you
all right everybody welcome to steadfast Baptist Church if you would take your
seats and turn to song number 196 we're gonna sing I will sing the wonder story
in that song number 196 we're sing I will sing the wonder story 196
I will see the wondrous story of the Christ who died for me how he left his
home in glory for the cross of Calvary yes I'll sing the wondrous story of the
Christ who died for me singing it with the saints and glory gathered by the
Crystal Sea I was lost but Jesus found me found the sheep that went astray
through his loving arms around me drew me back into his way yes I'll sing the
wondrous story of the Christ who died for me singing it with the saints in
glory gathered by the Crystal Sea I was bruised but Jesus healed me thank was I
from man of all sight was gone and fears possessed me but he freed me from them
all yes I'll sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died for me singing it
with the Saints in glory gathered by the Crystal Sea days of darkness still come
for me sorrows path I often tread but the Savior still is with me by his hand
I'm safely led yes I'll sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died
for me singing it with the Saints in glory gathered by the Crystal Sea he
will keep me till the river rolls its waters at my feet then he'll bear me
safely over where the loved ones I shall meet yes I'll sing the wondrous story of
the Christ who died for me singing it with the Saints in glory gathered by the
Crystal Sea all right let's open the word prayer five things time you've
given us company to gather together sing praise name help think for help everyone
here to get here safely Lord and pray all the people that are sick Lord that
they would just recover from their sickness as quick fast hurry Lord so
they can come back here and serve you and Lord just uh we thank you all the
blessing you've given us thank you for all the souls that got saved this week
out soul winning Lord and I pray bless the service today let everything be done
for your honor and glory and we praise things in Jesus name amen all right next
song we're gonna sing a song number 98 the name of Jesus
song number 98 the name of Jesus
the name of Jesus is so sweet I love its music to repeat it makes my
George was full and clean the precious name of Jesus Jesus so how sweet the
name Jesus every day the same Jesus let all Saints proclaim it's worthy praise
forever I love the name of him whose heart knows all my griefs and bears
apart who bids all anxious fears depart I love the name of Jesus Jesus so how
sweet the name Jesus every day the same Jesus let all Saints proclaim his
worthy praise forever that name I thought we love to hear it never fails
my yard to cheer his music tries the falling tear
exalt the name of Jesus Jesus ho how sweet the name Jesus every day the same
Jesus let all Saints proclaim his worthy praise forever no word of man can ever
tell how sweet the name my love so well oh let this praise is ever swell Oh
praise the name of Jesus Jesus ho how sweet the name Jesus every day the same
Jesus let all Saints proclaim it's worthy praise forever
good morning thank you so much for coming to steadfast Baptist Church if you
didn't get a bulletin already you can slip up your hand real quick and Usher
will come by get a bulletin to you on the front we have our Bible memory
passage Exodus 20 we're on week 6 and then on the inside we have our service
and so many times as well as our church stats and then a list of our expecting
ladies please be in prayer for all of them also for our prayer list if you
have any prayer requests throughout the week you can try to email those in to
our web or I'm sorry email steadfast Baptist kjv at gmail.com just put
prayer lists or prayer requests in the title that way we are aware of that also
we have our Texas Oklahoma Easter Memorial weekend April 1st through the
4th and we have a sign-up sheet on this cabinet and it's basically for those
that are willing to potentially lead a time and so and it's okay if there's
overlapping names that people fill out as many times they want but the goal is
to try and have as many soul winning times throughout Thursday to Sunday and
really all in Texas and all in Oklahoma but specifically here we want to have
times and the sheet basically has two blocks it has one block that's just
basically your name and then the other blocks of the comments if you do want to
help sign up basically in the comments you need to place where you're doing the
soul winning so if you're either willing to help participate at a time that's
meeting at the church you could just put at the church or if it's another area
just make sure you're putting another area for people that live outside of the
Dallas-Forth area you know they just can email me or give me that information
directly as far as you know there's another city or another town or anything
like that and so and basically what the goal is is that I'll have a video and
I'll put it on a website and our events page and everything like that and point
people to it and say hey here's different times in different areas
throughout Texas and Oklahoma here's the soul winning leaders name here's where
they're meeting here's their phone number things like that and then we'll
just try to encourage other people to join us to go soul winning during this
time there's definitely people that live in other areas that are interested in
going soul winning doing those things so it's great to have events like this and
to try and encourage other people to go so winning I know in Oklahoma I believe
they're gonna have times in Oklahoma City and Tulsa pretty much the whole
time I know their brother Scott Dunn was gonna do a time over in kind of the
northeast portion of Texas I can't remember the name of this yeah I thought
he's gonna do our Texarkana but I'll look it up again brother Nick canary was
gonna do some times in Austin area and so hopefully and in Houston obviously
we'll have times and everything like that and so I'm really excited about
this event if you are willing to lead a time you need to fill that out today
though because basically Monday and Tuesday we're gonna try and take all the
information we have organize it and then present it so if you would like to
help lead if you're just gonna show up you know you're good to go we'll get you
that information and you can have that and we're basically gonna have soul
winning Thursday evening and then Friday morning afternoon evening Saturday
morning afternoon evening and then we're gonna have our Easter Sunday services we
have some really nice new invitations that are specific to our Easter services
and so and we ordered a lot of these things so please don't feel shy about
handing these out grabbing a huge stack we tried to order 5,000 of these and so
I mean you should have plenty to go out there and we want to have lots whenever
we have our Memorial weekend but basically it just has our Easter service
advertised it also has a QR code on the back and it's to our most recent
documentary from the sodomite deception it actually goes to the website and then
from there they can click on the video link and watch that film also we have
some stickers that we made that are the exact same QR code and so if you want
one you can take one or two we only heard about 200 of these but basically
the goal was you could stick it on you know maybe a Bible or stick it on
something that you use on a regular basis and then just you can say hey
check this out we also put it on some of our psych pretty much all the psychopath
rubberbait DVDs if you see a sticker on there that's what that's for and so
hopefully you know this will just help spread the word I have a lot of I think
the QR code things pretty cool and I think we can use a that to our advantage
and we'll keep coming up with new ideas to share and spread our information
there's also another signup sheet that's on the cabinet and it's about
volunteering there is an apartment complex that wanted us to come and host
an easter egg hunt for their complex and basically preach them the gospel and so
I get calls from apartments all the time and I was just like oh okay it's one of
those but then she's like hey we want we I got your card on the door and I was
like yeah and she's like y'all do outreach and I was like yep and she's
like do y'all want to do it again in our apartment complex and I was like sure
and so she's wanting to advertise all of her tenants I think they have about
114 residents or something like that in their apartments and so basically we're
just gonna go well maybe sing a couple of kids songs preach them like a short
20-minute gospel presentation and then we'll have some tables set up with just
church information we'll do the Easter egg hunt and then afterwards we'll
basically just be handing out information and trying to just do
personal soul-winning to the families there if you'd like to help participate
volunteer and one other thing is you're welcome to bring your children to this
don't feel like you can't but the Easter egg is for their children it's
not for our children so just keep that in mind that it's not for us to go and
party and have a good time it's for us to minister and to love and serve them
and so you know the Easter egg hunt will be for their kids but you can do it on
your own whenever you want and we've ordered the material but we're gonna see
if we can get a few people to help volunteer putting some of these things
together we printed out a bunch of Bible verses that we just want to cut up and
put a Bible verse with a piece of candy and each every single egg I think we
have about a thousand of them and so that's just another opportunity if you'd
like to participate it's gonna be March 27th so Easter is April 4th and March
27th is not the Saturday right before Easter but it's basically the weekend
before the Easter weekend okay so if you want to keep that on your radar also
other upcoming events May 8th we have the ladies tea May 20th through the 22nd
we have our men's conference and then on the back we have some notes there for
you that's pretty much all I had for announcements this morning let's go
ahead and go to our third song Psalm 150 in our handouts brother Jesse can lead
for us Psalm 150
you
praise you Lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him and all her moment
of his power praise him for his mighty acts
excellent goodness praise him with all sound of the trumpet raise it with all
salt three and all heart praise him with the timbrel and dance
praise him with strength instruments and organs praise him
how simple crazy upon the high-sounding simple and everything
that have breath
praise the Lord praise God the father praise God the son praise God the Holy
Ghost praise God
all right and while the offer plane is being passed around please turn view in
your Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter number 12 1st Corinthians chapter number
12
in 1st Corinthians chapter number 12 the Bible reads now concerning spiritual
gifts brethren I wouldn't have you ignorant you know that ye were Gentiles
carried away into these dumb idols even as ye were led wherefore I give you to
understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed and
that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost now there are
diversities of gifts but the same spirit and there are differences of
administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but
it is the same God which worketh all in all but the manifestation of the Spirit
is given to every man to profit with all for to one is given by the Spirit the
word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit to another
faith by the same Spirit to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit to
another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning
of spirits to another diverse kinds of tongues to another the interpretation of
tongues but all these work at that one in the self same spirit dividing to
every man severally as he will for as the body is one hath many members and
all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ for
by one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles
whether we be bond or free and have been all made to drink into one spirit for
the body is not one member but many if the foot shall say because I am NOT the
hand I am NOT of the body is it therefore not of the body and the ear
shall say because I am NOT the eye I am NOT of the body is it therefore not of
the body if the whole body were an eye where were the hearing if the whole were
hearing where were the smelling but now have God said the members every one of
them in the body as it had pleased him and if they were all one member where
were the body but now are they many members yet but one body and the eye
cannot say into the hand I have no need of thee nor again the head to the feet
I have no need of you nay much more those members of the body which seem to
be more people are necessary and those members of the body which we think to be
less honorable upon these we bestow more abundant honor and our um comely parts
have more abundant comeliness for our comely parts have no need but God hath
tempered the body together having given more abundant honor to that part which
lacked that there should be no schism in the body but that the member should have
the same care one for another and whether one member suffer all the
members suffer with it or one member be honored all the members rejoice with it
now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular and God set some
in the church first apostles secondarily prophets thirdly teachers after that
miracles then gifts of healing helps governments diversities of tongues are
all apostles are all prophets are all teachers are all workers of miracles
have all the gifts of healing do all speak with tongues do all interpret but
covet earnestly the best gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way
let's pray father we think it's time to give them to hear the teaching of God's
word and pray bless pastor Shelley right now fill with the Holy Ghost so you can
preach and teach the Word of God effectively with clarity with boldness
and so they call be edified in the faith Lord and we thank you for giving us a
church Lord and thank you for sending your son to die for our sins and we
praise things in Jesus name amen and look at verse number 27 sorry about that
you really need to pay attention though okay verse 27 now you're the body of
Christ and members in particular and God has set some in the church first
apostles secondarily prophets thirdly teachers after that miracles then gifts
of healing helps governments diversity of tongues are all apostles are all
prophets are all teachers are all workers of miracles have all the gifts
of healing do all speak with tongues do all interpret but covet earnestly the
best gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way now first Corinthians
chapter 12 is a very unique chapter in that it's very specific and doling out
the distinctions within a church and talking about the church as a whole body
and how every single person that's saved and part of the local church is actually
a member of that body and the Bible's also emphasizing here that not every
body part not every member does the same function it brings up very specific
parts like the eye or the hand or you know we have different functions for
every single one of our body parts yet we need every single one of them you
know it's not like I want to trade my hands for more eyes today or trade my
eyes for more hands today you know that would be something that wouldn't work
very well and so we need all the different pieces we need all the
different functions and I think this is a question that a lot of people think
about or they have in mind and they really struggle with exactly what to do
with this question and so what I want to do is I want a very practical sermon on
how to answer this question but this is the question how do I get involved in
church how do I get involved in church and I even specifically put notes on
this back in case you want to but I'm gonna give you a lot of information this
morning pretty quickly and so if you need to you might take a few notes here
this morning but also use the board to kind of help us but when it talks about
here you know having all these body parts these members people having
different giftings you know there's not really much benefit in having these
giftings if you're not using them if you're not putting them to work and so
it's important to realize how you as a person can get involved in church and
what's the best way to get involved now I'm gonna give you a couple guiding
principles and this doesn't only apply to church I believe this applies to
every area of your life but just how do you get involved in any case how do you
end up helping people how if you want to be used by someone or something for any
reason what do you need to do well go to Proverbs chapter 29 go to Proverbs 29
I'm gonna give you four quick points of how you can actually get involved
the first step if you want to be used or get involved in any scenario is to plan
now I had you turn to Proverbs chapter number 29 and the Bible is going to give
us some good wisdom here Proverbs chapter 29 look at verse number 18 the
Bible says where there is no vision the people perish but he that keep at the
law happy is you know the Bible uses the word here vision and having a vision is
really going to be the first step in any way of getting involved if you want to
get involved in anything if you want to do anything really you kind of have to
visualize that or think about it or make a plan for the future you want to
work for a particular company you have to actually think about that many cases
you know you want to do anything you want to live somewhere you want to go
somewhere you want to do something it starts with a planning stage and it's no
different with church you want to be used in church you want to get involved
in church it starts with a planning phase of thinking about okay what can I
do what are my functions what capabilities do I have you know where
am I at basically you know if I said hey I want to be a fireman tomorrow can I
just walk up to the fire department say like put me in coach or do I have to
look at what kind of requirements they have to become a fireman and then I have
to kind of evaluate myself and see you know where I'm at you know do I meet the
requirements or am I lacking in their requirements you know can I just walk up
to Jerry Jones and say hey I'm the best quarterback put me in coach he's like
you just paid Dak Prescott 160 million I don't think he's about to put me in
okay but this is the same mentality that some people have in every area of their
life they walk up and just expect to be plugged in just to go ahead and be put
into some kind of position and they've had no planning they're like when'd you
come up with that idea five minutes ago it's like whoa okay well have you
actually considered what it takes to do this job or what it takes to be involved
or why you even want to do this so in any case if you want to be used or you
want to help or you want to get involved in some area of your life it first takes
some planning to think about okay what is it I really want to do what does it
take to get there now after you've formulated a plan go if you would to
Luke chapter number 12 go to Luke and I'm just going to kind of skip around
and show you some some verses that give you these points but if you really want
to be used not only you have to plan number two you have to then prepare and
like I said I'm just gonna go through these these these points really quickly
and then we're gonna get some application but number one you got a
plan and then once you realize okay I want to do this but I'm not quite there
yet you know I I'm missing some prerequisites or I'm missing some
education or I'm missing some physical endurance or I'm missing some kind of
knowledge or experience or wisdom or whatever it is then you have to start
preparing yourself in order to accomplish this task or to be used or to
help in a particular way you know whenever I was looking for jobs and I
was considering making a career change I did not only look at what it would take
to get a job right away but I also looked at what it would take to get that
same job five years from now or what the career path look like and how many
things that I had to accomplish and all the things that I'd have to do in order
to get to that position and so when it comes to your workplace it comes to your
personal life it comes your personal finances it comes to raising your
children it comes to their education all these things take planning and they take
preparation they take a lot of effort and diligence look at Luke chapter 12
verse 40 the Bible says be there for ready also for the Son of Man cometh in
an hour when you think not then Peter said unto him Lord speakest thou this
parable unto us or even all and Lord said who then is a that faithful and
wise steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household to give them
their portion of meat and do season blessed is that servant whom is Lord
when he cometh shall find so doing of a truth I say unto you that he will make
him ruler over all that he hath but and if that servant say in his heart my Lord
delay this coming and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens and to
eat and drink and to be drunken or that servant will come in the day when he
looketh not for him and at an hour when he's not aware and will cut him in
sunder and report him his portion with the unbelievers and that servant which
knew his Lord's will notice this and prepared not himself neither did
according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes so this guy is someone
he actually knows the Lord's will so it's it's arguably he went through the
planning phase he knows what he needs to do it's not that he's not aware of
his strategy it's not aware it's not that he's not aware of what you know
should be happening the problem is he didn't prepare himself he didn't get
himself ready he decided to slack off and be lazy and just do whatever he
wants rather than preparing for the future and know people that are gonna be
greatly used often at the sacrifice their will have to sacrifice what
they're doing in order to eventually get to the point where they're gonna be
greatly used you want to be greatly used and often take someone that greatly
sacrifices themselves and prepares themselves and gets ready for that task
you know jobs in the job market that require a lot of skill people don't
automatically get those jobs are actually stumbling those jobs know those
people they spend a lot of time studying doing the work thinking about it asking
other people getting mentored and doing the work for a long period of time and
and making all this effort and then eventually they get into that type of a
position they get into that type of a role and so it's no different in the
church you want to be greatly used by the church well let me ask this question
how are you preparing yourself what are you doing to prepare yourself and you
know another aspect of preparation could be that you need to ask permission even
you know maybe you make a great plan and before you invest a whole bunch of time
preparing you may even go to the person that is going to basically hire you use
you or get you involved and say here's my plan here's what I'm going to do to
prepare what do you think this makes sense is this going to be adequate and
then they can basically give you some kind of a judgment because you wouldn't
want to do a bunch of preparation that's not even legitimate that's not even
going to work I remember thinking about making a career change at one point my
life and I was working in the banking industry and I had a management degree
and I was thinking about going back to school and either becoming an accountant
or going into computer programming and I was kind of evaluating how much more
schooling and I have to get how much more education and when I was looking
into the accounting degree I was gonna take more undergraduate courses before I
can start my master's degree and I was really unappealing to me and when I
looked I could go straight into the master's program and get an MBA in
finance and economics and when I looked in the computer science industry they
were going to make me required to get more undergraduate work as well and so I
just decided to just go straight into the master's program and do finance and
economics which I didn't like but now I don't know if that was really not the
best decision I probably should have just gone ahead and bit the bullet and
done more undergraduate work if I want to do that however I talked to somebody
that I said hey I'm thinking about making a career change here's some of my
options he was in the software industry so I was just saying what do you think
you know as a software industry a realistic you know venture for me how
much schooling did I need and he says well if you want to go into the
software industry he says don't waste money going to school because he said
they won't teach you anything that we're gonna use he's like they're all using
archaic technologies and whatever he says we'll hire you if you really want
to do it and take a year and why don't you study these books so then I just
studied other books and did my own self education for a year and prepared
myself and it wouldn't have been as beneficial if I had just gone to the
university and wasted all this money effort and energy preparing myself in a
way that I wasn't going to be as prepared by doing the education he
wanted me to do okay so of course permission may be something that's
realistic you know if you come to me and you say hey I want to be serving in the
church I want to do something in the local church my plan is to memorize the
entire new living version the new living translation like that's not going to be
very beneficial for you you know that's not proper education right well you know
I'm going to go work in this this ministry of Joel Osteen never heard of
him you know to prepare myself see obviously there can be bad ways to
prepare yourself so asking permission at times can be appropriate you know in
your workplace if you want a promotion sometimes you might ask your manager or
supervisors and say hey what would be the best course of action what's the
best pathway to get to this particular position and that then can secure your
preparation go to Proverbs 24 go to Proverbs chapter 24 Proverbs chapter
number 24 and let me tell you this this sermon is not a sermon that you can
necessarily just apply in five minutes or right after it's something that takes
a lot of work this is a long-term strategy that I'm employing today and I'm
trying to teach you but you'd be surprised how many people they don't
make any plans and they never prepare themselves for anything their whole life
they just basically live by the seat of their pants they don't even know if you
said hey what do you what do you want to accomplish in one year they're like
survive I don't know not have to wear a mask again you know like they don't
really have any vision they don't have any goals they don't know where they
want to live they don't know what they want to do in their career they don't
know what they want to do in church they don't want to know if they want to have
a family they don't know what they want to do with their children I mean they
literally just go around just aimlessly basically what dictates their life is
whatever is on Facebook or something that day or whatever they see you know
in the media or you know you can live a life apart from the world today you can
have your own plans and your own vision and not care what everybody else is
doing rather than just following their vision and their goal and whatever they
want look at Proverbs 24 verse 27 repair thy work without and make it fit for
thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house so notice the Bible is
telling you here to prepare something you know the good advice is this you
know don't buy a house before you have a job look it sounds it sounds like
really common sense but some people don't understand this don't sign you
know a huge lease on some property before you even know what you're gonna
be doing or where you're going you know some people they just have no planning
in their lives and they'll just move somewhere and they'll just make really
permanent decisions but look work is gonna be one of the most driving factors
as far as where you live what you're doing because if you can't work you
can't eat and if you can't eat you can't live okay and so it's really important
to make sure you're establishing yourself in the right way you're
preparing yourselves in the right way and making sure hey my work has been
secured I know what I'm gonna be doing now I can go ahead and establish myself
in other ways look at Proverbs 30 verse 25 Proverbs 30 look at verse 25 the ants
are not a people not strong are people not strong yet they prepare their meat
in the summer so notice ants are given a really positive mention here answers
said you know they by themselves are not like really strong you know it's not
like an ant is something that you're afraid is gonna pick you up and carry
you off okay they might carry off your lunch but they're not gonna carry you
off but at the same time they're very diligent they just work and they don't
work and think like do I have to work right now no but they actually work
ahead they plan ahead they're preparing for themselves in the future they're
making preparations okay go to James chapter 1 James chapter 1 so point one
plan point to prepare but then when that day of fruition finally comes number
three you have to perform you know you can do have all the great planning you
can have all the great preparations but eventually you actually have to do it
too eventually actually I have to accomplish the work you have to do
something you know it's one thing to make great plans and have all these
great ideas and and have everything prepared but then if you don't really do
it well I have a plan to go out soul winning today and I prepared myself I
have every verse memorized but I went and took a nap you know what what what
benefit is there to that you know you actually have to do the plans that you
actually put in place James chapter 1 look at verse 23 for if any be here of
the word and not a doer he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a
glass for he behold himself and go this way and straight way forget of what man
or man he was but who so looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue
it there in he being not a forgetful here but a doer of the work this man
shall be blessed and indeed hey you really want to be blessed you got to do
something the planning and the preparing is not the blessing that is just what
gets you set up for the blessing the blessing comes from the actual doing the
blessing comes from the actual performing the blessing comes from
actually not just hearing and thinking about it but actually exercising you
going to a soul winning church and hearing about how great soul winning is
does not earn you rewards in heaven because you know what there are people
they go to a soul winning church and they hear about how great it is and they
know how great it is and they don't go so winning they don't get rewards and
there's some people that go to church where they don't hear about how great
so any is and they don't have a great so winning program and they themselves
got so many anyways and guess what they're getting greatly rewarded well
you know if I was going to a great soul winning church then I would you know do
it is like look you can just do it whenever you want and you know the
person is going to be blessed the person that's doing it not the person that's so
smart
no going to a church where they educate you and teach you things and and you
learn good doctrine that's a that's a blessing because you have that
information but if you really want that blessing to come to fruition to your
self you have to do it you accept the dress godly you actually have to read
the Bible you have to show up at church you have to go out and preach the gospel
you have to raise your kids correctly you know just hearing about it from the
pulpit is not going to fix your problems you have to do it don't be a forgetful
here actually perform and you know even if you had great plans and preparations
you need to actually perform the things that you plan to do
here's my last quick point and look this is just how you get involved you
want to get involved plan you want to get involved prepare you want to get involved
do it perform and then number four is purge purge hey you want to get involved
purge okay now there's a couple different ways that we can look at this
but look at second Timothy chapter 2 and look at verse 21 Bible says if a man
therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified
and meet for the Masters use and prepared unto every good work hey if you
really really want to get used you got to purge yourself okay and there's two
ways I want to look at this first way is this the more you free up all the junk
in your life the more you get rid of all the junk in your life the more time
effort energy you can invest and the things that you really want to
accomplish you know if you're just well I just have to play video games for six
hours a day that's gonna cramp on your work that's gonna cramp on your marriage
that's gonna cramp on your children that's gonna cramp on church there's a
cramp on God hey you might need to purge yourself from that activity you know bad
friends bad relationships sinful habits these type of things the more you can
purge yourself the more you can be prepared for every good work and look
you could not purge yourself and still do some good works now some people get
this idea that well if I'm sinful I can't do anything well you know sinful
people can do lots of stuff hey the woman at the well was a very sinful
woman and she got a lot of people saved one day you know some people say I feel
too sinful to go soul-winning unless you're a reprobate go soul-winning okay
I mean the only reason he shouldn't is because he can't get anybody saved sorry
Judas isn't the best evangelist all right look you can always preach the
gospel because you know what even if you're chief of sinners hey you can
still go out and preach the gospel you can still get people saved but you know
what you want to be greatly used you want to use in other areas of your life
it comes through purging it comes from saying no to certain things cutting
certain things out of your life go to John chapter 15 go to John chapter number
15 and Jesus Christ will also try his best to purge us and if you're bringing
forth fruit if you're showing yourself to be someone that can actually do
something for God he'll often try to purge you of other things in your life
so that you can even bring forth more fruit look what it says in John 15 verse
2 every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away every branch that
beareth fruit he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit so notice the
Bible says that Jesus Christ is going to try and purge the fruit bearing
branches so that it'll bring forth more fruit now what is pruning well pruning
when it comes to a tree you can have all kinds of different branches or twigs or
different little sprouts coming off of this tree and every single one of those
branches requires water nutrients sunlight energy for this tree and if the
tree is exercising all this effort energy and resource to these branches
that are not bringing forth any fruit it's a waste and so what arborists do or
what a gardener would do is he goes through his garden he looks at the tree
and he finds a branch that's worthless and he just cuts it off but hurt you
know yeah it's just what happens and you know he just trims it off and then more
water more nutrients more energy can go to the branch that's bringing fruit on
it that has the little blossoms on it or has you know the the beginning of
fruit because if you don't prune or trim a tree sometimes fruit that started to
develop will end up not getting sufficient enough water and nutrients
and they end up you know just dying withering away not producing that type
of fruit so they try to prune them to bring forth more fruit and to perfect
the fruit that they have so if God looks at your life and he looks at certain
areas of your life and says you know what I'm not getting any fruit in this
area of his life I'm gonna try and get rid of that in his life I'm gonna try
and purge that in his life and I'm trying to clear it out you know
sometimes we might plan and prepare to do something in our lives but it's not a
fruitful branch and sometimes you need to just throw those plans away you know
Bible talks about this I'm denying yourself taking up your cross you know
the Bible talks about losing your life a lot of these things are you know well I
just want to be a professional sports athlete or you know I just want to be
the next movie star I just want to be you know these plans are bad plans I
just want to be the next Bill Gates bad bad branch okay trim that one okay
there's certain ideas there's certain visions there's certain goals that we
may have that don't fit with the Bible's narrative and we need to be willing to
purge those and in any area of your life in any way if you want to get involved
in something but it's just not the right path for you you need to be willing to
purge it you know if you come up to me say pastor Shelley I really want to
lead the songs but your tone deaf that's the wrong tree for you okay there's
gonna be certain areas of your life that you just you know what I really see you
going down a different path here buddy you know I really feel like you got a
new you have a different vision you know just like the hand what if the hand told
the eye I'm ready to be the eye today you know it's not gonna work you're
gonna look just as foolish as the tone deaf guy getting up and leading the
music and look if you're tone deaf don't get mad about being tone deaf
don't try to force your way into being the song leader because it's just not
worth it just like an eye trying to be a hand that's not gonna work you know I
can't pick anything up try opening the door with your eye but I just really
want to you know it's it's foolish it's silly and so the reality is sometimes
you have to purge yourself of certain paths because it just doesn't make sense
it's just not applicable it doesn't fit it's just not the right way to go about
it go to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 go to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3 so
what you do plan prepare perform purge okay and you know what advice that my
one of my bosses gave me and I know I bring up software development a lot but
it's easy for me to think of okay but in software development you always have to
like solve problems and create applications and one of my bosses said
this he said if you're not willing to completely trash the application that
you've built you'll never be a good developer because sometimes you'll you'll
create an application you'll spend all this time effort and energy building
this application but it's just flawed or it's just there's something wrong with
it and really the only way to fix it is just to completely just get rid of it
and just start over and honestly that was great advice because any area of
your life you should always be willing to start over if necessary in any area
of your life you know and sometimes people I almost fear that they won't get
saved because of this or they won't be used by God by this you know you knock
on someone's door and they've been the Sunday school teacher for 20 years in
their church but they're not saved and the reality of them not being saved is
too horrifying for them to end up getting saved no I was already saved or
no I don't need to pray or no I I already got it why because they're too
afraid of saying that they were wrong for so long or maybe they do get saved
but then they're too afraid to say you know what I need to go to a different
church I've been learning wrong doctrine I've been in the wrong ministry in the
wrong place doing the wrong thing and let me tell you this there's never a bad
time to get right with God there's never a bad time to get on the right path
there's never a bad time to start over okay sometimes you just need to start
over and get on the right path going down the wrong path more is never going
to be the right decision even if you're like well I have to start at the very
bottom of the right path well that's better than continuing down the wrong
path anymore than going down and doing something wrong now if you want to get
involved in church because that was the title of the sermon right I'm gonna get
real practical with this okay plan prepare perform purge but here's the
thing before you can help anyone else okay before you get involved and do
anything for anybody else here's the reality you need to first help yourself
okay and this would sound really self-explanatory but they tell you every
time you get an airplane put the mask on yourself first and then assist others
around you okay and when it comes to church here's a really really important
point for everyone to get please put on the mask first before you start helping
other people okay and let me get I'm gonna get real specific on this but
number one get saved if you're not saved you're not gonna be helping anybody else
in the Christian world okay step one you have to get yourself saved and that's
like the picture of putting the mask on right you're getting saved first okay
and before you get saved you can't do anything for Christ you're not serving
him you're not you know inside of his will you're not accomplishing anything
okay number two you need to get baptized so I want to get involved in church have
you been baptized no okay step one get baptized right here's number two or
three read your Bible you want to get like people don't read the Bible and
then they want to get used by the church and I'm thinking like you need to start
helping yourself buddy do you even know can you spell Bible you know can you
even tell me the books in the Bible I mean if I said you know if I said where
is this book would you be able to find it even but you want to help other
people already here's another one pray look some people they're so excited can't
wait to get involved in church well let me tell you how you can be really
involved in church okay you can get saved get baptized or read your Bible
and pray well I don't do that well then you're not going to get involved you're
not gonna really be used that greatly okay we're talking about the very very
basic essential steps how about this go to church three times a week you know
it's funny to me people want to come and ask me how they can get involved in
church and I'm thinking like how about just show up I mean you want you want to
know how the best way you can get involved in church come every time the
doors are open I mean why not I mean it's literally it's like what would be
easier I mean I'm saying like ways to get involved in church come physically
be present right if you really want to get involved in church show up and you
say why would I show up well you know what when you show up you encourage
other people to show up it's funny whenever I don't come lots of people
don't want to come when they find out about someone else not coming they don't
want to come they don't want to show up when their spouse isn't coming they
don't want to come you know when their friends not coming they don't want to
come right I mean look when you come to church you encourage other people to
come to church don't undervalue that point and look I love seeing all of you
guys it gets me excited if if all of you called me and said we're not coming
to church every single person called me that would be discouraging it'd be hard
for me to want to show up I still would and I'd preach a scathing sermon that
email all of you but you know what at the end of the day it's it's one of the
most important ways to get involved in church is just literally be here be
present you know get involved by just showing up and look if you can't even
show up at church how are you gonna expect to help other people right here's
another one go so winning and look to go so winning you literally have to show up
again you don't even have to be a talker be a silent partner but just show up get
involved in the soul winning look and these seem really basic but I tell you
there are people they're not they're coming to church rarely they're not
going so winning they haven't even read the Bible cover to cover one time and
they're coming up to me asking how they can get more involved in church and I'm
thinking like here's a bulletin it's got service times on it here's a Bible
memory verse I'm just thinking like you know is there any events yeah it's
called Sunday morning Sunday evening and Wednesday night Bible study you know it's
have you seen the soul winning times listed you know it's like why would I
want to emphasize some kind of event above those events those are the most
important events right I mean going to church going to the soul winning time
these are the most important events you're not going to be used greater than
going to those those are the most basic those are the most simple you know get
to the foundation get to the the fundamentals go back to those that's how
you can get really involved in church go to the second Thessalonians and look at
chapter number three verse number six here's another one provide for yourself
verse six now we command you brethren the name of our Lord Jesus Christ they
withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after
the tradition which he received of us yourselves know how you ought to follow
us for we behave not ourselves disorderly among you neither do we any
men's bread for not but rot with labor and travail night and day that we might
not be chargeable to any of you not because we have not power but to make
ourselves in sample and you to follow us for even when we were with you this we
commanded you that if any would not work neither should he eat the Bible makes it
clear if you can't even provide for yourself you're not even welcome to come
to church it's crazy how many people think that they can just literally not
work in any way and expect to come here and I'm gonna provide for them or have
the gall to say I can't wait to come help you guys I'm thinking like help me
you're coming you don't even have food you don't even have a place to stay you
know this is not a homeless shelter I don't know where people get this idea
that this is a place for you to just show up and yeah you can just sleep on
the front row you know it's like look how are you gonna help other people when
you need daily food for yourself step one get a job start providing for
yourself like it's silly to think you can provide for other people or help
other people when you yourself can't even help yourself and look this is not
a homeless shelter this is not a socialist utopia here we don't just
redistribute everyone's wealth to the lowest common denominator we're not
trying to figure out how to be a communist and a Marxist here today you
know what you not working are a drain on society if you're not working you're
everything that's wrong with America today you know what's wrong with America
apathy today laziness today people are so lazy and derelict today they don't
want to work and you know what because they don't want to even work of course
they don't want to read a Bible of course they don't want to open the Word
of God of course they don't want to be righteous in any way and look you're
such a drain on society that God compares you to an unbeliever it's sick
and people show up and they're like oh you know I just want to get used by the
church I can't wait to be here and I'm thinking like okay well you know but do
you have five bucks for a meal it's like no but I guarantee if you go work you
can make your own money and then you can eat that's God's program God is not a
socialist sorry if you don't like that I like that I don't have a problem with
that doctrine other people have a problem with this doctrine go if you
would to first Corinthians chapter number seven first Corinthians chapter
number seven here's another one groom yourself it's you think I'm joking it's
like people won't even groom themselves and then they're gonna ask me how they
can get involved take a shower step one take a shower groom yourself take care
of yourself you know whenever you don't have proper clothing and you don't have
proper food you're an assistance of others other people have to take care of
you this is what we call children my children can't properly clothe
themselves and they can't properly feed themselves so we have to put their
diaper on and we have to feed them and clothe them and spank them and tell them
no and give them guidelines and you know what that is not the person that's gonna
help people the person that's gonna help people is an adult today an adult
get jobs and adults clothe themselves and they feed themselves and they bathe
themselves and they take care of themselves now another way to help is
you know getting plugged into a really good church and I like this verse I want
to look at a few verses here look at this verse 17 but it's got to
distributed every man as the Lord hath called everyone so let him walk and so
ordain I in all the churches is any man being called circumcised let him not
become uncircumcised as any called an uncircumcision let him not be
circumcised circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the
keeping of the commandments of God let every man abide in the same calling
wherein he was called art thou called being a servant care not for it but if
thou mayst be made free use it rather now here's what I would say there are
some people who are in an area or a position of their life where they cannot
go to a really great church you know maybe they live in an area where there's
not a very good option or their best option is just unsatisfactory to them or
whatever or maybe the church they're going to is not great on soul winning or
you know is pre-tramp or something or has some kind of issues look you can
still get involved in that church you can still go and if that's where God has
you at that moment you know what just serve in that area of your life you know
Joseph had to serve in the prison for a while you think that there was a great
church down there in the prison think there was some new IFB movement going on
down in the prison for Joseph or did he just have to serve at that time in his
life there okay and look no one's living in that type of situation but here's the
thing if you're free use it rather so here's the thing if I have the
opportunity if it's easy for me to move and go to a better church why not right
and you know one of the greatest ways to get involved is just to go to the best
church you possibly can you know you only live one time in your life why
would you not want to go to the best church in your area or if you have the
possibility to go to an area where there's an even better church we can
get plugged in even more and do even more for God why not look if I'm gonna
have one life to live I might as well do as much as I possibly can you know if I
have the decision why I can stay here and serve with John the Baptist Oh Jesus
Christ walked by bye now I'm gonna start serving with Jesus right why would I not
want to then be a follower of Jesus Christ but what if I just physically
can't what if there was some reason I couldn't which there's not a good reason
but I'm just saying then you just serve with John the Baptist until he dies and
then you're thinking like I should have got one that Jesus got and then he dies
and you're like oh then you're with the Apostles and then they start dying and
you're like I wonder what my fate is but at the end of the day you know what how
can I get involved in church will show up and get into the best church that you
possibly can and here's go to you would to first Timothy chapter 5 here's my
second point once you've taken care of yourself and I know maybe you're lacking
one of those areas that's your step one you want to get involved start working
on yourself but number two is your family
and here's kind of a bridge comment for you singles okay you may not have to
worry about other people because you don't have like a wife or kids or
anything like that tying you down but here's what you could do be more
desirable so you can enter into this stage
so how can I get involved in church be a more desirable person because you know
what when all the singles are weird and awkward and goofy and lazy it's just
like people don't want to come back you know the only little if the only pretty
girl comes and every guy ignores her or they're super awkward or they're like
you know just weird-looking and smell weird and look weird hey why don't you
actually dress nice and carry yourself and have a good job and be desirable you
know what that's going to make our church more attractive it's funny
because my my wife always liked this one business I don't even know if they could
do it anymore but there was this business is called like the water still
and it's in Amarillo and the only people that they would hire are like really
attractive fit and muscular young guys that's the only thing that they would
hire and they had certain requirements because you had to lift at least 50
pounds and you had to do you know because they're carrying big jugs of
water and whatever you know what that business model worked because guess
where every young pretty girl wanted to go get tea the water still why because
all the guys there and look if our church is full of West Coast effeminate
queer looking dudes you know what women aren't going to want to come and shop
for a husband at steadfast Baptist Church you know what if all the men are
well-groomed and they're manly and they love the Lord and they have a good job
and they're you know just at top-notch scale you know what it's going to be
really attractive you say we're all the women well why do you keep scaring them
off maybe that's the question you should be asking yourself or why don't you go
out and find one and bring her in if you're such a stud if you're such a you
know great-looking guy you know be more desirable and then you can enter into
stage two family okay first Timothy chapter 5 look at verse 8 that was
mostly for the dudes all right verse 8 therefore let us I'm sorry I'm in 1st
Corinthians 1st Timothy chapter 5 look at verse 8 but if any provide not for
his own especially for those of his own house he had denied the faith and it's
worse than an infidel is what the Bible says now here's the thing provide for
yourself but you also provide for your family hey I want to get involved in
church okay how about you start providing for your family then how
about you start providing for your wife and your kids that's a great way to
start getting involved okay and if you're not providing for your family
you're worse than an unbeliever there's nothing worse that I think God could
compare me to there's someone just unsaved you have to and need to start
taking care of your family you know be the best father be the best mother be
the best child that you possibly can be look at verse 14 I will therefore the
younger women marry bear children guide the house given an occasion the
adversary to speak reproachfully you say how can I as a young lady how can I as a
mother get involved in church you know you can get involved in church you can
marry you can bear children a lot of women are doing good on that one have
you seen our expecting list and obviously you can't control that
necessarily but it says guide the house give none occasion to the adversary to
speak reproachfully you know it makes a church bad when women are not doing this
you want to get involved in our church make our church look like this do this
to the best of your ability don't give the enemy a reason to blaspheme or to
attack our church we're going around causing problems gossiping and going
around causing issues and forming clicks and forming these factions and and
talking bad about other women and abusing other women look churches can be
run by the women there's there's churches where you go and it's just a
gossip fest and they talk bad about everyone they try to run off pastors and
leadership which praise the Lord our leadership structure is not like that
but go to Proverbs 13 you try to run us off it'll be bad news for you but you
know there's some churches where it's a deacon-led church or whatever and look
women will just run a gossip circle about the deacons of the pastors and
whatever and run them off like I want to get involved in church okay we'll start
doing these steps be the best person you can for yourself then make sure your
family's in order okay and you say well why don't you do that well the Bible
talks about if a pastor wants to you know be qualified he has to know how to
rule his own house that's like step one and you say well that's a pastor no
that's the example for every man is to know how to rule his own house it's
silly how people come to me and they want to get more involved in church they
want to take a position of leadership in church yet they don't know how to rule
their own house oh there's a problem there you need to first take care of
things at home and get things at home in order before you're gonna start leading
others and helping others Proverbs chapter 13 look at verse 24 he that
spirit is rod hate if his son but he that love them chasing them behind you
know if you don't think your discipline your children you hate them and look
this doesn't say love taps this doesn't say you know look do not reward bad
behavior if your children are misbehaving or doing bad you need to
discipline them that's one of the best ways to get involved in church look our
church is a family integrated church and some people don't like that I love it
I'm just saying some people come in and they're like a kid screamed once you
know or whatever but if every kid just screaming and no parent ever disciplines
their kids or every crowds them or ever helps them figure it out you know that's
gonna be a bad report that's gonna be a bad reputation that's gonna drive people
away from not only our church but even having lots of kids potentially they
walk in they see all these kids well-behaved and and doing well you
know I have honestly it's sad good would he was chapter 12 it's sad I
literally have people complain about other people's kids to me every single
week and it's funny because then you preach on it once in a blue moon and
everybody's like you're talking about me it's because it is everyone look people
are constantly frustrated because kids are misbehaving running around not doing
right and their parents are oblivious the parents don't care they're
apathetic and let me tell you what if you are not paying attention to your
kids if you're not disciplining your kids you hate your kids you say I don't
like I don't like that God said it if you are not disciplining your children
appropriately it's because you hate them and not only you hate your kids you hate
yourself look at proper look at Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9 furthermore we have
had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we
not much rather be in subjection of the father spirits and live for they verily
for a few days chasing us notice this after their own pleasure did you know
that disciplining your children makes your life better it makes your life
easier not disciplining your children will ruin your life it will destroy your
life you have no peace of mind you'll be frustrated every day you'll resent your
children your children will resent you and then when they grow up and they're
the little monsters that they continue to stay being you know what it's gonna
cause you even more grief in the future discipline your children get your
children hey I want to help in the church master Shelly okay your kids over
there running your kids over there screaming you're never even paying
attention to little Johnny you're never a little paying attention to little
Susie you don't even know what they're doing look you want to get involved in
church take care of your family so this is this is intense sorry go to
Ephesians chapter 5 the Bible is intense
you say why right why preach a sermon because I want you to get involved look
I'm not preaching these things because I want to be mad at people what I want is
for you to get better involved people I think sincerely want to get involved and
I'm trying to help you answer this question what does that look like take
care of yourself start being fully sufficient of yourself and then be
sufficient of hate your family taking care of those people in your life
Ephesians chapter 5 look at verse 25 husbands love your wives even as Christ
also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word they might present it to himself a
glorious church not having spot a wrinkle or any such thing but that it
should be holy and without blemish so I mean to love their wives as their own
bodies in the love of his wife love themself for no man ever yet hated his
own flesh but nourished and cherished it even as the Lord the church we are
members of his body notice that he brings up that body again that we talked
about the very beginning 1st Corinthians chapter number 12 were bodies you know
we're the body of Christ were the members of Christ and in a marriage
you're also in this relationship where you both are one body now and you
shouldn't hate your own flesh and really you know you want to get involved in
church will have a good marriage having a bad marriage will destroy a lot of
people in church if you want to say what's what's one of the most common
denominators when it comes to people stopping to serve God not getting in
church you know not going so many not doing things it's always it's always
like a marriage related issue it feels like marriage related issues will
destroy people spiritually and if you really want to get involved in church
you know you've entered into that union you need to take care of your spouse and
love your spouse and do good under your spouse
the Bible says husbands love your wives you know it's frustrating how men love
everything but their wife it seems like they love their job they love their
hobbies they might even in their mind love church but they're not really
loving their wife and I'm thinking like you know if you really want to get
involved in church start loving your wife more encouraging her to do good
things and you know here's one how about let your wife go soul winning or take
your wife out so encourage your wife to go so you know it's not just for the
pastor's wife to go so all of us are supposed to go so and you know if your
husband's taking out so winning or trying to encourage you go so he's
because he loves you and the reality is if you can't get your wife out so
winning if you can't take your family out so winning why would you think that
you're going to start helping other people but first help yourself then help
your family and then you can help your church family
help yourself help your family then you can start helping your church family
look at Romans chapter 16 look at verse 1 I commend unto you Phoebe her sister
which is the servant of the church which is at Centuria the receiver and the
Lord has become his Saints may you assist her and whatsoever business she
hath need of you she has been a sucker of many and of myself also greet
my helpers in Christ Jesus who have for my life laid down their own necks unto
whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles so we see a
huge admonition in the Bible to help one another to love one another to look not
only our own things but the things of others right and to humble ourselves and
see mother better than ourselves but here's the reality you still kind of
have to help yourself and your family before you can really start effectively
helping other people now this is a great goal this is a great vision to have this
is a great plan but you know what how you get here is you got to prepare by
fixing this verse and then this one and then getting to this one and I'll tell
you this the people that seem to do the most are already doing so much the
people that seem to do the most are already doing so much they're already
just like knocking out of the park here they're already knocking out of the park
here and then they just somehow knock it out of the park on that one too and
you're just like wow and the people that are not doing good here they're often
not doing good here and here either they're just not doing good in any of
the areas it's a stair-stepping process and it's important to realize how you
can help others what some practical examples and I only have a few more
verses this this morning but I'm just gonna get real practical with you okay
and look this applies to any church not just mine applies to every church that
you can possibly go to go to the soul winning times go to the fellowships you
know cleaning up and look cleaning up doesn't have to be an official thing how
about just clean your area just clean up after yourself so much crumbs and trash
and just filth people just leave everywhere I mean there's just like
water bottles everywhere and trash everywhere and your kids little bracelet
and you're you know their little dinosaur and their little you know 18
water bottles and it's like what is what's happening did you camp here last
night look clean up after yourself and you know clean up other areas
potentially you know if you see something that's obviously trash take
care of it you know maybe get involved by using a musical instrument you know I
like singing that song praise them with the trumpet you know how about the salt
tree and the heart and we have the string instrument but you know sometimes
we need backups we need other people you know a violin the organ hey I'm just
these are instruments in the Bible that would be great hey I hope our music
program gets better you know what don't come up to me and say hey pastor Shelley
I'm ready to play the violin do you own one no you got one I could borrow I've
ever played it never but I'm ready it's like that's not how you get involved you
know I actually have a good story of this but whenever I first came to
steadfast Baptist Church Kevin Edelman his daughter Abigail she came up to me I
was like one of the first services maybe even the first service she came up to me
and real respectfully she waited for my time and then when she came up to me she
handed me a couple pieces of paper stapled together and she said here's
every single song that I know how to play and I'm willing to play whenever
you want me to you want to talk about someone that already knows this serpent
I was thinking like wow this is exactly what I like this is exactly what I want
she wasn't even saying like put me in coach she's usually like I'm expected to
play these times she's just like whenever you want here's my list here's
my paper I'm ready to go and you know what that's a great way to get involved
in something you know you go to your boss you go to anywhere you say hey I
want to do this you already have things prepared you're already ready you're
presenting a solution not more work hey I want to get involved what skills do
you have none when are you free never okay how about start getting free time
that's step one get free time get some skills then come talk to me then present
to me an idea of how you can get involved you know you could usher here's
one you could just be friendly how can I get involved pastor be friendly talk to
visitors take them to lunch invite them over minister to other people you know I
can't minister to every single person I can't invite everybody to lunch I can't
shake everyone's hand necessarily I can't do all those things so you doing
it actually helps us in church how about meal trains that's a great way to
get involved you know sometimes it's hard to find anybody that wants to do a
meal train you want to get involved that's a great way to get involved you
know donating money the preaching class you want to preach at our church come to
the preaching class in fact I often I decide who I want to preach for me based
on how well they do in the preaching class because if you can't preach a good
five-minute sermon why would I want you to preach for longer some people I'm
ready to pull the plug after 30 seconds I'm just kidding sometimes events show
up to the events you know there's all kinds of things that you can do that are
already there on the surface why don't you start doing all the on the surface
stuff and then you can get to the next layer go to Hebrews chapter 13 Hebrews
chapter 13 and I'm going to finish on this last point you can help yourself
you can you can get involved by helping your family involved by helping your
church family and then number four
you can help the leadership
and
let's read this verse and then I'll explain a little bit of here and I'll
get real specific Hebrews chapter 13 look at verse number 16 the Bible says
but to do good and to communicate forget not for such sacrifices God is well
pleased obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they
watch for your souls as they that must give in a give account they may do with
joy now agree for that is unprofitable for you Bible says you're supposed to
obey them have the rule over you and if you want to help leadership in the
church you know one of the best things you can do is just do what they said
it's funny how you know when I'm talking about all these three points these are
things that I've already preached and then people don't want to do these and
then they ask me how they get involved and I'm thinking like do these
you've already said start start employing all the tactics that you've
already been given and then then can you help the leadership in other ways
before you ask for more work finish the work you've been given to do imagine
your kids coming you dad I want more work well did you clean your room no did
your homework no did you clean up the table nope did you take a shower nope
but I'm ready for more and it's like no you're not do what I already told you
ok and here's the thing if you want to get involved in your church once you
start knocking out number one two and three before you really start coming to
the leadership and offering yourself to do more what you already do what you
have on your plate it just makes perfect sense and look I need more help
leadership needs more help you know what kind of help we need we need the help
that's already knocked out one two and three we don't need more help that says
I don't even have a place to lay my head I don't have any food I don't have any clothes
I'm here to help it's like whoa you need to start at step one again ok and
the people that do the best help I'm telling you they're knocking these
things these top three out they're doing it and you know if you want to help
someone let it be known what you can do and be ready when the time comes you
know sometimes you can be planned and prepared and ready but the timings not
right and so you can let it be known
hey I'm ready to serve in this way but the timings not right so then you have
to wait you know I'm fine with that there's plenty of people that come to me
and express an interest in serving or helping or doing things and I can't use
them right then but I think about it
have a back my memory and then the next time the opportunity comes then I can
use that person most of the time I think about him thinking like I'm never gonna
use that person you need to start fixing yourself you need to start doing that
before you're gonna get used in another way ok now why would I preach a sermon
like this but go to Nehemiah chapter 2 go to Nehemiah chapter 2 you know Jesus said
that he was gonna do great works but his disciples would do greater and when it
talked about Jesus baptizing it said he didn't baptize anyone his disciples
baptized and here's the reality good leadership empowers the people that he's
leading to do more think about David and his mighty men you know David
couldn't accomplish all the things he did by himself he needed the mighty men
to accomplish with him and the reality is a church is not one member it's a
body of members today you know it doesn't matter hey I've got the greatest
elbow in the world but the rest of my body is decrepit you know the rest of my
body I can't even use that's not gonna be very beneficial you need all the body
functioning very healthy and working together and doing great and look I want
our church to be the best church it possibly can be be the best body for
Christ that we can possibly we need every member to be healthy and I want to
empower people to serve God together but at the end of the day you have to fix
you know yourself and you have to address a lot of these other issues
before you can be used in new ways and other ways and maybe even your mind
better ways but some people you know and some people this this is basically where
your life is your only existence is one two and three you don't have to get to
number four
don't think you have to get to number four because number four may not be your
goal in life it may not be your plan in life you may just be here to minister to
other people in the church not to the leadership specifically ok and the way
that you actually out you are still helping me by doing this don't get me
wrong what I am saying is not in a very specific way ok looking at my chapter 2
verse 17 the Bible says then said I unto them you see the distress that we're in
how Jerusalem lies waste in the gates there of our burn with fire come let us
build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more approach then I told them of
the hand of my God which was good upon me as also the king's words that he has
spoken to me and they said let us rise up and build so they strengthen their
hands for this good work notice Nehemiah when he comes into town and say I'm here
now I'm gonna build everything no he inspires everyone else to build with him
and and when I look at the church and I look at the world today I feel like it's
been destroyed
godliness in America has been destroyed the church has been destroyed God's
people have been destroyed for lack of knowledge and you know what we are in a
phase we're in a period where we need to be building we need to be building and
we building ourselves and building our families and building our church
families and then we can help the leadership to build a great Jerusalem to
build a great church and let me tell you something the gates of hell are
attacking the church today and every area of life they are attacking your
personal finances they are attacking your mental stability they're attacking
your emotions they're attacking your family members they're attacking your
marriage they're attacking everything they're attacking soul winning they're
attacking the Bible they're talking Bible preaching they're attacking
godliness hey it's a full-scale war today it is a full-scale attack today
and if you want to protect yourself you have to build you know what I'm planning
on preaching some very practical sermons in the future to try and help
God's people to fight against this full-scale attack on you and you know
the reality is if you really want to get involved if you really want to help you
have to employ these tactics you have to start going to church reading the Bible
praying and then you know what you need to get your family doing it and then you
need to encourage your church family to start doing it and then you can start
getting the next level now let me tell you some of the cool things that I
really want to do but again who am I gonna be able to use the people that are
employing these tactics okay but I want to you know have a gospel video and as
many languages as possible and and have this out there like I built the God
resource site I started getting that going and I have some languages but see
here's the thing all of you could come up to me is like I'm ready to get
plugged in well do you speak any language other than English no you're
not prepared right but then there's some people I know people they speak a little
bit of Hindi they speak a little bit of another foreign language or they speak
something and they have the ability to get to the point where they could help
me with that or they know other people and they could help me accomplish that
look that would be a great thing to do have even more gospel presentations and
even more languages would be a great goal you know I'd like to have a very
language can you imagine just walk to the door no matter what you can just hey
here's the gospel here's a here's a video hey scan this QR code and you got
look QR code surpasses language you just say phone phone phone and you just scan
it for them and then you just hand it back to them and then you just pick the
language and they have the gospel didn't that wouldn't that be great
hey I want to make the God resource site even better maybe even make it into a
mobile application improve our site and that takes people with specific skill
if you come to me I'm ready to build that site have you ever used a computer
no you know you're not the right person okay I need to cut finish the cover for
the sodomite deception which takes some artwork and look there's so much work
that I have that I have to constantly neglect because I'm just trying to fix
other things but if I had skilled people that can help in some of these areas or
they get skills or they prepare themselves I could use them that would
be a great thing someone finished the sodomite deception cover art for me you
know all of our websites someone wants to manage our websites that would be
great because they could be better and our sermon lists don't always get
updated but that takes someone with skill in those areas you know here's
another thing I want to have a podcast a weekly podcast and you know I've been
working on this idea of Brother Ben for a few years and we've been talking about
it kicking around but I'm kind of there you know I want to build a podcast there
in the back which takes physical skilled labor you know putting in nice
walls putting in the furniture putting the lighting putting in the cameras
getting that all set up which just takes effort time energy and things like that
someone that's skilled in that area could help us get the podcast stuff set
up and then we can start pumping out even more content and trying to reach
new people and bringing them in you know I want to improve our sound room you
know put in a custom desk organize all those shelves you know put in maybe some
new cameras so that whenever we produce another documentary we can have it be a
4k documentary you know have good camera quality everywhere and produce because
one of my goals is to produce a King James Bible documentary that's the next
one and I really want to emphasize the history and I really want to make a
really strong case for why we use the King James Bible and leave all the David
Ike stuff out of it okay and then also you know I want to get our Spanish
New Testament I want to make an economic version of the Spanish New
Testament that doesn't have a false gospel in the back of it I mean it's
like you know why do you want to produce your own Bible because the only ones I
can buy have a false gospel attached to them it's like can I please find an
economical Spanish Bible without a false gospel attached to it you know a way
someone can help me that speaks Spanish is pick it up and look at it and tell me
if there's anything stupid because if there's something stupid you know they
pull it up they're like I don't read this you know that would be a great way
to help me it is looking at that reviewing it making sure it's good it's
gonna reach the Spanish people how about this preach good sermons hey when you
get the opportunity to preach preach a good sermon that really helps me you
know it doesn't help me when people preach terrible sermons false doctrine
heresy just all those extra issues I have to deal with you know and it's just
frustrating how about mission trips you know the thing you can do on missions
trips just be a blessing show up and help and be an assistance some people
their goal on a missions trip is for me to cater on their personal family
vacation it's like you know where's this and where's this where's my toothbrush
and you know where's my goodie bag and where's my sneakers and where's my shirt
and you know did you plan did you pack this for me and I'm thinking like no
yourself your family your church family leadership you know that's how you help
the leadership is by taking care of all these things you know and someone says
oh man I didn't pack this and you're like oh I got one for you and I'm
thinking like sweet I don't have to deal with that you know what I mean that's
helping the leadership is by doing these type of things other stuff you could do
help with baby showers you know we have ladies in our church that I was baby
showers and you may not be the leader you know it's either my wife or a couple
other ladies that often are planning it but you know you could show up early you
could set up you could help tear down you can help decorate you could help do
whatever you know that's how you help the leadership you know show up for the
soul winning time you can help your soul winning time leader make maps you could
help your soul winning time leader you know bring material or get water or do
anything you know if you want to help the leadership you gotta help yourself
you help the family you gotta help your church family and then what you have to
start planning how can I help how can I see the leadership in my life and help
them how can I prepare and be ready to help that person okay then I'm ready to
perform and then I'm even willing to purge and do things better or learn you
know one of the best quality somebody can have is the ability to receive
correction or improve themselves to do better you know I want to do even more
soul-winning more so winning trips hey we want to get all of Fort Worth done I
had a five-year vision to get all of Fort Worth completely shaded in and I
think we're like in a year and some months or something into it we've done a
decent job but hey you can help me by figuring out how to get that whole area
shaded in hey we can have more so winning events and more so winning times
and more people willing to step in and lead and more work to be done because
obviously we're talking about a lot of good works but the most important work
is so winning getting the gospel out to everyone and look I went over a lot of
information this morning a lot of stuff maybe you go back and you review it but
there are so many ways to get involved in church and one of the things that
will frustrate leadership this is not just me this is anybody where they'll
frustrate leadership is when someone just asked this question you know hey I
want to get involved what can I do and then you say well what can you do I
don't know I'm not prepared I'm not plan I don't I can't do anything and look
sometimes you just genuinely don't know you're just like hey I'm here to help
fix anything or do anything do you want me to move anything you know and then
it's easier to use people but it's the best way to present yourself is to say
hey I've noticed this could be done do you want me to help with that maybe you
show up at church hey do you want me to set chairs out do you want me to get
water out you want me to do these things rather than just always like how
can I help you know go to your boss what can I do and it's just like look around
one of the most frustrated things I've ever had in my life is I was working a
construction project and when I was working with someone close to me and it
was just like you walk in it's just an obvious wreck you know there's all this
work that needs to be done it's just super obvious it's right there to be
seen and they're just like hey what do I do and I'm just thinking like open your
eyes you know like grab a hammer start doing I mean do something you know don't
have to be spoon fed and told everything you have to actually plan then prepare
then perform and then purge let's close in prayer thank you father so much for
your word thank you for letting us be a part of the body of Christ having such a
great and important task of being part of your body and being ambassador of
Christ I pray that we take our job seriously today and I pray that as we go
out and we do our work today that we would think about all the plans and the
preparations that go into it that you'd help us when we perform those operations
and that you would help us also purge ourselves from unnecessary things that
we would be willing to constantly adapt and evolve and get better and improve
ourselves and I pray that our church could do great works for you we know all
the works that we do is for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ and I pray
that we get that deep down in our hearts so that we could be a good representative
in Jesus name we pray amen
all right for the final song we're seeing we're seeing song number 47 let
the Sun shine again in my heart that is song number 47 47 let the Sun shine
again in my heart
I remember the time when I first knew the Savior when the sunlight of blessing
so flooded my heart oh the sweetness of first love with Jesus so near me and I
thought such devotion would never depart let the Sun shine again let the
flowers bloom again stir the embers of love in my heart holy spirit reprove
then embrace me again let the Sun shine again in my heart then how sweet where
the scriptures they spoke to me daily how they guided my steps but my zeal did
not last and the sweet place of prayer where I met with my Savior high
neglected and so soon my joys were all past let the Sun shine again let the
flowers bloom again stir the embers of love in my heart
holy spirit reprove then embrace me again let the Sun shine again in my
heart oh I loved well to walk in the way with God's children when we met with
that hard enough fellow shifts we but the pull of the flesh and some worldly
companions in the past of sins pleasure attracted my feet let the Sun shine
again let the flowers bloom again stir the embers of love in my heart holy
spirit reprove then embrace me again let the Sun shine again in my heart Lord I
come now again for forgiveness and blessings as thy penitent child I am
seeking my peace for the blood paid my debt and thy spirit within me bids me
come to my father my wandering to seize let the Sun shine again let the
flowers bloom again stir the embers of love in my heart holy spirit reprove
then embrace me again let the Sun shine again in my heart amen you're dismissed