'm interested
in spending time with my spouse and loving my spouse. She's more important. Proverbs
chapter 19, look at verse number 14. Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers
and a prudent wife is from the Lord. I'd rather have the gift from God, which is a wife. Oh,
I could have all these riches and all these houses. Well, that's what your dad can give
you. I'd rather have what God can give me, a wife, a spouse. God saw the man that he
was alone. He says it's not good for the man to be alone. And he made him a help me. There's
nothing better than the help me. Give me all the riches. I'd rather have my wife. More
important. Titus chapter 2, go to Titus chapter number 2. You know, one way that my dad did
this practically is whenever we'd go out to eat on Sunday, he would always ask my mom
where she wanted to go out to eat. And I'd say, I want to go here. I don't care. Wherever
mom wants to go, that's where we're going. You know, he opened the door for my mom. He
didn't open the door for me. He took her out on date nights. He didn't take me out on date
nights. Hey, look, my parents made it extremely clear to me who they loved more. It was them.
They loved each other way more than me. I was a distant second. That's a healthy thing
to do. Make sure you teach your children that your spouse is more important. Now obviously
when you have like four little kids, you've got to help put them in the car and do whatever.
I'm saying you ought to make sure that your kids realize, hey, my number one is my wife.
I can have more of you guys. You're way more replaceable. She's not replaceable. I can't
replace her. She's too valuable. She's too important. Titus chapter number 2. Look at
verse number 3. The aged women likewise that they be in behaviors become with holiness,
not false accusers, not given much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young
women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chase
keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
You know, we're supposed to teach people that it's good to obey your husband. What's a good
thing? To love your husband. Your spouse is the most important relationship you will have
that God will give you on this physical earth. Treat it that way. Don't put money in your
children. Don't put anything in the place of your relationship with your spouse. Take
her on a date, man. Tell her how beautiful she is. Spend time with her. You know, when
you don't spend time with your spouse and you're married to YouTube, you know what that
tells her? She's not that important. Shut off the YouTube and go take her on a date.
Go talk to her. Go love her. Go give her a hug and just sit down and listen to her. It's
better than listening to Flat Earth Theory, okay? That'll rot your brain. You need to
make sure, where are your priorities today? Why don't spend any time with my spouse? They're
screwed up. You have screwed up priorities. Go if you would to 1 Kings chapter 3. I'm
not going to go through every verse. I want to get through my last few points. But after
your spouse, it's your children. Your children need to be your third priority in life. The
Bible talks about diligently teaching them what? The word of God. How to live their lives.
Loving your children. Taking care of your children. Laying down your life for your children.
The Bible says, I have no greater joy than that my children walk in truth. You can't
get a greater joy than seeing your children love the Lord and serving God and doing that
which is right. You say, how do I get my children to do that? Bring them to church. You know
how you love church? Go to church. It's interesting. When I talk to people that are just really
into church, hey, did you go to church as a kid? Yeah. A lot of the time. Even it was
a Catholic church. Look, going to church is a better pattern than not. And you say, well,
I'm going to wait until there's a better church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Well, you should
wait while going to the best church currently. Wherever that is, go to church. Drag them
into church. Get them to learn to love church, to miss church. Your kids say, hey, are we
going to church today? It's on the forefront of their mind. They're not, hey, are we going
to soccer practice tonight? Hey, are we going to softball practice tonight? Hey, when I
drive by on Sunday morning, there's a bunch of kids playing softball on Sunday morning.
What kind of nation do we live in today? It used to be you couldn't even go to a restaurant
on Sunday. Now Chick-fil-A is the only one you can't go to. What's happening? Well, priorities
are getting mixed up. Softball. My kid in the second grade, softball, is so much more
important than church. You're screwed up, buddy. Your kid's not even going to play softball.
He'll play baseball maybe. I mean, what is it that you're putting your kids into? And
training them is so important. You know what they're going to do? If you take your kids
to every sporting event and you skip church, you know what they're going to do? They're
going to get season tickets to the football game and they're going to skip church and
they're going to watch the Cowboys lose because they suck. I don't know if they do or not.
And it's going to be losing season after losing season and they're just going to be angry
and they're going to make it to the playoffs this year and then they're going to lose the
first playoff game and it's all in vain. See, I could have been going to church. I could
have been actually battling on the field and doing some real work, you know, fighting
the real spiritual wickedness out there. It's not the Eagles. Let's get the Eagle fans saved.
Let's get the giant fans saved. You know, I always hated Pittsburgh Steelers, but let's
get them saved. Let's go out and preach them the gospel and get them saved. Yes, I would
get a Steeler saved, all right? That's hard for me to say. If I heard you turn in 1 Kings
chapter number 3, this is Solomon and he's talking to two harlots. Let's see the love
that a mother has for her child. It says in verse 24, and the king said, bring me a sword
and they brought a sword before the king and the king said divide the living child in two
and give half to the one and half to the other. Two harlots come before King Solomon and one
says that, hey, this other harlot, she laid over a child in the night and killed it and
she stole mine and put it beside her and gave me the dead one. So there's an argument
between this one living child who is the mother of this living child and is brought before
Solomon. I'm assuming they probably looked pretty similar, so there's no way to really
tell from a physical appearance. They don't have DNA sampling or testing, but because
he has the wisdom of God, he can still determine who the parent is. He says, hey, bring me
a sword. I'll just cut it in half and you can have half. What happens? The one that's
not the mother, she says, kill it. Divide it. The one that is the child, she says, just
let her have it. Don't kill the child. Please don't kill the child. She would rather a child
live with someone else than for it to die. Such great love. And Solomon says, give her
the child. She is the mother of the living. The love of a parent. And unfortunately today,
women, they start putting their career above their children. They take their kids that
don't care and they let their kids get molested by some don't care worker. And they go take
them to the Catholic church and let them get molested by some child worker in the Catholic
church by the priest. They just keep dropping their kids off with people and look, the pedophiles
aren't getting a smaller group, they're a bigger group every day. If you just keep dropping
your kids off with stranger after stranger after stranger, it's just rolling the dice
with your kid. And you're going to end up rolling some dice you don't want to roll.
I'm not willing to make that gamble with my children. I'm not going to take that risk
with their life. I esteem them more important, of greater value. I'll sacrifice whatever
I have so that my kids can be whole. I don't want them to be divided by the sword today.
And you know, a lot of kids that get molested, they end up hating God and despising God and
they don't want to serve Him and they don't want to do anything godly with their life.
Look, you out of esteem your child is very important, of great value, laying down your
life before them. Get your right priorities today. People don't have the right priorities.
No, I need to make more money so I'm going to go to work. And you know what happens when
you start going to work and you get all the promotions and you get all the fame at the
workplace and you become the manager? You start despising your children over the work.
I've seen it. I remember riding in an elevator and there's these two women and she had a
toddler and they were talking about, are you going to get pregnant again? That'd be the
worst news I could ever hear. It's disgusting how people can change their affection. You
know what, I know the women that stay home with their kids and have lots of them, there's
nothing more important. And if they got pregnant again, they would think it was great news.
Why? The things that you organize in your life, you begin to have affection towards
them. If church is the number one priority in my life, I end up starting to despise things
that would get in the way. If I have to go work a job, if I'm at the job working for
dirty disgusting filthy lucre and church is going on, you know what I'm going to think?
I hate this job. I hate sitting here. I don't care. I would rather just be in church and
serving God. If I think, wow, everybody's going soul winning and going on this missions
trip but I'm going to sit here and just do this paperwork and go travel and go talk to
all these people that love alcohol and liquor and drugs and go hang out with them at the
football game, I'd say, you know what, I hate that. I want to be with God's people serving
God and doing the things of God and esteeming them more important. Whatever's going to get
in my way, hanging out with my family members. Hopefully your family's great but you know
what, I'd rather talk to you guys. I'd rather talk to people that love the word of God.
Who is my mother? Who is my brethren? They that hear the word of God and do it is what
Jesus Christ said. Look, I'm not going to esteem, I could just go hang out with my family
and never come to church or go to a bad church, go to a wicked church or I could go to God's
church and hang out with God's people and esteem them of greater value, of greater importance.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 5, 1 Timothy chapter 5. My last point is I believe that your fourth
priority should be your job. But you want to make sure that you're not putting these
in a bad order. When I determine where I'm going to live, what's number one? Church.
Number two, my spouse. Number three, my kids. Number four, my job. And look, when we talk
about replaceability, jobs are a lot easier to replace than kids. Kids are a lot easier
to replace than a spouse. And you know what, there's nothing, you can't replace God. So
I'm going to try and say, hey, what's the most irreplaceable thing in my life? God.
Church. Serving God. And when people decide to not do this method, they get out of church.
I see people, they're coming to church, now all of a sudden their spouse isn't coming
to church. Now all of a sudden they're starting to miss. Now all of a sudden they're gone.
They start, oh well, I got this new job and I can't go soloing as much. I'm not going
to church as much. Gone. Oh well, I bought this new house, it's over here. I can't go
to church, it's too far. It's too long of a drive. You're not even going to have that
house in eternity. You won't even remember it. What house is more important than serving
God? I don't care, Kenneth Copeland's house. It ain't worth it, my friend. You want to
clean that house? I don't want to clean it. It's not worth it. There's no benefit. There's
no meal, there's no relationship. Serving God is the greatest thing you can do in your
life. It's the greatest joy, it's the greatest fulfillment, and when you're in eternity,
you're going to be like, I'm so glad I served God with my life. There is nothing, but this
is what people do. Number one priority, job. And then what happens? If I decide, well my
job, I have to have this job here, but there's no good church anywhere. Anywhere close so
I'm not going to go to church, or I'll go every once in a while, or I'll just try it
out. Or my kids, they have all these sporting events and I'm just investing in their future
Yeah, you're investing bad things. Oh, but they've got to go to this place and do these
things. No, you need to invest them in a church. Hey, you know, getting your spouse mixed up,
your priorities messed up on your spouse, it's going to destroy you serving God. Go
to First Timothy chapter five, and let's look at verse number eight. It says, But if any
provide not for his own, especially those of his own house, he hath denied the faith
and is worse than an infidel, right? So we're supposed to provide. That means that any other
thing that would get in the way of me providing for my spouse is less important. Extended
family, sports, hobbies, whatever it is, I need to throw those away and make sure I'm
providing for my wife and providing for my children. Look, why don't you take your job
more important than your call of duty, you know, user tag. Well, I'm nationally ranked
though. I mean, have you seen what I'm playing? Look, put the video games up and go to work
and work hard and show up early and stay late. Hey, is it going to get away with church?
Nope, because church is number one. You know, I say to my boss, hey, I'm not coming to work
on Sunday or Wednesday night. I'll be here whenever else. And I've had to work, I've
worked 60, 70 hours a week and I still went to church all three times, hey, usually four
times and even went soul winning. It can work. When you get your priorities straight, you
say, man, as a man, I'm not going to have time for all my, you know, sporting events
and all my hiking and my just laying around and watching the football. Yeah, you got to
throw those in the trash. When I became a man, I put away childish things, what the
Bible said. Look, just lay, why does it say lay down your life? Because all the things
you want to do, you just throw them in the trash and say, all right, number one, God,
number two, my spouse, number three, my children, number four, my job. And then all my stuff
way over here that I do like two times a year. One of those is sleep. Say, hey, I can do
something I want or I can do something my spouse wants. Well, why don't you do something
your spouse wants? Hey, I can do something I want or I can play with my kids. Hey, play
with the kids. Throw all those other things in the trash. Get the right priorities today.
It will radicalize your life. Some people, they want to put their extended family above
serving God. I know a person, he has a great job, he has great extended family. His in-laws
are wonderful. He lives next door to some of his extended family. They have great relationship.
He has no debt. Nice house. He believes the King James Bible is the word of God. He's
saved. He's poster and pre-wrapped. He believes all the doctrine. But you know what? He doesn't
go to church. And he doesn't go soul winning. His priorities are screwed up. He's putting
his family above serving God. And you know what? He can't be Christ's disciple until
he says, you know what's more important? Church. I can get a job anywhere. Now, it's super
important to go to the workplace and work hard. Don't hear me wrong. But you know what?
I'm going to work as hard as I can in the job that accommodates church, that accommodates
my spouse, and that accommodates my children. And whatever I have to do to make sure my
priorities are lined up, I'm going to do it. And maybe you sit here today and say, I feel
like I have some screwed up priorities. We'll start fixing them. Where do I start? God.
Then your spouse. Then your children. Then your job. Look, if you change jobs, it won't
make a big deal. You change kids, that's rough. Change spouses, that's worse. You don't want
to change gods. You don't want to serve the God of mammon today. Go to Matthew 19. Matthew
19. I want to go a couple more places. I want to look. People esteem their house and their
car and their clothes more than serving God. They're afraid of going to a particular church.
Maybe oh, I don't want the persecution. I don't want to hear the conviction. I'm backslidden
and I love those things. And instead of coming to church and hearing about how backslidden
I am, I'd just rather go to the church and hear how great I am and cling onto those things.
Just go to Starbucks Baptist Church where they got a Starbucks for me in the lobby and
they have a car that they're auctioning for free. Look, the church that I used to go to,
they literally have brand new cars that they're just giving away to people. Why would you
not want to go to that church if you're backslidden? Hey, I got a Starbucks and I might win a car
and the seats are even like, they're like the movie theater. They lay back. They kind
of sit back and you got the armrest. They turn the lights down low so I don't notice
that you're sleeping as much. I mean, you know, it's so wonderful. It's so great. And
they just tell us how wonderful we are. You're so blessed and God loves you and you're wonderful.
You seeking God so much coming to church once a month. Yeah, God loves you. It's a joke.
Look, you ought to go to the church where you feel a little uncomfortable every once
in a while. I try to make the chairs as comfortable so that your heart can feel as uncomfortable
as possible, all right? And if you don't feel uncomfortable in this sermon, you know, you're
dead inside. I don't know. Matthew chapter 19, look at verse 27. Then answered Peter
and said unto them, behold, we have forsaken all and follow thee. What shall we have therefore?
And Jesus said unto them, verily I say unto you that you which have followed me in the
regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall
sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken
houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my
name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. I feel like
we got our priorities here, didn't we? What else is on that list? There's nothing else
on that list. That's the most important things that we esteem in the flesh. God says you
got to forsake it all. And in comparison to serving God, you ought to be willing to discard
anything that would get in the way of you serving God. Now obviously we've compared
spiritual to spiritual, so we're not saying just kiss all your family. Bye guys, I'm serving
God. No, you're supposed to love your spouse. Husbands love your wives. Wives submit unto
your husbands. You're supposed to diligently teach your children all the precepts of the
Lord. But he's saying at the end of the day, don't let things get in the way of you serving
God. Go to Matthew 13, the last place I'll return, Matthew 13. I was excited about hearing
the Bahamas. Come tonight. It's a lot more exciting. Matthew 13, look at verse 44. Again
the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden in a field, the which when a man hath
found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that
field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls,
who when he hath found one pearl of great price went and sold all that he had and bought
it. He's saying, hey, no matter what it is, get rid of it. Forsake the idol. Cast the
idol down. Cling unto the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. You had to do that to get saved.
You had to forsake and repent of any other thing and just put all your trust in Jesus
Christ. You know what, you ought to do that with your life, which is your reasonable service,
being a living sacrifice, saying, hey, whatever it is, I got to get rid of it. You say, am
I supposed to, you know, if I sell all my possessions and show up at church, where am
I going to live? I'm going to say, go figure that out, okay? This is not saying that you
need to be homeless. It's just saying if there's something stopping you from serving God, get
rid of it. Why? Why would you let something stop you from serving the one who bought and
paid for you, which did everything for you? It doesn't make any sense in eternity. You
say, hey, what are you going to do for the rest of your life after you're dead? Serve
God? Receive the rewards for my, you know, for serving Him? Oh, okay, well then what
are you doing? Well, I'm going to the football game. I'm going to go hang out at my, you
know, tennis courts, play basketball on them. It's like you're not consistent with what
you actually believe. Do you really even believe that? And look, if you seek first the Kingdom
of God, guess what? You'll find a house and you'll find a job and you'll find a spouse
and you'll find great children. And look, the people that seek ye first the Kingdom
of God, they're going to find a great spouse. They're going to have great children. And
you think, oh, but, you know, I don't want to take care of you financially. God's like,
I know you're serving me fully with everything you got, but I, you know, we're going to make
you just dig ditches, buddy, and shovel dung. Like some of the most godly people I know,
they have great jobs. They make good money. They do good things. Look, if you work hard
in the workplace, God's going to take care of you if you follow his commandments. Let's
go to the last part of this chapter. He says in verse 55, is not this the carpenter's son,
is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas, and
his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they
were offended him. But Jesus said to them, the prophet is not without honor, save in
his own country and in his own house. If you're looking for the honor and glory today of the
things that you have now, you're not going to get it. You have to forsake all that you
have. You need to seek God. And look, when you do, you're going to have honor, but you're
not going to necessarily have the honor here. Hey, I just can't wait for my spouse to give
me all this honor. Good luck. My children, good luck. You know, I already married the
woman that was going to do that, right? If you're looking for your own land to esteem
you of great things, what did they do to Jesus? They crucified him. They killed him. But among
the Gentiles, he was greatly sought after. What about the apostles? Were they greatly
sought after in Jerusalem? Nope. They had to get rid of what they had and go out somewhere
and preach the gospel. What is the Great Commission? Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. So many people, they're so
afraid of what they have. They're clinging on so tight with everything they have here,
but it's so comfortable. Look, I hate the cold. You know what? I need to go find cold
places and preach them the gospel. I need to go out into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. Don't hang on to all the things. Serve God with your life.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.
Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for your word, for your promises,
for your commandments. I pray that every person in this room, that we would all search our
hearts right now and see, hey, do I have a priority screwed up here? Am I not putting
you first? Am I not putting my spouse above the things that need to be in place? Am I
putting my kids on the back burner? Am I putting...